Introducing
Visual Basic
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n this c hapter, I’m go ing to disc uss why yo u sho uld be using Visual Basic to develo p yo ur database applic atio ns. Then I’m go ing to quic kly review the types o f Visual Basic applic atio ns.Why Use Visual Basic?
The easy answer to this questio n is that Visual Basic o ffers the best c o mbinatio n o f features, effic ienc y, ease o f use, and reliability o f any pro gramming language o n the market to day. Ho wever, the easy answer isn’t always the o bvio us answer, so let’s lo o k at why yo u sho uld be using Visual Basic fo r yo ur database applic atio ns.
Basic history
Visual Basic is Mic ro so ft’s latest implementatio n o f a language kno wn as BASIC ( Beginners All-purpo se Symbo lic Instruc tio n Co de) that was develo ped at Dartmo uth Co llege in 1964. It was designed to be an easy to use pro gramming language fo r teac hing students ho w to use a c o mputer.
Jurassic BASIC
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, versio ns o f BASIC were written fo r nearly every c o mputer platfo rm available, inc luding every-thing fro m large-sc ale IBM mainframes and Cray superc o mput-ers to the smallest mini-c o mputmput-ers. It was extremely po pular o n the small mini-c o mputers o f that time, bec ause bo th the c o mputers and BASIC were interac tive.
Mo st pro gramming languages at that time were c o mpiled in batc h. In o ther wo rds, yo u entered a bunc h o f statements into
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In This Cha pter
W hy use Visual Basic?
Visual Basic editio ns
Types o f Visual Basic applicatio ns
the c o mputer and ran a c o mpiler that c hec ked the syntax and then ran the pro gram if there were no syntax erro rs. Mo st o ften, yo u had to punc h the statements o nto punc h c ards using a spec ial devic e kno wn as a keypunc h. Onc e yo u had c reated a dec k o f c ards with yo ur pro gram o n them, yo u had to submit the c ards using a c ard reader to a fac eless mainframe c o mputer fo r exec uting. Yo u then had to wait fo r the c o mputer to run yo ur batc h jo b, at whic h time yo u go t a printo ut that listed yo ur erro rs. If yo u made a syntax erro r in the first line o f the pro gram, yo u go t do zens o f pages o f erro rs, whic h had to be fixed befo re yo u c o uld try again. If yo u were luc ky, yo u c o uld get two o r three runs an ho ur, and if yo u were a lo usy typist, yo u might spend several ho urs befo re yo u go t far eno ugh to ac tually run yo ur pro gram fo r the first time.
The key to BASIC’s suc c ess was that BASIC wo uld c hec k eac h line o f c o de when it was entered into the c o mputer and repo rt any erro rs immediately. This helped mo st pro grammers find their syntax erro rs and c o rrec t them befo re they tried to run the pro gram. Then when the pro grammers were ready to run the pro gram, they sat in fro nt o f a terminal and were able to immediately interac t with the pro -gram. This helped immensely when testing a pro gram, bec ause yo u c o uld test yo ur pro gram, find an erro r, and retest it in a matter o f a minute o r two , whic h allo wed yo u to get meaningful results muc h quic ker.
Of c o urse this effic ienc y c ame with a c o st. Mo st BASIC pro grams ran very slo wly when c o mpared to pro grams written in o ther pro gramming languages. Fo r the mo st part, this meant that the BASICs o f that time were used mo stly fo r teac hing students ho w to pro gram. After learning BASIC, mo st peo ple wo uld mo ve o nto real languages like COBOL o r FORTRAN, whic h were mo re suited to b uilding c o mplex pro grams. This is where BASIC go t a reputatio n fo r b eing a to y pro gramming lan-guage that wasn’t suitab le fo r serio us wo rk.
