C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies E-Book

Bill Sempf

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1121

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A logical, straightforward approach to learning the C# language C# is a complicated programming language for building .NET-connected software for Microsoft Windows, the Web, and a wide range of devices. The friendly All-in-One For Dummies format is a perfect way to present it. Each minibook is a self-contained package of necessary information, making it easy to find what you're looking for. Upgrades in C# 2010 include the ability to build Windows 7 applications and compatibility with Python and Ruby. * C# is a somewhat complex programming language for building .NET-connected software for Microsoft Windows, the Web, and other devices * Beginning C# programmers will appreciate how the All-in-One format breaks the topic into minibooks, each one addressing a key body of information * Minibooks include creating your first C# program, Windows 7 programming, basic C# programming, object-based programming, object-oriented programming, Windows programming with C# and Visual Studio, and debugging * Companion Web site includes all sample code Beginning C# programmers will find C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies explains a complicated topic in an easy, understandable way. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Leseprobe

C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

What’s New in C# 4.0

About This Book

What You Need in Order to Use This Book

How to Use This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Book I: The Basics of C# Programming

Book II: Object-Oriented C# Programming

Book III: Designing for C#

Book IV: A Tour of Visual Studio

Book V: Windows Development with WPF

Book VI: Web Development with ASP.NET

Book VII: Service-Oriented Development

Book VIII: New Features in C# 4.0

Icons Used in This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

About this book’s Web site

Where to Go from Here

Book I: Basics of C# Programming

Book I: Chapter 1: Creating Your First C# Console Application

Getting a Handle on Computer Languages, C#, and .NET

What’s a program?

What’s C#?

What’s .NET?

What is Visual Studio 2010? What about Visual C#?

Creating Your First Console Application

Creating the source program

Taking it out for a test drive

Making Your Console App Do Something

Reviewing Your Console Application

The program framework

Comments

The meat of the program

Introducing the Toolbox Trick

Saving code in the Toolbox

Reusing code from the Toolbox

Book I: Chapter 2: Living with Variability — Declaring Value-Type Variables

Declaring a Variable

What’s an int?

Rules for declaring variables

Variations on a theme: Different types of int

Representing Fractions

Handling Floating-Point Variables

Declaring a floating-point variable

Converting some more temperatures

Examining some limitations of floating-point variables

Using the Decimal Type: Is It an Integer or a Float?

Declaring a decimal

Comparing decimals, integers, and floating-point types

Examining the bool Type: Is It Logical?

Checking Out Character Types

The char variable type

Special chars

The string type

What’s a Value Type?

Comparing string and char

Calculating Leap Years: DateTime

Declaring Numeric Constants

Changing Types: The Cast

Letting the C# Compiler Infer Data Types

Book I: Chapter 3: Pulling Strings

The Union Is Indivisible, and So Are Strings

Performing Common Operations on a String

Comparing Strings

Equality for all strings: The Compare() method

Would you like your compares with or without case?

What If I Want to Switch Case?

Distinguishing between all-uppercase and all-lowercase strings

Converting a string to upper- or lowercase

Looping through a String

Searching Strings

Can I find it?

Is my string empty?

Getting Input from the Command Line

Trimming excess white space

Parsing numeric input

Handling a series of numbers

Joining an array of strings into one string

Controlling Output Manually

Using the Trim() and Pad() methods

Using the Concatenate() method

Let’s Split() that concatenate program

Formatting Your Strings Precisely

StringBuilder: Manipulating Strings More Efficiently

Book I: Chapter 4: Smooth Operators

Performing Arithmetic

Simple operators

Operating orders

The assignment operator

The increment operator

Performing Logical Comparisons — Is That Logical?

Comparing floating-point numbers: Is your float bigger than mine?

Compounding the confusion with compound logical operations

Matching Expression Types at TrackDownAMate.com

Calculating the type of an operation

Assigning types

Book I: Chapter 5: Getting Into the Program Flow

Branching Out with if and switch

Introducing the if statement

Examining the else statement

Avoiding even the else

Nesting if statements

Running the switchboard

Here We Go Loop-the-Loop

Looping for a while

Doing the do . . . while loop

Breaking up is easy to do

Looping until you get it right

Focusing on scope rules

Looping a Specified Number of Times with for

An example

Why do you need another loop?

