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| Visual Basics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This document is intended to provide some fundamental information about Visual Basic for those who are either just beginning to use the language, or planning to buy Visual Basic, and have no previous programming experience. Visual Basic is not shareware. It cannot be freely downloaded nor is it freely distributed. You will not find it anywhere on AOL. VB is a commercial software product provided by Microsoft and must be purchased. It is available from most software outlets such as Egghead or CompUSA, as well as electronic/appliance superstores such as Best Buy and Circuit City. There are also mail order companies on the Internet that sell Visual Basic. Microsoft's Visual Basic Purchase web page can be used to purchase VB via the Internet or to find a local reseller near you. Now, let's answer the question What is Visual Basic? VB is a Windows programming development system. It gets its name from the fact that the user interface for VB programs is created visually, meaning that the various components making up the interface are drawn, much like you can draw pictures using a paint program. The Basic in Visual Basic is the core language. BASIC is an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instructional Code. This "description" can be somewhat misleading, however. While BASIC is easy enough for those with no previous programming experience to learn with little difficulty, it has also evolved into one of the most powerful programming languages in existence, making it ideally suited for seasoned professionals as well. There are 3 commercial editions of VB: Learning, Professional, and Enterprise. There is also the Control Creation Edition of VB5, as well as "demo" versions of VB included with certain books (more on this a bit later). The Learning Edition (LE) is just that; it is intended for persons who have never programmed before in any language. It includes only a subset of the tools found in the other 2 editions. If you plan on doing any serious database programming or making more than simple utilities, you should probably avoid LE There are books you can purchase that are intended to teach VB programming. Any of these books is just as adequate, and in some cases better, than the teaching material included with LE. One thing to be aware of with this edition is that you will most likely very soon "outgrow" it and will be wanting the additional tools included with either the Professional or Enterprise editions. However, there is an upgrade path from LE to either of the other two editions. The Professional Edition (PE) is the next higher level. PE includes additional tools, custom controls, the Data Access Object library (for creating powerful database programs), and additional documentation (a special edition of the Microsoft Developer Network Library). Some of the more useful custom controls included with PE are the RichTextBox control, the Common Controls (includes ProgressBar, ImageList, ListView, et. al.), Data Bound Grid and List controls (useful for database programming), Internet Controls (for creating a web browser or just viewing HTML files), and an Internet Transfer Control (for transmitting data to and from the Internet using HTTP and FTP). The PE is by far the most popular edition and more than satisfies the needs of the vast majority of VB programmers. The Enterprise Edition (EE) is the highest edition of VB. It includes everything in PE and then some. EE is intended primarily for corporate use (and its price tag reflects that). There is also a fourth edition of Visual Basic 5.0 called the Control Creation Edition (CCE). This edition can be downloaded for free from Microsoft (you must register as an MS Site Builder Network guest member, though). This edition is primarily intended for web developers; therefore, CCE can only create ActiveX custom controls and does not contain all the features of the three retail editions. If you wish to compile EXE or DLL files, you must purchase either the Learning, Professional, or Enterprise edition of VB. Visual Basic 5.0 CCE can be downloaded from MS's Visual Basic Control Creation Edition Download Page. Note that the help files for this edition must be downloaded separately. Furthermore, there are what are commonly called "demo" versions of VB that are included with specific books. These demo versions do not contain the Help files, most of the custom controls that accompany the other versions of VB, and they will not let you compile your projects. This means you cannot make EXE, DLL or even OCX files with the demo versions. You can only run the projects you create within VB. However, if you later purchase VB, you can open these projects in the commercial version and then compile them. For more details on the differences among the various editions of Visual Basic, surf on over to the feature comparison page at MS's VB web site. So, now you've made your purchase and you're ready to start programming. But where do you start? The first bit of advice is.... get your feet wet first. If you have never programmed before (or even if you have programming experience but not in VB), don't think that you are instantly going to be able to write the next mega-hit game or must-have Windows program. It takes time and patience. You cannot learn a spoken language like Spanish or French in a day and you are not going to learn VB in a day (regardless of what a certain book title claims). You should begin by reading the first few chapters in Books Online (the documentation that accompanies VB). These chapters focus on how to use Visual Basic and creating your first program. If you opted to purchase the Learning Edition, there is an additional CD included called Learn Visual Basic Now. When you first install VB, you should be sure to install the sample projects that are included with VB (there is an option in VB's Setup for this if you choose a custom install). Study these sample programs and make sure you understand the source code and concepts that they demonstrate. They are included for a reason and that reason is for you to learn from, not just copy and paste the code into your own program without ever giving a second thought as to why the code works the way it does. Also, never forget the Help files that are included with VB. Not only do these explain the functionality of all the various language elements (statements, functions, keywords, custom controls, etc.) but there is usually additional sample source code provided. There are many things that can be accomplished with VB that are not explicitly documented in either Books Online or the Help files. That's where 3rd-party books fill the gap. There is a plethora of VB programming books that have been written and can be purchased from your local bookstore or via the Internet. A bookstore has the advantage in that you can browse through several books to see if one might suit your needs better than another. There are books written for all levels (generally categorized as Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced) of programmers. Some books cater to 2 or even all 3 of these categories. The Beginning books tend to present the same information that is included in VB's Books Online and Help files, but in a different manner. Intermediate and Advanced books tend to cover topics not included in VB's own documentation. The PC Development Message Boards can be a great source of information and help. Stuck on a problem that no book seems to discuss and you just can't figure it out on your own? Chances are quite good that somebody else has already faced that same problem and is more than willing to share their knowledge and offer assistance. If you've never participated in a message board on AOL, please review AOL's Message Boards area. Even if you have participated in other message boards on AOL, you should check out PDV's Message Board Policies area before posting your first message. The various software libraries in the PC Development Forum's VB Workcenter are another great source of help. In these libraries, you can find shareware and freely distributed custom controls to do things that are difficult or impossible to do with VB alone. Additionally, our VB Examples library contains hundreds of sample projects. It is one of the best and largest sources of sample source code you will find anywhere. Again, the purpose of the sample code in our library is not for you to just copy and paste into your own program. It is intended for people to study and learn from, and then incorporate the concepts demonstrated by it into your own program. If all you do is plagiarize the code, you will never learn a thing from it. That is the main purpose of sample source code: to aid others in learning. There is a VB Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file that can be downloaded from the PC Development forum. This FAQ provides solutions and answers to many of the most common problems and questions that the beginning VB programmer may have. Finally, the most important thing to remember when programming in VB (or any other language) is HAVE FUN! If it's not fun, then you're missing out on the best thing programming has to offer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| VB 6.0 Pricing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Type Price Eterprise Editon Full Package Product......................$1,299 Version Upgrade............................. $759 Professional Edition Full Package Product.......................$549 Competitive Or Version Upgrade...........................................$279 Learning Edition Full Package Product.......................$109 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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