When Visual Basic .Net is loaded, the opening screen is displayed.  This screen allows the programmer to open an existing project or begin a  new project. 

The screen contains three options -- New Project for creating a project, Open an Existing Project for opening a project that has been previously loaded into the IDE, and Open Project that allows you to browse for an existing project that has not been recently opened. 

The New Project dialog allows selection of the Project Type (Visual Basic Project in this class) and the Template (Windows Application for our purposes).  It also allows specification of a name (do not accept the default) and a folder location.  Pay attention to those last two or you may lose track of your project.

Design Window

The Design Window contains a form named Form1,which is where the program’s graphical user interface (GUI), will be displayed.  A GUI is the visual portion of the program (i.e., buttons etc.), where the user enters data to the program and where the program displays its results for the user to read. 

The Solution Explorer window lists the files that make up your VB project.  This is important in advanced projects. 

The Properties-Form1 window displays form attributes or properties (i.e., color, font style, size, etc.). 

The toolbox contains controls for customizing the GUI (i.e., the form).  Controls are GUI components such as buttons and check boxes.

Solution Explorer

The Solution Explorer’s toolbar contains five buttons, including View Code, View Designer and Properties.

The View Code button displays a window for writing Visual Basic code. 

View Designer displays the form.  Clicking Form1.vb [Design] also displays the form. Both View Code and View Designer are not available unless Form1.vb is selected in the Solution Explorer file listing. 

The Properties button displays form properties.

Toolbox

The toolbox, shown below, contains controls used to customize forms.  Controls are prepackaged components that you reuse instead of writing them yourself.  The toolbox is initially compressed, but can be expanded by clicking the Toolbox button on the left side of the window.  You can force it to remain open by clicking the pushpin icon at the top of the toolbox. 

Properties

The Properties window displays the properties for a form or control.  Properties are attributes such as size, position, etc. Like a form, each control type has its own set of properties.  Some properties, like Width and Height, are common to both forms and controls, while other properties are unique to either a form or a control. 

Properties are listed either alphabetically, by selecting the Alphabetic tab, or categorically, by selecting the Categorized tab.  Alphabetic lists the properties in alphabetical order and is the default.  Clicking the Categorized tab lists properties by categories, such as Name, Text, TabIndex, etc.  The scrollbar can be used to scroll through the list of properties.