BASIC jumps out of the Gates
In 1976, a small c o mpany kno wn as MITS develo ped a c o mputer fro m a handful o f elec tro nic parts, inc luding a general-purpo se c alc ulato r c hip fro m a small, little-kno wn c o mpany little-kno wn as Intel. This c o mputer was little-kno wn as the Altair 8800. Ho wever, witho ut a pro gramming language, this c o mputer was pretty useless. It did, ho wever, pro vide an o ppo rtunity fo r a c o uple o f Harvard students named Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who fo rmed a c o mpany kno wn as Mic ro so ft. Their first pro d-uc t was a BASIC interpreter fo r the Altair that ran in 4,096 b ytes o f memo ry.
When IBM c ho se to enter the perso nal c o mputer marketplac e, they asked Mic ro so ft to c reate a BASIC interpreter fo r their new mac hine. When disc ussio ns with ano ther c o mpany fo r an o perating system fell thro ugh, Mic ro so ft was asked to c reate an o perating system fo r the new c o mputer also . This new o perating system bec ame kno wn as PC-DOS, and later as MS-DOS.
By no w Mic ro so ft’s BASIC had gro wn to the po int where many peo ple were using it to develo p serio us applic atio ns. The ability to read and write rando m files was a standard feature o f the language, tho ugh the c o nc ept o f database ac c ess was years away. BASIC had bec o me a key pro duc t fo r the suc c ess o f Mic ro so ft and this gener-atio n o f the perso nal c o mputer industry.
Before BASIC was Visual
Over time, Mic ro so ft realized that a c o mpiler was nec essary to impro ve perfo r-manc e o f BASIC pro grams, so a new pro duc t kno wn as Quic kBasic was c reated. Ano ther versio n c alled the Pro fessio nal Develo pment System was c reated fo r pro -fessio nal applic atio n develo pers and inc luded a number o f to o ls to make their life easier.
When Mic ro so ft b egan b uilding Windo ws, they dec ided to standardize o n the C pro gramming language. In o rder to b uild a serio us pro gram in the early versio ns o f Windo ws, yo u really had to use C b ec ause that was the o nly prac tic al way to ac c ess the o perating system func tio ns.
Mic ro so ft didn’t fo rget its ro o ts, ho wever, and c reated a spec ial versio n o f BASIC fo r Windo ws kno wn as Visual Basic . It allo wed pro grammers to inc lude graphic al inter-fac es fo r their BASIC applic atio ns. Versio n 1.0 o f Visual Basic was the first and o nly versio n o f Visual Basic to run o n bo th DOS and Windo ws.
Data basics
Mic ro so ft Ac c ess was develo ped to c o mpete with similar pro duc ts fro m Bo rland c alled Parado x, as well as pro duc ts fro m Ashto n-Tate c alled DBase. These pro duc ts allo wed peo ple to build simple database applic atio ns quic kly and easily. This was po ssible bec ause o f the func tio ns pro vided by the databases that were at the heart o f these to o ls.
As time marc hed o n, Mic ro so ft released Visual Basic 4, whic h was the first versio n o f Visual Basic to suppo rt 32-bit applic atio n develo pment. It was also the last ver-sio n o f Visual Basic to suppo rt 16-bit applic atio n develo pment. This dual nature was ac c o mplished by two independent implementatio ns o f Visual Basic . Ho wever, the two versio ns were slightly inc o mpatible with eac h o ther, bec ause so me o f the c o ntro ls weren’t available in bo th versio ns. This usually c aused a pro blem bec ause Visual Basic 3 pro grammers c o uldn’t mo ve up to the 32-bit Visual Basic 4 c o mpiler.
Ano ther differenc e between the 16 and 32-bit versio n o f Visual Basic was the Jet 2.5 and Jet 3.0 databases. Jet 2.5 was an impro ved versio n o f the 16-bit Jet database inc luded with Visual Basic 3, while the Jet 3.5 database was the same 32-bit database used by Ac c ess 95.
