Introduction

This three-day instructor-led course provides students with the skills required to build Microsoft® Windows® Forms applications by using the Microsoft .NET Framework. This course is a part of the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET curriculum and is intended to provide Visual Basic programmers with the skills required to create Windows Forms applications by using the .NET Framework. The course will cover the major topics for Windows client application programming on the .NET Framework. These topics include: Windows Forms, GDI+, simple data access, interoperating with unmanaged code, threading and asynchronous programming issues, simple remoting, Web access, XML Web services consumption, debugging, security, and deployment issues for desktop applications.

Audience

This course is intended for the intermediate programmer who is responsible for designing and building Windows-based applications with the .NET Framework. It is designed for developers who have Visual Basic development skills. Students are required to have the following skills:

§                     Experience with a .NET language such as Visual Basic .NET

§                     Experience developing basic applications with MFC and/or Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0

Typically, these individuals perform the following key activities:

§                     Help create functional specifications.

§                     Design and develop user interfaces.

§                     Create and test prototypes.

§                     Write Windows Forms applications.

At Course Completion

After completing this course, students will be able to:

§                     Create and populate Windows Forms.

§                     Organize controls on Windows Forms.

§                     Create menus in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Add code to form and control event procedures in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Create Multiple Document Interface (MDI) applications.

§                     Use dialog boxes in Windows Forms applications.

§                     Validate user input in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Create and use user controls in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Create licenses for controls.

§                     Bind Windows Forms applications to various data sources by using Microsoft ADO.NET.

§                     Consume XML Web services from Windows Forms applications.

§                     Use .NET and COM components in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Call Microsoft Win32® APIs from a Windows Forms application.

§                     Migrate Visual Basic 6.0 applications to Visual Basic .NET.

§                     Print documents in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Make asynchronous calls to methods from a Windows Forms application.

§                     Debug a Windows Forms application.

§                     Incorporate accessibility features in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Localize a Windows Forms application.

§                     Add support for Help to localize a Windows Forms application.

§                     Create Help files in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Deploy a Windows Forms application.

§                     Implement code access and role-based security in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Add deployment flexibility to applications by using shared assemblies.

Prerequisites

The course assumes that students have the following skills:

§                     Understanding of Visual Basic programming

§                     Experience building applications

The following prerequisites are recommended for this course:

§                     Course 2559A—Introduction to Visual Basic .NET programming
Or
Equivalent knowledge

Microsoft Certified Professional Exams

This course helps you prepare for the following Microsoft Certified Professional exam:

§                     Exam 70-306: Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET

Student Materials

The student kit includes a comprehensive workbook and other necessary materials for this class.

Course Outline

Module 1: Introducing Windows Forms

This module introduces Windows forms and controls in the .NET Framework. Students will learn how to create and populate base forms and inherited forms by using the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Framework. They will also learn how to add controls to a form and how to create Multiple Document Interface (MDI) applications.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Create a form and add controls to it.

§                     Create an inherited form by using Visual Inheritance.

§                     Organize controls on a form.

§                     Create Multiple Document Interface (MDI) applications.

Module 2: Working With Controls

This module explains how to create event procedures (handlers) in your application that will run in response to user actions. Students will learn how to add programming logic to the event procedures of a control, how to use the Windows Forms intrinsic controls, dialog boxes, and menus, and how to validate the data entered by users of your application.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Create an event handler for a control.

§                     Select and use the appropriate controls in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Use dialog boxes in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Add controls to a form at run time.

§                     Create and use menus in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Validate user input in a Windows Forms application.

Module 3: Building Controls

This module explains how to extend the functionality of an existing Windows control, combine multiple existing controls into a composite control, and build a new custom control. Students will also learn how to add design-time licensing support to a control.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Extend an existing control.

§                     Create a composite control by combining functionality of several existing Windows Forms controls.

§                     Describe the design-time support options for components provided by Visual Studio .NET.

§                     Add attributes that provide information to the Visual Designer.

§                     Create and validate licenses for controls.

Module 4: Using Data in Windows Forms Applications

This module explains how to bind Windows forms to various data sources by using ADO .NET. Students will learn about binding Windows forms to data from sources such as databases and XML files. Students will get an overview of the XML Web services programming model and learn how to create applications that use XML Web services. The module also provides an overview of how to persist data to and read data from files and isolated storage.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Describe the objects in the ADO.NET object model.

§                     Add and configure ADO.NET objects in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Access and modify data from a database by using DataSets.

§                     Bind data to controls.

§                     Describe the XML Web services model and the roles of HTML, SOAP, and XML in the XML Web services model.

§                     Create and test a simple XML Web service client application.

§                     Persist data to files, serialize objects, use isolated storage, and persist application settings.

Module 5: Interoperating with Managed Objects

This module explains how to use .NET and COM components in a Windows Forms application. Students will also learn how to call Win32 APIs in their Windows Forms application.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Use .NET and COM components in a Microsoft .NET Framework Windows Forms application.

§                     Call Win32 APIs from a Windows Forms application.

§                     Upgrade Visual Basic 6.0 applications to Visual Basic .NET.

Module 6: Printing and Reporting in Windows Forms Applications

This module explores how to implement printing in a Windows Forms application and how to create reports in a Windows Forms application by using Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Print documents in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Use the Visual Studio .NET printing dialog boxes in a Windows Forms application.

§                     Use GDI+ to construct print document content.

§                     Create and format reports by using Crystal Reports.

Module 7: Asynchronous Programming

This module explains how to use the techniques of asynchronous programming and multithreading to avoid blocking the user interface of an application.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Describe the .NET Framework asynchronous programming model.

§                     Modify a client application to use built-in .NET Framework support for asynchronous calls to methods.

§                     Describe how to add explicit support for asynchronous calls to any method.

Module 8: Enhancing the Usability of Applications

This module covers how to use the accessibility, Help, and localization features available in the .NET Framework.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Use .NET Framework features to add and enable accessibility features in an application.

§                     Add support for context-sensitive Help, Help menus, and ToolTips to an application.

§                     Use localization properties and resource files to create a localized version of a .NET Framework Windows Forms application.

Module 9: Deploying Windows Forms Applications

This module explains assemblies and how to use strong-named assemblies and the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) in the .NET Framework. Students will also learn how to configure and deploy .NET-based applications.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Use strong-named assemblies in .NET applications.

§                     Use application configuration files to configure and use Microsoft Windows Installer 2.0 to package and deploy .NET applications.

Module 10: Securing Windows Forms Applications

This module explains the .NET Framework security model. Students will learn how to use .NET Framework security features in Windows Forms applications.

After completing this module, students will be able to:

§                     Describe the .NET Framework security model.

§                     Use code access security to secure an application.

§                     Use role-based security to control access to an application.