Table of Contents

Part I Learning the Basics of VB

1 Introducing the .NET Framework 4.5  1

2 Getting Started with the Visual Studio 2012 IDE  11

3 The Anatomy of a Visual Basic Project  63

4 Data Types and Expressions  89

5 Debugging Visual Basic 2012 Applications 179

6 Handling Errors and Exceptions  207

Part II Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic 2012

7 Class Fundamentals  225

8 Managing an Object’s Lifetime  269

9 Organizing Types Within Namespaces  283

10 Modules 301

11 Structures and Enumerations  305

12 Inheritance  323

13 Interfaces  347

14 Generics and Nullable Types  367

15 Delegates and Events  379

16 Working with Collections and Iterators  393

17 Creating Objects: Visual Tools and Portable Libraries  423

Part III Advanced Language Features

18 Manipulating Files and Streams 453

19 The My Namespace  477

20 Advanced Language Features 511

Part IV Data Access with ADO.NET and LINQ

21 Introducing ADO.NET and DataSets    539

22 Introducing LINQ  549

23 LINQ to Objects    557

24 LINQ to SQL  587

25 LINQ to DataSets  621

26 Introducing ADO.NET Entity Framework  629

27 Manipulating XML Documents with LINQ and XML Literals  671

Part V Building Windows Desktop Applications

28 Creating WPF Applications 693

29 WPF Common Controls  725

30 Brushes, Styles, Templates, and Animations in WPF  757

31 Manipulating Media and Documents  793

32 Introducing Data-Binding  811

33 Localizing Applications  841

Part VI Building Web Applications

34 Building ASP.NET Web Applications  851

35 Publishing ASP.NET Web Applications    883

36 Building Rich Internet Applications with Silverlight 5  893

37 Building and Deploying Applications for Windows Azure  929

38 Building Apps for Windows Phone 7.5  955

Part VII Networking and Exposing Data Through Networks

39 Creating and Consuming WCF Services  991

40 Implementing and Consuming WCF Data Services  1013

Part VIII Advanced .NET Framework with VB 2012

41 Serialization    1035

42 Processes and Multithreading  1057

43 Parallel Programming and Parallel LINQ  1069

44 Asynchronous Programming  1103

45 Working with Assemblies  1143

46 Reflection  1157

47 Coding Attributes  1181

48 Platform Invokes and Interoperability with the COM Architecture  1191

49 Documenting the Source Code with XML Comments  1207

Part IX Applications Deployment

50 Understanding the Global Assembly Cache  1221

51 Setup and Deployment Projects with InstallShield for Visual Studio  1229

52 Deploying Applications with ClickOnce  1245

Part X Mastering the Visual Studio 2012 IDE

53 Advanced IDE Features  1261

54 Introducing the Visual Studio Extensibility  1287

55 Advanced Analysis Tools  1309

56 Testing Code with Unit Tests, Test-Driven Development, and Code Contracts 1337

Appendix

A Useful Resources and Tools for Visual Basic  1357

Index  1361

About the Author

Alessandro Del Sole, Microsoft MVP for Visual Basic, is well known throughout the global VB community. He is community leader on the Italian VB Tips and Tricks website that serves more than 42,500 developers, and a frequent contributor and blogger at MSDN’s Visual Basic Developer Center. He is the author of six books about .NET development with Visual Basic.