Introduction -- Chapter 1 Introducing .NET -- What is .NET? -- What is the .NET Framework? -- The .NET Framework class library -- The Common Language Runtime -- Why .NET for VFP developers? -- Marketability -- ASP.NET -- Building middle-tier components -- Language interoperability -- Abstracting operating system services -- Multithreading -- You're in a great position to learn .NET -- Managed Code -- Assemblies -- Manifests -- Private and shared assemblies -- Namespaces -- .NET Programming Languages -- Visual C# .NET -- Visual Basic .NET -- Naming Guidelines -- Overview of the development process -- Requirements gathering -- Building a plan for construction -- Designing and building business objects -- Data modeling -- Building the user interface -- Building an XML Web service -- Conclusion -- Chapter 2 Visual Studio .NET -- The Start Page -- Get Started -- What's New -- Online Community -- Headlines -- Search Online -- Downloads -- XML Web Services -- Web Hosting -- My Profile -- Showing the Start Page -- Solutions and Projects -- Creating a new project -- Project Templates -- Example: Building a Visual Basic Windows Application -- Examining the new solution with Solution Explorer -- Examining the new project -- Adding another project to an existing solution -- Specifying a startup project -- Building a Solution -- Build configurations -- Build options -- Building your sample solution -- Examining the build output files -- Running the compiled program -- Creating and installing shared assemblies -- Dynamic Help -- The Properties Window -- Sorting items in the Properties Window -- Displaying events -- Code editing -- IntelliSense -- Outlining -- Bookmarks -- Formatting text -- Visual Studio .NET Windows -- Tool windows -- Document windows -- Searching and Replacing -- Find and Replace -- Find in Files and Replace in Files -- Find Symbols.

Setting IDE options -- Object Browser -- Class View window -- C# special Class View features -- Task List -- Command Window -- Favorites -- Toolbox -- Server Explorer -- Data Connections -- Servers -- Source control -- Macro Explorer -- Macros IDE -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3 Introduction to C# -- Weak typing vs. strong typing -- A simple C# program -- C# syntax -- Case sensitivity -- Semicolons and multi-line statements -- Code placement -- Grouping statements together -- Comments -- Namespaces -- Defining a simple class -- The default base class -- Defining class methods -- Declaring variables -- Fields -- Field modifiers -- Value and reference types -- Understanding the stack and the heap -- Value and reference type performance -- The string type -- Assigning one string to another -- Enumerations -- Arrays -- Declaring arrays -- Storing values to arrays -- Sorting arrays -- Multidimensional arrays -- Type conversions -- Implicit type conversions -- Explicit type conversion using casts -- Converting to string -- Using Parse to convert strings -- Boxing and unboxing values -- The 'is' operator -- 'if' statement -- 'switch' statement -- 'for' loop -- 'while' loop -- 'do' loop -- 'foreach' loop -- XML Documentation -- Unsafe Code -- C# as an international, industry standard language -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Introduction to Visual Basic .NET -- Changes for Visual Basic 6 backward compatibility -- Weak Typing vs. Strong Typing -- Option Explicit and Option Strict -- A simple Visual Basic .NET program -- Visual Basic .NET Syntax -- Case insensitivity -- End-of-line and line continuation characters -- Grouping statements together -- Comments -- Namespaces -- Defining a simple class -- The default base class -- Defining class methods -- Returning values from a method -- Declaring variables -- Member variables -- Member variable modifiers.

