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Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 in 24 Hours Complete Starter Kit Chapter 3: Understanding Objects and Collections

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Understanding Objects and Collections in VB.NET.
Sample Image - 0672325373c.jpg
Author James Foxall
Title Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 in 24 Hours Complete Starter Kit
Publisher Sams
Published JUN 06, 2003
ISBN 0672325373
Price US$ 29.99
Pages 576

Understanding Objects and Collections

In Hour 1, "Jumping In with Both Feet: A Visual Basic .NET Programming Tour", you were introduced to programming in Visual Basic .NET by building a Picture Viewer project. You spent the previous hour digging into the integrated development environment (IDE) and learning skills critical to your success with Visual Basic .NET. In this hour, you're going to start learning about some important programming concepts, namely objects.

The term object as it relates to programming might have been new to you prior to this book. The more you work with Visual Basic .NET, the more you'll hear about objects. Visual Basic .NET, unlike its predecessors, is a true object-oriented language. This hour isn't going to discuss object-oriented programming in any detail—object-oriented programming is a very complex subject and well beyond the scope of this book. Instead, you'll learn about objects in a more general sense.

Everything you use in Visual Basic .NET is an object, so understanding this material is critical to your success with Visual Basic .NET. For example, forms are objects, as are the controls you place on a form; pretty much every element of a Visual Basic .NET project is an object and belongs to a collection of objects. All objects have attributes (called properties), most have methods, and many have events. Whether creating simple applications or building large-scale enterprise solutions, you must understand what an object is and how it works. In this hour, you'll learn what makes an object an object, and you'll also learn about collections.

The highlights of this hour include the following:

Note - If you've listened to the programming press at all, you've probably heard the term object oriented, and perhaps words such as polymorphism, encapsulation, and inheritance. In truth, these new object-oriented features of Visual Basic are very exciting, but they're far beyond Hour 3 (or Hour 24, for that matter). You'll learn a little about object-oriented programming in this book, but if you're really interested in taking your programming skills to the next level, you should buy a book dedicated to the subject after you've completed this one.

Understanding Objects

Object-oriented programming has been a technical buzzword for quite some time, but as far as Visual Basic programmers are concerned, it became a reality only with Visual Basic .NET (no previous version of Visual Basic was a true OO language). Almost everywhere you look—the Web, publications, books—you read about objects. What exactly is an object? Strictly speaking, an object is a programming structure that encapsulates data and functionality as a single unit and for which the only public access is through the programming structure's interfaces (properties, methods, and events). In reality, the answer to this question can be somewhat ambiguous because there are so many types of objects—and the number grows almost daily. However, all objects share specific characteristics, such as properties and methods.

The most commonly used objects in Visual Basic .NET are the form object and the control object. Earlier hours introduced you to working with forms and controls and even showed you how to set form and control properties. In your Picture Viewer project from Hour 1, for instance, you added a picture box and two buttons to a form. Both the PictureBox and the Button controls are control objects, but each is a specific type of control object. Another, less-technical example uses pets. Dogs and cats are definitely different entities (objects), but they both fit into the category of Pet objects. Similarly, text boxes and buttons are each a unique type of object, but they're both considered a control object. This small distinction is important.

Understanding Properties

All objects have attributes used to specify and return the state of the object. These attributes are properties, and you've already used some of them in previous hours using the Properties window. Indeed, every object exposes a specific set of properties, but not every object exposes the same set of properties. To illustrate this point, I'll continue with the hypothetical Pet object. Suppose that you have an object, and the object is a dog. This Dog object has a certain properties that are common to all dogs. These properties include attributes such as the dog's name, the color of its hair, and even the number of legs it has. All dogs have these same properties; however, different dogs have different values for these properties. Figure 3.1 illustrates such a Dog object and its properties.

Figure 3.1

Properties are the attributes that describe an object.

Getting and Setting Properties

You've already seen how to read and change properties using the Properties window. The Properties window is available only at design time, however, and is used only for manipulating the properties of forms and controls. Most getting and changing of properties you'll perform will be done with Visual Basic .NET code, not by using the Properties window. When referencing properties in code, you specify the name of the object first, followed by a period (.), and then the property name, as in the following syntax:

If you had a Dog object named Bruno, for example, you would reference Bruno's hair color this way:

This line of code would return whatever value was contained in the HairColor property of the Dog object Bruno. To set a property to some value, you use an equal sign (=). For example, to change the Dog object Bruno's Weight property, you'd use a line of code such as the following:

Bruno.Weight = 90

When you reference a property on the left side of an equal sign, you're setting the value. When you reference a property on the right side of the equal sign, you're getting (reading) the value. In the early days of BASIC, you actually used the word Let when setting values. This made the code easier to read for novices, but it was unnecessarily tedious. Nevertheless, using Let makes the statement clearer, so I'll show the same code statement as before with the word Let:

Let Bruno.Weight = 90

It's easier to see here that referencing the property on the left side of the equal sign indicates that you're setting the property to some value. The keyword Let is no longer a valid way to make variable assignments. If you enter a code statement that uses Let, you won't receive an error, but the code editor (also known as the gremlins) will automatically remove the word Let from the statement for you.

The following line of code places the value of the Weight property of the Dog object called Bruno into a temporary variable. This statement retrieves the value of the Weight property because the Weight property is referenced on the right side of the equal sign.

sngWeightVariable = Bruno.Weight

Variables are discussed in detail in Hour 11, "Using Constants, Data Types, Variables, and Arrays". For now, think of a variable as a storage location. When the processor executes this statement, it retrieves the value in the Weight property of the Dog object Bruno and places it in the variable (storage location) titled sngWeightVariable. Assuming that Bruno's Weight is 90, as set in the previous example, the computer would process the code statement like this:

sngWeightVariable = 90

Just as in real life, some properties can be read but not changed. Suppose that you have a Sex property to designate the gender of a Dog object. It's impossible for you to change a dog from a male to a female or vice versa (at least I think it is). Because the Sex property can be retrieved but not changed, it's known as a read-only property. You'll often encounter properties that can be set in design view but become read-only when the program is running.

One example of a read-only property is the Height property of the combo box control. Although you can view the value of the Height property in the Properties window, you can't change the value—no matter how hard you try. If you attempt to change the Height property using Visual Basic .NET code, Visual Basic .NET simply changes the value back to the default—eerie.

Note - The best way to determine which properties of an object are read-only is to consult the online help for the object in question.

Working with an Object and Its Properties

Now that you know what properties are and how they can be viewed and changed, you're going to experiment with properties in a simple project. In Hour 1, you learned how to set the Height and Width properties of a form using the Properties window. Now, you're going to change the same properties using Visual Basic .NET code.

The project you're going to create consists of a form with some buttons on it. One button will enlarge the form when clicked, whereas the other will shrink the form. This is a very simple project, but it illustrates rather well how to change object properties in Visual Basic code.

  1. Start by creating a new Windows Application project (from the File menu, choose New, Project).
  2. Name the project Properties Example.
  3. Use the Properties window to change the name of the form to fclsDrinkMe. (Click the form to once select it and you'll be able to change its Name in the Properties window.)
  4. Next, change the Text property of the form to Grow and Shrink.

When the project first runs, the default form will have a Height and Width as specified in the Properties window. You're going to add buttons to the form that a user can click to enlarge or shrink the form at runtime.

Add a new button to the form by double-clicking the Button tool in the toolbox. Set the new button's properties as follows:

Property Set To
Name btnEnlarge
Text Eat Me
Location 111,70

Now for the Shrink button. Again, double-click the Button tool in the toolbox to create a new button on the form. Set this new button's properties as follows:

Property Set To
Name btnShrink
Text Drink Me
Location 111,120

Your form should now look like the one shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2

Each button is an object, as is the form the buttons sit on.

To complete the project, you need to add the small amount of Visual Basic .NET code necessary to modify the form's Height and Width properties when the user clicks a button. Access the code for the Enlarge button now by double-clicking the Eat Me button. Type the following statement exactly as you see it here. Do not press the Enter key or add a space after you've entered this text.

When you typed the period, or dot, as it's called, a small drop-down list like the one shown in Figure 3.3 appeared. Visual Basic .NET is smart enough to realize that Me represents the current form (more on this in a moment), and to aid you in writing code for the object, it gives you a drop-down list containing all the properties and methods of the form. This feature is called IntelliSense, and it is relatively new to Visual Basic. When an IntelliSense drop-down box appears, you can use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the list, and press Tab to select the highlighted list item. This prevents you from misspelling a member name thereby reducing compile errors. Now that Visual Basic .NET is fully object-oriented, you'll come to rely on IntelliSense drop-down lists in a big way; I think I'd rather dig ditches than program without them.

