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Introduction to Microsoft .NET Programming for System i Applications

This course will present an introduction with practical examples of how to use Microsoft .NET technologies to develop System i applications. Attendees will learn about the Microsoft development environments; basics of the .NET framework; programming languages provided by Microsoft; and important development techniques including Console applications, web forms and ADO.NET.

Schedule:

Section 1417
Weeks:6
Sessions:6
Start Date:February 24, 2010
End Date:March 31, 2010
Other Important Dates:Starts Wednesday, February 24
Meets:The course will meet on Wednesdays for 6 one hour sessions once per week, on February 24, March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24, and March 31 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Pricing:

$315 for System iNetwork Pro VIP Members. All pricing is based on the cost for System iNetwork Pro VIP Members. If you're not a Pro VIP-level member, you may need to renew or upgrade your subscription status to take any e-class at VIP-level rates. Rates for non-VIP members are $399, which includes a FREE automatic upgrade to Pro VIP status for 12 months (which also means that you'll enjoy VIP-level pricing for the next 12 months!). The rate for international registrations is $499.


To Register:

Register for Introduction to Microsoft .NET Programming for System i Applications.

Instructor:

Craig Pelkie
craig@web400.com

Craig Pelkie has worked as a programmer with IBM midrange computers for many years. He has also written and lectured extensively on AS/400 and iSeries technologies, including client/server programming, Client Access, Java, WebSphere and Web development.



Course Agenda:

The following topics will be covered in the online meetings. Attendees will be provided with suggested follow-up work that they should plan to complete before the next scheduled meeting. The follow-up work from each online meeting will take from 1 to 3 additional hours per week, and will be performed by the student offline at their location.

Meeting 1: Introduction to Microsoft .NET Programming for System i Applications
  • Brief history of Microsoft development tools and environments
  • Overview of the Microsoft .NET framework
  • Microsoft products that are useful for programmers developing .NET applications
  • How .NET applications can work with the System i
  • Review hardware and software requirements for developing .NET applications for the System i
  • IBM software that can be used by .NET applications to access the System i

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Install Visual Studio 2008, if not already installed
    • Obtain/install Visual Basic 2008 Express and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, if necessary
    • Obtain/install Visual C# 2008 Express and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, if necessary
    • Complete a software and hardware inventory at the attendees site to determine if all required hardware and software is available for .NET development
    • Describe the differences between the IBM DB2 .NET Provider and the IBM OLE DB Provider, and research other alternatives for connecting from .NET applications to the System i

    Meeting 2: Develop Console applications to work with database connections to the System i

  • How to start a project in the Visual Studio .NET development environment
  • What "references" are and how to add a reference to a .NET project
  • The basics of connecting from a .NET application to the System i using the .NET Provider and the OLE DB Provider
  • How to test connection problems
  • Develop a Console application that connects to the System i and displays connection properties

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Obtain a copy of the IBM Redbook that describes the IBM DB2 .NET Provider
    • Obtain the IBM documentation that describes how to use the OLE DB Provider in the .NET environment
    • Familiarization with the Microsoft MSDN help system for the .NET framework
    • Describe how connection properties can be useful for debugging .NET to System i programs
    • Determine how to use provider properties or a connection string to set options when using a provider

    Meeting 3: Run SQL statements in .NET Console applications

  • How to use the IBM DB2 .NET Provider or the OLE DB Provider as a conduit for running SQL statements on the System i from a .NET program
  • The three basic classes used to run SQL statements and commonly used options for each class
  • How to create and work with result sets to obtain data and metadata
  • Create and test SQL exceptions, and add exception handling to the .NET applications

