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Visual C# .NET Developer's Handbook PDF Download
Introduction
Frustration! It's one word that I've used to describe many of my development experiences.
Anyone who's worked with Visual Studio fully knows about the two-language dilemma that it
poses. At the one end of the development experience, Visual Basic makes development
relatively easy and fast, but it lacks the low-end connectivity I often need without performing
a lot of additional programming. At the other end of the development continuum, Visual C++
makes it relatively easy to gain low-level access to anything in the Windows environment, but
development is a time-intensive task requiring Machiavellian expertise.
What most developers need is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup programming experience-two
tastes in one. C# provides that flavor-combining programming experience in many ways; you
gain the rapid application development environment of Visual Basic combined with the lowlevel language support of Visual C++. One of the main purposes of this book is to share that two-tastes-in-one experience with you.
Take the Grand Tour
I'm assuming that many of you have already programmed in Visual Basic or Visual C++ (or
perhaps even both) and found the experience lacking in some fundamental way. C# is a great
development language, but it's by no means perfect. I'll still use Visual C++ to develop native
unmanaged applications and components that need that last ounce of performance. Visual
Basic is still my development language of choice for quick prototyping and some database
management tasks. However, for the vast majority of my programming needs, C# fills a need
that the other two languages can't (without a lot of extra effort). Of course, the trick is
learning where C# fits into your language toolkit.
We'll take the grand tour of C# programming capabilities in this book. I won't bore you with
fundamentals such as basic code construction or learning how to create programming loops.
We will discuss everything from basic utility applications to complex database applications
that use OLE-DB, ODBC.NET, ADO, or ADO.NET as a basis for communication. Some of the applications will provide a view of the local programming environment, while others will
provide a view of the Internet and distributed application development in all its glory. By the
time you finish Chapter 17, you'll know that C# is a language for every environment-from the
desktop to the PDA.
Some Extras to Consider
You'll also find three interesting appendices in the back of the book. The first two will help
those of you who are used to working with Visual C++ or Visual Basic make the adjustment
to C#. You'll learn how C# differs from these two languages and about some of the common
problems that other developers have faced when making the transition. The third appendix
will show how you can create a complex application that Microsoft doesn't even mention in
the Visual Studio .NET help files-the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. I
placed this example in an appendix because it isn't a pure C# application-some applications
still require the use of Visual C++ to make some underlying connections, and this is one of
them. C# is a new programming language. While it does resemble languages of the past, it's truly a new language for a new age of application development. This book is your guide to a larger world of C# application development. You'll learn how to create many types of applications, but more importantly, you'll learn how unique C# is and how it can help you overcome modern application development problems that older languages are ill equipped to handle.
Who Should Read This Book?
I'll begin by saying that, as I write this, there are many good books for novices on the market,
and I have consequently decided not to discuss the same issues that those other texts already
cover. This book specifically addresses the needs of those who already know something about C# or at least those who have decided to move from another Visual Studio language such as Visual C++ or Visual Basic. If you've never programmed before, you'll probably find that you'll get lost by the time you reach the end of the first chapter.
As mentioned in the first part of the Introduction, this book provides the grand tour of C#. I've designed it to show you how to put a variety of application types together in a short time and with little effort. We'll explore the capabilities of C# by looking at a wealth of programming examples. Every chapter has several examples, most of which show a specific set of C# features. Most intermediate-to-expert level developers who have some experience in other languages and want to learn what C# can do for them will gain something by reading this book.
Some experts will find that this book doesn't answer every question. If you have already read
every C# book on the market and regularly develop complex applications using C#, I don't
have a lot to offer in the way of truly strange development tricks (unless you consider the
example in Appendix C). This is a book that shows how to perform typical programming
tasks. For example, the database examples show how to create multiple views of the same
data, add, remove, and update records, and perform some mandatory tasks such as printing.
The example won't show you how to create a complex connection between your mainframe, a minicomputer, and several web server farms-I simply don't get into that much detail.
Tools Required
There are some assumptions that I've made while writing the application programming
examples in this book. You need at least two machines: a workstation and a server. This twomachine setup is the only way that you'll see C# in action and truly know it works as
anticipated. In addition, your development workstation and server must meet the minimum
.NET requirements (and hopefully provide more than the minimum). You might experience
problems with the database and other large examples if you're running a minimal machine
configuration.
