Charlotte Foust
cfoust at infostatsystems.com
Thu Dec 2 10:53:07 CST 2004
Buy it. You'll discover that all the training (I used the AppDev CBT
training) and books you use are no substitute for getting your hands
dirty by trying to build something. One recommendation is that you find
books on *database* programming with VB.Net and get very, very
comfortable with classes if you aren't already. Plan the project
assemblies out ahead of time and build a vertical slice of the
application, top to bottom to test out the plan and establish your
conventions. That also gives you a chance to test out the third party
controls you'll want to use. We're using Infragistics controls and
ActiveReports and have been very happy with both.
Oh, and turn on Option Strict. That makes it even more challenging to
follow the examples in books where it isn't turned on. <VBG> I learned
a lot having to translate the book code to handle Option Strict on.
PS/ Get MZ-Tools 4.0, which is an indispensable part of my toolkit in
.Net. There's even an enterprise version that allows you to share
naming conventions and templates with your team.
Charlotte Foust
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawhon, Alan C Contractor/Morgan Research
[mailto:alan.lawhon at us.army.mil]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 2:42 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: [AccessD] Please Advise: Should I Buy "Microsoft Visual Basic
.NETStandard 2003 ..."
... or just try to learn what I can from [VB.Net] books alone?
Well, the "future" has finally arrived ... Here at work we have a
fairly significant environmental database application that we have been
using (and "tweaking") for the past five years. The application, called
"EDS" - which stands for "Environmental Document System" - started off
as a very simple Access 97 application. Over time, as the capabilities
of the system grew and the need to provide client/server access was
realized, the front end migrated to Access 2000 and the back end
[eventually] migrated to SQL Server 2000 - which is where we are now.
Well, you know how customers are ... they are always wanting changes (or
"something new") and that is the case with our customer. EDS is
becoming increasingly popular with users outside our immediate
organization. So popular, in fact, that our Government manager has
requested that we "web enable" EDS and make EDS accessible from a web
browser - such as Internet Explorer. Gulp !! It didn't take too much
web surfing (and research) to realize that "web enabling" EDS is going
to be thirsty work ...
The EDS database consists of multiple form and report objects with lots
of event driven Visual Basic code. Most of the VBA code is attached to
command buttons as Click_Event() procedures. (There's a lot of logic
testing and conditional execution for business rule implementation
within the VBA code.)
The research I have done (so far) indicates that I face a steep learning
curve when it comes to web programming. I'm already looking at "HTML &
XML for Beginners" (book) by Michael Morrison and I have just ordered a
couple of books on databases and VB.Net programming. (I have ordered
"Beginning VB.Net Databases" by Thearon Willis and "Programming
Microsoft Visual Basic .NET for Microsoft Access Databases" by Rick
Dobson.) I figure these two books will give me plenty to chew on - at
least initially.
The senior programmer and I have been looking on the internet for the
proper .NET development tool. Right now it looks like we will be asking
our customer to pay for a full-up version of Visual Studio 2003 - or
whatever contains the full "Professional" version of MS Visual Basic
.NET. While researching the various developer tool alternatives for
VB.NET programming, I came across this page at Amazon.com's web site:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000089GKW/002-1179299-3348025
The "Standard" edition of Microsoft VB.Net [2003] appeals to me for two
reasons: It's (relatively) affordable - less than a hundred dollars -
and the "Standard" edition might be a good "learning tool" for playing
around with VB.Net on my home computer. However, the "Standard" edition
appears to have a number of ... uhm ... limitations. (Look at Frank
Spillman's "Roadblocks, Roadblocks" reader review in the above link.)
I would be grateful if some of the folks on this list who have actually
done some web programming (especially with VB.Net) could offer advice
and opinions with respect to the "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Standard
2003" [web] development tool. Basically, I'm wondering if the
"Standard" edition has enough capability to serve as a useful "learning
tool" - or is it so "crippled" that I would be better off simply reading
.NET books?
Thanks in advance ...
Alan C. Lawhon - (Very Green) Web Programmer
--
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