Figure 3.3

IntelliSense drop-down lists (also called auto-completion drop-down lists) make coding dramatically easier.

Use the Backspace key to completely erase the code you just entered and enter the following code in its place (press Enter at the end of each line):

Me.Width = Me.Width + 20
Me.Height = Me.Height + 20

You're probably wondering what you have to do with the width and height of the form. Actually the word Me doesn't refer to a person, it refers to the object to which the code belongs (in this case, the form). Me is a reserved word; it's a word that you can't use to name objects or variables because Visual Basic has a specific meaning for it. When writing code within a form module, as you're doing here, you should always use the reserved word Me rather than using the name of the form. Me is much shorter than using the full name of the current form, and it makes the code more portable (you can copy and paste the code into another form module and not have to change the form name to make the code work). Also, should you change the name of the form at any time in the future, you won't have to change references to the old name.

Note - Me works only in object-based modules such as form modules; you can't use Me in a standard module, which you'll learn about in Hour 10, "Creating and Calling Code Procedures."

The code you've entered does nothing more than set the Width and Height properties of the form to whatever the current value of the Width and Height properties happens to be, plus 20 pixels.

Redisplay the form designer by selecting the tab named Form1.vb [Design]. Then double-click the Shrink (Drink Me) button to access its Click event and add the following code:

Me.Width = Me.Width - 20
Me.Height = Me.Height - 20

This code is very similar to the code in the Enlarge_Click event, except that it reduces the Width and Height properties of the form by 20 pixels. Your screen should now look like Figure 3.4.

Tip - As you create projects, it's a very good idea to save frequently. Save your project now by clicking the Save All button on the toolbar.

The last step you need to perform is to specify the current form as the Startup object. Do this by right-clicking the Properties Example item in the Solution Explorer, choosing Properties, and then selecting fclsDrinkMe from the Startup object drop-down list. Click OK to close the Property Pages form.

Figure 3.4

The code you've entered should look exactly like this.

Once again, display the form designer by clicking the tab Form1.vb [Design]. Your Properties Example project is now ready to be run! Press F5 to put the project in Run mode (see Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5

What you see is what you get—the form you created should look just as you designed it.

Click the Eat Me button a few times and notice how the form gets bigger. Next, click the Drink Me button to make the form smaller. When you've clicked enough to satisfy your curiosity (or until you get bored), end the running program and return to Design mode by clicking the Stop Debugging button on the toolbar.

Understanding Methods

In addition to properties, most objects have methods. Methods are actions the object can perform, in contrast to attributes that describe the object. To understand this distinction, think about the Pet object example. A Dog object has a certain set of actions that it can perform. These actions, called methods in Visual Basic, include barking, tail wagging, and chewing carpet (don't ask). Figure 3.6 illustrates the Dog object and its methods.

Figure 3.6

Invoking a method causes the object to perform an action.

Triggering Methods

Think of methods as functions—which is exactly what they are. When you invoke a method, code is executed. You can pass data to a method, and methods can return values. However, a method is neither required to accept parameters (data passed by the calling code) nor to return a value; many methods simply perform an action in code. Invoking (triggering) a method is similar to referencing the value of a property: You first reference the object's name, and then a dot, and then the method name as shown next:

For example, to make the hypothetical Dog object Bruno bark using Visual Basic .NET code, you would use this line of code:

Note - Methods are generally used to perform an action using an object, such as saving or deleting a record in a database. Properties, on the other hand, are used to get and set attribute values of the object. One way to tell in code whether a statement is a property reference or method call is that the method call will have a set of parentheses after it, as in

Invoking methods is simple; the real skill lies in knowing what methods an object supports and when to use a particular method.

Understanding Method Dynamism

Properties and methods go hand in hand, and at times a particular method might become unavailable because of one or more property values. For example, if you were to set the NumberofLegs on the Dog object Bruno equal to zero, the Walk and Fetch methods would obviously be inapplicable. If you were to set the NumberofLegs property back to four, you could then trigger the Walk or Fetch methods again.

Building a Simple Object Example Project

The only way to really grasp what objects are and how they work is to use them. I've said this before, but I can't say it enough: Everything in Visual Basic .NET is an object. This has its good points and its bad points. One of the bad points is that in some instances, it now takes more code to accomplish a task than it did before—sometimes more characters, sometimes more statements. The functionality of Visual Basic .NET, on the other hand, is head and shoulders above Visual Basic 6. This has the effect of giving Visual Basic .NET a steeper learning curve than any previous version of Visual Basic.

Every project you've built so far uses objects, but you're now going to create a sample project that specifically illustrates using objects. If you're new to programming with objects, you'll probably find this a bit confusing. However, I'll walk you through step-by-step, explaining each section in detail.

The project you're going to create consists of a single form with one button on it. When the button is clicked, a line will be drawn on the form beginning at the upper-left corner of the form and extending to the lower-right corner.

Note - In Hour 18, "Working with Graphics", you'll learn all about the drawing functionality within Visual Basic.

Creating the Interface for the Drawing Project

Follow these steps to create the interface for your project:

  1. Start Visual Basic .NET.
  2. Create a new Windows Application project titled Object Example.
  3. Rename the default form fclsObjectExample (by using the Properties window), and change the form's Text property to Object Example.
  4. Make this form the Startup object by right-clicking Object Example in the Solution Explorer window, choosing Properties, and then selecting fclsObjectExample from the Startup object drop-down list. Click OK to close the dialog box.
  5. Add a new button to the form and set its properties as shown in the following table:
Property Value
Name btnDraw
Text Draw
Location 112,120

Writing the Object-Based Code

You're now going to add code to the Click event of the button. I'm going to explain each statement, and at the end of the steps, I'll show the complete code listing.

  1. Double-click the button to access its Click event.
  2. Enter the first line of code as follows (remember to press Enter at the end of each statement):
    Dim objGraphics As Graphics

    Here you've just created a variable that will hold an instance of an object. Objects don't materialize out of thin air; they have to be created. When a form is loaded into memory, it loads all its controls (that is, creates the control objects), but not all objects are created automatically like this. The process of creating an instance of an object is called instantiation. When you load a form, you instantiate the form object, which in turn instantiates its control objects. You could load a second instance of the form, which in turn would instantiate a new instance of the form and new instances of all controls. You would then have two forms in memory, and two of each used control.

    To instantiate an object in code, you create a variable that holds a reference to an instantiated object. You then manipulate the variable as an object. The Dim statement you wrote in step 2 creates a new variable called objGraphics, which holds a reference to an object of type Graphics. You learn more about variables in Hour 11.

  3. Enter the second line of code exactly as shown here:
    objgraphics = Me.CreateGraphics

    CreateGraphics is a method of the form (remember, the keyword Me is shorthand for referencing the current form). Under the hood, the CreateGraphics method is pretty complicated, and I discuss it in detail in Hour 18. For now, understand that the method CreateGraphics instantiates a new object that represents the client area of the current form. The client area is the gray area within the borders and title bar of a form. Anything drawn onto the objGraphics object will appear on the form. What you've done is set the variable objGraphics to point to an object that was returned by the CreateGraphics method. Notice how values returned by a property or method don't have to be traditional values such as numbers or text; they could also be objects.

  4. Enter the third line of code as shown next:

    This statement clears the background of the form using whatever color the user has selected as the Windows Control color, which Windows uses to paint forms.

    How does this happen? In step 3, you used the CreateGraphics method of the form to instantiate a new Graphics object in the variable objGraphics. With the code statement you just entered, you're calling the clear method of the objGraphics object. The Clear method is a method of all Graphics objects used to clear the graphic surface. The Clear method accepts a single parameter: the color you want used to clear the surface.

    The value you're passing to the parameter looks fairly convoluted. Remember that "dots" are a way of separating objects from their properties and methods (properties, methods, and events are often called object members). Knowing this, you can discern that System is an object (technically it's a namespace, as discussed in Appendix A, "The 10,000-Foot View," but for our purposes it behaves just like an object) because it appears before any of the dots. However, there are multiple dots. What this means is that Drawing is an object property of the System object; that is, it's a property that returns an object. So, the dot following Drawing is used to access a member of the Drawing object, which in turn is a property of the System object. We're not done yet, however, because there's yet another dot. Again, this indicates that SystemColors, which follows a dot, is an object of the Drawing method, which in turn is...well, you get the idea. As you can see, object references can and do go pretty deep, and you'll use many dots throughout your code. The key points to remember are:

    • Text that appears to the left of a dot is always an object (or namespace).
    • Text that appears to the right of a dot is a property reference or method call. If the text is followed by a set of parentheses, it's a method call. If not, it's a property.

