Lecture Set 2 Part A: Creating an Application with Visual Studio – Solutions, Projects, Files

Slide 2 Objectives (Much of this Lecture Set should be read with Visual Studio open in another window) Introduction to Console and Windows Applications Understand basic terminology – Solutions Projects, Applications, etc. See how to create new Solutions, new Applications/Projects General navigation around a Windows Application and the Solution Explorer and other windows in the Visual Studio IDE

Slide 3 BIG WARNING Name everything you create with a meaningful name more on this to come do not let the system name things for you we will discuss naming conventions later from the creation of you application to the smallest of buttons – use meaningful names!!

Slide 4 Console Applications Visual Studio supports the creation of a number of different types of Applications  Each different type of Application has a different structure and automatically provides support for different applications code Types of Applications we will work with in this course Console Applications Windows Applications

Slide 5 Types of Applications

Slide 6 The Console Class (review) Console is System class (it is in the System Namespace) – it is part of the mscorlib library which is one of the library DLLs that is automatically loaded with the execution of ALL VS applications. mscorlib is discussed in the Chapter 1 Lecture Set B (around slide 25). We will discuss References a little later in this slide set. This Console class supports a number of methods, including methods performing actions related to keyboard input (Read and ReadLine) and screen output (Write and WriteLine)

Slide 7 The Console Class (in the flesh - optional )

Slide 8 Comments re Console Applications (optional) Recall that Visual Studio 2010 provides us with a convenient interface for applications development. We now examine the VS 2010 interface for a Console Application  The Console Application provides a Module for you to write code (a Windows App provides by default a Form for the insertion of tools) You have a minimal set of referenced namespaces (classes from the FCL) There are no classes to support Forms or Drawing, etc

Slide 9 VS Interface - Console Application (optional)

Slide 10 Windows Applications We now move on to examine (more thoroughly) Windows Applications We begin with a look at the Visual Studio 2010 interface for a sample Windows Application  Note the default list of References and the Form (as distinguished from what we saw in the Console interface) To get full views of information )all files, etc. click on “Show All Files” (top of Solution Explorer window) More solution information shows up after you do a Build

Slide 11 VS 2010 Interface for Windows Application

Slide 12 Solution with Two Projects (optional)

Slide 13 Solutions and Applications Look again at the VS 2005 Interface for a Windows Application (one slide back) What do we see? Applications? Solutions Projects Other “stuff” Look at the files associated with solution

Slide 14 What are these things? Solution Each Application that you create is organized by Visual Studio into a Solution The Solution file is the heart of an Application’s structure A Solution in turn consists of numerous files and folders, including one or more Projects Multiple folders – look at slide 10 The is also a Solution File (.sln) (not to be monkeyed with)

Slide 15 A Visual Studio Solution

Slide 16 Solution Explorer

Slide 17 A Solution – As Seen in Your Files System

Slide 18 Project Characteristics Again, refer back to Slide 11 A project contains one or more namespaces Every project has one root namespace But projects can have many other Namespaces Every project has a type (Console, Windows, etc.) Each project gets compiled into an Assembly Every project has an entry point A Sub procedure named Main or a form Forms apply only to Windows Application projects

Slide 19 A Project (continued)

Slide 20 Project References A project has references to.NET Framework class library namespaces  (next 2 slides).NET automatically adds references to commonly used namespaces based on the type of project template Use the References tab of the project property page to add additional namespace references

Slide 21 Project Property Page – References Tab

Slide 22 Some FCL Namespaces That Can Be Referenced

Slide 23 Creating a New Solution (you did this already) Click on VS 2010 Icon on your desktop. Click on Create New Project to display the New Project dialog box Specify the project template and the project file name OR pull down the File menu and follow the same directions Different templates appear based on the installed Visual Studio edition 

Slide 24 New Project Dialog Box

Slide 25 Creating a New Project A new project does not exist in a vacuum – it must be part of an application In VS, you begin with the application you wish to create, and VS organizes everything you do into a Solution (with one or more Projects) The Application, and everything related to it is encapsulated in a Visual Studio solution There may be multiple projects inside a solution The solution takes on the name of the first Project created

Slide 26 View of a new project (in a solution) Solution with Three (related) Projects

Slide 27 Solutions and Projects HangmanGame is the name of the solution – it is at the heart of your application and controls everything A new solution is created from a project template This solution contains three Projects (Note – pick your solution, projects, and components names carefully.) Each allows you to rename – DO IT – in a meaningful way before you do your first save. The solution file has a suffix.sln. Do not change this extension Template  Application  Solution (with one or more projects)

Slide 28 Saving a Visual Studio Project Click File, Save All to save the solution the first time Specify the solution name and the folder where the solution will be created By default, a new folder is created for a new solution Again – pick all names carefully

Slide 29 Save Project Dialog Box

Slide 30 Organization of a Visual Studio Solution The Solution Explorer is used to manage the elements of a solution The folder named My Project contains configuration information common to all projects The file AssemblyInfo.vb contains assembly metadata The References folder contains references to other assemblies The bin folder contains the executable file produced as a result of compiling the application A project contains one or more parts

Slide 31 Solution Explorer with All Folders Expanded

Slide 32 Solution Files Appearing in Windows Explorer

Slide 33 Using the Solution Explorer The Solution Explorer is a tool window as opposed to a document window Use the drill-down interface to expand and collapse folders Icons appear to identify different file types File names appear to the right of the file type icon Use the Solution Explorer to rename files rather than Windows Explorer (Again – look at an example with Visual Studio open and focused on items such as the options menu, the toolbox, and the solution explorer.)

Slide 34 The Solution Explorer Toolbar The Properties button displays the Properties window The View Code button displays the Code Editor for a module The View Designer button displays a visual designer The visual designer varies based on the file’s contents Not all files have an associated visual designer The Refresh button synchronizes files The Show All Files button displays all folders and files The View in Diagram button displays a class in a hierarchical view

Slide 35 Windows of the Visual Studio IDE Windows are of two types Tool windows are common to all applications Tool windows are used for development in all Visual Studio languages Document windows are used to create the visual interface and code for an application

Slide 36 Tool Windows The Solution Explorer groups the elements of a solution The Properties window is used to set properties for objects The Toolbox contains controls that are created on a form Several tool windows exist for debugging Refer to Appendix A The Error List window displays syntax errors The Output window displays information as a project is compiled

Slide 37 Displaying Tool Windows Tool windows can be anchored along an edge of the IDE The process is called docking Docked windows can be Auto Hidden Auto Hidden windows appear when the mouse is positioned over the hidden window tab Floating windows appear anywhere on the desktop Some tool windows can be configured to appear as document windows

Slide 38 The Appearance of Tool Windows in the Visual Studio IDE