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Review the .NET exception handling mechanism and be able to explain how try/catch blocks are coded
    • Be able to explain the types of exceptions that can be thrown from database connections and how to work with the specific database exceptions
    • Describe the steps that can be taken during program development to determine what types of bugs are likely to occur, and how to write code to anticipate and handle the errors
    Meeting 4: Intermediate SQL techniques for .NET applications
  • Raw SQL statements vs. parameterized SQL statements: why you must do it the "right way", even though it looks like more work
  • How to define and use parameter markers in SQL statements and important differences when using the IBM DB2 .NET Provider and the OLE DB Provider.
  • The basics of System i stored procedures: how to create and test stored procedures using the iSeries/System i Navigator
  • How to call a stored procedure from a .NET program

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Develop and test variations of SQL SELECTs: raw SQL statements, parameterized SQL and stored procedures
    • Work with System i Navigator to test, retrieve and modify stored procedures
    • Read and describe Internet articles (article list to be provided to the attendees) that provide more information about the SQL techniques shown in this course

    Meeting 5: From Console to Web Form

  • Introduction to the visual development tools used in Visual Studio to create web forms
  • Create a simple .NET web form that uses SQL statements to retrieve and display System i data
  • How to use Visual Studio .NET to enhance the appearance of data displayed on a web form
  • Other web form controls included in .NET that are useful for web forms

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Read and describe Internet articles (article list to be provided to the attendees) that provide more information about the
      • DataGrid control and its options
    • Research and be able to describe how a web form is invoked, run by the web server, and produces results to send to the browser
    • Investigate and describe various options for providing run-time parameter values such as user ID and password to a web application

    Meeting 6: Linking detail web pages to list web pages

  • Overview of a detail web page and some of the design options that are available
  • How to link data on a list display to a detail display, to emulate a subfile/detail type of process in the web environment
  • Using detail displays to update or add rows in the database
  • Summary of this course, and additional directions for further study

      • Follow up work for this meeting:

    • Create a simple web form detail display and link it to the web form list display
    • Describe some of the issues that arise in web application development, and compare and contrast web techniques to resolve these issues with green-screen techniques
    • Describe how the Request object is used in .NET to enable web forms to communicate with each other

    Prerequisites:

    Skill level

    Some experience with computer programming and database. Any RPG programmer with 1 or more years of experience will be able to successfully complete this course. This course is not intended for end-users or for novice programmers.

    The course material provides an introduction to using Microsoft .NET technologies, with an emphasis on Console applications, web forms and ADO.NET techniques. Programmers who already have extensive Microsoft .NET experience will already be familiar with most of the material presented in this course.

    Please see Technical Requirements for Prerequisites for this course.

    Minimum Technical Requirements:

  • AS/400, System i, iSeries or i5 server running OS/400 V5R1, V5R2, V5R3 or later
  • Client Access Express or iSeries Access (V5R1M0, V5R2M0, V5R3M0 or later)

    • Important note: even if your shop has not licensed iSeries Access from IBM, you still have access to the database components that are used in this course. IBM provides those important options free of charge to all OS/400 licensees.

  • (optional) DB2 Query Manager and SQL Developer's Kit (5722-ST1)
  • (optional, required for stored procedures examples) iSeries Navigator installed on your PC

    • One of the following Microsoft development environments:

    • Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2008
    • Microsoft Visual Basic Express 2008 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
    • Microsoft Visual C# 2008
    • Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
    • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2008 (any edition)

      PC Operating System (one of the following installed on your development PC)

  • Windows 2000 Professional
  • Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Windows 2003 Server

    • Note: Windows XP Home Edition can be used for Meetings 1-4, but you will not be able to develop and run web applications in Visual Studio .NET when using Windows XP Home Edition. This is a Microsoft limitation.

    Note: attendees are responsible for obtaining and installing all required software for your iSeries and PC development environment. I cannot and will not provide copies of IBM or Microsoft software for attendees use. This means, I will not post IBM or Microsoft software on my web site, and I will not e-mail IBM or Microsoft software to attendees. Complete instructions will be provided during the first course meeting so that attendees will understand how they can obtain the no-charge "Express" versions of the Microsoft development products.

    If you have a specific question regarding course content, contact Craig Pelkie at craig@web400.com.

    FAQs specific to this course:
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