Description
Visual Basic is widely regarded as the most popular Windows application development environment. Microsoft has continually enhanced Visual Basic’s capabilities to include enterprise-wide distributed application development. This course explains how to develop and distribute Visual Basic applications in a client/server environment.

Audience
Programmers and developers using Visual Basic 6.0 to develop client/server applications.

Prerequisites
Participants must have an understanding of Windows and basic programming skills. Familiarity with Basic syntax is helpful, but not necessary.

Hardware and Software
Windows PCs for each student and instructor. Visual Basic 6.0 is required.

Format

• Presentation
  
• Hands-on
  

Objectives
After completing this course, participants should be able to:

• Utilize and customize the Visual Basic IDE
• Describe the Visual Basic toolset
• Apply sound user-interface design
• Design and develop Visual Basic applications
• Enhance applications with OLE automation, distributed database access, and error handling
• Utilize external files from Visual Basic applications
• Describe and use ActiveX technologies
• Package and distribute completed applications

Introduction to Visual Basic

• Overview of Visual Basic
• Creating a Visual Basic application

Visual Basic Forms

• Visual Basic forms
• Introduction to MDI

ActiveX Controls

• Introduction to ActiveX controls
• Common controls

Visual Basic Coding

• Coding basics
• Control statements and procedures
• Debugging

Menus and User Input

• Menus
• Controlling user input

Dialog Boxes

• Designing and creating dialog boxes

Working with Windows: Files and the Registry

• File I/O
• The Windows Registry

Exception Handling

• Introduction to error handling
• Traps
• The Err object
• Raising errors

Working with Common Controls

• ActiveX common controls, ImageList, ToolBar, StatusBar, SSTab, RichTextBox

Working with More Common Controls

• Animation, MSChart, UpDown, MSFlexGrid

Database Connectivity

• VB database connectivity
• The ADO data control

Database Programming with Active Data Objects (ADO)

• ADO Command and Recordset objects
• ADO – Supporting topics

Messaging with MAPI

• MAPI messaging controls

OLE Integration and ActiveX

• Application integration with OLE
• Introduction to ActiveX

Distributing Visual Basic Applications

• Application packaging