Cheapest way to build .net applications?

tomstickland

I've got a copy of Visual Basic Studio at work which has been very handy for developing executable applications. I want to do some development at home for one of my own projects. I fancy moving on and seeing what I can do within the .net framework.
I want to build an application with windows, text boxes, buttons etc and also control the location of internet explorer windows on the screen etc.
What's the best way to get started? Should I try to purchase visual basic .net? I've had a look and it's expensive on Amazon.

wolfman

No need.

Download Visual Studio Express for free from Microsoft:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

There's an Express version of SQL Server too for any database work. Both perfect for a starter in .Net

If you fancy getting into Asp.Net/Ajax.Net etc... then go to their official site, it's very good:
http://www.asp.net

I personally use C# over VB, but it's what I've been grown up knowing. There's plenty of excellent stuff you can do with .Net. Just post on here if you want any ideas what to learn next, or if you're stuck.

tomstickland

I've been thinking about trying to make my application work on Macs as well as PCs. Is there a better way? What could an add in like Java do for me?
Could I build my application as Java embedded web pages?

Like a typical man I spent, oh, 20 seconds starting to read the help pages and then thought "I !!!! it, just download it and start playing with it".

wolfman

Depends what you want to do with Java. From the server side of things, it works just like .Net although in my opinion isn't anywhere as easy or well developed.

If you want a multi-platform application, the web is the obvious way to go. Although it'll depend upon the application. Otherwise you really need to be looking at C or C++.

What were you thinking of doing?

tomstickland

I want to be able to provide a one time downloadable system that does some basic maths via text box and radio button inputs and text box outputs. It also needs to save data to files and read it back in etc.

What can C+ or C# do that Visual Basic .net can't do?

Actually, looking at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/downloads/
it looks like
VB is the basic, quick method
C# gives more power and
C++ gives a lot more control

marksward

java is horrendous for doing GUI apps, its good for console and web but not desktop. the express version of visual studio is the best me thinks.

theres not much difference between vb.net and c#. c++ can be a whole differnet kettle of fish.

I'm a little confused from your descriptions as the whether you are trying to create a web application or a desktop application

tomstickland

I've a fair of experience with VB6 and getting other applications to control Excel etc.
Will I be able to make my VB.net application open and control Internet Explorer windows?

ShirleyPark_2

tomstickland wrote: »

What can C+ or C# do that Visual Basic .net can't do?

Very little if you are considering the express edition.

Within the full version of Visual Studio there's a few things you can do in one that you can't do in the other, but even then it's not the stuff you'll do every day, things like low level unmanaged code etc.

The choice between VB.net and C# really comes down to which syntax you prefer. Oddly, after writing vb6 code for years I much prefer C# to VB.net.

wolfman

In terms of .Net C# can do everything VB can. They just look different in terms of how they are written.

C and C++ are harder learning. You'll be able to pick up .Net more easily (even though C++ does make up part of the framework). They're very powerful languages though. Most apps you use will be written in C.

You could do such a system in JavaScript if you really wanted. A nice web page, and it all gets processed by the browser. If you're using a server (ie web based) it can be tricky when storing files etc... as you'd need to decide how that's done.

You could however, get the user to keep the file, then they upload it to the server each time. And then download it when finished for keeping again.

tomstickland

I forgot to mention, I also have used C to compile onto DSP chips.
I want speed of results here, so visual basic .net looks like it'll do.

A Javascrip via a web browser might be worth a look then, because I assume it'll run on Macs and PCs.

tomstickland

Hmm, the vbinstall file is now stalled at "Setup is loading installation components. This may take a minute or two". It's been there for about 15 minutes now so I think something is wrong. Maybe I should check that all of the services are turned on.

Edit: I've got XP Media Centre 2005 and need service pack 2 in order to run .net.

Edit 2: I've sorted SP2 but installation still locks up. I've read up on it and it says try manual installation. Why are computers like this?

Edit 3: It's 01:20am and I've just built my first VB.net application. A single form with a quit button on it. It works! I'm going to have some fun with this tomorrow.