Understanding the Visual Basic 2008 Environment

The key to expanding your knowledge of Visual Basic is to become as comfortable as possible as quickly as possible with the Visual Basic design environment. Just as a carpenter doesn't think much about hammering a nail into a piece of wood, performing actions such as saving projects, creating new forms, and setting object properties should become second nature to you. The more comfortable you are with Visual Basic's tools, the more you can focus your energies on what you're creating with the tools.

In this Chapter, you'll learn how to customize your design environment by moving, docking, floating, hiding, and showing design windows, as well as how to customize menus and toolbars. After you've gotten acquainted with the environment, I'll teach you about projects and the files they're made of. I'll also introduce you to the design windows with which you'll work most frequently. Finally, I'll show you how to get help when you're stuck.

Chapter 2.1: Using the Visual Basic 2008 Start Page

The Visual Basic 2008 Start Page is a gateway for performing tasks with Visual Basic. Read more...

Chapter 2.2: Customizing the Visual Basic Environment

Visual Basic lets you customize many of its interface elements such as windows and toolbars, enabling you to be more efficient in the work you do. Read more...

Chapter 2.3: Working with Toolbars

Toolbars are the mainstay for performing functions quickly in almost every Windows program. Read more...

Chapter 2.4: Adding Controls to a Form

The IDE offers some fantastic tools for building a graphical user interface for your applications. Read more...

Chapter 2.5: Setting Object Properties

When developing the interface of a project, you'll spend a lot of time viewing and setting object properties using the Properties window. Read more...

Chapter 2.6: Managing Projects

In this section, you'll learn about the Solution Explorer window and how it's used to manage project files. Read more...

Chapter 2.7: A Quick Programming Introduction

Programming is complicated, A Quick Programming introduction. Read more...

Chapter 2.8: Getting Help

To access Help from within the design environment, press F1. Read more...