During the writing of this book, I used a Windows 2000 and Windows XP workstation.
There's no guarantee that any of the code in the book will work with Windows 9x, although
most of it will. The server was loaded with Windows 2000 Server with the latest patches and
service packs installed. You'll need a Pocket PC-compatible PDA to work with the examples in Chapter 17. You must install the latest service packs for all products before the examples will work properly. .NET is a new technology and relies on the latest versions of many DLLs and the .NET Framework.
Note Many of the concepts you'll learn in this book won't appear in your online
documentation. Some of it's so new that it only appears on selected websites. You'll find
either a tip or a note alerting you to the location of such information throughout the
book. In addition, Microsoft made some material available only through selected
channels like MSDN subscriptions. Other pieces of information are simply
undocumented, and you won't find them anywhere except within a newsgroup when
someone finds a feature accidentally.
I tested all of the examples in this book with Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect Edition.
None of these examples are guaranteed to work with any other programming language
products and none of them will work with the educational versions of Visual Studio.
Some of the example programs rely on a database manager. I used Microsoft Access for many of the examples in this book for the sake of simplicity. Other examples rely on SQL Server 2000 so that you can see the power C# when working in the database management
environment.
Conventions Used in This Book
It always helps to know what the special text means in a book. In this section we'll cover
usage conventions. This book uses the following conventions:
Inline Code Some code will appear in the running text of the book to help explain
application functionality. The code appears in a special typeface that makes it easy to see.
This monospaced font also makes the code easier to read.
Inline Variable As with source code, variables that appear inline will also use a special
typeface that makes them stand out from the rest of the text. When you see monospaced text
in an italic typeface, you can be sure it's a variable of some sort.
User Input Sometimes I'll ask you to type something and designate it with this typeface. For
example, you might need to type a particular value into the field of a dialog box. This special
font helps you see what you need to type.
[Filename] When you see square brackets around a value, switch, or command, it means
that it's an optional component. You don't have to include it as part of the command line or
dialog field unless you want the additional functionality that the value, switch, or command
provides.
Filename A variable name is a value that you need to replace with something else. For
example, you might need to provide the name of your server as part of a command-line
argument. Because I don't know the name of your server, I'll provide a variable name instead.
The variable name you'll see usually provides a clue as to what kind of information you need
to supply. In this case, you'll need to provide a particular filename.
File→Open Menus and the selections on them appear with a special menu arrow symbol.
"File→Open" means "Access the File menu and choose Open."
italic You'll normally see words in italic if they have special meaning or this is the first use
of the term and its accompanying definition. Always pay special attention to words in italic,
because they're unique in some way.
monospace Some words appear in a monospace font because they're easier to see, they
require emphasis of some type, or to immediately let you know they aren't standard English
words. For example, all filenames in the book appear in a monospace font to make them
easier to read.
URLs URLs will normally appear highlighted so that you can see and refer back to them
with greater ease. The URLs in this book provide sources of additional information designed
to make your development experience better. URLs often provide sources of interesting
information as well.
Notes, Tips, and Warnings
This book contains many notes, tips, and warnings to provide you with particularly significant
information. The following paragraphs describe the purpose of each.
Note Notes tell you about interesting facts that don't necessarily affect your ability to use the
other information in the book. I use note boxes to give you bits of information that I've
picked up while using C#, Windows 9x, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.
Tip Everyone likes tips because they tell you new ways of doing things that you might not
have thought about before. A tip box might also provide an alternative way of doing
something that you might like better than the first approach I provided.
Warning Warnings almost always tell you about some kind of system or data damage that'll
occur if you perform a certain action (or fail to perform others). Make sure you
understand a warning thoroughly before you follow any instructions that come after
it.
You'll also find that I use notes and tips to hold amplifying information. For example, many
of the URLs in this book appear as part of a note or a tip. The Internet contains a wealth of
information, but finding it can be difficult, to say the least. URLs within notes and tips help
you find new sources of information on the Internet that you can use to improve your
programming or to learn new techniques. You'll also find newsgroup URLs that tell where
you can find other people to talk with about C#. Finally, URLs will help you find utility
programs that'll make programming faster and easier than before.
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