Visual Basic for Smallworld 3

Introduction
Smallworld 3 extends the scope for using languages other than Magik to customise GE Smallworld applications. Of the commonly used mainstream languages, Microsoft's Visual Basic is the industry standard development environment on Windows NT.
This course is designed to equip experienced Magik programmers with the skills in using the Visual Basic language to develop components of a GE Smallworld application. Examples covered will include Smallworld Automation, Smallworld SQL Server, & SmallworldWeb.

Audience
The course material is intended for the following audience:

  • Application developers of GE Smallworld installations who wish to exploit the potential of Visual Basic in conjunction with a GE Smallworld application.

Prerequisites
A good knowledge of Smallworld Magik is a prerequisite for understanding the course. To obtain full benefit from the course, attendees should have followed the GE Smallworld Application Developer training path. No previous knowledge of Visual Basic is assumed

Objectives

    Following the course, students should have:
  • An knowledge of the Visual Basic language and development environment
  • An understanding of the scope for using Visual Basic, and other languages, in conjunction with a GE Smallworld application.
  • The skills necessary to implement simple Visual Basic components to communicate with a GE Smallworld application.

Duration
4 days

Content
The course will cover the following topics:
The VB environment - Forms and Controls

  • Simple Controls: CommandButton, Label, TextBox
  • Properties, Events, Methods
  • Object Browser and IntelliSense

    Program Structures

  • If statements
  • Loops
  • Procedures and Functions

    Menus
    More Controls

  • Check Box, OptionButton (RadioButton),
  • ListBox, ComboBox, Status Bar,
  • CommonDialogs, Toolbars
  • TreeViews & Listviews, Drag & Drop

    Classes
    HTML Help

  • What it is? How to access it from VB.

    Creating ActiveX controls

  • Why use controls

    Package and Deployment

  • How to turn your application into a deliverable with Setup.exe

    Uses in conjunction with Smallworld 3

    Automation Server

  • Developing User Interface components in VB

    Automation Client

  • Using Magik as the Client to VB automation server

    SmallworldWeb ActiveX controls

  • Using the Smallworld Map and Table controls in a VB client

    ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)

  • A DataGrid for use in a VB client to a Smallworld SQL server

    Active Server Pages, Scripting n-tier Architecture

  • Processing at Web Server, at the Web Client