Oct 9, 2009

Windows Theme Generator Tour

In this video Pocket Now cover Microsoft's web-based Custom Theme Generator for Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. Although right now you can only choose from three phones on the Generator website, choosing the Pure or Imagio will generate a skin for any WM 6.5 device with a WVGA screen, and clicking on the Intrepid will generate a theme for any landscape QVGA WM 6.5 device. We tested the themes on 6.0 and 6.1, and sadly they don't work.

Follow this link

http://pocketnow.com/software-1/windows-phone-custom-theme-generator-tour

Oct 7, 2009

HTC HD2 official Specs

Physical

Size:
Size
Weight: 157 grams (5.54 ounces) with battery

Buttons:
Button

CPU Processing Speed

1GHz Snapdragon™ processor

Power & Battery1

Battery type: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1230 mAh
Talk time:

  • WCDMA: Up to 320 mins
  • GSM: Up to 380 mins
Standby time:
  • WCDMA: Up to 390 hours
  • GSM: Up to 490 hours
Video playback Up to 8 hours
Audio playback: Up to 12 hours

Camera

Camera

  • 5 megapixel color camera
  • Auto focus
  • Dual LED flashlight

Connectors

  • 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
  • Standard Micro-USB
    (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)

Sensors

  • G-Sensor
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor

Home Screen

Home, People, Messages, Mail, Internet, Calendar, Stocks, Photos & Videos, Music, Weather, Footprints, Twitter, Settings

Social Networking

  • Facebook™ integration
  • Sharing photos on Facebook and Twitter
  • Sharing videos on YouTube™
  • HTC Peep™ for twittering

Recommended Windows System Requirements

  • Windows XP or Windows Vista®
  • Microsoft® ActiveSync® 4.5 for Windows XP
  • Microsoft® Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1
    for Windows Vista

Display

Display

Type: Capacitive touch screen
Resolution: 480 X 800 WVGA

Operating System

Windows Mobile® 6.5 Professional

Storage

  • ROM: 512 MB
  • RAM: 448 MB
  • Expansion slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)

Network Bands2

Europe: Network Bands

  • HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
  • GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz
Asia Pacific:
  • HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
  • GSM: 850/950/1800/1900 MHz

Internet3

  • Browser: Opera Mobile™
  • 3G:
    Up to 7.2 Mbps download speed
    Up to 2 Mbps upload speed
  • GPRS: Up to 114 kbps download speed
  • EDGE: Up to 560 kbps download speed
  • Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g

Tethering

  • Internet Sharing through USB or Bluetooth
  • Wi-Fi Router

Bluetooth

  • Bluetooth® 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate
  • Supported profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, BIP, BPP, DUN, FTP, GAP, GOEP, HFP, HID, HSP, OPP, PAN, PBAP, SAP, SPP

Multimedia

Multimedia

  • Windows Media® Player
  • Albums
  • Pictures & Videos
  • FM Radio
  • Audio supported formats:
    .aac, .amr, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .mp4, .qcp, .wav, .wma
  • Video supported formats:
    .wmv, .asf, .mp4, .3gp, .3g2, .m4v, .avi

Location

Location4

  • Internal GPS antenna
  • HTC Footprints™
  • Digital Compass
  • NaviPanel
  1. Battery times (talk time, standby time, and more) are subject to network and phone usage.
  2. Network bands in regions other than Europe and Asia Pacific may be different, depending on the mobile operator and your location. Please check with your mobile operator.
  3. Actual data speed is dependent on the network or Wi-Fi signal strength.
  4. NaviPanel requires the HTC HD2 car kit which needs to be purchased separately.

HTC Touch HD2 Images

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_03_HTC_HD2.jpg

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_02_HTC_HD2.jpg

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_01_HTC_HD2.jpg

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_04_HTC_HD2.jpg

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_05_HTC_HD2.jpg

http://www.htc.com/uploadedImages/WWW/Press_Room/Product_Photo_Gallery/HTC_HD_2/Download_06_HTC_HD2.jpg

Enjoy….

 

ANH

Get The Best Phone of All

HTC Touch HD2 is here…get the greatest of all devices now……Check out the product tour on the official website and enjoy being there.

image

http://www.htc.com/www/product/hd2/product-tour.html

ANH

Upgrade To Windows Mobile 6.5

Have you heard about some exciting new features in Windows Mobile 6.5 that you’d like to try (like enhanced web browsing and improved messaging)? Have you wondered if you can update your older Windows Mobile phone to Windows Mobile 6.5? The answer depends on the model of your phone and conditions put in place by your mobile operator (also known as your carrier).