In Visual Basic 5, the 16-bit versio n was dro pped, but numero us enhanc ements were made to the 32-bit versio n. The biggest enhanc ement was the ability to c reate yo ur o wn Ac tiveX c o ntro ls. Previo usly, if yo u wanted to c reate yo ur o wn c o ntro ls, yo u needed to write them in C++, whic h was time-c o nsuming and c o mplic ated and o ften beyo nd the ability o f the average Visual Basic pro grammer. Ho wever, with Visual Basic 5, anyo ne familiar with Visual Basic c lass o bjec ts c o uld c reate their o wn c o ntro ls.
The key to making Ac tiveX c o ntro ls feasible was a native-mo de c o mpiler. Previo us versio ns o f Visual Basic c o mpiled their pro grams into an intermediate c o de, whic h was exec uted at runtime by a spec ial interpreter. The new native-mo de c o mpiler used c o mpo nents fro m the Visual C++ c o mpiler to c reate the ac tual c o de. No w Visual Basic applic atio ns were almo st as fast as Visual C++ applic atio ns.
BASIC today
Visual Basic 6 is the mo st rec ent versio n o f Visual Basic . I like to think o f Visual Basic 6 as Visual Basic 5 with every availab le fac to ry o ptio n. While a few mino r c hanges were made to the language itself, mo st o f the c hanges added new features to the develo pment enviro nment. While Visual Basic 5 had o nly o ne type o f appli-c atio n, Visual Basiappli-c 6 adds speappli-c ialized appliappli-c atio ns that run o n a Web server ( IIS Applic atio n) and an applic atio n that runs o n a Web b ro wser ( DHTML Applic atio n) . Also , Visual Basic 6 inc ludes a numb er o f enhanc ements in the datab ase area. These enhanc ements inc lude the ab ility to drag and dro p datab ase definitio ns o nto a fo rm, a sto red pro c edure deb ugger, and the ab ility to design datab ases direc tly in Visual Basic .
Database integration
features, suc h as a database o bjec t mo del, the ability to bind regular c o ntro ls to the results o f a database request, and spec ialized database c o ntro ls.
Database object model
One o f Visual Basic ’s strengths is the ability to c reate and use o bjec ts. Mic ro so ft to o k advantage o f this ability and c reated a set o f o bjec ts that yo u c an use to ac c ess the database. This iso lates all o f the lo w-level details fro m the average applic atio n and makes it easier to use the database.
Visual Basic c urrently suppo rts three different o bjec t mo dels:
✦Data Ac c ess Objec ts ( DAO)
✦Remo te Data Objec ts ( RDO)
✦Ac tiveX Data Objec ts ( ADO)
DAO was o riginally released in Visual Basic 3 to suppo rt the Jet database and its design reflec ts that. While yo u c o uld use DAO to ac c ess o ther databases, yo u had to define the o ther databases to Jet and ac c ess them thro ugh Jet. This extra o ver-head made a big impac t o n perfo rmanc e.
RDO was develo ped to eliminate the o verhead and allo w pro grammers to direc tly c o nnec t to SQL Server databases. The RDO o bjec t mo del was also muc h simpler than the DAO o bjec t mo del, making it easier to use. RDO was first intro duc ed with Visual Basic 5.
Sinc e neither DAO no r RDO o ffered a universal so lutio n to database ac c ess, Mic ro so ft develo ped the ADO o bjec t mo del with the intent to make it wo rk every-where. ADO was first shipped with Visual Basic 6, tho ugh yo u c o uld do wnlo ad a c o py fro m the Internet fo r use with Visual Basic 5. The ADO o bjec t mo del is similar to the RDO o bjec t mo del; ho wever, so me o f the restric tio ns impo sed by the RDO o bjec t mo del were remo ved, making it mo re flexible and easy to use.
Part III of this book is dedicated to the topic of ADO.
