Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in VB 2005

Book Description

Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in VB 2005 is the VB 2005 version of the author's best-selling and highly-reviewed Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C#. Renowned author Matthew MacDonald shows you VB 2005 programmers how to design flexible, user-friendly Windows interfaces. And you'll learn the best practices and design tips for coding these user interfaces.

Although this book is not a reference manual, it contains detailed discussions about user interface elements that you will use on a regular basis. You will learn to use .NET controls as well as to extend those .NET controls with your own custom controls.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource!.......2006-11-10

This book is full of simple tidbits for binding controls to data objects and custom objects. The examples are short and easy to follow so you don't get lost in the code. Matthew does not spend a lot of time explaining background code (specifically, using ADO) because this is not the forum for those topics. What you get is 1000+ pages of explanations and examples focused on the task at hand: binding data. He does spend a few chapters introducing you to the various objects, covering many not-so-common functions. I found myself thinking "Wow!! That's cool!" several times. I highly recommend this book!!

Average customer rating:

True to it's purpose
.NET Framework Essentials (3rd ED)
To Software Developers: Don't Bother
Excellent
OK but others are better

.NET Framework Essentials
Thuan Thai , and Hoang Lam
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596005059

Book Description

Fully updated for version 1.1 of the .NET Framework, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is an objective, concise, no-nonsense overview of the Microsoft .NET Framework for developing web applications and services. Written for intermediate to advanced VB, C/C++, Java, and Delphi developers, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is also useful to system architects and leaders who are assessing tools for future projects. .NET Framework Essentials touches all the bases--from the Common Language Run-Time (CLR) and key class libraries to the specialized packages for ASP.NET, Windows Forms, XML Web Services, and data access (ADO.NET). The authors survey each major .NET language, including VB.NET, C#, J#, and Managed C++, as well as MSIL, clearing away the noise and hype, and presenting a clear, practical look at the underlying technologies. .NET Framework Essentials also provides a handy reference to the most commonly used features of .NET Framework. Written by two veteran web applications developers, .NET Framework Essentials, 3rd Edition is one of the most complete, concise, and ultimately useful books to describe the breadth of technology represented by .NET. Compact and free of fluff or proprietary hype, .NET Framework Essentials is an outstanding value for experienced programmers and architects who need to get up to speed quickly.

Customer Reviews:

True to it's purpose.......2006-05-17

I went to my local bookstore to get a functional understanding of ".NET". My previous readings had been hit and miss and provided little understanding of the new platform.

This book provided that understanding. The writeups on the CLR, assemblies, garbage collection, net components, web services, etc. were skeletal but quite good. I came away with some understanding of what .NET is, why it was developed and why I believe it should leapfrog Java in the web development world.

It wasn't an easy read since it provided good understanding with little detail, and takes some thought; but again, it serves it's purpose well.

.NET Framework Essentials (3rd ED).......2005-12-20

As the title says, this book gives the essentials of the .NET framework. It is not an exhaustive treatment, rather, it touches on the main features of .NET. The book assumes that the reader is fluent in object-oriented and component-based programming. Overall, the book was fairly well written with the main features of the .NET framework being clearly explained. The book has no distractive "fluff" in it, so one can easily dive into learning about .NET. The authors give an overview of .NET, and then present a description of the common language runtime (CLR). The common programming model and working with .NET components follow. XML data and web services are clearly explained with a lot of code snippets being given. The book concludes with chapters on ASP, Windows Forms, and mobile devices. The appendices are useful, as sometime acronyms aren't defined in the main text, but are explained in the appendix.

Overall, I found the book well written. The coverage of topics is actually fairly decent. The authors have done a good job of focusing on the essential aspects of .NET. If you're looking for a book that gives gives an overview of the heart of .NET, this is a good book. If you're looking for an exhaustive reference, than you'll probably want something else.

