Rating: 
Summary: Text like a B rate movie script
Review: If you like the slow pace of a college class and script like a B rate movie, you may like this book. Professor Smiley does get the message across in an understandable fashion, but you must be prepared to read this book as a transcript from a class, not as an instruction manual, and thus put up with lots and lots of extra dialog. If you are not a beginner programmer, and I don't just mean VB programmer, then you should first try traditional books where you get vastly more information in the same number of pages. If you have difficulty learning outside of a classroom, then the Learn To Program books may be for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Bottom line it's worth your time
Review: If you read this book and work through the exercises, it would be impossible not to understand the concepts of OOP. You may or may not like the style he uses (simulated classroom) but after working through the book you will have the background you need.
Rating:
Summary: Great book to start OOP in VB
Review: John Smiley has written a great book for beginning to intermediate VB programmers wishing to learn how to use VB to create their own objects and object models. This book would not be a good book for someone looking for quick and dirty answers. If you are willing to invest a little time, you will be creating your own objects and object models that will make your programs more robust and maintainable. Overall I thought that his virtual classroom approach is a great idea for beginning programmers reading this book, as it had questions posed from the virtual students that most likely are asked in any programming course. I'm sure that more experienced programmers don't like this approach since it inflates the size of the book, but there are some invaluable bits of info that the beginner will get from this approach. I'm sure that will raise their level of confidence as well knowing that their questions as to why something does/doesn't work in a particualr situation is explained. I also had an issue with the way Smiley used an error handling routine and e-mailed him my solution (which I thought was better) and he e-mailed me back a few days later with a courteous note explaing his why he chose his method, but liked my solution and was glad that it worked. I really appreciated the fact that he took the time to read over my question and then replied...I'm sure not too many people care enough to follow up their works. One final note: I'd follow-up Smiley's book by also getting a copy of "The Visual Basic Object and Component Handbook" by Peter Vogel. These two books combined will make anyone VB object masters.
Rating:
Summary: Another Excellent Book!
Review: John Smiley has written another excellent book. He has dealt with the subject of objects in an easy-to-understand manner...Keep up the good work, John!
Rating:
Summary: Best start for VB Objects
Review: John Smiley presents a complete learning environment that builds a solid programming foundation. Each book individually and collectively engages and immerses the novice programmer into the richness of the Visual Basic development environment without overwhelming you in its complexity. From Learn to Program with Visual Basic, through Databases and Objects I found learning VB programming fun, and instructive at the same time. John's use of examples to support the development of a "real world" programming task proved important in understanding VB programming, the Integrated Development Environment and it various features or tools. Using the same program, you helped create, through three books dealing with different aspects of VB programming helped solidify the programming experience, and enhance learning. More than anything else, John comes out of those pages as your guide and mentor allowing you to pick up those intangibles that come from a skilled programmer, and educator. He leaves you, and encourages further study, having given you the fundamentals to go on and tackle more advanced VB topics, because you now know how to program with VB. I kid you not. I jumped into learning VB using the MS Visual Basic Programmer's guide, and various MSDN materials. It was like going up hill in snow and ice, I wasn't getting anywhere fast! After going through John's three books, MS VB programmers guide, and other materials just fell into place, because I now had the VB skills and knowledge to appreciate and understand the presented material.
