For organizations to develop software successfully -- and for individual programmers to succeed in team development projects -- high-quality development standards are essential. The Visual Basic Style Guide brings together state-of-the-art guidelines for professional development geared specifically toward VB environments, and organized as patterns that provide specific solutions to the most common problems VB developers encounter. Tim Patrick, whose lengthy experience as a VB developer includes the creation of in-house development standards guides, covers every aspect of the VB project lifecycle. The Visual Basic Style Guide addresses planning, requirements gathering, coding, documentation, user interfaces, and much more. Wherever commonly accepted standards exist -- such as the Hungarian naming conventions supplied with the VB documentation and the user interface norms detailed in Microsoft's Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design reference -- Patrick builds on them. Where standards do not exist, Patrick presents coherent, disciplined recommendations for building systems that will effectively respond to user needs, offer superior reliability, and are far easier to maintain.

Table of Contents:
I. STRUCTURE. 1. Professional Programming as Style. Goals of Professional Programming. Meeting the Needs of the User. Meeting the Needs of Your Employer. Meeting the Programmer's Needs. A System for Professional Programming. Structure. Foundation. Standards. Summary. 2. Using Declaration. What Is Declaration? Why Declare? Clarity. Consistency. Expectations Fulfilled. Increased Recognition. Reduced Memory Usage. Visual Confirmation. How to Use Declaration. Variable Data Declaration. Constant Data Declaration. Other Declarations. Order of Code. Summary. 3. Commenting and Style. What Are Commenting and Style? What Is Commenting? What Is Style? Why Use Commenting and Style? Why Include Comments? Description of Purpose. Readability. Second Memory. Logic Clarity. Identification. Code Reviews. Future Modifications. Why Use Style? Readability. Grouping of Logic. Guarantee of Program Flow. How to Comment. Who. What. Where. When. Why. How. How Many Comments? How to Employ Style. Indentation. Capitalization of Identifiers and Literal Strings. Use of Blank Lines within Code. Use of Parentheses around Conditions and Expressions. Use of Line Continuation Characters. Use of Multi-Statement Lines. Automatically Generated Source Code. Summary. 4. User Interface Consistency. What Is User Interface Consistency? Consistency with the User. Consistency within the Application. Consistency with Other Applications. Why Maintain User Interface Consistency? Accomplishment of a Task. Access to Information. Increase in Productivity. Increase in Accuracy. Integration with Existing Workflow. How to Maintain User Interface Consistency. Consistency with the User. Consistency within the Application. Consistency with Other Applications. Summary. 5. Documentation. What Is Documentation? Why Document? Technical Support. User Support. How to Document. Quality: Always Professional. Style: From General to Specific to General. Content: Types of Internal Documentation. Content: Types of External Documentation. Summary. II. FOUNDATION. 6. Discipline. What Is Discipline? Discipline Is Training. Discipline Corrects. Discipline Focuses. Discipline Perfects. Discipline Affects the Mental Faculties. Discipline Affects Moral Character. Why Be Disciplined? Discipline Results in Professional Programs. Discipline Reduces Development Pressures. Discipline Increases Application Satisfaction. Discipline Prepares You for Advanced Programming. Discipline Attracts the Admiration of Your Peers. How to Instill Discipline. Establishing a Routine. Improving Your Methods. Summary. 7. Planning. What Is Planning? Taking the Problem Apart. Putting the Solution Together. Why Plan? Understanding the User's Needs. Standardization. Goals and Milestones. Anticipating Surprises and Risks. How to Plan. Understand What the User Needs. Determine the Project Scope. Organize the Project. Review the Project. Summary. 8. Ethics. What Is Ethics? Ethics Is Part of a World-View. Ethics Deals with Right and Wrong Actions. Ethics Deals with Right and Wrong Attitudes. Why Have Ethics? How to Have Ethics. Honesty. Trust. Quality. Ownership. Humility. Summary. III. STANDARDS. 9. Declaration Standards. Nomenclature Standards. Nomenclature for Variables. Nomenclature for Constants. Nomenclature for User-Defined Types. Nomenclature for Enumerated Data Types. Nomenclature for Line Labels. Nomenclature for Procedures. Nomenclature for Declares. Nomenclature for User Interface Elements. Nomenclature Exceptions. Instantiation Standards. Instantiation of Variables. Instantiation of Constants. Instantiation of User-Defined Types. Instantiation of Enumerated Data Types. Instantiation of Line Labels. Instantiation of Procedures. Instantiation of Declares. Declaration Modifiers. Global Options. Compiler Directives. Visual Basic Limitations on Declaration. Data Typing of Literals. Summary. 10. Keyword Reference. Categories. Compiler Directives. Conversion Functions. Date and Time Features. Declaration Features. Error Handling and Debugging Features. File System Features. Financial Features. Flow Control Features. Math Features. Miscellaneous Features. Operators. String Features. Alphabetical Keyword List. Summary. 11. Control and User Interface Standards. General Considerations. Communication. Control Interaction. Documentation. Specific Control Information. Summary. 12. Database Standards. Database Design. Nomenclature. Normalization. Database Documentation. Database Usage. Spreadsheet Presentation. Bound Field Presentation. Form Object Presentation. Summary. Index.