INTRODUCTION xxxi PART I: LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTS AND ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER 1: VISUAL STUDIO 2012 3 Visual Studio 2012 4 Visual Basic Keywords and Syntax 5 Console Applications 10 Creating a Project from a Project Template 11 The Solution Explorer 14 Project Properties 15 Assembly Information Screen 16 Compiler Settings 18 Debug Properties 21 References 23 Resources 24 Settings 26 Other Project Property Tabs 27 Project ProVB_VS2012 28 Enhancing a Sample Application 31 Customizing the Code 33 Building Applications 44 Running an Application in the Debugger 45 Reusing Your First Windows Form 52 Useful Features of Visual Studio 2012 52 The Task List 52 Server Explorer 53 Class Diagrams 54 Summary 56 CHAPTER 2: THE COMMON LANGUAGE RUNTIME 57 Framework Profi les and Platforms 58 Client and Full Framework Profi les 59 Framework for Metro 59 Silverlight, Windows Phone, and Others 60 .NET 4.5 Portable Class Library 60 Elements of a .NET Application 61 Types 61 Modules 62 Assemblies 63 Cross-Language Integration 65 The Common Type System 65 Metadata 66 The Reflection API 69 IL Disassembler 70 Memory Management 71 Traditional Garbage Collection 72 Faster Memory Allocation for Objects 77 Garbage Collector Optimizations 79 Namespaces 81 What Is a Namespace? 81 Namespaces and References 84 Common Namespaces 86 Importing and Aliasing Namespaces 86 Aliasing Namespaces 89 Referencing Namespaces in ASP.NET 89 Creating Your Own Namespaces 90 The My Keyword 93 My.Application 94 My.Computer 97 My.Resources 99 My.

User 99 Extending the My Namespace 100 Summary 102 CHAPTER 3: OBJECTS AND VISUAL BASIC 103 Object-Oriented Terminology 105 Objects, Classes, and Instances 105 Composition of an Object 105 System.Object 108 Working With Visual Basic Types 109 Value and Reference Types 109 Primitive Types 112 Commands: Conditional 114 If Then 114 Comparison Operators 115 Select Case 117 Value Types (Structures) 117 Boolean 118 Integer Types 119 Unsigned Types 120 Decimal Types 121 Char and Byte 123 DateTime 124 Reference Types (Classes) 125 The Object Class 125 The String Class 126 The DBNull Class and IsDBNull Function 130 Parameter Passing 131 ParamArray 132 Variable Scope 133 Working with Objects 134 Objects Declaration and Instantiation 134 Object References 135 Early Binding versus Late Binding 136 Data Type Conversions 137 Performing Explicit Conversions 138 Creating Classes 143 Basic Classes 143 Handling Events 152 Handling Multiple Events 153 The WithEvents Keyword 154 Raising Events 154 Declaring and Raising Custom Events 155 Receiving Events with WithEvents 156 Receiving Events with AddHandler 158 Constructor Methods 160 Object-Oriented Concepts 161 Overloading Methods 161 Overloading Constructor Methods 164 Shared Methods, Variables, and Events 165 Operator Overloading 169 Delegates 172 Summary 176 CHAPTER 4: CUSTOM OBJECTS 179 Inheritance 180 When to Use Inheritance 181 Implementing Inheritance 183 Interacting with the Base Class, Yourself, and Your Class202 Constructors 206 Object Scope 209 Events and Inheritance 211 Shared Methods 213 Creating an Abstract Base Class 213 Multiple Interfaces 216 Object Interfaces 216 Abstract Interfaces 217 Abstraction 225 Encapsulation 228 Polymorphism 228 Method Signatures 228 Implementing Polymorphism 229 Summary 235 CHAPTER 5: ADVANCED LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTS 237 Preparing the Sample Application 238 Lambda Expressions 240 Creating a Lambda Expression Subroutine 241 Creating a Lambda Expression Function 242 Using Lambda Expressions 243 Handling Events with Lambdas 244 LINQ with Lambdas 245 Async and Await 247 The Core Concept 248 Using Async and Await 252 Iterators 256 The Core Concept 256 Using Iterators 259 Summary 261 CHAPTER 6: EXCEPTION HANDLING AND DEBUGGING 263 System.Exception 264 Handling Exceptions 265 Try, Catch, and Finally 265 The Throw Keyword 267 The Exit Try Statement 268 Using Exception Properties 269 Logging Errors 273 The Event Log 273 Using the Trace and Debug Objects 275 Summary 278 PART II: BUSINESS OBJECTS AND DATA ACCESS CHAPTER 7: ARRAYS, COLLECTIONS, AND GENERICS 281 Arrays 282 Multidimensional Arrays 284 The UBound Function 284 The ReDim Statement 285 The Preserve Keyword 286 Collections 286 Iterative Statements 288 Boxing 291 Generics 292 Using Generics 293 Nullable Types 294 Generic Types 295 Generic Methods 298 Creating Generics 300 Generic Types 300 Generic Methods 307 Constraints 308 Generics and Late Binding 311 Covariance and Contravariance 312 Summary 314 CHAPTER 8: USING XML WITH VISUAL BASIC 315 An Introduction to XML 316 XML Serialization 318 Serializing 318 Deserializing 320 Source Code Style Attributes 322 System.Xml Document Support 324 XML Stream-Style Parsers 325 Document Object Model (DOM) 337 LINQ to XML 342 LINQ Helper XML Objects 343 XML Literals 347 Querying XML Documents 349 Reading and Writing XML Documents 351 XSL Transformations 354 XSLT Transforming between XML Standards 357 Other Classes and Interfaces in System.Xml.Xsl 360 XML in ASP.NET 361 The XmlDataSource Server Control 361 The XmlDataSource Control''s Namespace Problem 365 The Xml Server Control 366 Summary 368 CHAPTER 9: ADO.NET AND LINQ 369 ADO.