Bound controls
Mo st o f the c o ntro ls in Visual Basic c an be tied to an o pen database, and auto mati-c ally display the info rmatio n in the mati-c urrent ro w o f a table. The user mati-c an alter the c o ntents o f the bo und c o ntro l and the info rmatio n will auto matic ally be saved into the database. Using bo und c o ntro ls reduc es the amo unt o f c o de needed to display info rmatio n fro m a database. And in general, the less c o de a pro grammer has to write, the mo re stable the pro gram.
Database-oriented tools
Visual Basic 6 no w inc ludes a set o f to o ls that helps the pro grammer perfo rm database func tio ns:
✦Data Environme nt De signe rhelps yo u drag and dro p database design info r-matio n o nto a fo rm to quic kly c reate database applic atio ns.
✦Data Vie w Windowis available to view the c o ntents o f a database table o r query at design time.
✦SQL Editoris also available to help yo u c reate and debug sto red pro c edures.
✦T-SQL De bugge rhelps yo u debug sto red pro c edures in SQL Server and Orac le8i systems.
✦Data Re porte rhelps yo u build repo rts using info rmatio n fro m the Data Enviro nment Designer.
The Visual Datab ase To o ls integrated into Visual Basic , allo wing yo u to c reate and mo dify datab ase struc tures witho ut leaving the Visual Basic develo pment enviro nment.
Database-oriented controls
Visual Basic also inc ludes several c o ntro ls that are designed primarily with database ac c ess in mind. The Data Co ntro l ( whic h is available fo r bo th ADO and DAO) allo ws yo u to quic kly build an applic atio n, whic h c an sc ro ll thro ugh the val-ues in a database table o r ac c ess the results o f a database query.
Mic ro so ft also to o k so me c o mmo n c o ntro ls, suc h as the Co mbo Bo x and ListBo x, and c reated database-spec ific versio ns o f them with enhanc ed func tio ns. These c o ntro ls take their data direc tly fro m the database rather than requiring the pro grammer to lo ad them explic itly. Mic ro so ft also c reated a spec ial c o ntro l that allo ws a pro gram-mer to po pulate a spreadsheet grid with data fro m a database and allo ws the user to direc tly edit the values. These c o ntro ls are available fo r bo th the ADO o bjec t libraries and the DAO o bjec t library.
A spec ial c o ntro l kno wn as the DataRepeater c o ntro l takes yo ur c usto m Ac tiveX c o ntro l, whic h displays info rmatio n fro m a single ro w in a table, and repeats it as many times as nec essary to display the results o f a database query.
Visual Basic Editions
There are several different editio ns o f Visual Basic that o ffer vario us features targeted at several audienc es:
✦Learning Editio n
✦Enterprise Editio n
✦Other flavo rs o f Visual Basic
Fixes before the fact: Like m ost softw are today, Visual Basic isn’t perfect. Since Visual Basic w as first released, Microsoft has found and fixed several problem s and put the fixes together in a service pack. The service pack can be dow nloaded from Microsoft’s Web site at www.Microsoft.com/Vbasic by follow ing the links to product updates and dow nloads. There, you w ill be able to dow nload the service pack. While hardly any of these problem s should affect you, it is a good idea to dow nload and apply the service pack to prevent any know n problem s from happening.
Learning Edition
The Visual Basic Learning Editio n is targeted at peo ple who want to learn ho w to use Visual Basic . Only the mo st c o re features are fo und in this editio n. While yo u c an develo p simple database applic atio ns using this editio n, the lac k o f features will fo rc e yo u to upgrade to the Pro fessio nal Editio n rather quic kly.
Professional Edition
The Pro fessio nal Editio n is the mo st c o mmo n editio n o f Visual Basic . This editio n inc ludes suc h features at the Data Enviro nment Designer, the Data View Windo w, whic h allo ws yo u to view the info rmatio n fo und in a database table while designing yo ur applic atio n, the spec ial database c o ntro ls desc ribed abo ve. The Visual Database To o ls and the SQL Edito r desc ribed abo ve are inc luded o nly with the Enterprise Editio n.
