Visual Basic .NET 2008 Tutorial

In this tutorial I will teach you on how to create a Windows Application using Visual Basic .NET 2008. For the sake of this tutorial I will be using Library System as the system model.

I came up with this idea in the hope to help beginner who wish to learn Visual Basic .NET the EASY WAY. I know there are a lot of tutorials out there but they focus on different things. Unlike this tutorial I will create an actual application which will guide you up to the end of this article.

Programming is not an easy job. You need focus to learn things easily. If you came here in the hope to learn programming overnight then you are wrong. You need to take action, everyday, do not skip the topic until you are familiar with it.

What you need to know?

This tutorial will also teach you on how to work with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. I choose this version so you can implement this tutorial on your computer without worrying an upgrade.

At the end of this tutorial you will also learn how to code. There must be so many ways of programming with Visual Basic .NET. I will focus on the easiest part. We will not use hard-coded application. Instead we will use the power of Visual Basic editor especially the built-in wizard.

Requirements

• Visual Basic 2008
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

When you install Visual Studio .NET 2008, you have an option to install SQL Server Express 2005 Express Edition. If you did not install this, you can reinstall it by going to the Control Panel and use the Add/Remove programs.

If you wish to install the latest version you can download it from Microsoft’s website.

You must also download the Management Studio Express. You need this tool to manage SQL Server Databases. You can download SQL Server 2005 Express Edition together with the management tools under SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services SP3. The size as of the file as of this writing is 234 MB.

If you already have SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed, then all you need is the management studio.

For those who wish to buy a new computer, you must have at least 2GB of memory and a core2duo processor. This is just my recommendation if you want to have a great experience with Visual Studio product.

Working with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

• How to Create Database in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
• How to Add Table to Your Existing Database
• How to Create Database Relationships
• How to Attach and Detach a Database

Working with Visual Basic .NET 2008

• How to Create a Windows Application Project
• How to Add New Data Source
• How to Add Windows Forms
• How to Select Startup Form

The list above is not final. I will be adding new topic anywhere in the tutorial until I finish the Library System project.

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Advice, suggestions or comments is highly appreciated for the betterment of this tutorial.