Open Source Web Design is a collection of web designs submitted by the community that anyone can download free of charge!

Check it out at:  Open Source Web Design

Relaxed delegate conversion, introduced in Visual Basic 2008, enables you to assign subs and functions to delegates or handlers even when the signatures are not identical. Therefore, binding to delegates becomes consistent with the binding already allowed in method invocations. 

In Visual Basic prior to 2008:

Sub OnClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles RunButton.Click
    MessageBox.Show("Visual Basic prior to VB 2008")
End Sub

In Visual Basic 2008 (VB9)

Sub OnClick() Handles RunButton.Click
    MessageBox.Show("Look Mom, no parameters!")
End Sub

Details:  Relaxed Delegate Conversion

Mike McIntyre
www.getdotnetcode.com

Visual Web Gui is an open source product for porting .NET Windows Forms applications to the web. 

It is used to create ASP.NET web applications with a very AJAX like experience - without the AJAX programming hassle.

It may be worth it to you to give it a try. Though it's little rough around the edges at this point, this product can be used today to produce web applications from .NET Windows Forms projects. And - the developer is rapidly improving the product each month.

It's easy to get started and it to produce useful web applications. I've been playing around with it for about a week and have already created two small web applications for IT management.

The process is straight-forward:

1. Download and install the free Visual Web Gui Visual Studio project templates.

2. Create a Visual Web Gui project. This is a Visual Studio Windows Forms project.

3. Build out the Windows Froms application.

4. Compile.

5. Run result in web browser.

6. Deploy to web server.

Visual Web Gui web site:  http://www.visualwebgui.com/

Visual Web Gui at CodePlex: http://www.codeplex.com/VWGSilverlight

Mike McIntyre

www.getdotnetcode.com

Jaren Parsons of the Microsoft Visual Basic Team created PInvoke Interop Assistant. In a blog announcing the tool he says: “The motivation behind this tool is writing PInvoke is a hard and often tedious task. There are many rules you must obey and many exceptions that must be taken into account.”

Read about the tool and get a link to download it at: Making PInvoke Easy

The list has more than doubled since I first published it here.

Below, in alphabetical order, is a partial listing of Visual Basic 2008 books.  Some have already been published, some will be published over the next several months.

Accelerated VB 2008 (Accelerated)

Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in VB 2008 - Programming Techniques

Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional

Beginning Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Clearly Visual Basic: Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic 2008

LINQ in Action

Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008: RELOADED

Murach's Visual Basic 2008

Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform

Programming in Visual Basic 2008

Programming Visual Basic 2008: Build .NET 3.5 Applications with Microsoft's Popular RAD Tool for Business

Programming Windows Services with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 2008 in 24 Hours: Complete Starter Kit

Simply Visual Basic 2008

Starting Out With Visual Basic 2008

Visual Basic 2008 For Dummies

Visual Basic 2008 for Windows and Mobile Applications: Introductory

Visual Basic 2008 for Windows, Mobile, Web, Office, and Database Applications: Comprehensive

Visual Basic 2008 How to Program

Visual Basic 2008 Programmer's Reference

Visual Basic 2008 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

Mike McIntyre

Get Dot Net Code

Local type inference is an important new concept to grasp as one approaches Visual Basic 2008.  Many new features in VB 2008 are dependent on it. Below is a brief introduction to local type inference followed by a link to a MSDN resource where you can learn more.

Introduction

In Visual Basic 2008 you can get strongly typed local variables without using the 'As' clause to explictly set the variables type.  Here is an example of declaring a strongly typed variable in prior versions of Visual Basic for .NET and assigning it an integer literal:

Dim myInteger As Integer = 10

In Visual Basic 2008 you can get the same result - that is a strongly type variable - like this:

Dim myInteger = 10

The Visual Basic 2008 complier will strongly type the myInteger variable by infering the type from the integer literal.  It analyzes the value assigned to the local variable myInteger  (the integer literal 10), determines it is of type integer, and strongly types myVariable as in integer.

More Information

For more info click -> Local Type Inference

For more VB XNA game code visit:  http://ilovevb.net/Web/

Checkout the downloads section.

I am a professional business application developer, not a game developer. 

My programming language of choice is Visual Basic, through I am proficient with and have developed applications with many languages such as C, C++, SmallTalk, Java, and C#.

I recently received a very important project request. Though it a request to develop a game, I couldn't turn it down. My grandson wants me to help him develop a computer game.

As a Microsoft MVP I am painfully aware that Microsoft has yet to port its XNA Game Studio Express to Visual Basic, its currently available only C#. While I did feel my grandson could learn and comprehend enough Visual Basic to build a simple game - in fact he has created a few simple programs with VB already - I didn't feel he would grok C#.

