Introduction to .

NET Framework and Basic

What is Microsoft .NET?

• Microsoft .NET (pronounced “dot net”) is a software component that runs on the Windows
operating system. .NET provides tools and libraries that enable developers to create Windows
software much faster and easier. .NET benefits end-users by providing applications of higher
capability, quality and security. The .NET Framework must be installed on a user’s PC to run .NET
applications.
• .NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security-
enhanced solutions with Web services

What is VB.Net?
• Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be
viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic (VB), which is implemented on the .NET
Framework
• It is the next generation of the visual Basic language.
• It supports OOP concepts such as abstraction, inheritance, polymorphism, and aggregation.

.NET Framework Architecture

• A programming infrastructure created by Microsoft for building, deploying, and running
applications and services that use .NET technologies, such as desktop applications and Web
services
1) It is a platform for application developers.
2) It is tiered, modular, and hierarchal.
3) It is a service or platform for building, deploying and running applications.
4) It consists of 2 main parts: Common language runtime and class libraries.
• The common language runtime is the bottom tier, the least abstracted.
• The .NET Framework is partitioned into modules, each with its own distinct responsibility.
• The architectural layout of the .NET Framework is illustrated in following figure:

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 Introduction to .NET Framework and Basic

Figure 1 An overview of the .NET architecture.

Here we examine the following key components of the .NET Framework:

1) Common Language Infrastructure (CLI): The purpose of the Common Language Infrastructure
(CLI) is to provide a language-neutral platform for application development and execution, including
functions for Exception handling, Garbage Collection, security, and interoperability.

2) Common Language Runtime ( CLR ): The .NET Framework provides a runtime environment called
the Common Language Runtime or CLR (similar to the Java Virtual Machine or JVM in Java), which
handles the execution of code and provides useful services for the implementation of the program.
The CLR is the execution engine for .NET applications and serves as the interface between .NET
applications and the operating system. The CLR provides many services such as:

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• Loads and executes code
• Converts intermediate language to native machine code
• Manages memory and objects
• Enforces code and access security
• Handles exceptions
• Interfaces between managed code, COM objects, and DLLs
• Provides type-checking
• Provides code meta data (Reflection)
• Provides profiling, debugging, etc.
• Separates processes and memory

3) Framework Class Library ( FCL ): It is also known as a base class library. The FCL is a collection of
over 7000 reusable classes, interfaces, and value types that enable .NET applications to :
a) read and write files,
b) access databases,
c) process XML,
d) display a graphical user interface,
e) draw graphics,
f) use Web services, etc.
• The .Net Framework class library (FCL) organized in a hierarchical tree structure and it is divided
into Namespaces. Namespaces is a logical grouping of types for the purpose of identification.
Framework class library (FCL) provides the consistent base types that are used across all .NET
enabled languages. The Classes are accessed by namespaces, which reside within Assemblies.
• Other name of FCL is BCL – Base Class Library

4) Common Type System ( CTS )

• The CLS is a common platform that integrates code and components from multiple .NET
programming languages.
• CTS allow programs written in different programming languages to easily share information.
• CLS forms a subset of CTS. This implies that all the rules that apply to CTS also apply to CLS also.

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• It defines rules that a programming language must follow to ensure that objects written in different
programming languages can interact with each other.
• CTS provide cross language integration.
• The common type system supports two general categories of types:
a) Value Type
b) Reference Type
a) Value Type: Stores directly data on stack. In built data type. For ex. Dim a as integer.
b) Reference Type: Store a reference to the value’s memory address, and are allocated on the heap.
For ex: dim obj as new oledbconnection.
• The Common Language Runtime (CLR) can load and execute the source code written in any .Net
language, only if the type is described in the Common Type System (CTS)

5) Common Language Specification ( CLS )

• CLS includes basic language features needed by almost all applications.
• CLS is a subset of the Common Type System.
• It serves as a guide for library writes and compiler writers.
• The CLS is also important to application developers who are writing code that will be used by other
developers.

