Chapter 1—Introduction to Visual Basic .NET introduces Microsoft's new Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE). The single environment is now used for multiple languages. A step-by-step program gets students into programming very quickly (quicker than most books). The chapter introduces the OOP concepts of objects, properties, methods, and events. The elements of debugging and using the Help system are also introduced.

Chapter 2—More Controls demonstrates techniques for good program design, including making the interface easy for users as well as guidelines for designing maintainable programs. Several controls are introduced, including text boxes, group boxes, check boxes, radio buttons, and picture boxes. Note that group boxes are new to VB .NET; radio buttons are renamed option buttons; and all of the controls have different properties than their VB 6 counterparts.

Chapter 3—Variables, Constants, and Calculations presents the concepts of using data and declaring the data type. Some of the data types have changed and VB .NET is much more particular about using the correct data type. Students learn to follow standards to indicate the data type and scope of variables and constants and to use the new Option Strict, which forces adherence to strong data typing.

Error handling has changed and much improved. VB .NET now includes structured exception handling using the Try/Catch/Finally structure, which is introduced in this chapter along with calculations. The student learns to display error messages using the new MessageBox class and also learns about the OOP concept of overloaded constructors.

Chapter 4 —Decisions and Conditions introduces taking alternate actions based on conditions formed with the relational and logical operators. In addition to the If statement, this chapter uses functions to validate input data. The debugging features of the IDE are covered, including a step-by-step tutorial covering stepping through program statements and checking intermediate values during execution.

Chapter 5—Menus, Sub Procedures, and Sub Functions covers the new and greatly improved Menu Editor. Menus and context menus are now components that are added to a component tray (also new). Students learn to include both menus and context menus in projects, as well as to write general sub procedures and functions.

Chapter 6—OOP—Creating Object-Oriented Programs explains more of the theory of object-oriented programming. Although we have been using OOP concepts since Chapter 1, in this chapter students learn the terminology and application of OOP. Inheritance is covered for visual objects (forms) and for extending existing classes. The samples are kept simple enough for an introductory class.

Chapter 7 —Lists, Loops, and Printing incorporates list boxes and combo boxes into projects, providing the opportunity to discuss looping procedures and printing lists of information. Many properties and methods for list controls have changed in VB .NET. Printing is totally different, using a graphics object and a callback event. The new printing controls also include a Print Preview, which should be a welcome addition for students and instructors, who can now view output without actually printing it.

Chapter 8 — Arrays introduces arrays, which follow logically from the lists covered in Chapter 7. Although the concept of arrays has not changed, arrays are declared differently in VB .NET than in VB 6. But the most significant change in this chapter is the Structure statement, which replaces user-defined types.

Chapter 9—Programming With Web Forms is an all new chapter using the new Web Forms of VB .NET. Web Forms are used to create Web pages that execute in a browser application. Students learn to design and develop simple Web applications.

Chapter 10—Accessing Database Files introduces ADO.NET, which is Microsoft's new technology for accessing data in a database. This chapter shows how to create connections, data adapters, and datasets. Programs include accessing data from both Windows Forms and Web Forms. Students learn to bind data tables to a data grid and bind individual data fields to controls such as labels and text boxes. Updating a dataset is also introduced.

Chapter 11—Saving Data and Objects in Files presents the all-new techniques for data file handling. Students learn to save and read small amounts of data using streams. The StreamWriter and StreamReader objects are used to store and reload the contents of a combo box.

Object serialization is used to persist objects. The hands-on example includes both serialization (saving) and deserialization (restoring) objects.

Chapter 12— Graphics and Animation covers the new classes and methods of GDI+. The chapter covers graphics objects, pens, and brushes for drawing shapes and lines. Animation is accomplished using the Timer control and the SetBounds method for moving controls.

Chapter 13—Additional Topics in Visual Basic introduces some advanced VB topics. This final chapter covers multiple document interfaces (MDI), toolbars and status bars, and creating reports from databases using Crystal Reports. All of these topics are greatly changed from VB 6.

The Appendices offer important additional material. Appendix A holds the answers to all Feedback questions. Appendix B covers methods and functions for math and string handling, which are totally different for VB NET. In the new OOP style, most actions that were formerly done with functions are now accomplished with methods of the Math class and String class. Appendix C, on mastering the Visual Studio environment, is all new, based on the new IDE.