The Visual Basic .NET Windows Application Cram Sheet

The Visual Basic .NET Windows Application Cram Sheet

This Cram Sheet contains the distilled key facts about the exam "Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET." Review this information as the last thing you do before you enter the testing center, paying special attention to those areas where you feel you need the most review. You can transfer any of these facts from your head onto a blank sheet of paper immediately before you begin the exam.

1. .NET development uses a Common Language Runtime (CLR) environment and a shared Framework Class Library (FCL) for development using one or more of the .NET languages in the same application.

2. Visual Studio .NET supports VB .NET, C# .NET, and other .NET code. The .NET FCL supplies objects with associated properties and methods .

3. A class is a template from which individual objects are created. For example, the System.Windows.Forms.Form class is the template for all Form objects. The FCL contains thousands of objects.

4. Classes inherit the members of their parents, limited as Public , Private , Protected , or Friend . Custom properties can be created within the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Form classes inherit visual display members through Visual Inheritance.

5. Namespaces are logical groupings of related class types. System is the main root namespace of the FCL.

6. Visual Studio .NET includes a Windows Forms Designer for drag-and-drop form design using the design view and code view of a form.

7. Event handling specifies the actions to be taken when an event occurs by overriding a protected method or by attaching a delegated function to handle the event.

8. The System.Drawing namespace provides graphic-manipulation classes, including the Graphics class, the Pen class, and the Brush class. Drawing text or graphics on a form makes use of methods such as Show , Invalidate , and Draw .

9. Most controls are derived from System.Windows.Forms.Control and have many properties, including Z-order , Anchor , Dock , Enabled , Font , Location , Name , Size , Height , Width , TabIndex , TabStop , Text , Visible , and other control-specific properties.

10. The GroupBox and Panel controls can be used to contain other controls. The Panel control provides scroll bars, whereas the GroupBox control includes a caption.

11. The Label and LinkLabel controls display read-only data. LinkLabel includes hyperlink capability.

12. The TextBox and RichTextBox controls allow for single or multiline input. The RichTextBox control allows input of RTF-formatted data.

13. The PictureBox control can display graphical data in ICO, BMP, WMF, JPG, PNG, and GIF formats.

14. The Button, RadioButton, and CheckBox controls can be used for selection input.

15. The ListBox control and CheckedListBox control allow for single or multiple selections from a list.

16. The ComboBox control allows for selecting from a list or inputting a new value.

17. The DomainUpDown and NumericUpDown controls allow for indexed selection from an ordered list using up and down buttons for navigation. DomainUpDown returns a string, whereas NumericUpDown returns a numeric value.

18. The MonthCalendar and DateTimePicker controls allow the selection of data values.

19. The TreeView and ListView controls support hierarchical node options.

20. The Timer, TrackBar, and ProgressBar controls display progress-related data.

21. The HScrollBar and VScrollBar controls provide basic scrolling capability.

22. The TabControl can contain any of the other controls arranged in tabbed pages.

23. The ToolTip component extends the properties of other controls to support mouse-over ToolTips.

24. DialogBox components are used to prompt for user input. Default DialogBox components include ColorDialog, FontDialog, OpenFileDialog, PageSetupDialog, PrintDialog, PrintPreviewDialog, and SaveFileDialog.

25. The MainMenu control supplies a visual way to construct and edit menus for your Windows Forms applications.

26. Information can be displayed to the user via the StatusBar and ToolBar controls.

27. Controls can be added using Windows Forms Designer or through code. If you create controls in code, you should add them to the form's components collection.

28. The DataGrid control is used to display formatted listings of data. This visual grid of data can be bound to many different data sources.

29. Exceptions are handled using Try Catch blocks within the code.

30. A Finally block will run regardless of whether an exception occurs.

31. The Throw statement raises an exception explicitly.

32. Unhandled exceptions will fire the UnhandledException event.

33. Validating user input includes restricting available values, restricting access to controls by selectively disabling controls, allowing only valid keystrokes, or evaluating the entire contents of a control when the user tabs to another control.

