FEATURES OF VISUAL BASIC .NET
Visual Studio .NET is the single IDE that all the .NET languages can use. It makes everything available to all languages.
Visual Studio .NET is a great Multilanguage development environment and offers a complete set of tools to build Windows Forms , ASP.NET Web applications , and XML Web services.
Start Page
The Start page offers three tabs at the top of the window that enables to modify Visual Studio.NET as well as find important information. The tabs are
HTML Server Controls versus Web Server Controls | |
| Control Type | When to use this Control Type |
| HTML Server Controls | When converting traditional ASP 3.0 Web pages to ASP.NET Web pages and speed of completion is a concern. It is a lot easier to change your HTML elements to HTML server controls than it is to change them to Web server controls.When you prefer a more HTML-type programming model.When you wish to explicitly control the code that is generated for the browser. |
| Web Server Controls | When you require a rich set of functionality to perform complicated page requirements.When you are developing web pages that will be viewed by a multitude of browser types and that require different code based on these types.When you prefer a more Visual Basic-type programming model that is based on the use of controls and control properties. |
Projects tab: This tab is the one to start new projects and launch projects that already exists. This tab lets you to create a new project or open an existing project.
Online Resources tab: This tab provides a number of online resources when connected to the Internet.
My Profile tab: This tab enables to customize the Visual Studio.NET environment to resemble the structured environment that is familiar with.
Server Explorer
This window enables to perform a number of functions such as database connectivity, performance monitoring, and interacting with event logs.
By using Server Explorer you can log on to a remote server and view database and system data about that server. Many of the functions that are performed with the Enterprise Manager in SQL Server can now be executed in the Server Explorer.
Solution Explorer
This provides an organized view of the projects in the application.The toolbar within the Solution Explorer enables to
- View code page of the selected item.
- View design page of the selected item.
- Refresh the state of the selected item.
- Copy the Web project between Web servers.
- Show all the files in the project, including the hidden files.
- See Properties of the selected item.
Class View
The Class View window can be viewed from the Start Page by clicking the Class View tab. The Class View shows all the classes that are contained within your solution.
The Class View shows the hierarchical relationship among the classes in your solution as well as the number of other items including methods, enumerations, namespaces, unions, and events. It is possible to organize the view of these items within the window by right-clicking anywhere in the Class View area and choosing how the items are sorted.
Toolbox
The Toolbox window enables to specify elements that will be part of the Windows Forms or Web Forms. It provides a drag and drop means of adding elements and controls to the pages or forms. The code snippets can also be stored within the Toolbox.
Properties window
This window provides the properties of an item that is part of the application. This enables to control the style and behavior of the item selected to modify.
Dynamic Help
This window shows a list of help topics. The help topics change based on the item selected or the action being taken.
The Dynamic Help window shows the help items displayed when you have a Button control on the page selected. After the item is selected, a list of targeted help topic is displayed. The topics are organized as a list of links. Clicking one of the links in the Dynamic Help window opens the selected help topic in the Document window.
Document window
The Document window is the main window within Visual Studio.NET where the applications are built.
The Document window shows open files in either Design or HTML mode. Each open file is represented by a tab at the top of the Document window. Any number of files can be kept open at the same time, and you can switch between the open files by clicking the appropriate tab.
Design mode versus HTML mode
Visual Studio.NET offers two modes for viewing and building files: Design and HTML. By clicking the Design tab at the bottom of the Document window, you can see how the page will view to the user. The page is built in the Design mode by dragging and dropping elements directly onto the design page or form. Visual Studio .NET automatically generates the appropriate code.
When the page is viewed in HTML mode, it shows the code for the page. It enables to directly modify the code to change the way in which the page is presented.
Working with SQL Server through the Server Explorer
Using Visual Studio.NET , there is no need to open the Enterprise Manager from SQL Server. Visual Studio.NET has the SQL Servers tab within the Server Explorer that gives a list of all the servers that are connected to those having SQL Server on them. Opening up a particular server tab gives five options:
- Database Diagrams
- Tables
- Views
- Stored Procedures
- Functions
Database Diagrams
To create a new diagram right click Database diagrams and select New Diagram. The Add Tables dialog enables to select one to all the tables that you want in the visual diagram you are going to create.
Visual Studio .NET looks at all the relationships between the tables and then creates a diagram that opens in the Document window.
