Datasheet

P1: GIG
WY006-01 WY006-Sample WY006-Sample-v3.cls January 29, 2004 17:49
Chapter 1
The toolbar is segmented into groups of related options, which are separated by a vertical bar. The first
five icons provide access to the commonly used project and file manipulation options available through
the File and Project menus, such as opening and saving files.
The next group of icons is for editing (Cut, Copy, and Paste). The third group of icons is for editing and
navigation. The navigation buttons replicate functionality found in the View menu and allow you to cycle
through the tabs at the top of the main window.
The fourth group of icons provides the ability to start your application running (via the blue triangle) and
to specify build configurations. There are times when you want certain parts of your code only to appear
in a debug version, a bit like a rough draft version of your application. For example, you may have code
in your application that is only useful for tracking down problems in the application. When it is time to
release your application to the world, you will want to exclude this code by setting the Solution
Configurations settings to Release. You can also access the functionality offered by this group via the
Build and Debug menus.
The next section allows you to locate parts of your code quickly. The simplest way to search is to type
some text into the Find text box and press Enter. If the text is found, it will be highlighted in the central
window. The Find in Files option allows you to specify more sophisticated searches, including matching
the case of the text, looking in specific files or projects, and replacing the found text with new text. The
search functionality can also be accessed via the Edit
➪ Find and Replace menu option.
The next group of icons provides quick links back to the Solution Explorer, Properties window, Object
Browser, Toolbox, and Class view. If any of these windows are closed, clicking the appropriate icon will
bring it back into view.
If you forget what a particular icon does, you can hover your mouse pointer over it so that a tooltip appears
displaying the name of the toolbar option.
You could continue to look at each of the other windows directly from the Start Page. But, as you can see
they are all empty at this stage, and therefore not too revealing. The best way to look at the capabilities of
the IDE is to use it while writing some code.
Creating a Simple Application
To finish your exploration of the Visual Basic .NET IDE you need to create a project, so that the windows
shown earlier in Figure 1-6 actually have some interesting content for you to look at. You are now going
to create a very simple application called HelloUser that will allow you to enter a person’s name and
display a greeting to that person in a message box.
Try It Out Creating a HelloUser Project
1.
Click on the New Project button on the Projects tab of the Start Page.
2. The New Project dialog box will open. Make sure you have Visual Basic Projects selected in the
Project Types tree-view box to the left. Next, select Windows Application in the Templates box on
the right. If you need to save this project to a location other than the default, be sure to enter it
into the Location box. Finally, type HelloUser in the Name text box and click OK. Your New
Project screen should look like Figure 1-9.
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