34. Control-based validation uses properties such as CharacterCasing , MaxLength , ReadOnly , and Enabled .

35. Keystroke validation involves the KeyDown , KeyPress , and KeyUp events.

36. Field-level validation involves the Enter , GotFocus , Leave , Validating , Validated , and LostFocus events.

37. Testing should include the evaluation of correctness, reliability, and robustness.

38. Unit-level, integration, and regression testing should be used. Integration testing can involve bottom-up, top-down, and umbrella methodologies.

39. The System.Diagnostics namespace includes the Trace and Debug classes.

40. Conditional compilation, step-through execution, and breakpoints may be used for runtime testing.

41. The testing windows include Autos, Call Stack, Immediate, Locals, Me, and Watch.

42. Custom components can be created by inheriting from the Component , Control , and UserControl classes. The Component class is used for nonvisual components, the Control class for components with a visual user interface, and the UserControl class as a container.

43. Controls may be hosted in an EXE application or in Internet Explorer.

44. A .NET Assembly is a logical group of files sharing an assembly manifest.

45. Assemblies may be single- or multifile, static or dynamic, private or shared, as well as satellite or resource-only.

46. Legacy code such as ActiveX and COM+ components can be used by encapsulating them in a Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW). Windows API calls can be made using PInvoke .

47. Data binding refers to the process of attaching data to a property of a control. For example, the Text property of a control might be bound to the values in a database column stored in a DataSet object.

48. Simple data binding involves binding a single value to a control property, whereas complex data binding involves binding a group of values. The DataGrid control uses complex data binding to display an entire DataSet in one control.

49. The CurrencyManager and BindingContext classes manage a link between data and the controls to which it is bound.

50. One-way data binding displays data in a control but does not write changes back to the original data source. Two-way data binding moves data from a data source to a control and then back again.

51. Transforming data involves changing it to a human-readable format, whereas filtering involves presenting only a useful subset of all possible data.

52. Data access uses the System.IO , System.Data , System.Data.Common , System.Data.OleDb , System.Data.SqlClient , System.Data.SqlTypes , and System.Xml namespaces.

53. T-SQL queries use the SELECT , INSERT , UPDATE , and DELETE SQL statements to retrieve, add, change, and delete data.

54. SELECT statements use SELECT , FROM , WHERE , GROUP BY , HAVING , and ORDER BY clauses. SELECT INTO statements create new tables from existing data.

55. Aggregate functions include Count() , Sum() , Avg() , Min() , and Max() .

56. Ad-hoc queries are compiled at execution time, whereas stored procedures are precompiled and stored on the server to improve performance.

57. File-based storage makes use of streams and backing stores. A stream is a pipeline that moves data from one place to another, and a backing store is a place where data can be stored.

58. ADO.NET uses data provider classes and DataSet classes.

59. Data provider objects include the Connection , Command , Parameter , DataReader , and DataAdapter classes. Each data provider has its own implementation of these classes. For example, the SqlConnection class is the implementation of Connection for SQL Server.

60. DataSet classes include the DataTable , DataRelation , DataView , DataRow , and DataColumn objects.

61. The DataSet class provides an in-memory representation of an entire relational database. Within a DataSet object, the DataTable , DataRelation , DataView , DataRow , and DataColumn objects provide access to specific pieces of data.

62. XML data is presented in a human-readable hierarchical structure, with an optional XSD file to provide schema information. The System.Xml namespace provides numerous classes for working with XML data. These include the XmlDocument class (an implementation of the DOM) and the XmlDataDocument class (which allows for the synchronizing of an XML document and a DataSet ).

63. The UpdateCommand , InsertCommand , and DeleteCommand properties of a DataAdapter object supply SQL statements that can be used to write changes back to the original data source. These statements can be configured for optimistic concurrency or "last one wins" concurrency control.