Each table is represented in the diagram and a list of all the columns that are available in that particular table. Each relationship between tables is represented by a connection line between those tables.
The properties of the relationship can be viewed by right clicking the relationship line.
Tables
The Server Explorer allows to work directly with the tables in SQL Server. It gives a list of tables contained in the particular database selected.
By double clicking one of the tables, the table is seen in the Document window. This grid of data shows all the columns and rows of data contained in the particular table.
The data can be added or deleted from the table grid directly in the Document window. To add a new row of data , move to the bottom of the table and type in a new row of data after selecting the first column of the first blank row. You can also delete a row of data from the table by right clicking the gray box at the left end of the row and selecting Delete.
By right clicking the gray box at the far left end of the row, the primary key can be set for that particular column. The relationships to columns in other tables can be set by selecting the Relationships option.
To create a new table right-click the Tables section within the Server Explorer and selecting New Table. This gives the design view that enables to start specifying the columns and column details about the table.
To run queries against the tables in Visual Studio .NET, open the view of the query toolbar by choosing View->Toolbars->Query.
To query a specific table, open that table in the Document window. Then click the SQL button which divides the Document window into two panes-one for query and other to show results gathered from the query.
The query is executed by clicking the Execute Query button and the result is produced in the lower pane of the Document window.
Views
To create a new view , right-click the View node and select New View. The Add Table dialog box enables to select the tables from which the view is produced. The next pane enables to customize the appearance of the data in the view.
Features of SQL-SERVER
The OLAP Services feature available in SQL Server version 7.0 is now called SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services. The term OLAP Services has been replaced with the term Analysis Services. Analysis Services also includes a new data mining component. The Repository component available in SQL Server version 7.0 is now called Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Meta Data Services. References to the component now use the term Meta Data Services. The term repository is used only in reference to the repository engine within Meta Data Services
SQL-SERVER database consist of six type of objects,
They are,
1. TABLE
2. QUERY
3. FORM
4. REPORT
5. MACRO
TABLE:
A database is a collection of data about a specific topic.
VIEWS OF TABLE:
We can work with a table in two types,
1. Design View
2. Datasheet View
Design View
To build or modify the structure of a table we work in the table design view. We can specify what kind of data will be hold.
Datasheet View
To add, edit or analyses the data itself we work in tables datasheet view mode.
QUERY:
A query is a question that has to be asked the data. Access gathers data that answers the question from one or more table. The data that make up the answer is either dynaset (if you edit it) or a snapshot(it cannot be edited).Each time we run query, we get latest information in the dynaset.Access either displays the dynaset or snapshot for us to view or perform an action on it ,such as deleting or updating.
FORMS:
A form is used to view and edit information in the database record by record .A form displays only the information we want to see in the way we want to see it. Forms use the familiar controls such as textboxes and checkboxes. This makes viewing and entering data easy.
Views of Form:
We can work with forms in several primarily there are two views,
They are,
1. Design View
2. Form View
Design View
To build or modify the structure of a form, we work in forms design view. We can add control to the form that are bound to fields in a table or query, includes textboxes, option buttons, graphs and pictures.
Form View
The form view which display the whole design of the form.
REPORT:
A report is used to vies and print information from the database. The report can ground records into many levels and compute totals and average by checking values from many records at once. Also the report is attractive and distinctive because we have control over the size and appearance of it.
MACRO:
A macro is a set of actions. Each action in macros does something. Such as opening a form or printing a report .We write macros to automate the common tasks the work easy and save the time.
MODULE:
Modules are units of code written in access basic language. We can write and use module to automate and customize the database in very sophisticated ways.
WHAT IS “.NET”?
Microsoft .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for rapidly building and integrating XML Web services, Microsoft Windows-based applications, and Web solutions. The .NET Framework is a language-neutral platform for writing programs that can easily and securely interoperate. There’s no language barrier with .NET: there are numerous languages available to the developer including Managed C++, C#, Visual Basic and Java Script. The .NET framework provides the foundation for components to interact seamlessly, whether locally or remotely on different platforms. It standardizes common data types and communications protocols so that components created in different languages can easily interoperate.
“.NET” is also the collective name given to various software components built upon the .NET platform. These will be both products (Visual Studio.NET and Windows.NET Server, for instance) and services (like Passport, .NET My Services, and so on).