Nesting Loops

Don’t goto Pieces

Book I: Chapter 6: Lining Up Your Ducks with Collections

The C# Array

The argument for the array

The fixed-value array

The variable-length array

The Length property

Initializing an array

A Loop Made foreach Array

Sorting Arrays of Data

New Feature: Using var for Arrays

Loosening Up with C# Collections

Understanding Collection Syntax

Figuring out <T>

Going generic

Using Lists

Using Dictionaries

Array and Collection Initializers

Initializing arrays

Initializing collections

Using Sets

On Not Using Old-Fashioned Collections

Book I: Chapter 7: Stepping through Collections

Iterating through a Directory of Files

Iterating foreach Collections: Iterators

Accessing a collection: The general problem

Letting C# access data foreach container

Accessing Collections the Array Way: Indexers

Indexer format

An indexer program example

Looping Around the Iterator Block

Iterating days of the month: A first example

What a collection is, really

Iterator syntax gives up so easily

Iterator blocks of all shapes and sizes

Where you can put your iterator

Book I: Chapter 8: Buying Generic

Writing a New Prescription: Generics

Generics are type-safe

Generics are efficient

Classy Generics: Writing Your Own

Shipping packages at OOPs

Queuing at OOPs: PriorityQueue

Unwrapping the package

Touring Main()

Writing generic code the easy way

Saving PriorityQueue for last

Using a (nongeneric) Simple Factory class

Tending to unfinished business

Book I: Chapter 9: Some Exceptional Exceptions

Using an Exceptional Error-Reporting Mechanism

About try blocks

About catch blocks

About finally blocks

What happens when an exception is thrown

Throwing Exceptions Yourself

Knowing What Exceptions Are For

Can I Get an Exceptional Example?

Knowing what makes the example exceptional

Tracing the stack

Assigning Multiple catch Blocks

Planning Your Exception-Handling Strategy

Some questions to guide your planning

Guidelines for code that handles errors well

How to analyze a method for possible exceptions

How to find out which methods throw which exceptions

Grabbing Your Last Chance to Catch an Exception

Book II: Object-Oriented C# Programming

Book II: Chapter 1: Object-Oriented Programming: What’s It All About?

Object-Oriented Concept #1: Abstraction

Preparing procedural nachos

Preparing object-oriented nachos

Object-Oriented Concept #2: Classification

Why Classify?

Object-Oriented Concept #3: Usable Interfaces

Object-Oriented Concept #4: Access Control

How C# Supports Object-Oriented Concepts

Book II: Chapter 2: Showing Some Class

Defining a Class and an Object

Defining a class

What’s the object?

Accessing the Members of an Object

An Object-Based Program Example

Discriminating between Objects

Can You Give Me References?

Classes That Contain Classes Are the Happiest Classes in the World

Generating Static in Class Members

Defining const and readonly Data Members

Book II: Chapter 3: We Have Our Methods

Defining and Using a Method

A Method Example for Your Files

Having Arguments with Methods

Passing an argument to a method

Passing multiple arguments to methods

Matching argument definitions with usage

Overloading a method doesn’t mean giving it too much to do

Implementing default arguments

Returning Values after Christmas

Returning a value via return postage

Defining a method with no value

Book II: Chapter 4: Let Me Say This about this

Passing an Object to a Method

Defining Methods

Defining a static method

Defining an instance method

Expanding a method’s full name

Accessing the Current Object

What is the this keyword?

When is this explicit?

What happens when you don’t have this?

Book II: Chapter 5: Holding a Class Responsible

Restricting Access to Class Members

A public example of public BankAccount

Jumping ahead — other levels of security

Why You Should Worry about Access Control

Accessor methods

Access control to the rescue — an example

So what?

Defining Class Properties

Static properties

Properties with side effects

New feature: Letting the compiler write properties for you

Accessors with access levels

Getting Your Objects Off to a Good Start — Constructors

The C#-Provided Constructor

Replacing the Default Constructor

Constructing something

Executing the constructor from the debugger

Initializing an object directly with an initializer

Seeing that construction stuff with initializers

New feature: Initializing an object without a constructor

Book II: Chapter 6: Inheritance: Is That All I Get?

Class Inheritance

Why You Need Inheritance

Inheriting from a BankAccount Class (A More Complex Example)

IS_A versus HAS_A — I’m So Confused_A

The IS_A relationship

Gaining access to BankAccount by using containment

The HAS_A relationship

When to IS_A and When to HAS_A

Other Features That Support Inheritance

Substitutable classes

Invalid casts at run time

Avoiding invalid conversions with the is operator

Avoiding invalid conversions with the as operator

The object Class

Inheritance and the Constructor

Invoking the default base class constructor

Passing arguments to the base class constructor — mama sang base

Getting specific with base

The Updated BankAccount Class

Book II: Chapter 7: Poly-what-ism?

Overloading an Inherited Method

It’s a simple case of method overloading

Different class, different method

Peek-a-boo — hiding a base class method

Calling back to base

Polymorphism

Using the declared type every time (Is that so wrong?)