6) Microsoft Intermediate Language:

• When you compile your Visual Basic .NET source code, it is changed to an intermediate language
(IL) that the CLR and all other .NET development environments understand.
• All .NET languages compile code to this IL, which is known as Microsoft Intermediate Language,
MSIL, or IL.
• MSIL is a common language in the sense that the same programming tasks written with different
.NET languages produce the same IL code.
• At the IL level, all .NET code is the same regardless of whether it came from C++ or Visual Basic.
• When a compiler produces Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), it also produces Metadata.
• The Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) and Metadata are contained in a portable executable
(PE) file.

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• Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) includes instructions for loading, storing, initializing, and
calling methods on objects, as well as instructions for arithmetic and logical operations, control
flow, direct memory access, exception handling, and other operations
Advantages :
 It offers cross− language integration, including cross− language inheritance, which allows you
to create a new class by deriving it from a base class written in another language. 

 It facilitates automatic memory management, known as garbage collection. 

 compilation is much quicker 

 It allows you to compile code once and then run it on any CPU and operating system that
supports the runtime. 
Disadvantages:
 IL is not compiled to machine, so it can more easily be reverse engineered. Defense mechanisms for
handling this are likely to follow shortly after the .NET Framework is officially released. 

 While IL is further compiled to machine code, a tiny percentage of algorithms will require a
direct unwrapped access to system resources and hardware. 
• Figure: 2 shows what happens to your code from its inception in Visual Studio to execution.

Figure 2 : Following the IL

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The Just-In-Time Compiler
• Your code does not stay IL for long, however. It is the PE file, containing the IL that can be
distributed and placed with the CLR running on the .NET Framework on any operating system for
which the .NET Framework exists, because the IL is platform independent. When you run the IL,
however, it is compiled to native code for that platform. Therefore, you are still running native
code. The compilation to native code occurs via another tool of the .NET Framework: the Just-In-
Time (JIT) compiler.
• With the code compiled, it can run within the Framework and take advantage of low level features
such as memory management and security. The compiled code is native code for the CPU on which
the .NET Framework is running. A JIT compiler will be available for each platform on which the
.NET Framework runs, so you should always be getting native code on any platform running the
.NET Framework.
• Just-in-time compilation (JIT), also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the
runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of
runtime operation, either interpreted or static (ahead-of-time) compilation. Interpreted code is
translated from a high-level language to a machine code continuously during every execution,
whereas statically compiled code is translated into machine code before execution, and only
requires this translation once.
• JIT compilers represent a hybrid approach, with translation occurring continuously, as with
interpreters, but with caching of translated code to minimize performance degradation. It also offers
other advantages over statically compiled code at development time, such as handling of late-bound
data types and the ability to enforce security guarantees.
• The Common Language Runtime (CLR) provides various Just In Time compilers (JIT) and each
works on a different architecture depending on Operating System. That is why the same Microsoft
Intermediate Language (MSIL) can be executed on different Operating Systems without rewrite the
source code.
• Just In Time (JIT) compilation preserves memory and save time during initialization of application.
• Just In Time (JIT) compilation is used to run at high speed, after an initial phase of slow
interpretation.
• Just In Time Compiler (JIT) code generally offers far better performance than interpreters.

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• There are three types of JIT:
1) Pre JIT
2) Econo JIT
3) Normal JIT
1) Pre JIT: It converts all the code in executable code in a single cycle and it is slow.
2) Econo JIT: It compiles only those methods that are called at runtime.
3) Normal JIT: It is similar to Econo-JIT. The methods are compiled at the first time and stored in the
cache. When the same method are called, the compiled from cache is used for execution. Normal
JIT is fast.

