1a – Getting Started

Lingma AchesonDepartment of Computer and Information Science, IUPUI

CSCI N331 VB .NET Programming

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Outline• Create a new project• Save a project• Zip up the project folder• Submit a project• Transfer a project• Unzip a project

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Create A VB.NET Project

• On Windows Vista, Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2008-> Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

• Set Visual Basic as the default language• Create Project Or File -> New Project• Project types: Windows• Templates: Windows Forms Application• Enter a project name: Default is

WindowsApplication1, change it to something meaningful, e.g. Project1, Greetings, etc. No space in the name.

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Save A VB.NET Project• Click on “Save” or “Save All” icon.• If “Save Project” window pops up,

choose a location you want to save to. – It is a good idea to create a directory for all the

projects you will create for this class.– If you didn’t change the project location, the

default location is “My Documents”.

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Save A VB.NET Project• Leave the “Solution Name” the same

as the project name.• Check the box “create directory for

solution”.• Click on “Save” or “Save All” icon

from time to time when you make changes to the project.

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Open A VB.NET Project• Close the Visual Studio after saving

your project.• Go to your projects folder and find

folder specifically created for this project.

• Click on the solution file (the Form icon with a visual studio sign) inside this folder.

• There will be another folder with the project name by the solution file.

• Click on Form1.vb in the Solution Explorer panel on the right hand side.

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Submit A VB.NET Project

• Project files– A VB.NET project consists of many files.– They work together to form a project.– Missing files or changing a file location will

lead to the project not working properly.

• Need to submit all the files• Zip up your files – pack everything

into one single file– Use a software tool, e.g. WinRAR, WinZip or 7-

zip.– 7-zip is available from iuware.iu.edu

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Submit A VB.NET Project

• Using 7-zip– Right click on the project folder ->7-Zip.– Add to “projectName.zip”.– A zipped file will appear in the same location.

• Submit the zipped file.

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Transfer A VB.NET Project

• Load your project onto a different computer.

• Method one– Use a file transfer media, e.g. a flash drive.– Copy and paste the whole project folder or the

zipped file onto the media.– Copy and paste the project folder or zipped file

onto another computer.

• Method two– Upload the zipped file onto Oncourse or send

the file via email attachment.– Download the file onto another computer.

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Unzip A VB.NET Project• Load the zipped file into a desired

location.• Right click on the file, “Extract All” or

“Extract Here”.• Click on the solution file to open the

project.