Datasheet

The Profile Setup Page
An IDE is a way of bringing together a suite of tools that makes developing software a lot easier. Fire up
Visual Studio 2005 and see what you’ve got. If you used the default installation, go to your Windows
Start menu and then Programs (All Programs on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003) ➪ Microsoft
Visual Studio 2005 ➪ Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. A splash screen will briefly appear, and then you
should find yourself presented with the Choose Default Environment Settings dialog box. Select the
Visual Basic Development Settings option and then click Start Visual Studio. The Microsoft Development
Environment will appear, as shown in Figure 1-4.
Figure 1-4
The Menu
By now, you may be a bit eager to start writing some code. But first, begin your exploration of the IDE
by looking at the toolbar and menu, which, as you will learn are not really all that different from the
toolbars and menus you have seen in other Microsoft software such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Visual Studio 2005’s menu is dynamic, meaning that items will be added or removed depending on what
you are trying to do. While you are looking at the blank IDE, the menu bar will consist only of the File,
Edit, View, Data, Tools, Window, Community, and Help menus. When you start working on a project,
however, the full Visual Studio 2005 menu appears as shown in Figure 1-5.
Figure 1-5
7
Welcome to Visual Basic 2005
04_574019 ch01.qxd 9/16/05 9:42 PM Page 7