The Visual Basic Landscape

> The Visual Basic landscape consists of many windows and tools that we will use more widely in VB.

Figure 1.1 shows the most common windows and toolbars you will use in the ordinary course.

The menu bar contains menu commands that you have probably seen in other Windows-based applications—such as File, Edit, View, Tools, Window, Help, and others.

The menu bar also has many other commands specific to Visual Basic— such as Project, Format, Debug, Run, Query, Diagram, Add-Ins, and many others. The toolbar includes a number of clickable icons that represent various program functions. To find out what a specific icon represents on the menu bar, simply move your mouse cursor over the icon and pause for a moment to see a small balloon containing a description.



Importance of toolbox:

>Toolbox is a popular facility for aiding you in designing graphical programs.

>It contains clickable icons that represent objects you can place on your form.

>Some of the toolbox’s objects that you will use in the light bulb program are the image, label, frame, option button, and command button control.

>The Project Container window is what its name implies, a container. Its function is to house other windows such as form and code windows.


A form is technically a container for other objects, but I like to equate it to a canvas for painting a picture. You can use the toolbox to add objects to a form by clicking an object icon on the toolbox and using your mouse to draw the control. Or you can simply double-click the object icon in the toolbox to instantly place the object on your form.

The Project Explorer window contains a list of all the components included in your Visual Basic project. Such components can include forms and code modules. The Properties window contains the properties or attributes of one object.

To view an object’s properties, simply click on an object such as a form, text box, label, image, or command button to have its properties displayed in the Properties window. The Properties window not only displays an object’s properties, but allows you to modify the object’s properties as well.

The Form Layout window allows you to position forms relative to your screen’s size.

The Form Code window is a container that you use to write your Visual Basic code.
Essentially, the Form Code window is a high-powered text editor that aids you in programming and debugging.