Management 3821 - Visual Programming Applications

Page last updated: May 2, 2011

Recent Announcements: This course is now over. Most links have been removed. The next offering of this course is planned for Spring 2012.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Course Objective: Introduce event-driven programming in a visual programming environment while building Windows software using Visual Basic .NET. Building systems in Visual Basic can be fun! (If you don't believe programming can ever be fun, you probably don't belong in this course.) By providing a powerful set of tools, VB allows you to quickly create software that looks very much like commercial Windows programs.

Prerequisite:

This course requires Computer Science 1620 or an equivalent introductory programming course that has been given CS 1620 transfer credit. Students who register in this class without this prerequisite, or a waiver signed by the instructor, can be forced to withdraw from the course at any time during the term. If your programming skills are weak, this could be a difficult course. The lectures are not designed to teach the fundamentals of programming, but the textbook should be helpful. I have given a few waivers in the past for students with programming experience but without formal courses. If that sounds like you and you're interested in VB, come and see me.

The course no longer requires Mgt 2060, but you will need a very basic understanding of databases and Microsoft Access. This has not caused any problems for students without 2060 in the past - what we do is really simple and you can get help with the database stuff if needed. We will build links from Visual Basic to Access databases (but the process is essentially the same for other DBMS products).

Finally, you should be familiar with Windows and want to be able to write programs for that environment.

Grading:

Assignments 1 and 2 - worth 5% each	10
Assignments 3 and 4 - worth 10% each	20
Midterm Exam (if class wants one)	0
Project	30
Project Evaluation	5
Final Exam	35

The class will determine whether we will have a midterm exam or not. In the past, midterm exams have been a problem because students provide correct answers - but in C++! This makes grading difficult for me. If we have a midterm, it will be held on March 10 and be worth 15% - with both the final exam and project reduced to 25% each.

The following is an approximate grading curve. Final scores will be rounded, e.g., 77.5 will be a B. The actual grade distributions for this semester may be adjusted (but only to the advantage of students) and will not be determined until the end of the semester when all marks are in. The final grade distribution will be consistent with past classes.

Textbook: Diane Zak, Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Reloaded, 4th ed., Course Technology, 2011. This book is new this year - VB .NET 2008 was used last year. The publisher's site provides files for textbook examples and videos. You can also download the textbook files here and the videos from the course schedule below.

Software: Visual Basic .NET 2010 will be used and Visual Studio .NET Professional (not Express Edition) will be provided free for installation on your computers. You will need Windows XP (Home or Professional), Vista or Windows 7.

Academic Integrity: It is critical to the reputation of the Faculty of Management, and of our degrees, that everyone associated with our faculty behave with the highest academic integrity. As a Faculty that helps create business and government leaders, we have a special obligation to ensure that our ethical standards are beyond reproach. Any dishonesty in our academic transactions violates this trust. The University of Lethbridge Calendar addresses the issue of academic dishonesty under the heading “Student Discipline Policy. Of particular concern, but certainly not the only violations, are:

• copying someone else's work, even with minor modifications and with or without their permission, from storage media, printed copy, or even by observing what they are doing
• providing an electronic version or printout or otherwise allowing someone else to copy your work
• having someone else to do all or part of your assignment
• working jointly with others to create a single solution and then customizing it for each student
• presenting code taken substantially from books, CD-ROMs, the Internet or other sources as your own

Students cheating on exams or assisting others to do so will receive an "F" in the course. Cooperation between teams is generally encouraged when it involves technical matters, such as how certain features of Visual Basic work. But close cooperation on content resulting in virtually identical submissions is not acceptable. Milestones that include material that has obviously been copied between two or more teams will ALL receive a mark of ZERO. Thus, it is important that you protect your work against copying. Any significant copying of programs found in other books or on the Internet will be regarded as a serious violation and will also receive a mark of ZERO. Receiving any substantial outside assistance from Access experts is not acceptable. However, applying ideas found in these sources is strongly encouraged. If you do copy anything, make a note of it just as you would reference a quotation in a term paper. If you are unsure about what is or is not acceptable, please see me first. The instructor reserves the right to use turnitin or other services to identify copied material.

