The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Seeing the Basics: Visual Basic bookshelf
Tony Stevenson

With the arrival of Visual Basic 5.0, VB programmers are also presented with a large and diverse choice of books to help them become familiar with the latest release of this popular Windows development language.

These two books are worth adding to your Visual Basic bookshelf.

They are suitable for both novice and experienced VB developers, providing different approaches to coming to terms with the functionality and features now incorporated into VB 5.0.

Day by day

Teach Yourself Visual Basic 5 in 21 Days is an ideal introduction to Windows program development, and Visual Basic programming in particular.

Novice programmers can proceed at their own pace, continually building up their knowledge base as well as tackling the more involved concepts of VB as they progress through the daily lessons.

Alternatively, experienced VB developers can progress through the book much more quickly, using it as an effective way of introducing themselves to this latest release.

The contents of the book are divided into three weeks, each with seven days of tuition, so unfortunately there's no rest on the weekends!

By the end of day one you'll have an understanding of the new VB 5.0 development environment, and will have coded your first VB 5.0 application.

The remaining lessons for this week discuss

  • Properties
  • Controls (there is a separate chapter dedicated to the topic of graphics controls)
  • The basic programming building blocks of VB (procedures, functions, If statements, Do loops, and variables)
  • The use of the mouse in Windows programming
  • Menus
  • Dialog boxes.
T he daily lessons in week 2 concentrate on subjects such as
  • Graphics methods
  • The steps used to display information in tables
  • Displaying and printing data
  • How to interface with the Windows evironment
  • The intricacies of using the keyboard
  • File system controls; and the procedures involved in accessing files (random, sequential, and binary access).
B y the end of week 2, you will have built up a good working knowledge of Visual Basic.

Week 3 focuses on
  • Arrays
  • OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), which is used to exchange information with other Windows programs that are also OLE compliant)
  • The Data Control
  • MDI (Multiple Document Interface) applications
  • ActiveX technology with an emphasis on sound programming and DirectSound (this technology has features that can enhance the use of sound within VB applications)
  • Advice about how to successfully use the Windows API
  • A chapter that demonstrates how to construct your own ActiveX controls.
T he book concludes with an appendix showing how to add custom properties to forms, thereby providing you with extra versatility for designing and coding your applications.

One unusual aspect of this book is the lack of what has become almost a standard with programming books, that is, a companion CD-ROM. So to see the book's programs run you will have to type in the code. However, because the VB 5.0 development environment is significantly different from that of previous releases, this is a good way of quickly becoming familiar with it.

This book is full of useful ideas and tips that can be used in your everyday VB programming tasks.
Teach Yourself Visual Basic 5 in 21 Days (Fourth Edition) 
Nathan Gurewich and Ori Gurewich 
Published: 1997, 
SAMS Publishing 798 pages 
ISBN: 0 672 30978 5 RRP: $79.95

An interactive VB course

Visual Basic 5 Interactive Course presents an innovative approach to learning VB. When you purchase the book, you also gain access, via the Internet, to what the publisher refers to as the eZone.

By entering the eZone, you can ask a real-life online mentor any questions about the material covered in the book. And with the resources and facilities available in the eZone you can also do the book's quizzes online (and get immediate feedback on how well you did), converse with other VB programmers and developers studying the book via a mailing list, access the latest VB World Wide Web sites, and receive a newsletter each month that describes the most recent developments occurring in the eZone.

If you prefer to read from the screen, the contents of the book have also been replicated online.

By using the eZone, and working your way through the material, it is possible to earn a certificate of completion (providing, of course, that you have attained the standard of knowledge expected).

Each chapter of this book has been divided into between 5 and 8 lessons.

Each of the lessons contains a self-contained unit of knowledge.

Because of their length (which is not too long) they can be tackled whenever you have some spare time. Each one concludes with a short quiz reinforcing the main points that have been discussed in that lesson (and most importantly the correct answers are provided in one of the book's two appendices).

This book is satisfying to read because you are left with a feeling of achievement after finishing each lesson.

Visual Basic 5 Interactive Course is a nearly 1100-page book that contains the subject matter a typical commercial VB programmer needs to know about, and understand, to do his or her job.

As well as discussing the new development environment, and the basic structure And content of Windows programs developed using VB 5.0, the book also tackles more advanced topics. These include

  • Classes
  • The Setup Wizard
  • Application optimisation
  • Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)
  • Executable creation
  • Object Linking and Embedding (including the OLE Container Control, OLE Automation, Object Hierarchy, the Object Browser, and OLE Servers)
  • The steps involved in building your own ActiveX controls
  • The role and use of the Windows Registry
  • VB 5.0 communications programming.
T he companion CD-ROM contains all of the source code discussed throughout the book, a copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 3.01), and a comprehensive set of VB utilities and third-party controls (these demonstration versions represent an excellent way of testing the products before actually making a commitment to buy them).

The book concludes with an appendix containing a guide to Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Visual Basic 5 Interactive Course
John Harrington et al.
Published: 1997, Waite Group Press,
a division of SAMS Publishing
1064 pages plus CD-ROM
ISBN: 1 57169 077 8
RRP: $79.95

About the author
Tony Stevenson has recently completed a Masters in Computing by Research at Monash University in which his thesis concentrated on a component-driven approach to software development using Visual Basic.

Reprinted from the July 1997 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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