COMMON ELEMENTS OF VISUAL C# (IDE)

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

the workspace where we construct together all the components of our application system such as the place where we design our forms and controls as well as the place where we develop our code or programs.

Start Page

We can use the ___ to select from recent projects. We can also select a New Project from here by clicking the New Project icon at the Toolbar or as a menu item at the File Menu.

THE NEW PROJECT DIALOG

When we create a new project, we select this menu item from the File menu or alternatively, we click the New Project icon from the Toolbar. We will be presented with different Visual Studio installed templates such as Windows Form Application, Class Library, Console Application, and more.

MENU BAR

The ___ is actually like the menus we have seen in other Windows application software such as MS Word, MS Excel, and Powerpoint. It is the line of text that lies across the top of the Visual C# window. The ___ will give us access to many features within the integrated development environment (IDE). Some of the ___ that we can see at the Menu bar are File, Edit, View, Tools, and more.

TOOLBARS

Below the menu bar are list of icons which are called ___. They provide us a quick access to commonly used menu items (as an alternate way to search for a command), we simply click an icon (which is an equivalent to that menu bar command we need.

TOOLBOX

The ___ contains the tools or objects (controls) that we might want to place (drag and drop) on a Form control in our application system on which we presently design and develop. An example of these objects are Buttons control and Text boxes control.

SOLUTION EXPLORER

The ____ tracks the item in our projects. If we want to add new items on our project, we simply use the menu items in our Project menu, such as Add Window Form. Furthermore, the Solution Explorer sees things in terms of files and folders. Like for example, the References folder holds the currently referenced items such as namespaces in a project. Now if we want to set the properties of the various items in our project, we simply click the Properties folder.

PROPERTIES WINDOW

The _____ is docked right under the Solution Explorer window. It provides us the lists of the property settings from the currently selected form or other control objects. A Property in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) term is a characteristic of an object such as its size, caption, or color. The characteristic is not limited to the appearance of an object (control) but also the way it behaves.

OUTPUT WINDOW

The ____ echoes the result when we build and run our programs. This is where the debugging results occur. On this window, we can see the list of errors our program generated.

CONTEXT MENUS

contain shortcuts to our frequently performed commands. To open the ___ is easy, we simply click the right mouse button on the control or object we are currently using. The specific list of shortcuts available from context menu depends on

the part of the environment where we click the right mouse button.

Form Designer

our drawing board where we design graphically the layout of the form

and controls of our application system. In short, this is where we draw our graphical-user interface (GUI). Here we can add controls, pictures, or other graphics to a form to design the look we want.

Code Designer

window serves as a program editor where we can write our program

(code) behind each form and control (object) we design or where we can place the code module we develop in our application system.

Class View

window which is located next to the Solution Explorer, is actually another tab that sits beside the Solution Explorer, presents solutions and projects in terms of the classes they contain, and members of these classes. Furthermore, the ____ provides us an easy way of jumping to a member of the class that we want to access quickly. We simply find it is the ____, and double-click it to bring it up in the code designer.

IntelliSense

a box that pops-up as we write the code into our Code Designer, and lists all possible options and even completing our typing of code for us. This is useful when we cannot remember what built-in Visual C# method accepts, because it will display those arguments as we type in the call to that method. Moreover, the ____ offers syntax tips which display the syntax of the statement we are typing.

Component Trays

one of the most useful components of Visual C# IDE, most especially when our application system requires us to put a Timer, a MenuStrip, a ToolStrip, ContextMenuStrip and ToolTips controls will appear in the component tray which we can see at the bottom part of our Form during the time we design our program.

Server Explorer

very useful when we want to connect our database to our code and bind it to the Controls we design at the Form. Like for example, if we drag a database table onto the Form, Visual C# would create the connection and command objects that we need to access that table from our code.

Properties

can be considered as an object’s attributes,

Methods

its actions

Events

its responses.

Controls or Objects

are the primary medium of the user’s interaction with the application

system on which we design and develop.

Button

to carry out a command or action (event) as the user clicks it,

Text Box

provides an area to input or display text.

Message Box

control is a pop-up dialog box that displays the message that we would like to convey to the user. It is used for displaying simple messages to the user.

Event

an action recognized by a control or form.

ToInt??()

applied when we want to calculate the numeric data displayed in text boxes.

ToString()

if we want to display the computed data into the text box, we need to convert it into string data using

ToDouble()

if we want to get the input value that is in decimal format such as

Radio Button

also known as an option button, allows the user to choose one option from a list

of options when paired with other

Checkbox

control allows users to select single or multiple items from a list of items.

RichTextBox

control is a textbox which gives you rich text editing controls and advanced

formatting features also includes a loading rich text format (RTF) files. Or in other words,____ controls allows you to display or edit flow content, including paragraphs, images,

tables, etc

Property

a characteristic of an object such

as its size, caption, or color. The characteristic is not limited to the appearance of an object

(control) but also the way it behaves.