Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in VB 2005 is the VB 2005 version of the author's best-selling and highly-reviewed Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C#. Renowned author Matthew MacDonald shows you VB 2005 programmers how to design flexible, user-friendly Windows interfaces. And you'll learn the best practices and design tips for coding these user interfaces.

Although this book is not a reference manual, it contains detailed discussions about user interface elements that you will use on a regular basis. You will learn to use .NET controls as well as to extend those .NET controls with your own custom controls.

Four years after the .NET Framework first hit the programming scene, smart client applications
still refuse to die. This is significant, because when .NET first appeared, many assumed it
would usher in a new world of Web-only programming. In fact, for a short time Microsoft’s own
Web site described the .NET Framework in a single sentence as a “platform for building Web
services and Web applications”—ignoring the Windows technology that made the company
famous.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s clear that Web and Windows applications aren’t locked
in the final rounds of a life-or-death battle. Instead, both technologies are flourishing. And not
only are both technologies gaining strength, they’re also stealing some of each other’s best
features. For example, the latest release of .NET gives Web developers rich controls like menus
and trees that were previously the exclusive domain of Windows coders (or Webheads who
weren’t afraid to write a mess of hard-core, client-side JavaScript). On the other hand, Windows
applications are gaining easy Web-based deployment, more-flexible layout options, and the
ability to display HTML. All of these innovations point to many productive years ahead for Web
and Windows developers alike.

If you’ve picked up this book, you’ve already decided to learn more about programming
Windows smart clients with .NET. Although Web and Windows applications each have their
strengths and weaknesses, only Windows applications allow you to break out of the confines of
the browser and take full advantage of the client computer. With Windows Forms, you can play
sound and video, display dynamic graphics, react to the user’s actions instantaneously, and
build sophisticated windowed interfaces.

In this book, you’ll learn how to use all of these techniques to design state-of-the-art application
interfaces. Best of all, you won’t just learn how to use the existing controls of the .NET
Framework—you’ll also learn everything you need to extend, enhance, and customize them.