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Good software does just that. It's easy to use, “intuitive” is the buzzword used in the industry. It does what it should and people actually like using it. Developers must keep two things in mind: getting the program to do what it should and making it useable – the two go hand-in-hand. A cool interface means nothing if the software doesn't perform. And, no matter how solid the code is, a clunky program is nearly worthless. Always think of both form and function. On the one hand, a developer must write code that works. On the other, a developer must always consider the end user. Never forget, you can't have one without the other!

New Events

You're familiar with several events such as Click, Load, and Scroll, but there are more, many more. In fact, there are far too many to cover in anything short of the dreaded user's manual. Every event can trigger code and every user action raises an event, that is, every time the user does something, from a click of the mouse to a peck of a key, a program can respond. How it responds and what it does are key to good software.

KeyPress

When a key is pressed, it generates a KeyPress event and also several other key events.

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So far you have seen how a sequence of steps lets you build a program that will do your bidding. You've seen how decision structures give the computer the ability to make decisions. You've learned how to get the computer to repeat instructions, giving it the ability to do the same task over and over. And, you've taught it how to read and write. Well, it can't read and write, but it can access and store data in a file. All of these give the computer the ability to access and process data at remarkable speed. But, you've been limited to only a handful of names and numbers – only what you could hold in your hand and keep track of in your head. You've been forced to discard one thing in order to grab the next. It's as if the world was a full-screen movie and you're stuck looking at stills in the family photo album. Enter arrays. With an array you can grab an armful of data and process it as you wish. Instead of stills on Grandma's porch, you've got a DVD on HD and control of the remote.

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The more work you put into your programs, the less work they'll be for the user. A developer might not like that, but a good program might be used hundreds or thousands of times by millions of users. If you make it just a little easier for every one of them every time they use it – well, you get the idea. Your programs aren't quite there yet, but the basic principles are the same. Just develop an interface with the user in mind and spend a little more time getting the details right. The interface takes care of input and output and the developer worries about the details to handle the processing that comes in between. Good programs are fun and easy to use. They allow the user to concentrate on solving a problem rather than forcing them to figure out how to use the computer.

This chapter introduces new tools. Most of them make it easier for the user and more complicated for the developer. There are also a few other odds and ends to clean up your output.

RadioButtons

RadioButtons are used to select one option from a list of several options. Click on a RadioButton to select it. A black dot appears inside the circle to indicate it's selected. Click on another RadioButton to select it and deselect the original.

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That's a rather cavalier approach for anyone to take, especially when computers are involved. Knowledge is power and the more you know, the greater your power. One book isn't enough to give you all-consuming power, especially over a tool as powerful as a computer. It is, however, enough to get you started. One book won't turn you into a nerd that looks at his own shoes when talking, lives on caffeine and stale snack cakes, and would rather hack on a computer than go out on a date. That's just a stereotype perpetuated by teen movies. While it does fit a few people, almost all of the ones I know are smart, articulate, funny, and just all-around bright and inquisitive people. Above all, they're curious. And the best are curious about nearly everything, not just computers. How does it work? What happens when I try this? What if…?

Programming is, above all else, about thinking and problem-solving. If for no other reason, it's useful because it makes you think about thinking and makes you describe how to solve a problem. For the computer to solve a problem, even simple tasks must be explained in great detail. For someone to explain the rules to a computer – in other words, to write a program – takes a great deal of thinking and understanding.

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Programming is all about making the user happy. As a developer, your mission is to produce a product that fulfills a need for the user and makes them want to use your program. The easier you can make their computing experience, the better. That's a double-edged sword. Often, it's easier to make a program work than it is to keep the user happy. And, the more you try to please the ubiquitous end user, the harder it is for you as a developer. It's often said, “This whole software development thing would be a whole lot easier if it wasn't for all those end users.” While that may seem true, the computer industry wouldn't be where it is today without end users. They buy programs to make their work faster and easier and their fun more enjoyable. They're demanding, fussy, stubborn, and every year they spend billions on what works.

This chapter expands your knowledge of variables and their use. You'll get a taste of methods.

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Think of a program as a play and you're the director. The actors are the controls and the code is your script. It's up to you to bring all of them together to make it work. Most actors can get the words right and learn to hit their marks, but there's far more to it than just memorizing lines and taking cues. As a developer you have to make your program – your play – flow and get all the parts to work together.