Using is to access a hidden method polymorphically

Declaring a method virtual and overriding it

Getting the most benefit from polymorphism — the do-to-each trick

The Class Business Card: ToString()

C# During Its Abstract Period

Class factoring

The abstract class: Left with nothing but a concept

How do you use an abstract class?

Creating an abstract object — not!

Sealing a Class

Book II: Chapter 8: Interfacing with the Interface

Introducing CAN_BE_USED_AS

Knowing What an Interface Is

How to implement an interface

How to name your interface

Why C# includes interfaces

Mixing inheritance and interface implementation

And he-e-e-re’s the payoff

Using an Interface

As a method return type

As the base type of an array or collection

As a more general type of object reference

Using the C# Predefined Interface Types

Looking at a Program That CAN_BE_USED_AS an Example

Creating your own interface at home in your spare time

Implementing the incomparable IComparable<T> interface

Putting it all together

Getting back to the Main() event

Unifying Class Hierarchies

Hiding Behind an Interface

Inheriting an Interface

Using Interfaces to Manage Change in Object-Oriented Programs

Making flexible dependencies through interfaces

Abstract or concrete: When to use an abstract class and when to use an interface

Doing HAS_A with interfaces

Book II: Chapter 9: Delegating Those Important Events

E.T., Phone Home — The Callback Problem

Defining a Delegate

Pass Me the Code, Please — Examples

I delegated the example to Igor

First, a simple example

A More Real-World Example

Getting an overview of the bigger example

Putting the app together

Looking at the code

Tracking the delegate life cycle

Shh! Keep It Quiet — Anonymous Methods

Stuff Happens — C# Events

The Observer design pattern

What’s an event? Publish/Subscribe

How a publisher advertises its events

How subscribers subscribe to an event

How to publish an event

How to pass extra information to an event handler

A recommended way to raise your events

How observers “handle” an event

Book II: Chapter 10: Can I Use Your Namespace in the Library?

Dividing a Single Program into Multiple Source Files

Dividing a Single Program into Multiple Assemblies

Executable or library?

Assemblies

Executables

Class libraries

Putting Your Classes into Class Libraries

Creating the projects for a class library

Creating a stand-alone class library

Adding a second project to an existing solution

Creating classes for the library

Using a driver program to test a library

Using a class library from a program

Going Beyond Public and Private: More Access Keywords

Internal: Eyes only at the CIA

Protected: Sharing with subclasses

Protected internal: Being a more generous protector

Putting Classes into Namespaces

Declaring a namespace

Relating namespaces to the access keyword story

Using fully qualified names

Book III: Designing for C#

Book III: Chapter 1: Writing Secure Code

Designing Secure Software

Determining what to protect

Documenting the components of the program

Decomposing components into functions

Identifying potential threats in functions

Rating the risk

Building Secure Windows Applications

Authentication using Windows login

Encrypting information

Deployment security

Building Secure Web Forms Applications

SQL Injection attacks

Script exploits

Best practices for securing Web Forms applications

Using System.Security

Book III: Chapter 2: Accessing Data

Getting to Know System.Data

How the Data Classes Fit into the Framework

Getting to Your Data

Using the System.Data Namespace

Setting up a sample database schema

Connecting to a data source

Working with the visual tools

Writing data code

Using the Entity Framework

Book III: Chapter 3: Fishing the FileStream

Going Where the Fish Are: The File Stream

Streams

Readers and writers

StreamWriting for Old Walter

Using the stream: An example

Revving up a new outboard StreamWriter

Finally, we’re writing!

