Chapter 2. Introduction to the Visual Basic Express 2005 IDE

Seeing is believing.

Proverb

Form ever follows function.

Louis Henri Sullivan

Intelligence ...is the faculty of making artificial objects, especially tools to make tools.

Henri-Louis Bergson

Objectives

In this chapter you will learn:

• The basics of the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that assists you in writing, running and debugging your Visual Basic programs.

• Visual Studio's help features.

• Key commands contained in the IDE's menus and toolbars.

• The purpose of the various kinds of windows in the Visual Studio 2005 IDE.

• What visual programming is and how it simplifies and speeds program development.

• To create, compile and execute a simple Visual Basic program that displays text and an image using the Visual Studio IDE and the technique of visual programming.

Outline

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Overview of the Visual Studio 2005 IDE

2.3 Menu Bar and Toolbar

2.4 Navigating the Visual Studio IDE

2.4.1 Solution Explorer

2.4.2 Toolbox

2.4.3 Properties Window

2.5 Using Help

2.6 Using Visual Programming to Create a Simple Program that Displays Text and an Image

2.7 Wrap-Up

2.8 Web Resources