Chapter 13: Graphics and File Handling

Main Page

    Graphics Handling
    File Handling
    Immediate Solutions: Using the Graphics Class
    Using the Pen Class
    Specifying Drawing Colors
    Drawing Figures with Pens
    Repainting Windows
    Using Brush Classes
    Filling Figures with Brushes
    Using the Pens and Brushes Classes
    Handling Images
    Using the FileStream Class
    Using the FileMode Enumeration
    Using the FileAccess Enumeration
    Using the FileShare Enumeration
    Opening or Creating a File with the FileStream Class
    Using the StreamWriter Class
    Writing Text with the StreamWriter Class
    Using the StreamReader Class
    Reading Text with the StreamReader Class
    Using the BinaryWriter Class
    Writing Binary Data with the BinaryWriter Class
    Using the BinaryReader Class
    Reading Binary Data with the BinaryReader Class
    Using the File Class
    Using the Directory class
    Putting the File and Directory Classes to Work

In Depth

In this chapter, we're going to take a look at two popular topics: graphics handling and file handling, both of which have changed since VB6. In VB6 and before, for example, graphics support was spread throughout, and you could use the graphics methods of forms and picture boxes as needed. Now, as with Java, the graphics capability has been lumped together into huge classes, primarily the Graphics class. Among other things, this means that the cherished AutoRedraw property of forms, which made forms redraw themselves if needed (as when they're uncovered or restored from being minimized) has been stripped out of Visual Basic entirely. This in turn means that redrawing forms is all up to you again (see "Repainting Windows" in this chapter). And, also as with Java, file handling is now based on streams in Visual Basic, and is handled with various stream classes. Streams refer to "streams" of data, which may be redirected in various ways. Although Java uses streams, they're probably not going to make life easier for the programmer trying to upgrade to VB .NET from VB6 who already has a lot to contend with, especially as all the old file handling support has been taken out of Visual Basic now.