MCTS 70-526-VB Short Notes: Exam Passing Tips

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MCTS 70-526-VB Short Notes: Exam Passing Tips

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Creating a UI for a Windows Forms Application by Using Standard Controls

• Setting the MinimizeBox property of a Windows form to false prevents the minimize button from being displayed in the caption bar of the form.


• Setting the MaximizeBox property of a Windows form to false prevents the maximize button from being displayed in the caption bar of the form.


• Setting the FormBorderStyle property of a Windows form to one of the fixed styles prevents the form from being resized.


• The MinimumSize property of the Form class is used to get or set the minimum size up to which a form can be resized.


• The Size property of the Form class is used to get or set the size of a form.


• The WindowState property of the Form class is used to get or set the state of the Form window in a maximized, minimized or normal state.


• A base form can be designed with all the elements that are common in multiple forms. After using visual inheritance, the base form can be used as a template for all other forms.


• Visual inheritance is a feature that allows the creation of a new form from an existing form.


• The Anchor property of a control is used to define a consistent position of the control in its parent container. A control can be anchored to one or more edges of its container.


• When the Dock property of a control is set to Left, the left edge of the control is docked to the left edge of its container i.e. a Windows form.


• Setting the Anchor property of the button to upper-right value will position the button relative to a Windows form. Whenever the form is resized, the button will position itself to the upper-right edge of the form.


• The PropertyGrid control is used to set properties of a Windows form at design time. The properties of the form will retain their values until the form is executed.


• The visual appearance of the user interface of a Windows form can be modified by using the Windows Forms Properties window.


• The FormBorderStyle property of the Form class sets the default border style of a Windows form by setting its value to Sizable.


• The Opacity property of the Form class sets the transparency of a Windows form. An opacity of 0 percent means the form is completely transparent or invisible and an opacity of 100 percent means the form is completely opaque or visible.


• The CreateControl method of a GroupBox control is used to force the creation of a copy of the control with all its child controls.


• The TabStop property of a control indicates whether the control will receive focus as the user tabs through a window by using the Tab key in the keyboard.


• Controls can be added to a Windows form at runtime via code.


• The AutoScroll property of a Panel control displays scroll bars when independent controls are hosted in the panel, but outside the visible bounds of the Panel control.


• The following steps should be taken to dynamically add a control to a Windows form and make it visible:
  1. Create an object of the control.
  2. Set the Visible property of the control to true.
  3. Add the object to the Controls collection of the form.


• The AccessibleName property of the Control class is used to get or set the accessible name of a control, which is reported to the accessibility aids. It contains a string value used by clients to identify, find, or announce a control for users.


• The RemoveAt method of the List class is used to delete a selected item from the List control.


• The Capture property of the ComboBox class is used to get or set a value that indicates whether or not a control has captured the mouse.


• To set the MaxLength property of a TextBox control to a specified character will prevent a user from entering a password above the specified characters.


• To hide the password from other users, set the PasswordChar property to a symbol, i.e., an asterisk "*".


• The AddRange method of the Control.ControlCollection class is used to add an array of controls to a collection. It is also used to add a single control to a collection.


• Shortcut keys or accelerator keys are keys or key combinations that users can press for quick access to actions they perform frequently.


• The MaxLength property of a TextBox control is used to specify the maximum number of characters that can be entered into the text box control.


• The ComboBox component is a standard HTML drop-down, scrollable list. When a user clicks the component instance, a list of options appears from which only one option can be selected.


• The top-level menu items can have the same access keys. If the same key is defined as an access key for more than one menu item, the user has to hold down the ALT key and the access key to move from one menu option to another.


• Controls can be added to a Windows form at design time by four different techniques. They are as follows:
  1. Select View > Toolbox menu and double-click the control to be added.
  2. Select View > Toolbox menu, select the control to be added and double click the form.
  3. Select a control in the View > Toolbox menu and draw it on the form with the help of the mouse.
  4. Select a control in the View > Toolbox menu and drag it to the form.


• The DisappearAfter property of the Menu class is used to get or set the duration for which a dynamic menu will be displayed when the mouse cursor is removed from the menu.


• The Checked property of the MenuItem class is used to check a menu item the corresponding toolbar will become visible.


