CIS 115 Lecture 2

 Visual Studio 2005

Professional Edition
(Requires Windows XP Pro)

 MSDN Library for

Visual Studio 2005

Available from MSDNAA

 A platform that allows the development and
deployment of desktop and web applications
 Allows user choice of many .NET languages
 May program in One of them
 May create different parts of application in different
languages
▪ Visual Basic
▪ C# (C Sharp)
▪ C++
▪ J++
▪ Etc.
 Integrated Development Environment –
allows the automation of many of the
common programming tasks in one
environment
 Writing the code
 Checking for Syntax (Language) errors
 Compiling and Interpreting(Transferring to
computer language)
 Debugging (Fixing Run-time or Logic Errors)
 Running the Application
 4th Generation Programming Environment /
Development Language
 Based on BASIC language
 Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instructional
Code
 Most widely used tool for developing
Windows Applications
 Graphical User Interface (GUI)
 Menus, Buttons, Icons to help the user
 Full Object-Oriented Programming Language
Visual Studio .NET .NET Framework

Integrated Common
Visual Basic
Development Language
compiler
Environment Runtime

1 2 3

Solution Assembly
Project
Intermediate Language (IL)

Source files

Class references
 User creates a new project in Visual Studio
 A solution and a folder are created at the same time with the same name as
the project
 The project belongs to the solution
 Multiple projects can be included in a solution
 Solution
 Contains several folders that define an application’s structure
 Solution files have a file suffix of .sln
 Project: contains files for a part of the solution
 Project file is used to create an executable application
 A project file has a suffix of .vbproj
 Every project has a type (Console, Windows, etc.)
 Every project has an entry point: A Sub procedure named Main or a Form
 Solution folder
 Solution file (.sln)
 Project folder
▪ Project file (.vbproj)
▪ Visual Basic source files (.vb)
▪ My Project folder: 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
 Select the “Create Project” option from the “Recent
Projects” box on the Start Page
 This is a Visual Basic
GUI object called a form
 Forms are the windows
and dialog boxes that
display when a program
runs.
 A form is an object that
contains other objects
such as buttons, text
boxes, and labels
 Form elements are
objects called controls
 This form has:
 TwoTextBox controls
 Four Label controls
 Two Button controls
 The value displayed by
a control is held in the text property of the control
 Left button text property is Calculate Gross Pay
 Buttons have methods attached to events
 Design
T Window
Solution
o Explorer
o
l
b Properties
o Window
x
 Step 1: Add a Control to the Form – Button
 Look in the Toolbox for the Button Control
 Select the Button with the Mouse
 Draw a Rectangle Region in the Design Window
by holding the mouse button down
 Release the mouse button to see your button
 (Can also be added by double clicking on the
button in the Toolbox)
 Add a Second Button to the Form
 Put it in the lower right corner

 The project now contains

 a form with 2 button
 controls
 Properties
 All controls have properties
 Each property has a value (or values)
 Determine the Look and Feel (and sometimes
behavior) of a Control
 Set initially through the Properties Window
 Properties Set for this Application
 Name
 Text
 The name property establishes a means for
the program to refer to that control
 Controls are assigned relatively meaningless
names when created
 Change these names to something more
meaningful
 Control names must start with a letter
 Remaining characters may be letters, digits,
or underscore
 The label controls use the default names (Label1, etc.)
 Text boxes, buttons, and the Gross Pay label play an
active role in the program and have been changed

Label1 txtHoursWorked

Label2 txtPayRate

Label3 lblGrossPay

btnCalcGrossPay btnClose
 Should be meaningful
 1st 3 lowercase letters indicate the type of control
 txt… for Text Boxes
 lbl… for Labels
 btn… for Buttons
 After that, capitalize the first letter of each word
 txtHoursWorked is clearer than txthoursworked
 Change the name property
 Set the name of button1 to btnWelcome
 Set the name of button2 to btnExit
 Click on the Control in the Design Window
 Select the appropriate property in the
Properties Window
 Determines the visible text on the control
 Change the text property
 bntWelcome  set to “Say Welcome”
 btnExit  set to “Exit”

 Do not need to include the “ “ in your text field

 Notice how the buttons now display the new text
 The GUI environment is event-driven
 An event is an action that takes place within a
program
 Clicking a button (a Click event)
 Keying in a TextBox (a TextChanged event)
 Visual Basic controls are capable of detecting
many, many events
 A program can respond to an event if the
programmer writes an event procedure
 An Event Procedure is a block of code that
executes only when particular event occurs
 Writing an Event Procedure
 Create the event procedure stub
▪ Double click on control from Design Window – for
default event for that control
OR
▪ Open the Code Editor (F7 or View Menu/Code option)
▪ Select Control & Select Event from drop down windows
in Code Editor
 Add the event code to the event procedure stub
 Select the btnWelcome control from the
Form Controls List Box
 Select the Click event from the list of many
available events
 Buttons have 57 possible events they can
respond to
 Beginning of Procedure is created for you
 If you create stub by double clicking on control it
will create a stub for the most commonly used
event for that control
 Write the code that you want executed when
the user clicks on the btnWelcome button
 Type: MsgBox (“Welcome to Visual Basic”)

 Must be contained within the Event Procedure

Stub
 Not Case Sensitive
 Visual Basic will “correct” case issues for you
 Keywords are in Blue
 Special reserved words
 Comments in Green
 Problems with Syntax (Language) will be
underlined in blue
 Rules
 Use spaces to separate the words and operators
 Indentation and capitalization have no effect
 Recommendations
 Use indentation and extra spaces for alignment
 Use blank lines before and after groups of related
statements
 Code all variable declarations at the start of the
procedure
 Group related declarations
 Usage
 Type an apostrophe ( ' ) followed by the comment
 The compiler ignores everything on the line after ‘
 Used for documentation/readability and to disable
chosen statements during testing
 Recommendations
 Follow apostrophe with a star for readability ( ‘* )
 Use at beginning of program to indicate author,
purpose, date, etc.
 Use for groups of related statements and portions of
code that are difficult to understand
'* ======================================
'* Class: CIS 115-101
'* Author: Paul Overstreet
'* Purpose: Homework 1 – VB Application
'* Date: 11/30/01
'* ======================================
Public Class Form1
Private Sub btnCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventAr…
'*Variable declarations
Dim dOrderTotal As Decimal
Dim dDiscountAmount As Decimal
'*Get total from textbox
dOrderTotal = txtOrderTotal.Text
'*Calculate the proper discount
dDiscountAmount = dOrderTotal * 0.25
' dDiscountAmount = dOrderTotal * 0.25
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)…
‘*Code goes here
End Sub
End Class
 Create an Event Procedure for when the
btnExit button is clicked
 Have it display “Goodbye” in a MsgBox
 Then “End” – this will terminate the program
 You can switch between the Design Window
and the Code Window (once opened) by
clicking on the tabs at the top of the
 Design and Code Windows
 Form1.vb(Design) is the
 design window
 Form1.vb is the Code Window
 Click the Run Icon on the
Standard Toolbar
 Or Press F5

 This will begin the program

 Display the Form/Window
 Nothing will happen
 Waiting on an Event
 Click on the “Say Welcome” button
 The message box should display
 Click on the “Exit” button
 The message box should display
 The application should terminate
 Make sure to save your work
 SAVE ALL (not Save Form)
 Visual Basic applications are
 made of several files -
 Often even several forms
 Lab Handout
 Intro to VB Controls and Properties
 See handout for details and due date
 Questions?