IJR International Journal for Computer Science & Engineering

Web Applications Development Using Visual Basic.NET and Microsoft SQL for Mobile

and PC Devices.

Adeniji Kehinde A. ,

Dept of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering.

Afe Babalola University,

+2348067297973, adenijika@abuad.edu.ng

Adaramola Olalekan

Dept of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering.

Afe Babalola University,

+2348153253243, lakeside@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper talked about how beginners can learn how to use Visual Basic.net to develop web

applications and taken into consideration the various stages of application development ( software

requirement, analysis, design and testing) and information on how web applications can be

accessed through either intranet or via the internet together with the database system of the

application.

Keywords: VB.NET, ADO.NET , Software Life Cycle, SQL Server, Visual Studio

Introduction: It is imperative to keep developing application that can be useful for mankind

to increase productivity and efficiency. A software application is a program that is written in

a specified language which is used to perform one to two tasks. Software application can be

classified as:

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 
 Mobile Apps
 
 PC Apps
 
Web Apps

Mobile Apps are applications that are hosted on mobile phones and its design is based on the

operating system of the mobile phone such as Android, Window, Blackberry and Ios.

PC Apps are applications that are hosted on desktop, laptop and palmtop. Also it design is

based on the operating system of the computer such as Window, Mac and Linux.

Web Apps are applications that are accessed via the Web and its hosted on a web server, the

web application can now be accessed via the local host or through the internet on the web

browser. If the application have to do with the interchange of information between the user

and the application there is need for a database which will host these stream of data.

Therefore there is need for a web database which will store this information; the web server

can also act as a database. A web application is an example of three tier applications.

Fig 1: Web Application Schematic. Source: [1]

The web browser is the client tier of the web application which allows the user to interact

with the application; it consists of HTML, CSS and Javascript. These languages create what

the users see on the browser and react to user input and cannot connect read files from the

web server except through the HTTP request.

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The application tier is embedding in the web server in form of JSP, ASP.NET, PHP, Ruby

and Python etc. They respond to HTTP request and codes that can run on a computer and

respond to HTTP requests can run a server.

The database server examples are MYSQL, Oracle etc. which save the data flowing through

the application.

The stages for creating and executing any web application can be categorized into the
followings:

1. Develop the various Web component code (deployment descriptor).

2. Build the Web application components along with any static resources such as images.

3. Install or deploy the application into a Web container.

4. Access the web application through the web browser.

For the purpose of this publication we will be using Visual Basic (VB.NET) and MYSQL

which are provided by Microsoft to design a web application for online examination via a

web browser.

Materials and Method:

What is VB.NET? This is an object-oriented high level programming language designed by

Microsoft which is quite easy to understand and allow features like inheritance, overloading

and interface. VB.NET like any other language has reserve words which are used to perform

specific actions such as;

Visual Basic .NET

It has no unified way of defining blocks of statements. Instead, certain keywords, such as "If
… Then" or "Sub" are interpreted as starters of sub-blocks
 of code and have matching
termination keywords such as "End If" or "End Sub".

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
Statements are terminated either with a colon or with the end of line. Multiple line
 in Visual Basic .NET are enabled with " _" at the end of each such
statements
 line.


 "=" is used in both assigning values to variable and in
The equals sign
 comparison.


Round brackets (parentheses) are used with arrays, both to declare them and to get
 .NET uses round brackets to
a value at a given index in one of them. Visual Basic
 define the parameters of subroutines or functions.


A single quotation mark ('), placed at the beginning of a line or after any number
of space or tab characters at the beginning of a line, orafter other code on a line
indicates that the (remainder of the) line is a comment.

VB.NET can be used to design push button, dialog boxes, list boxes which can be

programmed to do certain task on web application.

The below code will display a simple “hello world “after a push button have been created and

programmed. The button is added by selecting button on the toolbox on the left side of the

screen the toolbox window will popup, next expand the common controls tree and double

click on the button choice which will allow the properties such as (font and colour ) of the

button to be changed.

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As

System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

MessageBox.Show("hello world", "Message Box Title")

End Sub
End Class

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Fig 2: A hello world program.