Rating:
Summary: I think it's a great book
Review: Let me begin by saying that I'm the author, so let's get that out of the way. I'm posting here to point out that the book has a tremendous amount of support materials that have never been advertised. Each of my books has a support page containing a current list of errata, downloadable files (completed exercises from the book), extra links to extra materials I have written and my email address in the event you have problems. I also run a series of online classes so that if you would like to learn with me in a more structured setting, you can do that also. You can access those materials via this link http://www.johnsmiley.com/books.htm I should also say that this book isn't for everyone---and you can read through some of the other reviews posted here to see why and why not. I wrote this book for beginner level programmers, and the book is written in a unique style. You (and I) can thank the now defunct Wrox Publishing house for the style of the book that some people absolutely love and others (primarily hotshot programmers with lots of experience) hate. The book is written as if you are participating in an actual classroom---many people, particularly those learning on their own or in an Independent study setting find comforting. My thanks to the many people who have written to me to tell me how much they've enjoyed my books and how they have helped them achieve their goals of learning to program. John Smiley
Rating: 
Summary: Learn to program and enjoy the reading at the same time
Review: Like other books of Learn to Program Visual Basic series, Learn to Program Visual Basic Objects is about teaching readers how to program with VB in a classroom set of environment. The university course is ten weeks long, and the class meets once a week on every Saturday morning. Instead of showing readers pure technical information, Professor John Smiley records the whole class conversation on paper. Readers who follow along the content will feel like sitting in the classroom watching the class. Here is a short description of each chapter: Chapter One The Return of the China Shop Continuing from the original China Shop program, Joe Bullina, the owner of Bullina China Shop, requests some new modifications after he and his staff happily using the program to increase the store revenue. By considering frequent modifications and limited budget, Professor Smiley recommends Mr. Bullina to have the program object-oriented in his up-coming VB Objects course. The author explains the general concept of object-oriented programming to his wife Linda Simley, which is worth reading, and will prepare novice readers for the following chapters. Chapter Two Visual Basic Objects in Action Starting with the controls the class is already familiar to, Professor Smiley explains the characteristics of control objects and the relationship with their class templates. Based on the new knowledge, the collection objects are introduced. The author uses variable-array and object-collection comparison to bring readers one-step toward to the object-oriented land. Chapter Three Visual Basic System Objects As the chapter title indicates, three system objects are introduced: including the App object, the Clipboard object, and the Screen object. Other four system objects including the Forms collection, the Licenses collection, the Printer object, and Fonts collection are also shortly described. Chapter Four Objects ¨C the Inside Story The class is introduced to the characteristics of objects again. By adding a custom property and a custom method into a Form, the class starts realizing the power of objects. In the second half of the class period, the Use-Case methodology is shown to the class. Professor Smiley starts a scenario to go through the object-oriented design process. These twelve pages of the design methodology help me tremendously on the system design. Chapter Five Creating Your Own Objects This chapter is where the real coding starts; the class will create an object and create properties for it. For demonstration purpose, a mini project called Student Grades is brought in. Before applying the new skills into the China Shop project, the class sees how they work in the mini project, which helps students nicely. Chapter Six Adding Methods and Events As chapter five, the Student Grades program is continued been developed before the China Shop program. Object Methods and Events are well covered in this chapter. What I like here is a complete project shows me how to add objects, not just partial code. And I am reading the most common solution by using objects, not overwhelmed by every detail. Chapter Seven Collection Objects This is the last chapter on creating classes, and I think it is by far the most thorough coverage on collection classes I¡¯ve ever read. Here readers will learn how to create collection classes for particular objects. After reading this chapter, I was able to organize objects programmatically and conceptually. I think readers will appreciate the concept of object encapsulation more after reading this chapter. Chapter Eight Excel and Word ¨C by Remote Control! The idea of the ActiveX components is introduced in this chapter. By referencing object libraries, Professor Smiley shows his class how to use the power of Microsoft Word and Excel in their projects. Instead of writing complex code for a report writer, programmers can use the functionalities of Word and Excel to achieve the same result. Not too much details on using Word and Excel objects programming; after all, they deserve a book of each own. Chapter Nine Creating Your Own ActiveX Components Continuing from chapter eight, ActiveX DLL and ActiveX EXE are covered in this chapter. By compiling components, code reuse can be true. The differences between ActiveX DLL and Active EXE are also covered as well as when to use them. ActiveX Documents and ActiveX Controls are not included in this chapter, but the author mentions ActiveX Documents will be fully covered in the new VB Web book. Chapter Ten Troubleshooting, Testing, and a Ticker-tape Parade This is a short chapter. Several minor details on ActiveX components are mentioned. After that, A celebration takes place in Joe Bullina¡¯s store to end this interesting technical novel. In this book, Professor Smiley reinforces (or as other readers said: pummels or hammers) the fundamental concept of object-oriented programming with VB 6. In other words, if a person as like me can get it, no one can¡¯t. After reading Learn to Program Visual Basic Objects, readers should have a solid ground on VB objects, which will allow them to go into VB components in no time. The absence of database makes me rate this well-written book a four-stars. After all, this is continuing episode of Learn to Program Visual Basic Database, or at least I think so. Before I bought this book, I could not wait to see how the author object-orients the database version of the China Shop program. I have to admit there was a big disappointment after I got the book. However, with the knowledge I¡¯ve learned from this book, I think it is a good weekend project to object-orient my own database version of the China Shop program. Like Professor Smiley always says, ¡°nothing can replace practice.¡± Overall, I love this book, and I do recommend my friends getting it. By the way, for people who are seeking quick answers, this is not the book for you. Because it is like slow cooked beef soup, it does deserve readers spend time for it, and the reward is worth ten times of the price. The purpose of this book is to take things slowly in order to let the concept sink in deeply. With the author¡¯s unique writing style, frankly, I do not only learn VB objects programming, but also daily conversation of English!
