CVEV 118/698

Visual Basic
Lecture 1
Prof. Mounir Mabsout
Expert 1: Elsa Sulukdjian
Expert 2: Walid El Asmar
 Introduction
Visual Studio 6.0: Collection of Microsoft Visual
development applications (Visual C++, Visual
J++, Visual Basic, etc)
VB is a programming language. 6 Versions
launched since its creation in the 90s.
Easy and powerful tool for developing
Windows applications in Basic. Bill Gates.
 VB Development Environment
Integrated Development Environment (IDE):
visual environment to develop, run, test and
debug.
Controls: generally visual, and readymade
components, assigned a set of properties (I.e. Text
Box, Button, List Box, etc).
IntelliSense: Microsofts sophisticated completion
technology. It simplifies the coding process.
Event driven programming: flow of the
application dictated by the user actions (click of
a mouse, keystrokes, etc).
 VB IDE
menu
bar
Toolbar

Project
Explorer

Toolbox Properties
window

Immediate
window Form
layout
 VB IDE Components
Menu Bar: contains all commands needed to run VB
(File, Edit, View etc).
Toolbars: quick access to commonly used menu
commands.
Project Explorer: displays the projects components.
Toolbox: contains icons of the controls that can be
placed on the projects Forms to create the applications
interface.
Properties Window: Shows the property settings of
the selected control (size, caption, color, etc).
 VB IDE Components (Contd)
Form Designer: Main window in which one
can design and edit the applications user
interface. In this window the user can enter and
edit the applications code. It displays two
windows: Form and Code window.
Form Layout: Shows the initial positions of the
forms in the application. It is useful in multiple
forms applications.
Immediate Window: Debugging tool.
 Programming Steps
Step 1: Customize the windows that the user
sees. I.e. placing controls and components on
the layouts of the projects Forms.
Step 2: Decide on the events each control
should recognize.
Step 3: Coding the event procedures for those
events.
 Variable Declaration
Visual Basic code works in two modes:
Implicit: does not require variable declaration
Explicit: requires variable declaration
Declare variables using
Dim VariableName As DataType
Example: Dim length As Integer
Dim greetings As String
 Variable Types
Numeric: stores numbers
String: stores text
Variant: stores any type of data
Boolean: true/false
Date
Object
 Implicit/Explicit
Implicit Example Explicit Example
Public Sub VBImplicit() Start code window by:
x=5 Option Explicit
y = Hello []
End Sub Public Sub VBExplicit()
Dim x As Integer, y As String
x=5
y = Hello
End Sub

Implicit: default VB mode, x and y stored as variants

Explicit: x can only store integers, y only strings
ALWAYS use explicit mode, it reduces errors
 Variable Scope
Code
Form1 Variables
Form 1
Sub1
Sub1 Variables
...
Sub2
Sub2 Variables

Code
Form 2
 Variable Scope (contd)
The same variable x is
Dim x As Integer
needed in both subroutines
and therefore is defined as Public Sub FirstSub()
a global variable (I.e. x=5
declaration outside subs) Dim y As Integer
End Sub

There is a different local Public Sub SecondSub()

variable y for each x=6
subroutine (I.e. declaration Dim y As String
End Sub
inside subs)
 Variable Generalities
Variable names need to be significant for clear coding
practice.
Dont be shy of using long names.
Usually the first character(s) indicate the variable type
(e.g):
Integer: int Dim intLength As Integer
String: str
Double: dbl
Text Control: txt
Etc.
 Constants
Constants do not change their value during the
execution of the program.
Declaration:
Const ConstantName As DataType
Public Const pi As Double = 3.14159265358979
 Arrays
Arrays hold a set of related data.
Declaration:
Dim ArrayName(ArraySize) As DataType
Dim strNames(15) As String
or Dim strNames(1 To 16) As String
strNames is an array that holds 16 string values.
Multidimensional arrays:
Dim dblTemperature(99,99) As Double
 Dynamic Arrays
Size not defined at the beginning of the
program:
Dim dblMatrix() as Double
You can re-dimension the array once you know
the size of the array:
ReDim dblMatrix(UserCount,UserCount)
 Whats Next
Basic VB syntax
Functions and Subroutines
Common VB controls