Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook

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Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook

By now, most avid technology readers are familiar with theO Reilly Cookbook series. Cookbook enthusiasts already know howthese collections of programming tips and how-to s canbe used to further deepen a developer s knowledge in the chosen subject matter.Given the fact that O Reilly published the well-received Visual Basic .NET Cookbook, the VB 2005 sequel was highlyanticipated. Now that it has arrived, do the authors meet this expectation? Readon.

Visual Basic 2005Cookbook delivers a total of 332 tips, ranging from the obvious to theobscure. The book is organized into 17 chapters, with each tip presented in thestandard Problem, Solution, Discussion (and an occasional See Also, whenrelevant) format used in the O Reilly Cookbookline. The featured recipes are predominantly short, sweet, and to the point,and include code examples typically presented in 10 lines or fewer. Exceptionsto this brevity are the more advanced tips that demonstrate foundationalsubjects, such as ways to properly construct a .NET class, the creation ofcontrols, and complex graphic handling. Additionally, the chapters logicallysubdivide the tips categories; the book starts off simply enough with base VB2005 and Visual Studio IDE samples, and quickly graduates to class constructiontips and focused areas that span string and file handling, date/time, math,graphics, multimedia, printing, databases, exception handling, and Webprogramming.

Of all the suggestions, those that were aggregated intoChapter 14 on Special Programming Techniques were my favorite. These uncovereddiamonds taught me a few VB 2005 nuances that made me say, huh,that s cool. According to the authors, this chapter includes some of the mostinteresting and tasty recipes in the entire book , and I wholeheartedly concur.These tips include listing all running processes capturing a console s outputand creating a screensaver, with each technique clearly presented using aremarkably small amount of code.

The authors also included several VB6 to VB.NET migrationtips for those dwindling pre-.NET VB developer holdouts. These include thechanges in string insertion, date/time formatting, and substitute calls forobsolete graphic functions. They did miss an opportunity, though, in notfollowing through this concept to a C# conclusion. In other words, the booklacked any tips for migrating from VB to C# syntax. Yes, the book is intendedfor die-hard VB ers, but the reality (especially in corporate markets) is thatVB and C# syntax can and does intermingle in large projects. At the very least,the authors could have provided a tip on further resources for VB ers seekingto understand the differences between the two languages and how VB and C#co-mingle in the wild.

Overall, this will be a book that VB developers will wantto at least pick up and skim through at their local bookstores. While it isbest suited for Intermediate VB programmers (this is not a tutorial book forbeginners), even advanced VB ers will be pleasantly surprised with some of thenuggets of knowledge delivered. Whether or not these recipes are worth thefifty dollar cover price versus a well constructed Web search phrase is reallybased on knowledge of VB and the time and patience of the individual seekinganswers.

Mike Riley

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Title: Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook

Authors: TimPatrick and John Clark Craig

Publisher: O ReillyMedia

ISBN:0-596-10177-5

Web Site: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/vb2005ckbk

Price: US$49.99

Page Count: 740