Using some better fishing gear: The using statement

Pulling Them Out of the Stream: Using StreamReader

More Readers and Writers

Exploring More Streams than Lewis and Clark

Book III: Chapter 4: Accessing the Internet

Getting to Know System.Net

How Net Classes Fit into the Framework

Using the System.Net Namespace

Checking the network status

Downloading a file from the Internet

E-mailing a status report

Logging network activity

Book III: Chapter 5: Creating Images

Getting to Know System.Drawing

Graphics

Pens

Brushes

Text

How the Drawing Classes Fit into the Framework

Using the System.Drawing Namespace

Getting started

Setting up the project

Drawing the board

Book IV: A Tour of Visual Studio

Book IV: Chapter 1: Getting Started with Visual Studio

Versioning the Versions

Express

Professional

Team System

MSDN

Academic

An edition breakdown

Installing Visual Studio

Breaking Down the Projects

Exploring the New Project dialog box

Understanding solutions and projects

A brief survey of the available project categories

Book IV: Chapter 2: Using the Interface

Designing in the Designer

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Windows Forms

Web Forms

Class Designer

Paneling the Studio

Solution Explorer

Properties

The Toolbox

Server Explorer

Class View

Coding in Code View

Exercising the Code Viewer

Exploring the auxiliary windows

Using the Tools of the Trade

The Tools menu

Building and Debugging

Refactor menu

Book IV: Chapter 3: Customizing Visual Studio

Setting Options

Environment

Language

Neat stuff

Using Snippets

Using snippets

Using surround snippets

Making snippets

Deploying snippets

Sharing snippets

Hacking the Project Types

Hacking Project templates

Hacking item templates

Book IV: Chapter 4: Transforming Text Templates

Getting to Know T4

Looking back at the DSL Tools

Looking ahead to what it became

Figuring Out When to Use T4

Replacing repetitive coding

Building code based on outside data

Setting Up the Environment

Changing the security settings

Creating a template from a text file

Using Some of the T4 Directives

Setting the output

Configuring a template

Including includes

Importing items and assemblies

Book V: Windows Development with WPF

Book V: Chapter 1: Introducing WPF

Understanding What WPF Can Do

Introducing XAML

Diving In! Creating Your First WPF Application

Declaring an application-scoped resource

Making the application do something

Whatever XAML Can Do, C# Can Do Better!

Book V: Chapter 2: Understanding the Basics of WPF

Using WPF to Lay Out Your Application

Arranging Elements with Layout Panels

The Stack Panel

The Wrap Panel

The Dock Panel

Canvas

The Uniform Grid

The Grid

Putting it all together with a simple data entry form

Panels of honorable mention

Exploring Common XAML Controls

Display only controls

Basic input controls

List-based controls

Book V: Chapter 3: Data Binding in WPF

Getting to Know Dependency Properties

Exploring the Binding Modes

Investigating the Binding Object

Defining a binding with XAML

Defining a binding with C#

Editing, Validating, Converting, and Visualizing Your Data

Validating data

Converting your data

Finding Out More about WPF Data Binding

Book V: Chapter 4: Practical WPF

Commanding Attention

ICommand

Routed commands

Built-in commands

Focus!

Custom commands

Separation of Concerns and testability

Get Your ViewModel On

Who cares?

Tradition!

Show me the code!

Book VI: Web Development with ASP.NET

Book VI: Chapter 1: Looking at How ASP.NET Works with C#

Breaking Down Web Applications

Questioning the Client

Scripting the client

Getting information back from the client

Understanding the weaknesses of the browser

Dealing with Web Servers

Getting a PostBack (Hint: It’s not a returned package)

It’s a matter of state

Book VI: Chapter 2: Building Web Applications

Working in Visual Studio

Handling the Designer

Coding in Code View

Recognizing the other file types

Developing with Style

Coding behind

Scripting the experience

Building in n-tier

Modeling the View Controller

Book VI: Chapter 3: Controlling Your Development Experience

Showing Stuff to the User

Labels versus plain old text

Images

Panels and multiviews

Tables

Getting Some Input from the User

Using text input controls

Using single-item selection controls

Using multiple-item selection controls

Using other kinds of input controls

Submitting input with Submit buttons

Data Binding

Setting up your markup for binding

Data binding using the code-behind

Using commonly bound controls

Styling Your Controls

Setting control properties

Binding styles with CSS

Making Sure the Site Is Accessible

Control features for accessibility

Design considerations

Constructing User Controls

Making a new phone number user control

Using your new control

Adding Custom Controls

Book VI: Chapter 4: Leveraging the .NET Framework

Surfing Web Streams

Intercepting the request

Altering content sent to clients

Securing with ASP.NET

Changing trusts

Fixing problems

Navigating with Site Maps

Adding a site map

Navigating a site with SiteMap

Managing Files

Baking Cookies

Coding for client-side storage

Wrangling cookies on the server

How ASP.NET manages cookies for you

Tracing with TraceContext

Book VI: Chapter 5: Digging into Web Construction

Managing Files

Reviewing project types

Reviewing file types

Organizing files

Mastering Master Pages

Making a master page

Adding content

Testing Web Applications with Visual Studio

Deploying Your Masterpiece

Lots of options

Copying Web sites with “Copy Web”

Package/Publish

Book VII: Service-Oriented Development

Book VII: Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Web Services

Understanding Web Services

Loosely coupled

Contract driven

Chunky versus chatty

Building Service-Oriented Applications

Providing XML Web Services

Building Three Sample Apps

Book VII: Chapter 2: Building Web Services with ASMX

Getting to Know SOAP

SOAP and standards

The WS-* standards

The impact to you

Big, fat, and slow

Making an ASMX Service

Creating a new service

Building the code for SHARP

Deploying

Consuming services in your applications

Book VII: Chapter 3: Building Web Services with WCF

Getting to Know WCF

Creating a WCF Service

Breaking it down

Making a registration service

Configuring

Deploying

Consuming

Book VII: Chapter 4: Building Web Services with ReST

Getting to Know ReST

Understanding the Guiding Principles of ReST

Diving into the details of ReST

Changing a WCF Service to Use ReST

Getting the WCF service

Exposing the ReST service

Returning data in different ways

Book VIII: New Features in C# 4.0

Book VIII: Chapter 1: Programming Dynamically!

