Cover
Title Page
Introduction
PART I: The C# Language
1. 1 Introducing C#
  1. WHAT IS THE .NET FRAMEWORK?
  2. WHAT IS C#?
  3. VISUAL STUDIO 2017
2. 2 Writing a C# Program
  1. THE VISUAL STUDIO 2017 DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
  2. CONSOLE APPLICATIONS
  3. DESKTOP APPLICATIONS
3. 3 Variables and Expressions
  1. BASIC C# SYNTAX
  2. BASIC C# CONSOLE APPLICATION STRUCTURE
  3. VARIABLES
  4. EXPRESSIONS
4. 4 Flow Control
  1. BOOLEAN LOGIC
  2. BRANCHING
  3. LOOPING
5. 5 More about Variables
  1. TYPE CONVERSION
  2. COMPLEX VARIABLE TYPES
  3. STRING MANIPULATION
6. 6 Functions
  1. DEFINING AND USING FUNCTIONS
  2. VARIABLE SCOPE
  3. THE MAIN() FUNCTION
  4. STRUCT FUNCTIONS
  5. OVERLOADING FUNCTIONS
  6. USING DELEGATES
7. 7 Debugging and Error Handling
  1. DEBUGGING IN VISUAL STUDIO
  2. ERROR HANDLING
8. 8 Introduction to Object‐Oriented Programming
  1. WHAT IS OBJECT‐ORIENTED PROGRAMMING?
  2. OOP TECHNIQUES
  3. OOP IN DESKTOP APPLICATIONS
9. 9 Defining Classes
  1. CLASS DEFINITIONS IN C#
  2. SYSTEM.OBJECT
  3. CONSTRUCTORS AND DESTRUCTORS
  4. OOP TOOLS IN VISUAL STUDIO
  5. CLASS LIBRARY PROJECTS
  6. INTERFACES VERSUS ABSTRACT CLASSES
  7. STRUCT TYPES
  8. SHALLOW COPYING VERSUS DEEP COPYING
10. 10 Defining Class Members
  1. MEMBER DEFINITIONS
  2. ADDITIONAL CLASS MEMBER TOPICS
  3. INTERFACE IMPLEMENTATION
  4. PARTIAL CLASS DEFINITIONS
  5. PARTIAL METHOD DEFINITIONS
  6. EXAMPLE APPLICATION
  7. THE CALL HIERARCHY WINDOW
11. 11 Collections, Comparisons, and Conversions
  1. COLLECTIONS
  2. COMPARISONS
  3. CONVERSIONS
12. 12 Generics
  1. WHAT ARE GENERICS?
  2. USING GENERICS
  3. DEFINING GENERIC TYPES
  4. VARIANCE
13. 13 Additional C# Techniques
  1. THE :: OPERATOR AND THE GLOBAL NAMESPACE QUALIFIER
  2. CUSTOM EXCEPTIONS
  3. EVENTS
  4. EXPANDING AND USING CARDLIB
  5. ATTRIBUTES
  6. INITIALIZERS
  7. TYPE INFERENCE
  8. ANONYMOUS TYPES
  9. DYNAMIC LOOKUP
  10. ADVANCED METHOD PARAMETERS
  11. LAMBDA EXPRESSIONS
PART II: Windows Programming
1. 14 Basic Desktop Programming
  1. XAML
  2. THE PLAYGROUND
  3. CONTROL LAYOUT
  4. THE GAME CLIENT
2. 15 Advanced Desktop Programming
  1. CREATING AND STYLING CONTROLS
  2. WPF USER CONTROLS
  3. THE MAIN WINDOW
  4. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
PART III: Cloud and Cross‐Platform Programming
1. 16 Basic Cloud Programming
  1. THE CLOUD, CLOUD COMPUTING, AND THE CLOUD OPTIMIZED STACK
  2. CLOUD PATTERNS AND BEST PRACTICES
  3. USING MICROSOFT AZURE C# LIBRARIES TO CREATE A STORAGE CONTAINER
  4. CREATING AN ASP.NET 4.7 WEB SITE THAT USES THE STORAGE CONTAINER
2. 17 Advanced Cloud Programming and Deployment
  1. CREATING AN ASP.NET WEB API
  2. DEPLOYING AND CONSUMING AN ASP.NET WEB API ON MICROSOFT AZURE
  3. SCALING AN ASP.NET WEB API ON MICROSOFT AZURE
3. 18 .NET Standard and .NET Core
  1. CROSS‐PLATFORM BASICS AND KEY “MUST KNOW” TERMS
