Creating Your First VB.NET Project
- Creating a Program ... in a Nutshell
- Step 1: Creating the User Interface
- Step 2: Adding the Program Source Code
- Step 3: Creating Your Program's Executable File
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
In This Chapter
Start a new Visual Basic .NET programming project
Use controls to build a user interface
Write program source code
Convert a program into an executable Windows application
Finally, it's time to actually do something with Visual Basic .NET. In this chapter, you'll learn the basic skills you need to create a simple program. This knowledge will be important to you as you explore the language itself in Part 2, "Writing Basic Program Code." This knowledge will also be important to you when you brag to your friends about your programming prowess.
Creating a Program ... in a Nutshell
Creating a simple Visual Basic .NET program is easier than goosing a sleeping cat. You need to only complete three steps, after which you'll have a program that can be run outside of the Visual Basic .NET programming environment, just like any other application you may have installed on your computer. The three steps are as follows:
Create the program's user interface.
Write the program source code that makes the program do what it's supposed to do.
Compile the program into an executable file that can be run as a standalone application (that is, the application can be run without being loaded into Visual Basic .NET).
Of course, there are many details involved in each of these three steps (well, except for the last one, which is pretty much automatic), especially if you're writing a lengthy program. As you work, you'll complete these steps in the order in which they're listed above. However, you'll also frequently go back from step 2 to step 1 to fine-tune your user interface. And you may even go back to step 2 from step 3 if you discover problems after compiling your program. Such is the nature of the programming beast.