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ISBN 978-1-4302-2985-8

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Vidya Vrat Agarwal, Author of

Pro ASP.NET 3.5 in VB 2008

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THE EXPERT’S VOICE® IN .NET

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VB 2010

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Andrew Troelsen and Vidya Vrat Agarwal

Exploring the .NET universe with

Visual Basic 2010

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Andrew Troelsen, Author of

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Pro VB 2010 and

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Andrew Troelsen

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iv

Contents at a Glance

About the Authors ..................................................................................................... liv

About the Technical Reviewer ................................................................................... lv

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... lvi

Introduction ............................................................................................................. lvii

■Chapter 1: Introducing VB 2010 .............................................................................. 1

■Chapter 2: Building Visual Basic 2010 Applications ............................................. 41

■Chapter 3: Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part I .................................... 71

■Chapter 4: Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part II ................................. 125

■Chapter 5: Defining Encapsulated Class Types .................................................... 169

■Chapter 6: Understanding Inheritance and Polymorphism .................................. 227

■Chapter 7: Understanding Structured Exception Handling .................................. 273

■Chapter 8: Understanding Object Lifetime ........................................................... 303

■Chapter 9: Working with Interfaces ..................................................................... 333

■Chapter 10: Understanding Generics ................................................................... 375

■Chapter 11: Delegates, Events, and Lambdas ..................................................... 415

■Chapter 12: Advanced VB 2010 Language Features ............................................ 461

■Chapter 13: LINQ to Objects ................................................................................. 507

■Chapter 14: Configuring .NET Assemblies ........................................................... 543

■Chapter 15: Type Reflection, Late Binding,

■and Attribute-Based Programming ..................................................................... 605

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■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

v

■Chapter 16: Processes, AppDomains, and Object Contexts ................................. 653

■Chapter 17: Understanding CIL and the Role of Dynamic Assemblies ................. 687

■Chapter 18: Dynamic Types and the Dynamic Language Runtime ...................... 739

■Chapter 19: Multithreaded and Parallel Programming ........................................ 765

■Chapter 20: File I/O and Object Serialization ....................................................... 817

■Chapter 21: ADO.NET Part I: The Connected Layer .............................................. 869

■Chapter 22: ADO.NET Part II: The Disconnected Layer ......................................... 931

■Chapter 23: ADO.NET Part III: The Entity Framework .......................................... 999

■Chapter 24: Introducing LINQ to XML ................................................................ 1041

■Chapter 25: Introducing Windows Communication Foundation ........................ 1061

■Chapter 26: Introducing Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0 ............................ 1127

■Chapter 27: Introducing Windows Presentation Foundation and XAML ............ 1165

■Chapter 28: Programming with WPF Controls ................................................... 1227

■Chapter 29: WPF Graphics Rendering Services ................................................. 1295

■Chapter 30: WPF Resources, Animations, and Styles ........................................ 1335

■Chapter 31: WPF Control Templates and UserControls ...................................... 1377

■Chapter 32: Building ASP.NET Web Pages ......................................................... 1427

■Chapter 33: ASP.NET Web Controls, Master Pages, and Themes ...................... 1477

■Chapter 34: ASP.NET State Management Techniques ....................................... 1523

■Appendix A: Programming with Windows Forms .............................................. 1561

■Appendix B: Platform-Independent .NET Development with Mono .................... 1613

Index ..................................................................................................................... 1635

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vi

Contents

About the Authors ..................................................................................................... liv

About the Technical Reviewer ................................................................................... lv

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... lvi

Introduction ............................................................................................................. lvii

■Chapter 1: Introducing VB 2010 .............................................................................. 1

Understanding the Previous State of Affairs ...................................................................... 1

Life As a C/Windows API Programmer ...................................................................................................... 1

Life As a C++/MFC Programmer .............................................................................................................. 2

Life As a Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer ..................................................................................................... 2

Life As a Java Programmer ...................................................................................................................... 3

Life As a COM Programmer ...................................................................................................................... 3

The .NET Solution .............................................................................................................. 4

Introducing the Building Blocks of the .NET Platform (the CLR, CTS, and CLS) ................. 5

