t u t o r i a l 2009 pearson education, inc. all rights reserved. 1 2 welcome application...

T U T O R I A L

2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

1

2Welcome Application

Introducing the Visual Basic2008 Express Edition IDE


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Outline

2.1 Test-Driving the Welcome Application

2.2 Overview of the Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition IDE

2.3 Creating a Project for the Welcome Application

2.4 Menu Bar and Toolbar

2.5 Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition IDE Windows

2.6 Auto-Hide

2.7 Using Help

2.8 Saving and Closing Projects in Visual Basic


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In this tutorial you will learn: ■ Navigate Visual Studio 2008’s Start Page.■ Create a Visual Basic project.■ Use the IDE’s menus and toolbars.■ Manipulate windows in the Visual Basic 2008

Express Edition IDE.■ Use the auto-hide feature.■ Use the Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition IDE’s

help features.■ Close a Visual Basic project.

Objectives


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■ Visual Studio® 2008 is Microsoft’s integrated development environment (IDE) for creating, running and debugging applications.

■ The IDE allows you to create applications by dragging and dropping existing building blocks into place.

■ This technique is called visual programming.

Introduction

Application Requirements


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2.1 Test-Driving the Welcome Application

A software company (Deitel & Associates) has asked you to develop a Visual Basic application that displays the message “Welcome to Visual Basic 2008!” and a picture of the company’s bug mascot.


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Test-Driving the Welcome Application

■ Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Examples\Tutorial02 directory (Fig. 2.1).

Contents ofC:\Examples\

Tutorial02

Figure 2.1 | Contents of C:\Examples\Tutorial02.


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■ Double click Welcome.exe (Fig. 2.1) to run the application (Fig. 2.2).

Figure 2.2 | Welcome application executing.

Close box

■ Close your running application by clicking its close box,

Test-Driving the Welcome Application (Cont.)


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■ Many versions of Visual Studio are available. The examples in this book are based on the Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition.

■ You can also purchase a full version of Visual Studio 2008, which includes support for other languages such as Visual C# and Visual C++.

■ To start the IDE, select Start > All Programs > Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition.

2.2 Overview of the Visual Basic2008 Express Edition IDE


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■ Once the Express Edition begins execution, the Start Page displays (Fig. 2.3).

Figure 2.3 | Start Page in Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition with an empty project list.

Empty Solution Explorer (no projects open)

■ The Start Page contains a list of links to resources in theIDE and on the Internet.

2.2 Overview of the Visual Basic2008 Express Edition IDE (Cont.)

Start Page

Start Page links


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■ The Start Page links are organized into sections:– the Recent Projects section

– the Getting Started section, which focuses on usingthe IDE for creating programs, learning Visual Basic, connecting to the Visual Basic developer community and providing development tools

– and the Visual Basic Express Headlines and MSDN: Visual Basic Express Edition sections, which provide links to information about programming in Visual Basic.

■ You can browse the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) online library at msdn2.microsoft.com/library.



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■ You can also browse the web from the IDE using the internal web browser.

■ To request a web page, type its URL into the location bar (Fig. 2.4) (If the location bar is not already displayed, select View > Other Windows > Web Browser).



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Figure 2.4 | Displaying a web page in the Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition IDE.

Selected tab forrequested web page


Requested web page (URL in location-bar drop-down menu)


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■ Visual Basic organizes applications into projects and solutions.

– A project is a group of related files, such as codeand images that might make up a program.

– Solutions contain one or more projects.

2.3 Creating a Project for theWelcome Application


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■ There are several ways to create a new project or open an existing one:

– Select either File > New Project…, which creates a new project, or File > Open Project…, which opens an existing project.

– From the Start Page, under the Recent Projects section, click the link Create: Project… or Open: Project….

– Click either the New Project Button (Fig. 2.5) or the Open File Button (Fig. 2.5).

Creating a Project for theWelcome Application


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Figure 2.5 | New Project button and Recent Projects listing.

Creating a Project for theWelcome Application (Cont.)

Title bar

New Project button

Open File button

Recent Projects listing


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Figure 2.6 | New Project dialog.


■ Visual Basic provides templates for a variety of projects (Fig. 2.6). Templates are the project types you can createin Visual Basic.

■ Select Windows Forms Application.

Default projectname (providedby Visual Basic)


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Figure 2.7 | New Project dialog with updated project information.


■ To rename the project, type Welcome in the Name: TextBox (Fig. 2.7). Then click OK.

Visual BasicWindows Forms

Application(selected)

Updated project name


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Figure 2.8 | Save Project dialog.


