Configuring the Interactive Development Environment

The IDE contains all the tools you need to build Visual Basic .NET applications. Because the IDE includes many options to accommodate programming in several languages, you'll first want to optimize the IDE layout for Visual Basic. The Visual Studio start page lets you create a profile that's the most convenient for Visual Basic programming. If you haven't done so already, load Visual Studio .NET and then follow these steps:

Click the My Profile link at the bottom of the column on the left of the home page.
Using the drop-down list at the top, set the Profile to Visual Basic Developer, and then choose Visual Basic 6 from the Window Layout drop-down list, as shown in Figure 1-5.

Setting up a profile.
Click the Get Started link at the top of the column at the left of the start page. This option configures the IDE, and all the tools required for developing Visual Basic .NET applications will be displayed, as shown in Figure 1-6. The folks in Redmond did an excellent job of making the Toolbox, Solution Explorer, Class View, and Properties windows available in the limited real estate of the screen. In addition, many of these windows use tabs in order to make the maximum amount of information available while using the minimum amount of screen space.

The IDE configured for Visual Basic .NET development.

Of course, you can and will change this view as you become more familiar with the IDE. Additional views can be displayed at any time by selecting options from the View menu. Any of the current windows can be dismissed and displayed again by selecting them from the View menu.