To Software Developers: Don't Bother.......2004-04-20

IMHO, OReilly tends to have the best technology books (I own many) but this book isn't one of them. This book is lightweight even as an introduction. This book is certainly fine for managers, senior architects, and business types, but if you plan to design and write software I recommend Jeff Prosise's "Programming Microsoft .NET" and Jeffrey Richter's "Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming", though a bit dated, both cover the .NET framework essentials and then some.

Excellent.......2003-11-06

Very well written primer on the .Net framework, internal workings of the CLR and language fundamentals. Great book.

OK but others are better.......2003-08-26

It is a fairly shallow overview of the .NET framework. The author tries to cover a lot of ground but that means each topic worth a chapter in another topical book gets a few pages here at most.

Customer Reviews:

This book is terrible, and every time I use it - I'm let down........2006-10-31

Chris Sells book on window forms programming is a huge let down. I kept hearing it was the defacto book on Winforms develpment; I bought the 1.1 version and the 2.0 versions.
After doing considerable 1.1 programming, and trying to use his book; I couldn't believe how terrible it was.

The section that is dedicated to data grids and data binding is all combined and co-mingled. It stops after it tells you how to populate a grid. With no discusion of how to access the data, use the data in a n-tier database update application, and with no hint as to validation of the data or an of the miriad of incidental programming tasks you MUST perform on a data grid. I have very seldom, if ever, have found what I needed in this book.

Please don't buy this book, and please don't recommend it to anyone. For 1.1 there is a much better book by Eric Brown, Windows Forms Programming C#, if you can get it. It took me months to get mine on Amazon - but it was worth the wait... I love it.

VB 6.0 Veteran Makes The Switch.......2005-10-16

I have been programming in Visual Basic 6.0 for over 7 years now. I have often thought of making the switch to [VB], but could never find the book that would help me make the transition. Sure I read all of the books I could find. It wasn't until I was surfing around Safari Books Online and I came across this book. I figured this was going to be another boring, hard to read technical book on Visual Basic programming. I almost passed over it, but then I thought, "No. I'll take a look." I had the book on my Safari bookshelf for a long time and I used it FREQUENTLY to answer questions that I had come up while learning [VB].

I just recently was able to obtain a hard copy of the book and I have it sitting here next to my computer. I can sure find the answers a lot faster in the hard copy. :-) And what I have discovered is that the information that Chris Sells gives in this book is good for any version of VB.NET. I'm looking forward to giving it a try when Visual Basic (..) 2005 comes out in November. Then we shall really put Chris to the test. LOL. Of course, he had better work on getting a revised edition out because there are a lot more new controls and features in 2005 that I want to see him cover so that I can upgrade my copy of his book to help with that as well.

Awesome Work Chris. Don't ever stop writing books. At least not as far as the Visual Basic (...) books are concerned. (...)

Seasoned in VB6 Prg. I was stuck with VB.NET until this book.......2004-12-28

I was a little frustrated with myself in trying to pick up .NET development. After all, I could code VB6 w/o effort, but I was struggling to find a book that would be more than a beginner's guide but that would help get me locked into solid .NET development using Winforms. Chris Sells', Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET, was the book I was looking for. From learning the basics of the new .NET Winforms, Controls, and IDE to more advanced concepts new to VB programmers such as inheritance, multithreading, and useful tips and hints, this book covers a great deal. I especially enjoyed the straightforward style of writing used in this book that avoided unnecessary commentary, rants, or other footnotes that many authors feel the need to add but that don't help much with learning the concepts at hand. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it both for the beginner and the experienced looking for a great presentation that will help in your quest to learn Smart Client development using VS.NET.

Wow.......2004-04-25

I must say, Chris Sells is the most enjoyable CS author i have ever read. This book was actually recommended by Carl Franklin of franklins.net and i must say that i haven't been happier. Chris communicates on levels that some of us rarley go. Chris starts off with here is console app, and then scales all the way up into windows apps, custom painting, printing, threading, etc. Chris you are one gifted author, and when .NET 2.0 comes out, i'll be the first to order your book.