The Role of the Base Class Libraries ........................................................................................................ 6

What Visual Basic 2010 Brings to the Table ............................................................................................. 6

Additional .NET-Aware Programming Languages .............................................................. 8

Life in a Multi-Language World .............................................................................................................. 10

An Overview of .NET Assemblies ..................................................................................... 10

Single-File and Multi-File Assemblies .................................................................................................... 12

The Role of the Common Intermediate Language .................................................................................. 12

The Role of .NET Type Metadata ............................................................................................................. 15

The Role of the Assembly Manifest ........................................................................................................ 17

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Understanding the Common Type System ....................................................................... 18

CTS Class Types ..................................................................................................................................... 18

CTS Interface Types ................................................................................................................................ 19

CTS Structure Types ............................................................................................................................... 19

CTS Enumeration Types .......................................................................................................................... 20

CTS Delegate Types ................................................................................................................................ 20

CTS Type Members ................................................................................................................................. 21

Intrinsic CTS Data Types ......................................................................................................................... 21

Understanding the Common Language Specification ...................................................... 22

Ensuring CLS Compliance ....................................................................................................................... 24

Understanding the Common Language Runtime ............................................................. 24

The Assembly/Namespace/Type Distinction ................................................................... 26

The Role of the Microsoft Root Namespace ........................................................................................... 29

Accessing a Namespace Programmatically ........................................................................................... 29

Referencing External Assemblies ........................................................................................................... 31

Exploring an Assembly Using ildasm.exe ........................................................................ 32

Viewing CIL Code .................................................................................................................................... 33

Viewing Type Metadata .......................................................................................................................... 34

Viewing Assembly Metadata (aka the Manifest) .................................................................................... 34

Exploring an Assembly Using Reflector ........................................................................... 35

Deploying the .NET Runtime ............................................................................................ 37

The .NET Client Profile Runtime .............................................................................................................. 37

The Platform-Independent Nature of .NET ....................................................................... 37

Summary ......................................................................................................................... 39

■Chapter 2: Building Visual Basic 2010 Applications ............................................. 41

The Role of the .NET Framework 4.0 SDK ....................................................................... 41

The Visual Studio 2010 Command Prompt ............................................................................................. 42

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Building VB 2010 Applications Using vbc.exe .................................................................. 43

Specifying Input and Output Targets ...................................................................................................... 44

Referencing External Assemblies ........................................................................................................... 45

Referencing Multiple External Assemblies ............................................................................................. 46

Compiling Multiple Source Files ............................................................................................................. 46

Working with VB 2010 Response Files ................................................................................................... 47

Building .NET Applications Using Notepad++ ................................................................. 49

Building .NET Applications Using Visual Basic 2010 Express .......................................... 50

Some Unique Features of Visual Basic 2010 Express ............................................................................ 51

Building .NET Applications Using Visual Studio 2010 ...................................................... 52

Some Unique Features of Visual Studio 2010 ......................................................................................... 53

Targeting the .NET Framework Using the New Project Dialog Box ........................................................ 53

Using the Solution Explorer Utility .......................................................................................................... 54

The Class View Utility ............................................................................................................................. 57

The Object Browser Utility ...................................................................................................................... 58

Integrated Support for Code Refactoring ................................................................................................ 59

Code Expansions Techniques ................................................................................................................. 61

The Visual Class Designer ...................................................................................................................... 62

The Integrated .NET Framework 4.0 SDK Documentation System ......................................................... 68

Summary ......................................................................................................................... 70

■Chapter 3: Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part I .................................... 71

The Role of the Module Type ........................................................................................... 71

Projects with Multiple Modules .............................................................................................................. 73

Modules Are Not Creatable ..................................................................................................................... 74

Renaming Your Initial Module ................................................................................................................. 75

Members of Modules .............................................................................................................................. 75

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ix

The Anatomy of a Simple VB 2010 Program .................................................................... 76

Variations on the Main() Method ............................................................................................................. 77

Specifying an Application Error Code ..................................................................................................... 78