  2. WHAT IS .NET STANDARD, AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?
  3. REFERENCING AND TARGETING FRAMEWORKS
  4. WHAT IS .NET CORE?
  5. BUILDING AND PACKAGING A .NET STANDARD LIBRARY
  6. BUILDING A .NET CORE APPLICATION WITH VISUAL STUDIO
  7. PORTING FROM .NET FRAMEWORK TO .NET CORE
4. 19 ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core
  1. OVERVIEW OF WEB APPLICATIONS
  2. WHICH ASP.NET TO USE AND WHY
  3. USING ASP.NET WEB FORMS
  4. CREATING ASP.NET CORE WEB APPLICATIONS
PART IV: Data Access
1. 20 Files
  1. FILE CLASSES FOR INPUT AND OUTPUT
  2. STREAMS
  3. MONITORING THE FILE SYSTEM
2. 21 XML and JSON
  1. XML BASICS
  2. JSON BASICS
  3. XML SCHEMAS
  4. XML DOCUMENT OBJECT MODEL
  5. CONVERTING XML TO JSON
  6. SEARCHING XML WITH XPATH
3. 22 LINQ
  1. LINQ TO XML
  2. LINQ PROVIDERS
  3. LINQ QUERY SYNTAX
  4. LINQ METHOD SYNTAX
  5. ORDERING QUERY RESULTS
  6. UNDERSTANDING THE ORDERBY CLAUSE
  7. QUERYING A LARGE DATA SET
  8. USING AGGREGATE OPERATORS
  9. USING THE SELECT DISTINCT QUERY
  10. ORDERING BY MULTIPLE LEVELS
  11. USING GROUP QUERIES
  12. USING JOINS
4. 23 Databases
  1. USING DATABASES
  2. INSTALLING SQL SERVER EXPRESS
  3. ENTITY FRAMEWORK
  4. A CODE FIRST DATABASE
  5. BUT WHERE IS MY DATABASE?
  6. NAVIGATING DATABASE RELATIONSHIPS
  7. HANDLING MIGRATIONS
  8. CREATING AND QUERYING XML FROM AN EXISTING DATABASE
PART V: Additional Techniques
1. 24 Windows Communication Foundation
  1. WHAT IS WCF?
  2. WCF CONCEPTS
  3. WCF PROGRAMMING
2. 25 Universal Apps
  1. GETTING STARTED
  2. WINDOWS UNIVERSAL APPS
  3. APP CONCEPTS AND DESIGN
  4. APP DEVELOPMENT
  5. COMMON ELEMENTS OF WINDOWS STORE APPS
  6. THE WINDOWS STORE
Appendix: Exercise Solutions
1. CHAPTER 3 SOLUTIONS
2. CHAPTER 4 SOLUTIONS
3. CHAPTER 5 SOLUTIONS
4. CHAPTER 6 SOLUTIONS
5. CHAPTER 7 SOLUTIONS
6. CHAPTER 8 SOLUTIONS
7. CHAPTER 9 SOLUTIONS
8. CHAPTER 10 SOLUTIONS
9. CHAPTER 11 SOLUTIONS
10. CHAPTER 12 SOLUTIONS
11. CHAPTER 13 SOLUTIONS
12. CHAPTER 14 SOLUTIONS
13. CHAPTER 15 SOLUTIONS
14. CHAPTER 16 SOLUTIONS
15. CHAPTER 17 SOLUTIONS
16. CHAPTER 20 SOLUTIONS
17. CHAPTER 21 SOLUTIONS
18. CHAPTER 22 SOLUTIONS
19. CHAPTER 23 SOLUTIONS
20. CHAPTER 24 SOLUTIONS
21. CHAPTER 25 SOLUTIONS
End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 3
1. TABLE 3‐1: Integer Types
2. TABLE 3‐2: Floating‐Point Types
3. TABLE 3‐3: Text and Boolean Types
4. TABLE 3‐4: Literal Values
5. TABLE 3‐5: Escape Sequences for String Literals
6. TABLE 3‐6: Simple Mathematical Operators
7. TABLE 3‐7: The String Concatenation Operator
8. TABLE 3‐8: Increment and Decrement Operators
9. TABLE 3‐9: Assignment Operators
10. TABLE 3‐10: Operator Precedence
Chapter 4
1. TABLE 4‐1: Boolean Comparison Operators
2. TABLE 4‐2: Conditional Boolean Operators
3. TABLE 4‐3: Boolean Assignment Operators
4. TABLE 4‐4: Operator Precedence (Updated)
Chapter 5
