Chapter 1 Introduction to Visual Basic Programming and Applications 1 Exploring Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Copyright © 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc. By Carlotta Eaton

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.2 Objectives  Machine language vs.. High-level language  Procedure-oriented, object-oriented, and event-driven languages  Background of Visual Basic  VB Integrated Development Environment  Online documentation and Help features

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.3 Application Programs Program - detailed set of instructions for a computer to execute Application programs (applications or apps) - self-contained collection of programs that perform a task for the end user Programming language - formal language used to give instructions to computers

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.4 History of Programming Languages  Machine language  Procedure-oriented languages  Object-oriented languages  Event-driven languages  Natural languages

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.5 History of Programming Languages  Machine Language different for each computer processor  Procedure-Oriented Languages FORTRAN COBOL Pascal C Ada

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.6 History of Programming Languages  Object-oriented languages Smalltalk C++ Ada 95  Event-driven languages Visual Basic most Visual languages

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.7 History of Programming Languages  Natural languages computer will accept a user’s native or natural language, such as English Researchers continue to work in this area

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.8 Background of Visual Basic  BASIC Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code By John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz Designed to teach programming to beginners BASIC language interpreter, one of Microsoft’s first products

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.9 Background of Visual Basic  BASIC Included with DOS QBASIC - included with DOS Version 5 - subset of BASIC  Visual Basic Visual Basic 1 for Windows 3 Visual Basic 4 - for Windows 95 Visual Basic 5 - for Office 97 Visual Basic 6 - for Windows 98 & Office 2000

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.10 Toolbox Form Designer Window Code Editor Window Project Explorer Properties window Form Layout Window Visual Basic 5 Interactive Development Environment

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.11 Elements of the Integrated Development Environment  Application icon  Application name  Context menus  Controls  Current project  Design view mode  Title bar  Major windows Form Designer Form Layout Toolbox Project Explorer Object Browser Properties Code Editor Immediate, Locals, Watch

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.12 Introduction to Visual Basic Hands-On Exercise 1 Start Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Open the Welcome Project Open the Welcome Form Run the Welcome Project End the Welcome Project Exit Visual Basic

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.13 Summary...  Event-driven languages is a major improvement in programming languages  Editions include Learning Edition, Professional Edition, and Enterprise Edition  CD-ROM includes the MSDN Library, and many sample programs

Exploring MS Visual Basic 6 Copyright 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.14 Summary  Integrated Development Environment includes Form Designer, Form Layout Code Edition, Project Explorer Properties and Object Browser  Choose the right tool for the job  Visual Basic is the glue that binds Windows objects together