.NET Languages
• .Net languages are CLI computer programming languages that may also optionally use the .NET
Framework Base Class Library and which produce programs that execute within the Microsoft
.NET Framework. Microsoft provides several such languages, including C#, F#, Visual Basic .NET,
and Managed C++.
• Generally .NET languages call into two main categories, TypeSafe Languages (such as C#) and
Dynamic Languages (Such as Python). Type Safe Languages are built on the .NET Common
Language Runtime and Dynamic Languages are built on top of the .NET Dynamic Language
Runtime. The .NET Framework is unique in its ability to provide this flexibility.
• Regardless of which .NET language is used, the output of the language compiler is a representation
of the same logic in an intermediate language named Common Intermediate Language (CIL).
• As the program is being executed by the CLR, the CLI code is compiled and cached, just in time, to
the machine code appropriate for the architecture on which the program is running. This last
compilation step is usually performed by the Common Language Runtime component of the
framework “just in time” (JIT) at the moment the program is first invoked, though it can be
manually performed at an earlier stage.

Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL)

• MSIL or IL(Intermediate Language) is machine independent code generated by .NET framework
after the compilation of program written in any language by user.

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• MSIL or IL is now known as CIL(Common Intermediate Language).
• One of the more interesting aspects of .NET is that when you compile your code, you do not
compile to native code. But the compilation process translates your code into something called
Microsoft intermediate language, which is also called MSIL or just IL.
• The compiler also creates the necessary metadata and compiles it into the component. This IL is
CPU independent. After the IL and metadata are in a file, this compiled file is called the PE, which
stands for either portable executable or physical executable. Because the PE contains your IL and
metadata, it is therefore self-describing, eliminating the need for a type library or interfaces
specified with the Interface.

.NET Assembly
• Whatever .NET language you create applications with, compilers generate an assembly, which is a
file containing .NET executable code and is composed essentially by two kinds of elements:
MSIL code and metadata.
• The .NET assembly is the standard for components developed with the Microsoft.NET. Dot
NET assemblies may or may not be executable, i.e., they might exist as the executable (.exe) file
or dynamic link library (DLL) file.
• All the .NET assemblies contain the definition of types, versioning information for the type,
meta-data, and manifest. The designers of .NET have worked a lot on the component (assembly)
resolution.

The structure of an assembly: Assemblies contain code that is executed by the Common
Language Runtime.

Figure 3 : A diagram of assembly

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• Assemblies are made up of the following parts:
a) The assembly manifest
b) Type metadata
c) Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code
• The assembly manifest is where the details of the assembly are stored. The assembly is stored
within the DLL or EXE itself. Assemblies can either be single or multiple file assemblies and,
therefore, assembly manifests can either be stored in the assembly or as a separate file. The
assembly manifest also stores the version number of the assembly to ensure that the application
always uses the correct version.
• The metadata contains information on the types that are exposed by the assembly such as security
permission information, class and interface information, and other assembly information.
Contents of an Assembly:
a) Assembly Manifest
b) Assembly Name
c) Version Information
d) Types
e) Cryptographic Hash
f) Security Permissions
An assembly does the following functions:
• It contains the code that the runtime executes.
• It forms a security boundary. An assembly is the unit at which permissions are requested and
granted.
• It forms a type boundary. Every type’s identity includes the name of the assembly at which it
resides.
• It forms a reference scope boundary. The assembly's manifest contains assembly metadata that is
used for resolving types and satisfying resource requests.
• It forms a version boundary. The assembly is the smallest version able unit in the common language
runtime; all types and resources in the same assembly are versioned as a unit.
• It forms a deployment unit. When an application starts, only the assemblies the application initially
calls must be present. Other assemblies, such as localization resources or assemblies containing

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utility classes, can be retrieved on demand. This allows applications to be kept simple and thin
when first downloaded.
• It is a unit where side-by-side execution is supported.

There are two kinds of assemblies in .NET

a) Private
b) Shared

a) Private assemblies is the assembly which is used by application only, normally it resides in your
application folder directory.
b) Shared assemblies - It resides in GAC, so that anyone can use this assembly. Public assemblies are
always share the common functionalities with other applications.

• An assembly can be a single file or it may consist of the multiple files. In case of multi-file, there is
one master module containing the manifest while other assemblies exist as non-manifest modules.
A module in .NET is a sub part of a multi-file .NET assembly. Assembly is one of the most
interesting and extremely useful areas of .NET architecture along with reflections and attributes, but
unfortunately very few people take interest in learning such theoretical looking topics.