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/meet/wm65-upgrade.mspx

the website above provides much more information…

ANH

Oct 6, 2009

Windows 7 Global Launch

Welcome to the windows 7 world. The official global lunch would be October 14. More and more resources are being put to teach out about windows 7. Stay tuned and visit Microsoft Technet more often to get a grasp of the learning snacks.

here are some links to enjoy while waiting for October 14

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/10/05/windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-console-host.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/10/04/windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-unified-background-process-manager-ubpm.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/10/02/windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-fault-tolerant-heap-and-memory-management.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/10/01/windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-upgrade-paths-registry-enhancements-crash-dumps-and-page-file-sizing.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/09/18/windows-7-is-coming-see-y-all-in-two-weeks.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/09/15/is-your-organization-ready-for-windows-7.aspx

ANH

Windows Mobile 6.5 is hitting your Door

 

WM 6.5 is arriving in hour time. Even some devices are already around. If you wanna a short list of what is new, look no further.

New Features In Windows Mobile 6.5

Rather than a thorough reworking of the platform, 6.5 is very much a nip-tuck job -- just as every Windows Mobile version in recent memory has been. Here are the biggies:

  • New Today screen: Though the "classic" Today screen is still available, 6.5 introduces an all-new version that somewhat closely approximates the Zune's home screen experience (whether that's a harbinger of things to come remains to be seen). Perhaps more than any other single feature, the new Today screen gives 6.5 a freshened look -- but ironically, many users will never see it because it's often replaced by a manufacturer customization (in HTC's case, TouchFLO).
  • "Honeycomb" Start screen: The main menu of old -- a white screen with a grid of boring, old icons -- looked like a relic of Windows 3.1. Happily, it's gone here, replaced with a themed alternating list of thoroughly modern images for default apps. The Start menu is gone, too -- pressing the Windows icon in the upper left of the screen now leads straight to the new Start screen.
  • Finger-friendly UI elements: Windows Mobile's notorious for being unable to shake the stylus, but 6.5 makes some additional baby steps to help fingertips do all of the work -- inertial scrolling in many screens and a redesigned context menu style both help here.
  • New lock screen: Though not revolutionary, Microsoft put a commendable amount of thought into this one -- instead of merely settling to give the user one way to get back into their device, 6.5's lock screen gives you multiple points of entry depending on the current status; if you've got a new text message, for example, you get a separate unlock slider that can take you straight to it.
  • Revamped Internet Explorer: Bringing a "desktop" browsing experience to the pocket has been a big focus for mobile platforms over the past couple years, and Microsoft's been lagging desperately in bringing a version of Internet Explorer Mobile that's both easy to use with a few swipes of a finger and also capable of digesting thoroughly modern pages using up-to-date standards and technologies. The company's made it a big focus for 6.5, adding a new, prettier UI, a zoom slider, better support for full HTML, and a new JavaScript engine.
  • Windows Marketplace: The biggest news in 6.5 might not be a 6.5 specific feature at all, ironically. Windows Marketplace finally takes WinMo into the all-important world of consolidated, managed mobile app stores, but it's only exclusive to 6.5 for a few weeks before being made available to 6 and 6.1 later this year.
  • Exclusive content: It's hardly a platform "feature," really, but Microsoft is making a pretty big deal of the fact that it's signed on a number of internationally-recognized designers like Isaac Mizrahi and Vera Wang to craft themes for 6.5 that ship with the platform free of charge (we're not sure if you'll find them on every 6.5 phone to be produced, but they came loaded -- albeit turned off by default -- on our Pure).
For a complete review of what is new…Please visit the following link:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/06/windows-mobile-6-5-review/

ANH

Windows Phone Online Theme Creator

Microsoft is serious about letting you customize your phone and has created for you an online theme creator that let us personalize your phone. A screenshot is presented below:

 

You can access more information and create your own theme at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/theme-generator.mspx#

Unfortunately this support only the Windows 6.5 for now and you need to install silverlight in the browser…

In addition not all phone are supported now…But definitly more phone will be supported in the future (if your phone has same resolution you can still use the theme creator).

