This chapter introduces the Microsoft® Visual Studio™ 6.0 sample application, Island Hopper News. Island Hopper News is a fictitious online newspaper, designed to be published on the World Wide Web. It features local, national, and international news; local sports; and local classified ads.
The sample illustrates how you can design and structure applications using the Microsoft platform and the Visual Studio suite. The sample illustrates a piece of the full-blown Island Hopper News application: the classified ad section. Not all the functionality you might want or expect is present. The sample was implemented from parts intended to provide the best example for you — the parts from which you can extrapolate to build an application that suits your own needs and purposes. Throughout this chapter, "Island Hopper News" is used to refer to the classified ads section only, unless explicitly noted otherwise.
The sample is available in two different versions, called "levels." Level A is a small-scale version of the application, suitable for a company intranet. Level C is an enterprise-scale version of the application, suitable for the Internet. Both levels include client applications, business and data access components, and databases.
The topics in the following table contain information about the Island Hopper News Classified Ads sample.
| Section | Description |
| Overview of Island Hopper News | Introduces the sample and both of its levels. |
| Finding and Running Level A | Provides information on where to find the source code after you install the sample, and how to start both client applications for Level A. |
| Level A Walk-Through — Windows | Describes the Windows client application for Level A from both a user's and a developer's perspective. |
| Level A Walk-Through — Web | Describes the Web client application for Level A from both a user's and a developer's perspective. |
| Level A Specification | Contains a specification for Level A of the Island Hopper News sample. Describes the database schema, business components, data access components, and client applications, both for the Windows and Web versions. |
| Finding and Running Level C | Provides information on where to find the source code after you install the sample, and how to start both client applications for Level C. |
| Level C Walk-Through — Windows | Describes the Windows client application for Level C from both a user's and a developer's perspective. |
| Level C Walk-Through — Web | Describes the Web client application for Level C from both a user's and a developer's perspective. |
| Level C Specification | Contains a specification for Level C of the Island Hopper News sample. Describes the database schema, business components, data access components, and those portions of the client applications that are added for Level C. |
| Finding Out More About Island Hopper News | Provides a list of links to more information about the sample and its underlying technologies. |