Results

Checkbox, list box, textbox and dialog box etc. are all various tools that are available for

selection in the web application development. The list box is populated either from the

properties window or at run time, to do that one need to double click on the list box to get to

the properties window and click on the ellipses (…) button next to the item property. Then

open the string collection editor dialog box where you can enter the user values one on a line

though.

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Fig 3: A Listbox design

Just like list box is populated, combo-box is use to list items on web but the difference is that

combo-box drop down the list of the items when click on.

Fig 4: A Combobox Design

Images can be loaded on the web application by first adding the images to the project

designer, click the resources tab and add resource and then select add existing file and browse

to the folder which contain the images. The pictures selected are added to the resources

manager window. From the toolbox the pictureBox control is used to display the images by

dragging it onto the form, and double click on it to go to the properties window then select

the ….button next to image property to open the select resource dialog box and from the

entry list any images added can be selected there. The SizeMode property can be set to auto

size to auto fit in the image.

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Fig 5: Image uploaded on web application

As earlier explain information are created & interchange using web application by the users,

so there is need to house such data where it can be stored and retrieved when needed .

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft

which can be used to serve as a database server with the primary function of storing and

retrieving data as requested by other software applications which may run either on the same

computer or on another computer across a network (including the Internet). Microsoft SQL

Server is offered as a "Fully Managed" database, high availability features and regular

backups.

The user needs to undergo the process of installation of the SQL server software which is

available for free from Microsoft. After the installation, you will asked what server you

would like to connect to i.e. if you already have a server up and running and have permission

necessary to connect to it which will prompt for server address and authentication

information. A local database can also be created by setting database name to the name

corresponding to the program being created and the authentication type to “windows

authentication” as show below;

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Fig 6: Microsoft SQL Connection

Fig 7: Microsoft SQL Environment

After the creation and configuration of the database a table can now be created, a database

can only store data if you create a structure for that data. A table holds the information that

you entered into your database and you will need to create it before you can proceed.

Through the new database, right click on the table’s folder and select “new table”, after

which you can work on the table’s rows and columns as shown below;

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Fig 8: Database & Table creation

Connection between the VB .NET and Microsoft SQL Server is done to let the web

application access the data; the first step is to create an instance of the Server object and to

establish its connection to an instance of SQL Server. The SqlConnection Object ( ADO.NET

Object) handle the part of physical communication between the application and the SQL

Server Database. The ADO.NET stands for ActiveX Data Object.NET which is a group of

libraries used to create powerful databases using various sources that include Microsoft SQL

server, Microsoft Access, Oracle, XML etc.

The SqlConnection takes Connection String as argument and pass the value to the

Constructor statement. When the connection is established, SQL Commands may be

executed, with the help of the Connection Object, to retrieve or manipulate data (insert,

update & delete) in the database. ADO.NET does the creating and managing database

systems, which serves as an intermediary between the database engine and the user interface

and the windows controls that the user uses to interact with the computer.

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Conclusion

This Publication has talked about the various type of software application and extensively on

the basics of web application development and the stages involve in it. VB.NET with its

simplicity and other programming languages can be used to develop various types of web

application. Also looking at how database is created to handle the stream of data that the

users have created in the application and the database management system of the application.

Acknowlegment

The web application was demonstrated using Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server which

are software produce by Microsoft, so appreciation goes to the Microsoft for making the

software available free.

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References

[1] Jenkov, J. (n.d.). Web And Mobile Applications. [image] Available at:
http://tutorials.jenkov.com/software-architecture/n-tier-architecture.html [Accessed 5
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[2] Klimushyn, M. (2015). Web Application Architecture – Client-Side vs. Server-Side.

[online] Atomic Spin. Available at: http://spin.atomicobject.com/2015/04/06/web-app-
client-side-server-side/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2015].

[3] SearchSoftwareQuality, (2011). What is Web application (Web app)? - Definition from
WhatIs.com. [online] Available at:
http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/Web-application-Web-app
[Accessed 5 Aug. 2015].
[4] Msdn.microsoft.com, (2015). Visual Basic Language. [online] Available at:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa903378(v=vs.71).aspx [Accessed 6 Aug.
2015].

[5] Vb.net-informations.com, (n.d.). ADO.NET SQL Server Connection. [online] Available

at: http://vb.net-informations.com/ado.net-dataproviders/ado.net-sqlconnection.htm
[Accessed 25 Aug. 2015].

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