Introduction
This book on Visual Studio.Net
is a trailblazer, since it is extremely innovative in its approach. It is a screen-based book, which suggests
that the entire book is packed with screens, making it very easy and intuitive
for a reader to grasp the explanations accompanying them. It makes for an interesting reading, and
also does away with the requirement of sitting in front of a computer while
reading this book.
Visual Studio.Net facilitates a
paradigm shift in the programming world.
It has alleviated the task of software development considerably, by
synthesizing all applications into a single product. Earlier, every product had its own User Interface, and
programmers had very strong loyalties towards specific products. This prevented their smooth migration from
existing products to the newer products, which emerged with systematic
regularity.
In the Visual Studio.Net
environment, building complex applications is a breeze. The switch over from one runtime to another,
is also considerably smooth and effortless.
During our perambulation through
the various facets of this fascinating product, we have adopted a
'step-by-step' approach to unravel the various features. We have pared down the irrelevant details,
and converged only on the most pertinent areas. We have systematically built-up on own our earlier explanations
incrementally. For instance, after ensuring that the reader is comfortable with
building various types of applications, we have graduated onto the topic of
deployment, so that the reader can then, transport his application with ease.
Readers are well advised to
peruse the text thoroughly, enter the code as demonstrated, and run the
applications, to get a hands-on experience of the product. This is the best
available approach to master this product.
For those with an insatiable
appetite for technical knowledge, we have exhumed the surface, in order to
disinter and explore the workings of the C# language. The latter chapters
expound the C# code, generated by the framework for applications built in the
earlier chapters.
The three-pronged novel approach
of firstly, adding visual appeal by incorporating a plenitude of screens,
secondly, of providing simple and complex applications to illustrate various
concepts, and finally, of going behind the scenes to explore the c++ code
generated by the application, is the linchpin of this book.
We have persevered to simplify
the preplanning concepts and have percolated the grain from the chaff. The perspicacity of the text is an important
feature implemented by us.
This book contains a plethora of
information about Visual Studio.Net and the C# language. We have focussed our
attention on Visual Studio.Net, since it is going to play an increasingly
important role in the field of computer programming, and its ramifications are
going to be far-reaching. So, you would
be well-advised to climb onto this bandwagon and scale the heights with us,
without much ado.
Requirements
F The hardware
requirements for installing Visual Studio.Net.
A Pentium II-class processor, 450 MHz or above with Minimum
Memory of 128 MB and HardDisk of 4GB.
CD-ROM Drive or DVD Drive
Video: 800 x 600, 256 colors (recommended: High Color
16-bit)
F The software
requirements to successfully run all the programs in this book are
Operating
System - Windows 2000, Windows XP Beta 2, and Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft
IIS ver 5.0
SQLServer
2000 (Evaluation Edition)
Visual
Studio.Net Beta 2
Visual Studio.Net Beta 2
The software is available either
on 4 CDs or on 1DVD. You can ask for your copy from Microsoft by placing an
order for the same on their website.
SQLServer 2000
While installing the evaluation
edition of SQLServer 2000, we have chosen the default selected settings. The
only modification made is in the Authentication Dialog Box.
You see two options
• Windows Authentication mode
• Mixed mode (Windows Authentication and SQL Server Mode)
The default option selected is
Windows Authentication mode. We have instead selected Mixed mode (Windows
Authentication and SQL Server Mode). Once this option is selected, the password
text boxes for the 'sa' user gets activated. As we would prefer using a blank
password in our programs, we select Blank Password. On selecting this option,
the text boxes get disabled again.
Acknowledgements
The many individuals who have worked
together to produce this great work of art and motivated me all the way need a
mention here. Their bright ideas, inspiration, support has made me a lot more
stronger and wiser.
First and foremost, thanks to
Manish Jain, BPB Publications for publishing the book.
To my co-authors, Sonal and
Suraj who have put in a lot of hard work to complete the work assigned to them.
To Tanuja Sodhi, an ex-Naval
Officer from the first batch of lady officers and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj,
for editing the book. She is presently freelancing as a creative writer.
To Altaf Hemani and Kishore
Rohra, for their creativity in designing the cover in a given short time.
Thanks to Manish Purohit for
putting in all the time he had to verify the code with the explanations and
then giving the book a good look and feel.
To Pradeep Mukhi and Shivanand
Shetty, who have always been there, as a source of inspiration and
encouragement.
My Mother, Shana Aunty and a
long list of friends need a mention here for their patience and cooperation on
this book while it was being written.
-Vijay Mukhi