    Methods can return objects, just as properties can. The only surefire ways to know whether the text between two dots is a property or method is to look at the icon of the member in the IntelliSense drop-down or to consult the documentation of the object.

    The final text in this statement is the word Control. Because Control isn't followed by a dot, you know that it's not an object; therefore, it must be a property or method. Because you expect this string of object references to return a color value to be used to clear the graphic object, you know that Control in this instance must be a property or a method that returns a value (because you need the return value to set the Clear() method). A quick check of the documentation would tell you that Control is indeed a property. The value of Control always equates to the color designated on the user's computer for the face of forms and buttons. By default, this is a light gray (often fondly referred to as battleship gray), but users can change this value on their computers. By using this property to specify a color rather than supplying the actual value for gray, you're assured that no matter the color scheme used on a computer, the code will clear the form to the proper system color. System colors are explained in Hour 18.

  5. Enter the following statement. (Note: Do not press Enter until you're done entering all the code shown here. The code appears on two lines only because of the size restriction of this page.)
    objgraphics.DrawLine(system.Drawing.Pens.Blue, 0, 0,
               Me.DisplayRectangle.Width, Me.DisplayRectangle.Height)

    This statement draws a blue line on the form. Within this statement is a single method call and three property references. Can you tell what's what? Immediately following objGraphics (and a dot) is DrawLine. Because no equal sign is present, you can deduce that this is a method call. As with the Clear method, the parentheses after DrawLine are used to enclose a value passed to the method. The DrawLine accepts the following parameters in the order in which they appear here:

    • A pen
    • X value of first coordinate
    • Y value of first coordinate
    • X value of second coordinate
    • Y value of second coordinate

    The DrawLine method draws a straight line between coordinate one and coordinate two, using the pen specified in the Pen parameter. I'm not going to go into detail on pens here (refer to Hour 18), but suffice it to say that a pen has characteristics such as width and color. Looking at the dots once more, notice that you're passing the Blue property of the Pens object. Blue is an object property that returns a predefined Pen object that has a width of 1 pixel and the color blue.

    You're passing 0 as the next two parameters. The coordinates used for drawing are defined such that 0,0 is always the upper-left corner of a surface. As you move to the right of the surface, X increases, and as you move down the surface, Y increases; you can use negative values to indicate coordinates that appear to the left or above the surface. The coordinate 0,0 causes the line to be drawn from the upper-left corner of the form's client area.

    The object property DisplayRectangle is referenced twice in this statement. DisplayRectangle is an object of the form that holds information about the client area of the form. Here, you're simply getting the Width and Height properties of the client area and passing them to the DrawLine method. The result is that the end of the line will be at the lower-right hand corner of the form's client area.

  6. Lastly, you have to clean up after yourself by entering the following code statement:

    Objects often make use of other objects and resources. The underlying mechanics of an object can be truly boggling and are almost impossible to discuss in an entry-level programming book. The net effect, however, is that you must explicitly destroy most objects when you're done with them. If you don't destroy an object, it might persist in memory and it might hold references to other objects or resources that exist in memory. This means you can create a memory leak within your application that slowly (or rather quickly) munches system memory and resources. This is one of the cardinal no-no's of Windows programming, yet the nature of using resources and the fact you're responsible for telling your objects to clean up after themselves makes this easy to do. If your application causes memory leaks, your users won't call for a plumber, but they might reach for a monkey wrench....

    Objects that must explicitly be told to clean up after themselves usually provide a Dispose method. When you're done with such an object, call Dispose on the object to make sure it frees any resources it might be holding.

    For your convenience, here are all the lines of code:

    Dim objGraphics As Graphics
    objgraphics = Me.CreateGraphics
    objgraphics.DrawLine(system.Drawing.Pens.Blue, 0, 0, _
               Me.DisplayRectangle.Width, Me.DisplayRectangle.Height)

    The statement calling DrawLine is shown here as two lines of code. At the end of the first line is an underscore (_). This character is a special character called a line continuation character, and it tells the Visual Basic compiler that the statement immediately following the character is a continuation of the current statement. You can, and should, use this character to break up long statements in your code.

Testing Your Object Example Project

Now the easy part. Run the project by pressing F5 or by clicking the Start button on the toolbar. Your form looks pretty much like it did at design time. Clicking the button causes a line to be drawn from the upper-left corner of the form's client area to the lower-right corner (see Figure 3.7).

Note - If you receive any errors when you attempt to run the project, go back and make sure that the code you entered exactly matches the code I've provided.

Figure 3.7

Simple lines and complex drawings are accomplished using objects.

Resize the form, larger or smaller, and click the button again. Notice that the form is cleared and a new line is drawn. If you were to omit the statement that invokes the Clear method (and you're welcome to stop your project and do so), the new line would be drawn, but any and all lines already drawn would remain.

Note - If you use Alt+Tab to switch to another application after drawing one or more lines, the lines will be gone when you come back to your form. In fact, this will occur anytime you overlay the graphics with another form. In Hour 18, you'll learn why this is so and how to work around this behavior.

Stop the project now by clicking Stop Debugging on the Visual Basic .NET toolbar and then click Save All to save your project. What I hope you've gained from building this example is not necessarily that you can now draw a line (which is cool), but rather an understanding of how objects are used in programming. As with learning almost anything, repetition aids in understanding. That said, you'll be working with objects a lot throughout this book.

Understanding Collections

A collection is just what its name implies: a collection of objects. Collections make it easy to work with large numbers of similar objects by enabling you to create code that performs iterative processing on items within the collection. Iterative processing is an operation that uses a loop to perform actions on multiple objects, rather than writing the operative code for each object. In addition to containing an indexed set of objects, collections also have properties and might have methods. Figure 3.8 illustrates the structure of a collection.

Figure 3.8

Collections contain sets of like objects, and they have their own properties and methods.

Continuing with the Dog/Pet object metaphor, think about what an Animals collection might look like. The Animals collection might contain one or more Pet objects, or it might be empty (contain no objects). All collections have a Count property that returns the total count of objects contained within the collection. Collections might also have methods, such as a Delete method used to remove objects from the collection and an Add method used to add a new object to the collection.

To better understand collections, you're going to create a small Visual Basic .NET project that cycles through the Controls collection of a form and tells you the value of the Name property of every control on the form. To create your sample project, follow these steps:

  1. Start Visual Basic now (if it's not already loaded) and create a new Windows Application project titled Collections Example.
  2. Change the name of the form to fclsCollectionsExample using the Solution Explorer and set the form's Text property to Collections Example.
  3. Make this form the Startup object by right-clicking Collections Example in the Solution Explorer window, choosing Properties, and then selecting fclsCollectionsExample from the Startup object drop-down list. Click OK to close the dialog box.
  4. Add a new button to the form by double-clicking the Button tool in the toolbox. Set the button's properties as follows:
    Property Value
    Name btnShowNames
    Text Show Control Names
    Location 88,112
    Size 120,23
  5. Next, add some text box and label controls to the form. As you add the controls to the form, be sure to give each control a unique name. Feel free to use any name you like, but you can't use spaces in a control name. You might want to drag the controls to different locations on the form so that they don't overlap.
  6. When you're finished adding controls to your form, double-click the Show Control Names button to add code to its Click event. Enter the following code:
    Dim intIndex As Integer
    For intIndex = 0 To Me.Controls.Count - 1
      MessageBox.Show("Control #" & intIndex & " has of the name " & _
    Next intIndex

    Note - Every form has a Controls collection, which might or might not contain any controls. Even if no controls are on the form, the form still has a Controls collection.

  7. The first statement should look familiar to you by now. As with the Object Example you created earlier, this statement creates a variable to hold a value. Rather than create a variable that can hold an object, as you did in the earlier example, this statement creates a variable that can hold only a number.
  8. The next statement (the one that begins with For) accomplishes a few tasks. First, it initializes the variable intIndex to 0, and then it starts a loop (loops are discussed in Hour 14, "Looping for Efficiency"), incrementing intIndex by one until intIndex equals the number of controls on the form, less one. The reason you subtract one from the Count property is that collections are zero-based—the first item is always item zero. Thus, the first item is in location zero, the second item is in location one, and so forth. If you tried to reference an item of a collection in the location of the value of the Count property, an error would occur because you would be referencing an index that's one higher than the actual locations within the collection.
  9. The MessageBox.Show() method (mentioned in Hour 2, "Navigating Visual Basic .NET," and discussed in detail in Hour 17, "Interacting with Users") is a class of the .NET Framework that's used to display simple dialog boxes with text. The text that you're providing, which the Show method will display, is a concatenation of multiple strings of text. (Concatenation is the process of adding strings together; it's discussed in Hour 12, "Performing Arithmetic, String Manipulation, and Date/Time Adjustments".)