■ Save this project in your C:\SimplyVB2008 directory.To change the project’s location, select File > Save All (Fig. 2.8).


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Figure 2.9 | Project Location dialog.


■ Use the Browse… Button to locate your SimplyVB2008 directory (Fig. 2.9). After providing the project’s name and location in the Save Project dialog, click Save.

SimplyVB2008 directory(selected)

Select FolderButton


20Creating a Project for the

Welcome Application (Cont.)

■ The name of each open file is listed on a tab.■ To view a file, click its tab (Fig. 2.10).

Figure 2.10 | Design view of the IDE. Properties window

Menu bar

Active tab

Form (Windows application)

titled Form1

Solution Explorer

Tabs




■ The content of the Form1.vb [Design] tab is the Windows Form Designer.

■ The Form (titled Form1) represents the main window of the Windows Forms application.




■ GUI controls aid both in data entry by users and in formatting and presenting data outputs to users.

■ For example, Internet Explorer (Fig. 2.11) displays web pages requested by users.


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Figure 2.11 | Internet Explorer window with GUI controls labeled.(Web site content courtesy of Deitel & Associates, Inc.)


Title bar (Label)

Menu barToolbar

Web site requestedby the user

Menu (Help) ComboBoxDrop-down arrow

Button (displaying an icon)


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Figure 2.12 | Visual Basic 2008 IDE menu bar.

2.4 Menu Bar and Toolbar

■ Menus contain commands for managing the IDE and for developing and executing applications.

■ The set of menus displayed (Fig. 2.12) depends on what you are currently doing in the IDE.


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Figure 2.13 | Visual Basic IDE menu summary.

2.4 Menu Bar and Toolbar (Cont.)

■ Each menu has a group of related commands (also called menu items) that cause the IDE to perform specific actions (Fig. 2.13).

Menu Description

File Contains commands for opening, closing, adding and saving projects, as well as printing project data and exiting Visual Studio.

Edit Contains editing commands, such as Cut, Paste and Undo.

View Contains commands for displaying IDE windows and toolbars.

Project Contains commands for managing projects and their files.

Build Contains commands for compiling Visual Basic applications.

Debug Contains commands for debugging and running applications.

Data Contains commands for interacting with databases.

Format Contains commands for aligning and modifying a Form’s controls. This menu appears only when a GUI component is selected in Design view.

Tools Contains commands for accessing additional IDE tools and options that enable customization of the IDE.

Window Contains commands for hiding, opening, closing and displaying IDE windows.

Help Contains commands for accessing the IDE’s help features.


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■ You can access many common commands from the IDE toolbar (Fig. 2.14).

– The toolbar contains icons that graphically represent commands.

– To execute a command via the IDE toolbar, simplyclick its icon.

Figure 2.14 | IDE toolbar.

Down arrow indicates additional commands

are available

Keyboard shortcuts

Toolbar icon indicates a command to open a project

Toolbar


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Figure 2.15 | Tooltip demonstration.

■ Positioning the mouse pointer over an icon highlights it and, after a brief pause, displays a description of the icon called a tooltip (Fig. 2.15).


Tooltip displayedwhen the mouse

pointer has restedon the icon for a

few seconds


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Figure 2.16 | Toolbar icons for four Visual Basic IDE windows.

■ The IDE provides windows for accessing project filesand for customizing forms and controls.

■ You can access these windows by using the IDE toolbar icons (Fig. 2.16) or by selecting the window name, using the View menu.

2.5 Visual Basic 2008 ExpressEdition IDE Windows

Properties icon Object Browser icon

Toolbox icon Solution Explorer icon


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Figure 2.17 | Solution Explorer with an open project.

Solution Explorer■ The Solution Explorer window (Fig. 2.17) displays a list of

the files in a project and the projects in a solution.

■ If the Solution Explorer window is not shown in the IDE, you can display it by selecting View > Solution Explorer.

2.5 Visual Basic 2008 ExpressEdition IDE Windows (Cont.)

Propertieswindow icon

Show All Files icon

Form file

Toolbar

Project name


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Figure 2.18 | Using the Show All Files icon to display all the files in a solution.

■ Click the Show All Files icon (Fig. 2.18) to display all the files in the solution.

2.5 Visual Basic 2008 ExpressEdition IDE Windows (Cont.)

Collapsed node (plus box expands node to show

related files when clicked)

■ For your single-project solution, Welcome is the only project. The Form file is named Form1.vb.


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Figure 2.19 | Expanded node.

