After modeling a group of objects for a hypothetical video rental store, the author shows how to use these VB classes in a variety of ways, such as in VB 5 forms and even within Microsoft Office (in an Excel spreadsheet). He shows how to deploy the business objects in a traditional two-tiered setting in VB with a database. He then demonstrates how to distribute these objects onto the server (using the Distributed Component Object Model [DCOM] capabilities of VB 5) and, finally, into a three-tiered setting using Microsoft Transaction Server. A final chapter even shows how business objects can be used on the Internet using Active Server Pages (ASPs).
Professional Visual Basic 5.0 Business Objects is a great guide to the new object-oriented capabilities of Visual Basic 5 and other Microsoft products. This text makes a good case for a company to invest in a library of business objects that can be reused across projects and in a variety of architectures. With its outlook on hands-on programming, this book can serve as a capable guide to the future of development in Visual Basic.