Visual Basic for Electronics Engineering application

The goal of this book is to show you how you can write your own programs
using Visual Basic. However, this is not ‘just another’ book on VB. The target
group of this book is people building test setups in R&D environments.

The first part talks briefly over the windows environment and how it works. A
basic understanding of this is somehow required to understand the programmin
techniques applied in Visual Basic. A basic explanation of how to write
programs in VB is given.
The second part explains more advanced things such as graphics manipulation,
file handling and more.
The Third part details on more advanced things like printing, multiform
projects, ActiveX and beyond. Here you will learn to extend the already vast s
of functions with those embedded inside Windows. A big deal is explained ho
to make your programs communicative. Inter-program communication like DD
is explained. Also off-system communication like serial communication and
TCP/IP is explained. These are feature often used in creating test systems that
can be managed via remote control.

The fourth part will show you how to unleash the power of Visual basic for
application in a Lab environment. You will learn how to control instruments
over GPIB / RS232, control circuitry over printer ports and even manage your
own built plug-in boards.
The fourth part will also show you a how to apply the acquired knowledge to
real-world systems. Things like controlling circuitry, emulating protocols and
more will be covered. A number of examples combining all of the explained
material will be given. A number of test setups will be given that show the
capabilities of a programming system like Visual Basic.
Now, I know that most programmers get the chills when they hear about
programming in BASIC. Some of you might remember the time of the first
home computers such as the Commodore and Apple II, and visions of line
numbers, goto’s and spaghetti code start to doom. Well this is no longer the
case. All languages evolve and so does basic. It has matured from a ‘Beginners
All Purposes Symbolic Instruction Code’ to a full-blown programming
language. The people who brought basic up (being Microsoft) have now come
up with the latest incarnation of the language. It has been chosen as one of the
standard programming language for the Windows environment.
More and more applications include a subset of the Visual Basic programming
language. Applications such as Excel, Word, and Access all include Visual
Basic for Application or VBA for short. More and more external vendors also
include this engine in their products. Software houses like Oracle, AutoDesk
(AutoCAD), Protel (PCB / Schematic / Simulation) Mathsoft (MathCAD) start

to embed the power of Visual Basic in their products. New operating systems
like Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 have the VbScript language inside.
Visual Basic is in the first place a Visual programming language. In today’s
world of graphical user interfaces and windowing environments this is simply a
must. More and more users demand a simple and easy to use interface to the
software. Visual Basic enables the programmer to write just this kind of
application. The programmer himself however needs not to be deprived of these
things. Visual basic is really ‘visual’ both during development and runtime
stage.

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Visual Basic for Electronics Engineering application