Processing Command-Line Arguments .................................................................................................. 80

Specifying Command-Line Arguments with Visual Studio 2010 ............................................................ 81

An Interesting Aside: Some Additional Members of the System.Environment Class ....... 82

The System.Console Class ............................................................................................... 84

Basic Input and Output with the Console Class ...................................................................................... 85

Formatting Console Output ..................................................................................................................... 86

Formatting Numerical Data .................................................................................................................... 86

Formatting Numerical Data Beyond Console Applications ..................................................................... 88

System Data Types and VB 2010 Shorthand Notation ..................................................... 89

Variable Declaration and Initialization .................................................................................................... 91

Intrinsic Data Types and the New Operator ............................................................................................ 92

The Data Type Class Hierarchy ............................................................................................................... 93

Members of Numerical Data Types ........................................................................................................ 95

Members of System.Boolean .................................................................................................................. 96

Members of System.Char ....................................................................................................................... 96

Parsing Values from String Data ............................................................................................................. 97

System.DateTime and System.TimeSpan ............................................................................................... 98

The .NET 4.0 System.Numerics Namespace .......................................................................................... 98

Working with String Data ............................................................................................... 100

Basic String Manipulation .................................................................................................................... 101

String Concatenation ............................................................................................................................ 102

Special Character Constants ................................................................................................................ 103

End SubStrings and Equality ................................................................................................................ 104

Strings Are Immutable .......................................................................................................................... 105

The System.Text.StringBuilder Type .................................................................................................... 106

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Narrowing and Widening Data Type Conversions .........................................................108

Trapping Narrowing Data Conversions. ............................................................................................... 111

Understanding Option Strict . ............................................................................................................... 112

Setting Project-wide Overflow Checking. ............................................................................................ 113

The Role of System.Convert . ............................................................................................................... 114

Understanding Implicitly Typed Local Variables . ..........................................................115

Restrictions on Implicitly Typed Variables. .......................................................................................... 116

Implicit Typed Data Is Strongly Typed Data. ........................................................................................ 117

Usefulness of Implicitly Typed Local Variables. ................................................................................... 118

VB 2010 Iteration Constructs ........................................................................................118

The For Loop. ....................................................................................................................................... 119

The For Each Loop. .............................................................................................................................. 119

The While and Do/While Looping Constructs. ...................................................................................... 120

Decision Constructs and the Relational/Equality Operators . ........................................121

The If/Then/Else Statement. ................................................................................................................ 121

The Select/Case Statement . ................................................................................................................ 123

Summary .......................................................................................................................124

■Chapter 4: Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part II. ...............................125

Methods and Parameter Modifiers . ..............................................................................125

The ByVal Parameter Modifier. ............................................................................................................ 126

The ByRef Modifier. ............................................................................................................................. 128

The <Out()> Attribute . ......................................................................................................................... 129

The ParamArray Modifier. .................................................................................................................... 130

Defining Optional Parameters. ............................................................................................................. 132

Invoking Methods using Named Parameters........................................................................................ 133

Understanding Method Overloading . ................................................................................................... 135

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■ CONTENTS

xi

Understanding VB 2010 Arrays ...................................................................................... 138

VB 2010 Array Initialization Syntax ....................................................................................................... 139

Implicitly Typed Local Arrays ................................................................................................................ 139

Defining an Array of Objects ................................................................................................................. 140

Working with Multidimensional Arrays ................................................................................................. 141

Arrays As Arguments or Return Values ................................................................................................ 143

The System.Array Base Class ............................................................................................................... 144

Understanding the Enum Type ....................................................................................... 146

Controlling the Underlying Storage for an Enum .................................................................................. 147

Declaring Enum Variables .................................................................................................................... 147

The System.Enum Type ........................................................................................................................ 148

Dynamically Discovering an Enum’s Name/Value Pairs ....................................................................... 149

Understanding the Structure Type ................................................................................. 152

Creating Structure Variables ................................................................................................................ 153

Understanding Value Types and Reference Types ......................................................... 155

Value Types, References Types, and the Assignment Operator ........................................................... 156