Shifting C# Toward Dynamic Typing

Programming Dynamically

Putting Dynamic to Use

Classic examples

Making static operations dynamic

Understanding what’s happening under the covers

Running with the Dynamic Language Runtime

Dynamic Ruby

Dynamic C#

Book VIII: Chapter 2: Improving Productivity with Named and Optional Parameters

Optional Parameters

Reference types

Output parameters

Named Parameters

Overload Resolution

Book VIII: Chapter 3: Helping Out with Interop

Using Dynamic Import

Working without Primary Interop Assemblies

Skipping the Ref Statement

Book VIII: Chapter 4: Revising Generics

Variance

Contravariance

Covariance

C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®

by Bill Sempf, Charles Sphar, and Stephen Randy Davis

C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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About the Authors

Hi, my name is Bill Sempf, and I am a software architect. Although I used to hate the term architect, it’s clearly the only thing out there that defines what I do. My breadth of experience includes business and technical analysis, software design, development, testing, server management and maintenance, and security. In my 17 years of professional experience, I have participated in the creation of well over 200 applications for large and small companies, managed the software infrastructure of two Internet service providers, coded complex software happily in every environment imaginable, and made mainframes talk to cellphones. In short, I make the technology products that people are using every day play nicely together.

I started playing with computers in 1979 and haven’t looked back since. In 1985 I was helping my father (also named Bill) manage Apple IIe systems at the local library. Since then I have built applications for the likes of Bank One, Lucent Technologies, Nationwide Insurance, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. I am the author of Visual Basic 2008 For Dummies and Visual Basic 2005 For Dummies; a coauthor of Effective Visual Studio.NET, Professional ASP.NET Web Services, and Professional VB.NET; a frequent contributor to MSDN, Builder.com, Hardcore Web Services, Cloud Computing Journal, Inside Web Development Journal, and Intranet Journal; and have recently been an invited speaker for the ACM and IEEE, DevEssentials, the International XML Web Services Expo, and the Association of Information Technology Professionals. I am a graduate of The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration, a Microsoft Certified Professional, a Certified Internet Business Strategist, and a Certified Internet Webmaster. My company is Products Of Innovative New Technology (usually called POINT), and you can reach me at place text here [e-mail].

Chuck Sphar escaped the Microsoft C++ documentation camps after six years of hard labor as a senior technical writer. You can reach Chuck for praise and minor nits at [e-mail]. His C# material Web page (references throughout the book) is csharp102.info.

Stephen R. Davis, who goes by the name Randy, lives with his wife and son near Dallas, Texas.

Dedication

This book goes to the active community of Microsoft developers that I get to work with every day. Thanks for your commitment to getting things done right, sharing what you know, and having a good time doing it.

Also, for Gabrielle and Adam, who had to put up with another six months of Daddy hiding in the basement.

—Sempf

Authors' Acknowledgments

A lot of people work to make a book of this size. Don’t think, just because the authors are listed on the front page, that they conceived every idea in the book. It takes a community.

First, thanks to Chuck Sphar and Randy Davis for the fantastic source material that is the backbone of this book. I learned much just editing the first two minibooks for use in this All-in-One. Also, thanks to Katie Feltman and Chris Morris for their editorial expertise.

A number of community members had a huge part in the creation of this book. Carey Payette and Phil Japikse built Book V (about WPF) basically from the goodness of their hearts, and I couldn’t have completed it without them — my WPF skills aren’t worth writing about. These two get the award for Biggest Contribution, and I thank them both.

The developers at Information Control Corporation were also essential in formulating the initial scope of this book and then fact-checking the details. Steve Webb, Stephen Giffin, John Hannah, Larry Beall, Michael Birchmeyer, and Azher Muhammad all had a big part, especially in the information related specifically to C# 4.0. Thanks to them and all the other ICC experts who gave me ideas and tips.

Kevin Pilch-Bisson at Microsoft provided some C# clarity via Twitter throughout the scope of this book. Steve Andrews provided the structure for the T4 chapter in Book IV. Mads Torgerson reviewed the table of contents, and I thank him for the “It looks delicious” phrase, which I think was my most quoted phrase of the year.

Lars Corneliussen provided a few choice pointers for the book, and Julie Lerman’s Entity Framework writing was the basis of my own additions to the ADO.NET chapter.