Tools, tools and more tools: In general, I prefer to use the tools found w ith the particular database system , rather than the Visual Database Tools. This is because the Database Tools are m issing certain features that w ould eventually force you to learn the tools included w ith the database system anyw ay.
A full set o f Ac tiveX to o ls are inc luded in the Pro fessio nal Editio n that perfo rm a wide range o f func tio ns useful fo r b uilding yo ur datab ase, suc h as the TreeView and ListView c o ntro ls, as well as to o ls that allo w yo ur pro grams to ac c ess reso urc es o ver the Internet.
Yo u c an c ho o se to b uild a numb er o f different types o f pro grams with the Pro fes-sio nal Editio n. Yo u c an c reate yo ur o wn Ac tiveX c o ntro ls, yo ur o wn Ac tiveX o b jec ts, Web server applic atio ns and Web b ro wser applic atio ns in additio n to the no rmal exec utab le pro grams. This editio n also has a numb er o f wizards that help yo u b uild applic atio ns mo re q uic kly, as well as a numb er o f templates that yo u c an easily mo dify to perfo rm ro utine func tio ns.
Enterprise Edition
The Enterprise Editio n o f Visual Basic inc ludes all o f the features fo und in the Pro fessio nal Editio n, but adds the Visual Database To o ls and the SQL Edito r to c re-ate sto red pro c edures. A number o f o ther fac ilities, suc h as the Visual Co mpo nent Manager and Visual So urc eSafe, are inc luded to fac ilitate gro uppro gramming pro -jec ts. An applic atio n Perfo rmanc e Explo rer to o l is also available to help yo u deter-mine the effic ienc y o f yo ur applic atio n.
The o ther big differenc e between the Pro fessio nal Editio n and the Enterprise Editio n o f Visual Basic are the c o llec tio n o f to o ls that are inc luded with the pac k-age. Perso nal versio ns o f Internet Info rmatio n Server, and Mic ro so ft Transac tio n Server and SQL Server are inc luded to help develo pers set up a test enviro nment o n their o wn c o mputers.
Also , the Remo te Data Ob jec ts are availab le o nly with the Enterprise Editio n. This was true with Visual Basic 5 as well as Visual Basic 6, b ut is o nly impo rtant if yo u had o lder pro grams that used RDO. Otherwise, this really isn’t that c ritic al o f a feature.
Other Variations
Mic ro so ft is so stro ngly c o mmitted to Visual Basic that they find ways to inc o rpo -rate it into many pro duc ts, o ften witho ut yo ur kno wledge. Besides the editio ns o f Visual Basic that I’ve just intro duc ed, yo u c an find additio nal variatio ns in many o ther plac es.
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
Mo st Offic e pro duc ts inc lude a pro duc t kno wn as Visual Basic fo r Applic atio ns ( VBA) . This pro duc t is based o n the same Visual Basic language that is used to develo p applic atio n pro grams. The primary purpo se o f this variatio n is to help Offic e users build mac ro s that make a partic ular applic atio n easier to use. The mac ro s are really just c alls to the o bjec t mo del expo sed by the applic atio n itself. Ho wever, an applic atio n pro grammer c an use this o bjec t mo del to c reate so me rather c o mplex pro grams that c an be run fro m Wo rd o r Exc el.
Visual Basic Script (VBScript)
VBScript and viruses: Recently, several different viruses that w ere w ritten using VBScript have m ade the new s. These viruses w ere included in e-m ail m essages as m acros, w hich are autom atically executed w hen som eone opens the m essage. Just because VBScript is now associated w ith viruses doesn’t m ean that it’s bad, but you should take appropriate precautions and treat all files that you receive from e-m ail or otherw ise as a potential virus source.