Run the project by pressing F5 or by clicking Start on the toolbar. Ignore the additional controls that you placed on the form and click the Show Control Names button. Your program will then display a message box similar to the one shown in Figure 3.9 for each control on your form (because of the loop). When the program is finished displaying the names of the controls, choose Stop Debugging from the Debug toolbar to stop the program, and then save the project.

Figure 3.9

The Controls collection enables you to get to each and every control on a form.

Because everything in Visual Basic .NET is an object, you can expect to use numerous collections as you create your programs. Collections are powerful, and the quicker you become comfortable using them, the more productive you'll become.

Using the Object Browser

Visual Basic .NET includes a useful tool that enables you to easily view members (properties, methods, and events) of all the objects in a project: the Object Browser (see Figure 3.10). This is extremely useful when dealing with objects that aren't well documented because it enables you to see all the members an object supports. To view the Object Browser, choose Object Browser from the View menu.

The Browse drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the Object Browser is used to determine the browsing scope. You can choose Active Project to view only the objects referenced in the active project, or you can choose Selected Components (the default) to view a set of selected objects. The Object Browser shows a preselected set of objects for Selected Components, but you can customize the object set by clicking the Customize button next to the Browse drop-down list. I don't recommend changing the custom object setting until you have some experience using Visual Basic objects as well as experience using the Object Browser.

Figure 3.10

The Object Browser enables you to view all properties and methods of an object.

The top-level nodes in the Objects tree are libraries. Libraries are usually DLL or EXE files on your computer that contain one or more objects. To view the objects within a library, simply expand the library node. As you select objects within a library, the list to the right of the Objects tree will show information regarding the members of the selected object (refer to Figure 3.10). For even more detailed information, click a member in the list on the right, and the Object Browser will show information about the member in the gray area below the two lists.

In this hour, you learned all about objects. You learned how objects have properties, which are attributes that describe the object. Some properties can be set at runtime using the Properties window, and most can also be set at runtime in Visual Basic .NET code. You learned that referencing a property on the left side of the equal sign has the effect of changing a property, whereas referencing a property on the right side of the equal sign retrieves a property's value.

In addition to properties, you learned that objects have executable functions, called methods. Like properties, methods are referenced by using a dot at the end of an object reference. An object might contain many methods and properties, and some properties can even be objects themselves. You learned how to "follow the dots" to interpret a lengthy object reference.

Objects are often used as a group, called a collection. You learned that a collection often contains properties and methods, and that collections let you easily iterate through a set of like objects. Finally, you learned that the Object Browser can be used to explore all the members of an object in a project.

The knowledge you've gained in this hour is fundamental to understanding programming with Visual Basic because objects and collections are the basis on which applications are built. After you have a strong grasp of objects and collections—and you will have by the time you've completed all the hours in this book—you'll be well on your way to fully understanding the complexities of creating robust applications using Visual Basic .NET.

  1. Is there an easy way to get help about an object's member?
  2. Absolutely. Visual Basic .NET's context-sensitive Help extends to code as well as to visual objects. To get help on a member, write a code statement that includes the member (it doesn't have to be a complete statement), position the cursor within the member text, and press F1. For instance, to get help on the Count property of the Controls collection, you could type Me.Controls.Count, position the cursor within the word Count, and press F1.
  3. Are there any other types of object members besides properties and methods?
  4. Yes. An event is actually a member of an object, although it's not always thought of that way. Not all objects support events, however, but most objects do support properties and methods.

The Workshop is designed to help you anticipate possible questions, review what you've learned, and get you thinking about how to put your knowledge into practice. The answers to the quiz are in Appendix B, "Answers to the Quizzes."

  1. True or False: Visual Basic .NET is a true object-oriented language.
  2. An attribute that defines the state of an object is called a ____________.
  3. To change the value of a property, the property must be referenced on which side of an equal sign?
  4. What is the term for when a new object is created from a template?
  5. An external function of an object (one that is available to code using an object) is called a ____________.
  6. True or False: A property of an object can be another object.
  7. A group of like objects is called a ____________.
  8. What tool is used to explore the members of an object?

  1. Create a new project and add text boxes and a button to the form. Write code that, when clicked, places the text in the first text box into the second text box. Hint: Use the Text property of the text box controls.
  2. Modify the collections example in this hour to print the height of all controls, rather than the name.

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IS-A and HAS-A relationship

sree visu
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Joined: Jul 05, 2007
Posts: 133
(from k&b book from pg.94)

i suppose actually here they have used halter(in 1) like any basic variable declarationthis is also a derived declaration of type halter class.My doublt is that just by declarig "private halter myHalter;" weather an object is created .What is (LeadRope rope) (2).is LeadRope a class name or it is an object for class named "LeadRope).please do clarify my doubts.

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Sree Visu
SCJP 5.0, SCWCD 5.0, SCJD(Preparing B&S 2.2.2)
fred rosenberger
lowercase baba

Joined: Oct 02, 2003
Posts: 11881

no, no object is created until you see the word "new" somewhere (with a few exceptions).

the line "public void tie(LeadRope aRope)" is a method declaration. you are saying "give me a method that anyone can call (public), that doesn't return any value back to the caller (void), and name it "tie". the caller of the method must pass it a reference to LeadRope object, and within this method, that passed in reference will be called "aRope".

There are only two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors
sree visu
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Joined: Jul 05, 2007
Posts: 133
thankyou fred
I agree. Here's the link:
subject: IS-A and HAS-A relationship
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Welcome to the Sacramento Church of God (Seventh Day).
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Sacramento Church of God (Seventh Day)
6641 Grant Ave
Carmichael, CA 95608

(916) 487-1193 (voice)

The church is located at the intersection of Grant and Marshall.

When We Meet
We meet every Saturday morning in Bible Study Fellowship classes for adults, youth, and children from 9:45 - 10:45 A.M. Sabbath worship service begins at 11:00 A.M.

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Travel Information - Coimbatore, India.
| Tourist info | Places to visit | Temples | Weather | How to get there | District map | City map |
| Co-ordinates | Flights | Trains | Hotels | Restaurants | Travel agents |

Agricultural University
Agricultural University is one of the best institutions of its kind in South Asia, the Agricultural University was originally established as an Agriculture Farm in 1868 in Saidapet, Chennai. The Location was moved to Coimbatore in 1907 and the name was changed to Agricultural College which later, came to be known as the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on June 1, 1971. It is 5 kms away from the Railway Station.

In 1972, separate degree programmes of B.Sc. (Horticulture) and B.E.(Agriculture) were started. In 1979, a separate Faculty of Horticulture was established. In 1980, B.Sc.(Home Science) programme was started at Madurai campus. The third Agricultural College was started at Killikulam in 1984 and the fourth at Kumulur (Trichy) in 1989 and later shifted to Navalur Kuttappattu (Trichy) in 1992 which is named as Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute. During 1985, B.Sc.(Forestry) programme was started at Coimbatore. Presently the B.Sc.(Horticulture) degree programme is being offered at Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam and B.Sc.(Forestry) degree programme at Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam. In line with technological changes the B.E.(Agriculture) hither to offered is offered as B.Tech.(Agricultural Engineering) from the Academic year 2002-2003 at Agricultural Engineering College & Research Institute, Kumulur, Trichy. B.Sc.(Home Science) degree program is being offered at Home Science College & Research Institute, Agricultural College Campus, Madurai. The Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture & Research Institute, Karaikal, governed by Government of Pondichery, is an affiliated institute of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University where B.Sc.(Agriculture) course is being offered. Apart from these academic institutes, the University now has research programs at more than 32 stations, spread over in Tamil Nadu with more than 1000 scientists and teachers.

The global technological developments has lead to introduction of new courses. Introduction of B.Tech.(Food Process Engineering) from the academic year 1998-99, B.Tech.(Agricultural Biotechnology) and B.Tech.(Horticulture) from the academic year 2002-2003 as self supporting program has created avenues for bugetary independence. A new degree program B.Tech.(Energy and Environmental Engineering) was started during 2004 and B.Tech.(Bioinformatics) during 2006.

Forest College
One of the oldest institutions of the kind in the country, the Southern Forest Rangers' College is situated 3.5 kms. north of the Railway Station. The College Museum is worth a visit.