1. TABLE 5‐1: Implicit Numeric Conversions
Chapter 9
1. TABLE 9-1: Access Modifiers for Class Definitions
2. TABLE 9-2: Methods of System.Object
3. TABLE 9-3: Class View Icons
4. TABLE 9-4: Additional Class View Icons
Chapter 12
1. TABLE 12-1: Generic Collection Type
2. TABLE 12-2: Sorting with Generic Types
3. TABLE 12-3: Generic Type Constraints
Chapter 14
1. TABLE 14‐1: Common Control Events
2. TABLE 14‐2: Common Layout Panels
3. TABLE 14‐3: Image Control Properties
4. TABLE 14‐4: TextBox Properties
5. TABLE 14‐5: CheckBox Properties
6. TABLE 14‐6: RadioButton Properties
7. TABLE 14‐7: IsReadOnly and IsEditable Combinations
8. TABLE 14‐8: Other ComboBox Properties
9. TABLE 14‐9: Interesting ListBox Properties
10. TABLE 14‐10: The Name Property
Chapter 15
1. TABLE 15‐1: The Register( ) Method's Parameters
2. TABLE 15‐2: Overloads for the FrameworkPropertyMetadata Constructor
3. TABLE 15‐3: Displaying MenuItem Properties
4. TABLE 15‐4: Property and Field Names
5. TABLE 15‐5: Cards in Hand Dependency Properties
6. TABLE 15‐6: Game Decks Dependency Properties
Chapter 18
1. TABLE 18‐1: Cross‐Platform Key Terms
2. TABLE 18‐2: Summary of .NET Standard 2.0 Namespace and API Count
3. TABLE 18‐3: Summary of .NET Standard Supported Version
4. TABLE 18‐4: .NET Core Performance Improvements versus .NET Framework
Chapter 19
1. TABLE 19-1: Baseline ASP.NET Core on Kestrel performance
2. TABLE 19-2: Differences between Projects and Web Sites
3. TABLE 19-3: Examples of ASP.NET Server Controls
4. TABLE 19-4: Examples of ASP.NET Validation Controls
5. TABLE 19-5: ASP.NET Web Forms State Management Techniques
6. TABLE 19-6: Examples of Razor HtmlHelper methods
7. TABLE 19-7: Examples of ASP.NET Core Validation Attributes
8. TABLE 19-8: ASP.NET Core State Management Techniques
Chapter 20
1. TABLE 20‐1: File System Access Classes
2. TABLE 20‐2: Static Methods of the File Class
3. TABLE 20‐3: Static Methods of the Directory Class
4. TABLE 20‐4: FileSystemInfo Properties
5. TABLE 20‐5: FileInfo Properties
6. TABLE 20‐6: Properties Unique to the DirectoryInfo Class
7. TABLE 20‐7: Stream Classes
8. TABLE 20‐8: FileAccess Enumeration Members
9. TABLE 20‐9: FileMode Enumeration Members
10. TABLE 20‐10: FileSystemWatcher Properties
Chapter 21
1. TABLE 21-1: Common DOM Classes
2. TABLE 21-2: XmlElement Properties
3. TABLE 21-3: Three Ways to Get the Value of a Node
4. TABLE 21-4: Methods for Creating Nodes
5. TABLE 21-5: Methods for Inserting Nodes
6. TABLE 21-6: Methods for Removing Nodes
7. TABLE 21-7: Methods for Selecting Nodes
8. TABLE 21-8: Common XPath Operations
Chapter 22
1. TABLE 22‐1: Aggregate Operators for Numeric Results
Chapter 24
1. TABLE 24‐1: Binding Types
2. TABLE 24‐2: NET Default Bindings
3. TABLE 24‐3: DataContractAttribute Properties
4. TABLE 24‐4: DataMemberAttribute Properties
5. TABLE 24‐5: ServiceContractAttribute Properties
6. TABLE 24‐6: OperationContractAttribute Properties