A master work!.......2003-12-29

Should be considered *THE* reference for any Windows Forms developer for .NET. This book covers everything from intro material to details of threading and security, and covers it all well. Keep it nearby when developing.

Average customer rating:

Thorough presentation of several .NET pitfalls
The Question is Why?
This is an excellent book ...
GOTCHA!!!
Technically Good but a Bit on the Dry Side

.NET Gotchas
Venkat Subramaniam
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596009097

Book Description

Like most complex tasks, .NET programming is fraught with potential costly, and time-consuming hazards. The millions of Microsoft developers worldwide who create applications for the .NET platform can attest to that. Thankfully there's now a book that shows you how to avoid such costly and time-consuming mistakes. It's called .NET Gotchas. The ultimate guide for efficient, pain-free coding, .NET Gotchas from O'Reilly contains 75 common .NET programming pitfalls--and advice on how to work around them. It will help you steer away from those mistakes that cause application performance problems, or so taint code that it just doesn't work right. The book is organized into nine chapters, each focusing on those features and constructs of the .NET platform that consistently baffle developers. Within each chapter are several "gotchas," with detailed examples, discussions, and guidelines for avoiding them. No doubt about it, when applied, these concise presentations of best practices will help you lead a more productive, stress-free existence. What's more, because code examples are written in both VB.NET and C#, .NET Gotchas is of interest to more than 75 percent of the growing numbers of .NET programmers. So if you're a .NET developer who's mired in the trenches and yearning for a better way, this book is most definitely for you.

Customer Reviews:

Thorough presentation of several .NET pitfalls.......2007-05-31

This book is written with determination and care. Every aspect is explained at length and the examples are abundant.

But this book is not for everyone. If you want to learn .NET, C# or VB.NET programming from it, you won't be able to do it. Also, if you have time to search through zillions of MSDN pages in order to seek various details on .NET and/or .NET languages, then this book is not for you either.

But if your time is tight and you want to have many .NET common mistakes at your fingertips with no effort from your part, then this book is for you.

The Question is Why?.......2006-05-30

I made the mistake of buying this book based on recommendations I had read here on amazon.com -- don't make the same mistake. If you are looking for practical techniques that will help you write .NET applications, this is NOT the book you want. Now this book is sort of interesting and points out weirdnesses of .NET but nothing that I hadn't seen online. So, check this book out first by browsing through a hard copy in a bookstore to see if it's what you want. I wish I had.

This is an excellent book ..........2006-01-27

... for many reasons, foremost in my mind - the format makes for very efficient reading - and if all you have is 30 minutes a day, a gotcha or two a day and in a month you are done. That being said, I found some of the topics rather esoteric, so chose to revisit those at some point in the unknown, er, future.

Superb succinct read.

GOTCHA!!!.......2005-11-14

Are you among the many programmers who have come to appreciate how powerful Microsoft's .NET Framework can be as a platform for development? If you have, this book is for you! Author Venkat Subramaniam, has done an outstanding job of writing a great book that shares his .NET experiences with developers, to help them avoid the gotchas!

Subramaniam begins by discussing the features in the CLR and the Framework that can impact the behavior and performance of your application. Next, the author focuses on Visual Studio- and compiler-related gotchas. Then, he delves into gotchas at the language and API level of the .NET platform. The author continues by discussing the issues of language operability gotchas. In addition, the author next focuses on concerns related to garbage collection, and how to write code that handles it effectively. He also discusses, the things you need to be aware of in the areas of inheritance and polymorphism so you can make the best use of these important concepts. Next, the author addresses the general problems with threading, the thread pool, asynchronous calls using delegates, and threading problems related to Windows Forms and Web Services. Finally, he focuses on details you should be aware of to make interoperability work for you.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of writing a book that focuses on the .NET Framework and language features that have consistently exhibited behavior that is not obvious to the programmer. So, why should you be interested in learning about these unexpected features? Because, knowning these little gotchas will help you avoid mistakes!

