Step 2
When
you click the Welcome button, the program displays
a welcome message in the textbox, similar to the following
Ready to design and run the program? Let us get started.
Step 3
If you
have not yet installed yet Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, now is a good time
to install. You can download it free of charge, if you act before
Nov. 7, 2006.
Step 4
Start Visual Basic 2005 from the start menu, All Programs,
then Visual Basic 2005.
Step 5
Wait for the Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
to come up. It should look similar to the following screenshot.
Step 6
Using the left mouse button, Go to File then select
New Project…
Step 7
A dialog box pops up asking for the project name.
a. Make sure to highlight
Windows Application under Visual Studio installed
templates.
b. The IDE suggests WindowsApplication1
as the default name for the project. Change this to a more
meaningful name like SimpleProgramVB2005,
then click OK
c. After a few seconds, you will
get a window similar to the screenshot below.
Form1, in the middle area, is where you drag and
drop controls using the Toolbox, which is located just to the left.
Step 8
Using your left mouse button, click and hold on Button in the Toolbox and drag it anywhere on the surface
of Form1, then let go of the mouse. The button be called Button1. The first instance
you create of a control is called ControlName1, the
second one is called ControlName2, and so on.
Step 9
Next, drag and drop a Textbox to Form1. The textbox
has the default name Textbox1.
Step 10
Using your left mouse button, you can move these
two controls, Button1 and Textbox1, anywhere on the surface of Form1.
Step 11
To resize a control, click on it then use the handle
to resize it. The textbox has two handles; the button has eight handles.
Step 12
Position Button1 just below Textbox1, as shown in
the following screenshot.
Step 13
Next,
change the default properties for Form1, Button1, and Textbox1.
The properties window should be located at the lower right hand corner. If you do
not see it, select Window -> Reset Window Layout from the IDE menu. This will
reset the IDE windows to their original configurations, which should look similar
to the screenshot below.
Step 14
Change the name of
Form1 to Visual Basic 2005 Simple Application.
a. To select Form1, click anywhere
on its surface, except on the two controls.
b. In the properties window, look
for a property called Text. To its right, the name
should be Form1. Double-click on it to select it.
c. Type over the name Form1 to change
it to Visual Basic 2005 Simple Application and hit enter.
d. The text on the form should now
read Visual Basic 2005 Simple Application
Step 15
Change the text
of Button1
to
Welcome
a. To select button1, click on it.
b. In the properties window, look
for the Text property and change its value from Button1
to Welcome. The
text on the button should now read Welcome
Step 16
Change Finally, verify that the text of
Textbox1 is empty so that when
the program runs, the textbox will be empty.
NOTE:
Note that we are not changing the
(Name)
property of the controls, we are only changing the Text property.
The (Name)
is what we use to refer to the control within our code. The
Text property
holds the value that gets displayed to the user.
Step 17
We are not yet done with the design of the program,
but let us execute the program to see what we have. It is a good programming practice
to do a little bit of development, then execute your program to check if you are
on the right track, then continue with your development.
At this point, when you click on the button Welcome, nothing happens.
Why? Because we have not yet entered the code behind the
Welcome button to make it display the message in the textbox.
Step 18
Exit the form by clicking on the “X”
Step 19
Double-click on the
Welcome button to enter the code for it. This should take you directly
to where you enter your code, as shown in the screenshot below. In this example,
when the user clicks the Welcome
button, the program responds by displaying the message “Welcome to Visual Basic
2005!” in the textbox.
Step 20
Click on the Tab that says SimpleProgramVB2005.vb [Design] at the top of
the designer area. Notice that nothing visually has changed on the form.
Step 21
Finally, add a “close this window” link, so that the user can close the
form, rather than click on the “X” of the form.
Drag and drop an “LinkLabel” on the form, just below the Welcome button. A
LinkLabel1 is created. Change its Text property to LinkLabelCloseWindow.
Step 22
Congratulations! You are done. Execute the program and make your modifications
to learn more about Visual Basic 2005.
Comments? Feedback? Questions?
Please let us know. Thank you!
Visual Basic 2005 Mini Tutorials