Value and reference types -- The string type -- Strings as reference types -- Enumerations -- Arrays -- Declaring Arrays -- Redimensioning arrays -- Storing values to arrays -- Sorting arrays -- Multidimensional arrays -- Type conversions -- Implicit type conversions -- Explicit type conversion -- The 'CType' function -- Converting to string -- Converting strings with 'Val' -- Boxing and unboxing in Visual Basic .NET -- The 'TypeOf' operator -- 'If' statement -- 'Select…Case' statement -- 'For…Next' loop -- 'While' loop -- 'Do' loop -- 'For Each' loop -- 'With' statement -- XML Documentation Tool -- Conclusion -- Chapter 5 Object Orientation in C# and Visual Basic .NET -- Where do you put your code? -- Classes -- Defining classes -- Defining fields (member variables) -- Defining properties -- Read-only and write-only properties -- Defining methods -- Specifying method parameters -- Overloaded methods -- Constructor methods -- Destructor methods -- Class inheritance -- Specifying a base class -- Overriding inherited methods -- Virtual (Overridable) methods -- Extending inherited methods -- Polymorphism and virtual methods -- Hiding inherited methods -- Preventing inheritance -- Abstract classes and methods -- Concrete methods in abstract classes -- When to create abstract classes -- Instantiating concrete subclasses -- Programming to an interface rather than an implementation -- Interface inheritance -- Implementing interfaces -- Implementing multiple interfaces -- Implementing interfaces with the Class View window in C# -- Referencing classes by interface -- Polymorphism and interfaces -- Deciding between abstract classes and interfaces -- Instance and static (Shared) members -- Referencing static class members -- Events and delegates -- Delegates -- An events example -- Overriding events defined in the .NET Framework.

Event handling using 'WithEvents' in Visual Basic .NET -- Event handling made easy in Visual Studio .NET -- Structures -- Copying structures -- Deciding between classes and structures -- Attributes -- Indexers -- Garbage Collection -- Dispose methods -- Destructors and Finalize methods -- C#'s using statement -- Operator Overloading -- Reflection -- Accessing type information -- Late binding with reflection -- Late binding in Visual Basic .NET -- Performance and late binding -- Conclusion -- Chapter 6 Tour of the .NET Base Classes -- The System namespace -- The String class-working with strings -- The Environment class - platform and environment information -- DateTime structure -- The Math class -- The System.Collections namespace -- The ArrayList class -- Comparer and CaseInsensitiveComparer classes -- The HashTable class -- The Queue class -- The Stack and SortedList classes -- The System.EnterpriseServices namespace -- Configuring an assembly for COM+ services -- Deploying the assembly -- Configuring a class for object pooling -- The System.IO namespace -- The Directory and DirectoryInfo classes -- The File, FileInfo classes -- Writing and Reading files with StreamWriter and StreamReader -- The Path class -- The FileSystemWatcher class -- The System.Net namespace -- Downloading and uploading with the WebClient class -- The Dns and IPHostEntry classes -- The System.Timers namespace -- Conclusion -- Chapter 7 Data Access with ADO.NET -- A brief history of data access -- Data access and the n-tier architecture model -- Introducing ADO.NET -- .NET data providers -- Disconnected DataSets -- ADO.NET and XML -- ADO.NET performance -- The .NET data classes -- Data-specific classes -- Accessing data with ADO.NET -- Choosing between DataReaders and DataSets -- Accessing data with a DataReader -- Creating a connection to the data source.

Configuring a data command object -- Executing a data command -- Processing the return value -- Closing the connection -- Pulling it all together -- Accessing data using DataSets -- Loading a DataSet with a data adapter -- Loading XML into a DataSet -- Invoking stored procedures -- Pulling it all together -- Updating Data Using DataSets -- Understanding data adapters -- Using command builders -- Typed DataSets -- Deploying a .NET application with data access -- Accessing Visual FoxPro Data from ADO.NET -- Conclusion -- Chapter 8 .NET Business Objects -- What is a business object? -- Examining business objects in popular software applications -- Monolithic vs. three-tier applications -- Additional business object benefits -- Normalizing application logic -- Solving the "where's the code" syndrome -- Ease of conceiving and creating complex software systems -- A simple example -- Making .NET data access easy -- Enforcing business rules -- .NET business object architecture -- The BusinessObject class -- Creating subclasses of the BusinessObject class -- Retrieving data with the GetDataSet method -- Saving data with the SaveDataSet method -- The BusinessRules class -- Checking for broken business rules -- Data access classes -- Conclusion -- Chapter 9 Building .NET Windows Forms Applications -- Creating a Windows Forms application -- Namespaces in C# -- Namespaces in Visual Basic .NET -- Behind the scenes with C# -- Behind the scenes with Visual Basic .NET -- Modifying the main application form -- Creating a main application menu -- Adding a new form to the project -- Working with the TabControl -- Adding controls to the List page -- Accessing data by means of business objects -- Data binding in Windows Forms -- Simple data binding -- Complex data binding -- Data binding controls at run time -- Compiling and running the form -- Designing the DataGrid.

Setting the DataGrid's color scheme.