01.

Introduction to Visual Basic

Outline
 What is programming?

 Describe the process of visual program design and

development.

 Your first VB project

 Identify syntax errors, run-time errors, and logical

errors.

 Naming convention

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What is a Computer?
 A computer is a machine that processes data
according to a list of instructions.
◦ Data
 Documents, video files, audio files, image files, user
inputs, etc.
◦ Instructions
 Programs, software, apps

 Examples
◦ Desktop computer, notebook, smartphone, server,
game console

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What is Programming?
 Programming means specifying instructions to
be carried out by a computer.

 A program is written in a certain programming

language.

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What is Programming?
 A programming language is a language designed for human to
express computer instructions.
◦ High-level programming languages  More English-like, easier to use
 e.g.: Visual Basic, Java, C++, C#, Objective C, Python, etc.

 However, computers cannot understand high-level programming

language directly, they can only understand machine language.
◦ Machine language (e.g. 1000111000 …) is too difficult to be understood by
human.

 Hence, we need a compiler to translate high-level programming

language to machine language.

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 10111111 A = 1 + 2;
10101011
…
Compiler print A;
11010110
10101111
11110101

Source code
Executable (in high-level
(in machine language) programming language)

 A compiler is a program that translates instructions written in

a programming language into another language, usually from
a high-level programming language to a machine language.
 The resulting program can typically be executed by a
computer directly.

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Writing Windows Applications with
Visual Basic
 Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI)
◦ Defines how elements look and function.

Text boxes

Check box

Radio buttons Message box

Buttons
Picture box
Label

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Writing Windows Applications with
Visual Basic

 Windows are called forms.

 Elements are called controls.

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Object Model in Visual Basic
 Visual Basic is an Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
language.
◦ Many high-level programming language are OOP languages.

 An object-oriented program consists of many objects.

◦ Each object is an independent unit.

 Objects = Nouns
◦ Buttons can be clicked by users.
◦ Textboxes can accept inputs from users.
◦ Message boxes can show messages to users.
◦ Forms are windows showing the layout of the GUI program.

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Object Model in Visual Basic
 Objects have properties, methods, and events.

 Properties = Adjectives
◦ Size of the Button.
◦ Color of the Message Box.

 Methods ≈ Verbs
◦ Close the Form.
◦ Show the Message Box.

 Events occur when the user takes action.

◦ The user clicks a button.
◦ The user moves a form.

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Object Model in Visual Basic
 To create objects, we use classes
◦ There are some built-in classes defined already.
◦ If necessary, we can define our own classes.

 Objects are created by classes, which are

blueprints (templates) used to create new
objects/instances.
◦ Classes contain the definitions of all properties,
methods, and events of the created objects.

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Object Model in Visual Basic
 Suppose we want to have two new button objects
◦ The Button class is pre-defined in Visual Basic.
◦ Each button created is based on the Button class.
◦ Each button has its own set of properties, methods, and events.
◦ One button is labeled “Push Me”, another is labeled “Exit”.
◦ When the user clicks the “Push Me” button, it will display a message.
◦ When the user clicks the “Exit” button, it will terminate the program.

 More details about OOP will be covered in later lectures.

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Writing Visual Basic GUI Applications
 There are three steps when writing a Visual
Basic GUI application
1. Defining the user interface
 Create Forms and Controls
2. Setting the properties
 Give each object a name and define attributes, such
as the text label and the size of a button
3. Writing the source code
 Use programming statements to carry out the
actions needed by the program

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Visual Studio 2019 (VS2019)
 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
◦ Form designer
 Allows programmers to visually create a form
◦ Code editor
 Allows programmers to enter and modify VB source code
◦ Compiler
 Translates the VB statements into (intermediate) machine code
◦ Debugger
 Help to locate and correct errors in the source code
◦ Object browser
 View the available classes, objects, properties, methods, and events

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Installation of VS2019
 Make sure to check “.NET desktop development” during
the installation

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VS2019 (For First Time Use)

Need a Microsoft account

(free to register, or we can
use O365 account) to sign
in after the 30-days trial

Click “Not now, maybe later.”

for a 30-days trial

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 VS2019 (For First Time Use)
Note: You can change the development
setting in “Tools”  “Import and Export
Settings…”  “Reset all settings” later.

1. Choose “Visual Basic”

2. Click “Start Visual Studio”

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Visual Studio 2019

Click “Create a new project”

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 Visual Studio 2019 1. Select “Visual Basic” as filter

2. Click “Windows Forms App

(.NET Framework)” for Visual Basic

3. Click “Next”
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Visual Studio 2019

1. Name your project

(e.g., VBDemo)

2. Click “Create”

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Visual Studio 2019
Toolbox
Properties Window

Solution Explorer

Document Window

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IDE Main Window
 Document Window
◦ The largest window in the center of the screen
◦ Items that display in the Document window include:
 Form Designer
 Code Editor

 Solution Explorer
◦ Holds the filenames for the files included in your project and a list of
the classes it references

 Properties Window
◦ Used to set the properties for the objects in a project

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Toolbox
 Holds tools that are used to
place controls on a form

 You can scroll down to view

more controls

 You can also rearrange them

or sort them alphabetically

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Rename the Source File
 By default, the source file is named
as Form1.vb, and the startup
object is named as Form1
◦ The properties window shows the name
and the properties of the object
◦ In Solution Explorer, we can rename the
file, say to HelloWorld.vb
◦ The name of startup object should also
be changed accordingly
◦ The name of the object should always
adhere to naming rules (see later slides)

2
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1. Defining the UI
 Define the user interface
◦ Set up the form
◦ Place a label and two
button controls on the
form
◦ Lock the controls (No
more move)

 After the user interface is

defined, the next step is
to set the properties

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2. Setting Properties
 HelloForm
◦ Name HelloForm
◦ Text Hello World
 Label 1
◦ Name MessageLabel
◦ Text <Leave blank>
 Button 1
◦ Name PushButton
◦ Text Push Me
 Button 2
◦ Name ExitButton
◦ Text Exit

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3. Writing the Code
 While the project is running, the user can perform actions.