• The IsCheckable property of the MenuItem class is used first in a Windows form, as it returns a value to indicate whether or not a MenuItem can be checked. The IsChecked property of the MenuItem class is then used, as it sets or returns a value to indicate whether or not the MenuItem is checked when a user clicks on the menu item.


• Context menus or pop-up menus are shortcut menus that appear only when a user clicks the right mouse button over a control or a form. They are built using the ContextMenu class.


• The CloneMenu method is used to create a copy of the specified menu item and its entire members such as sub-menu items, properties, and event handlers.


• The Select event occurs when a user places the mouse cursor over a menu item. This event also occurs when a user highlights a menu item by scrolling to the menu item by using the arrow keys on the keyboard. This event is not raised for parent menu items.


• LostFocus is an event of the Control class and occurs when a control loses input focus.


• When the AddHandler method is called, it will add a handler to an event handler collection.


• The EditItemIndex property of the DataGrid control is used to programmatically control which item is being edited.


• The events of the Control class occur in the following order:
  1. Enter
  2. GotFocus
  3. Leave
  4. Validating
  5. Validated
  6. LostFocus


• The Validating event occurs when a control is performing validation. It can be used to prevent the control focus from moving away from a specific control until a suitable value has been entered.


• The AcceptButton property of a form is used to set up an accept button for the form. An accept button for a form is one whose click event is triggered when a user presses the ENTER key in the application regardless of the position of the cursor on the window.


• The MouseEnter event occurs when the mouse pointer enters a specified control on a Windows form.


• The MouseHover event occurs when the mouse pointer hovers over the control on a Windows form.


• The Location property of the MouseEventArgs class obtains the location of the mouse during a mouse event generation. It returns a Point structure that contains the x and y coordinates of the mouse.


• In a Windows form, keyboard input is processed by raising keyboard events in response to Windows messages. The three keyboard events that occur on a Windows form control in chronological order are KeyDown, KeyPress, and KeyUp.


• The KeyDown event occurs only once, but the KeyPress event occurs multiple times as long as a user holds a key. The KeyDown event occurs first in a keyboard event and is followed by the KeyPress event.

Integrating Data in a Windows Forms Application

• Following are the steps to access a database through ADO.NET:
  1. Create a connection to the database by using a Connection object.
  2. Create a DataSet object by using an adapter object.
  3. Use the object to display data or change items in the database.
  4. Update the database from the DataSet object.
  5. Close the database connection.


• The Commit, Rollback, and Save methods are defined in the SqlTransaction class.


• The SqlConnection class represents an open connection to a SQL Server database.


• ADO.NET supports connection pooling where the SqlConnection class is used to increase the performance of the application.


• The SqlConnection.BeginTransaction method starts a database transaction.


• The SqlTransaction.Connection property returns a SqlConnection object in association with a transaction that can take place for each new database connection.


• The CommandText property of the SqlCommand class is used to get or set a SQL statement, table name, or stored procedure for execution at the data source.


• The SqlDataAdapter class represents a set of data commands and a database connection that are used to fill a DataSet and update a SQL Server database.


• The SqlCommand class represents a transact-SQL statement or stored procedure to be executed at a SQL Server database. The SqlConnection class represents an open connection to a SQL Server database.


• The ExecuteNonQuery method of the SqlCommand class is used to execute commands that change a database. These commands include the Transact-SQL INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SET statements.


• The DataReader class is used to retrieve a read-only and forward-only stream of data. It optimizes the performance of an application because only one row at a time remains in the memory.


• The ExecuteScalar method of the SqlCommand class is commonly used to execute aggregate functions such as COUNT, SUM, etc., on a table.


• The BeginExecuteNonQuery method of the SqlCommand class is used to initiate the asynchronous execution of a Transact-SQL statement or stored procedure that does not return rows.


• The Merge method of the DataSet class is used to incorporate the latest changes from a data source into an existing DataSet object.


• The GetXml method of the DataSet class returns the XML representation of data from a DataSet.


• The Fill method of the DataAdapter class returns the number of rows that are successfully added or refreshed in a DataSet.


• InferSchema is an XmlReadMode value that is used to ignore an inline schema, infer schema from data, and load the data. If a DataSet object already contains a schema, the schema is extended by adding new tables or columns to the tables.


• The GetChanges method of the DataSet class returns a copy of a DataSet. It contains all changes made to the DataSet since it was last loaded or since the AcceptChanges method was called.


