CHAPTER 2 BUILDING C# APPLICATIONS
Although I will assume you have a copy of Visual Studio Professional, understand that owning a
copy of this IDE is not required to use this edition of the text. In the worst case, I might examine an
option that is not provided by your IDE (such as Microsoft C# Express or SharpDevelop). However, rest
assured that all of this book’s sample code will compile just fine when processed by your tool of choice.
Note After you download the source code for this book from the Source Code/Downloads area of the Apress
web site (http://www.apress.com), you may load the current example into Visual Studio (or C# Express) by
double-clicking the example’s *.sln file. If you are not using Visual Studio / C# Express, you will need to manually
insert the provided *.cs files into your IDE’s project work space.
Some Unique Features of Visual Studio
Visual Studio ships with the expected GUI designers, code snippet support, database manipulation
tools, object and project browsing utilities, and an integrated help system. Unlike many of the IDEs we
have already examined, Visual Studio provides numerous additions. Here is a partial list.
•
Visual XML editors/designers
•
Support for Windows mobile device development
•
Support for Microsoft Office development
•
Designer support for Windows Workflow Foundation projects
•
Integrated support for code refactoring
•
Visual class designer tools
To be completely honest, Visual Studio provides so many features that it would take an entire book
(a rather large book at that) to fully describe every aspect of the IDE. This is not that book. However, I do
want to point out some of the major features in the pages that follow. As you progress through the text,
you’ll learn more about the Visual Studio IDE where appropriate.
Note If you have used a previous version of Microsoft Visual Studio, you will quickly notice that the entire look
and feel has changed quite a bit. If you find the default “Dark” theme is a tad too dark for your liking, you can
change to the “Light” theme by selecting the Tools Options menu and picking from the Color Theme drop-down
list box in the Environment General section. All screen shots in this text are shown in the “Light” theme.
53