NET Architecture 371 Basic ADO.NET Features 372 Common ADO.NET Tasks 372 Basic ADO.NET Namespaces and Classes 377 ADO.NET Components 378 .NET Data Providers 380 Connection Object 380 Command Object 381 Using Stored Procedures with Command Objects 382 DataReader Object 385 Executing Commands Asynchronously 387 DataAdapter Objects 389 SQL Server .NET Data Provider 394 OLE DB .NET Data Provider 394 The DataSet Component 395 DataTableCollection 395 DataRelationCollection 395 ExtendedProperties 396 Creating and Using DataSet Objects 397 ADO.

NET DataTable Objects 398 Advanced ADO.NET Features of the DataSet and DataTable Objects399 Working with the Common Provider Model 401 Connection Pooling in ADO.NET 403 Transactions and System.Transactions 403 Creating Transactions 403 Creating Resource Managers 405 Summary 406 CHAPTER 10: DATA ACCESS WITH THE ENTITY FRAMEWORK 407 Object-Relational Mapping 408 Entity Framework Architecture 408 Conceptual Model 410 Storage Model 416 Mapping Model 417 LINQ to Entities 417 The ObjectContext 418 Mapping Objects to Entities 419 Simple Mapping 419 Using a Single Table for Multiple Objects 422 Updating the Model 425 Summary 426 CHAPTER 11: SERVICES (XML/WCF) 429 Web Services 430 How This All Fits Together 431 What Makes a WCF Service 431 The Larger Move to SOA 432 Capabilities of WCF 433 Contracts and Metadata 434 Working with the WS-* Protocols 434 Building a WCF Service 436 Creating the Interface 437 Utilizing the Interface 438 Hosting the WCF Service in a Console Application 439 Reviewing the WSDL Document 443 Building a WCF Consumer 445 Adding a Service Reference 445 Reviewing the Reference 447 Configuration File Changes 449 Writing the Consumption Code 451 Working with Data Contracts 453 Namespaces 455 Building the Host 456 Building the Consumer 456 Looking at WSDL and the Schema for HelloCustomerService 459 Summary 461 PART III: SPECIALIZED TOPICS AND LIBRARIES CHAPTER 12: XAML ESSENTIALS 465 Features Shared by All XAML Platforms 466 The XAML Markup Language 466 A Sample Page of XAML 467 Code-Behind and Naming of Elements 468 Getting Our Terminology Straight 469 The UIElement and FrameworkElement Classes 469 Commonly Used Elements 469 Property Setting: Attribute Syntax vs. Element Syntax 470 Referencing Additional Namespaces in XAML 471 The Layout System 472 Measurement Units 472 Panels 472 Sizing and Layout of Elements 479 Controls and Content 484 Content Controls 484 Implications of the Content Model 485 Brushes 486 Resources in XAML 488 The Resources Property 488 More About Resource Dictionaries 489 Scope of a Resource 489 Data Binding 489 Data Binding: Fundamental Concepts 490 The Binding Class and Binding Expressions 4.