Raspberry Pi and Visual Basic: Programming Windows 10 IoT

Foreword by the Author I had not worked with the Raspberry Pi very long when I realized how much fun it could be. Like most, I started with Python, used Scratch, and some of the music software on Raspbian (default operating system for the Raspberry Pi). After a few successful projects, I grew tired of Python and the limitations of the GUI in Tkinter. I do not mean knock Python, and I just wanted to try something different. It was just too long of a learning curve for the GUI language part. I felt Visual Basic (VB) might prove to be more efficient and faster for my projects. Being an old Visual Basic guy, and having interest in the electronics and other aspects of the Pi, I wanted quicker results. I started out trying to learn C Sharp better, and I probably spend more time there in the future, but again it was taking too long to learn. I wanted to utilize some of the existing knowledge I had in Visual Basic, if possible. I found some information was on the internet, but it is all over the place for the Pi and Windows 10 IoT (Internet of Things). After doing a few weeks of research, I decided to use Visual Basic in Visual Studio Community 2017. I wanted to see how feasible VB still is for the Raspberry Pi and Windows 10 IoT. I picked a project to develop in Visual Basic and utilized the Pi Foundations 7” Raspberry touchscreen. This screen allowed me to keep my PC screens for work. After more research and coding, I found out my project was viable and perfect for Visual Basic. I created a speech timer application for my local Toastmasters club and presented it at one of the meetings. It worked well. I wanted to provide information to interest a novice to learn more, and possibly provide something a veteran could use to get past any hurdles they might have with the Pi and Visual Basic. This book is meant to help both. I carefully chose the projects that presented in the book. I have basic examples of Visual Basic’s buttons, textboxes, progress bars, textblocks, file access, and even some SQL Server examples. I could have gone a lot deeper in electronics, but did not. The Pi has a GPIO-General Purpose Input Output or electronics capability. Instead, I choose to just scratch the surface in electronics and cover what might make people interested in the Pi. Visual Basic does work with the Pi, and it works well for Windows 10 IoT programming. It is too bad Xamarin and Visual Studio Community did not provide the ability to use Visual Basic for Android and IOS. I programmed Android with Android Studio instead of Visual Studio since it only works in C sharp using Xamarin. You must learn Java, and that was the bulk of the code required. I hope you enjoy using this book and the samples in Visual Basic and the Raspberry Pi. Table of Contents Foreword by the Author 3 Author’s Background 6 Table of Contents 8 Disclaimer 10 Purpose of this Book 11 Raspberry Pi Boards 15 The History of the Raspberry Pi 16 What Makes Up A PI? 17 GPIO 19 Operating Systems 22 Disclaimer and Precautions 23 Components for the Pi 24 Required Components 25 Recommended Components 26 Installing Windows 10 IoT Core 28 Setting Up Your Raspberry Pi 30 Tools for Windows 10 IoT Development 31 Admin Screen Functionality 38 Apps Functionality 38 Other Information 38 Programming and Visual Basic 39 Variables 40 Subroutines and Functions 42 Functions 42 Toolbox Controls 45 Conditionals 45 If Then Else 45 Do While Loop 46 For Next 46 Events 48 Visual Studio IDE Setup 50 Visual Basic Projects 82 HelloPi 84 HelloPiBye 100 SimpleTimer 109 File Operations 122 GPIOToggle 130 GPIOButtonPressed 150 SQL Server Access and Read 168 Glossary 184 Diagrams 187 GPIO Diagram 188 Raspberry Pi Board Top 189 Raspberry Pi Board Back 190 GPIO Extension Board Pinouts 191 GPIO Extension T Board 192 Sunfounder GPIO Extension Kit 193 Breadboard & T Extender Diagram 194 CanaKit Pi GPIO Board Bundle 196 Breadboard Overview 197 Web Links 198 Notes 199