With the exception of small, concept-demonstrating programs, all programs are written as multitier applications. The chapters are reorganized to cover Web services prior to Web applications, and the middle-tier components are written as Web services. Coverage of ASP.NET security is greatly expanded, as is the explanation of classes and of MDI applications. Two new margin icons flag items that are “New to Visual Basic 2005” and a “Security Issue.” The text covers the new features of Visual Studio 2005 and some new coverage of existing features, including

• Partial classes.
• The singleton design pattern for a class that should be instantiated only once.
• Validation of user input using TryParse.
• Displaying of messages using an ErrorProvider component.
• ClickOnce deployment.
• Generics and generic collections.
• Web themes and master mages.
• The My object.
• MenuStrips, ToolStrips, and ContextMenuStrips.
• SQL Server Express, which provides the advantage of local database files for development and testing.
• TableAdapter, BindingSource, and BindingNavigator objects.
• Stored procedures.
• The Windows database controls: DataGridView and DetailsView.
• Master-detail applications that require no code.
• Table lookups for populating a combo box from a related table.
• Use of properties and methods of the BindingSource to filter, navigate, and update database tables.
• Use of named table relationships.
• Field-level and record-level validation in the event handlers for changes in columns and rows.
• Consuming of a commercial Web service.
• Use of related tables in a Web service.
• The new Login controls for Web applications.
• Display and updating of data using the Web DataSource objects and new data components: GridView, DetailsView, and FormView.
• The built-in Web server, which allows development of Web applications without the necessity of running IIS. This feature also allows development
  on XP Home Edition, rather than requiring XP Professional for all Web development.
• Smart Device applications, including the new device emulators.
• Use of My.Application for changing culture settings.
• The BackgroundWorker component for executing more than one thread.

New features of the Visual Studio IDE that are covered in the text include The DataSources window and creation of bound controls by dragging objects
from the window.

• The DataSet Designer.
• The Project Designer.
• Designer-generated class diagrams.