64. Web services use open XML standards to pass objects and invoke methods across communications protocols such as HTTP.

65. Web Services standards include SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) for representing objects and methods as XML, WSDL (Web Services Description Language) for providing a standard description of interfaces, and UDDI (Universal Discovery, Description, and Integration) to aid in finding Web services.

66. Localization involves translating the user interface text, character encodings, and data and currency formatting, along with support for the direction of text display and managing different alphabetical sorting methods. This process involves three phases: Globalization (identifying resources to be localized), Localizability (making sure resources can be localized without breaking the application), and Localization (actually translating the resources). Resource files are used to provide culture-specific settings.

67. A culture code specifies a neutral culture with optional subcultures. The invariant culture can be used when communicating with system processes.

68. Character encodings are used to specify different character sets. Unicode is the default encoding within .NET.

69. Mirroring is the reversal of text and control display direction.

70. Sorting uses the String.Compare , Array. Sort , and SortKey.Compare methods.

71. User assistance uses HTML Help files, ToolTips, pop-up help using a HelpProvider object, and accessibility planning.

72. HTML Help provides topic files, table of contents, and a searchable index. HTML Help files are created from individual HTML pages, which are then compiled into a single CHM file.

73. Accessibility planning includes flexibility, input methods, output methods, consistency, and compatibility with accessibility aids.

74. Printing is handled by the System.Drawing.PrintDocument class.

75. Text printing uses the PageSettings and PrintPageArgs classes, and graphical printing involves the System.Drawing namespace.

76. The PageSetupDialog, PrintPreviewDialog, PrintPreviewControl, and PrintDialog components are used for print display and customization.

77. XCOPY as well as Setup and Deployment packages may be used to distribute .NET Framework applications. URL remoting allows access to setup packages through a Web server. Packages may also be distributed using removable media as well as through network and administrative network distribution.

78. Setup and Deployment package templates include Cab, Merge Module, Setup, and Web Setup projects.

79. Setup file customization includes Output File Name, Package File Type and Size, Bootstrapper Inclusion, Compression Type, and Authenticode Signing.

80. Customization editors include File System, Registry, File Types, User Interface, Custom Actions, and Launch Conditions.

81. Shared assemblies must be digitally signed to provide a strong name for unique registration in the Global Assembly Cache. A public/private key pair is used to sign and verify the hashed value of the assembly manifest.

82. Assemblies can be registered in the GAC using Windows Installer, Windows Explorer, the .NET Framework Configuration tool, and the Global Assembly Cache tool.

83. The Installer class includes the Commit , Install , Rollback , and Uninstall methods. These methods allow program installations to be treated as transactions that can be reversed in case of trouble.

84. The Windows Logo program requires packages to meet minimum requirements to be able to display the Windows certified logo. Programs include the Certified for Windows, Designed for Microsoft Windows XP, and .NET Connected logos.

85. Projects that create an executable (EXE) file can use dynamic properties that read from an XML configuration file at runtime.

86. The .NET security model involves both code access and role-based security.

87. Code access security involves permissions for code group access. These permissions are grouped into the Code Access, Identity, and Role-Based types.

88. Code permission requests can be in one of the following forms: RequestMinimum , RequestOptional , RequestRefuse , or Demand .

89. Code group membership conditions include Application Directory, Cryptographic Hash, Software Publisher, Site, Strong Name, URL, and Zone.

90. Default permission sets include Nothing, Execution, Internet, LocalInternet, Everything, SkipVerification, and FullTrust.

91. Authorization may be accomplished using None, Forms-Based, Windows Integrated, Passport, and Custom methods.

92. The IIdentity and IPrincipal classes are used for role-based authorization. The IsInRole() method allows for testing of the WindowsIdentity (current user) object's membership.

93. Information on application execution can be provided using the Process , EventLog , and PerformanceCounter classes.

94. Process data may be accessed on remote and local systems, but only local processes may be started and stopped .

95. The default Event Logs are System, Application, and Security (read-only).

96. Published performance data may be read from local and remote systems.