The .NET Framework Namespaces

• . Net framework class library is a collection of namespaces.
• Namespace is a logical naming scheme for types that have related functionality.
• Namespace means nothing but a logical container or partition.
• It’s like Drives of the computer.
• For example: My computer contains C:, D:, E: and F: Each drive contains 1.txt file. The file 1.txt is
available in all the drive so it is require to specify the drive name to locate the actual required file.
• At the top of the hierarchy is the System namespace.
• A namespace is just a grouping of related classes. It's a method of putting classes inside a
container so that they can be clearly distinguished from other classes with the same name.
• A namespace is a logical grouping rather than a physical grouping. The physical grouping is
accomplished by an assembly

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• The .NET CLR consists of multiple namespaces, which are spread across many assemblies. For
example, ADO.NET is the set of classes located in the System.Data namespace, and ASP.NET
is the set of classes located in the System.Web namespace.
In the CLR, the classes and structures contained in each of the namespaces represent a
common theme of development responsibility.
• .NET Framework class library is collection of namespaces.
• Following table shows Common Namespaces supported by .NET
System Contains fundamental classes and base classes.
System.IO Contains classes for reading and writing data in file.
System.XML Contains classes work with XML.
System.Windows.Forms Contains classes for windows-based applications.
System.Data Contains classes for the database connection.

Figure 4: .Net namespaces

VB.NET - Introduction
• Microsoft .NET is a software component that runs on the Windows operating system.
• .NET provides tools and libraries that enable developers to create Windows software much faster
and easier. .NET benefits end-users by providing applications of higher capability, quality and
security.

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• This is how Microsoft describes it: “.NET is the Microsoft Web services strategy to connect
information, people, systems, and devices through software. Integrated across the Microsoft
platform, .NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use
connected, security-enhanced solutions with Web services.
• VB .NET is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an
evolution of the classic Visual Basic (VB), which is implemented on the .NET Framework.
• Visual Basic 2008 version 9.0 was released together with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Why .NET?
• Interoperability between language and execution environment.
• Uniformity in schema or formats for Data exchange using XML, XSL (Extensible Style Sheet
Language)
• Extend or use existing code that is valid.
• Programming complexity of environment is reduced
• Multiplatform applications, automatic resource management simplification of application
deployment.
• It provides security like – code authenticity check, resources access authorizations, declarative and
imperative security and cryptographic security methods for embedding into user’s application.
• The .Net platform is on integral component a new and simplified model for programming and
deploying application on the windows platform.
• .Net development framework provides a new and simplified model for programming and deploying
applications on the windows platform.

Compilation and Execution

Figure 5: Compilation and Execution Process

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Object Explorer Window

• The object explorer window allows us to view all the members of an object at once. It lists all the
objects in our code and gives us access to them. The image below displays an object explorer
window. You can view the object explorer window by selecting View->Other Windows-> Object
Browser from the main menu.

Data Types:
• The following are the data type supported by VB.Net .
• Numeric Data Type(Short, Integer, Long, Single, Double, Decimal)
• Character Data Type (Char, String)
• Miscellaneous Data Type( Boolean , Byte, Date, Object)

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Following table shows storage size in memory for the data type.
Type Storage Size
2 bytes
String (Min)
Char 2 bytes
Integer 4 bytes
Long 8 bytes
Boolean 2 bytes
Byte 1 byte
Short 2 bytes
Single 4 bytes
Double 8 bytes
Decimal 16 bytes
Date 8 bytes
Object 4 bytes

Variables:
• A variable is something that is used in a program to store data in memory.
• A variable has a name and a data type which determine the kind of data the variable can store.

Variable declaration: Dim statement is used to declare a variable.