Initially set up as one of the Regional Research Centres of the erstwhile FRI and Colleges, Dehradun, the IFGTB, Coimbatore was accorded the status of a full fledged institute, in April 1988 unde the ICFRE. Spread over 66 hectares area in the heart of Coimbatore town, it's main building, with a plinth area of 3705 sq. m. house up-to-date facilities of research, a well equipped library and the famous Fischer Herbarium. Other unique features developed over the years by the institute include, `Gass Forest Museum of Natural History' and a Botanical Garden cum Arboretum of 4 hectares housing nearly 300 species of rare and endangered plants. The Institute also owns a 80 hectare `Preservation plot cum Arboretum', situated approx. 25 kms away from Coimbatore at Walayur and a one hectare clonal teak seed orchard. The Institute is responsible for attending to the overall forestry research needs of Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Lakshdweep and Pondichery.

G.D.Naidu Industrial Exhibition
G. D. Naidu, a leading industrialist played a mojor role in developing the city of Coimbatore to its present state. He has made invaluble contributions in electronics, mechanical, agricultural and automobile engineering. He established training institutions for automobile and electronic technicians. He also established an Industrial Exhibition- an important tourist attraction in Coimbatore.

Kovai Kutralam - Siruvani Dam

Kovai Kutralam is a water fall at Siruvani. It is 37 km Coimbatore and is quite Magnificent. This fall is amidst a thick forest, hence visitors are not allowed after 5 pm. Siruvani is the sources of drinking water supply to Coimbatore. Personal conveyance is suggested.

The Sangameshwarar temple at Bhavani is situated at the confluence of the rivers Bhavani and the Cauvery. This place is called as "Tiruveni of South India". It is an important pilgrim centre. Lord Sangameshwarer with His consort Vedanayaki is the presiding deity. It is said that during the East India Company regime the then Collector of Coimbatore and Salem Districts, William Garrow, who had his headquarters at Bhavani, worshipped the Goddess Vedanayaki.

Vaideki Water Falls
It is located 30 kms. from Coimbatore via. Narasipuram village. It is a fine picnic spot for trekkers. A perrennial water falls is a major attraction here.

Black Thunder
Asia's No.1 Water Theme Park is nested in natural beauty with the green hills of the Nilgiris for a backdrop and the cooling shelter of trees. An idyllic hideaway? Wait! Look around again... and you see people everywhere screaming and shouting with excitement. Jumpin'n slidin', swimmin'n floatin' over 65 acres of thrilling and adventurous rides. Black Thunder is situated 41km from Coimbatore and 40km from Ooty. The nearest railway stations are Mettupalayam, Coimbatore and Tiruppur and the airport is Coimbatore. It is well connected with all parts of the country through road and rail.

Kovai Kondattam
Kovai Kondattam is located at Perur in Siruvani Main Road, the park jewellwd amidst the sylvan surroundings would be an ideal fun packed leisure option for the entire family. Spread over a generous area this park offers many themed attractions like Aqua dance, wave pool, dashing cars, rock climbing, Hara-kiri and video parlour to name a few, a certain entertainment zone to children of all ages.

The park offers a unique way to celebrate all occasions, be it a birthday, anniversary or even tying the wedding knot - exciting arrangements can be tailor made to suit individual tastes. An amphi theatre specially designed to house live performance of both local and international standards is available for family and party events. Private bookings are undertaken for family functions and corporate events.

| Tourist info | Places to visit | Temples | Weather | How to get there | District map | City map |
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Wingate, N.C. - Coker College senior forward Mason Ambler (Atlanta, Ga.) scored a career-high 32 points as the visiting Cobras rallied for a 72-67 victory over Wingate University Monday night in Cuddy Arena. Ambler added nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals to his statistics ledger. Wingate senior guard Larry Staley (Charlotte, N.C.) scored a career-high 26 points for the Bulldogs. Staley hit eight-of-12 field goals and nine-of-10 free throws Monday night.

With the win the Cobras improve to 4-4 overall, while Wingate falls to 5-4 overall.

Joining Ambler in double figures was Vatrick Thompson (Columbia, S.C.) with 17 points, while Liam Kyle (Cleveland, Ohio) added seven points and seven rebounds and Thomas Wright (Sydney, Australia) also had seven points.

Coker will now break for the holidays, returning to the floor on January 7, when they take on Conference Carolinas rival St. Andrews Presbyterian College at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.


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Share your favorites on Show & Tell

My Mucha's.

In Art Nouveau > Art Nouveau Graphics > Show & Tell and Posters and Prints > Show & Tell.
Art Nouveau2434 of 2481RS Prussia teal colored items1923 Whitman's Sampler Candy Tin with art by Mucha
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Posted 5 years ago

(304 items)

I got these about a month ago I have always loved this artist and I have a few bad reproductions but when I saw these I was blown away. The size and the price were perfect. I needed something old, had a case of cabin fever so I went to a few antique stores. I had hit a few and was feeling down because prices were so high and just as I was about to give up I turned the corner and saw these. The owner of the store said they just came in on consignment. I was almost afraid to ask how much! I paid $60 for the pair.

  1. tikiray tikiray, 5 years ago
    I LOVE those!! Mucha's work is so beautiful! $60 bucks is a deal!
  2. upstatenycollector upstatenycollector, 4 years ago
    Thats a great deal... And they look good there too!

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Portraits from North American Indian Life (1972)

In Books > History Books > Show & Tell and Photographs > Show & Tell.
Books1262 of 2159Modern Mechanics MagazineHardback Edition of the BABE RUTH STORY Signed by Babe Ruth
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Posted 3 years ago

(11 items)

Says Copyright 1972
First Edition published in 1972
In good condition
by Edward S. Curtis
The book stripe is beige. Other book covers had a black stripe.
This is a first edition right?
How much is the book valued at?

Mystery Solved

  1. Antique.T, 3 years ago
    Thank you toolate2!

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Paint by Numbers!

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Posters and Prints1085 of 2140Paint by numbers, large and small.Paint by number Shrinky Dinks
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Posted 3 years ago

(52 items)

I love the covered bridges and this one has a mill with it. They came in the same box. I have a larger mill scene that matches this closely.

I wasn't able to find out any information on the second one shown.

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Old German Wood Toy Lion - stamped Zoo

In Animals > Show & Tell and Toys > Show & Tell.
Animals2617 of 3339Elephants by C.J. van der Hoef, Gouda Plazuid (+/- 1927)French Bulldog? Carnival Glass Candy Container
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Posted 3 years ago

(1 item)

Here is the lion I wrote about earlier that is in the series that the monkey is in. His mouth also opens and his tail is moveable. It would be so nice if we could find more of this collection. But, like I said I've been searching for years and this was the first info I found about these guys. The catalog picture is great! What is the name of the catalog, and how did you find it? It is a fantastic find. Thank you both again.

  1. Manikin Manikin, 3 years ago
    He is great !!!!!! Love him . Hope Steph see's him also . She is one that had brochure to ID the logo :-))) The only one other than mine I ever saw . Love love it !
  2. Manikin Manikin, 3 years ago
    Here is my Monkey with brochure Steph had and sent :-)
  3. miKKoChristmas11 miKKoChristmas11, 3 years ago
    Wow, another one of these!!! Wonderful!!!
  4. amberina, 3 years ago
    I got the lion at a storage auction about 10 years ago. Just like the buyers on the tv show I resold to collectors, did shows and flea markets, and sold at auctions. In that business you try and get rid of stuff as fast as you can so you can buy more lockers. lol But he was special and I couldn't part with him.

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Push car

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Classic Cars614 of 956Bumper Jack ID -- Helpanother type of philippine transport
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Posted 3 years ago

(135 items)

With everybody showing peddle cars & old cars, here was my fun car. Didn't have a top and with those tiny wheels on island roads, there was only one name to give it. I am still called "Shake n Bake" here. This is a Mini Moke & I've had 6-7 of them. Nothing you can't fix on the road with a screwdriver & a metric crescent wrench.
Year? That would depend on which part you are looking at. Not really a push car but was pushed a lot.

