Visual CSharp 2005 Express Edition (2006) [eng]

Acknowledgements

Anytime you create a book that is shipping day and date with a product such as this one did, the project is much more complicated because of dealing with beta product right up until the end. There are a number of people I want to thank who have been working hard with me on this book for Wrox, including the following people who are at Wrox: Katie Mohr, who is the nicest acquisition editor (sorry Jim) there is.

She can nag you about a deadline, and you thank her. Howard Jones, a great development editor who would put up with my late night submissions, and still made me look good. Felicia Robinson, the production editor who came in late in the process when we were short on patience, and made things easy for us.

I also want to thank Karli Watson, for taking the time to tech edit my book when I know he is busy with so much of his own work. I am honored to have you work on this book Karli.

Many thanks to Dan Fernandez, who is on the Microsoft C# Express team and Suzanna Moran, my MVP lead at Microsoft, for answering my many questions and making sure I had what I need to get this book done. Dan, you have a great amount of patience, and Suzanna, you rock when it comes to getting me connected with the right people.

As usual, my family has put up with me writing yet another book: Chris 17, Kari Anne 15, Nichole 12, David 10, Joseph 4, and my awesome wife Diana.

Dedication

To my beautiful and brilliant wife and friend, Diana. Besides being a strong woman of God who also demonstrates her belief in me every day, I can’t think of anyone I would rather have by my side for the rest of my life, to guide my kids, and share many beautiful sunsets with.

Contents

About the Author	v
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xix
Part I: Introduction and Concepts	1
Chapter 1: Starting Strong with Visual C# 2005 Express Edition	3
What Is Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express?	4
The Differences between C# and C# Express	4
Members of the Express Series	4
Overview of C# Express Development Environment	9
What Is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment)?	9
Taking a Look at the C# Express Start Page	10
Tools of the C# Express IDE	15
Structure of C# Express Solutions and Projects	16
Summary	18
Exercises	19
Chapter 2: Programming 101: A Quick Discussion	21
What Is Programming?	21
General Programming Overview	22
Hardware versus Software	22
Programming Then and Now	22
Compiled versus Interpreted	23
What about OOP?	24
Introduction to Windows Programming	25
Different Levels of Programming	25
Event Programming	26
Dynamic-Link Libraries	26

Summary	27
Exercises	27

Contents

Chapter 3: Quick Start Creating Your First C# Express Windows Project	29
Which Type of Application to Create: Windows or Console?	30
Differences between Using Windows and Console Applications	30
Purposes for Using Windows and Console Applications	30
Getting Started with Windows Application Projects	31
Setting the IDE up for a Windows Application Project	32
Overview of the Solution Explorer	37
Discussion about Properties	39
Adding Controls to the Form	41
Working with Code on an Event	46
Summary	49
Exercises	50

Chapter 4: Introducing .NET	51
Introduction to .NET Framework	51
Common Language Runtime	53
.NET Framework Class Library	53
Working with .NET Namespaces	55
Object Browser: Tool of the Namespace Trade	55
Supplying the Fully Qualified Namespace	59
The Using Directive	61
Summary	64
Exercises	65

Chapter 5: Getting into C# Types	67
What Are Variables and Constants?	67
Declaring and Assigning C# Variables	68
Standard C# Types	73
Naming C# Variables	76
Converting between Variable Types	77
Enumerations	79
Using C# Constants	80
Summary	80
Exercises	80

Chapter 6: Debugging Applications in C# Express	81
What is Debugging in C# Express?	82
Types of Errors That Can Occur in Your Applications	82
C# Express Debugging Features: Tools of the Trade	82

xiv

	Contents
Working with Breakpoints	86
Edit and Continue Feature in C# Express	87
Displaying and Modifying Variables when in Break Mode	89
Using IntelliSense	89
Additional Ways of Displaying Variables	90
Locals Window	90
Immediate Window	91
Watch Window	92
Additional Windows	92
Stepping through Code	92
Other Debugging Tools	93
Summary	94
Exercises	95
Chapter 7: Selections, Iterations, and Catching Exceptions	97
Performing Selections in Your Applications	98
Creating the Chapter 7 Project	98
Simple Selection Using if...else Statements	99
Working with switch . . . case Statements	104
Performing Iterations	109
Working with for Statements	109
Handling Objects with foreach Statement	111
Using do and while Statements	112
Catching Exceptions in Your Code	115
Starting Off Easy with try...catch Statements	116
Using the finally Statement	118
Summary	121
Exercises	121
Part II: Creating Applications with C# Express	123
Chapter 8: Working with Forms and Controls	125
Creating User Interfaces Using Windows Standards	125
Use of Switchboards	126
Form Application Types and Standards	127
Looking at Forms	128
Form Properties	128
Controls Overview	137
Control Properties	138
The MenuStrip Control	138
Moving, Aligning, and Resizing Controls	141

xv

Contents

Working with MDI Forms	144
The MDI Form Property	144
The MDI Line of Code	145
The Optional MDI Menu Property	145
Summary	147
Exercises	148

Chapter 9: Adding Dialog Boxes and Rich Text to Your Application	149
Introducing the Application	149
Working with the RichTextBox Control	153
Docking the RichTextBox Control	153
Some Other RichTextBox Control Properties	155
Introducing the Dialog Controls	158
Using the ColorDialog Control	158
Using the FontDialog Control	160
Using the OpenFileDialog Control	162
Using the SaveFileDialog Control	164
Summary	165
Exercises	166
Part III: Using Data in Applications	167
Chapter 10: Introducing Database Concepts	169
Getting Started with Databases	169
Looking at Databases in the Real World	170
Database Models	171
Relational Database Model	172
Working with Various Databases	176
File Server versus Client/Server	176
Front and Back Ends	176
Microsoft Access	176
Microsoft SQL Server	178
Summary	179
Exercises	179
Chapter 11: Using SQL Server Express Features within C# Express	181
Introducing SQL Server Express	181
Access to SQL Server	182
SQL Server Configuration Manager	182

xvi

	Contents
SQL Server Tools in C# Express	183
Introducing the Database Explorer	183
Summary	192
Exercises	193
Chapter 12: Utilizing .NET Data Controls	195
Getting Started Using Data in Your Applications	195
Starting with Data Sources	196
Data Controls Overview	199
Using the DataGridView Control	199
Creating a DataGridView with Single Record Display	202
BindingNavigator Control	202
Summary	205
Exercises	205
Chapter 13: Working with ADO.NET	207
Introducing ADO.NET	207
Some Data Access History	208
Welcome ADO.NET	208
Using ADO.NET Classes in Your Application	209
Populating a ListBox Control	210
Adding a DataGridView Control	212
Executing Parameterized Stored Procedures using the SqlCommand Class	214
Summary	217
Exercises	217
Part IV: Finishing Touches	219
Chapter 14: Getting More Experience with Controls	221
Walking through the Demo Application	222
Demo 1: Browsing Web Files	222
Demo 2: Choosing and Displaying Dates	222
Demo 3: Working with Progress and Status Bars	224
Getting Started with the Tab Control	224
Displaying Files in a Web Browser	228
Controls Used for the Demonstration	228
Adding the Code for Browsing and Displaying Files	231
Working with Date Controls	239
Looking at the MonthCalendar Control	240
Looking at the DateTimePicker Control	241

xvii