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Visual Studio.Net and Hello World Console Application
If you are new to the C# School
This is the 2nd of the series of lessons of our C# school. C# School is a kind of interactive learning platform where those who want to learn .Net with C# can find help and support with an issue a week describing some areas of the C# Programming Language with the Microsoft .Net Platform. This is not the same traditional passive tutorial where author only writes and reader only reads. There will be exercise problems at the end of each issue which a reader is supposed to solve after reading the issue. The solution to these problems will be provided in the next issue for testing purpose. There is also a dedicated
message board attached with the school where you can ask any question about the article and the author will respond to your question within 2/3 days.
For previous lessons see:
Visual Studio.Net & Its Common Feature
Microsoft Visual Studio.Net is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) which is a successor of Visual Studio 6. It eases the development process of .Net Applications by a great deal for VC#.Net, VB.Net, VC++.Net, JScript.Net, J#.Net, ASP.Net, etc. The revolutionary approach in this new Visual Studio.Net is that for all the Visual Studio.Net Compliant Languages there is the same IDE, debugger, project and solution explorer, class view, properties tab, tool box, standard menu and toolbars. The key features of Visual Studio.Net include:
Visual Studio.Net's Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
As stated earlier, there is now a single IDE for all the Visual Studio.Net compliant languages (VC#.Net, VC++.Net, J#.Net, VB.Net, JScrip.Net, ASP.Net). The IDE provides various useful development tools such as:
- Keyword and syntax highlighting
- Intellisense (autocomplete), which helps by automatically completing the syntax as you type a dot (.) with objects, enumerations, namespaces and when you use the new keyword.
- Project and solution management with solution explorer that helps to manage applications consisting of multiple files, which is what usually happens.
- Help building user interface with simple drag and drop over form window.
- Properties tab that allow you to set different properties on a number of windows and web controls.
- Standard debugger that allows you to debug your program by putting break points for observing run-time behavior of program.
- Hot compiler that checks the syntax of your code as you type it and reports any errors present.
- Dynamic Help on a number of topics using the Microsoft Development Network (MSDN) library.
- Compilating and building applications.
- Execution of your application with/without the debugger.
- Deploying your .Net application over the Internet or on CDs.
Projects and Solutions
A Project is a combination of executable and library files that make an application or module. A project's information is usually placed in a file with the extention '.csproj' where 'cs' represents C-Sharp. Similarly, VB.Net projects are stored as '.vbproj' files. There are several different kinds of projects such as Console Applications, Windows Applications, ASP.Net Web Applications, Class Libraries and more.
A solution on the other hand is a placeholder for different logically related projects that make some application. For example, a solution may consist of an ASP.Net Web Application project and a Windows Form project. The information for a solution is stored in '.sln' files and can be managed using Visual Studio.Net's Solution Explorer. Solutions are similar to VB 6's Project Group and VC++ 6's workspace.
Toolbox, Properties and Class View Tabs
Now there is a single toolbox for all the Visual Studio.Net's languages and tools. The toolbox (usually present on the left hand side) contains a number of common controls for windows, web and data applications like the text box, check box, tree view, list box, menus, file open dialog, etc.
The Properties Tab (usually present on the right hand side in the IDE) allows you to set the properties on controls and forms without getting into code.
The Class View Tab shows all the classes that your project contains along with the methods and fields in tree hierarchy. This is similar to VC++ 6's class view.
Author's Note: It is not necessary at all that you use Visual Studio.Net to build your .net applications. You can write your code in any text editor like notepad and then compile and run it from command prompt (which we will see shortly). But Visual Studio.Net takes a lot of these responsibilities and smoothes the development process a lot, which allows you to spend more time in your business logic rather than these compiling and building hacks.
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