Datasheet

brings additional chances for confusion. It will be less confusing to shrink the Visual Basic IDE to an icon
and open the file using an external editor such as Word or WordPad. If you won’t use a file very often
with the project, don’t add it to the project.
IDE Overview
Figure 1-1 shows the IDE immediately after starting a new project. The IDE is extremely configurable, so
it may not look much like Figure 1-1 after you have rearranged things to your own liking.
If you don’t have a reason to modify the IDE’s basic arrangement, you should probably leave it alone.
Then when you read a magazine article that tells you to use the Project menu’s Add Reference com-
mand, the command will be where it should be. Using the standard IDE layout also reduces confusion
when you need to consult with another developer. It’s a lot easier to share tips about using the Format
menu if you haven’t removed that menu from the IDE.
Figure 1-1: Initially the IDE looks more or less like this.
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IDE
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