Chapter 4

Decisions and
Conditions

Programming In
Visual Basic .NET
 If Statements

• Used to make decisions

• If true, only the Then clause is executed, if false, only Else
clause, if present, is executed
• Block If…Then…Else must always conclude with End If
• Then must be on same line as If or ElseIf
• End If and Else must appear alone on a line
• Note: ElseIf is 1 word, End If is 2 words

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 If…Then…Else – General Form

If (condition) Then
statement(s)
[ElseIf (condition) Then Condition True
statement(s)] False
[Else
statement(s)] Statement Statement
End If

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If…Then…Else - Example

unitsDecimal = Decimal.Parse(unitsTextBox.Text)
If unitsDecimal < 32D Then
freshmanRadioButton.Checked = True
Else
freshmanRadioButton.Checked = False
End If

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 Conditions

• Test in an If statement is based on a condition

• Six relational operators are used for comparison
• Negative numbers are less than positive numbers
• An equal sign is used to test for equality
• Strings can be compared, enclose strings in quotes (see
Page 142 for ANSI Chart, case matters)
– JOAN is less than JOHN
– HOPE is less than HOPELESS
• Numbers are always less than letters
– 300ZX is less than Porsche

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 The Six Relational Operators

• Greater Than >

• Less Than <
• Equal To =
• Not Equal To <>
• Greater Than or Equal To >=
• Less Than or Equal to <=

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 ToUpper and ToLower Methods

• Use ToUpper and ToLower methods of the String class to

return the uppercase or lowercase equivalent of a string,
respectively

If nameTextBox.Text.ToUpper( ) = "Basic" Then

' Do something.
End If

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 Compound Conditions

Condition 1
• Join conditions using logical operators
OR T F
– Or If one or both conditions True,

Condition 2
entire condition is True T T T
– And Both conditions must be True
F T F
for entire condition to be True
– Not Reverses the condition, a Condition 1
True condition will evaluate False
AND T F
and vice versa

Condition 2
T T F

F F F
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 Compound Condition Examples

If maleRadioButton.Checked And _
Integer.Parse(ageTextBox.Text) < 21 Then
minorMaleCountInteger += 1
End If

If juniorRadioButton.Checked Or seniorRadioButton.Checked Then

upperClassmanInteger += 1
End If

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 Combining And and Or Example

If saleDecimal > 1000.0 Or discountRadioButton.Checked _

And stateTextBox.Text.ToUpper( ) <> "CA" Then
' Code here to calculate the discount.
End If

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Nested If Statements

If tempInteger > 32 Then

If tempInteger > 80 Then
commentLabel.Text = "Hot"
Else
commentLabel.Text = "Moderate"
End If
Else
commentLabel.Text = "Freezing"
End If
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 Using If Statements with Radio Buttons
& Check Boxes
• Instead of coding the CheckedChanged events, use If
statements to see which are selected
• Place the If statement in the Click event for a Button, such
as an OK or Apply button

Private Sub testButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _

By Val e As System.EventArgs) Handles testButton.Click
' Test the value of the check box.
If testCheckBox.Checked Then
messageLabel.Text = "Check box is checked"
End If
End Sub
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Enhancing Message Boxes

• For longer, more complex messages, store the message

text in a String variable and use that variable as an
argument of the Show method
• VB will wrap longer messages to a second line
• Include ControlChars to control the line length and
position of the line break

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ControlChars Constants
(p 152)

Constant Description
CR Carriage Return
CRLF Carriage Return + Line Feed
NewLine Carriage Return + Line Feed
Tab Tab Character
NullChar Character with a Value of Zero
Quote Quotation Mark Character

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Message Box - Multiple Lines of Output

ControlChars.NewLine
Used to force to next line

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 Message String Example

Dim formattedTotalString As String

Dim formattedAvgString As String
Dim messageString As String
formattedTotalString = totalSalesDecimal.ToString("N")
formattedAvgString = averageSalesDecimal.ToString("N")
messageString = "Total Sales: " & formattedTotalString _
& ControlChars.NewLine & "Average Sale: " & _
formattedAvgString
MessageBox.Show(messageString, "Sales Summary", _
MessageBoxButtons.OK)
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Displaying Multiple Buttons

• Use MessageBoxButtons constants to display more than

one button in the Message Box
• Message Box's Show method returns a DialogResult
object that can be checked to see which button the user
clicked
• Declare a variable to hold an instance of the DialogResult
type to capture the outcome of the Show method

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Message Box - Multiple Buttons

MessageBoxButtons.YesNo

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 Declaring a Variable for the Method
Return

Dim whichButtonDialogResult As DialogResult

whichButtonDialogResult = MessageBox.Show _
("Clear the current order figures?", "Clear Order", _
MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question)
If whichButtonDialogResult = DialogResult.Yes Then
' Code to clear the order.
End If

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Specifying a Default Button and
Options

• Use a different signature for the Message Box Show

method to specify a default button
• Add the MessageBoxDefaultButton argument after the
MessageBoxIcons argument
• Set message alignment with MessageBoxOptions
argument

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 Input Validation

• Check to see if valid values were entered by user before

beginning calculations
• Check for a range of values (reasonableness)
– If Integer.Parse(hoursTextBox.Text) > 10 Then
MessageBox.Show("Too many hours")
• Check for a required field (not blank)
– If nameTextBox.Text <> "" Then ...

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Performing Multiple Validations

• Use nested If statement to validate multiple values on a

form
– Examine example on Page 156
• Use Case structure to validate multiple values
– Simpler and clearer than nested If
– No limit to number of statements that follow a Case
statement
– When using a relational operator must use the word Is
– Use the word To to indicate a range of constants

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Sharing an Event Procedure

• Add events to the Handles clause at the top of an event

procedure
– Allows the procedure to respond to events of other
controls
• Key to using a shared event procedure is the sender
argument
– Cast (convert) sender to a specific object type using the
CType function

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Calling Event Procedures

• Reusable code
• General Form
– [Call] ProcedureName ( )
– Keyword Call is optional and rarely used
• Examples
– Call clearButton_Click (sender, e)
OR
– clearButton_Click (sender, e)

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Debugging (p 169)

• Debug Menu
• Debug Toolbar
• Toggle BreakPoints on/off by clicking Editor's gray left
margin indicator
• Step through Code, Step Into, Step Over
• View the values of properties, variables, mathematical
expressions, and conditions

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Debugging (cont.)

• Output Window
• Locals Window
• Autos Window

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Debug Menu and Toolbar

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Writing to the Output Window

• Debug.WriteLine(TextString)
• Debug.WriteLine(Object)

Debug.WriteLine("calculateButton procedure entered")

Debug.WriteLine(quantityTextBox)

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Breakpoints

Toggle Breakpoints On/Off by clicking

in Editor's gray left margin indicator

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Checking the Current Value of
Expressions

Place mouse pointer over variable or

property to view current value

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Locals Window

Shows values of local variables that are

within scope of current statement
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Autos Window

Automatically adjusts to show variables

and properties that appear in previous
and next few lines
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4- 33 © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.