Visual Basic.

Net
Selections Construct
 Objectives

• This lecture will cover:

– identifying conditions and actions in specifications
– constructing algorithms containing decisions
– using comparison and logical operators
– If statements in Visual Basic
– Select statements in Visual Basic
– testing and debugging selections
– generating random numbers

Visual Basic Slide 2 of 42

 Selection

• The Selection construct is used for branching of

actions to be perform depending on a condition
are used to give an application decision making
capabilities.
• There are three selection constructs used in
programming
– If...Then
– If …Then…Else
– Select…Case

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 Conditions

• A condition is a comparison between one value

against another
• Uses comparison operators (a.k.a. Relational
Operator)
• May combine results of several comparisons
using logical operators

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 Comparison operators

• Relational (a.k.a. Comparison) Operators

include:
= equal to
<> not equal to
> greater than
< less than
>= greater than or equal to
<= less than or equal to
• Can only be used on primitive data types
• String comparisons use ANSI values and upper
case letters will precede lower case

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 Logical operators

• Used to combine results of different tests

• Brackets can be used to clarify meaning
– AND True if all parts are True
– OR True if any part is True
– NOT negates the result
• Each condition part must be correctly formed

Visual Basic Slide 6 of 42

 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Logical Operator - AndAlso

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

• The AndAlso operator returns False when

the condition on the left hand side is
False.
• Else, it returns True when the conditions
of the left and right are True.
• Otherwise, it returns False.
• The condition on the right hand side is
never evaluated when that on the left hand
side is False.
• This is called short-circuited logic.

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

AndAlso - Truth Table

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

Condition1 Condition2 Condition1 AndAlso Condition2

True True True

True False False

False - False

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Logical Operator - Or
Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

• The Or operator returns True when the

condition on either side is True.
• Otherwise, it returns False.
• Both conditions are evaluated before the
result is returned.

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Or - Truth Table
Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

Condition1 Condition2 Condition1 Or Condition2

True True True

True False True

False True True

False False False

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Logical Operator - OrElse

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

• The OrElse operator returns True when

the condition on the left hand side is
True.
• Else, if the condition on the right hand
side is True, it returns True.
• Otherwise, it returns False.
• The condition on the right hand side is
never evaluated when that on the left
hand side is True.
• This is called short-circuited logic.
Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

OrElse - Truth Table

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

Condition1 Condition2 Condition1 OrElse Condition2

True - True

False True True

False False False

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Logical Operator - Xor

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

• The Xor operator returns True when the

condition on the left hand side or right
hand side is True, but not when both are
True.
• Xor means "Exclusive OR".

Visual Basic
 APIIT City Campus –
2008 Feb – Last

Xor - Truth Table

Modified by Nadeera
Ahangama.

Condition1 Condition2 Condition1 Xor Condition2

True True False

True False True

False True True

False False False

Visual Basic
 IF statement

• Powerful language construct

• Evaluates condition and performs different
operations based on the outcome
• Terminated by a matching End If
• VB.Net will automatically indents the code to
show structure

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 One-way selection

• performs actions when a condition is true

If <condition> Then
<statements>
End If

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 One-way selection – Single line

• performs actions when a condition is true

If <condition> Then <statement>

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 Example

• In an application, users are required to

guess a random number between 1 and
10.
• If the number is correctly guessed, the
application will display a message on a
label. If wrongly guessed, another
message will be displayed, and the correct
number is revealed on the same label

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 Guess Number

txtGuess

lblAns

btnGuess

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 Coding
Public Class frmNumGuess
Dim SecretNum As New Random ' create
a random generator object
Private Sub btnGuess_Click(ByVal
sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles
btnGuess.Click
Dim myNum, guess As Integer
' generates a random number between
‘1 and 10
' and store that number into myNum
myNum = SecretNum.Next(1, 10)
'gets the input value from the user
guess = Integer.Parse(txtGuess.Text)
'compares if the number entered is
the same as the random number End Sub
' if the numbers are same, then user End Class
guessed correctly
If guess = myNum Then
lblAnswer.Text = "Congratulation!
You have guessed the correct
number!"
End If
'otherwise, informs the user that the
guess fails and let the user try
' again using another number (tough
game huh!! XD)
If guess <> myNum Then
lblAnswer.Text = "Sorry, you have
guessed incorrectly. The correct
number is " & myNum
txtGuess.Clear()
txtGuess.Focus()
End If