Windows Host Scripting (WHS)
The final variatio n o f Visual Basic is really a variant o f VBSc ript, kno wn as Windo ws Ho st Sc ripting ( WHS) . WHS is used as a mac ro language fo r Windo ws itself. It allo ws yo u to build c o mplex c o mmand line pro grams similar to tho se built by Unix pro -grammers using c sh o r o ther Unix c o mmand interpreters. The best way to think o f WHS is that it is really just a replac ement fo r the o ld batc h file pro c edures that peo -ple used to write fo r DOS.
Types of Visual Basic Programs
There are fo ur main types o f Visual Basic pro grams:✦Standard EXEs
✦Ac tiveX Co ntro ls/ DLLs/ EXEs
✦IIS Applic atio ns
✦DHTML Applic atio ns
Many applic atio ns will use a c o mbinatio n o f these pro gram types in o rder to fully explo it the po wer o f Visual Basic .
Standard EXEs
Peo ple have been building standard EXE applic atio ns fo r years. In this type o f appli-c atio n, the pro grammer appli-c reates an EXE file that is run by the appliappli-c atio n’s user, whic h in turn interac ts with the user to perfo rm a spec ific func tio n.
When b uilding datab ase applic atio ns, I o ften refer to the standard EXE as the tra-ditio nal c lient/ server pro gram, b ec ause it c o mmunic ates with a datab ase server using the c lient/ server applic atio n mo del. This helps to distinguish this type o f pro gram fro m o ther Web -b ased applic atio n pro grams, suc h as IIS Applic atio ns and DHTML Applic atio ns and o ther multi-tier applic atio ns b uilt using Ac tiveX c o mpo nents.
ActiveX DLLs/ Controls/ EXEs
Ac tiveX pro grams c o me in three flavo rs:
✦Ac tiveX DLLs
✦Ac tiveX Co ntro ls
✦Ac tiveX EXEs
Eac h o f these flavo rs represents a c o llec tio n o f Co mpo nent Objec t Mo del ( COM) o bjec ts that have been c o mpiled and c an be used by o ther pro grams.
ActiveX DLLs
Ac tiveX DLLs are simply a c o llec tio n o f COM o bjec ts that c an be used by o ther pro -grams. Sinc e the o bjec ts are sto red in a Dynamic Link Library ( DLL) , yo u need to c reate a pro gram that c an use them. They c an’t be used standalo ne. Ho wever, Ac tiveX DLLs are a great plac e to lo c ate c o mmo n elements that wo uld be shared amo ng multiple pro grams.
COM+ Applic atio ns are really just Ac tiveX DLL pro grams that have been designed to run under c o ntro l o f the Windo ws 2000 COM+ Transac tio n Server. The primary pur-po se o f COM+ transac tio ns is to c reate a middle tier o f pro c essing that is indepen-dent o f bo th the c lient c o mputer and the database server. While yo u c an ac c o mplish this by using an Ac tiveX EXE, the COM+ Transac tio n Server is far mo re sc alable and reliable and c an be extremely useful if yo u have a large applic atio n with a high vo l-ume o f ac tivity.
M TS + 1 = COM + : The COM+ Transaction Server is a m ajor update to the old Microsoft Transaction Server version 2.0. While m any of the features are sim ilar, COM+ handles m ore of the details, m aking it easier to use than MTS.
ActiveX Controls
Ac tiveX Co ntro ls are nearly identic al to Ac tiveX DLLs, exc ept an Ac tiveX Co ntro l pro vides a visual presenc e o n a Visual Basic fo rm. Yo u design an Ac tiveX Co ntro l by drawing a series o f c o ntro ls o nto a fo rm-like surfac e and adding the c o de nec essary to manage the c o ntro l.
Ac tiveX Co ntro ls are useful mo stly when yo u want to put a c o mb inatio n o f o ther c o ntro ls and ac c ess them as a single unit. When c o mb ined with the DataRepeater c o ntro l, yo u c an display multiple ro ws o f info rmatio n o n a fo rm using the same fo rmat.