Technically Good but a Bit on the Dry Side.......2005-11-10

I got this book as a gift. I'm not sure that I would have bought it myself. Pros: good technical information, one of the few books to give both VB.NET and C# versions. Cons: very dry writing style and the topics seemed disconnected somehow. So, I give it a 5 for technical and a 1 for writing, for an overall of 3.0. I think this is a book you'll like a lot or dislike a lot.

User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls

Average customer rating:

Great book
Easy to follow and sufficiently detailed
Comprehensive Guidelines on .NET Controls
Approach with caution
Great book, just what you need to know

User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls
Matthew MacDonald
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590590449

Book Description

User Interfaces in VB. NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls goes beyond simple coverage of the Windows Forms and GDI+ namespaces by combining a careful treatment of the API with a detailed discussion of good user-interface design principles. After reading User Interfaces in VB. NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls, you'll know how to design state-of-the-art application interfaces, program graphics, and much more.

This book contains the following:

An overview of how to design elegant user interfaces the average user can understand
A comprehensive examination of the user interface controls and classes in .NET
Best practices and design tips for coding user interfaces and integrating help

Although this book isn't a reference, it does contain detailed discussions about every user interface element you'll use on a regular basis. But you won't just learn how to use .NET controls--you'll learn how and why to extend them with your own custom controls. As a developer, you need to know more than how to add a control to a window. You also need to know how to create an entire user interface framework that's scalable, flexible, and reusable.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2004-04-13

I'm a fairly new programmer in vb.net(finished vb.net II) and I found this book to be VERY good. Yes it is very theory intensive but the examples it gives are fairly straight forward and if you aren't the world's best programmer they show you how to make controls to make some really slick looking programs.

There are a few .net 1.0 examples that will not work in the new 1.1 (notably the xp theme visualizations) but this book is well worth it if you are interested in making some "professional" looking forms for your application.

Easy to follow and sufficiently detailed.......2003-05-31

For someone who has already used other languages for GUI design, this is a great book to get quickly up to speed in the .Net view of Windows forms. It didn't cover everything in enough detail for me but good enough to get me started. I would of liked more on data grid (how about a whole book on it as it's complex enough) and context menus but I eventually figured it out on my own. I could go for an advanced version of this book too.

Comprehensive Guidelines on .NET Controls.......2003-05-07

I found this book to be excellent. It isn't 100% comprehensive, but it is full of real, practical code and suggestions for using controls. It's the only book I've found that dealt with the treeview, listview, and imagelist in enough detail. Particularly noteworthy are the descriptions on how to create custom controls based on these controls that have built-in application meaning. For example, the book explains how to create a treeview that has a hard-coded "structure" and exposes custom methods for adding/navigating your type of data. Similar advice is given with validation, drag-and-drop, form inheritance, MDI workspaces, and data binding strategies. Basically, the book is a solid guide to mastering .NET controls. Note that this book isn't the best place to learn GDI+. Although there are two excellent chapters on the subject and the basic charting control, both Apress and Wrox provide dedicated GDI+ books that focus more closely on custom drawing.

Probably the best example in the book is the document-view architecture with the print preview--simple, elegant, and worth the trouble. Overall, high-content, well-written and genuinely **USEFUL**!

Approach with caution.......2003-04-08

This book is about the details of form building. It is not about the details of backending a form to a database or website. It has a very specific remit and if you are not an experienced VB.Net programmer you could be badly caught out here. This is not a book to cut your UI building teeth on. There are introductory texts to do that. It is also not a UI design book. So don't expect lashings of advice on usability theory, design and test. They are just not here.

The focus on the book is on form controls creation and the various arcana in .Net that support them. Many interesting and useful topics are raised in the book (there is an overlap between some of these and the coverage in other books, e.g. MDi and GDI+). However, the extent to which they will generalise for the 'average' programmer is another question. I am not convinced that the book has sufficent novel content over an above other more general texts of the market.

Unless you specifically need detail about form controls, form splitters, personalised system trays etc, this book may be overkill. A good deal of topics in the book is covered in Deitel and Deitel (and more besides),and Balena. So if you are learning VB.Net be careful in your choice.

