INTRODUCTION
Basic Of Visual Studio 2008
Visual Basic is a programming language that is designed especially for windows programming. This tutorial will step through and demonstrate some of the features of Visual Basic. It will explain most of the tools available for implementing GUI based programs. After introducing the basic facilities and tools provided by Visual Basic, we apply our knowledge to implementing a small VB program. Our program will implement a visual interface for a commonly know “stack” abstract data type. PROGRAMMING TOOLS First, we must look at the different tools that we have to work with. When you are creating a program you must interact with four main windows. They are the Tool bar, Tool box, Project box, and the Properties window.
TOOL BAR
The tool bar is the bar is at the very top of the editing window. It consists of the dropdown menus: File, Edit, View, Project, Build, Debug, Data, Tools, Window, and Help. Below those options are the “quick buttons”. These buttons, reading from left to right are: New Project, New Form, Open File, Save File, Save All, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Navigate Backward, Navigate Forward, Solution Configurations, Find, Solution Explorer, Properties, Toolbox, and Class View.,
TOOL BOX
The Tool box contains the tools you use to place various controls on your forms. It
displays all the standard Visual Basic controls plus any custom controls and objects you
have added to your project with the Custom Controls dialog box.
There are 47 basic tools in the Toolbox:
Pointer: This is the only item in the Toolbox that doesn't draw a control. It is used to
resize or move a control after it's been drawn on a form.
Label: Used for text that you don't want the user to change, such as a caption under a
graphic.
Link Label: A Hyperlink label
Command Button: Used to create a button that the user can choose to carry out a
command.
Text Box: Used to hold text that the user can either enter or change.
Main Menu: Adds menus under the titles bar of the form. i.e. File, Edit, …
Check Box: Used to create a box that the user can easily choose to indicate if something
is true or false, or to display multiple choices when the user can choose more than
one.
Radio Button: Used in a group of option buttons to display multiple choices from which
the user can choose only one.
Group Box: Typically used to serve as a border for control with similar needs
Picture Box: Used to display graphical images (either decorative or active), as a
container that receives output from graphics methods, or as a container for other
controls.
Panel: Used to host or hold other controls that belong to the same group
Datagrid: Allows users see and edit multiple rows of data simultaneously, also useful for
rapid entry of large amounts of data
List Box: Used to display a list of items from which the user can choose one. The list can
be scrolled if it has more items than can be displayed at one time
Checked List Box: Allows the user to select multiple items in a list by providing a check
box for each item.
Combo Box: Used to draw a combination list box and text box. The user can either
choose an item from the list or enter a value in the text box.
List View: Displays a list of items with icons, similar to Windows explorer.
Tree View: Displays a hierarchy of nodes, like files and folders.
Tab Control: Allows the user to add multiple tabs to a form, like dividers in a notebook.
Date Time Picker: Allows the user to select a single item from a list of dates or times.
Month Calendar: Displays a calendar that allows the user to change months and select a
date
Horizontal Scroll Bar: Used to provide a graphical tool for quickly navigating through a
long list of items or a large amount of information, for indicating the current
position on a scale, or as an input device or indicator of speed or quantity.
Vertical Scroll Bar: Used to provide a graphical tool for quickly navigating through a
long list of items or a large amount of information, for indicating the current
position on a scale, or as an input device or indicator of speed or quantity.
Timer: Used to generate timer events at set intervals. This control is invisible at run time.
Splitter: To resize docked controls at runtime.
Domain Up Down: Basically a textbox with two buttons for moving up and down in a
list
Numeric Up Down: Same as DomainUpDown, except the list is composed of numbers
and the up and down arrows adjust the value of the control
Track Bar: Also called a slider. Used to move through vast amounts of data, or visually
adjust a number.
Progress Bar: Set to indicate the progress of a process by displaying the status in the
form of small rectangles in a long rectangle.
Rich Text Box: A textbox that uses .rtf format.
Image List: Just like it sounds, a list of images. The list can be navigated by a button that
scrolls through the images
Help Provider: Brings up the help window.
Tool Tip: Used to display text when the user moves the mouse over a control.
Context Menu: Displays a menu of frequently used commands associated with the
selected item
Tool Bar: Allows the programmer to add a toolbar to his form
Status Bar: Used to allow an application to display various information about its status
Notify Icon: Used for processes that run in the background, and most of the time don’t
need an interface with the user. A good example would be virus protection
software.
Open File Dialog: Brings up the window that allows the user to select a file for opening
Save File Dialog: Opens the window that lets the user select the location and name of the
current open file
Font Dialog: Brings up the font selection window
Color Dialog: Allows the user to choose the current font color
Print Dialog: Brings up the typical Windows print menu
Print Preview Dialog: Opens the menu window for Print Preview settings
Print Preview Control: Opens print preview with the default settings
Error Provider: Provides a non-intrusive way of showing that there is an error with the
input or in a data set. An exclamation mark in a red square is displayed next to the
error
Print Document: Prints the current document with the default printer settings
Page Setup Dialog: Opens the window that allows the user to adjust page settings like
margins, headers and footers, and orientation.
displays all the standard Visual Basic controls plus any custom controls and objects you
have added to your project with the Custom Controls dialog box.
