Peter Norton's books are well-known for their rapid, tour guide approach: a hands-on overview of the possibilities of the programming environment that does not burden the impatient reader with excessive technical baggage at the outset of his voyage of discovery. Peter Norton's Guide to Visual Basic X teaches all the complexities of application design in an easy-to-understand style that experienced computer users will appreciate. The book covers both the Standard and Professional editions of Visual Basic.

Table of Contents:
(NOTE: All chapters conclude with a Summary.) I. USING VISUAL BASIC 6. 1. Getting Started with Visual Basic 6. Visual Basic: The Fast Track to Windows Development. Getting Help. Visual Basic Development Overview. Creating Your First Visual Basic Program. 2. Understanding Visual Basic Projects. Using Different Types of Projects. Understanding the Project Explorer Window. Working with Multiple Projects. Setting Project Options. 3. Visual Basic Code Basics. Understanding Visual Basic Procedures. Using the Visual Basic Editor. Controlling Program Flow. Using Conditional Branching. 4. Using Visual Basic Variables. Taking a Look at an Example. Understanding Visual Basic Data Types. Declaring Variables. Using a Naming Convention. Understanding Variable Scope and Lifetime. Converting Between Data Types. Working with Arrays. Understanding the Variant Data Type. Passing Variables to Procedures. Using Constants. User-Defined Data Types. 5. Designing the User Interface. Understanding the Visual Basic Form. Getting the Look and Feel of Windows. Creating Your First Form. Adding New Forms. Understanding Form Properties. Form Appearance Properties. Form Control Properties. Form Size and Positioning Properties. Other Form Properties. Referencing Form Properties. Setting Properties in Code. Positioning the Form with Methods. Using Form Drawing Methods. Showing and Hiding Forms. Loading Forms. Unloading Forms. Understanding Form Events. Form Maintenance Events. Form Operation Events. Form Mouse Events. Form Keyboard Events. Making the Most of Built-In Dialog Boxes. Understanding MDI Applications. Wrapping Up Forms. 6. Putting Your Forms to Work with Controls. Getting to Know the Toolbox. Getting to Know the Visual Basic Tools. Customizing the Toolbox. Adding Controls to Forms. Using the Alignment Grid. Multiselecting Controls. Form Layout Functions. Control Properties. Selecting Files, Colors, Fonts, Printers, and Help. Generating Timed Events. Other Controls. Naming Controls. Copying Controls. Control Arrays. Referencing Controls. Passing a Control as an Argument. Determining the Type of Control. Using the Controls Collection. Control Focus. Setting Tab Order. Binding Controls. Dragging and Dropping. Handling Keyboard Events. Handling Mouse Events. 7. Mastering Menus and Toolbars. Understanding Menus. Using the Menu Editor. Menu Arrays. Applying Menu Conventions. Using Pop-Up Menus. Configuring Menus at Runtime. Understanding Toolbars. Finding the Perfect Icons. Adding Toolbars to Your Application. Customizing the Toolbar. Configuring the Toolbar at Runtime. Handling Toolbar Events. Running the Menu and Toolbar Demo Program. 8. Using the Visual Basic Debugging Tools. Finding Errors. Using the Module Options. Traditional Debugging Techniques. Using the Visual Basic Debugging Tools. 9. Handling Runtime Errors. Recognizing Runtime Errors. Trapping Errors in Visual Basic Applications. Using the Err Object. Knowing Which Errors to Trap. Using the Resume Statement. Using On Error GoTo 0. Handling Errors Locally. Logging Errors. II. OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING. 10. Creating Objects and Classes. Understanding the Benefits of Object-Oriented Development. Understanding the Component Object Model (COM). Getting Started with Objects. Understanding Classes. Creating a Simple Class. 11. Advanced Class Concepts. Understanding Initialize and Terminate. Creating Special Types of Properties. Enhancing the Simple Class. Using the Enhanced Object Class. Using the Object Browser. Understanding Collections. 