Rating:
Summary: Great intro to objects, just make sure you have the time
Review: NOTE: Beginner's book!, even though this is the "second" related book by this author. This book gives the reader a great introduction to object oriented programming in Visual Basic. It will help you to realize that if you've programmed the basics in Visual Basic (perhaps with John Smiley's first book), objects really aren't that much harder than what you've been doing. It's just a different approach. All programming books should concentrate on having the reader do examples. The author makes sure of that. He works on taking a normal, working Visual Basic project and redoing it as object-oriented. The CD includes the files from the old project and you re-program it object-oriented as you step through the lessons. There are chapters on Collection objects, manipulating Excel and Word by using VB OOP, and creating ActiveX components. The book is almost 700 pages because the author uses a "classroom" dialog. He was attempting to do two things: put it in a classroom-simulated situation and keep it an enjoyable read (unheard of with programming books) with comments from the class. I like the idea, but the comments get tiresome, adding extra fluff not needed in the book. I had to get this book because of the rave reviews and because I wanted to advance my knowledge of Visual Basic. The book really takes off in the later chapters, just maintain the same patience you'd have if you were sitting in a classroom and had to listen to other people speak up.
Rating:
Summary: Great intro to objects, just make sure you have the time
Review: NOTE: Beginner's book!, even though this is the "second" related book by this author. This book gives the reader a great introduction to object oriented programming in Visual Basic. It will help you to realize that if you've programmed the basics in Visual Basic (perhaps with John Smiley's first book), objects really aren't that much harder than what you've been doing. It's just a different approach. All programming books should concentrate on having the reader do examples. The author makes sure of that. He works on taking a normal, working Visual Basic project and redoing it as object-oriented. The CD includes the files from the old project and you re-program it object-oriented as you step through the lessons. There are chapters on Collection objects, manipulating Excel and Word by using VB OOP, and creating ActiveX components. The book is almost 700 pages because the author uses a "classroom" dialog. He was attempting to do two things: put it in a classroom-simulated situation and keep it an enjoyable read (unheard of with programming books) with comments from the class. I like the idea, but the comments get tiresome, adding extra fluff not needed in the book. I had to get this book because of the rave reviews and because I wanted to advance my knowledge of Visual Basic. The book really takes off in the later chapters, just maintain the same patience you'd have if you were sitting in a classroom and had to listen to other people speak up.
Rating: 
Summary: I've done it!
Review: Now on my fourth programming book, I write all my books with the belief that I can teach just about everyone to program a computer, but I must admit I had some worries when my publisher asked me to write a book about Objects in Visual Basic. Why is that? No other single topic in Visual Basic seems to be give students more problems than Objects---I should know, I've been teaching Objects for years. On the other hand, no single topic may be more important than Objects---which forms the basis for an understanding of ActiveX and COM. Invariably my students manage to 'get it' so I must be doing something right! Armed with the knowledge that if I can teach Visual Basic Objects face to face, I can impart that knowledge in a book, I determined to write a book that followed the pattern of my other three books---a classroom scenario in which you follow a typical programming class trying to learn Visual Basic Objects. The pace is measured, no important concept is left unexplained or glossed over, and the development of a unifying pseudo real-world project during the course of the book will solidify its concepts to the point that not only will you understand Objects by its conclusion, you'll be looking for reasons to use them in your next program. The reviewers of my book have told me they've never seen another Objects book like this---some of these reviewers are seasoned Visual Basic programmers, and they report that they now understand Visual Basic Objects in a way they never thought possible. Concepts that were cloudy in their mind are now crystal clear. I hope you feel the same way after reading this book. Here's what is covered in the book. Visual Basic System Objects Visual Basic Collections Visual Basic Classes ActiveX (COM) Automation Creating your own Visual Basic Objects Creating your own Visual Basic Collections Creating your own Visual Basic Collection Objects Creating your own ActiveX (COM) Components As was the case with my highly successful first book, I think you'll marvel at the way all of your own questions are asked by members of the 'class' as you progress through the book. By the time you complete this book, you'll have the confidence to create your own Objects and to confidently work with COM Objects---I guarantee it. John Smiley
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