  1. kerry10456 kerry10456, 3 years ago
    Great ride, love it.
  2. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Ganja cake BELL.
  3. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    Nice pic, not sure that I would want to shake or bake!
  4. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Hey, walksoftly, these were fun things! You just had to make sure you kept your mouth closed when driving on our roads. These were the Eng. jeeps. Tourists loved to have their pics taken with it. Problem with the Eng. is, they make engines for vehicles they want to sell in the tropics but refuse to design an eng. cooling system for the tropics so we have to change things & compensate like larger radiators & 12 blade rad. fans. The Eng. are stubborn or stupid with designs.
    Still a really fun "car" if you don't get stuck in traffic!
  5. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    Looks like that bumper got used for pushing traffic out of the way!
  6. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Good guess, but as I remember, it was from "S&B" being pushed out of the way.LOL Driving on this rock is lots of aggression interrupted by moments of courtesy. Actually it was like that when I "inherited" it & there were too many issues more important. I admit, I miss it.
  7. AmberRose AmberRose, 3 years ago
    You are never an afterthought! I just save the best for last...hope you are doing well.
  8. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Time is up. I was curious if anybody would catch the "metric crescent wrench", as if there is a difference. For the uninformed, Crescent is a brand that has become generic for an adjustable wrench. Key word being "adjustable", so fits all.
  9. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    I caught it, I didn't comment as they are so common here since the introduction (forced) in the mid seventies.
  10. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    Above comment should have had read
    introduction of the metric system (forced) in the mid seventies
  11. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    When I had my club in Jamaica & tourists started acting real strange on drugs, we would say, " They're going metric".
  12. Hems303 Hems303, 3 years ago
    Love it blunderbuss! These used to be our main mode of getting around Barbados! FUN! but with the state of the roads, even a short journey left you shaken, rattled and rolled! (Keith and I even managed to break one clean in two!)
  13. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    A friend of mine broke my back-up Moke in two. Where have you been, shopping for a tely & a v-ass?
  14. Hems303 Hems303, 3 years ago
    No "Telly" nor vases'....bin painting pictures for the Military (Mess). The mokes weren't too strong in the chassis department!
  15. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Yeah, just boxes that rust from the inside out.
  16. Hems303 Hems303, 3 years ago
    Hi Shake & Bake ;)
    Just read your comment .5........ Being English (as you know by now!)....I'd like to take issue to a couple'o'points: English = Stubborn....well yes sometimes! But not in car design..more on that later! English = Stupid with NO! see "Industrial Revolution...cast iron etc etc. see...Rolls Royce... see....Spitfire etc etc get the point. The Mini Moke was a converted Morris Motors Mini, which was made exclusively for the rainy, wet, cold ENGLISH weather. Someone then put the cut-down body on it and thought Hmmm...this would go well in sunny holiday destinations....without thinking of small things like adequate cooling. I understand the original, great, "not-in-the-slightest-bit-stupid" Mini designer Sir Alex Issigonis was absolutely bloody horrified with the "Moke" and went away and designed his own take on the tourist run-a-round, but it was never taken up (It had good cooling though!).....and FINALLY....the British "Jeep" (Yuk!) is and always will be the ubiquitous LAND ROVER...another excellent, well thought out British design, still in use by the Military and Civilians alike since 1948 (with a few minor updates!)....................have a nice day!

    Best wishes....Steve ;)
  17. inky inky, 3 years ago
    Hello! ""little"" boy!
  18. inky inky, 3 years ago
    Hello! ""little"" boy!
  19. inky inky, 3 years ago
    Ps. my wheels are bigger than your wheels!...;-)
  20. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Would you like a lolly-pop & a ride home from school little girl?
  21. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    Careful b bus, inky will run you over with her big truck!
  22. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Maybe I can put my truck on steroids.
  23. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    As long as you stay on the Island your safe from her "big wheels"!
    hmmm.. that reminds me of a song
  24. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    walksoftly, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. Hey, she's really nice looking, - & I used to be.
  25. walksoftly walksoftly, 3 years ago
    Yes, use to be, I think you need to upgrade to a nicer set of wheels! :-)
  26. inky inky, 3 years ago
    Where abouts in Jamaica?
  27. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    I owned a club in Negril, Westmoreland & after I sold it I lived in a number of places around the island while smuggling my money out. Montego Bay would probably be the only place you would know as I usually lived in small communities.
    In case you know Jamaica, I lived for a long time down the "road" from New Hope & Old Hope in what we called "No Hope" but locally as Little bay.
  28. inky inky, 3 years ago
    I lived in Kingston when Iwas young for a threes or so years, many years ago!...:-)
  29. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Oou! Talk about the crotch of the planet. When I had to stay overnite in that area, I went straight to Port Royal where I knew people & the history helped also.
    Do you remember the drive-in movie where you turn to go to Port Royal that they closed because people in cars would shoot at characters in the movie that were on the screen? Cops probably.
    In Port Royal, a gunman had to escape via 7 miles down the palisades or take the ferry, so it was fairly safe.
    Did you ever see that old steam locomotive in the train station that was used for the military airfield during the war or the old airfield with the bomb bunkers etc.?
    Don't get me started on stories of life in Jamaica.
  30. inky inky, 3 years ago
    Sorry!.. haven't got back sooner but have had overseas visitors her and only done fleeting visits. I only have really!! good memories of Jamaica as was probably to young to see all the nasty stuff... guineps hot corn on the cob bought from the side of the road, Dunns River falls, Montego Beaches ect...:-)
  31. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Oh, Jamaica is a beautiful country, if they could just get rid of all those Jamaicans!LOL . Love some of the area names like, "Me no sen yu no com", "District of look behind", Rat trap, Bloody Ground etc.
  32. neat.old.stuff neat.old.stuff, 3 years ago
    Looks like a fun, "big guys go-cart". And sounds like you could tell alot of great stories from your Jamaican days. Thanks for sharing.
  33. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 3 years ago
    Thanks everybody for the interest & rap. Thinking of a Jamaica vacation? My advice is: don't go, - just send you money.
  34. toracat toracat, 2 years ago
    Beautiful! much cuter than the 59 Willys I had!

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Best Student Press Column of All Time?: ‘Poop Bandit on the Loose’

They call him the Poop Bandit. No, I am not making this up. At Utah Valley University, some guy is regularly smearing his own sh*t on mirrors in the men’s restrooms. Visitors are forced to look at it– and, through it, themselves. And the janitorial crew is forced to clean it up. Jonathan Boldt, editor-in-chief of the UVU Review, has had enough.


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Learn about human resources, staffing, financing, accounting and other important aspects of the business world that will help your business run. Because the business industry is so competitive, it’s important to stay a step ahead of your competition. Rise above and beyond with a Master's of Business Administration (MBA) designed to help you achieve your professional goals. Learn more about how easy Salem International University Online makes it to earn your Master's in Business today.

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Local Williamsburg Farmers Market

Whether your looking for local products that are organic, free-range or just grown or produced in Virginia…you will most likely find them at the Williamsburg Farmers Market in Merchant Square! Everything to include Artisan cheeses; honey; mushrooms; peanuts; eggs;  baked goods; oysters and crabs; chickens, pork, and bison; potted perennials, annuals, and herb plants and cut flowers. Open most Saturdays March – October.

The next one is tomorrow March 9th from 8:30 to 12 noon. Remember also that you get free parking during those hours which makes going to market that much sweeter. 402 W. Duke of Gloucester St.

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Milling, paving to close section of Trilby Road

10:19 PM, Oct. 27, 2012  |  Comments
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Road construction is scheduled to close Trilby Road between Lemay Avenue and St. Thomas Drive on Wednesday and Thursday.

The road will be open from Timberline Road to Southridge Greens Boulevard during the milling and paving operations. Access to businesses will be maintained at all times, according to a city news release.

Typical working hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Detour routes include Lemay Avenue, Harmony Road, Timberline Road and Carpenter Road.

For information on the Fort Collins Street Maintenance Program, visit

- Coloradoan staff


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Fri, Oct 4, 2013 9:58 AM EDT

Another day, another sad story of a San Francisco family facing eviction.

Last week, Julianne Hing wrote about an elderly Chinese couple who won a hard-fought delay in their effort to stay in their Chinatown home.

Now, San Francisco's Mission Local brings us the story of longtime artist René Yañez, who's facing eviction after nearly three decades in his home in the city's Mission district. Yañez's wife, Yolanda, and son, Rio, are also included in the eviction notice.

"René and Yolanda helped paint the neighborhood into what it is today," Sarah Guerra, the operations manager at the Brava Theater and one of the many artists in the neighborhood who are organizing support efforts, told Mission Local.

Rio Yañez, 33, added: "There's a lot going on that I am trying to reconcile with. Both of my parents have made a pretty large cultural investment with the city, but there's not a lot of protection at this point."

"Rent control is what afforded my parents with the opportunity to live in this city and make art. Being an artist means they have no savings, no retirement, no health care. They live check to check. For their dedication to art, that's where they are. With elderly people like them, with limited income, this essentially makes them homeless."


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Today's News

  • Littleton saying ‘howdy’ for 10 straight days

    Littleton is rolling out the welcome mat for 10 consecutive days.

    The celebration of all things Littleton features events throughout the city that give families a chance to have fun and reconnect with friends. Highlights include a barbecue and fireworks show at Sterne Park and the Western Welcome Week Grand Parade on Aug. 15.

    The Littleton tradition, in its 87th year, started as a homecoming party for the city, said Joan Facchinello, a volunteer with Western Welcome Week and a former executive director.

