Practice Files

If you haven’t already installed the practice files, which you can download from the book’s Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/6432.asp, now would be a good time to do so. If you accept the default installation location, the samples will be installed to the folder C:\Microsoft Press\VBNETSec, although you’ll be given an opportunity to change the destination folder during the installation process. The practice files are organized by version of Microsoft Visual Basic, chapter, and exercise. The practice files for each chapter give a starting point for the exercises in that chapter. Many chapters also have a finished version of the practice files so that you can see the results of the exercise without actually performing the steps. To locate the practice file for a particular exercise, look for the name of the exercise within the chapter folder. For example, the Visual Basic .NET 2003 versions of the practice files for the following section on using hash digests for encrypting database fields will be in the folder

C:\Microsoft Press\VBNETSEC\VB.NET 2003\CH01_Encryption\
EncryptDatabaseField\Start

In many of the exercises in this book, you’ll modify an employee management system, adding security features to make the program more secure. The employee management system is a sample program that adds, edits, and removes employees for a fictional company. For background on the employee management system, see Appendix A. The system uses a Microsoft Access database named EmployeeDatabase.mdb. The techniques you learn are equally relevant to Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, and other databases. You don’t need Microsoft Access to use the practice files because the database drivers are installed with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. In some exercises, we modify the database structure. These exercises are optional. If you don’t have Microsoft Access installed, don’t worry: the practice files have been designed to work with the database whether or not you make the changes to the database structure.