12. Working with Objects and Collections. Using Collections. Examining Built-In Visual Basic Collections. Using the Collection Object. Optimizing Object References. Building the Case for Custom Collections. Creating Custom Collections. III. CREATING PRINTED OUTPUT. 13. Using the Printer Object. Printing Information. Using the Printer Collection. 14. Using Crystal Reports. Explaining Crystal Reports. Taking a Quick Tour. Creating a Report. Using the Crystal Reports Custom Control. Creating a Report Selection Interface. IV. ACCESSING DATA. 15. Reading and Writing Text Files. Understanding Text Files. Downloading the Data. Reviewing Database Terminology. Looking At Text File Formats. Understanding Data Access Methods. Opening Text Files. Reading Fixed-Width Text Files. Reading Delimited Text Files. Looking at More Complex Examples. Taking a Closer Look at File Commands. Creating Text Files. Understanding Visual Basics String Functions. Looking at Other File Operations. 16. Mastering the Visual Basic Data Control. Introducing the Data Control. Using the Data Control. Manipulating the Data Control at Runtime. 17. Creating Queries in Visual Basic. Defining SQL. Testing the SQL. 18. Mastering Jet DAO. Understanding How Jet Began. What Jet Does. Using Jet in the World of Database Applications. Getting Started with Jet and DAO. Changing the Data Structure. Creating an Application. Working with SQL. 19. Using Advanced Data Access Methods. Understanding OLE DB. Using the ADO Library. Looking into the ADO Object Model. Understanding the Basics of the ADO Recordset Object. Accessing Parameter Queries and Stored Procedures. V. INTEGRATING WITH OTHER APPLICATIONS. 20. Integrating with Microsoft Office 97. Understanding ActiveX. Understanding Automation Concepts. Looking at a Short Example. Referencing the Automation Server. Understanding Object Models. Integrating with Word 97. Creating a New Word Document. Saving a Word Document. Using Automation in Visual Basic Projects. 21. Integrating with Microsoft Outlook 97. Understanding the Outlook Object Model. Controlling Outlook. Understanding Outlook Folders. Creating an Outlook Instance. Making Outlook Visible. Creating a Mail Message in Outlook. Attaching an Object to a Mail Message. Sending the Message. Closing Outlook. Creating Outlook Items. VI. DEVELOPING FOR THE INTERNET. 22. Integrating with Internet Explorer. Using Automation with Internet Explorer. Using the WebBrowser Control. Understanding the WebBrowser Events. The ProgressChange Event. 23. Web Development with Visual Basic 6. Understanding Scripting Versus Components. Understanding the Difference Between ActiveX Controls and Visual Basic Documents. Creating an ActiveX Control for the. Deploying Your Web Control. Testing Your Control in a Web Page. 24. Creating Intranet Applications. Comparing Client-Side and Server-Side Scripting. Glimpsing at Database Access with ADO. VII. ADVANCED TOPICS. 25. Mastering the Windows API. Defining the Windows API. Understanding Dynamic Linking. Why Use the Windows API? Using DLL Documentation. Moving from Windows 3.1 to Win32. Using the Windows API. Understanding the Declare Statement. Taking a Look at WinAPI.vbp. Getting Application Information. Getting Windows Information. Getting Hardware Information. Getting Disk Volume Information with GetVolumeInformationA. 26. INI Files and the System Registry. Understanding the Registry. Using Regedit. Programming the Registry. Manipulating INI Files. 27. Using the Package and Deployment Wizard. Using the Distribution Wizard. Working with the Wizard. Starting the Wizard. Deploying the Package. Managing Scripts. Testing the Installation. 28. Professional Visual Basic Development. Understanding What Makes a Professional Application. Application Performance. Understanding an Applications Components. VIII. APPENDIXES. Appendix A. Glossary. Appendix B. The Reddick VBA Naming Conventions. Version 5.0. Changes to the Conventions. An Introduction to Hungarian. Tags. Creating Data Types. Constructing Procedures. Prefixes. Suffixes. File Names. Host Application and Component Extensions to the Conventions. Summary.