Great book, just what you need to know.......2002-09-21

It is interesting to compare this book to the one by Petzold which I also regard as a "must buy" - but for different reasons. Macdonald's book is much more manageable than Petzold but still seemed to contain everything I wanted to know about Windows forms.

Petzold on the other hand is roughly twice as long and thus far more complete. Petzold is also perhaps a slightly more interesting writer than MacDonald - but then I am not sure everybody needs the details provided by Petzold...

Book Description

.NET Windows Forms are a new programming paradigm introduced with Microsoft's .NET initiative. Windows Forms are very similar to Web Forms, which allow programmers to build complex Web application interfaces easily, sharing the same underlying framework and programming concepts. Windows Forms, however, are used for the Win32 platform, instead of the Internet, and allow programmers to build traditional Windows desktop-based applications structured around .NET.

Sams Teach Yourself .NET Windows Forms in 21 Days covers all the major aspects of Windows Forms necessary to build professional, functional applications. This book follows the tried-and-tested 21 Days tutorial model to guide the reader through Windows Forms. It features code examples and tips for programmers migrating from pre-Windows Forms Microsoft technologies.

The reader will be introduced to the many controls available for .NET Windows Forms and how to build them, learn how to create events and event handlers, explore ADO.NET and methods to retrieve data from dynamic data sources, and learn how to take advantage of the Internet and Internet Explorer from their .NET Windows Forms applications. As readers advance through the tutorials, they progress toward more advanced topics and projects by creating simple graphical applications and enhancing existing ones, learn how to integrate with other .NET applications, use Web services, build Windows services, build Windows Forms controls, create multi-threaded applications, work with COM and COM+ configure and deploy .NET Windows Forms, and how to de-bug .NET Windows Forms.

Download Description

After reading this book, readers will be able to create their own .NET Windows Forms applications from scratch. Chris Payne is the best-selling author of one of the first .NET Framework books on the market. There are 5 million Windows programmers that will benefit from this tutorial-based, comprehensive and rigorous approach to all of their new Windows Forms tools. Contains code and projects for all the major topics of .NET Windows Forms. .NET Windows Forms are a new programming paradigm introduced with Microsoft's .NET initiative. Windows Forms are very similar to Web Forms, which allow programmers to build complex Web application interfaces easily, sharing the same underlying framework and programming concepts. Windows Forms, however, are used for the Win32 platform, instead of the Internet, and allow programmers to build traditional Windows desktop-based applications structured around .NET. This book will cover all major aspects of Windows Forms to build professional, functional applications. This book follows the tried-and-tested 21 Days tutorial model to guide readers through Windows Forms. It features code examples and tips for programmers migrating from pre-Windows Forms Microsoft technologies. Chris Payne is the co-founder and CIO of Enfused Media, Inc, which designs and develops applications to automate business processes. Chris has taught ASP and solution techniques through articles, tutorials, and books, and has a background in writing both technical and non-technical material. He is the author of the best-selling Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days, 0-672-32168-8, Sams Publishing.

Customer Reviews:

Typos, Missing Code, Poor Author/Publisher Support.......2003-09-09

I'm currently working my way through Day 3 of this book. On the good side, I am producing working Windows Forms using the .NET Framework SDK and this book. I'm generally able to follow the text and the exercises. My forms are on the simple side, of course, and follow the book examples, but I feel I am progressing well.

On the bad side, the book has numerous typos to this point (Day 3). The downloaded code does not have some image files such as .ico and .bmp files crucial to one of the Day 3 exercises. Also some code written in vb.net in the book is provided as C# in the downloaded code. Some downloaded code seem missing entirely. A bad omen for the remaining days. I visited the author's web site and emailed him a question. So far he has not answered. I used the publisher's web site "Contact Us" page to let them know the downloaded code is missing some files, and got a response that must have been sent by an email robot -- it didn't at all speak to my concern. There is no published errata on either the publisher's or author's web sites.