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1
1. FIGURE 1‐1
2. FIGURE 1‐2
3. FIGURE 1‐3
4. FIGURE 1‐4
Chapter 2
1. FIGURE 2‐1
2. FIGURE 2‐2
3. FIGURE 2‐3
4. FIGURE 2‐4
5. FIGURE 2‐5
6. FIGURE 2‐6
7. FIGURE 2‐7
8. FIGURE 2‐8
9. FIGURE 2‐9
10. FIGURE 2‐10
11. FIGURE 2‐11
12. FIGURE 2‐12
13. FIGURE 2‐13
14. FIGURE 2‐14
Chapter 3
1. FIGURE 3‐1
2. FIGURE 3‐2
3. FIGURE 3‐3
4. FIGURE 3‐4
Chapter 4
1. FIGURE 4‐1
2. FIGURE 4‐2
3. FIGURE 4‐3
4. FIGURE 4‐4
5. FIGURE 4‐5
6. FIGURE 4‐6
7. FIGURE 4‐7
Chapter 5
1. FIGURE 5‐1
2. FIGURE 5‐2
3. FIGURE 5‐3
4. FIGURE 5‐4
5. FIGURE 5‐5
6. FIGURE 5‐6
7. FIGURE 5‐7
8. FIGURE 5‐8
9. FIGURE 5‐9
10. FIGURE 5‐10
11. FIGURE 5‐11
12. FIGURE 5‐12
13. FIGURE 5‐13
14. FIGURE 5‐14
15. FIGURE 5‐15
Chapter 6
1. FIGURE 6‐1
2. FIGURE 6‐2
3. FIGURE 6‐3
4. FIGURE 6‐4
5. FIGURE 6‐5
6. FIGURE 6‐6
7. FIGURE 6‐7
8. FIGURE 6‐8
9. FIGURE 6‐9
10. FIGURE 6‐10
11. FIGURE 6‐11
12. FIGURE 6‐12
Chapter 7
1. FIGURE 7‐1
2. FIGURE 7‐2
3. FIGURE 7‐3
4. FIGURE 7‐4
5. FIGURE 7‐5
6. FIGURE 7‐6
7. FIGURE 7‐7
8. FIGURE 7‐8
9. FIGURE 7‐9
10. FIGURE 7‐10
11. FIGURE 7‐11
12. FIGURE 7‐12
13. FIGURE 7‐13
14. FIGURE 7‐14
15. FIGURE 7‐15
16. FIGURE 7‐16
17. FIGURE 7‐17
18. FIGURE 7‐18
19. FIGURE 7‐19
20. FIGURE 7‐20
Chapter 8
1. FIGURE 8‐1
2. FIGURE 8‐2
3. FIGURE 8‐3
4. FIGURE 8‐4
5. FIGURE 8‐5
6. FIGURE 8‐6
7. FIGURE 8‐7
8. FIGURE 8‐8
9. FIGURE 8‐9
10. FIGURE 8‐10
11. FIGURE 8‐11
12. FIGURE 8‐12
13. FIGURE 8‐13
14. FIGURE 8‐14
15. FIGURE 8‐15
Chapter 9
1. FIGURE 9‐1
2. FIGURE 9‐2
3. FIGURE 9‐3
4. FIGURE 9‐4
5. FIGURE 9‐5
6. FIGURE 9‐6
7. FIGURE 9‐7
8. FIGURE 9‐8
9. FIGURE 9‐9
10. FIGURE 9‐10
11. FIGURE 9‐11
12. FIGURE 9‐12
13. FIGURE 9‐13
14. FIGURE 9‐14
Chapter 10
1. FIGURE 10‐1
2. FIGURE 10‐2
3. FIGURE 10‐3
4. FIGURE 10‐4
5. FIGURE 10‐5
6. FIGURE 10‐6
7. FIGURE 10‐7
8. FIGURE 10‐8
9. FIGURE 10‐9
10. FIGURE 10‐10
11. FIGURE 10‐11
12. FIGURE 10‐12
13. FIGURE 10‐13
14. FIGURE 10‐14
Chapter 11
1. FIGURE 11‐1
2. FIGURE 11‐2
3. FIGURE 11‐3
4. FIGURE 11‐4
5. FIGURE 11‐5
6. FIGURE 11‐6
7. FIGURE 11‐7
8. FIGURE 11‐8
Chapter 12
1. FIGURE 12‐1
2. FIGURE 12‐2
3. FIGURE 12‐3
4. FIGURE 12‐4
5. FIGURE 12‐5
Chapter 13
1. FIGURE 13‐1
2. FIGURE 13‐2