So I did some research.

I found that Alan Phipps has created the free XNA Game Engine for Visual Basic 2005. And he's published 2D and 3D tutorials to go with it.

I downloaded the XNA Game Engine and after a quick look I went back to Alan's site and made a donation.

Now I am well into completing the 2D tutorials and my first game.

If you want to learn to develop games with XNA and  Visual Basic 2005,  Alan's offering is a great way to get started.

I thank you Alan and so does my grandson.

Mike McIntyre [MVP] http://www.getdotnetcode.com

 Below, in no particular order, is a partial listing of Visual Basic 2008 books.  Some have already been published, some will be published over the next several months.

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/12202.aspx

Amazon.com: Visual Basic 2008 For Dummies

http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-2008-Dummies-Computer/dp/0470182385

Amazon.com: Accelerated VB 2008 (Accelerated)

http://www.amazon.com/Accelerated-VB-2008-Guy-Fouch%C3%A9/dp/1590598741

Wrox::Visual Basic 2008 Programmer's Reference

http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0470182628.html

APRESS.COM : Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional

http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590599470

APRESS.COM : Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform

http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590598229

Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in VB 2008 - Programming Techniques

http://www.springer.com/west/home/computer/programming?SGWID=4-40007-22-173744606-0

Amazon.co.uk: Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Microsoft-Visual-Basic-2008/dp/0470187425/ref=sr_1_3/202-8329653-2242231?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191767779&sr=1-3

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/12282.aspx

Programming Windows Services with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/11309.aspx

Deitel & Associates, Inc. Visual Basic 2008 How to Program

http://www.deitel.com/

There was a line and shape control for creating graphics in Visual Basic before .NET. It was widely used by developers to easily decorate the Windows Forms they created with graphics. It was easy to use.

The line and shape control was missing-in-action in Visual Basic for .NET 2002 and 2003.

For Visual Basic 2005, Microsoft has provided a Power Pack that adds line and shape controls to Visual Studio 2005. The Power Pack includes controls that enable you to draw lines, ovals, and rectangles on forms and containers at design time.

These controls provide an easy way to decorate a Windows Forms with graphics just like the VB6 line and shape control.

And, the Power Pack controls introduce powerful new features to the shapes such as events. With events you can change the appearance of graphics at runtime based on events occurring in the application.  This adds a whole new dimension to line and shape controls. For example, add click and double-click events allow developers to respond and interact with end users. 

The new Line and Shape controls included in this version of the Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs are a set of three graphical controls that enable you to draw lines, ovals, and rectangles on forms and containers at design time.  

Line and Shape controls encapsulate many of the graphics methods that are contained in the System.Drawing namespace. This enables you to draw lines and shapes in a single step without having to create graphics objects, pens, and brushes. Complex graphics techniques such as gradient fills can be accomplished by just setting some properties.

Download and Try the Visual Basic Power Pack Line and Shape Controls

Download an installer at:

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Power Packs 2.0

During installation line and shape control Help is installed installed.  To learn how to use the line and shape controls search Visual Studio help for this topic: 

    Introduction to the Line and Shape Controls

Also during installation, a Visual Studio PowerPacks v2.0 Toolbox Tab is added to Visual Studio 2005:

With it you can drag a line, and oval shape, or a rectangle shape onto the design surface of a Windows form.

Select a shape and use the 'Properties' pane to manipulate the shape.

The possibilities are nearly endless.

Mike McIntyre http://www.getdotnetcode.com

What's the middle ground between OPTION STRICT ON and OPTION STRICT OFF?

Jonathan Aneja of the Microsoft Visual Basic team explains in his recent blog:  Option Strict [On|Off|SortOf]

If you are a Visual Basic for .NET programmer who has tried to extend Visual Studio in the past, here's some really good news:

The Visual Basic Pack for Visual Studio 2005 SDK download provides the SDK samples converted in the Visual Basic language and a new wizard that is used for generating Visual Basic based integration Packages for Microsoft Visual Studio. This download is an add-on to version 4.0 of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. While VB support for the VS 2005 SDK is in the form of an independent add-on install, VB support for the upcoming VS 2008 SDK will be included (integrated in along with C++ and C# support).

This is the Visual Basic Pack for VS SDK 2005 V4 targeting VS 2005. It contains Visual Basic samples and wizards for creating VSIP packages using VB. These samples are the migrated CSharp samples that were shipped with VS SDK 2005 4.0. A new wizard has been added for the creation of VSIP package in Visual Basic.

For more information and news about VSX (Visual Studio Extensibility), visit the VSX Developer center at http://msdn.com/vsx and the VSX Team Blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/vsxteam.