  • Pot dispensary will open on Jeffco’s border

    A new marijuana dispensary is set to open in a portion of Denver that is surrounded by unincorporated Jefferson County, where pot sales are prohibited.

    Native Roots, which will offer medical and recreational sales, is scheduled to open by late August in a shopping center at South Wadsworth Boulevard and West Quincy Avenue. While much of the surrounding area is in Jeffco, the shopping center was annexed into Denver in the early 1970s.

  • Teachers, district to resume contract talks

    Negotiators for the Jeffco school district and the teachers union will head back to the bargaining table this week after a disagreement over the contract’s length stalled bargaining for more than three weeks.

    Representatives of the two sides, which are more than five months into negotiating a new contract, walked out of the last bargaining session July 15 without agreeing on the length of the contract. The Jefferson County Education Association wants a three-year contract guaranteed for teachers, while Jeffco Public Schools wants to limit the contract to 10 months.

  • Jeffco students outperform Colorado average on tests

    Four grades of Jeffco Public Schools students outperformed the state average on social studies and science exams this spring but showed a drop in performance from last year in several categories.

    The Colorado Department of Education on July 16 released test performance and participation figures for several categories of Colorado Measures of Academic Success testing from the past school year: fourth- and seventh-grade social studies, and fifth- and eighth-grade science.

  • Columbine grad making film about aftermath of shootings

    A Columbine High School graduate is making a documentary about how the shootings on April 20, 1999, have affected the adult lives of her classmates.

    Filmmaker Laura Farber was a freshman when two student gunmen killed 12 students and a teacher. Farber, who now lives in Minneapolis, hopes her film, “We are Columbine,” will change public perception of the school, as well as show how the horrific event affects the lives of former students today.

  • Commissioners set to allow marijuana-testing businesses

    Two years after placing a moratorium on all businesses related to retail marijuana, Jeffco’s county commissioners are set to allow testing of the drug.

    But a ban will remain in place on grow operations and retail sales outlets of pot in areas of the county outside municipalities.

    The commissioners gave initial approval July 21 to an ordinance that would allow marijuana plants and marijuana-infused products to be tested in laboratory settings. The board is set to officially vote on the measure during a yet-unscheduled public hearing.

  • Denver woman pleads guilty in accident that killed Jeffco sheriff’s Sgt. Renfro

    The 23-year-old woman whose car struck and killed Conifer resident and Jeffco sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Renfro in January on U.S. 285 has pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts, including careless driving resulting in death.

    Denver resident Blair Gledhill, who was 22 at the time of the accident, was driving south on an icy U.S. 285 near Windy Point on Jan. 3 when her car went out of control. According to reports, her car crossed the median, hitting Renfro and two other people.

  • City, South Suburban agree on Reynolds Landing improvements

    The Littleton City Council and South Suburban Parks and Recreation have approved a master plan for Reynolds Landing Park, which sits next to the Aspen Grove shopping center and the new Breckenridge Brewery.

    Approved during a joint session of the council and South Suburban’s board on July 21, the plan includes improvements and expansion of trails, upgrades to restroom facilities and the Carson Nature Center, added amenities such as a playground, and improvements to the river.

  • Dozens of laughs

    The Foothills Theatre Company had audiences laughing it up in Clement Park over the weekend. Even if the jokes were 400 years old.

    The troupe is in the midst of a two-week run of this year’s Shakespeare in the Park production, “Twelfth Night.” The show, which opened Friday in Grant Amphitheater, is one of the Bard’s most well regarded comedies and is filled with cross-dressing, young lovers and several humorously inebriated gentlemen.

  • Increase proposed in dog-licensing fee

    An increase is being proposed in Jeffco’s dog licensing fees to address a budget shortfall at Foothills Animal Shelter.

    A proposal to be voted on Aug. 4 by the county commissioners would boost the annual licensing fee for a spayed or neutered canine to $20 from $15. Spayed or neutered animals represent the vast majority of pets that are licensed. Dogs that are not altered now cost $30 to license.

    The county requires all dogs to be licensed. There is no requirement for cats or other pets to have a license.


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Comic-Con International's publications help attendees enjoy and navigate the big show. Our trio of publications include the Souvenir Book, which features special articles on our anniversary celebrations; the Events Guide, which features the complete schedule for all Comic-Con events; and the full-color Quick Guide, which includes the at-a-glance program grids, maps (including the giant fold-out Exhibit Hall), and the exhibitor list.


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Cosmic Comedy & Romance: Brunswick talks "Jersey Gods"

Sun, September 28th, 2008 at 11:47am PDT | Updated: September 28th, 2008 at 11:48am

Comic Books
Kiel Phegley, Staff Writer

"Jersey Gods" begins in February '09

In New Jersey, a good man can be hard to find.

And while some ladies looking for the love of their lives may move their search across the Hudson River to Manhattan's social scene, the savvy Jersey girl at the heart of Image's February-launching "Jersey Gods" ongoing series broadens her search a little further to include cosmic depths of outer space, courtesy of writer Glen Brunswick and illustrator Dan McDaid.

"I want us to get into that [cosmic] world in a very accessible way," Brunswick ("The Gray Area," "Killing Girl") told CBR, explaining the fun of the series -- announced at this weekend's Baltimore Comic-Con -- is watching the culture clash between Jersey heroine Zoe and her war god hubby Barock's very separate lifestyles. "I think the idea is that I’m giving a real modern sensibility to what Kirby did in the ‘70s and making it accessible and humanizing it by starting with this girl that hopefully everybody will relate to.

“We follow the life of this girl that lives in New Jersey, and she’s this high maintenance piece of work. She’s an amazing girl, but she’s tough, and most of the guys she dates wonder if she’s worth the effort that she puts them through. I think she’s really kind of loveable in this slightly complicated mess sort of way, and she’s a great window to center the book on. When we see the gods for the first time, it’s really through her eyes."

Pages from "Jersey Gods"

When the gods crash through into our world, they select as their battleground a mall in Jersey suburb Cherry Hill, which happens to be the site of Zoe's latest broken relationship. As Barock pummels his way from shop to shop in combat with an evil god from his home planet of Nebulon, Zoe falls instantly for what she views as a perfect man who can live up to her high expectations. And as the old saying goes, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the crime fighting, family drama and otherworldly hilarity inherent in a cosmic god taking a bride in the 'burbs.

“We see how they meet, and we’re going to get to see their courtship to a degree and what it’s like to marry a god from the perspective of the in-laws on earth and all the nonsense the gods have to do — the crazy gods that come to the wedding and turn everything on its ear,” said Brunswick, adding that the heart of the series will focus on life for the pair once they've settled in Cherry Hill full time. "Now, if [Barock] can just manage to survive his new in-laws, his household chores and his bride’s crazy social agenda, he might just carve out a moment or two to save the galaxy and protect the seedier parts of New Jersey."

Of course, while the earthbound adventures of a married couple comprise the driving force of "Jersey Gods," Brunswick assured readers that he's giving series artist Dan McDaid — a third place finalist in CBR's 2007 Comic Book Idol competition — plenty of opportunity to bring the slick, action-fueled visuals into the mix, as the history of Nebulon and its many gods play an equally important role.

Pages from "Jersey Gods"

"10,000 years ago, [Barock’s] planet had this huge civil war, and his father was killed,” the writer explained. “And this war has affected all of the gods. They were like human beings kind of like us 10,000 years ago, but after this cataclysmic war, the survivors developed these godlike abilities. And it’s this war that changed them that the evil gods also refer back to when they think about their revenge. Barock lost his father, his brother was mortally wounded, but he did things — heroic things that his adversaries want to take revenge for."

Those story beats combine with Barock's own mysterious past to add a layer of mystery and excitement to the series over the long run. "Something has happened to his relationships, and he’s been a warrior for a very long time," Brunswick teased. "We don’t know what’s happened that’s got him off to the idea of having a love relationship. We even see the difference between him and his best friend Helius who is a romantic lothario and is trying to coax him back into a relationship with a woman. He’s a warrior, but there was a time he felt differently, and we’ll learn more about that as the series goes along.

"This is a world like our own where there are no superheroes, where it’s like a first contact when the gods come down. The last time the gods came down, there was no media to document it, so the gods literally are the basis for all these earth myths that we’ve had over the centuries. They’ve lived for 10,000 years, but this is the first time that they’ll actually be documented."

Pages from "Jersey Gods"

Aiding in the documentation of these gods will be a who's who lineup of A-list comics talent as the series first issues will include special alternate covers by the likes of Mike Allred, Darwyn Cooke, Paul Pope and Erik Larsen. Beyond that, Brunswick is inviting one of the industries biggest writers to contribute a back up serial that will run starting with "Jersey Gods" #2, Mark Waid. "I happened to show him this 'Jersey Gods' book, and he was really, really into it," Brunswick said. "Mark’s going to do a backup story that involves the Nebulon civil war from 10,000 years ago. In each issue, rounding out the Jersey Gods universe will be this war story where we get to look into their past."