Value Types Containing Reference Types ............................................................................................. 158

Passing Reference Types by Value ....................................................................................................... 160

Passing Reference Types by Reference ............................................................................................... 162

Final Details Regarding Value Types and Reference Types .................................................................. 163

Understanding VB 2010 Nullable Types ......................................................................... 164

Working with Nullable Types ................................................................................................................ 165

The Nullable If Operator ........................................................................................................................ 166

Summary ....................................................................................................................... 167

■Chapter 5: Defining Encapsulated Class Types .................................................... 169

Introducing the VB 2010 Class Type .............................................................................. 169

Allocating Objects with the New Keyword ............................................................................................ 172

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Understanding Constructors .......................................................................................... 173

The Role of the Default Constructor ..................................................................................................... 173

Defining Custom Constructors .............................................................................................................. 174

The Default Constructor Revisited ........................................................................................................ 175

The Role of the Me Keyword .......................................................................................... 176

Chaining Constructor Calls Using Me ................................................................................................... 178

Observing Constructor Flow ................................................................................................................. 181

Revisiting Optional Arguments ............................................................................................................. 183

Understanding the Shared Keyword .............................................................................. 184

Defining Shared Methods ..................................................................................................................... 184

Defining Shared Field Data ................................................................................................................... 185

Defining Shared Constructors ............................................................................................................... 188

Defining Modules in VB 2010................................................................................................................ 190

Defining the Pillars of OOP ............................................................................................. 193

The Role of Encapsulation .................................................................................................................... 193

The Role of Inheritance ......................................................................................................................... 194

The Role of Polymorphism .................................................................................................................... 195

VB 2010 Access Modifiers ............................................................................................. 197

The Default Access Modifiers ............................................................................................................... 197

Access Modifiers and Nested Types ..................................................................................................... 198

The First Pillar: VB 2010 Encapsulation Services .......................................................... 198

Encapsulation Using Traditional Accessors and Mutators .................................................................... 199

Encapsulation Using .NET Properties ................................................................................................... 202

Using Properties within a Class Definition ............................................................................................ 206

Internal Representation of Properties ................................................................................................... 207

Controlling Visibility Levels of Property Get/Set Statements ................................................................ 210

Read-Only and Write-Only Properties ................................................................................................... 210

Shared Properties ................................................................................................................................. 211

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xiii

Understanding Automatic Properties ............................................................................. 213

Interacting with Automatic Properties .................................................................................................. 214

Regarding Automatic Properties and Default Values ............................................................................ 215

Understanding Object Initializer Syntax ......................................................................... 217

Calling Custom Constructors with Initialization Syntax ........................................................................ 218

Nested Objects ..................................................................................................................................... 220

Working with Constant Field Data ................................................................................. 221

Understanding Read-Only Fields .......................................................................................................... 222

Shared Read-Only Fields ...................................................................................................................... 223

Understanding Partial Types .......................................................................................... 224

Summary ....................................................................................................................... 225

■Chapter 6: Understanding Inheritance and Polymorphism .................................. 227

The Basic Mechanics of Inheritance .............................................................................. 227

Specifying the Parent Class of an Existing Class .................................................................................. 228

Regarding Multiple Base Classes ......................................................................................................... 230

The NotInheritable Keyword ................................................................................................................. 230

Revising Visual Studio Class Diagrams ......................................................................... 232

The Second Pillar of OOP: The Details of Inheritance .................................................... 235

Controlling Base Class Creation with the MyBase Keyword ................................................................. 237

Keeping Family Secrets: The Protected Keyword ................................................................................. 239

Adding a NotInheritable Class .............................................................................................................. 240

Programming for Containment/Delegation .................................................................... 241

Understanding Nested Type Definitions ............................................................................................... 243

The Third Pillar of OOP: VB’s Polymorphic Support ....................................................... 245

The Overridable and Overrides Keywords ............................................................................................ 246

Overriding Overridable Members Using Visual Studio 2010 ................................................................. 249

NotOverridable Members ...................................................................................................................... 250

Understanding Abstract Classes and the MustInherit Keyword ........................................................... 250

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