Syntax: Dim variablename [ ( [ subscript ] ) ] [ As [ New ] datatype

Variablename : It is required. It specifies the name of variable which user wants to create. Subscript :
It is optional. Subscript is used to specify the size of array when user declares an array.
New: New keyboard enables creation of new object. If you use new when declaring the object variable, a
new instance of the object is created.
Type : The type specify the data type of the
variables. Ex: Dim a as integer, s1 as string

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Type Conversion functions

• Type conversion is used for convert one data type to another
• There are two type of conversion : Implicit and Explicit.
• An Implicit Conversion does not require any special syntax in the source code.
• An Explicit Conversion requires function.
• For Example : Implicit Conversion
Dim a As Integer
Dim b As Double
a = 4499
b=a
• An explicit conversion requires function.
Function Name Convert Into
CBool Boolean
CByte Byte
CChar Char
CDate Date
CDbl or Val Double
CDec Decimal
CInt Integer
CLng Long

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CObj Object
CShort Short
CSng Single
CStr String

• Following is common syntax for each type conversion function:

Syntax : Function_Name(argument)
For Example: Dim str As String
Dim no As
Integer str = “5”
no = Cint(str)
CTYPE function
• It uses to convert one type to another type.
• Instead of remember all conversion functions , we can use CTYPE function
• Execution is faster .
Syntax : Ctype(expression,Type name) For
Example : Dim no1 As Integer
Dim no2 As Double
no2 = 66.77
no1 = Ctype(no2,Integer)

Boxing and Unboxing:

• Boxing and unboxing act like bridges between value type and reference types. When we convert
value type to a reference type it’s termed as boxing. Unboxing is just vice-versa.
• Boxing: The conversion of a value type instance to an object.
• Unboxing : The conversion of an object instance to a value type.
• Example: Dim no As Integer= 10
Dim obj As Object = no ---- Boxing
Dim ans As Integer = CInt(obj) ---- Unboxing

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Option Explicit: This statement ensures whether the compiler requires all variables to be
explicitly declared or not before it use in the program.

Syntax: Option Explicit [On Off]

The Option Explicit has two modes. On and Off mode. If Option Explicit mode in ON, you have to
declare all variables before you use it in the program. If not, it will generate a compile-time error
whenever a variable that has not been declared is encountered. If the Option Explicit mode is OFF, Vb.Net
automatically create a variable whenever it sees a variable without proper declaration.

By default the Option Explicit is On.

With the Option Explicit On, you can reduce the possible errors that result from misspelled variable names.
Because, in Option Explicit On mode you have to declare each variable in the program for storing data.

Option Strict: Option Strict is prevents program from automatic variable conversions, that is implicit
data type conversions.

Syntax: Option Strict [On Off]

By default Option Strict is Off . We can set both options by Tools Optionsprojects and solutions

Array:
• An ordered collection of same type of data having single variable name is known as array. Each
element of the array can be referenced by a numerical subscript.
• In VB.Net two types of arrays are:
a) Standard Array
b) Dynamic Array

Declaration Of Standard Array:

Syntax : Dim varname [(subscripts)] [As type ]

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WithEvents: This keyword is valid only in class modules. This keyword specifies that varname is an
object variable used to respond to events triggered by an ActiveX object.
VarName : The Varname specify the name of variable which you want to
create. Subscript : Subscript is used when you declare an array.
Type : The type specify the data type of the array variables. User can also include “To” keyword in array
declaration.
Ex : Dim n(5) As Integer. Dim
s(3) As String. Dim n(1
to 4) As Integer.

LBound Function: It returns a Long containing the smallest subscript of an array.

Syntax: LBound(arrayname[, rank])

Arrayname: The name of array variable.

Rank: It is optional. Use 1 for the first dimension, 2 for the second, and so on. If rank is omitted, 1 is
assumed.

Example:
Dim A(1 To 100, 0 To 3, -3 To 4)
Statement Return Value
LBound(A, 1) 1
LBound(A, 2) 0
LBound(A, 3) -3

The default lower bound for any dimension is either 0.

Ubound Function : It returns a Long containing the largest available subscript for the indicated
dimension of an array.

Syntax: UBound(arrayname[, rank])

Arrayname: The name of array variable.

Rank: It is optional. Use 1 for the first dimension, 2 for the second, and so on. If rank is omitted, 1 is
assumed.

