Wrap-Up

In this chapter, we introduced key features of the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE). You used the technique of visual programming to create a working Visual C# program without writing a single line of code. Visual C# programming is a mixture of the two stylesvisual programming allows you to develop GUIs easily and avoid tedious GUI programming; conventional programming (which we introduce in Chapter 3) allows you to specify the behavior of your programs.

You created a Visual C# Windows application with one form. You worked with the Solution Explorer, Toolbox and Properties windows, which are essential to developing Visual C# programs. The Solution Explorer window allows you to manage your solution's files visually. The Toolbox window contains a rich collection of controls for creating GUIs. The Properties window allows you to set the attributes of a form and controls.

You explored Visual Studio's help features, including the Dynamic Help window and the Help menu. The Dynamic Help window displays links related to the item that you click with the mouse. You learned how to set Help options to display and use help resources. We also demonstrated how to use context-sensitive help.

You used visual programming to design the GUI portions of a program quickly and easily, by dragging and dropping controls (a Label and a PictureBox) onto a Form or by double clicking controls in the Toolbox.

In creating the ASimpleProgram program, you used the Properties window to set the Text and BackColor properties of the form. You learned that Label controls display text and that PictureBoxes display images. You displayed text in a Label and added an image to a PictureBox. You also worked with the AutoSize, TextAlign and SizeMode properties of a label.

In the next chapter, we discuss "nonvisual," or "conventional," programmingyou will create your first programs that contain Visual C# code that you write, instead of having Visual Studio write the code. You will study console applications (programs that display text to the screen without using a GUI). You will also learn memory concepts, arithmetic, decision making and how to use a dialog to display a message.