 Each action by the user causes an event to occur.

 Write code for the events we care about or the events we want to
respond to with code.

 Code is written as event procedures.

◦ We write Visual Basic code in procedures
◦ Currently each procedure will be a sub procedure and begin with words
Private Sub and end with End Sub
 More details will be given in later lectures.

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3. Writing the Code
 Visual Basic will ignore events for which you
do not write code.

 Visual Basic will automatically name event

procedures as the object name, an
underscore(_), and the name of the event.
◦ E.g. PushButton_Click

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Assignment Statement
 Assigns a value to the property of an object

MessageLabel.Text = " Hello World "

 The value appearing on the right side of the assignment

operator (=) is assigned to the property named on the left side
of the assignment operator.
◦ Enclose text strings in a pair of double quotation marks (" ")

 In general, to assign a value to the property of an object:

◦ ObjectName.Property = value

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Ending a Program

Me.Close( )

 Current Form (the form itself) can be referenced as Me

 Methods always have parentheses.

◦ This will help us distinguish them from Properties, which never
have parentheses.

 In general, to execute a method of an object:

◦ ObjectName.Method()

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Comments / Remark Statement
 Used for documentation
◦ Every procedure should begin with a comment providing explanation (to human).

 Non-executable, ignored by the compiler

 Automatically colored Green in Editor

 Begins with an apostrophe ( ' )

◦ On a separate line from executable code
 'Display the Hello World message

◦ At the right end of a line of executable code

 MessageLabel.Text = "Hello World" 'Assign message to Text property

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 The Final Code

' Project: Hello World

' Programmer: <Your name>
' Date: <Today's date>
' Description: This program will display a "Hello World" message

Public Class HelloForm

' Display a "Hello World" message when the user clicks PushButton
Private Sub PushButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles PushButton.Click
MessageLabel.Text = "Hello World"
End Sub

' Exit the program when the user clicks ExitButton

Private Sub ExitButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ExitButton.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub
End Class

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Run your Application
 Run Project (choose any way)
◦ Click the Start button on the toolbar
◦ Press F5 or Ctrl+F5
◦ Open “Debug” Menu, select “Start Debugging” or “Start Without
Debugging”

 Save Project
◦ Open “File” Menu, select “Save All”
◦ For the assignments, please do NOT use “Save As …”

 The program will be compiled before the program is executed.

 Our goal is to have no errors during the compile process.

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Type of Errors
 Syntax Errors (Compile-time Errors)
◦ Breaks Visual Basic’s rules for punctuation, format, or spelling
◦ The editor identifies a syntax error with a squiggly line and we can
point to an error to pop up the error message.
◦ We can check the Error List window to help locate the error lines.

 Run-Time Errors (Exceptions)

◦ Statements that fail to execute, such as impossible arithmetic
operations or calculation with non-numeric data
 E.g., compute “Hello World” + 1

 Logical Errors
◦ Project runs, but produces incorrect results.

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Project Directory and Solution File
 Default location of the project files
◦ C:\Users\<user_name>\source\repos\<project_name>
◦ You can change the default location in:
Tools  Option  Projects and Solutions  Locations  Project location:

 One Solution File (E.g. HelloWorld.sln)

◦ A text file that holds information about the solution
and the projects it contains
◦ To open a project from Visual Studio, we should select
the solution file

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Other Project Files
 VB source codes (E.g. HelloForm.vb)
◦ Holds the code procedures

 Form Files (E.g. HelloForm.Designer.vb)

◦ Holds the definition of a form and its controls

 Resource File for the Form (E.g. HelloForm.resx)

◦ A text file that defines all resources used by the form
including string of text and any graphics

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Naming Rules and Conventions
 Naming Rules
◦ No spaces, punctuation marks, or reserved words
◦ Cannot compile the program if violated

 Naming Conventions
◦ Pascal casing
 MessageLabel
 ExitButton
 DataEntryForm
 PaymentAmountTextBox

◦ Camel casing
 messageLabel
 exitButton
 dataEntryForm
 paymentAmountTextBox
◦ Can still compile the program if violated
◦ But recommended to follow to improve the program readability

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Summary
 A program is a list of instructions to process data.

 Visual Basic is an object oriented programming

language handling different events (users’ actions).

 Forms and Controls

 Writing a VB project requires:

◦ Defining the UI
◦ Setting the properties
◦ Writing the code

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Summary
 Assignment Statement

 Closing the form

 Comment / Remark

 Different types of errors

◦ Syntax error
◦ Run-time error
◦ Logical error

 Naming rules and conventions

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References and Readings
 Programming in Visual Basic 2010.
◦ Bradley and Millspaugh, McGraw-Hill
◦ Chapter 1. Introduction to Visual Basic.

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