Part I. Introduction
1.1 Brief history and background of Visual Basic
➢ The Visual Basic programming language was developed by Cooper, an American
computer scientist in the late 1980’s.
➢ This programming language was created with the main purpose of teaching
programmers and developers on how to design and develop graphical-user
interface (GUI) programs easily.
➢ GUI name works more with graphics, forms, and icons than typing text to
accomplish a particular task. In GUI approach, rather than trying to remember a
hard to remember command and its corresponding parameter, we can
remember easier by using pictures, objects and images.
With Visual Basic programming we can develop:
• computer games and utilities
• information systems
• computer aided- instruction (CAI)
• multimedia powered applications
• front-end business application system for back-end database servers such as
SQL server or ORACLE database server
• other related database management system (RDBMS)
• internet-enables or web-based application system
• programs for handheld devices
1.2 Common Elements of Visual basic IDE
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the workspace where we construct
together all the components of our application system such as the place where we
design our forms and controls as well as the place where we develop our code or
programs.
1.3 The Start Page
We can use the Start page to select:
1. from a recent project/s
2. a new project, by clicking Nen project icon at the toolbar or as a menu item
at the File menu.
1.4 The New Project Dialog
When we create a new project, we select this menu item from File menu or, we click
the New Project icon (the first icon) from the Toolbar. We will be presented with
different Visual Studio installed templates such as Windows Forms application, Class
Library, Console Application and so on.
1.5 Menu bar
The Menu bar (Menu system) is the line of text that lies across the top of the Visual
window which gives us access to many features within the IDE. Some of the items
are File, Edit, View, Tools and more.
• File Menu works with actual files that makes application system.
• Edit Menu can perform the standard Clipboard options such as cut, copy
and paste.
• View menu can view various component and tools such as Class View, Error
List, Output, Properties Window as well as other utilities that help make our
program development time more productive, easy and fast.
1.6 Toolbars
Below the menu bar are list of icons which are called toolbars. They provide us a
quick access to commonly used menu items (as an alternative way to search for a
command), we simply click an icon (which is an equivalent to the menu-bar
command). We can dock the list of icons beneath the menu bar or above it, or dock
it sideways.
1.7 Toolbox
The Toolbox contains the tools or objects (controls) we might want to place (drag and
drop) on Form Control in our application system on which we presently design and
develop. Example of these objects are Buttons control and text boxes control.
1.8 Solution Explorer
The Solution Explorer tracks the item on projects. If we want to add new items on our
project, we simply use the menu items in our Project menu such as Add Windows Form.
Furthermore, it sees things in terms of files of folders. Example the References folder
holds the currently referenced items such as namespaces in a project. If we want to
set the properties of the various items in our project, we will simply click the Properties
folder.
1.9 Properties window
The Properties window is docked right under the Solution Explorer window. It provides
us the lists of the property settings from the currently selected form or other control
objects. A property in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) term is a characteristic of
an object such as its size, caption, or color. The characteristic is not limited to the
appearance of an object(control) but also about the way it behaves.
1.10 Context Menus
The Context menus contain shortcuts to our frequently performed commands. To
open the context menu, we simply click the right mouse button on the control to
object we are currently using. The specific list of shortcuts available from context
menu depends on the part of the environment where we click the right mouse
button.
1.11 Form Designer
The Form Designer is our drawing board where we design graphically the layout of
the form and controls of out application system. This is where we draw our graphicaluser interface (GUI). Here we can add controls, picture, or other graphics to a form
to design the look we want.
There are four common Graphical Designers we usually used in Visual basic
Programming. They are Windows Form Designer, Web Form Designer, Component
Designer and XML Designer.
1.12 Code Designer
The code designer window serves as a program editor where we can write our
program (code) behind each form and control (object)we design or where we can
place the code module we develop in our application system. We can also use the
tabs at the top center of the IDE to switch between the Form Designer such as the
Form1.cs[Design] and the Code designer such as Form1.cs.
Note: The .vb of the Form1 means visual basic.
1.13 Class View
The Class View window which is located next to the Solution Explorer, is actually
another tab that sits beside the Solution Explorer, which presents solutions and
projects in terms of the classes they contain and the members of these classes.
Furthermore, the class view window provides us an easy way of jumping to a
member of the class that we want to access quickly. We simply find it in the class
view window, and double click it to bring it up in the code designer.
1.14 The IntelliSense
The IntelliSense is a box that pops-up as we write the code into our Code Designer,
and lists all possible options and even completing out typing of code for us. This is
useful when we cannot remember what built-in VB method accepts, because it will
display those arguments as we type in the call of the method. Moreover, the
IntelliSense offers syntax tips which display the syntax of the statement we are typing.
1.15 Component Trays
The Component Trays are one of the most useful components of Visual Basic IDE,
most especially when our application system requires us to put a Timer, a MenuStrip,
TooStrip, ContextMenuStrip and ToopTips controls will appear in the contemporary
tray which we can see at the bottom part of our Form during the time we design
our program.
1.16 Server Explorer
The Sever Explorer is very useful when we want to connect our database to our code
and bind it to the Controls we design at the Form. Example: if we drag a database
table onto the form, Visual Basic would create the connection and command
objects that we need to access that table from our code.