There are 47 basic tools in the Toolbox:
Pointer: This is the only item in the Toolbox that doesn't draw a control. It is used to
resize or move a control after it's been drawn on a form.
Label: Used for text that you don't want the user to change, such as a caption under a
graphic.
Link Label: A Hyperlink label
Command Button: Used to create a button that the user can choose to carry out a
command.
Text Box: Used to hold text that the user can either enter or change.
Main Menu: Adds menus under the titles bar of the form. i.e. File, Edit, …
Check Box: Used to create a box that the user can easily choose to indicate if something
is true or false, or to display multiple choices when the user can choose more than
one.
Radio Button: Used in a group of option buttons to display multiple choices from which
the user can choose only one.
Group Box: Typically used to serve as a border for control with similar needs
Picture Box: Used to display graphical images (either decorative or active), as a
container that receives output from graphics methods, or as a container for other
controls.
Panel: Used to host or hold other controls that belong to the same group
Datagrid: Allows users see and edit multiple rows of data simultaneously, also useful for
rapid entry of large amounts of data
List Box: Used to display a list of items from which the user can choose one. The list can
be scrolled if it has more items than can be displayed at one time
Checked List Box: Allows the user to select multiple items in a list by providing a check
box for each item.
Combo Box: Used to draw a combination list box and text box. The user can either
choose an item from the list or enter a value in the text box.
List View: Displays a list of items with icons, similar to Windows explorer.
Tree View: Displays a hierarchy of nodes, like files and folders.
Tab Control: Allows the user to add multiple tabs to a form, like dividers in a notebook.
Date Time Picker: Allows the user to select a single item from a list of dates or times.
Month Calendar: Displays a calendar that allows the user to change months and select a
date
Horizontal Scroll Bar: Used to provide a graphical tool for quickly navigating through a
long list of items or a large amount of information, for indicating the current
position on a scale, or as an input device or indicator of speed or quantity.
Vertical Scroll Bar: Used to provide a graphical tool for quickly navigating through a
long list of items or a large amount of information, for indicating the current
position on a scale, or as an input device or indicator of speed or quantity.
Timer: Used to generate timer events at set intervals. This control is invisible at run time.
Splitter: To resize docked controls at runtime.
Domain Up Down: Basically a textbox with two buttons for moving up and down in a
list
Numeric Up Down: Same as DomainUpDown, except the list is composed of numbers
and the up and down arrows adjust the value of the control
Track Bar: Also called a slider. Used to move through vast amounts of data, or visually
adjust a number.
Progress Bar: Set to indicate the progress of a process by displaying the status in the
form of small rectangles in a long rectangle.
Rich Text Box: A textbox that uses .rtf format.
Image List: Just like it sounds, a list of images. The list can be navigated by a button that
scrolls through the images
Help Provider: Brings up the help window.
Tool Tip: Used to display text when the user moves the mouse over a control.
Context Menu: Displays a menu of frequently used commands associated with the
selected item
Tool Bar: Allows the programmer to add a toolbar to his form
Status Bar: Used to allow an application to display various information about its status
Notify Icon: Used for processes that run in the background, and most of the time don’t
need an interface with the user. A good example would be virus protection
software.
Open File Dialog: Brings up the window that allows the user to select a file for opening
Save File Dialog: Opens the window that lets the user select the location and name of the
current open file
Font Dialog: Brings up the font selection window
Color Dialog: Allows the user to choose the current font color
Print Dialog: Brings up the typical Windows print menu
Print Preview Dialog: Opens the menu window for Print Preview settings
Print Preview Control: Opens print preview with the default settings
Error Provider: Provides a non-intrusive way of showing that there is an error with the
input or in a data set. An exclamation mark in a red square is displayed next to the
error
Print Document: Prints the current document with the default printer settings
Page Setup Dialog: Opens the window that allows the user to adjust page settings like
margins, headers and footers, and orientation.
PROPERTIES WINDOW
The Properties window contains the list of design-time properties for a selected form, control, class, module, or menu. These properties can be changed at design time, and the Properties window shows each property's current setting. When you select multiple controls, the Properties window contains a list of the properties common to all the selected controls. The Properties window consists of: The Object box. Located beneath the title bar, the Object box identifies the currently selected form or the currently selected control on the form. Click the arrow at the right side of the Object box to see a list that includes the current form and all the controls on the form. From the list, choose the current form or a control on the form whose properties you want to change. The Properties list. This two-column list shows all the properties that can be changed at
design time, as well as their current settings. To change a property's setting, select the property name and type or select the new setting. For properties that have predefined settings, you can display the list of settings by clicking the down arrow at the right of the settings box, or you can cycle through the list of available settings by double-clicking the property name in the left column. 
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