Examples: Dim A(1 To 100, 0 To 3, -3 To 4)

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Statement Return Value
UBound(A, 1) 100
UBound(A, 2) 3
UBound(A, 3) 4

Dynamic Array:
• In any C or C++ programming language user can not modify the size of the array. Once we
declared the size of array then it becomes fixed.
• In VB .NET we can increase the size of array.
• In some cases we may not know exactly the size of array at declaration time. We may need to
change the size of the array at runtime. So we can resize the array at any time by using
Redim statement.
• But with dynamic array we cannot change the dimension of the array.

Redim Statement: It reallocates storage space for array variables.

Syntax: ReDim [Preserve] name(boundlist) [, name(boundlist) …]

Preserve: It is optional. It is used to preserve the data in an existing array when user changes the size of
the last dimension.

Name: The name of the array variable.

Boundlist: It is required. It is dimensions of an array variable.

Example:

Dim a() As Integer

Private Sub cmdInput_Click()

ReDim a(5) As Integer

For i = LBound(a) To UBound(a)

a(i) = InputBox("Enter elements:")

Next

End Sub

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Private Sub cmdPrint_Click()

ReDim Preserve a(3) As Integer

'MsgBox LBound(a) & UBound(a)

For i = LBound(a) To UBound(a)

msgbox

a(i) Next

End Sub

String Functions:

1) Len: This function returns an integer containing the number of characters in a given string.

Syntax : Len(string)

String: Any valid string expression. If string contains Null, Null is returned.

Example:
S1=”hello”
Msgbox len(s1)

2) Mid: It returns a Variant (String) containing a specified number of characters from a string.

Syntax: Mid(string, start[, length])

The Mid function syntax has these named arguments:

Part Description
String Required. String expression from which characters are returned. If string contains Null, Null is
returned.
Start Required; Long. Character position in string at which the part to be taken begins. If start is greater
than the number of characters in string, Mid returns a zero-length string ("").
Length Optional; Variant (Long). Number of characters to return. If omitted or if there are fewer than length
characters in the text (including the character at start), all characters from the start position to the end
of the string are returned.

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Examples:
Dim MyString, FirstWord, LastWord, MidWords
MyString = "Mid Function Demo" ' Create text string.
FirstWord = Mid(MyString, 1, 3) ' Returns "Mid".
LastWord = Mid(MyString, 14, 4) ' Returns "Demo".
MidWords = Mid(MyString, 5) ' Returns "Function Demo".

3) Trim , Rtrim, Ltrim: It Returns a string that contains a copy of a specified string without leading
spaces (LTrim), without trailing spaces (RTrim), or without leading or trailing spaces (Trim).
Syntax: Trim / Rtrim / Ltrim (string)
String: It is requires any valid String expression. If string equals Nothing, the function returns an
empty string.

Example:
S1= “ This is test “
Msgbox Trim(s1)
Msgbox Rtrim(s1)
Msgbox Ltrim(s1)

4) Instr: It returns a Variant (Long) specifying the position of the first occurrence of one string within
another.

Syntax: InStr([start, ]string1, string2[, compare])

The InStr function syntax has these arguments:

Part Description
Start Optional. Numeric expression that sets the starting position for each search. If omitted, search
begins at the first character position. If start contains Null, an error occurs. The start argument is
required if compare is specified.
string1 Required. String expression being searched.
string2 Required. String expression sought.
Compare Optional. Specifies the type of string comparison. If compare is Null, an error occurs. If compare
is omitted, the Option Compare setting determines the type of comparison.

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Settings: The Compare argument settings are:

Constant Value Description

Binary 0 Performs a binary comparison

Text 1 Performs a text comparison

Return Value

If InStr returns

String1 is zero length or Nothing 0

String2 is zero length or Nothing start

String2 is not found 0

String2 is found within String1 Position where match begins

Examples:
Dim SearchString, SearchChar, MyPos
SearchString ="XXpXXpXXPXXP" ' String to search in.
SearchChar = "P" ' Search for "P".
' A textual comparison starting at position 4. Returns
6. MyPos = Instr(4, SearchString, SearchChar, 1)
' A binary comparison starting at position 1. Returns
9. MyPos = Instr(1, SearchString, SearchChar, 0)
' Comparison is binary by default (last argument is omitted).
MyPos = Instr(SearchString, SearchChar) ' Returns 9.