While Brunswick is also hoping to expand the backups in later issues with contributions from "Firestarter" scribe by Phil Hester, the main showcase of romance and action every month will be himself and McDaid. And with the new name on art chores, the writer isn't a bit worried about how things will turn out.

Page from "Jersey Gods"

"I thought he was incredible and very polished. He’s got a very Darwyn Cooke quality to his work,” Brunswick said. “I think that Darwyn is a big influence in Dan’s work, and visually that really comes through. I’m really, really excited about the way things worked out with Dan, and he’s really throwing himself into this. And not only is he a great storyteller, but he really does the thing that all great storytellers do in that he makes the characters more interesting by giving them bits of business. Even if they’re not in the script, he puts these bits in, and as I’m doing my rewrite once I get pages in, I can alter them to make them better and to fit his visuals. I feel that the really great artists do that. Back when I was working with John Romita, Jr. he was doing that kind of thing, and we got a chance to make the pages better. So I’m really excited that Dan is this dazzling artist that at this point is pretty much undiscovered, but he won’t be for long."

Fans can discover "Jersey Gods" now in the form of two preview stories that ran in Image's recently released "PopGun 2" anthology before the first issue of the regular series hits just in time for February's New York Comic-Con.

"Jersey Gods" art by Dan McDaid

TAGS:  jersey gods, glen brunswick, dan mcdaid, mike allred, killing girl

CBR News


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Josh Jackson Goes "Beyond the Fringe"

Fri, September 23rd, 2011 at 9:58am PDT

Comic Books
Jeffrey Renaud, Staff Writer

"Fringe" star Josh Jackson discusses his comic book writing debut

With "Fringe" set to return tonight to FOX for this, its fourth season, fans of the genre hit received an extra dash of excitement -- and adrenaline -- earlier this week when DC Entertainment released the first issue of its new digital comic series "Beyond the Fringe."

Set deep within the mythos of the TV series created by sci-fi/fantasy heavyweights J.J. Abrams ("Lost"), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Cowboys & Aliens"), "Beyond the Fringe" is written by the show's star Josh Jackson, better known to fans as Peter Bishop.

CBR News spoke with Jackson following the release of the first issue of a scheduled three-issue arc, titled "Peter and the Machine," and found that the actor's venture into comic book writing is more than a publicity stunt. Jackson is genuinely touched by the fan support "Fringe" receives and has become so attached to Peter, he's dreamt up "tons and tons and tons" of story ideas and plot points to further flesh out the character.

"Beyond the Fringe" has provided Jackson with an avenue to share some of those ideas and he's eager to see how fans react. His story is set squarely between the pages of the script for last season's cliffhanger and without the restraints of a production budget, Jackson takes readers to places that even Walter Bishop would find unimaginable. Beyond the comic, Jackson also teased what's to come in tonight's season premiere and how life on the fringe changes without Peter Bishop holding court.

Story continues below

CBR News: First off, congratulations on your first writing gig. How did this come about?

Joshua Jackson: We haven't done it every season, but for three out of the four, we've done this limited run of comics. I'm not sure who came up with the idea to ask me if I wanted to do it, but when they did, I pitched them this idea, It's a bigger idea than just one comic, so it ended growing from just one to three issues. And now I'm a comic book writer. [Laughs] And while I don't think anyone is going to confuse me with one of the all-time greats, it's actually been a really fun process.

When you were growing up, were you a comic book reader?

Jackson's "Fringe" comic takes place "between the pages" of the Season 3 finale's script

Is there a single guy from my generation who didn't read comics? Only in Canada could you buy your comic books and your hockey cards at the same place. The store, which was a weekly hangout, was right next to Sophie's Café and that was the place to be.

I just read the first issue, and it's a lot of fun. It answers a lot of questions that many fans of the show didn't think would ever be answered. Plus, you come-face to-face with an apatosaurus, which obviously would have been a pretty expensive shoot had it happened on the show.

Right. Well, that's it, exactly. Because it's a comic book, you can do bigger things than we can achieve on the show, budget-wise and scheduling-wise. But what was more interesting to me, other than big action scenes, was that I really think that the cliffhanger we had at the end of the last season was a really cool story point. When they gave me the opportunity, the story I thought would be most interesting to explore was diving right back into that moment.

Well, actually, first I thought I would tell the story of Peter before he became part of Fringe. But then I thought, we're kind of past that point. Now I think the most interesting point is explaining some of the pieces of how the story got to where it was by the end of last season. And what Peter's part in all of that was.

You haven't done any other writing before, comic book or otherwise, have you?

No, this is my published debut. And I'm not going to lie; I had hand-holders, because while I have written things for myself, they've never been published. Writing for comics is a very different thing, so I worked over the story with a couple of people, and they sort of helped me turn the idea into a comic. It was actually a really fun process, especially going through the co-editing process of really looking at every panel and deciding, "Okay. This panel has to do that. And that one has to do this." There's no wasted space. Every panel has to have a purpose, and as a writer, you have to be really concise about the ideas you are trying to get across.

Have you been hounding Bob [Roberto Orci] and Alex [Kurtzman] ever since to let you in the writers' room and join the writing staff?

[Laughs] Yeah, they've created a monster.

I'm not sure how much input you have in terms of Peter's dialogue as an actor, but how much did you enjoy scripting your character in the comic? Was it difficult to find Peter's voice?

That was really the draw for me. After playing the character for so long, I have tons and tons and tons of ideas about who this guy is. To actually be given an avenue to play some of these scenarios out is amazing. I just had a conversation with the guys about this, but it's so cool that they are allowing the story I came up with to be part of the grand mythology of "Fringe." That's the reason I wanted to do this, more than anything. I have all of these ideas I wanted to share, but the story of "Fringe" is not the story of Peter. It's the story of "Fringe." There will be no other avenue for these stories to be told, so it's nice to have a place to put them.

Did you like how you were drawn by Jorge Jimenez?

Jackson gives artist Jorge Jimenez high marks for successfully transferring his likeness to the comics

[Laughs] I look like me, which is a solid upgrade from a couple of the previous "Fringe" comics.

How much fun is it to be a part of show where the fans are so into it, you have to make comic books to expand the universe?

It's a beautiful benefit that you can't possibly believe. It's hard to describe. I have been working for a long, long time. I've done some good things. I've done some not so good things. I've done things that I thought were good that didn't get an audience and I've done some things that were kind of mediocre that got a huge audience. There is a lot of different ways these things come out. But "Fringe" is a really particular show in that it's not a hugely popular show, but the people that are into it are really super-dedicated. As an actor, and I think the writers and the producers would say the same thing, it's about the best fan relationship you could have because you know the people that are taking it in and actually give a shit. They're not just flipping through channels.

Your comic ties into last season's cliffhanger. It's been a long summer, so for those who can't remember how the season ended, or for those who were perhaps a bit confused following the series-changing events, what's happening with Peter when Season 4 starts?

When the season opens, we're dealing with the post-script of our cliffhanger, which we've been building towards for three seasons, with two alternate universes destroying each other slowly over time. It was Walter's original sin of bringing Peter across which was the reason for these two worlds falling apart.

At the end of last season, Peter recognizes that he is the problem and sacrifices himself to save the universe -- but mostly to save his dad, save his girl and save the people that he cares about. The repercussions are that they get to live and he doesn't. The first big section of this season is our world without Peter and what happens when this guy makes this sacrifice. All of sudden, he's just erased from time, completely.

For me, that's why getting into the comic was so much fun. I get to tell the pieces of the story that we didn't have time to tell, or just decided not to tell, last season. Like how the doomsday machine came to be and what the choice was that Peter actually made.

If Peter no longer exists, what role does he play in the show when the season opens?

Premiere night, I get to play audience member. [Laughs] The writers live by the sword and they die by sword. We made a strong choice at the end of last season, and that choice has to be followed through. When we start the season, there will definitely be less of Peter, but in a very natural and organic way. The story is going off in a different direction and the characters all have very different dynamics now.

Without Peter around, Olivia has had to become more of a caretaker of Walter. They've actually grown closer, but Walter is much more fragile. And without Peter around, Olivia is single. Lincoln is on the scene now. Astrid is out of the lab, finally. She's more of a field agent. Broyles is still pretty much a hard ass but beyond that, it's all new!

TAGS:  fox, dc comics, dc entertainment, fringe, josh jackson, jj abrams

CBR News


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