Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Grammar Cheat Sheet

Grasshopper, you will need to write decent documentation.

Great link :)

"The Grammar Cheat Sheet | Retinart" ( http://bit.ly/aHrIfE )

Inserting documentation into code

1. Right click the name and select Insert Comment.


2. Type away :)



3. Your comments will now be visible in intellisense :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

ASCII Character codes

Set TheQuoteChar to "

Dim TheQuoteChar As Char = Chr(34)


"ASCII - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" ( http://bit.ly/aFPbSt )

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Australia Post API

Real time postage calculation fro Australia Post.

"Australia Post API for Shopping Carts" ( http://bit.ly/cclHtj )
"Australia Post eDeliver" ( http://bit.ly/auyEhw )

API at http://drc.edeliver.com.au/ratecalc.asp

Try this:
http://drc.edeliver.com.au/ratecalc.asp?Pickup_Postcode=3198&Destination_Postcode=3199&Country=AU&Weight=150&Service_Type=STANDARD&Length=150&Width=15&Height=150&Quantity=1

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Interfaces

Create the interface and define required behavior. An access specifier is not required.

Public Interface I_Test

    Function Foo() As String

End Interface

Implement the interface in the desired class:

Public MustInherit Class ShoppingListItem
    Implements I_Test

Now, implement the behaviors (you will have errors until you do):

          Public Function Foo() As String Implements I_Test.Foo
        Return "Foo"
    End Function

Looping through an enum

Basic class containing the enum:

Public Class WeightUnits

    Enum ItemWeightUnits
        gms = 1
        kgs = 2
        mls = 3
        ltr = 4
    End Enum

End Class

An instance of the WeightUnits class is not required as the enum is shared by default.

Loop through the enum and get the NAMES of each entry in the enum.

        Dim items As Array
        items = System.Enum.GetNames(GetType(WeightUnits.ItemWeightUnits))
        Dim item As String
        For Each item In items
            MsgBox(item)
        Next

Loop 1

Loop 2

Loop 3

Loop 4


Loop through the enum and get the VALUES of each entry in the enum.

        Dim items As Array
        items = System.Enum.GetValues(GetType(WeightUnits.ItemWeightUnits))
        Dim item As String
        For Each item In items
            MsgBox(item)
        Next

Loop 1

Loop 2

Loop 3

Loop 4

Close an Input Sequential Access File

HOW TO: Close an Input Sequential Access File
Syntax
streamReaderVariableName.Close()

Example
inFile.Close()
closes the file associated with the inFile variable.

Use the Peek method of the StreamReader

HOW TO: Use the Peek method
Syntax
streamReaderVariableName.Peek

Example
Dim lineOfText As String
   Do Until inFile.Peek = -1
   lineOfText = inFile.ReadLine
   MessageBox.Show(lineOfText)
Loop
reads each line of the file associated with the inFile variable, line by line. Each line (excluding the newline character) is assigned to the lineOfText variable and is then displayed in a messagebox.

Determine whether a Sequential Access File Exists

HOW TO: Determine whether a Sequential Access File Exists
Syntax
IO.File.Exists(fileName)

Example
If IO.File.Exists(“report.txt”)  = True Then
determines whether the report.txt file exists in the current project’s bin\Debug folder.

Reading data from a Sequential Access File

HOW TO: Declare a StreamReader Variable
Syntax
{Dim | Private} streamReaderVariableName As IO.StreamReader

Example
Dim inFile As IO.StreamReader
declares a StreamReader variable named inFile.

HOW TO: Create a StreamReader Object
Syntax
IO.File.OpenText(fileName)

Example
inFile = IO.File.OpenText(“report.txt”)
opens the report.txt file for input, creates a StreamReader object and assigns it to the inFile variable.

HOW TO: Read data from a sequential access file
Syntax
streamReaderVariableName.ReadLine

Example
Dim message As String
message = inFile.ReadLine
reads a line of text from the file associated with the inFile variable and assigns the line, excluding the newline character, to the message variable.

Close an Output Sequential Access File

HOW TO: Close an Output Sequential Access File
Syntax
streamWriterVariableName.Close()

Example
outFile.Close()
closes the file associated with the outFile variable.

Write data to a sequential access file

HOW TO: Write data to a sequential access file using StreamWriter
Syntax
streamWriterVariableName.Write(data)
streamWriterVariableName.WriteLine(data)

Example 1
outFile.write(“Hello”)

Result
The string “Hello” is written to the file, the next character written to the file will appear immediatley after the letter “o”.

Example 2
outFile.WriteLine(“Hello”)

Result
The string “Hello” is written to the file. The next character written to the file will appear on the next line.

StreamWriter object

HOW TO: Declare a StreamWriter object
Syntax
{Dim | Private} streamWriterVariableName As IO.StreamWriter

Example
Dim outFile As IO.StreamWriter
declares a StreamWriter variable named outFile

HOW TO: Create a StreamWriter object
Syntax
IO.File.method(fileName)

Methods
CreateText: opens a file for output - creates a new empty file to which data can be written. If the file already exists, the data in the file is deleted before any new data is written to it.

AppendText: opens a file for append - the new data is written after any existing data in the file. If the file does not exist, the file is created for you.

Example 1
outFile = IO.File.CreateText(“mytextfile.txt”)
opens the mytextfile.txt file for output; creates a StreamWriter object and assigns it to the outFile variable. The file is open for output.

Example 2
outFile = IO.File.AppendText(“report.txt”)
opens the report.txt file for append; creates a StreamWriter object and assigns it to the outFile variable. The file is open for append.

Multiple Forms

If your application calls for multiple forms:

1. Create the required forms via the 'Add New Item' option.
2. Design the form as required.
3. To launch an instance of one form from another:

Dim FormInstanceName as New FormClassName
FormInstanceName.ShowDialog()

- Shows the form as a modal window.

Dim FormInstanceName as New FormClassName
FormInstanceName.Show()

- Shows the form as a normal window.

Form.ShowDialog Method

"Shows the form as a modal dialog box."

From MSDN "Form.ShowDialog Method (System.Windows.Forms)" ( http://bit.ly/c6lYQ1 )

Modal Windows

"Modal windows are commonly used in GUI systems to command user awareness and to display emergency states. In the web, they are often used to show images in detail."

From "Modal window - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" ( http://bit.ly/aWOtgT )

Form class

"Represents a window or dialog box that makes up an application's user interface."

Go to MSDN --> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.form.aspx