ANH

Oct 5, 2009

Windows Market Place is open now…for wm 6.5

It's live and dancing right now a full day before any of this was supposed to launch

check the link

Marketplace is live on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones

Oct 4, 2009

HTC Leo latest information

Features
Platform
Ultra slim bar type touch phone / Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
Processor/Chipset
Qualcomm MSM 8250, 1GHz
Memory / Internal Storage
ROM: 512 MB / RAM: 320 MB / HD: 207.13MB
Display Module
4.3-inch 480x800 WVGA resolution / 65K-color / Sensitive touch screen (Capacitive) / Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis
HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM Function
Internal antenna
HSPA/UMTS 2100/900 MHz and GSM/GPRS/EDGE
Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) / HSDPA / 3GPP Release 5 compliant
Up to 7.2Mbps / HSUPA / 3GPP release 6 compliant / UE category 5, up to 2 Mbps peak rate / EGPRS Functionality / EGPRS class B / Multi-slot class 12 (10 Operator dependent) / PBCCH
Standalone GPS
Internal GPS antenna
Sensors
Motion G-sensor / Proximity sensor / Ambient Light Sensor / FM Radio
Digital Camera
Main camera: 5 MP Color CMOS with auto focus / 2x LED flash
Key/Button/Switch
Volume up and down control / Send Key / End Key (Power Key) / Windows Key / Home Key / (Cinema mode Key, TBD) / Back Key / Reset
Notification
Notification by sound, vibration, LEDs or status shown on the display
One dual colors (Green and Amber) LED in the left / lens for PDA event, battery and charging / status
Audio
Built-in microphone / Receiver / Loud speaker with hands-free support
Connectivity & Interface
Bluetooth / Version 2.1 compliant with EDR / Wi-Fi / IEEE 802.11 b/g compliant / Micro-USB: / USB 2.0 High-Speed client / 3.5 mm stereo audio jack with mic / 1.8/3V USIM/SIM card slot / microSD card slot with SDHC support
Power
Battery / Removable and chargeable battery, 1,230 mAh / AC adaptor / AC input: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz / DC output: 5V and 1A
Accessories (In-Box)
Quick Start Guide [Inbox] / Travel Charger, TC P300 [Inbox] / USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB) [Inbox] / Battery [Inbox] / Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector, HS G335 [Inbox] / Premium pouch (Carrying Case) [Inbox] / Car Charger [optional] /Car Holder with
battery cover [optional]
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Applications
Microsoft Outlook Mobile / Messaging (SMS/E-mail), Contacts, Calendar,Tasks, Email Set Up Wizard / Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile / Microsoft Media Player Mobile / Microsoft ActiveSync / Microsoft Windows Mobile Update / Internet Sharing / Pictures & Videos / Games / MSFT Zip
File Explorer / Device Management / Security Enhancement / Microsoft Office Mobile / Microsoft Windows Live! / Microsoft Smart Dial / Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile
Value-Added Applications
Windows Mobile Enhancements / Pictures & Videos enhancements / Ring Tone enhancements Telephony (HTC) Phone Canvas(HTC) Phone Experience Multimedia / (HTC) Camera Album / MP3 Trimmer / Streaming Media Player / FM Radio / Presentation mode / Web / Push Internet / RSS HUB / YouTube Client Social Networking / Input Method EZ-INPUT / Messaging SMS/MMS Client / GPS/LBS Navigation (CoPilot, Papago) / Google Maps / Quick GPS / Support CLL.dll library for indoor positioning andreverse geo-coding / Navi-panel / Calendar to Navi / User Interface (Enhanced Manila) / TouchFLO Footprints / Auto Screen Rotation /
Tools & Utilities
HTC Common Sense / 3G to WiFi router / Task Manager / Text selection (HTC) Connection Setup / OOBE / Voice Recorder / Document Viewer / PDF / OMA DRM Engine / Java virtual machine / Long Press / End Key Confirmation (to shut down) / STK SIM manager / (HTC) Volume Control / Business Card Reader / Document Printing / Magnifier.

Find some photos below:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00012.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00013.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00014.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00015.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00016.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...SNC00021-1.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00019.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00020.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00018.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00017.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00024.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b65/NyoR/SNC00025.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...SNC00026-1.jpg

Oct 2, 2009

Windows XP Mode Launch

XP Mode is ready, will be a free download on October 22.

