This five-day instructor-led course forms part of the Fastrack2.NET programme. By combining Microsoft Official Curriculum with a focused and accelerated delivery, an individual can gain a deep understanding of .NET technologies in the shortest possible time. With a quicker pace of delivery, these courses are designed for individuals with existing Visual Basic 6 experience who need to start developing with Microsoft .NET. By reducing the time to acquire sound .NET skills, we provide greater flexibility and reduced cost of platform migration.

This course combines an accelerated schedule of Object Orientated essentials, Visual Basic.NET, the .NET Framework and migration best practise. The course is a suitable introduction for those developers wanting to build either Forms or Web based applications.

Before attending this course, students must:

• Have experience developing applications with Visual Basic 4.0 or later

• Be familiar with Microsoft's .NET strategy

OBJECT FUNDAMENTALS:

Objects; Encapsulation; Methods and messages; Classes; Object instantiation and lifetimes; Polymorphism; Inheritance; Overriding

STRUCTURING OBJECTS:

Object references and relationships; Delegation; Design by contract; CRC cards ; Command versus query methods; Collections; Representing values, entities and services as objects

RELATING CLASSES:

Inheritance and substitutability; Multiple inheritance; Abstract classes and methods; Dependency management; Pure interfaces

PROGRAMMING:

Object-oriented programming; Features; C++; Java; C#; Visual Basic; Scripting languages; Libraries and frameworks

TECHNOLOGIES:

Persistence; Components; Distributed object computing; Multi-tier architectures; COM(+); .NET

DEVELOPMENT:

Object-oriented analysis and design; UML; Use cases; Class diagrams; Interaction diagrams; CASE tools; Patterns; Prototyping; Testing; Refactoring; Iterative and incremental development.

OVERVIEW OF THE MICROSOFT .NET PLATFORM:

The following areas are covered:

The Microsoft .NET Platform

The .NET Framework

.NET Framework Components

Visual Basic .NET Enhancements

DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT FEATURES:

The following areas are covered:

The Integrated Development Environment

Creating Visual Basic .NET Projects

Using Development Environment Features

Debugging Applications

Compiling in Visual Basic .NET

LANGUAGE AND SYNTAX ENHANCEMENTS:

The following areas are covered:

Data Types

Using Variables

Functions, Subroutines, and Properties

Exception Handling

OBJECT-ORIENTED DESIGN FOR VISUAL BASIC .NET:

The following areas are covered:

OO and Visual Basic.NET

Designing Classes

Using Microsoft Visio

USING WINDOWS FORMS (Review):

The following areas are covered:

Using Windows Forms

Using Controls

Windows Forms Inheritance

BUILDING WEB APPLICATIONS:

The following areas are covered:

Introduction to ASP.NET

Creating Web Form Applications

Building Web Services

Using Web Services

USING ADO.NET:

The following areas are covered:

ADO.NET Overview

.NET Data Providers

The DataSet Object

Data Designers and Data Binding

XML Integration

DEVELOPING COMPONENTS IN VISUAL BASIC .NET:

The following areas are covered:

Components Overview

Creating Serviced Components

Creating Component Classes

Creating Windows Forms Controls

Creating Web Forms User Controls

Threading

DEPLOYING APPLICATIONS:

The following areas are covered:

Describing Assemblies

Choosing a Deployment Strategy

Deploying Applications

MIGRATING / UPGRADING TO VISUAL BASIC .NET - BEST PRACTICE:

The following areas are covered:

Deciding Whether to Upgrade

Options for Upgrading

Recommendations

Performing the Upgrade

Delegates will learn how to

• Explain the basic concepts and terminology of object-oriented design specifically for Visual Basic .NET
• Understand the major features and benefits of Object Orientated programming
• Use the new language features and syntax in Visual Basic .NET
• List the major elements of the .NET Framework and describe some of the major enhancements to the new version of Visual Basic
• Describe the basic structure of a Visual Basic .NET project and use the main features Visual Studio .NET
• Create applications by using Microsoft Windows Forms
• Migrating to Visual Basic .NET Best Practise - Prepare existing Visual Basic-based applications for upgrade to Visual Basic .NET
• Create components in Visual Basic .NET
• Set up and deploy various types of Visual Basic .NET-based applications
• Explain and use the basic concepts and terminology of object-oriented programming in Visual Basic .NET
• Create Internet applications that use Web Forms and Web Services
• Create applications that use ADO.NET