As always, thanks to my wife, Gabrielle, for her support. Sometimes I just can’t believe how lucky I am.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Senior Project Editor: Christopher Morris

Acquisitions Editor: Katie Feltman

Copy Editors: Debbye Butler, Heidi Unger, Becky Whitney

Technical Editor: Mike Spivey

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery

Layout and Graphics: Samantha K. Cherolis, Nikki Gately, Joyce Haughey

Proofreader: Christine Sabooni

Indexer: Broccoli Information Mgt.

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies represents a different way of looking at programming languages. Rather than present the standard For Dummies format, which includes only 350 pages on quite a large subject, the book was expanded to include a broader scope and just a few pages were added.

So, although you find all the original C# For Dummies goodness in this book, you also find discussions about Visual Studio, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), service-oriented development, Web development, and a host of other topics. This book is a one-stop shop for a C# developer.

The C# programming language is a powerful and, at some nine years old, relatively mature descendant of the earlier C, C++, and Java languages. Programming with C# is lots of fun, as you’re about to find out in this book.

Microsoft created C# as a major part of its .NET initiative. The company turned over the specifications for the C# language to the ECMA (pronounced “ek-ma”) international standards committee in the summer of 2000 so that any company can, in theory, come up with its own version of C# written to run on any operating system, on any machine larger than a calculator.

When the first edition of this book was published, the Microsoft C# compiler was the only game in town, and its Visual Studio .NET suite of tools was the only way to program C# (other than at the Windows command line). Since then, however, Visual Studio has undergone three major revisions — the latest is Visual Studio 2010. And, at least two other players have entered the C# game.

You can now write and compile C# programs on Windows and a variety of Unix-based machines using implementations of .NET and C#, such as Mono (www. mono-project.com), an open source software project sponsored by Novell Corporation. Version 1.2 was released in November 2006. Though Mono lags Microsoft .NET by half a version or so, it appears to be moving fast, having implemented basically all of .NET 1.1 and much of .NET 2.0, along with those versions of C#.

Both Mono and a less well developed competitor, Portable .NET (www.dotgnu.org/pnet.htm), claim to run C# programs on Windows and a variety of Unix flavors, including Linux and the Apple Macintosh operating system. At the time of this writing, Portable .NET reaches the greater number of flavors, whereas Mono boasts a more complete .NET implementation. So choosing between them can be complicated, depending on your project, your platform, and your goals. (Books about programming for these platforms are becoming available already. Check online booksellers.)

Open source software is written by collaborating groups of volunteer programmers and is usually free to the world.

A description of how to make C# and other .NET languages portable to other operating systems is far beyond the scope of this book. But you can expect that within a few years, the C# Windows programs you discover how to write in this book will run on all sorts of hardware under all sorts of operating systems — matching the claim of Sun Microsystems’ Java language to run on any machine. That’s undoubtedly a good thing, even for Microsoft. The road to that point is still under construction, so it’s no doubt riddled with potholes and obstacles to true universal portability for C#. But it’s no longer just Microsoft’s road.

For the moment, however, Microsoft Visual Studio has the most mature versions of C# and .NET and the most feature-filled toolset for programming with them.

Note: Though three authors contributed to this book, saying I rather than we throughout the main text seemed more economical, so that’s what we (or I) do throughout.

What’s New in C# 4.0

Although much of C# 4.0 is still virtually the same as the previous version, this new version adds some exciting new features, most of which revolve around COM Interop, to assist with Office development. The big new additions that this book covers include these topics:

♦ Dynamic types: Functional programming is all the rage these days, with the cool kids programming in Ruby and Haskell. Functional programming certainly has some benefits that have a place in the more tightly woven world of C#, and dynamic typing is one of them. As supported in C++ and Visual Basic, dynamic types allow runtime declaration when you don’t know the type of a variable and then have the compiler figure it out. Properly used, dynamic typing is quite powerful; poorly used, it’s quite dangerous.

♦ Named and optional parameters: In C# 3.0, you had to provide a value for every parameter in a method call. In C# 4.0 — again, to optimize interactions with COM — you can mark parameters as optional and accept outside objects that have optional parameters.

♦ Variance in generics: Although objects in previous versions of C# are variant, generic collections of objects are invariant. This statement means that although the compiler accepts an apple when you’re asked for a fruit, it doesn’t accept a basket of apples when you’re asked for a basket of fruit. This issue is fixed in C# 4.0.

Leaving aside a few of the more esoteric and advanced additions, we mention a few smaller items here and there as appropriate. (Don’t worry if parts of this introduction are Geek to you. You’ll get there.)

