Downloading Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Software

On November 7, 2005 Microsoft released its Visual Studio 2005 development tools, including the Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. Per Microsoft's Web site, Microsoft Express Editions are "lightweight, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn tools for the hobbyist, novice and student developer." This product is available free for download through November 6, 2006 (according to the best information we had from Microsoft at the time of this writing). After this date, if you have already downloaded the software, it will still work. However, if you need to download the software after this one-year period, Microsoft may charge a fee for the download.

You may use this software to compile and execute the example programs in the book. You can download Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition at:

msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/

When you install this software, you should install the help documentation and SQL Server 2005 Express. Microsoft provides a dedicated forum for help using the Express Edition:

forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=24

Visual Basic 2005 How to Program, 3/e Code Examples

The book's source code is available for download at www.deitel.com/books/vbhtp3 . Once you download the complete examples.zip file, use a ZIP file tool such as WinZip (available from www.winzip.com ) to extract the files to the C:\ folder on your computer. This will create an examples folder that contains subfolders for each chapter (e.g., ch01 , ch02 , etc.)

Additional Software Downloads

For the examples in Chapter 17, Graphics and Multimedia, we use Microsoft Agent. If students use the examples in a lab environment, more than likely this software will have to be installed as part of the lab setup. Microsoft Agent can be downloaded from:

www.microsoft.com/msagent/downloads/default.asp

For Chapter 20, you will need SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, which is available at

msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/

Note that you do not need to download this separately if you choose to install it as part of the Visual Basic 2005 Express installation.

For Chapters 21 and 22, you will need Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, which is available at

msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/

Like Visual Basic 2005 Express, the other express editions are free for download until November 6, 2006, after which Microsoft may charge a fee for these tools. For these two chapters, you may also want to install the IIS Web server to test the examples. For more information about installing IIS, please visit

www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/
en-us/iiiisin2.mspx?mfr=true

If you prefer not to install IIS, you can use the built-in test server in Visual Web Developer 2005 Express to test the examples in Chapters 21 and 22.

We provide updates on the status of the software used in this book at www.deitel.com and in our free e-mail newsletter www.deitel.com/newsletter/subscribe.html.