Most programs follow the same general path: declarations, input, processing, and output. That helps, but the hard part is getting a human to understand how the computer works. Usually, this understanding comes only from practice. To become a good programmer, you must write programs. To write good programs, you often must write lots of code. And the more code you write, the more mistakes you'll make. Mistakes are a good thing, though. Often, especially in programming, mistakes are a great way to learn. Just like a good director needs to rehearse lots of scenes and try them in many ways, a programmer has to learn what works and what doesn't. In programming, mistakes can be your ally. “OK, this worked, but what if I try this?” “What happens if…?”

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Life is filled with repetition. And every once in a while it throws you for a loop. Every day and every week has a routine. For example, chores are a series of often mundane tasks that get repeated time and again. Make your bed, take out the garbage, walk the dog, do the dishes. That's why they're chores. You've probably reduced these tasks to a series of steps and then repeated them as needed. Business is much the same. The steps to calculate the weekly pay are pretty much the same for every employee. So is the process for calculating a bill or determining a student's grade. Once you know the proper steps for a process, it's easy to repeat them. However, if you can get the computer to do these tasks, it will be much faster and cheaper. And, it would free you to do more pleasant and important tasks.

Until now, the only way for the computer to repeat these tasks was by clicking on a Button over and over. That's slow and hard and boring. This chapter covers repetition structures – in programming parlance, loops. With them, a series of commands can be repeated. Some loops run a specified number of times.

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What Are Decision Structures?

Decision structures give the computer a brain. Sort of. So far, every program has followed a sequence of commands. Every command has executed, in order, when needed. That's great if you're riding the kiddie cars at the carnival, but you want some real power and the ability to make your own decisions. Think open road, the wind in your face, and the power to take whatever road suits your fancy. That's where If and Case statements come in. Quite literally you'll be able to pick one path or the other with an If statement. With a Case statement, you'll be able to choose one path from many. Are you hungry? Do you need gas? Then stop. It's your decision. Without them, you're merely a passenger on the bus and someone else makes all the decisions. With them, you turn the computer from a calculator that can only solve one problem into a thinking machine that can make decisions for various outcomes based on the input provided and the directions given to it by the developer. In short, you're on your way to teaching the computer how to think.

If…Then…Else Structures

Decision structures give the computer multiple blocks of code and the ability to select the block of code to execute.

Who Should Use This Book?

This book is written for the newbie. It's not for those who already know programming. If you know the basics of the computer, like word processing, spreadsheets, email, and surfing, then you're ready to go.

What's Included?

This book covers the basics, like variable and assignment statements. It explains programming sequence, selection, and repetition structures – fundamentals to the design of any good program. It explains controls and their uses, the basic tools for designing your interface. Procedures and functions are covered, which are the basic building blocks of larger programs. File input and output (I/O) is introduced. Good programs run on data and I/O is how data get into and out of the computer. From there, arrays are introduced and used to implement more complicated programming logic including control breaks, sorting, and searching. Events make things happen in a program and one chapter is dedicated to events, including drag and drop. Objects are introduced and an understanding of them is crucial for successful developers. For a little fun, there's a chapter on graphics and sound, but you'll need a good foundation in programming sequence, logic, and repetition to get the most from it. The world runs on databases and the last two chapters cover the basics of databases, including an introduction to LINQ to SQL and Crystal Reports. LINQ connects programs to databases. SQL (Structured Query Language) is designed to find, update, and report data, and Crystal Reports is designed for data presentation.

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The world runs on databases. Data of all kinds are tracked and stored, managed, massaged, manipulated, and, sometimes mangled. You got of taste of that in the last chapter. You even saw a little of it with control breaks back in Chapter 9. A report is the key tool for managing data. With a report, data become information, a list of numbers becomes a total or an average, and meaningless figures become a report, complete with a colored chart. Crystal Reports is a full-featured database reporting tool from Business Objects®. It crunches the numbers and produces printable reports. It's one of literally hundreds of third-party add-ons for Visual Studio. It handles data from almost any database and integrates it into reports.

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Crystal Reports Tutorial

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Be sure to use the Professional version of Visual Studio and have either the trial version or the full version of Crystal Reports installed on your system. Make sure the TouristStops.mdb database is in the C:\CRFiles folder on your system. TouristStops is an Access database that contains information on vacation spots throughout the United States.