Foreword

Visual Basic revolutionized programming when it was first released in 1991 by making it easier than ever for developers to build Windows programs. This success continued with Visual Basic 6.0, which became one of the world's most popular programming languages. The transition from Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET offered developers a new range of development possibilities. Using the same set of development skills, developers could now target Windows, Web, Mobile, and Office applications better than ever before. Visual Basic 2005 is the most powerful and accessible version of Visual Basic. The addition of features like the My namespace and Edit and Continue help developers to address business problems with the productivity that is the hallmark of Visual Basic development.

This book is a great way to take your Visual Basic 6.0 development skills forward to become an expert in Visual Basic 2005 programming. I'm happy to have partnered with Wei-Meng and O'Reilly to create this book which is a part of an ongoing effort to enable Visual Basic 6.0 developers to leverage their existing skills. Experienced VB programmers will see how their existing Visual Basic skills can be applied to quickly become productive in Visual Basic 2005.

I hope that you find this book useful and look forward to hearing from you with any comments. Please feel free to contact me directly at [e-mail].

Jay Roxe

Product Manager, Visual Basic

Microsoft Corporation