 

Check out this blog entry

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/10/01/coming-soon-final-release-of-windows-xp-mode.aspx

xpmode

Windows Mobile Market For WM 6.1

 

There’s been some speculation on when Marketplace will come to older phones. Well it is coming…

http://mobiletechaddicts.com/2009/10/02/windows-mobile-marketplace-coming-to-6-1-in-november/

Trapster on Windows Mobile

Some of you have probably seen Trapster on an iPhone, BlackBerry or Android device. If you haven’t seen or heard of it, Trapster is a free app that tracks your location on a map (using GPS) and alerts you to surrounding speed traps/cameras.

Check out more info at this link…

http://pocketnow.com/software-1/trapster-for-windows-mobile-revamped-coming-to-marketplace-oct-6

 

Happy Windows Mobile

BumpTop Mutlitouch

hey there…I wtold u that windows 7 is great. Adding Bumptop to it is amazing also…Check the following link…

http://lifehacker.com/5371919/bumptop-gets-amazing+looking-multi+touch-on-windows-7

Oct 1, 2009

Windows 7 Walkthroughs…

Anybody who would like to know more better about windows 7 new features better take a look at these great walkrthroughs…

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx

 

Happy Windows 7…

Windows 7 Walkthroughs…

Anybody who would like to know more better about windows 7 new features better take a look at these great walkrthroughs…

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx

 

Happy Windows 7…

WTP ( Windows Troubleshooting Platform Walkthrough)

Windows Troubleshooting Platform

The Windows Troubleshooting Platform can reduce calls to the help desk by diagnosing and resolving common issues, and by providing built-in troubleshooters for several different types of problems including audio, video, and networking. Learn how to develop custom Windows Troubleshooting Packs using Windows PowerShell to help resolve issues commonly encountered in your environment.

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx

 

Happy Windows 7

Windows 7 XP Mode

Designed for Small and Medium businesses, Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 makes it easy to install and run older Windows XP productivity applications directly from your Windows 7-based PC. It utilizes virtualization technology such as Windows Virtual PC to provide a Windows XP Mode environment for Windows 7.

Click on the following link to get a walkthrough…

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ee530028.aspx

 

Happy Windows 7

Wanna A full Featured Phone…Look no More if HTC Leo Deliver what it promises…

HTC Leo is the latest device that has been revealed to deliver windows mobile….this device should replace the famous Touch HD and is sometimes called HTC Touch HD2.

Take a look for it…

Click on this link to get more data…

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/09/30/htc-hd2-makes-first-official-appearance-in-o2-uk-catalog/

Happy Windows Mobile…

Sep 30, 2009

SPB Mobile Shell Update

There is new a version of one of the most famous windows mobile interface with great additions.

A list of additions is:

  • Improved SPB Carousel design (e. g. added reflections and some additional interaction gestures)
  • Gravity sensor support in the SPB Carousel
  • 3D email viewer
  • 3D SMS viewer (with contact pictures)
  • Access to online catalog in “Change Background” dialog
  • New “Add Widget” dialog
  • Widget skin selection with preview
  • New widget: Tasks (customizable task list on your home screen)
  • New widget: Picture Frame (widget and full-screen slideshow)
  • New widget: Facebook Status
  • New widget: Twitter Status
  • New widget: Four instant wireless switches (WiFi, Bluetooth, Flight Mode, Phone Switch)
  • New widget: Internet Search (with instant suggestions)
  • New widget: Birthdays reminders (never forget about your friend’s birthday again)
  • Contact widget: ability to choose default action
  • Wireless manager widget: icon shows current states, popup shows current states
  • Weather widget: support for more advanced skins with detailed forecast and current conditions
  • Streamlined background change (with cropping and easy to view local gallery)
  • Current weather conditions (in addition to forecast)
  • New skins for most widgets
  • Professional home customization using widgets
  • Option to have only one home screen (lifestyle or professional)
  • Option to change number of screens in lifestyle or professional layouts
  • Weather in Agenda
  • Force feedback on tap and hold
  • Option to choose the default tab for Contacts and Launcher
  • Improved design of most dialogs (popup menus, settings etc.)
  • Category filter in the contact list
  • Improved widget edit mode (widget can be dragged to other pages, recycle bin for easy delete etc.)
  • Color themes support on Windows Mobile 6.5
  • Integration with SPB Weather and SPB Traveler via widgets
  • Improved “Choose Shortcut” dialog with similar look to SPB Menu
  • New widget: Operator Name
  • New widget: Date
  • New widget: Alarm
  • Option to disable tap and hold
  • Redesigned settings dialogs