3. FIGURE 13‐3
4. FIGURE 13‐4
5. FIGURE 13‐5
6. FIGURE 13‐6
7. FIGURE 13‐7
8. FIGURE 13‐8
9. FIGURE 13‐9
10. FIGURE 13‐10
11. FIGURE 13‐11
12. FIGURE 13‐12
13. FIGURE 13‐13
14. FIGURE 13‐14
15. FIGURE 13‐15
16. FIGURE 13‐16
17. FIGURE 13‐17
18. FIGURE 13‐18
19. FIGURE 13‐19
20. FIGURE 13‐20
21. FIGURE 13‐21
Chapter 14
1. FIGURE 14‐1
2. FIGURE 14‐2
3. FIGURE 14‐3
4. FIGURE 14‐4
5. FIGURE 14‐5
6. FIGURE 14‐6
7. FIGURE 14‐7
8. FIGURE 14‐8
9. FIGURE 14‐9
10. FIGURE 14‐10
11. FIGURE 14‐11
12. FIGURE 14‐12
13. FIGURE 14‐13
Chapter 15
1. FIGURE 15‐1
2. FIGURE 15‐2
3. FIGURE 15‐3
4. FIGURE 15‐4
5. FIGURE 15‐5
Chapter 16
1. FIGURE 16‐1
2. FIGURE 16‐2
3. FIGURE 16‐3
4. FIGURE 16‐4
5. FIGURE 16‐5
6. FIGURE 16‐6
7. FIGURE 16‐7
8. FIGURE 16‐8
9. FIGURE 16‐9
10. FIGURE 16‐10
11. FIGURE 16‐11
12. FIGURE 16‐12
13. FIGURE 16‐13
14. FIGURE 16‐14
15. FIGURE 16‐15
Chapter 17
1. FIGURE 17‐1
2. FIGURE 17‐2
3. FIGURE 17‐3
4. FIGURE 17‐4
5. FIGURE 17‐5
6. FIGURE 17‐6
7. FIGURE 17‐7
8. FIGURE 17‐8
9. FIGURE 17‐9
10. FIGURE 17‐10
11. FIGURE 17‐11
12. FIGURE 17‐12
Chapter 18
1. FIGURE 18‐1
2. FIGURE 18‐2
3. FIGURE 18‐3
4. FIGURE 18‐4
5. FIGURE 18‐5
6. FIGURE 18‐6
7. FIGURE 18‐7
8. FIGURE 18‐8
9. FIGURE 18‐9
10. FIGURE 18‐10
11. FIGURE 18‐11
12. FIGURE 18‐12
13. FIGURE 18‐13
Chapter 19
1. FIGURE 19‐1
2. FIGURE 19‐2
3. FIGURE 19‐3
4. FIGURE 19‐4
5. FIGURE 19‐5
6. FIGURE 19‐6
7. FIGURE 19‐7
8. FIGURE 19‐8
9. FIGURE 19‐9
10. FIGURE 19‐10
11. FIGURE 19‐11
Chapter 20
1. FIGURE 20‐1
2. FIGURE 20‐2
3. FIGURE 20‐3
4. FIGURE 20‐4
5. FIGURE 20‐5
6. FIGURE 20‐6
7. FIGURE 20‐7
8. FIGURE 20‐8
Chapter 21
1. FIGURE 21‐1
2. FIGURE 21‐2
3. FIGURE 21‐3
4. FIGURE 21‐4
5. FIGURE 21‐5
6. FIGURE 21‐6
7. FIGURE 21‐7
8. FIGURE 21‐8
Chapter 23
1. FIGURE 23‐1
2. FIGURE 23‐2
3. FIGURE 23‐3
4. FIGURE 23‐4
5. FIGURE 23‐5
6. FIGURE 23‐6
7. FIGURE 23‐7
8. FIGURE 23‐8
9. FIGURE 23‐9
10. FIGURE 23‐10
11. FIGURE 23‐11
12. FIGURE 23‐12
13. FIGURE 23‐13
14. FIGURE 23‐14
15. FIGURE 23‐15
16. FIGURE 23‐16
17. FIGURE 23‐17
18. FIGURE 23‐18
19. FIGURE 23‐19
20. FIGURE 23‐20
Chapter 24
1. FIGURE 24‐1
2. FIGURE 24‐2
3. FIGURE 24‐3
4. FIGURE 24‐4
5. FIGURE 24‐5
Chapter 25
1. FIGURE 25‐1
2. FIGURE 25‐2