• DataSet and DataRelation objects are used to create a relationship between these two databases to retrieve records.


• The Clone method is used to copy the structure of a DataTable. It includes schemas and constraints, but it does not include the DataRow of a DataTable object.


• The RowFilter property of the DataView class is used to get or set the expression to filter the rows to be viewed in a DataView object.


• The proper approach to synchronize a DataSet object with an XmlDataDocument object is to first populate the DataSet object with data and then to synchronize it with the XmlDataDocument object.


• The ReadXml method of the DataSet class reads XML schema and data into a DataSet.


• The XmlDocument class represents the top node of an XML document.


• An XML document must have only one top-level element known as document element or root element. Each element must have both a start and an end tag.


• An XML document consists of two main parts, namely prolog and document.


• The AppendChild method of the XmlAttribute class is used to add a specified node to the end of the child node list.


• The OuterXml property of the XmlNode class is used to retrieve the markup representing an XML node and its children nodes.


• The xml data type is a built-in data type in SQL Server 2005. As with other built-in data types such as int and varchar, a user can define the xml data type on a column when he creates a table.


• The Load method of the XmlDocument class is used to load the contents of an XML file into an XmlDocument object. However, it does not perform document type definition (DTD) or schema validation.


• The Save method of the XmlDocument class is used to save an XML document to a specified file or location.


• The XmlNode class derived from the System.Xml namespace is a representation of a single node in an XML document. It is the base class in the XML DOM, and supports XPath selections and provides editing capabilities.


• The XmlDocument class that defines within the System.Xml namespace is used to represent an XML document.


• The ImportNode method of the XmlDocument class is used to import the node from another XML document.


• The XmlReader class defines properties that are used to retrieve information about the name and content of the current node.


• The Namespace property of the DataSet class is used to specify the namespace of a DataSet object.


• SQL Server 2000 supports the FOR XML clause with the SELECT statement.


• The FOR XML clause instructs the SELECT statement to return the query result in an XML format instead of a tabular format.


• An XmlReader class is created to display the XML file from a database. The Read method is implemented in order to read data from the XML file.


• To validate XML data by using the XmlValidatingReader class is now obsolete in .NET Framework 2.0. Instead the XmlReader class is used to validate XML data.

Implementing Printing and Reporting Functionality in a Windows Forms Application

• The PrintPreviewControl displays a PrintDocument exactly as it would appears on printing. This control does not provide any button or other user interface elements.


• The page details for printing a document is set by using the EnableMetric property of the PageSetupDialog component.


• The HasMorePages property of the PrintPageEventArgs object specifies whether or not to print an additional page.


• The PrintDialog control is a graphical interface that allows a user to select a printer and specify other print settings for an associated PrintDocument object. It is a non-visual control.


• The AllowSelection property of a PrintDialog control returns a value to indicate whether or not the Selection option button is enabled when the Print dialog box is displayed.


• The AllowSomePages property of a PrintDialog control returns a value to indicate whether the Pages option button is enabled or disabled when the Print dialog box is displayed.


• The PrintPage event of the PrintDocument component is raised when the current page content of a document is send to the printer.


• The Print method of the PrintDocument component initiates the printing process of a document.


• The Document property sets or returns a value of a PrintDocument object representing the document to be previewed.


• The Columns property of the PrintPreviewControl control sets a value to indicate the number of pages displayed horizontally on the computer screen. The default value is set to one.


• The Rows property of the PrintPreviewControl control sets a value to indicate the number of pages displayed vertically on the computer screen. The default value is set to zero.


• To appear the text of a document smooth while print previewing is determined by setting the UseAntiAlias property of the PrintPrevewControl control to true.


• The AutoZoom property of the PrintPreviewControl control is used to set a value to indicate whether the Zoom property is automatically adjusted by resizing the control or changing the number of pages shown for a document. The default value is set to true.


• The Zoom property of the PrintPreviewControl control is used to set a value to indicate the zoom level of the pages of a document. The zoom level value of 1.0 indicates the full size of a page.

Enhancing Usability

• A drag-and-drop functionality refers to the transferring of data with the mouse. It enables a user to drag data such as a text, an image, or other object with the left-button of the mouse from one control and drop it to another control.