A complete review can be found here

http://mobiletechaddicts.com/2009/09/29/spb-mobile-shell-3-5-review/

A quick video tour is also available here

http://pocketnow.com/software-1/spb-mobile-shell-35

Happy Windows Mobile

Sep 26, 2009

Discover the Error and Correct It

Visual Basic has one of the most useful tools in helping you discover and correct your errors. Starting from highlighting the statement with error, giving you a quick watch of the value of the variables at that stage or even giving you the best menomic message at the run time that will help you identify the error.

In addition to all of this…the debugging tools provided is amazing and very useful. I will not go into debugging detail now.

The useful approach that I have used is the following:

  1. Read the error message thoroughly and try pressing F1 to get additional help
  2. The second step would be to identify the expected value of the variables as well the current values (hover with the mouse over them)
  3. Bing on the .NET for possible reasons as well as solution
  4. Last Resort…ping me or any other friend for help…

Happy Programming :)

Error Handling in VB.NET

Visual Basic has three main error handling techniques while writing code.

On Error Go To technique allows you to go to a special section in your code to handle the error and exit gracefully. An example is added below.

Sub CalculateD()

On Error Go To HandleDivisionByZero

Dim a as integer = 0, b as integer = 5

Dim d as decimal = b/a

Console.WriteLine (“B divided by a is = “ & Str(D))

Exit Sub

HandleDivisionByZero:

MessageBox (“Division By Zero. Exiting”)

Exit Sub

End Sub

On Error Resume Next technique is simply ignoring the current statement with the error and start from the next statement directly. An example is below:

Sub ResumeWork()

On Error Resume Next

Dim a as integer, b as integer

a = 5: b= 0

dim c as decimal

c = a /b

Console.Writeline(“Finished”)

End Sub

This subroutine would simply ignore the line where c = a/b even that there is a division by zero and continue to print the word Finished as if there is nothing wrong.

 

The two previous technique were simply the old techniques. However, .NET has introduced the Java old technique of try and catch where you can handle all kind of errors and it is extensible.

Try and Catch techinque is a well structured one and allows for even other vendors like Oracle to introduce their own catch blocks.

An Example of this technique is provided below:

Sub CalculateD()

Dim a as integer = 0, b as integer = 5

Try

Dim d as decimal = b/a

Console.WriteLine (“B divided by a is = “ & Str(D))

Catch MyException as exception

MessageBox (“Division By Zero. Exiting”)

Finally

‘ A Comment The programmer can do whatever cleaning he need here

End Try

End Sub

You can see from this code that the technique does not include jumping as well as you are able to catch the exception and handle it as needed. Oracle for example has added another exception called OracleException to handle errors returned by their own database and display their exact exceptions instead of using the .NET exception.

Programming Dilemma

A famous pizza man said one “Success is a horrible teacher”. You should know that pizza man because he ended up as one of the most infulencial guys in our modern history. Bill Gates.

Especially in programming, the best way to learn is when you commit, discover and correct mistakes as you go along.

In programming there are two kinds of errors that could happen.

Design Time (Compile Time) errors happens when you are simply writing the program in visual studio. Fortunatly these errors are highlighted automatically by underlining them using red and green line (read mean error and green mean warning)

Run Time errors occurs when the programming is running (the most commonly used term for this is bugs). All of us want to write programs that are bug free. However since we are humans we can not achieve this goal. the good news though is that with practice your are more likely to write near bug free programs. As somebody has said “programming is easy, it is finding all the problems that is hard”.

 

A recommended technique is simply “Write a little, Test a little”. Simply write your piece of code and make sure after testing it that it behaves as expected.

Sep 25, 2009

What is a Variable

a variable is a container that has a name and holds some value at the end. In VB.NET you dimesion variables before you can start using them. The dimensioning process simply tell VB.NET that you want a variable before using it.
VB.NET allocates a space in memory for each variable you dimension so that you can put there whatever you like. However since VB.NET does not know what you want to store, you have to give to the variable a datatype which restricts what you can store in this variable.
 