You also have some responsibility to ensure that your partner does not violate the policy on Academic Integrity. Should a violation occur, both members are jointly accountable unless the violation can be clearly attributed to a specific individual.

If you have any questions about this class, please contact me.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE*
Cn references refer to chapters in the Zak 2010 textbook
The handouts will generally be made available before class.
Assignments are submitted by email at the time shown, usually before class.
* Links are for information only and are not required reading

	Date	Topics	Handouts	Due
1	Jan 11	C1: Introduction to Visual Basic .Net 2010	Introduction Notes Course Outline .NET File Types* Chapter 1 Videos
2	Jan 13	C2: Controls, Properties, Methods and vents	Controls Building a Web Browser* Chapter 2 Videos Assignment 1
3	Jan 18	C3: Variables, Constants and Calculations	Variables Chapter 3 Videos	Preliminary Assignment Due: 3 PM
4	Jan 20	C4: Decisions Key Press Event Displaying Images on Forms Submitting Assignments	Decisions Form Images Renaming Programs Submitting Programs Sample Program Code Snippets* Chapter 4 Videos
5	Jan 25	C4: Random Numbers C5: Message Box and Input Box (p.318)	Random Numbers Message, Input Box Chapter 5 Videos Assignment 2	Assignment #1 Due: 2 PM
6	Jan 27	C6,7: Loops, List Box	Loops For Loop Code For Each Loop Code List & Combo Boxes List Box Code Chapter 6 Videos Chapter 7 Videos
7	Feb 1	C8: Sub/Function Procedures, Code Modules Variable Scope and Regions	Variable Scope/Regions Procedures and Functions Simulation
8	Feb 3	C9: Arrays	Arrays & Structures
9	Feb 8	C10: Strings and Dates	Strings Dates Benchmarking Language Translation
10	Feb 10	C10: Menus and Toolbars	Menus and Toolbars Assignment 3 A3 Files/Photos	Assignment #2 Due: 2 PM
11	Feb 15	C11: Structures, Sequential Files	File Handling Basic File IO & Structures
12	Feb 17	Open File Dialog, Colors, Fonts, Format Zones	Format Zones Dialogs
	Feb 22, 24	READING WEEK	No Classes
13	Mar 1	App. E Testing and Debugging	Debugging Text Appendix E
14	Mar 3	C12: Introduction to Databases	Database Intro Delivery Database Assignment 4/Project Computer Sales Database Employee Photos	Assignment #3 Due: 2 PM
15	Mar 8	Database Operations	Database Operations
16	Mar 10	Database - Other Controls	Other Interface Controls
17	Mar 15	Database Grid Sorting and Searching	Database Grid Sorting and Searching
18	Mar 17	Database Integrity	Interface Control
19	Mar 22	Database	Data Validation Grid Validation
20	Mar 24	Validation, Exception Handling	Error Provider Exception Handling Regular Expressions Control Arrays	Assignment #4 Due: 2 PM
21	Mar 29	Multiple Form Applications	Multiform Applications
22	Mar 31	Sound Drag and Drop	Sound Drag and Drop
23	Apr 5	C12: Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) Graphics	LINQ Graphics
24	Apr 7	HTML Help Workshop	HTML Help Help System HTML Tutorial
25	Apr 12	Project Testing	Evaluation	Project Due 1:00 PM
26	Apr 14	Review Projects	No Notes	Evaluation Due: 3:05 No late submissions accepted
	Apr 21	Final Exam - Thursday, April 21 2 - 5 PM in M-1035	Final - Spring 2009 Final - Spring 2010 Exam Notes

*Some topics and their orders may need to be changed after the project has been defined.
Chapters 13 (Web Applications) and 14 (Classes and Objects) will be covered in Mgt 3822.