Because the features of C# 4.0 all tie together for use in a single major operation — COM Interop — we bundled discussions of these features in the back of this book, in Book VIII. Throughout this book, we have updated chapters from the original C# 3.0 material wherever it seemed appropriate.

About This Book

The goal of this book is to explain C# to you. To write usable programs, you need a specific coding environment. We’re betting that most readers will use Microsoft Visual Studio, although we suggest alternatives. Because this book is an All-in-One, we give you comprehensive coverage of Visual Studio in Book IV.

The original version of C# For Dummies (like all programming language books) focused on C# as a language, not all of the things you do with C#. This version of the book — in the mondo-size All-in-One format — covers Windows development, Web development, service development, and .NET Framework development, such as graphics and databases.

Our goal is to make a one-stop shop for development with Microsoft products, though there is indeed more to the topics than fits in this book. Office development isn’t covered, for instance. SharePoint has way too much going on to cover it along with everything else (although Bill co-authored VSTO For Dummies). This book is designed to handle the vast majority of C# users, though 20 percent of our readers will be working on something that we don’t cover. Sorry about that — we’ll try to stretch the book to 1,000 pages next time.

Another point is that every programming problem is different. Although many different situations are covered between the covers of this book, your specific situation is different. Some interpolation has to be taking place. If you have a question about how your personal situation fits in, send the author an e-mail at csharpfordummies.net and we’ll try to help.

What You Need in Order to Use This Book

You need, at minimum, the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) before you can even execute the programs generated by C#. Visual Studio 2010 copies the CLR onto your machine as part of its installation procedure. Alternatively, you can download the entire .NET package, including the C# compiler and many other useful tools, from the Microsoft Web site at msdn.microsoft.com. Look for the .NET Software Development Kit (SDK). The book’s Web site at csharpfordummies.net explains how to get these items.

If all you need is C#, you can download the free version of Visual Studio, Visual C# 2010 Express, from msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express. The Express versions include the new C# 4.0 features. Alternatively, see SharpDevelop (www.icsharpcode.net), a good, free Visual Studio “workalike,” which are provided on the Web site for this book.

You can still create most of the programs in this book using earlier versions of Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2008, if you need to. The exceptions are the programs that cover the new features available only in C# 4.0, which we describe in Book VIII.

How to Use This Book

We’ve made this book as easy to use as possible. Figuring out a new language is hard enough — why make it any more complicated than it needs to be? Though this book is divided into eight minibooks, we use an even easier subdivision.

Books I and II comprise the bulk of the original C# For Dummies book, and they cover the C# language, updated for version 4.0. Books III and IV cover technologies that are peripheral to C#. Books V, VI, and VII cover the three main types of development you do in C# — Windows Presentation Foundation, Web development, and service-oriented programming. We finish with the (thankfully short) Book VIII, about new C# 4.0 features.

If you’re brand new, start at the beginning and read the first two minibooks. You’ll discover a lot. Really. It will seem as though you’re reading a lot of text, but it is engaging and has interesting examples.

If you’re using the .NET Framework (which you probably are), read Book III as well. If you’re using Visual Studio, read Book IV. (Note that we use Visual Studio 2010 Professional edition, so if you’re using Express or Ultimate, your screens might look slightly different.)

Finally, you can focus on your project type — Books V, VI, and VII are specific to project type, and you can pick and choose what to read. These three minibooks are organized more as a collection of related articles than as discrete book units. You’ll find them easier to use that way.

How This Book Is Organized

Here’s a brief rundown of what you’ll find in each part of this book.

Book I: The Basics of C# Programming

This minibook is the first of two that are based on the original C# For Dummies.

Book II: Object-Oriented C# Programming

In Book II, we dig into the meat of the matter and discuss which tasks C# is good for. This minibook covers how to create good class libraries and use the built-in libraries correctly. We also give you a good dose of theory and practical knowledge.

Book III: Designing for C#

.NET is essentially the set of libraries that you get to use with C#. This broad topic covers almost everything that Microsoft products can do, from coding for Windows Mobile to accessing XML files. Book III covers four of the most-needed topics:

♦ Databases

♦ Files

♦ Graphics

♦ Security

Book IV: A Tour of Visual Studio

Because Visual Studio is the tool that 95 percent of C# programmers use, it’s the tool that is the focus of Book IV. It covers the use, optimization, and customization of this graphical user interface.

Book V: Windows Development with WPF

This minibook is an unconventional choice for Windows development. For years in .NET — since its inception — the choice for Windows developers was Windows Forms, the successor to the Ruby engine in Visual Basic 6. That’s just how you build Windows applications.

Even with the introduction of C# 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010, Windows Forms is likely the most common choice for development of Windows applications. However, it’s not the future. Windows Presentation Foundation — built on the XML derivative XAML — is the future.