• Source control events occur when a mouse pointer triggers some action on a source control.


• Target control events occur when a mouse pointer triggers some action on a target control.


• The CultureInfo class is used to represent information about a specific culture including the language, the writing system, the calendar used, etc.


• The CurrencyPositivePattern property of the NumberFormatInfo class is used to retrieve the format pattern for positive currency values.


• The principles of accessibility design are flexibility, user choice of input and output methods, consistency, and compatibility with accessibility aids that can be integrated into the user interface.


• The AccessibleDefaultActionDescription accessibility property describes the default action of a Windows Forms control. It cannot be set at design time, but it can only be set in a form's code.


• The AccessibilityObject accessibility property is a read-only property. It can be set when a control is added to a Windows form.


• The five accessibility requirements for creating an accessible Windows-based application are:
  
  • Support standard system settings.
  
  
  • Support high contrast option.
  
  
  • Provide keyboard access.
  
  
  • Expose keyboard focus location.
  
  
  • Avoid using sound mode alone while conveying information.
• An MDI parent form is created by setting the IsMdiContainer property to true in the Properties window of the Windows form that is to be the parent form.


• The LayoutMdi method is used to arrange the MDI child forms within the MDI parent form.


• The Active property of a ToolTip control determines whether the ToolTip control is currently active or not.


• The properties of a Windows Form control can be set by using the PropertyGrid control at runtime.


• The VScrollBar control represents a vertical scroll bar within the ScrollBar control.


• The HScrollBar control represents a horizontal scroll bar within the ScrollBar control.


• The Maximum property of the ProgressBar control sets the maximum value of the range of the control. It specifies the upper limit of the Value property.

Implementing Asynchronous Programming Techniques to Improve the User Experience

• The RunWorkerAsync method of the BackgroundWorker component starts execution of a background operation by raising the DoWork event.


• The RunWorkerCompleted event of the BackgroundWorker component is raised to announce the completion a background operation.


• The WorkerSupportsCancellation property of the BackgroundWorker component sets or obtains a value to indicate whether the BackgroundWorker object supports asynchronous cancellation. When the property value is true, the CancelAsync method is called in order to interrupt a background operation.


• The two main tasks to handle an asynchronous process are as follows:
  1. The server component must be able to send a message to the client application when the process of a task is completed.
  2. Client applications must be able to receive messages.


• The System.Threading namespace provides interfaces and classes that enable multithreaded programming in XML.

Developing Windows Forms Controls

• Methods can be added to a control in the following two ways:
  1. A Sub method is created when a method does not return a value.
  2. A Function is created when a method returns a value.

Configuring and Deploying Applications

• If an application calls a large number of methods or large shared libraries at startup, using pre-compilation is the best technique to optimize the performance of the application during startup. Pre-compiling the application with Native Image Generator (Ngen.exe) reduces its startup time.


• In the .NET Framework version 2.0, the ClickOnce deployment technique is most appropriate for deploying Windows-based applications.


• ClickOnce is a deployment technology that allows a user to create self-updating Windows-based applications


• Following are the steps to add an existing Setup project in an application.
  1. On the File menu, select Add Project > Existing Project menu option.
  2. In the Add Existing Project dialog box, click the Browse button to specify the location of the project.
  3. Click the Open button.


• The Launch Condition tab in the Project Properties dialog box is used to specify conditions for installation. These conditions can be used in conjunction with a file, registry, or component search.


• The Data and Settings Management category of the Windows XP logo specifies that an application must provide custom settings as per-user.


• The Installutil.exe tool can be used to install multiple assemblies at a time. It performs installation in a transactional manner.


• An application uses the System.Data namespace to connect to a database.


• In order to ensure that a SQL script executes during the installation process, add the script as a custom action in the Setup project.


• The File System editor can be used to add project outputs to a deployment project. It can be used to specify the location on the target computer where files are to be installed, and to create shortcuts on the target computer.


• The Custom Actions editor is used to define custom actions that can execute code at the end of an installation process to perform actions, such as the installation of location-specific files, which cannot be handled during installation.


• The User Interface editor allows a developer to change the visual screen, which the user sees while installing the application.


• Custom actions of the Windows installer allow developers to execute code during an installation process to perform actions such as pre-compiling an assembly during installation, creation of a local database, etc.

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