Why Should Access Developers Learn Visual Basic .NET?

There are four major reasons for Access developers to learn Visual Basic .NET. This section explains each of them.

Catching the Next Generation Wave

Practicing developers need to decide whether any given innovation is a fad or a long-term trend. Learning fad technologies wastes your time and does not help you grow professionally; you spend time learning about a technology which rapidly becomes obsolete and does not prepare for the next technology. On the other hand, catching a long- term technology early in its development cycle has several benefits. First, clients will recognize you as a serious professional because you stay current with the latest technology. Second, you can undertake more challenging assignments because Microsoft simplifies the implementation of high-end capabilities, such as XML Web services, in its strategic products.

Developers familiar with early releases of Access will remember macros. When Microsoft introduced Access, macros were a popular way of automating applications. Macros offered a graphical approach to adding user interactivity to Access forms. Then came Access Basic, which offered a programmatic means of enabling user interactivity on Access forms. Many Access developers hesitated in migrating to Access Basic because developers could achieve some of the Access Basic benefits with macros. As a result, they felt justified in avoiding the bother of learning Access Basic. Access Basic was a precursor of VBA, which proved to be one of the important tools available to modern Access developers. Those developers who delayed learning Access Basic fell behind the curve and missed an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a revolution in desktop database development.

Visual Basic .NET represents an opportunity for Visual Basic and VBA Access developers that parallels the migration from macros to VBA. Developers can create Web applications for their Access databases much more easily with Visual Basic .NET (and ASP.NET) than with the tools available for Visual Basic and VBA. That s true because Visual Basic .NET offers a template for creating XML Web services as well as special constructs, such as Web references, for consuming XML Web services. Once you learn these and related tools for your Access databases, the same approach applies to other databases.

Learning Consistent Tools

Developers are always challenged to do the most with the smallest possible set of tools. Reusing a set of tools in multiple contexts leverages your knowledge of those tools as you learn how to implement new kinds of applications. No matter how expert you are as a developer, there is always a limit to the number of tools with which you can be proficient. Visual Basic .NET allows you to create Windows applications for the Access databases that you currently have. In addition, the .NET Framework allows functionality that is not available with earlier development environments. For example, ASP.NET enables the creation of data-based Web pages. While it is true that data access pages offer some of the same functionality, data access pages rely on an obsolete technology (as noted earlier).

Programming applications with Visual Basic .NET equips you for the next generation in Microsoft development tools by taking advantage of the .NET Framework. Visual Basic .NET drastically simplifies the creation and consumption of XML Web services.

Another important .NET Framework innovation is the interoperability of ADO.NET with XML. Visual Basic .NET developers have powerful techniques for interacting with XML. Furthermore, the same basic approaches that work for Access databases apply equally well to other databases.

Yet another advantage is the interoperability of applications created using Visual Basic .NET with those of languages compatible with .NET, such as C# or Visual C++. Because of subtle incompatibilities in how languages not compatible with .NET implement Windows functionality, it is difficult to have applications developed by Visual Basic developers used by C++ developers. All languages that support .NET draw on the same set of base classes. This means that the subtle incompatibilities between how languages implement Windows functionality is gone because all languages supported by .NET draw on the exact same set of classes. In addition, all languages compatible with .NET compile code for the common language runtime (CLR), which actually executes the code on an operating system. (See more about the CLR later in this chapter.) Languages compatible with .NET can still express some individuality by exposing different subsets of classes for use by the CLR. The consistency between languages supported by .NET enables organizations to achieve better efficiency from their programming professionals because Visual Basic .NET developers and Visual C++ developers can create classes that interoperate with one another.

Note  

The .NET Framework includes built-in support for the following programming languages: Visual Basic .NET, C#, Visual C++, and JScript .NET. However, many third-party firms offer .NET compilers for other languages, such as COBOL, FORTRAN, RPG, and Perl. Navigate to http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/ partners /language/ for a list of the current .NET compilers registered with Microsoft.

Exposing Access Databases Over the Web

By using ADO.NET and ASP.NET together, you can expose Access databases over the Web with Visual Basic .NET. Notice that I said Visual Basic .NET and not VScript.NET (or some other Visual Basic variation). The same Visual Basic .NET that you use for creating forms in Windows applications also works for creating forms in Web applications. Not only that, but Visual Studio .NET, which includes Visual Basic .NET, provides a consistent development environment for creating Windows, Web, and other kinds of applications, such as XML Web services and Windows services, not formerly available to Visual Basic developers. The wide range of application topics that you can tackle with Visual Basic .NET means that you can use the same IDE for creating Windows and Web applications as well as other kinds of applications.

Creating applications with ASP.NET is exciting for several reasons. ASP.NET pages are compiled instead of interpreted. (ASP pages are interpreted.) This means ASP.NET pages will run many times faster than comparable ASP pages. Second, ASP.NET Web pages rely on a new Page class. Instances of this class can split the design of a Web page into layout and programming across two separate but related files. It is this innovation (the Page class and code-behind page) that allows a developer to avoid intermingling Visual Basic .NET with HTML. Third, ASP.NET offers a broad mix of controls that you can use to populate Web pages. Nearly all controls can render in HTML 3.2 exclusively on the server, making it possible to design pages that work in nearly any browser. However, even with this conscious attempt on the part of Microsoft to accommodate browsers other than Internet Explorer, you will still have easier and richer capabilities for creating Web pages for Internet Explorer browsers.

Exposing Access Databases via XML Web Services

Typical ASP.NET applications work from a browser. However, you may also care to expose database application functionality from a Windows application via the Internet. With this approach, users enjoy the benefit of using a traditional Windows form, but they have access to an Access database on a remote computer. This kind of capability is one of the main benefits of an XML Web service for Access developers.

I will drill down into the underlying technologies and give you several examples of XML Web services in Chapter 12. The important point here is that switching to Visual Basic .NET makes it relatively easy to implement an XML Web service based on an Access database.

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Getting the .NET Framework

To create applications with Visual Basic .NET, you need to meet minimum hardware and software requirements for the .NET Framework. One easy way to update your computer to meet the software requirements and to get the .NET Framework on your computer is to install Visual Studio .NET. This package includes a Windows Update Component CD that refreshes your system with the appropriate updates for the .NET Framework. In addition to the .NET Framework, you also gain the availability of the Visual Studio .NET IDE as well as other useful development aids. I suggest you put aside several hours for a full installation of the Windows Update, including the .NET Framework, and Visual Studio .NET.

Visual Studio .NET comes in three editions: Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Within the Visual Studio .NET site, there is a page for helping you decide which edition of Visual Studio .NET best meets your requirements ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/howtobuy/choosing.asp ). Because this book targets professional Access database developers, I tested sample applications with the Enterprise Developer edition running on two computers with Windows 2000. One computer ran the Windows 2000 Professional edition, and the other computer ran the Windows 2000 Server edition.

You can also download and install the .NET Framework without Visual Studio .NET. The MSDN site offers a Microsoft .NET Framework section ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/ ). This section at the MSDN site permits you to examine hardware and software system requirements and download the .NET Framework as well as any service pack updates. In addition, you can purchase Visual Basic .NET Standard edition as a stand-alone unit that is not a part of Visual Studio .NET ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/howtobuy/choosing.asp ). While Visual Basic .NET Standard edition does install basic .NET Framework components, it does not include tools that many professional developers will consider important, such as the templates for creating reusable components as well as custom controls for Windows and Web applications.

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Programming Microsoft Visual Basic. NET for Microsoft Access Databases
Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET for Microsoft Access Databases (Pro Developer)
ISBN: 0735618194
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 111
Authors: Rick Dobson

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