Pages

i
xxi
xxii
xxiii
xxiv
xxv
xxvi
xxvii
xxvii
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
531
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
759
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
ii
iii
iv
v

Beginning C# 7 Programming with Visual Studio^® 2017

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978‐1‐119‐45868‐5
ISBN: 978‐1‐119‐45872‐2 (ebk)
ISBN: 978‐1‐119‐45866‐1 (ebk)

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 646‐8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (877) 762‐2974, outside the United States at (317) 572‐3993 or fax (317) 572‐4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e‐books or in print‐on‐demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933383

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Wrox, the Wrox logo, Programmer to Programmer, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Visual Studio is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

INTRODUCTION

THE C# LANGUAGE WAS UNVEILED TO THE WORLD when Microsoft announced the first version of its .NET Framework in July 2000. Since then its popularity has rocketed, and it has arguably become the language of choice for desktop, web, cloud, and cross‐platform developers who use the .NET Framework. Part of the appeal of C# comes from its clear syntax, which derives from C/C++ but simplifies some things that have previously discouraged some programmers. Despite this simplification, C# has retained the power of C++, and there is now no reason not to move into C#. The language is not difficult and it's a great one to learn elementary programming techniques with. This ease of learning, combined with the capabilities of the .NET Framework, make C# an excellent way to start your programming career.

The latest release of C# is C# 7 (included with version 4.7 of the .NET Framework), which builds on the existing successes and adds even more attractive features. The latest release of Visual Studio (Visual Studio 2017) and the Visual Studio Code 2017 line of development tools also bring many tweaks and improvements to make your life easier and to dramatically increase your productivity.

This book is intended to teach you about all aspects of C# programming, including the language itself, desktop, cloud, and cross‐platform programming, making use of data sources, and some new and advanced techniques. You'll also learn about the capabilities of Visual Studio 2017 and all the ways that this product can aid your application development.

The book is written in a friendly, mentor‐style fashion, with each chapter building on previous ones, and every effort is made to ease you into advanced techniques painlessly. At no point will technical terms appear from nowhere to discourage you from continuing; every concept is introduced and discussed as required. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, but where it is necessary, it, too, is properly defined and laid out in context.

The authors of this book are all experts in their field and are all enthusiastic in their passion for both the C# language and the .NET Framework. Nowhere will you find a group of people better qualified to take you under their collective wing and nurture your understanding of C# from first principles to advanced techniques. Along with the fundamental knowledge it provides, this book is packed full of helpful hints, tips, exercises, and full‐fledged example code (available for download on this book's web page at www.wrox.com and at https://github.com/benperk/BeginningCSharp7) that you will find yourself returning to repeatedly as your career progresses.

We pass this knowledge on without begrudging it and hope that you will be able to use it to become the best programmer you can be. Good luck, and all the best!

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is for everyone who wants to learn how to program in C# using the .NET Framework. It is for absolute beginners who want to give programming a try by learning a clean, modern, elegant programming language. But it is also for people familiar with other programming languages who want to explore the .NET platform, as well as for existing .NET developers who want to give Microsoft's .NET flagship language a try.

WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS

The early chapters cover the language itself, assuming no prior programming experience. If you have programmed in other languages before, much of the material in these chapters will be familiar. Many aspects of C# syntax are shared with other languages, and many structures are common to practically all programming languages (such as looping and branching structures). However, even if you are an experienced programmer, you will benefit from looking through these chapters to learn the specifics of how these techniques apply to C#.

If you are new to programming, you should start from the beginning, where you will learn basic programming concepts and become acquainted with both C# and the .NET platform that underpins it. If you are new to the .NET Framework but know how to program, you should read Chapter 1 and then skim through the next few chapters before continuing with the application of the C# language. If you know how to program but haven't encountered an object‐oriented programming language before, you should read the chapters from Chapter 8 onward.

Alternatively, if you already know the C# language, you might want to concentrate on the chapters dealing with the most recent .NET Framework and C# language developments, specifically the chapters on collections, generics, and C# language enhancements (Chapters 11 and 12).

The chapters in this book have been written with a dual purpose in mind: They can be read sequentially to provide a complete tutorial in the C# language, and they can be dipped into as required reference material.

In addition to the core material, starting with Chapter 3 most chapters also include a selection of exercises at the end, which you can work through to ensure that you have understood the material. The exercises range from simple multiple choice or true/false questions to more complex exercises that require you to modify or build applications. The answers to all the exercises are provided in the Appendix. You can also find these exercises as part of the wrox.com code downloads on this book's page at www.wrox.com.