For that reason, we include chapters on Windows development with WPF. If you’re looking for Windows Forms 101, we include it at csharpfordummies.net.

Book VI: Web Development with ASP.NET

Some people would argue that ASP.NET Web Forms is falling by the wayside because of ASP.NET MVC, but we believe that it’s a version or two away. In this book, we look at ASP.NET application creation and form controls and the other usual suspects. (Look for MVC in the next edition of this book, though.)

Book VII: Service-Oriented Development

On the topic of Web services, we decided to give you an overview. Our experience shows that ASP.NET Web Services, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and REpresentational State Transfer, or ReST, are all used in the wild, so we describe a piece of all of them.

Book VIII: New Features in C# 4.0

In the last minibook in this book, we describe some of the new features in C# 4.0, with a focus on the COM Interop changes.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout the pages of this book, we use the following icons to highlight important information:

This scary-sounding icon flags technical information that you can skip on your first pass through the book.

The Tip icon highlights a point that can save you a lot of time and effort.

Remember this information. It’s important.

Try to retain any Warning information you come across, too. This one can sneak up on you when you least expect it and generate one of those extremely hard-to-find bugs. Or, it may lead you down the garden path to La-La Land.

This icon identifies code samples you can find on the book’s Web sites. Csharp102.info has the samples for Book I and II, and many of the articles. Csharpfordummies.net has a current blog, errata, and examples for the rest of the book. This feature is designed to save you some typing time when your fingers start to cramp, but don’t abuse it: You gain a better understanding of C# when you enter the programs yourself and then use them as test beds for your explorations and experiments in C#.

Conventions Used in This Book

Throughout this book, we use several conventions to help you get your bearings. Terms that aren’t “real words,” such as the names of program variables, appear in this font to minimize confusion. Program listings are offset from the text this way:

use System;

namespace MyNameSpace

{

public class MyClass

{

}

}

Each listing is followed by a clever, insightful explanation. Complete programs are included on the Web site for your viewing pleasure; small code segments are not.

When you see a command arrow, as in the instruction “Choose File⇒Open With⇒Notepad,” you simply choose the File menu option. Then, from the menu that appears, choose Open With. Finally, from the resulting submenu, choose Notepad.

About this book’s Web site

Two main Web sites expand on the content in this book.

♦ At csharp102.info, you can find support for the original C# For Dummies book as well as a host of bonus material. A set of utilities is also included. We’ve used the SharpDevelop utility enough to know that it can handle the task of writing almost any program example in this book (with the possible exception, for now, of the new LINQ features). The Reflector tool lets you peek under the covers to see what the compiler has created from your lovely C# source code. The NUnit testing tool, wildly popular among C# programmers, makes testing your code easy, whether it’s in Visual Studio or SharpDevelop.

♦ At csharpfordummies.net, you can find the source code for all projects in this book, updated for Visual Studio 2010. We give you a set of links to other resources and a (short, we hope) list of any errata found in this book. You can also contact the authors at this site.

Additionally, you can find access to both sites at this book’s companion Web site — check out www.dummies.com/go/csharp2010aiofd.

If you encounter a situation that you can’t figure out, check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list at the original Web site for the C# For Dummies book, at csharp102.info.

In addition, both sites include bonus chapters, a list of any mistakes that may have crept into the book, and other material on C# and programming that you may find useful. Finally, you can find links to the authors’ e-mail addresses, in case you can’t find the answer to your question on the site.

Where to Go from Here

Obviously, your first step is to figure out the C# language — ideally, by using C# 2010 All-in-One For Dummies, of course. You may want to give yourself a few months of practice in writing simple C# programs before taking the next step of discovering how to create graphical Windows applications. Give yourself many months of Windows application experience before you branch out into writing programs intended to be distributed over the Internet.

In the meantime, you can keep up with C# goings and comings in several locations. First, check out the official source: msdn.microsoft.com/msdn. In addition, various programmer Web sites have extensive material on C#, including lively discussions all the way from how to save a source file to the relative merits of deterministic versus nondeterministic garbage collection. (Around Bill’s house, garbage collection is quite deterministic: It’s every Wednesday morning.) Here’s a description of a few large C# sites:

♦ msdn.microsoft.com/vcsharp, the C# home page, directs you to all sorts of C# and .NET resources.

♦ blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq is a C# blog with Frequently Asked Questions.

♦ msdn.microsoft.com/vcsharp/team/blogs is composed of the personal blogs of C# team members.

♦ www.c-sharpcorner.com and www.codeproject.com are two major C# sites that have articles, blogs, code, job information, and other C#-related resources.

Book I

Basics of C# Programming