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 Two-way selection

• Executes one set of statements if condition is

true and another if it is false

If <condition> Then
<statements1>
Else
<statements2>
End If

Can alter condition and swap statements in

the If block and Else block

Visual Basic Slide 21 of 42

 Example – Ticket Seats

• Ticket seats for a concert are categorized as

Lawn, Promenade and Balcony. The price for
balcony seats is $75, promenade seats is $30
and for lawn seats is $20.
• Write a program to determine the total price a
customer needs to pay for the tickets.
• Use radio buttons for the type of seat selection
as one customer may buy only one type of seat
ticket.

Visual Basic Slide 22 of 42

 Screen Layout

txtQty

radBalc
radProm
radLawn

lblTotal

btnCalc btnExit
Visual Basic Slide 23 of 42
 Coding to Calculate the Total Price

Private Sub btnCalc_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As

System.EventArgs) Handles btnCalc.Click
Dim total As Decimal
If radBalc.Checked = True Then
price = 75.0
ElseIf radProm.Checked = True Then
price = 30.0
ElseIf radBalc.Checked = True Then
price = 20.0
End If
total = Integer.Parse(txtQty.Text) * price
lblTotal.Text = total.ToString("C")
End Sub

Visual Basic Slide 24 of 42

 Multiple selection

• Used for multiple selections based on different

conditions
If <condition1> Then
<statements1>
ElseIf <condition2>Then
<statements2>
ElseIf <condition3>Then
<statements3>
Else
<statements4>
End If

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 Nested selection

• Actions in selections can be other selections

If txtSex.Text = "Male" Then
If txtAge.Text >= 65 Then
lblPension.Text = "Eligible male"
Else
lblPension.Text = "Ineligible male"
End If
Else
'similar test for female
End If

Visual Basic Slide 26 of 42

 Select statement

• Alternative to If for mutually exclusive options

• Can only evaluate one expression to compare against the
available test case(s).

Select Case <testExpression>

Case <expression 1>
<statements 1>
Case <expression 2>
<statements 2>
Case Else
<statements n>
End Select

Visual Basic Slide 27 of 42

 Case clause

Case clause can take following forms:

– a literal
– several comma-separated literals
– a range in the form of a To b (E.g. “a” To “e”)
– an inequality preceded by Is and followed by a literal,
variable or expression
Benefits of using Select statement:
– reduction in the amount of coding required
– increased efficiency
– improved readability of the code

Visual Basic Slide 28 of 42

 Example

• Modify the Ticket Seats program to use

the Select Case structure

Visual Basic Slide 29 of 42

 Testing selections

• Vital to ensure all possible paths through a

program are tested
• Test plan must be designed
– Choose values to ensure all possible paths
are executed
– Need to check for values around boundaries
– With discrete values it is necessary to try
each possible value in a separate test

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 Documenting test plan

• Not sufficient to just run the program with

carefully selected data
• Test plan should show:
– the data to be used
– the reason for the test
– the expected result
– the actual result
• If actual results are not as expected:
– program will probably need to be corrected
– tests rerun

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 Debugging selections

• Can attach a breakpoint to a condition

• When breakpoint is reached:
– debugger enters Break mode
– line highlighted in yellow
• Programmer can:
– hold cursor over variables to determine their current
values
– step through a line at a time, tracing the execution
path at run time

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 Random numbers

• Each value chosen can not be predicted

• Random class is used to generate random
numbers
• Must first declare a Random object
Dim <objectname> As New Random
• Next method is an overloaded method that
– Generates a random number that requires 2
parameters:
• minimum value and the maximum value
• <objectname>.Next(minValue, maxValue)
– Generates a random number that does not take in
any parameters
• <objectname>.Next()

Visual Basic Slide 33 of 42

 Summary

• This lecture covered:

– identifying conditions and actions in specifications
– constructing algorithms containing decisions
– using comparison and logical operators
– If statements in Visual Basic
– Select statements in Visual Basic
– testing and debugging selections
– generating random numbers

Visual Basic Slide 34 of 42