Datatypes keep VB.NET and you in harmony. Since the computer has to make special arrangement for the space in memory based on whether it will store a string of text, a numerical value or may be even a picture.
 
There is a lot of datatypes to choose from but I will explain these most commonly used one's before.
Integer: It is a variable type that allows you to store numerical values without a decimal point that range between  -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647. Mostly commonly used as a counter for something like this example.
Dim NumberOfChildren as integer = 5
Boolean:  It is a variable type that allows you to store one of two values (true or false) used to indicate a status. For example
Dim HasChildren = True
DateTime: This is a variable type that allows you to store date and time information as accurate as it can be up to the ticks of the second. An Example would  be
Dim CurrentMoment as DateTime = Now()
Double: This variable will be able to store numerical values of all sizes approzximatly. It can store numbers with decimal point also. the range of values is 5.0 x 10-324 to 1.7 x 10308 which is a pretty long range for you. An example would be
Dim SolarDistance as Double
Decimal: When dealing with some banking issues decimal proves to be more useful when you want a precise number of decimal places. It's not as accurate as the Double Type, though.
Dim Balance as Deicmal = 18732.321
String: Very useful in storing large amount of text. It is able to store a unicode string with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 characters. I think that this is enough to store any type of text you have (except if we are talking books)...
Dim FullCustomerName = "Nidal Bin Hasan Bin Ahmed Bin Tarek Bin Omar Bin Enough"
 
You can see from this succint list that VB.NET has the power to store any type of variables that you have (you will see different types in the future).
 
There is a nice addition to these variable with .NET 3.0 which is the nullable data type. I will be posting another entry about them.
 
See you in a later blog post.
 

Expressions and Statements

Expressions are simply a statement where you have included a calculation that should end as a result (numerical, character or as a boolean also).
Example of expressions are given below:
5+6  (Sample Numeric Expression)
x+y
"Nidal" & " Arabi"  (Sample String expression)
x.ToString() + " Is the Number of Children"
X > Y (Sample Boolean Expression)
 
Statements on the other hands are the building block of the programming when dealing with VB.NET
They are made up of (or combination of)
  • keywords-i.e. reserved words for the VB.NET language like Dim, If, Else, etc...
  • Operators (Explained in previous post)
  • Variables (Explained in previous post)
  • Constants (Will Be explained when need arise...But think of them as variables with a specific single value that should not be changed once assigned)
  • Expressions (Explained Above)

There are three main different categories of statements

  1. Declarative: When you define a variable like Dim EyeColor as String
  2. Assignment: When You assign a new value to a variable like EyeColor = "Brown"
  3. Executable: A statement that usually instruct the computer to do something special like If A  > B Then MessageBox("A is Greater then B")

To summarize

  • Each statement is simply a command to execute
  • Each statement can be on its own line. Statements can also be grouped on a single line by separating them with a column. Example of two statements together would be X = X + Y : Y = Y * 2
  • Sometimes you may also need to span a single statement on two lines. You can do this simply by using the underscore character. Example: Gross Income =  _
    TotalIncome – Tax.
  • A sequence of statement can make you programs do beautiful things. :)

Operators in Visual Basic

An operator performs a function on one or more operands. For example, we add two variables with the "+" addition operator and store the result in a third variable with the "=" assignment operator. Visual Basic comes with many built-in operators that allow us to manipulate data.

Operators in VB.NET comes in different categories: (All in order of precedence)

Arithmetic Operators

Operator To Do
^ Exponentiation
- Negation (used to reverse the sign of the given value, exp -intValue)
* Multiplication
/ Division
\ Integer Division (Division without remainder 5\2= 2 and not 2.5)
Mod Modulus Arithmetic
+ Addition
- Subtraction

String Operators

Concatenation operators join multiple strings into a single string. There are two concatenation operators, + and &.

Comparison Operators

A comparison operator compares operands and returns a logical value based on whether the comparison is true or not. Please find them below.

= Equality Operator
<> Different or Not equal
< Less than
> Greater Than
<= Less Than or Equal
>= Greater than or equal

Last but not least Logical Operators

The logical operators compare Boolean expressions and return a Boolean result. Below a list of them.

And compare two Boolean expressions and return true if both of them are true else return false
Or compare two Boolean expressions and return false if both of them are false else return true
Not negate true to false and vice versa.

 

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