Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition: Build A Program Now!

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This book does not come with a CD This learn-by-doing introduc-tion to Visual C# Express Edition gives you expert tips, coaching and visual examples at each step of the way, along with pointers to additional learning resources to create, compile, test and deliver your first ready-to-use program. Readers get step-by-step instructions and the software needed in one package—at great price. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introducing Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 1 What Is .NET? 2 What Is C#? 4 Is C# an Object-Oriented Programming Language? 4 What Is Visual C# 2008 Express Edition? 10 What Kinds of Applications Can You Build with Visual C# 2008 Express Edition? 10 What Are the Key Features You Need to Know About? 11 Chapter 2 Installing Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 17 Preparing to Install Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 18 Side-by-Side Installation 18 Prerelease Versions of Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 19 Installing Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 19 Chapter 3 Creating Your First Applications 27 Three Types of Applications: What’s the Difference? 28 Getting Started with the IDE 30 Building the Projects 33 Building a Console Application 33 Getting to Know Solution Explorer 35 Getting Help: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition Documentation 36 Coding Your Console Application 40 Customizing the IDE 42 Creating a Windows Application 44 Chapter 4 Creating Your Own Web Browser in Less Than Five Minutes 51 Chapter 5 Using Rapid Application Development Tools with Visual C# 2008 63 Snapping and Aligning Controls Using Snap Lines 64 Using IntelliSense—Your New Best Friend! 66 Opening IntelliSense: Pressing Ctrl+Spacebar 66 Opening IntelliSense: Typing a Period or Left Parenthesis 67 IntelliSense Filtering: Preselecting the “Most Recently Used” 69 Using IntelliSense Code Snippets: The Time-Saver 69 Invoking Code Snippets 70 Using IntelliSense Automatic Using Statements 72 iv Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now! Organizing Using Statements 73 Automatically Generating a Method Stub 73 Renaming and Refactoring 74 Why Should You Rename? 75 Using the Rename Feature 75 Refactoring: Using the Extract Method Command 79 Exploring Common Windows Controls 80 What Happens When an Event Is Triggered? 83 Chapter 6 Modifying Your Web Browser 89 Opening Your Application 90 Interacting Through Dialog Boxes 100 Adding an About Dialog Box 100 Adding a Navigate Dialog Box 102 Having a Professional Look and Feel at Your Fingertips 106 Adding a Tool Strip Container and Some Tools 106 Adding a Status Bar to Your Browser 108 Personalizing Your Application with Windows Icons 111 Redoing the Browser 118 Using Windows Presentation Foundation 119 WPF and XAML 119 Chapter 7 Fixing the Broken Blocks 133 Debugging an Application 134 Using a DLL in an Application 134 Using Breakpoints, Locals,Edit and Continue, and Visualizers 136 Chapter 8 Managing the Data 149 What Is a Database? 150 What’s in a Database? 150 What Are Data Normalization and Data Integrity? 151 What Is Null? 154 What Are Primary Keys and Foreign Keys? 154 Interacting with a Relational Database 157 Using SQL Server 2005 Express in Visual C# Express Edition 158 Creating a Database Using Visual C# 2008 Express Edition 159 Creating Tables in Your Database 161 Creating Relationships Between the Tables 163 Entering Data in SQL Server Tables Using Visual Studio 167 What Are ADO.NET, Data Binding, and LINQ? 171 Developing the CarTracker Application 173 Using the Component Tray 180 Getting More Meaningful Information on the Form 181 Using LINQ 190 Chapter 9 Building Your Own Weather Tracker Application 195 Exploring the Features of the Weather Tracker Application 196 Creating the Application User Interface 197 Adding Notification Area Capabilities 199 Adding the Splash Screen and About Dialog Box 207 Adding the Options Dialog Box 210 Using the MSN Weather Web Service 213 Connecting to MSN Weather Web Services 214 Setting User and Application Preferences 219 Working in the Background 220 Completing the Core Weather Tracker Functionality 229 Testing Weather Tracker 235 Working with the Options Dialog Box 236 Testing Weather Tracker Options 240 And Now, Just Click Once 241 Glossary 247 Index 249