5) Lcase: It returns a String that has been converted to lowercase.

Syntax: LCase(string)

The required string argument is any valid string expression. If string contains Null, Null is returned. Only
uppercase letters are converted to lowercase; all lowercase letters and nonletter characters remain
unchanged.

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Example:
Dim UpperCase, LowerCase
Uppercase = "Hello World 1234" ' String to convert.
Msgbox Lcase(UpperCase) ' Returns "hello world 1234"

6) Ucase: It returns a Variant (String) containing the specified string, converted to uppercase.

Syntax: UCase(string)

The required string argument is any valid string expression. If string contains Null, Null is returned.

Only lowercase letters are converted to uppercase; all uppercase letters and nonletter characters remain
unchanged.

Example:
Dim LowerCase, UpperCase
LowerCase = "Hello World 1234" ' String to convert.
Msgbox UCase(LowerCase) ' Returns "HELLO WORLD 1234".

7) Asc: It returns an Integer representing the character code corresponding to the first letter in a string.

Syntax: Asc(string)

The required string argument is any valid string expression. If String is a String expression, only the first
character of the string is used for input. If String is Nothing or contains no characters, an error occurs.

Example: msgbox Asc("A")

8) Chr: It returns a String containing the character associated with the specified character code.

Syntax: Chr(charcode)

An Integer expression representing the code point, or character code, for the character. If CharCode is
outside the valid range, an error occur. The valid range for Chr is 0 through 255.

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Examples:
Dim MyChar
MyChar = Chr(65) ' Returns A.

9) Space: It returns a string consisting of the specified number of spaces.

Syntax: Space(number)

Number : It is required Integer expression. The number of spaces you want in the
string. Example: Msgbox “ Hi” & space(5) & “ How r u?”

10) Format: This function returns a string formatted according to instructions contained in a
format String expression.

Syntax: Format (Expression, style)

Expression : it is any valid expression.

Style: it is applied on specified expression
Example:
D1= #02/14/1989#
Msgbox format(d1,”DD-MM-YY”)

11) Strcomp: It returns -1, 0, or 1, based on the result of a string comparison.

Syntax: Strcomp(string1,string2[,compare])
String1 :Required. Any valid String expression.
String2 :Required. Any valid String expression.
Compare :Optional. Specifies the type of string comparison. If Compare is omitted, the Option
Compare setting determines the type of comparison.

The Compare argument settings are:

Constant Description

Binary Performs a binary comparison, based on a sort order derived from the internal binary representations of
the characters.
Text Performs a text comparison, based on a case-insensitive text sort order determined by your application's
current culture information.

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Return Value:The StrComp function has the following return values.

If StrComp returns

String1 sorts ahead of String2 -1

String1 is equal to String2 0

String1 sorts after String2 1

Example:
Dim TestStr1 As String = "ABCD"
Dim TestStr2 As String = "abcd"
Dim TestComp As Integer
' The two strings sort equally. Returns 0.
TestComp = StrComp(TestStr1, TestStr2, CompareMethod.Text)
' TestStr1 sorts after TestStr2. Returns -1.
TestComp = StrComp(TestStr1, TestStr2, CompareMethod.Binary)
' TestStr2 sorts before TestStr1. Returns 1.
TestComp = StrComp(TestStr2, TestStr1)

12) Left: It returns a Variant (String) containing a specified number of characters from the left side of a
string.

Syntax: Left(str, length)

str :it is required String expression from which the rightmost characters are returned.
Length: It is required Numeric expression indicating how many characters to return. If 0, a zero-
length string ("") is returned. If greater than or equal to the number of characters in str, the entire
string is returned.

Examples:
Dim AnyString, MyStr
AnyString = "Hello World" ' Define string.
MyStr = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left(AnyString, 1)
Msgbox Mystr ' Returns "H".