■ After clicking the Show All Files icon, click the plus box to the left of the My Project folder (Fig. 2.19) to expand the node.

Navigating a Project with theSolution Explorer

Expanded node (minus box)


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■ After clicking the Show All Files icon, click the plus box to the left of the My Project folder (Fig. 2.19) to expand the node.

Navigating a Project with theSolution Explorer (Cont.)

Figure 2.20 | Collapsed node.

Collapsed node (plus box)


33Navigating a Project with theSolution Explorer (Cont.)

Figure 2.21 | Toolbox displaying the contents of the Common Controls tab.

Group names

Controls

Additional groupnames

Toolbox■ Using visual programming, you can

“drag and drop” controls onto the Form.

■ If the Toolbox is not visible, select View > Toolbox.

■ The Toolbox (Fig. 2.21) groups controls into categories.


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Properties Window■ The Properties window (Fig. 2.22) displays an object’s

attributes, such as its size, color and position.■ The Properties window allows you to set object

properties visually without writing code.■ If the Properties window is not visible, select

View > Properties Window (or press F4).



35Navigating a Project with theSolution Explorer (Cont.)

Figure 2.22 | Properties window displaying a Form’s properties.

Object’sname

(Form1) Object’s class

(System.Windows.Forms.Form)

Down arrow for selecting Formor control objects

Toolbar

Items that have beenchanged from their defaultvalues (by the user or by VisualStudio) are listed in bold

Scrollbox

Scrollbar

Property values(right column)

Properties(left column)

Description ofselected property

Design category

Selected property

Alphabetical icon

Categorized icon

Component object box


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■ At the top of the Properties window is the component object box, which displays each object’s name and class type.

■ Icons on the toolbar sort the properties either alphabeticallyor categorically.

■ Each gray horizontal bar to the left of the scrollbar is a category that groups related properties.

■ The left column of the Properties window lists the object’s property names; the right column displays each property’s value.

■ Whenever you select a property, a description of the property displays at the bottom of the Properties window.



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■ Auto-hide is enabled by clicking the window’s verticalpin icon.

■ The toolbar along one of the edges of the IDE containsone or more tabs, each of which identifies a hiddenwindow (Fig. 2.23) and displays the window whenclicked (Fig. 2.24).

Using Auto-Hide

Figure 2.23 | Hidden-window tabs.

Tab for hidden window

Figure 2.24 | Displaying a hidden window with auto-hide enabled.

Mouse pointer over the

tab for the Toolbox Horizontal pin icon (auto-hide enabled)

Toolbox is displayedwhen the mouse pointeris placed on the tab forthe Toolbox

Title bar


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■ Move the mouse pointer outside the Toolbox window’s area to hide the Toolbox (Fig. 2.25).

Figure 2.25 | Hiding the Toolbox by moving the mouse pointeroutside of the Toolbox’s area.

Mouse pointer over the tab for the Toolbox

(Toolbox window is hidden)

Using Auto-Hide (Cont.)


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■ To disable auto-hide click the pin icon in the title bar.■ When a window is “pinned down,” the pin icon is

vertical (Fig. 2.26)■ When auto-hide is enabled, the pin icon is horizontal.

Figure 2.26 | Pin icon in vertical position.

Vertical pin icon(auto-hide is disabled)



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■ Help provides a list of articles pertaining to the “current content.”

■ The help window also provides help topics, code samples and “Getting Started” information (Fig. 2.27).

Figure 2.27 | Help menu commands.

Command Description

How Do I? Contains links to relevant topics, including how to upgrade applications and learn more about web services, architecture and design, files, data and more.

Search Finds help articles based on search keywords.

I ndex Displays an alphabetized list of topics which you can browse.

Contents Displays a categorized table of contents in which help articles are organized by topic.



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■ Visual Basic also provides context-sensitive help, which displays relevant help articles (Fig. 2.28).

■ To use context-sensitive help, click an item,then press the F1 key.



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Figure 2.28 | Context-sensitive help window.


Selected item(Windows form)

Relevant helparticle

Context-sensitivehelp window

HowDo I Search Index Contents

Toolbar


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Once you’re finished with a project, you shouldsave the project’s files and close the project.■ Before closing the project for the Welcome application, you should save its files, ensuring

that any changes made to the project are not lost.■ Although you did not make any changes, save your project files by selecting File > Save All.■ Select File > Close Project.

2.8 Saving and Closing Projectsin Visual Basic

t u t o r i a l 2009 pearson education, inc. all rights reserved. 1 2 welcome application...

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