Chapter 6: Writing Applications Using Visual Studio

Overview

One of the best ways to work with Google Web Services when you want to create a free-form desktop application is to use Visual Studio. With Visual Studio, you have access to a full user interface, Web service, and database tools. Given time and resources, you can create seamless access to Google Web Services for any need, including many forms of Web application access. If you use Visual Studio .NET, mobile applications become relatively easy to create as well. In sum, this is the approach to use when you require maximum flexibility, have the required development skills, and have the time and resources to create a complete application.

The two most popular versions of Visual Studio now are Visual Studio 6.0 and Visual Studio.NET. This chapter explores both versions of Visual Studio. Visual Studio 6.0 developers will find examples for Visual C++ and Visual Basic. Visual Studio .NET developers will find examples for Visual C# and Visual Basic .NET. Most developers will find a Visual Studio flavor they like in these sections.

Visual Studio developers can create desktop or Web applications with equal ease. This chapter explores some of the differences between the two kinds of application development. You need to consider the unique issues of each environment as you create your application. For example, Web applications don't always lend themselves to extensive formatting with the same ease as desktop applications.

This chapter also considers the use of a database for various kinds of data storage, both short and long term. You might find that you need to use local storage that provides automatic data entry updates to achieve a given level of performance for your application. In some cases, you might also need to store customer or company specific short- term information as part of your application. This chapter relies on SQL Server. You can use other database managers, such as Access (see the "Using Microsoft Access as a Database" section of Chapter 5) and MySQL (see the "Using MySQL as a Database" section of Chapter 7).