This book also gives plenty of love and attention to coincide with the release of C# 7 and .NET 4.7. Every chapter received an overhaul, with less relevant material removed, and new material added. All of the code has been tested against the latest version of the development tools used, and all of the screenshots have been retaken in Windows 10 to provide the most current windows and dialog boxes. New highlights of this edition include the following:

Additional and improved code examples for you to try out
Coverage of everything that's new in C# 7 and .NET 4.7
Examples of programming .NET Core and ASP.NET Core for running cross‐platform
Examples of programming cloud applications and using Azure SDK to create and access cloud resources

HOW THIS BOOK IS STRUCTURED

This book is divided into six sections:

Introduction—Purpose and general outline of the book's contents
The C# Language—Covers all aspects of the C# language, from the fundamentals to object‐oriented techniques
Windows Programming—How to write and deploy desktop applications with the Windows Presentation Foundation library (WPF)
Cloud and Cross‐Platform Programming—Cloud and cross‐platform application development and deployment, including the creation and consumption of a Web API
Data Access—How to use data in your applications, including data stored in files on your hard disk, data stored in XML format, and data in databases
Additional Techniques—An examination of some extra ways to use C# and the .NET Framework, including Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Universal Windows Applications

The following sections describe the chapters in the five major parts of this book.

The C# Language (Chapters 1– 13 )

Chapter 1 introduces you to C# and how it fits into the .NET landscape. You'll learn the fundamentals of programming in this environment and how Visual Studio 2017 (VS) fits in.

Chapter 2 starts you off with writing C# applications. You'll look at the syntax of C# and put the language to use with sample command‐line and Windows applications. These examples demonstrate just how quick and easy it can be to get up and running, and along the way you'll be introduced to the Visual Studio development environment and the basic windows and tools that you'll be using throughout the book.

Next, you'll learn more about the basics of the C# language. You'll learn what variables are and how to manipulate them in Chapter 3. You'll enhance the structure of your applications with flow control (looping and branching) in Chapter 4, and you'll see some more advanced variable types such as arrays in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6 you'll start to encapsulate your code in the form of functions, which makes it much easier to perform repetitive operations and makes your code much more readable.

By the beginning of Chapter 7 you'll have a handle on the fundamentals of the C# language, and you will focus on debugging your applications. This involves looking at outputting trace information as your applications are executed, and at how Visual Studio can be used to trap errors and lead you to solutions for them with its powerful debugging environment.

From Chapter 8 onward you'll learn about object‐oriented programming (OOP), starting with a look at what this term means and an answer to the eternal question, “What is an object?” OOP can seem quite difficult at first. The whole of Chapter 8 is devoted to demystifying it and explaining what makes it so great, and you won't actually deal with much C# code until the very end of the chapter.

Everything changes in Chapter 9, when you put theory into practice and start using OOP in your C# applications. This is where the true power of C# lies. You'll start by looking at how to define classes and interfaces, and then move on to class members (including fields, properties, and methods) in Chapter 10. At the end of that chapter you'll start to assemble a card game application, which is developed over several chapters and will help to illustrate OOP.

Once you've learned how OOP works in C#, Chapter 11 moves on to look at common OOP scenarios, including dealing with collections of objects, and comparing and converting objects. Chapter 12 takes a look at a very useful feature of C# that was introduced in .NET 2.0: generics, which enable you to create very flexible classes. Next, Chapter 13 continues the discussion of the C# language and OOP with some additional techniques, notably events, which become very important in, for example, Windows programming. Chapter 13 wraps up the fundamentals by focusing on C# language features that were introduced with versions 3.0, 4, 5, and 6 of the language.

Windows Programming (Chapters 14– 15 )

Chapter 14 starts by introducing you to what is meant by Windows programming and looks at how this is achieved in Visual Studio. It focuses on WPF as a tool that enables you to build desktop applications in a graphical way and assemble advanced applications with the minimum of effort and time. You'll start with the basics of WPF programming and build up your knowledge in both this chapter and Chapter 15, which demonstrates how you can use the wealth of controls supplied by the .NET Framework in your applications.

Cloud and Cross‐Platform Programming (Chapters 16– 19 )

Chapter 16 starts by describing what cloud programming is and discusses the cloud‐optimized stack. The cloud environment is not identical to the way programs have been traditionally coded, so a few cloud programming patterns are discussed and defined. To complete this chapter, you require an Azure account, which is free, so that you can create an App Service Web App. Then, using the Azure SDK with C#, you create and access a storage account from an ASP.NET 4.7 web application.

In Chapter 17, you learn how to create and deploy an ASP.NET Web API to the cloud and then consume the Web API from a similar ASP.NET 4.7 web application. The chapter ends discussing two of the most valuable features in the cloud, scaling and the optimal utilization of hardware resources.

