Project Overview

For your final project, you will implement a VB.NET application that uses an Access database.

• This covers the online VB.NET tutorial through Lesson 13.
• You may do this project either by yourself or with one partner.
• We will provide some project ideas. Do one of them or develop your own comparable project.
• You will present your project to your classmates during the final exam period on March 15

Project Idea: Checkbook Register

Implement a VB.NET application to maintain a checkbook register.

• Create an Access or mySQL database and use the ADO.NET database interface described in chapter 13 of the tutorial.
• Give the application and all its components appropriate names. Do not keep any of the default names.
• Make appropriate use of functions and subs to separate the 'model' from the 'view'.
• Design a graphical user interface that incorporates several different controls, including a menu bar with shortcuts, to facilitate the required functionality. The design and layout is up to you. Plan ahead by making hand-drawn sketches and simulating some usage scenarios.
• Each check should include the date, check number, payee, amount, and whether the check has cleared.
• There should be a form for entering new checks, with a button that adds the new check to the array or database.
• There should be a second form for balancing the checkbook, that asks for the starting balance of the account and calculates the current balance by subtracting any checks that have cleared. It should also display any checks that have not cleared in a textbox.

For extra credit, extend it to allow an existing check to be edited (for example changing it from not cleared to cleared) by providing the check number.

Project Idea: Music Database

Implement a VB.NET application to query an actual but simply structured music database

• We have an Access database containing about 1700 records. Each record represents an album (CD or LP). You can download the database here
• The database has one table, with fields for Catalog number (key), title, artist, release year, label, purchase year, classification (genre), and format (LP, CD, cassette).
• Develop some interesting SQL queries for matching records based on search criteria (entered on a form) and either display or do some amazing processing* with the results.
• Design a graphical user interface that incorporates several different controls, including a menu bar with shortcuts, to facilitate the functionality you've developed. The design and layout is up to you. Plan ahead by making hand-drawn sketches and simulating some usage scenarios.
• The form could resemble the one from Project 2, but use your experience from that project to make this one more usable. Form and control design is pretty easy with Visual Studio.

For extra credit, implement the ability to add, delete and edit records in the database.
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* Here's an example of "amazing processing": use query results to generate a simple "wordle"-like diagram. For an example, see http://faculty.otterbein.edu/psanderson/COMP100/, which was generated at http://www.wordle.net/. Given a collection of words, each word is rendered in a font size proportional to its frequency of appearance in the collection.

Project Idea: Tutorial Project

Implement the last VB.NET tutorial database project described at http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/NET/nets12p12.html.

Project Idea: Yours

If you have an idea for a project of comparable complexity and functionality, let us know!

Presentation

During the final exam period, you will present, describe, and demonstrate your project. We'll figure out an appropriate venue.