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13) Right: It returns a string containing a specified number of characters from the right side of a string.

Syntax: Right(str,length)

str :it is required String expression from which the rightmost characters are returned.
Length: It is required Numeric expression indicating how many characters to return. If 0, a zero-length
string ("") is returned. If greater than or equal to the number of characters in str, the entire string is
returned.

Example:
S1=”this is test”
Msgbox Micosoft.VisualBasic.Right(s1,3)

14) Replace: It returns a string in which a specified substring has been replaced with another substring
a specified number of times.

Syntax: Replace (Expression, Find, Replacement)

Expression :Required. String expression containing substring to replace.

Find :Required. Substring being searched for.
Replacement :Required. Replacement substring.

Example: S1= “Shopping List”

Msgbox Replace( s1, “o”,”I”)

Tostring with its Methods:

1) ToString.Concat: This method is used Concatenates three specified instances of String.

Syntax : System.String.Concat(str1,str2)

str1 : Parameter String

str2 : Parameter String

Example:
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

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 Introduction to .NET Framework and Basic
Dim str1 As String
Dim str2 As String

str1 = "Concat()
" str2 = "Test"
MsgBox(String.Concat(str1, str2))

End Sub
End Class
2) String.copy : This method creates a new instance of String with the same value as a specified String.

Syntac: System.String.Copy(str)

str : The argument String for Copy method

Example:

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim str1 As String
Dim str2 As String

str1 = "VB.NET Copy()

test" str2 = String.Copy(str1)

MsgBox(str2)
End Sub
End Class

3) String.Indexof: It returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring.

Syntax: System.String.IndexOf(str)

str - The parameter string to check its occurrences

If the parameter String occurred as a substring in the specified String then it returns position of the
first character of the substring. If it does not occur as a substring, -1 is returned.

Example:

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim str As String

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 Introduction to .NET Framework and Basic
str = "VB.NET TOP 10 BOOKS"
MsgBox(str.IndexOf("BOOKS"))
End Sub
End Class

4) String.substring: It returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring begins at
the specified given index and extended up to the given length.

Syntax: Substring(startIndex,length)

startIndex: The index of the start of the substring.

length: The number of characters in the substring.

Example:
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim str As String

Dim retString As String
str = "This is substring test"
retString = str.Substring(8,
9) MsgBox(retString)

End Sub
End Class

5) String.format: VB.NET String Format method replace the argument Object into a text
equivalent System.Striing.

Syntax: System.Format(format, arg0)

String format : The format String

The format String Syntax is like {indexNumber:formatCharacter}

Object arg0 : The object to be formatted.

Examples:

Currency : String.Format("{0:c}", 10) will return $10.00

The currency symbol ($) displayed depends on the global locale settings.

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 Introduction to .NET Framework and Basic
Date : String.Format("Today's date is {0:D}", DateTime.Now)
You will get Today's date like : 01 January 2005
Time : String.Format("The current time is {0:T}", DateTime.Now)
You will get Current Time Like : 10:10:12
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,
_ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim dNum As Double
dNum = 32.123456789
MsgBox("Formated String " & String.Format("{0:n4}",
dNum)) End Sub
End Class
6) String.ToUpper: This method uses the casing rules of the current culture to convert each character in
the current instance to its uppercase equivalent. If a character does not have an uppercase equivalent, it
is included unchanged in the returned string.

The ToUpper method is often used to convert a string to uppercase so that it can be used in a
case-insensitive comparison.

Syntax: string.ToUpper()

Example:
S1= “This is Test”
Msgbox s1.Toupper()

7) String.ToLower: This method does not modify the value of the current instance. Instead, it returns
a new string in which all characters in the current instance are converted to lowercase.

Syntax: string.tolower()

Example:
S1= “This is Test”
Msgbox s1.tolower()
8) String.Remove: Deletes all the characters from this string beginning at a specified position
and continuing through the last position.

Syntax: String.Remove(startIndex) startIndex :

The position to begin deleting characters.

Example:
S1=”abc---def”
Msgbox s1.remove(3)

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