This book represents the start of the second wave of .NET books: closely focused works that give you the insight of experienced developers about a single aspect of .NET programming. In .NET User Interfaces with VB .NET, you’ll take a close look at all the ingredients you can use to design state-of-the-art application interfaces. You’ll also delve into entirely new topics like custom control design and GDI+, the next-generation painting framework for Windows. You won’t just learn about anchoring and docking, you’ll work with complete examples that show document-view architectures, custom control layout engines, dockable windows, and hit testing with owner-drawn controls. You’ll also learn how to design irregularly shaped forms, unshackle data binding, and build integrated help systems. You’ll find that this book fills three roles. It provides the following: - An overview of how to design elegant user interfaces the average user can understand. This is addressed directly in the first chapter, and indirectly in tips and asides throughout the book. - A comprehensive examination of the user interface controls and classes in .NET. Although this book is not a reference, it contains an exhaustive tour of almost every user interface element you’ll want to use, including providers, components, and custom controls. - A tutorial with best practices and design tips for coding user interfaces and integrating help. This represents overall focus, and the single most important aspect of the book. As a developer, you need to know more than how to add a control to a window. You also need to know how to create an entire user interface framework that’s scalable, flexible, and reusable.