Visual Basic has been described as a visual interface design package to which the programmer attaches snippets of code. Although this definition has been contested by some, no one would contest that Visual Basic's interface design component--and therefore its forms and controls--are central to Visual Basic. To create a professional application, you need extensive knowledge of Visual Basic controls and their numerous properties, events, and methods. Visual Basic Controls in a Nutshell is the book that documents Visual Basic controls thoroughly.Visual Basic Controls in a Nutshell is divided into two sections. The first contains a detailed summary of Visual Basic Professional Edition's intrinsic and custom controls. Each chapter provides the following information about a control:
- A general description of the control, including its usage and purpose
- Control tasks--that is, the tasks that are typically executed when creating or managing a control
- The most important properties that define the behavior and appearance of the control
- The major events fired by a control and to which code can be assigned
- In cases where their timing may be important, the order in which related multiple events are fired
- The most important methods that are available for managing a control or accessing its functionality
- The ways in which the control unexpectedly interacts with changes in its state or in that of the Visual Basic environment. Typically, these undocumented or little documented side effects give developers enormous difficulty.
The second section consists of separate alphabetical references to Visual Basic's properties, methods, and events. Along with providing basic documentation for each property, method, and event, the entries in this section contain a wealth of information not always available from the documentation, including:
- Whether a property is available at design-time and/or run-time
- The data type returned by a property or method
Visual Basic Controls in a Nutshell is an ideal book for Windows programmers who are looking for detailed and organized information on Visual Basic controls. This book is written by an experienced Visual Basic programmer and is filled with precisely the kind of information that his work--and that of any experienced VB programmer--constantly requires. Its depth and quality make it an indispensable addition to your Visual Basic library. With its companion volume,
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language, it serves to thoroughly document Microsoft Visual Basic.
Central to the versatility of Visual Basic 6 is its implementation of forms and controls--without them the erstwhile programmer is going to get nowhere fast. It's odd then, that Microsoft should provide such poor documentation, hidden away as it is in the voluminous online help files. For those poor souls who don't have the time to second-guess where the help is, O'Reilly have produced this rather spiffy volume,
Visual Basic Controls in a Nutshell, covering the Professional and Enterprise editions of the software.
The book is divided into two sections. The first covers the background to the control set. The second lists all controls, properties, methods and events, and provides a handy mousemat-sized quick reference to boot.
Author Evan Dictor has done a sterling job in documenting the VB6 controls combining helpful, succinct descriptions with many useful code snippets to fully illustrate the points he's making.
Of particular interest are the sections relating to forms and MDI forms, which not only detail relevant controls but also give some in-depth information on the order in which associated events are fired, and interactions between controls--great stuff if you've ever expected something to happen only to find the exact opposite is true because event firing doesn't work in the way you might expect it to.
Weighing in at 750 pages this isn't the smallest VB book on the market, but it is one of the most comprenhesive and a highly recommended addition to the desktop bookshelf of any developer. --Chris Russell