ActiveX EXEs
An Ac tiveX EXE c o mbines the features o f a Standard EXE with the o bjec ts fo und in an Ac tiveX DLL. Many pro grams yo u are familiar with are really implemented as an Ac tiveX EXE, suc h as Mic ro so ft Wo rd and Exc el.
One advantage o f an Ac tiveX EXE is that yo u c an plac e the pro gram o n o ne c o m-puter and ac c ess the o bjec ts managed by the pro gram fro m ano ther pro gram run-ning o n a different c o mputer o n the netwo rk. This pro gram c an o fflo ad wo rk fro m bo th yo ur database server and yo ur c lient c o mputer by adding a middle o r third tier o f pro c essing.
IIS Applications
In to day’s wo rld, many peo ple are mo ving away fro m traditio nal c lient/ server database applic atio ns to Web-based applic atio ns. These applic atio ns are really just pro grams that run o n the Web server that return a string o f HTML tags in respo nse to a request fro m the Web bro wser.
An IIS Applicatio nis a spec ial type o f Visual Basic pro gram that do esn’t have any graphic al c o mpo nents. Instead, it rec eives requests that o riginate fro m a Web bro wser via the same o bjec t mo del used by Ac tive Server Pro grams ( ASP) c reated by Visual Interdev. Then, the IIS Applic atio n c o nstruc ts a Web page and returns it bac k to the Web bro wser fo r further pro c essing by the user.
Sinc e the IIS Applic atio n impo ses very few requirements o n the Web bro wser, it do esn’t matter if the user has Internet Explo rer, Netsc ape Navigato r, o r nearly any o ther type o f Web bro wser running o n any type o f c o mputer. This is the o nly type o f Visual Basic pro gram that will run o n a Mac into sh o r a Sun wo rkstatio n. Ho wever, as its name implies, IIS Applic atio ns will o nly wo rk with an IIS Web server, so yo u must have a Windo ws 2000/ NT server to run yo ur IIS Applic atio n.
DHTM L Applications
Summary
In this c hapter yo u learned that:
✦Mic ro so ft’s first c o mmerc ial pro duc t was an implementatio n o f a pro gram-ming language c alled BASIC.
✦Visual Basic c o mes in multiple editio ns, o f whic h o nly the Pro fessio nal Editio n and the Enterprise Editio n have c o mplete database suppo rt.
✦Yo u c an c reate standard EXEs, Ac tiveX Co ntro ls, Ac tiveX DLLs and Ac tiveX EXEs using Visual Basic .
✦Yo u c an develo p Web server-based Visual Basic applic atio ns using IIS Applic atio ns.
✦Yo u c an develo p bro wser-based Visual Basic applic atio ns using DHTML Applic atio ns.
✦Yo u c an develo p Visual Basic to build n-tier applic atio ns using COM+ transac tio ns.
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Thoughts on Visual Basic
Microsoft claim s that over three m illion people program in som e form of Visual Basic. While this num ber undoubtedly includes people w ho w rite m acros in Word and Excel, the true num ber of real Visual Basic program m ers still exceeds one m illion individuals. I’m proud to be one of them .
I’ve been creating program s for over 25 years. I’ve used traditional program m ing languages like Fortran, COBOL, and Pascal for years. I’ve used specialized languages such as LISP, Prolog, GASP and SAS. I’ve used m ore assem bly and system s program m ing languages than I can rem em ber. I even used C before there w as a C+ + . I’ve w ritten com pilers for m y ow n program m ing languages, w hich w ere used by no one but m yself. Yet I prefer Visual Basic to all of them .
There are m any reasons w hy I prefer Visual Basic, but the m ost im portant one is that I’m m ore productive in Visual Basic than any other language, especially w hen w riting Window s program s. I can start w ith nothing and end up w ith a com prehensive program faster in Visual Basic than any other language.