I admit that I am getting some Windows Forms juice out of this particular fruit. I don't know how intelligible coming chapters will be. But the very poor product support means that if you buy this book and have a question or concern you are out of luck. Good technical writers are proud of their books and respond to reader questions. Some are also extremely active in mailing list forums. Good publishers like O'Reilly respond to readers with replies that speak to the questions being posed.

I have a tough time reccomending this book. You might do better elsewhere. Maybe that Windows Forms title offered by the Manning publishing house will be a help? I don't know.

Pretty good book.......2003-04-03

I'd like to offer a different perspective on this book than the previous reviewer. I think it's a pretty well written book and I still use it today as a reference in my job training MCSD candidates. One of the good things about the book is it's comprehensive coverage of so many topics (which is one reason I use it as a reference source). Also, Chris's writing style is enjoyable and he communicates well - his ASP.NET book is extremely popular and this book shares a lot of the same qualities.

Yes, it would have been better if it had covered using VS.NET instead of just using text files and the command line compilers but like many .NET books this book was written while VS.NET was still in beta. If you publish a book full of pictures and instructions dealing with the beta version of a tool and then the released version is significantly different, you have big problems. So most publishers produced books on the command line tools. Besides, to really understand something like .NET it's good to know how to code it by hand. Ideally you'd read two books, one like this that codes by hand and one that shows you how to use the power of the IDE.

As to having to download anything extra to compile and run the programs in the book, if you have VS.NET installed then you have the command line compilers. Duh!

If you like the "teach yourself in 21 day" style of learning topics by working with lots of example programs and if you want to know how to code .NET by hand (so you can understand the code the IDE is generating) this is a good book for you.

Don't buy this book.......2003-03-15

I often purchase based upon the reviews and am grateful people take the time to write them.

I'm writing this review to warn you NOT to buy this book. For me, it has been a waste of time and money.

There are two main problems:

1) The author for some reason I do not understand chose to NOT use Visual Studio .Net tools or the Form Designer to do the examples. Duh! Apparently, by only downloading the .Net runtime you can compile programs from the command line and run them. All the samples assume your going to do that. Perhaps his editor told him to do this to 'reach a larger market'. But first off, if you don't have the development tools you probably aren't serious about development and won't be buying many books. Second, learning windows forms IMHO is all about using the VS.Net Form Designer and if you don't have that there is little point. The fact is when you get a real job, they're going provide you with and want you to know how to use the VS.Net tools. I consider this a MAJOR flaw for this book. If you buy this book, you'll spend all your time cutting and pasting his sample code into a real project and setting up the compilation etc. Yup, he doesn't even include project files since there's no assumption you are using the de-facto tools! What a pain. You'll also spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to use the Forms Designer to do what he did manually. 21 days, right. More like 21 weeks.

2) The other problem with this book, though this is more a personal preference, is the author obviously focused on VB.Net and only seems to have added C# at the end of the process. Many examples are only given in VB and most of the text explains VB first and then makes a few comments about C#. As a professional C++ developer, I want to use C# and am disappointed about the VB focus. If you're learning VB, then great, you'll probably like this. If you're doing C#, then switching back and forth from the VB based text to your C# code can be annoying and time consuming.

If your a VB developer and don't have the tools, then maybe this book would be for you, but I think it silly to write a book called 'Teach Yourself .Net Windows Forms' and not use the obvious de-facto tools.

As for the content, it seems ok, but I'm having such trouble converting the projects and shifting from VB to C# that I honestly haven't gotten very far into the book (first 5 or 6 chapters) and have finally come to the conclusion I will have to find another book.

I have from time to time used this book as a reference because I have no other (yet), and have found it somewhat useful for that, but as a tutorial on learning forms forget it.

To be fair, there are a number of other books out there that don't provide samples with project files and don't assume the tools everyone will use (VS.NET), and I hate that too, but for a .net FORMS book, I think this a fatal flaw.

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