Chapter 18 introduces .NET Standard and .NET Core, which are tools used for targeting any application type—for example WPF, Windows, and ASP.NET. An emerging application is one that can run cross‐platform such as on Linux or MacOS. The chapter provides instructions for installing .NET Core 2.0 and creating and implementing a .NET Standard library.

Chapter 19 describes ASP.NET and its many different types (e.g., ASP.NET Webforms, ASP.NET MVC, and ASP.NET Core). The exercises in this chapter utilize the .NET Standard library created in Chapter 18 from both an ASP.NET Webpage and an ASP.NET Core application.

Data Access (Chapters 20– 23 )

Chapter 20 looks at how your applications can save and retrieve data to disk, both as simple text files and as more complex representations of data. You'll also learn how to compress data and how to monitor and act on file system changes.

In Chapter 21 you'll learn about the de facto standard for data exchange—namely XML—and a rapidly emerging format called JSON. By this point in the book, you'll have touched on XML several times in preceding chapters, but this chapter lays out the ground rules and shows you what all the excitement is about.

The remainder of this part looks at LINQ, which is a query language built in to the latest versions of the .NET Framework. You start in Chapter 22 with a general introduction to LINQ, and then you will use LINQ to access a database and other data in Chapter 23.

Additional Techniques (Chapters 24– 25 )

Chapter 24 is an introduction to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), which provides you with the tools you need for enterprise‐level programmatic access to information and capabilities across local networks and the Internet. You will see how you can use WCF to expose complex data and functionality to web and desktop applications in a platform‐independent way.

Chapter 25 shows you how you can create Universal Windows Apps, which are new to Windows. This chapter builds on the foundation of Chapters 14 and 15 to show you how to create Windows Apps that can run on all windows platforms.

WHAT YOU NEED TO USE THIS BOOK

The code and descriptions of C# and the .NET Framework in this book apply to C# 7 and .NET 4.7. You don't need anything other than the Framework to understand this aspect of the book, but many of the examples require a development tool. This book uses Visual Studio Community 2017 as its primary development tool. Use Visual Studio Community 2017 to create Windows, cloud, and cross‐platform applications as well as SQL Server Express for applications that access databases. Some functionality is available only in Visual Studio 2017, but this won't stop you from working through any of the examples in this book.

The source code for the samples is available for download from this book's page on www.wrox.com and at https://github.com/benperk/BeginningCSharp7.

CONVENTIONS

To help you get the most from the text and keep track of what's happening, we've used a number of conventions throughout the book.

As for styles in the text:

We italicize new terms and important words when we introduce them.
We show keyboard strokes like this: Ctrl+A.
We show file names, URLs, and code within the text like so: persistence.properties

We present code in two different ways:

We use a monofont type with no highlighting for most code examples.
We use bold to emphasize code that is particularly important in the present
context or to show changes from a previous code snippet.

SOURCE CODE

As you work through the examples in this book, you may choose either to type in all the code manually, or to use the source code files that accompany the book. All the source code used in this book is available for download on this book's page at www.wrox.com and at https://github.com/benperk/BeginningCSharp7.

You can also search for the book at www.wrox.com by ISBN (the ISBN for this book is 978‐1‐119‐45868‐5) to find the code. A complete list of code downloads for all current Wrox books is available at www.wrox.com/dynamic/books/download.aspx.

Most of the code on www.wrox.com is compressed in a .ZIP, .RAR archive, or similar archive format appropriate to the platform. Once you download the code, just decompress it with an appropriate compression tool.

ERRATA

We make every effort to ensure that there are no errors in the text or in the code. However, no one is perfect, and mistakes do occur. If you find an error in one of our books, like a spelling mistake or faulty piece of code, we would be very grateful for your feedback. By sending in errata, you may save another reader hours of frustration, and at the same time, you will be helping us provide even higher quality information.

To find the errata page for this book, go to this book's page at www.wrox.com and click the Errata link. On this page you can view all errata that has been submitted for this book and posted by Wrox editors.

If you don't spot “your” error on the Book Errata page, go to www.wrox.com/contact/techsupport.shtml and complete the form there to send us the error you have found. We'll check the information and, if appropriate, post a message to the book's errata page and fix the problem in subsequent editions of the book.

BEGINNING C# 7 Programming with Visual Studio^® 2017

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ABOUT THE TECHNICAL EDITOR

CREDITS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS