Visual Studio Study Material

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IntroductiontoVisualStudio2010

IntroductiontoVisualStudio2010 Page1

IntroductionIfyouhaventusedMicrosoftVisualStudiobefore,thenthistutorialisforyou.Itwillwalkyouthrough

themajorfeaturesofVisualStudio2010andgetyoustartedwithcreatingvarioustypesofSynergy.NET

applications.You

will

also

learn

useful

tips

and

techniques

that

can

save

you

valuable

time

while

programmingwithinVisualStudio.

TutorialSetupNospecificpreparationisneededinordertocompletethistutorial.

TutorialStepsStartingVisualStudioBeforewecangetstarted,ifitsnotalreadyrunning,weneedtostartMicrosoftVisualStudio2010.

FromtheWindowsStartMenu,selectAllPrograms>MicrosoftVisualStudio2010>MicrosoftVisualStudio2010.

OnceVisualStudiohasfinishedloading,youshouldbelookingatascreencalledtheStartPage.This

screenallowsyoutoeasilycreateanewdevelopmentproject,oropenanexistingone,andopen

recentlyusedprojects.OntherightsideoftheStartPageVisualStudiopresentsallkindsofinformation,

thecontentofwhichisalsocustomizedtothetypeofenvironmentthatyouselect(welltalkaboutthis

moreinamoment).Thisinformationcanincludenewsandannouncements,technicalinformation,and

lotsofothertypesofcontent.TheStartPageisoftenoverlookedbydevelopers,butwhenyouare

learningVisualStudioand.NETdevelopmentitcanbeavaluablesourceofinformation.

TheStartPagecloseswhenyoucreateoropenadevelopmentproject,butyoucanreturntoitatany

timebyselectingView>StartPagefromthemenu.

ManythingsinVisualStudioarecustomizable,sotohelptoensurethatyouareabletocompletethis

tutorial,weregoingtoresetallVisualStudiosettingstodefaultvalues.Infact,therearemultiplesetsof

defaultvalues,asyouwillseeshortly.Therearedefaultsettingsbasedonthesomeoftheavailable

programminglanguages,defaultsfortypesofdevelopment(e.g.,webdevelopment)andvariousother

scenarios.

ThefirsttimeyoustartVisualStudioafterinstallingit,youwillbeaskedtoselectwhichdefault

configurationyouwishtouse.ManypeopleselectGeneralDevelopmentSettingsforaninitial

configurationwellsuitedtomultiplelanguagesandvarioustypesofdevelopmentprojects.

ItisalsopossibletoswitchVisualStudiotoadifferentcollectionofsettingsatanytime,andalsotosave

andrestorecustomsettings.


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ResettoDefaultSettingsFromthemenu,selectTools>ImportandExportSettings.SelecttheResetAllSettingsradiobutton,andthenclicktheNextbutton.OntheSaveCurrentSettingspage,checkthatYes,savemycurrentsettingsisselected(to

saveabackupsothatyoumayrestoreyourcurrentsettingsaftercompletingthistutorial,if

required)andthenclicktheNextbutton.

OntheChooseaDefaultCollectionofSettingspage,SelectGeneralDevelopmentSettingsClicktheFinishbuttonWhenyouseetheResetCompletescreen,clicktheClosebutton.

Selectingoneofthesepredefinedcollectionsofdefaultsettingscanmakemanychangestoyour

environment.Thingsthatarecommonlychangedincludemenuitems,menuitemshortcuts,toolbars,

andmore.

CreatingaNewProjectOneofthefirstthingsyourelikelytowanttodoiscreateanewdevelopmentproject,soletsdothat

now.AswithmanythingsinVisualStudio,thereareoftenseveralwaystodosomething.Forexample,

tocreateanewdevelopmentprojectyoucan:

OntheStartPage,clicktheNewProjectlink. SelectFile>New >Projectfromthemenu. ClicktheNewProjectbuttononthetoolbar. TypeCtrl+Shift+N.

OntheStartPage,clickontheNewProjectlink.YouwillnoticethattheNewProjectdialogisdividedintoseveralmainparts.Ontheleftisatreeview

whereyoucanselectfromvariousprojectcategoriesandsubcategories,manyofthembasedonthe

programminglanguagethatyouwishtouse.Whenyouselectacategory,thecenterpartofthedialog

displaysalistofprojecttemplatesthatbelongtothecategorythatyouhaveselected.Whenyouselect

aprojecttemplate,abriefdescriptionoftheprojectcreatedbythetemplateisdisplayedattherightof

thedialog.Finallythelowerportionofthedialogallowsyoutopickthelocationwhereyouwouldlike

theprojecttobecreated,andspecifyanameforyournewproject.

Theprojectnamethatyoupickisusedinmanyways,dependingonthetypeofprojectyouarecreating.

Generallytheprojectnamewillbeusedtodeterminethingslike:

ThenameoftheSolutionthatiscreated(moreaboutthisinamoment). Thenameoftheprojectthatiscreated.


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Thenameofthefolderthattheprojectwillbecreatedin. Thenameofthemainassembly(programorlibrary)thatwillbecreatedbytheproject. Thenameofthedefaultnamespacethatwillbeusedwhensometypesofitemareaddedto

theproject.

Ofcourse,

even

after

aproject

has

been

created,

all

or

any

of

these

things

can

be

changed,

but

some

are

hardertochangethanothers.Itsbesttoputsomethoughtintothenameofyourprojectbeforeyou

createit.

Inthetemplatestree(left)expandtheSynergy/DEcategory,andthenselectWindows.Intheprojecttemplateslist(center)selectWindowsFormsApplication.IntheNamefield,enterIntroToVisualStudio.Decideonafoldertocreateyourprojectin,andenteritsnameintheLocationfield.EnsurethattheCreatedirectoryforsolutioncheckboxISchecked.

InVisualStudio,oneormoreprojectsmayexistwithinaSolution.Everyprojectwillhavesometypeof

output,usuallyanassembly,eitheraprogram(.exe)orlibrary(.dll).Projectsmakeupthevariousparts

ofanapplication.ASolutionismerelyacollectionofprojects,providingawayfordeveloperstomove

aroundthevariouspartsoftheirapplicationeasily.Everyprojectmustexistwithinasolution,anda

solutioncancontainmultipleprojects.

WhenyoucreateanewprojectinVisualStudiobyoneofthemechanismsthatwediscussedearlier,

VisualStudiowillalsocreateaSolution.IftheCreatedirectoryforsolutionboxisnotchecked,then

thesolutionfileisnamedthesameastheprojectbeingcreated,andiscreatedinthesamefolderasthe

project.This

is

generally

appropriate

ifyou

only

plan

on

working

with

one

project

in

the

solution.

IftheCreatedirectoryforsolutionboxischecked,thenVisualStudiowillcreateafolderforthe

solution(belowthelocationthatyouspecify)andsavethesolutionfileinthatfolder.Thenasecond

folder,fortheproject,willbecreatedbelowthesolutionfolder,andalloftheprojectfileswillbe

createdinorbelowtheprojectfolder.Thisisappropriatewhenyouintendtoaddseveralprojectstoa

solution,aseachprojectwillbestoredinitsownfolderbelowthemainsolutionfolder.Youllalsonotice

thatinthiscaseyouareabletospecifyadifferentnameforthesolutionitself.

ClickontheOKbuttontocreateyournewsolutionandproject.Becauseofthevirtualmachine,creating

and

opening

the

solution

and

project

may

take

afew

seconds.

Differentprojecttemplatescausedifferentthingstohappenwhenanewprojectiscreated.Fora

WindowsFormsproject,whatgenerallyhappensisthesolutionandproject,andvariousdefaultproject

filesaredisplayedintheSolutionExplorertowardsthetoprightofthescreen,thevisualdesignsurface

forthedefaultformthatwasaddedtotheprojectisdisplayedfillingmostofthescreen,andthe

Propertieswindowisdisplayedtowardsthebottomrightofthescreen.


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SolutionExplorerTheSolutionExplorerwindowisakeypartofVisualStudio,andis

frequentlyusedbydevelopers.Itallowsyoutonavigatearoundthevarious

filesandotheritemsthatmakeupyourprojectsandyoursolution.

Generally,doubleclickingonafilewillopenthatfile,eitherinatexteditor

orperhapssomekindofvisualdesignsurface.Somefilescanbeeditedin

variousways.Forexample,youwillnoticethatwhentheprojectwas

created,thefileForm1.dblwasautomaticallycreated,addedtotheproject,

andopenedindesignview.Butthereisanotherwayofworkingwith

Form1.dbl,inasourcecodeeditor.Toseethisinaction:

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickForm1.dblandselectViewCode.WhenworkingwithpiecesofaUIitiscommontoworkwiththesetwo

viewsofagivensourcefile,thedesignviewandthecodeview.

RightclickForm1.dblagainandthistimeselectViewDesigner.Youmayhavenoticedthatonceafile(oraviewofafile)isopened,itremainsopenuntilyouspecifically

closeit.Eachfileisassignedatabtowardsthetopofthemainworkarea,whichlookslikethis:

Youcanusethesetabstoswitchbetweentheviewsofafile,orbetweenmultiplefilesthatyouhave

opened.YoullalsonoticeanXtotherightofeachtab,whichcanbeusedtoclosethatfileorview.

Youmaysometimesseereddotsnextthefilenameonatab.Thisisanindicationthatthefilehasbeen

modifiedandneedstobesaved.VisualStudiowillautomaticallysavefileswhenyoubuildorrun,and

therearealsovariouswaystomanuallysaveoneormorefiles.Theeasiestwaytomanuallysavefilesis

tousetheCtrl+Sshortcuttosavethecurrentfile,ortheCtrl+Shift+Sshortcuttosaveallchangedfiles.

ItiseasytochangethelayoutoftheUIinVisualStudio,wheremostthingscanberepositioned,docked,

stackedintabsets,andhiddenawayatwill.IfatanytimeyoucantfindSolutionExploreryoucan

alwaysmakeitvisiblebyselectingView>SolutionExplorerfromthemenu,orbyusingthekeyboard

shortcutCtrl+Alt+L.


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VisualDesignSurfacesManythingsthatyouworkwithinVisualStudiohavevisualdesign

surfaces.Certainlyitiscommontoworkwithavisualdesignsurface

whenbuildingauserinterface,butseveralotherthingshavethem

also.Asthenamesuggests,avisualdesignsurfaceallowsyouto

designsomethingvisually,oftenbydraggingitemsfromapaletteof

availablethingsandarrangingthemonthedesignsurface.

RightnowwearecreatingaWindowsFormsapplication,sowe

haveaccesstoawidevarietyofcomponentsthatcanbeusedto

buildaWindowsuserinterface.Thesecomponentsincludethings

liketheTextBox,CheckBoxandButtoncontrolsthatyoure

probablyfamiliarwith.ThesecontrolsarelocatedintheToolbox

(moreinamoment)andcanbedraggedtothevisualdesign

surfaceasneeded.

Bytheway,thesameconceptalsoapplieswhenworkingwithothertypesofapplication.Aswellaswith

traditionalWindowsFormsapplications,developerscommonlyworkwithvisualdesignsurfacesand

toolboxeswhendevelopingWindowsPresentationFoundation(WPF)applications,ASP.NETWeb

applications,Silverlightapplications,andothers.

TheToolboxTheToolboxmaynotbevisiblerightnow,butifnotlookdowntheleft

handsideoftheVisualStudiowindowandyoumayseeaverticaltabthat

saysToolbox.

IfyoudontseetheToolboxWindowthenselectView>Toolboxfromthemenu(ortypeCtrl+Alt+X).

WiththeToolboxvisible,clickonthesmall iconatthetoprightoftheToolboxwindowtopinthewindowinplace.

Pinningawindowprovidesamechanismtoensurethatitremainsonthe

screen.Mostwindows,whenunpinned,slideoutofsightbutleavebehind

atabsothatyoucanaccessthewindowagain.Hoveringthemouseover

theone

of

these

tabs

will

make

the

window

appear

so

that

you

can

access

it,orpinitinplace.

MakesurethatthedesignviewofForm1.dblisvisible.IntheToolbox,gototheCommonControlsgroup,thenclickonce

onanddragaButtoncontroltothedesignsurface.


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Youwillnoticethatwhenthebuttoniscreatedontheform,severalwhitehandlesappeararoundthe

outsideofthebutton.Thesehandlesperformtwofunctions;theyindicatewhichitemiscurrently

selectedtobeworkedwith,andtheycanbeusedtoresizetheselecteditem.

Singleclickthebodyoftheform(notonthebutton)andyouwillseethatthehandlesmovetothe

form,

which

is

now

selected

to

be

worked

on.

Singleclickonthebuttonagain,thehandlesmovebacktothebutton.Asyouclickbetweenthesetwoitems,looktothelowerrightportionofthescreen.Youshouldseea

windowcalledProperties,andyoushouldseethecontentofthewindowchangeasyouselectdifferent

itemsonavisualdesignsurface.

Ifyoucantseethepropertieswindow,selectView>PropertiesWindowfromthemenu,orusetheF4keyboardshortcut.

Ifnecessary,pinthepropertieswindowinplace.PropertiesWindowThepropertieswindowisanotherkeypartofVisualStudiowhere,ifyouredevelopingauserinterface

atleast,youarelikelytospendalotoftime.

Essentiallyeachitemthatyouworkwith(buttons,textboxes,

checkboxes,etc.)haveproperties,sometimeshundredsofthem,

andthepropertieswindowallowsyoutoinspectandchangethe

valuesoftheseproperties,inordertoachievethedesired

functionalitywithinyourapplication.

Noticetheminitoolbaratthetopofthepropertieswindow;infact

manyofVisualStudioswindowshaveasimilartoolbar,which

generallyallowsyoutoviewtheinformationinthewindowin

variousways.Forexample,thepropertieswindowiscurrently

groupingthevariouspropertiesoftheselectedbuttoncontrolby

type(Accessibility,Appearance,etc.)becausethefirstbutton( )

onthetoolbarisselected.

Clickonthesecondicon( )toorderthepropertiesalphabetically.Noticethatthepropertieswindowalsohasadropdownlist(atthetop)whichshowsyouwhichitemis

currentlyselected.Anotherwayofchangingtheselecteditemistodropdownthislistandselecta

differentitem.

DropdownthelistatthetopofthepropertieswindowandselectForm1.


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Noticehowtheselecteditemhandlesmovedfromthebuttontotheform,andhowthecontentofthe

propertieswindowchangedtoreflectthepropertiesofthenewlyselecteditem.

OnForm1sdesignview,selecttheform.

In

the

properties

window,

Locate

the

Text

property

and

set

the

value

to

My

Form.

AWindowsFormstextpropertyisusedtosetthetitleofthewindow;noticehowthetextthatyou

typedisnowalsodisplayedinthetitleareaoftheformdesigner.Somechangesthatyoumakeinthe

propertieswindowarereflectedvisuallyinthedesigner.

Insomecases,theoppositeisalsotrue.Forexample:

Withtheformselected,locatetheSizeproperty.Itmaybeeasiertoswitchtoalphabeticmode(toolbarattopofpropertieswindow).

Noticethecurrentvalueofthesizeproperty;probablythedefault300,300Nowusethedesignerscurrentitemhandlestovisuallyresizetheform.ChecktheSizepropertyagain,itshouldhavechanged.

So,makingchangesinthepropertieswindowoftenvisuallychangesthedesignerwindow,andmaking

changesinthedesignerwindowalsochangesthepropertieswindow.

Anotherthingtonoticewithrespecttothepropertieswindowishowpropertiesthathavenotbeen

changed(i.e.,currentlyhaveadefaultvalue)aredisplayedinnormaltext,whereaspropertiesthathave

hadtheirvaluechangedaredisplayedinboldtext.Thisvisualindicationofwhatpropertieshavebeen

changedcan

be

very

useful.

So,wevediscoveredthatwecanchangethepropertiesofsomethingeithergraphicallyinadesignview,

orviathepropertieswindow,butwhereisallofthatinformationstored?Theanswertothatdepends

onwhattypeofprojectyouareworkingon.Somecommonexamplesare:

ProjectType Designer/PropertiesChangesWrittenTo

WindowsForms Adesignerprogramminglanguagesourcefile.

WebForms(ASP.NET) Themainwebpagefile(.aspx)inHTMLformat.

WindowsPresentation

Foundation

Themain

form

or

control

file

(.xaml)

in

XAML

format.

Silverlight Themainformorcontrolfile(.xaml)inXAMLformat.

Other Various,generallyaprogramminglanguagesourcefile.


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DesignerSourceFilesTohelpyoutounderstandwhatishappeningwhenyouinteractwithavisualdesignsurfaceorwiththe

propertieswindow,letsdigalittledeeperintooursimpleapplication.

InSolutionExplorer,expandtheForm1.dblitem.YouwillnoticethatbelowForm1.dblaretwootherfiles,calledForm1.designer.dblandForm1.resx.By

theway,theseparticularfilesarespecifictoaWindowsForm,butthegeneralprincipleofwhatwere

lookingathereappliesinanumberofdifferentscenarios.

Fornow,thefilethatwearemostconcernedwithistheForm1.desidner.dblfile.Thisisaspecialsource

filethatisalteredwheneveryoumakechangestoaWindowsFormsvisualdesignsurfaceorProperties

window.

WARNING:Asageneralrule,youshouldnotedit.designerfiles.Theyarecreatedandmaintainedby

VisualStudiovisualdesignersandthePropertieswindow.Itisrelativelyeasytobreakyourapplication

bymakinginappropriatechangestothesefiles,anditcanbedifficulttoresolveproblemslikethis.

Withthewarningoutofthewayletseditthefile!

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickonForm1.designer.dbltoopenitincodeview(youcouldalsorightclickthefileandselecteitherOpenorViewCode).

Rightnowthedesignersourcefileisfairlysimple,becauseallwehaveisaformandabutton.Notice

howtheclassForm1extends(isa)System.Windows.Forms.Form,andhowtheclasscontainsan

instancevariablecalledbutton1whichisoftypeSystem.Windows.Forms.Button.Thatvariablewas

created,by

the

designer,

when

we

dragged

the

button

onto

the

form.

LookdownalittleandyouwillseethatthereisamethodcalledInitializeComponent,andinthat

methodtherearevariousassignmentstatementswhichsetvariouspropertiesofthebutton

(this.button.something)andtheformitsself(this.something).Theselinesofcodeareinsertedwhenwe

makechangestothepropertiesoftheform,orobjectsontheform,eitherviachangesthatwemake

onthegraphicaldesignsurface,orchangesthatwemakeinthePropertieswindow.

YoumayalsonoticethatthecodeinthisfiledefinestheclassaspublicpartialclassForm1.

ClickonthetabatthetopoftheeditareacalledForm1.dbl.IfyouclosedthisviewtheninSolutionExplorer,rightclickonForm1.dblandselectViewCode.

NoticethattheclassinthissourcefileisalsodefinedaspublicpartialclassForm1.Apartialclassisa

classcomposedfrompartialclassdefinitionsinmultiplesourcefiles,sointhiscasetheclassForm1is

madeupofsourcecodeinthefileForm1.dbl,whichthedevelopercontrols,andcodeinthefile

Form1.designer.dbl,whichthedesignerandpropertieswindowcontrol.Ifyoulookatthedefaultcode

inForm1.dblyouwillnoticethatthereisaconstructormethod(publicmethodForm1)whichcontains


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acalltotheInitializeComponentmethodwhichisinForm1.designer.dbl.So,whentheapplication

createsaninstanceoftheForm1class,thedesignergeneratedcodeisexecutedtocreateandconfigure

allofthecontrolsontheform.

Program.dblProjects

which

target

an

assembly

which

is

an

executable

program

(i.e.,

an

.exe

rather

than

a.dll)

includeanothersourcefile,calledProgram.dbl.Thisisthemainlineortheentrypointtothe

application.

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickonthefileProgram.dbltoopenitinthecodeeditor.ThedefaultcodeintheProgram.dblfilewillvary,dependingonthetypeofapplication,buttendstobe

verysimpleinnature.InthecaseofaWindowsFormsapplication,asyoucansee,thefilecontainsa

mainlineprogramwhichessentiallyjustlaunchesanewinstanceofthedefaultform,Form1.

IfyouweretorenametheclassinForm1.dbl(andofcoursethematchingpartialclassin

Form1.designer.dbl)toadifferentname,orifyouwantedtolaunchsomeotherformatapplication

startup,thenyouwouldneedtoeditthecodeinProgram.dblasappropriate.

ThePropertiesFolderEachprojectthatyoucreatewillincludeafoldercalledProperties,anddependingonthetypeof

project,thefolderwillcontainoneormorefiles.

InSolutionExplorer,expandthePropertiesfoldertoviewthefilesthatitcontains.IntheWindowsFormsprojectthatyourecurrentlyworkingin,therewillbevariousfilesinthe

Propertiesfolder.

These

files

are

AssemblyInfo.dbl,

Resources.resx

and

Settings.settings.

Although

you

caneditsomeofthesefilesdirectly,andsomeofthesefiletypesalsohavevisualdesignersassociated

withthem,thefilesinthePropertieswindowareusuallymaintainedviatheProjectPropertiesdialogs,

asyouwillseeshortly.

AssemblyInfo.dblInSolutionExplorer,doubleclick

AssemblyInfo.dbl toopenitinacodeeditor.

AssemblyInfo.dblcontainsvariousattributedefinitions

usedto

embed

information

into

the

compiled

assembly.

Youcanspecifyinformationaboutyourcompany,the

nameoftheproduct,copyrightinformation,etc.

Thefilecanalsobemaintainedviaadialogwindow

whichcanbeaccessedbyopeningtheproject


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properties,selectingtheApplicationtabandclickingtheAssemblyInformationbutton.

Resources.resxThisfileisaresourcefilewhichisaspecialtypeoffilethatcanbeusedtoembedvariousresources

(strings,images,audiofiles,etc.)theapplicationmightneed,directlyintotheapplicationsassembly.

Thebenefit

of

using

resource

files

is

that

any

resources

that

the

application

needs

do

not

need

to

be

providedasindividualfilesondisk,whichinturncansignificantlysimplifyapplicationdeployment.

ResourcefilesareactuallyXMLfiles.Theresourcesaddedtothefileareserialized(ifnecessary)and

storedwithintheXMLfile.Thatbeingsaid,youwillprobablyneverdealwitharesourcefileasanXML

file,becauseVisualStudioprovidesagraphicaldesignerthatletsyouworkwiththecontentsofresource

files.

Resourcesinresourcefilesarealsoveryeasytousewithintheapplication,becausetheresourcefile

designerdynamicallygeneratesaclasswhichrepresentsthecontentsoftheresourcefile.Accessinga

resourceisaseasyasreferringtoastaticpropertyinthisclass.

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclicktheResources.resxfiletoopentheresourcefiledesigner.

BydefaulttheresourcefiledesigneropensinStringsmode,butyoucanswitchtoworkingwithImages,

Icons,Audio,FilesorOtherItemsusingthedropdownfieldinthetopleftcorneroftheresource

designer.Youwillalsonoticethattherearebuttonsonthetoolbarwhichallowyoutoaddandremove

itemsfromtheresourcefile.

Letsworkthroughasimpleexampleofaddingastringresourcetoaproject:

IntheNamecolumn,whereitdefaultstoString1,changetheresourcenametoWelcomeMessage.

IntheValuecolumnaddthetextWelcometomyapplication.IntheCommentcolumnaddthetextDisplayedatapplicationstartup.TypeCtrl+Stosaveyourchanges.

Nowletstakealookatwhatweactuallydidwiththeresourcedesigner.

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickonResources.resxandselectViewCode.


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TheXMLfilethatyouarelookingatistheactualresourcefile.Ifyouscrolltothebottomofthefileyou

willseetheresourcethatyoujustaddedviathedesigner.

ClosetheXMLviewoftheresourcefile.

In

Solution

Explorer,

expand

the

view

of

the

file

Resources.resx

Likeformsthatwediscussedearlier,resourcefilesalsohaveadesignersourcefile,inthiscase

Resources.designer.dbl

DoubleclickonResources.designer.dbltoopenitinthesourcecodeeditor.Asyouinteractwitharesourcefilethroughthedesigner,VisualStudiogeneratesthecodeinthe

designersourcefile.Asyoucansee,thesourcefilecontainsasubnamespacecalledProperties(the

nameofthefolder)containingaclassnamedResources(thenameoftheresourcefile).

Scrolldowntothebottomofthesourcefile.Asyoucansee,thestringresourcethatyouaddedhasbeenexposedasaninternalstaticproperty.This

meansthatwecanrefertothevalueofthestringresourcefromanywhereintheproject(assembly)like

this:

Properties.Resources.WelcomeMessage

Closethesourcefilebyclickingontheclose(cross)iconinitsmaintab.Letsaddsomecodetotheapplicationtomakeuseoftheresourcestringthatwejustadded:

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickonthefileForm1.dbltoopenitsvisualdesigner.Doubleclicksomewhereinthebodyoftheformtoopenthecodeeditorwindow.PlaceyourcursorintheproceduredivisionoftheForm1_Loadmethodandaddthefollowing

code:

this.Text=Properties.Resources.WelcomeMessage

TypeCtrl+F5tosaveyourchanges,andtobuildandruntheapplication.Youshouldseethetextthatyouenteredintheresourcefilenowdisplayedintheapplicationdragbar.

Closetheapplication.ClosetheResources.resxfilebyclickingontheXiconinitsmaintab.


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Settings.settingsConceptuallythesettingsfileissimilartoaresourcefile.However,wherearesourcefileisintendedto

storeresourceslikeimages,soundsandstringsthatareusedbyanapplication,thesettingsfileis

intendedtostoreapplicationorusersettings.Asettingisaname/valuepair,andyoucanspecifythe

datatypeofthevalue.

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickontheSettings.settingsfiletoopenthesettingsfiledesigner.

Settingsfilesalsohavea.designer.dblfile,andjustlikewithresourcefilesthesettingsdesigner

dynamicallygeneratesaclasscalledSettings,withpublicpropertiestorepresentthesettingsthatyou

havedefinedinthedesigner.Thismeansthatyoucanprogrammaticallyaccessthesettingswithcode

likethis:

Properties.Settings.Default.AutoLogin

Defaultvaluesforthesettingsthatyoudefinearestoredinthe.settings(XML)file.

ClosetheSettings.settingsdesignerbyclickingontheXiconinitsmaintab.TheReferencesFolderInSolutionExplorer,expandtheReferencesfolder.

AllVisualStudiodevelopmentprojectswillincludeaspecialfoldercalledReferences.Thefolderdoesnt

containfiles,butrathercontainsalistofassembliesthatareaccessiblefromthecodewithinyour

application.Ifyouwanttoaccesstypesthatarestoredinaparticularassembly,youaddareferenceto

theassembly.

Well

look

at

how

to

do

that

shortly.

Whenyoucreateanewprojectfromaprojecttemplate,thetemplatewillprobablyincludeasetofpre

configuredreferences.Someofthesereferencesmayberequiredbecauseofexistingcodethathas

alreadybeenincludedintheprojectbythetemplate,whileothersmayhavebeenincludedsimply

becauseyouarelikelytoneedthemwhendevelopingaparticulartypeofapplication.

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickontheReferencesfolderandselectAddReference


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TheAddReferencedialogallowsyoutobrowseassembliesthatareavailabletobereferencedbyyour

project.

Therearefivetabsatthetopofthedialog,asfollows:

.NET Listsall.NETFrameworkcomponentsavailableforreferencing,aswellasassemblies

fromthirdpartiesthathavebeenregisteredonyoursystem.

COM ListsallCOMcomponentsavailableforreferencingandusethrough.NETsCOMinterop

capabilities.

Projects ListsVisualStudioprojectsinthecurrentsolutionavailableforreferencing.Select

assembliesfromthistabtocreateprojecttoprojectreferences.

Browse Allowsyoubrowseadditionalfilestofindacomponentnotlistedinthecurrenttaband

addittothelist.

Recent

Displaysrecently

added

references.

Asanexampleofaddingareferencetoaproject,tomaketypes(classes,etc.)thatareavailableina

particularassemblyavailableforuseintheproject,letsassumewewanttohavetheabilitytoexposea

WCFservicefromourapplication.Todothatyouwouldneedtouseseveralclassesthatareprovidedby

the.NETFrameworkintheSystem.ServiceModelnamespace.

Inthe.NETtab,clicktheComponentNamecolumntitletosortthelistofassembliesinalphabeticalorder,andthenlocateandselecttheSystem.ServiceModelassembly.

ClicktheOKbuttontoaddthereference.YoushouldnowseeSystem.ServiceModellistedundertheReferencesfolderinyourproject,meaning

thatwhatevertypesaredefinedinthatassemblyarenowavailableforyoutouseinyourcode.

ObjectBrowserVisualStudiosObjectBrowserwindowallowsyoutobrowseandviewthecontentofassemblies.

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickontheSystem.ServiceModelreferencethatyoujustadded.YoushouldseetheObjectExplorerwindowopen,andtheSystem.ServiceModelassemblyshouldbe

selected

in

the

list

of

assemblies

to

the

left

side

of

the

screen.

Similar

to

the

.NET

tab

in

the

add

referencedialog,thislistshowsassembliesthatareprovidedbythe.NETFrameworkaswellasother

assembliesthatyoumayhavereferencedinyourproject.Atthetopofthedialogisatoolbarwitha

dropdownlistwhichallowsyoutoapplyfilterstothelistofassembliesthataredisplayed.

IntheBrowsedropdownlist,select.NETFramework4tofilterthelistofassembliestoonlythoseassembliesavailableinthatversionofthe.NETFramework.


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ClickthesmalltriangleiconnexttotheSystem.ServiceModelassembly.Assembliescancontaintypes(classes,etc.)fromoneormorenamespaces.Whenyoudrillintoan

assemblyinObjectBrowser,thefirstthingyouseeisthenamespacesthatarepresentintheassembly:

AboveyoucanseethattheSystem.ServiceModelassemblycontainstypesfrommultiplenamespaces.

Notethatthetypesinanamespacedonthavetobealldefinedinoneassembly.Forexample,youcan

seethatthisnamespacecontainssometypesfromtheSystemnamespace,buttherewillbetypesfrom

thesamenamespaceinotherassembliestoo.

ClickthetriangleiconnexttotheSystem.ServiceModelnamespacetodrillintoit.

Drillingintoanamespacedisplaysthetypesthatarepresentinthatnamespace.Thenatureofthetype

isindicatedbytheicondisplayednexttoit.Forexample,inthediagramabove,

ActionNotSupportedExceptionisaclasswhileAuditLevelisanenumeration.

SingleclickontheclassBasicHttpBindingtoselectit.

IntheupperrightsectionoftheObjectBrowserwindowyoucanseemoredetailaboutthetypethat

youhaveselected,andagaintheiconnexttoeachitemindicatesthenatureoftheitem.Inthecaseof

theBasicHttpBindingclass,youwillseethattheclasshasseveralmethods,oneofwhichiscalled

CreateBindingElements(),andalsoseveralproperties,includingBypassProxyOnLocal.

SingleclickontheCreateBindingElementsmethodtoselectit.


15/47



InthelowerrightportionoftheObjectBrowserwindowyoucanseeevenmoreinformationaboutthe

thingthatyouhaveselectedabove.

Inthiscasetheinformationistellingusaboutthemethodthatweselected.Wecanseethatitisapublic

method,soitsavailableforustocall,itdoesnothaveanyparameters(nothingislistedbetweenthe

parenthesesfollowingthemethodname)anditreturnsaBindingElementCollection.Thereisalsouseful

descriptiveinformationaboutwhatthemethoddoes,anyparametersitmightaccept,andthereturn

value.

Youmayalsonoticethatothertypesthatarementionedhereappeartobehyperlinks,andsureenough

clickingononeofthemwilltakeyoutothedocumentationforthattypeinObjectBrowser.Thereare

alsoforwardandbackbuttonsonthetoolbartomakenavigatingaroundeasy,justlikeinaweb

browser.

YoucanalsouseObjectBrowsertoaddreferencestoyourproject.Forexample,letssupposethatby

browsingaroundinObjectBrowserwedeterminedthatweneedareferencetothe

System.ServiceModel.Activationassembly.

InObjectBrowserselecttheSystem.ServiceModel.ActivationassemblyInObjectBrowsertoolbar,clicktheAddtoReferencesinSelectedProjectinSolutionExplorerbutton.

ObjectBrowsercanbeveryuseful.Ifyouhaveanideaaboutwhatyouneedthenitcanallowyouto

easilybrowsedetailedinformationaboutthings,and,havingconfirmedwhatyouneed,youcanadda

referencetotherequiredassembly.

Objectbrowserisalsoagreatwaytolearnaboutthecapabilitiesofthings,becauseitmakesiteasyto

viewdetailedinformationaboutmethods,parameters,returnvalues,enumerations,andlotsofother

things.

CloseObjectBrowserbyclickingonthecrossiconinitsmaintab.


16/47



ProjectPropertiesEachprojectthatyoucreateincludesmanyoptionswhichallowyoutodefinelotsofdifferentthings.

Theseoptions,morecommonlyreferredtoasprojectproperties,allhavedefaultvaluesandcanbe

customizedthroughtheProjectPropertiesdialogs.

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickontheIntroToVisualStudioproject(itllbeshowninboldtextimmediatelybelowthesolution)andfromthecontextmenuselectProperties.

Theprojectpropertiesdialoghasvarioustabsdownthelefthandside.

CheckthattheApplicationtabisselected.Letstakealookthroughthevarioustabpagesandexplorewhatoptionsareavailabletoyou.Thereare

lotsofoptions,sowelljustpickoutsomeofthemoreimportantones.

ApplicationThetabsthataredisplayedwillvarybasedonthetypeofapplicationthatyouareworkingon.Were

currentlyworkingonaWindowsFormsApplication,soyoushouldseetabsthatlooksomethinglikethis:

Mostprojectscreateoneassembly,andthatassemblycaneitherbeanexecutableprogramoraclass

library.Theassemblynameandoutputtypefieldsdeterminethenameoftheassemblythatiscreated

bytheproject,withtheoutputtypebeingusedtodeterminethefileextension(.exeor.dll).

Thedefaultnamespacedeterminesthenamespacethatisinsertedintoanynewsourcefilesthatare

addedtotheproject.Whenusingmostprojecttemplates,theassemblynameanddefaultnamespace

defaulttothenameoftheprojectthatyoucreate,andbythetimeanewprojecthasbeencreated,the

defaultnamespacewillalreadyhavebeenusedinwhateversourcefilesareaddedtotheprojectbythe

projecttemplate.So,ifyouchangethedefaultnamespaceyouwillusuallywanttoreviewanyexisting

sourcefilesintheprojectandchangethenamespaceusedinthosefiles.


17/47



Theassemblyinformationfile(AssemblyInfo.dbl)wasdiscussedearlier.YoullnoticetheAssembly

Informationbuttonthatallowsyoutoeditthecontentofthefilethroughasimpleuserinterface.

OneofthemostimportantsettingsforanapplicationistheTargetframework,whichdeterminesthe

versionofthe.NETframeworkthattheassemblywillbebuiltfor.Synergy.NETprojectswilldefaultto

eitherthe

.NET

Framework

4.0,

or

the

.NET

Framework

4.0

Client

Profile.

The

client

profile

is

asmaller

versionofthe.NETFramework4.0whichiscommonlyfoundondesktopPCsandlaptops;ithassomeof

thefeaturesofthefullframeworkremoved.ThesefeaturesincludethingsliketheASP.NETweb

componentswhicharetypicallyonlyrequiredonserversystems.Youcanchangethetargetframework

toanearlierversionifyouwish,whichcouldforexamplehelpwithdeploymentbecausemostsystems

willhaveV2.0oftheFrameworkalreadyinstalled,butmaynothave4.0.Howeverbydoingthisyoumay

berestrictingthecapabilitiesofyourapplication,becausesomefeaturesofthecurrent.NETFramework

willnotbeavailableforyoutouse.AbetterapproachistotargetthelatestversionoftheFramework,

andsetupyourdeploymentpackagesorprocedurestoinstallthelatestFrameworkifrequired.

The

Output

type

setting

allows

you

to

specify

the

type

of

assembly

being

created;

either

a

Windows

Application,ConsoleApplicationorClassLibrary.Generallythissettingwillbesetcorrectlybythe

projecttemplatethatyouuse,andwontneedtobechanged.

Youcanalsosetanapplicationicononthistabpage.Doingsowillcausetheiconfiletobeaddedtothe

project,andembeddedasaresourceinthetargetassembly.Selectinganapplicationicondoesnot

causethaticontobedisplayedatthetopleftofanyformsthatyoumayaddtoaproject.Ifyouwantto

usetheicononformsthenyoumustseteachformsIconpropertyalso.

BuildEventsSwitchtotheBuildEventstab

TheBuildEventstaballowsyoutospecifybuildconfigurationinstructions.Youcanalsospecifythe

conditionsunderwhichanypostbuildeventsarerun.Notethefollowing:


18/47



Buildevents(specifiedinthePrebuildeventcommandlineandPostbuildeventcommandlinefields)canincludeanycommandthatisvalidatacommandpromptorina.batfile.

Ifyouspecifya.batfile,thenameofthefileshouldbeprecededby"call"(withoutquotes)toensurethatallsubsequentcommandsareexecuted.Forexample:callC:\MyFile.bat.

The%characterisreservedforMSBuild,soifyouspecifyanenvironmentvariable,replaceeach%withthe%25escapesequence.Forexample,replace%MY_VAR%with%25MY_VAR%25.

Ifyourprebuildorpostbuildeventdoesnotcompletesuccessfully,youcanterminatethebuildbyhavingyoureventactionexitwithacodeotherthanzero(whichindicatesasuccessful

action).

CompileSwitchtotheCompiletab

OnthecompiletabyoucandeterminewhichSynergy.NETcompiler(dblnet)optionsareusedwhenthe

projectisbuilt.TheCompilercommandlineboxtowardsthetopoftheformdisplaysasummaryofthe

actualcommandlineoptionsthatwillbeused,andtheotherfieldsontheformallowyoutodetermine

whatthoseoptionsshouldbe.Asyoucansee,therearesomecompileroptionsthatareusedbydefault.

TherearespecificUIcontrolsontheformtoallowyoutosetorunsetsomeofthemorecommonlyused

compileroptions,

and

the

Other

options

field

allows

you

to

specify

any

other

compiler

options

that

are

notspecificallysupportedbycontrolsontheform.

EnvironmentVariablesSwitchtotheEnvironmentVariablestab


19/47



Theenvironmentvariablestaballowsyoutospecifyenvironmentvariablesthataretobesetwhenthe

projectisopened.TheseenvironmentvariableswillbeinplaceduringdevelopmentinVisualStudio,and

alsowhenyouexecuteutilitiesoryourapplicationfromtheVisualStudioenvironment.

Itis

possible

to

refer

to

the

translation

of

one

environment

in

the

value

of

another,

using

the

syntax

$(ENVVAR).Forexample,ifyouhadoneenvironmentvariablecalledROOTthattranslatedtoafolder

path,andyouwantedtosetanothervariablecalledDATthattranslatedtoafoldercalledDATbelowthe

ROOTfolder,youcouldexpressthevaluefortheDATenvironmentvariableas$(ROOT)DAT.Thiswould

ofcourseassumethatthevalueoftheROOTvariablewasterminatedwithatrailingbackslashcharacter.

TheenvironmentwithinVisualStudioincludesseveralpredefinedmacrosthatcanbeusedwhen

settingenvironmentvariables.Forexamplethemacro$(SolutionDir)translatestothefolder

specificationofthecurrentsolutionfile,and$(ProjectDir)translatestothelocationofthecurrent

projectfile,whichmayormaynotbethesameasthesolutionfolder.Asyoucanseeinthescreenshot

above,you

can

also

refer

to

these

macros

when

setting

environment

variables

in

your

project.

The

table

belowshowsalistofsomeoftheavailablemacros:

Macro TranslatesTo Example

$(Configuration) Thenameofthecurrent

projectconfiguration.

Debug

$(OutDir) Pathtotheoutputfile

directoryrelativetothe

projectdirectory.Thispath

shouldhave

atrailing

slash.

Thisresolvestothevaluefor

theOutputDirectory

property.

bin\Debug\

$(ProjectDir) Thedirectoryoftheproject

(definedasdrive+path);it

c:\temp\MyTestApp\


20/47



includesthetrailing

backslash.

$(ProjectExt) Thefileextensionofthe

project.Itincludesthe'.'

beforethe

file

extension.

.synproj

$(ProjectFileName) Thefilenameoftheproject

(definedasbasename+file

extension).

MyTestApp.synproj

$(ProjectName) Thebasenameoftheproject. MyTestApp

$(ProjectPath) Theabsolutepathnameof

theproject(definedasdrive

+path+basename+file

extension).

c:\temp\MyTestApp\MyTestApp.synproj

$(RootNameSpace) Thenamespace,ifany,

containingtheapplication.

MyTestApp

$(SolutionDir) Thedirectoryofthesolution


includesthetrailing

backslash.

c:\temp\MyTestApp\

$(SolutionExt) Thefileextensionofthe

project.It

includes

the

'.'

beforethefileextension.

.sln

$(SolutionFileName) Thefilenameofthesolution


extension).

MyTestApp.sln

$(SolutionName) Thebasenameofthe

solution.

MyTestApp

$(SolutionPath) Theabsolutepathnameof

thesolution

(defined

as

drive

+path+basename+file

extension).

c:\temp\MyTestApp\MyTestApp.sln

$(TargetDir) Thedirectoryoftheprimary

outputfileforthebuild


c:\temp\MyTestApp\bin\Debug\


21/47



includesthetrailing

backslash.

$(TargetExt) Thefileextensionofthe

primaryoutputfileforthe

build.It

includes

the

'.'

before

thefileextension.

.exe

$(TargetFileName) Thefilenameoftheprimary

outputfileforthebuild


extension).

MyTestApp.exe

$(TargetName) Thebasenameofthe

primaryoutputfileforthe

build.

MyTestApp

$(TargetPath) Theabsolutepathnameof

theprimaryoutputfilefor

thebuild(definedasdrive+

path+basename+file

extension).

c:\temp\MyTestApp\bin\Debug\MyTestApp.exe

Bearinmindthattheenvironmentvariablesthatyouspecifythroughtheprojectpropertiesdialogsare

onlypresentinyourdevelopmentenvironment.Ifyouusethismechanismtospecifyvaluesfor

environmentvariablesthatarerequiredatapplicationruntime(outsideofVisualStudio)thenyoumust

provide

those

environment

variables

via

some

other

mechanism.

SigningSwitchtotheSigningtab


22/47



Thesigningtaballowsyoutospecifythattheassemblycreatedbytheprojectshouldbedigitallysigned.

Tosigntheassemblies,checktheSigntheAssemblycheckboxandthenselectthestrongnamekeyfile

thatyouwishtousetosigntheassembly.

Onceyouhaveenabledsigning,thereisanoptionintheChooseastrongnamekeyfiledropdownlist

whichallows

you

to

create

anew

key

file.

This

is

done

using

the

.NET

Frameworks

strong

name

utility

(sn.exe).

Werenotgoingtogetintoassemblysigningherebecauseitsalargeandcomplexsubjectarea,butitis

definitelysomethingthatyouneedtolearnaboutbeforeyourelease.NETapplicationstocustomers.

ReferencePathsSwitchtotheReferencePathstab

TheReferencePathstaballowsyoutospecifyfoldersthatwillbesearchedwhentheprojectsystem

needstolocateareferencedassembly.Whentheprojectsystemfindsanassemblyreference,itresolves

thereferencebylookinginthefollowinglocations,inthefollowingorder:

Theprojectdirectory.TheprojectdirectoryfilesappearinSolutionExplorer. Directoriesspecifiedonthispage(ReferencePaths). DirectoriesdisplayingfilesintheAddReferencedialogbox. Theproject'sobjdirectory.(AssembliescreatedbyaddingCOMreferencestoyourprojectare

addedtotheproject'sobjdirectory.)


23/47



BuildSwitchtotheBuildtab

Thebuildtaballowsyoutospecifyvarioussettingsrelatedtohowyourassemblyisbuilt.Eachproject

thatyou

create

includes

several

configurations

and,

when

working

in

the

project,

you

always

have

one

oftheseconfigurationsselected.Bydefaultthereisadropdownlistonthemaintoolbarwhichallows

youtoeasilyswitchtoadifferentconfiguration.Mostprojectshavetwoinitialconfigurationsdefined,

calledDebugandRelease,andthedefaultisusuallytheDebugconfiguration.

AtthetopoftheformyouwillseeadropdownlistwhichallowsyoutoselecttheConfigurationto

modify.Changesthatyoumakeinthelowerhalfoftheformareappliedtothatconfiguration.Youneed

torememberthisbecauseifyouremakingachangetooneconfiguration,thenyoumaywanttomake

correspondingchangestootherconfigurationsalso.Infact,ifthisisthecase,youcanselectAll

Configurationsintheconfigurationdropdownlist,andthechangesthatyoumakewillthenbeapplied

toall

configurations.

The

Platform

field

is

not

used

in

Synergy

.NET

projects

and

should

be

ignored.

Platformtargetallowsyoutospecifytheprocessortobetargetedbytheassembly.Selectx86totarget

32bitplatforms,selectx64totarget64bitplatforms,orselectAnyCPUfortheassemblytobeplatform

agnostic.

Outputpathallowsyoutodeterminewheretheassemblycreatedbytheproject(ormorespecifically

theprojectconfiguration)willbestored.Asyoucanseethedefaultlocationisinabin\Debug(or

bin\Release)folderbelowtheprojectfolder.

TheXMLdocumentationfileoptionallowsyoutoenablethecreationofanXMLfilewhichcontainsAPI

documentationfor

the

code

in

your

project.

The

information

in

the

file

is

derived

both

from

the

actual

codeintheproject,aswellasfromanydocumentationcommentsthatyoumayhaveincludedinthe

code.OnceyouhavetheXMLdocumentationfilethereareseveralproductsonthemarketthatcan

transformtheinformationinthefileintovarioustypesofdocumentation.

TheDebug/Optimizecodeoptionallowsyoutospecifywhethertousejustintime(JIT)optimization,

andspecifiesthelevelofdebugandstacktraceinformationthatwillbeavailable,whichaffects

performance.Theoptioncanbesettothefollowingvalues:


24/47



IncludeslessdebuginformationintheassemblythanisincludedbytheDebugsetting,

andonlyincludeslimitedlinenumberlistingsfortracebacks,butincludesmore

informationthantheOptimizesetting.ThisisthedefaultsettingforRelease

configurations.

Debug

Fulldebugging

information

is

included

in

the

assembly.

This

is

the

default

setting

for

Debugconfigurations.

Optimize Includestheleastamountofdebugginginformationintheassembly,resultinginthe

bestperformance.EnablesJIToptimization.Thisoptionisrecommendedforproduction

code.

TheGenerateserializationassemblyoptiondetermineswhetherthecompilerwillusetheXML

SerializerGeneratorTool(sgen.exe)tocreateXMLserializationassemblies.Serializationassembliescan

improvethestartupperformanceofXmlSerializerifyouhaveusedthatclasstoserializetypesinyour

code.Theoptioncanbesettooneofthefollowingvalues:

Auto

(default)

SerializationassemblieswillbegeneratedonlyifyouhaveusedXmlSerializertoencode

typesinyourcodetoXML.

Off Serializationassemblieswillneverbegenerated,regardlessofwhetheryourcodeuses

XmlSerializer.

On Serializationassemblieswillalwaysbegenerated.

ItshouldbenotedthatduetoaVisualStudioissue,settingtheGenerateserializationassemblytoOn

mightnotresultinaserializationassembly,evenifthereareserializabletypesintheproject.Thereisan

articleon

Microsoft

Connect

(bug

id

123088) which discusses this issue. You can locate the

article via an internet search for "ProjectDoesNotGenerateSerializationAssemblyEvenWhen

SpecificallyToldToDoSo".

TheDLLbaseaddressspecifiesthepreferredbaseaddressatwhichtoloadtheassembly.Thiscanbe

specifiedindecimalorhexadecimalformat,anditmustbe0x10000aligned.Thedefaultbaseaddress

foraDLLissetbythe.NETFrameworkcommonlanguageruntime.SettingaDLLbaseaddressisan

advancedsubjectandisbeyondthescopeofthisintroductorytutorial.


25/47



DebugSwitchtotheDebugtab

TheoptionsontheDebugtabareusedtosetpropertiesforthebehavioroftheprojectwhenthe

debuggerisstarted.Aswiththebuildoptions,itispossibletospecifydifferentdebuggersettingsbased

onthecurrentlyselectedconfiguration,andagainthePlatformfieldisnotusedwithSynergy.NET

projectsandshouldbeignored.

TheoptionsunderStartActionareusedtosettheitemtobestartedwhenthedebuggingbegins,and

canbesettooneofthefollowing:

Startproject

(default)

Specifies

that

the

executable

for

the

project

should

be

started

when

the

applicationisdebugged.

Startexternalprogram Specifiesthatsomeotherexecutableislaunchedwhentheapplicationis

debugged.Specifythefullpathtotheexecutabletobestartedinthefield

totheright,whichisenabledwhenthisoptionisselected.

StartbrowserwithURL SpecifiesthataURLshouldbeaccessedwhentheapplicationisdebugged.

SpecifytheURLinthefieldtotheright,whichbecomesenabledwhenthis

optionisselected.Ifyouselectthisoptionwithoutenteringanythingin

thetextfield,thedebuggerwillworkasif"Startproject"wereselected.

TheCommandlineargumentsfieldallowsyoutospecifyanycommandlineargumentsthatshouldbe

passedtotheprogramwhenstartinganexecutable.TheoptionisnotapplicableifstartingaURL.

TheWorkingdirectoryoptionallowsyoutospecifythedirectoryfromwhichtheprojectwillbe

launchedfordebugging.ThisappliesonlywhenStartprojectisselected.Thedefaultistheoutputpath

folderspecifiedinthebuildtabsDebugconfiguration.


26/47



TheUseremotemachine,Enableunmanagedcodedebugging,EnableSQLServerdebuggingand

EnabletheVisualStudiohostingprocessoptionsarenotimplementedinSynergy.NETprojectsand

shouldbeignored.

SettingsSwitchtotheSettingstab

Youvealreadyseenthesettingstabearlier,whenwewereintroducingtheSettings.settingsfile.When

youclickedonthefileyouwerepresentedwiththevisualdesignerfortheprojectsettingsfile,andthat

samedesignerisavailableviatheprojectpropertiesdialogsalso.

ResourcesSwitchtotheResourcestab

Andyouveseentheresourcestabbeforealso,whenwediscussedtheprojectsResources.resxfile

earlier.Again,thedesignerforthefileisalsoavailableviatheprojectpropertiesdialogs.

Closetheprojectpropertiesdialogbyclickingtheclose(cross)iconinthemaintabbar.Ifyouvemadeanychangesthenyoumaybepromptedtosaveyourchanges.


27/47



BuildingtheProjectVisualStudio2010utilizesanexternalbuildsystemcalledmsbuildtoperformbuildoperations.Almost

allprojectshavetheconceptofabuildwhichistheprocessofgeneratingwhatevertheoutputofthe

projectis,generallya.NETassembly,fromwhatevertheinputforthebuildis,generallysourcecode.

Youdont

need

to

do

anything

special

to

define

what

happens

during

abuild

other

than

configuring

the

contentoftheproject,whichinmostcasesinvolvesaddingsourcefilesandsourcecodetotheproject.

HoweverthereareothertypesofprojectthatVisualStudiosupports.Forexample,thereareproject

templatestoallowyoutocreateWindowsInstallerinstallationpackages(msifiles),aswellasvarious

otherthings.

Butmostprojectshaveabuildoption,andthatshowyoucausetheprojectoutputtobegenerated

(assumingthatyouhavenoerrorsofcourse!).Basedontheprojecttemplate,VisualStudioknowsHOW

tobuildthetargetoutput.InthecaseofaSynergy.NETproject,itknowstobuildadblnetcommand

lineusingthevariousoptionsspecifiedintheprojectpropertiesdialogsandusingalistofallthesource

filesand

assembly

references

defined

in

the

project.

Then

it

executes

this

command

and

displays

the

resultingoutput.

TheOutputWindowGenerallytheoutputfromabuildisdisplayedinoneortwoplacesdependingonwhetherthebuildwas

successful.First,theactualtextualoutputisdisplayedintheOutputwindow,andthen,iftherewere

anyerrors,thoseerrorsaregenerallyparsedanddisplayedinamorestructuredwayintheErrors

window.

Followthesestepstoensurethattheoutputanderrorswindowsarevisible.

Fromthemenu,selectView>Output(ortypeCtrl+Alt+O)Iftheerrorwindowisnotpinnedinplace,thenpinitinplacebyclickingthesmallpushpinicon

atthetoprightcornerofthewindow.

Fromthemenu,selectView>ErrorList(ortypeCtrl+\andthenE)Nowtobuildtheproject:

Fromthemenu,selectBuild>BuildSolution(ortypeCtrl+Shift+B)You

should

see

the

output

window

become

focused,

and

output

similar

to

this:

Buildstarted:Project:IntroToVisualStudio,Configuration:DebugAnyCPU ==========Build:1succeededoruptodate,0failed,0skipped==========

Thisoutputindicatesthattheprojectwasbuiltsuccessfully.


28/47



ErrorListWindowTodemonstratewhathappenswhenthereisanerror:

InSolutionExplorer,doubleclickonForm1.dbltodisplaytheformsgraphicaldesigner.DoubleclickinsidethebodyoftheformtoopenthecodeeditorwindowandpositionyourcursorintheForm1_Loadmethod.Somewhereintheproceduredivisionofthemethod,addsomeinvalidcodeanything.Adding

thewordsjunkcodewouldworkquitenicely!

TypeCtrl+Shift+Btobuildtheproject.Itisnotnecessarytomanuallysaveyourchanges,becauseVisualStudiowillautomaticallydothateach

timeyoudoabuild,orexecute,ordebug.

Againyoushouldinitiallyseethecompileroutputintheoutputwindow,butwhenthecompiler

completeswith

an

error,

the

error

list

window

should

be

displayed,

and

should

contain

the

details

of

the

errorsthatwerereportedbythecompiler.Youreprobablylookingatsomethinglikethis:

Thewindowdisplaystheerrors,warnings,informationalmessagesemittedbythecompiler,aswellas

informationaboutthefileinwhichtheerroroccurred,thelinenumber,andthenameoftheproject.

If

you

only

want

to

look

at

a

certain

type

of

message

(errors

vs.

warnings

for

example)

then

you

can

filter

thecontentofthelistbyclickingonthevariousbuttonsinthesmalltoolbarabovetheerrorlist.

Thelistisalsoactive;inthatyoucandoubleclickonmessagesinthelisttotakeyoutothepointofthe

problem.Todemonstratethis:

ClosetheForm1.dblsourcefilebyclickingontheclose(cross)iconinitsmaintab.Doubleclickonthefirsterrorlineintheerrorlistwindow.

Youshouldseethesourcefilebereopened,andyourcursorbepositionedatthelinewiththeproblem

dontfixitjustyet!


29/47



TaskListVisualStudiohasanotherusefulwindowcalledtheTaskList.Itsprobablyalreadydisplayedinthesame

tabsetastheoutputanderrorlistwindows,but,ifnot,then:

DisplaythetasklistbyselectingView>TaskListfromthemenu(orbytypingCtrl+\andthenT)Thetasklistwindowhastwomodesdeterminedbythedropdownlistinitssmalltoolbar.

MakesurethatthedropdownlisthastheUserTasksoptionselected.WithUsertasksselected,adevelopercanmanuallycreateatodolistbyclickingontheCreateUser

Taskbuttonandenteringthedetailsofthetaskinthelist.Taskscanthenbecheckedoffonce

completed,ordeletedbyrightclickingonthetaskandselectingDelete.

ClickontheCreateUserTaskbuttoninthetaskliststoolbar.TypeanewtaskperhapssomethinglikeMakethisapplicationactuallydosomething!andhitenter.Markthetaskascompletebyclickingitscheckbox.DeletetheusertaskbyrightclickingitandselectingDelete(orbyselectingthetaskand

pressingDelete).

Whilecreatingusertasksinaprojectcanbeuseful,whatismoreusefulistheoptiontocreatetodo

commentsinyourcode.Thesearecomments,withaspecialformat,thatadevelopercanplaceintoa

sourcefile,thatwillshowupinthetasklistwindow.

IntheForm1.dblcodeeditor,addacommentlikethisafterthebadcode:;TODO:Thisneedsfixing!

Inthetasklistwindow,changethedropdownlistfromUserTaskstoComments.

Youshould

see

the

comment

that

you

entered

displayed

in

the

Task

List.

The

TODO:

prefix

that

you

typediswhatdeterminesthatthecommentshouldbedisplayedinthisway.

BackintheForm1.dblsourcecodeeditor,removetheTODOcomment,andthebadcode.Performabuildtoensurethattheapplicationisinagoodstate(Crtl+Shift+B).


30/47



ExecutingaProjectDependingonthetypeofprojectthatyoureworkingon(youcantdirectlyexecuteaclasslibrary

project),onceyouhavesuccessfullyperformedabuild,thenextthingyourelikelytowanttodoisrun

theapplication.VisualStudiomakesthisveryeasy.Therearetwomainwaystobeginexecutinga

project,oneistoselectDebug>StartDebugging(orpressF5),andtheotheristoselectDebug>Start

WithoutDebugging(orpressCtrl+F5).

Asyouhaveprobablyalreadydeduced,thedifferencebetweenthesetwooptionsisthatwiththefirst,if

anythingslikebreakpointsorwatchpointsareactivated,thencontrolwillpasstothedebugger.With

thesecondmethodthedebuggerwillnotbeused,evenifbreakpointsandwatchpointsarepresent.

ExecutetheapplicationbypressingF5(orbyselectingDebug>StartDebugging).YoushouldseetheWindowsFormsprogramstart.Ofcourseitsnotveryinteresting,becauseallthe

applicationcurrentlydoesischangethemainformstitletothestringstoredintheWelcomeMessage

resourcefile

string.

Even

clicking

the

button

doesnt

do

anything!

Lets

change

that:

Closetheapplication. DisplaytheForm1designerwindow. Doubleclickonthebutton.

WhenyoudoubleclickonacontrolVisualStudiotakesyoutothecodeforthedefaulteventforthat

control.Ifthatcodedoesntexist,thenVisualStudiowillinsertanewemptyeventhandlermethodfor

theevent.ThedefaulteventforabuttonistheClickevent,soyoushouldnowbelookingatthe

button1_Clickmethod,whichlookslikethis:

Inthedatadivision,addarecordandthreeintegerfields,likethis:


31/47



Intheproceduredivision,addthefollowingcode:

Thepointofthisexerciseisjusttogiveussomecodethatwecaninteractwithinthedebuggerlater.

UsingtheDebuggerInVisualStudiothedebuggeriscompletelyembeddedwithinthedevelopmentenvironment,makingit

mucheasiertostepthroughcodeandexaminedata.Thedebuggerhasmanyfeatures,sowelljusttake

abrieflookatsomeofthemorefundamentalthingsthatyoucando.

BreakpointsworkinmuchthesamewaythatyouwouldexpectintraditionalSynergy,butareeasierto

workwithasaresultofthegraphicalnatureofthewaythattheyareset,clearedandvisualized.

Codeeditorwindowsallhaveasmallregionattheleftmarginwherebreakpointscanbeset.Toseta

breakpointatacertainpositionyousimplyclickinthisregion,andyouwillseeavisualrepresentation

ofthebreakpoint,likethis:

Thered

circle

indicator

in

the

breakpoint

region

indicates

that

abreakpoint

is

set

at

that

position.

If

you

executetheapplicationindebugmodethenexecutionwillbeinterruptedatthatpoint.

Itisalsopossibletohavebreakpointssetinyourproject,butdisableoneormoreofthosebreakpoints

sothattheywillnotfirewhileyouaredebugging.Todisableabreakpointrightclickonthebreakpoint

indicatorandselectDisableBreakpoint.Disabledbreakpointslooklikethis.

ReenableadisabledbreakpointbyrightclickingthebreakpointindicatorandselectingEnable

Breakpoint.Youcanalsotogglebetweenanenabledanddisabledstatebyplacingyourcursoronthe

sourcelineandpressingCtrl+F9.

ItisalsopossibletodisableorenableallbreakpointsviaitemsontheDebugmenu.


32/47



Ifyouwishtoremovethebreakpoint,simplyclickonthebreakpointindicator,orrightclickitandselect

DeleteBreakpoint.

Intheconstructormethod,Form1,addabreakpointonthestatementthatcallstheInitializeComponentmethod,likethis:

Alsoaddabreakpointonthebutton1_Clickmethod,likethis:

Thereis

also

an

easy

way

to

examine

all

of

your

current

breakpoints

using

adebugger

tool

window.

Fromthemenu,selectDebugger>Windows>Breakpoints,orpressCtrl+Alt+B.

YoushouldseetheBreakpointswindowwhichlistsallofthebreakpointsthatyoucurrentlyhaveset.

Doubleclicking

on

abreakpoint

in

the

list

will

take

place

your

cursor

on

the

associated

line

of

code,

and

youcanalsoeasilyadd,remove,enableanddisablebreakpointsthroughthiswindow.

ExecutetheapplicationbypressingF5(StartDebugging).Asanalternative,youcanalsousetheStartDebuggingtoolbarbutton,whichlookslikethis .

WhenyoustartdebuggingyoumaynoticethatthelayoutoftheVisualStudiouserinterfacechanges.

Visualstudiomaintainsdifferentwindowlayoutswhenindebuggingmode,andbydefaultshowsyou

severalwindowswhichareusefulduringthedebuggingprocess.Youcancustomizethewindowlayouts

likewedidearlier.

Youwontseetheapplicationonthescreenyet,becausewesetabreakpointintheconstructor

method,andtheformhasnotyetbeeninitialized.Whatyoushouldseeissomethinglikethis:


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Theyellowarrowiconoverthebreakpointindicatorandtheyellowhighlightonthecodeindicatesthat

abreakpointwasencountered,andVisualStudiohashandedcontrolbacktoyou.Fromthispointon

youcandeterminewhathappens,usingthesamesortoftechniquesthatyouwouldifyouwere

debuggingintraditionalSynergy.

Youcan

control

the

flow

of

execution

using

commands

like

Step

Into

(F11),

Step

Over

(F10),

Step

Out

(Shift+F11)andContinue(F5).TheseoptionsareavailableontheDebugmenucolumn,andalsohave

correspondingiconsontheDebugtoolbar,whichshowsupwhenyoustartthedebugger.Itlookslike

this:

StepINTOtheInitializeComponent()methodbypressingF11,orbyclickingthe toolbarbutton.

StarttostepthroughthemethodbypressingF10afewtimes,orbyclickingthe toolbarbutton.

StepoutofthemethodbypressingShift+F11,orbyclickingthe toolbarbutton. ContinueexecutionbypressingF5,orbyclickingthe toolbarbutton.

Youshouldnowseetheapplicationappearonthescreen,anditshouldoperatenormallyuntila

breakpointisencountered.YousetabreakpointontheeventhandlerforthebuttonsClickmethod,so:

Clickthebuttonontheform.Thedebuggershouldnowbreakontheprocstatementofthebutton1_Clickmethod.Inthelowerpart

ofthescreenyoushouldseeawindowcalledLocals;youmayneedtoclickonitstabtobringittothe

front.

Ifyoucantseethelocalswindow,selectDebug>Windows>Localsfromthemenu.Thelocalswindowisveryuseful,itdisplaysinformationaboutthelocalvariablesinthecurrentscope.In

thiscase,thebutton1_Clickmethod.Youcanusethewindowtoviewthecontentoflocalvariables,and

youcanalsochangethevalueofthelocalvariables,atleastforvaluetypes.

PresstheF10keytostepintotheproceduredivision. DoubleclickintheValuecellforthevar3localvariable,thentypeanewnumericvalueand

pressenter.

Inthelocalswindow,clickononeoftheotherlocalvariables.Youwillseethatwhenthevalueofavariablechanges,thelocalswindowtemporarilydisplaysthevalue

inredtoindicatethatitrecentlychanged.


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PresstheF10keyagaintoexecutethefirstassignmentstatementandsteptothenextstatement.

Youwillnoticethatthevariablethatyoupreviouslychangedisnolongerdisplayedinred,butthatthe

var1variableisnowinred,becausethestatementthatwasjustexecutedchangedthevalueofthe

variable.

PressF10againtoexecutethesecondassignmentstatement. PressF10againtoexecutetheadditionexpressionandcalculation.

Theyellowarrowindicator(nextstatementtoexecute)shouldnowbepointingtotheDebug.Print

statementwhichcanbeusedtoaddtracinginformationtotheoutputwindowinVisualStudio.Thiscan

alsobeausefuldebuggingtechnique.Iftheapplicationisexecutednormally(withoutdebugging)then

thisstatementwontdoanything.

Makesurethattheoutputwindowisvisible. PressF10toexecutetheDebug.Printstatement

Youshouldseethetextvar1+var2=3printedintheoutputwindow.

AnotherusefulwindowistheImmediateWindow,whichshouldbeoneofthetabstowardsthebottom

ofthescreen.

IfyoucantseetheImmediateWindowthenmakeitvisiblebyselectingDebug>Windows>Immediatefromthemenu,orbypressingCtrl+Alt+I.

CheckthattheImmediatewindowisshownbyclickingonitstab.TheImmediatewindowallowsyoutotypeanexpressionintothewindowandhaveVisualStudio

evaluatetheexpressionanddisplaytheresultingvalue.

ClickintheImmediateWindowandtype?var1andpressenter.Thedebuggershoulddisplaythevalueoftheexpressionvar1,inthiscasethevalue1.

IntheImmediateWindow,type?var3var1andpressenter.Again,thedebuggershoulddisplaythevalueoftheexpression,2.

AnotherwaytointeractwithdataisviatheWatchwindow,whichmaynotbedisplayedbydefault.This

windowallowsyoutodefineexpressionsthatyouareinterestedinlookingatonanongoingbasis.

Theseexpressionscouldbesimplevariablenames,ormorecomplexexpressions.


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StoptheprogrambyselectingDebug>StopDebugging,orbypressingShift+F5. PressCtrl+Shift+F9andclicktheYesbuttontoremoveallbreakpoints. Addanewbreakpointonthevar1=1statement. PressF5tostartanewdebuggingsession. Onceyourapplicationstarts,inVisualStudiodisplaytheWatchwindowbyselectingDebug>

Windows>Watch>Watch1fromthemenu.

Gobacktoyourapplicationandclickthebutton. IntheWatch1window,clickintheemptycellbelowtheNamecolumn,typevar1andpress

enter.

Repeatthis,butthistimefortheexpressionvar2. Addanotherwatch,thistimefortheexpressionvar1+var2.

YourWatchwindowshouldnowlooksomethinglikethis:

PressF10tostepintotheproceduredivision,thencontinuepressingF10tostepthroughtheassignmentstatementsandnoticewhathappensintheWatchwindow.

DefiningexpressionsintheWatchwindowcanbeaveryusefultechniquewhendebuggingcomplex

problems.

PressShift+F5tostopthedebugger. PressCtrl+Shift+F9andclicktheYesbuttontoremoveallbreakpoints.

TheVisualStudiodebuggingenvironmentisverypowerful,andthishasonlybeenaVERYbrief

introductiontoitsmostbasicfeatures.


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WorkingwithSourceCodeYouhaveseentheSynergy.NETsourcecodeeditorafewtimesnow,butsofarwehaventreally

exploreditscapabilities.Letsdothatnext.

Asyouwouldexpect,thesourcecodeeditorisalsoaverypowerfultool.Itisbothlanguageandcontext

sensitive,and

can

help

you

write

code

correctly

first

time,

layout

that

code

in

an

appropriate

way,

and

in

manycasescanactuallywritesomeofthecodeforyou.

ImportsTheconceptofimportingnamespaceswasfirstintroducedinSynergyLanguage9.1,whensupportfor

objectoriented(OO)developmentwasintroduced.IntraditionalSynergy,writingOOcodeisoptional,

butinSynergy.NETeverythingisOOwhetheryourealizeitornot.Yes,youcanstillusesubroutines

andfunctions,butunderthehoodtheenvironmentismakingthosethingsmethodsonaclass.In.NET

everythingisOO!

InOOprogramming,types(classes,interfaces,enumerations,structures,etc.)areorganizedinto

namespaces.Ifthesetypesaredefinedwithinaprojectthentheyareusuallyallpartofthesame

namespaceandbecomepartoftheassemblybeingdeveloped.Thismeansthat(subjecttoaccessibility

rulesdefinedinthecode)theycanbeusedwithintheassemblybysimplynamingthetype.

However,iftypesaredefinedinadifferentassembly(project)thentheyarenotautomaticallyavailable

foruse,andaregenerallygoingtobepartofadifferentnamespace.Inthiscase,ifwewanttobeableto

usethetypesinanexternalassemblythenweaddareferencetothatassembly,aswasdiscussedand

demonstratedearlier.

Havingaddedareferencetoanassembly,wecanaccessthepublictypesintheassembly,buttodoso

wewould

typically

need

to

fully

name

each

type

that

we

wish

to

use,

each

time

we

reference

it.

For

example,imaginethatwehaveaddedareferencetoanassemblycalledMyUtils.dll.Intheassemblyisa

classcalledDateUtils,andthatclassispartoftheMyUtilsnamespace.Theclasshasthreepublicstatic

methodscalledDaysBetween(),AddDays()andSubtractDays().

Ifwewantedtorefertooneofthosemethodsincodeinourproject,wewouldneedtofullyname

them,includingtheirnamespace.Ourcodemightlooksomethinglikethis:

paymentDue=MyUtils.DateUtils.AddDays(invoiceDate,30)

Whilethereisnothingwrongwiththiscode,itcouldbesimplified.Ifwehavereferencedanother

assemblyand

we

are

going

to

use

the

types

in

that

assembly

frequently,

we

have

the

option

of

importingthenamespaceofthetypesthatwewishtouse.Importingthenamespacemakesthe

compilerawareofthetypesinthenamespace,andmeansthatwedonthavetofullynamethetypes

eachtimeweneedtorefertothem(unlessthereisaduplicatetypeintwoormorenamespacesthatwe

haveimported).


37/47



So,wecouldimportthenamespacebyaddingcodelikethisattheverytopofthesourcefile:

importMyUtils

Andthenwecouldwritethecodethatusesthosetypeswithoutmentioningthenamespace:

paymentDue=DateUtils.AddDays(invoiceDate,30)

InthecodeeditorforForm1.dbl,abovethenamespacedefinitionandwiththeexistingimportstatements,addanewimportfortheSystem.Diagnosticsnamespace,likethis:

Scrolldownintothebutton1_ClickmethodandremovethenamespaceprefixfortheDebugclass,likethis:Importinganamespaceistotallyoptional,butcanmakethecodethatusesthetypesinthatnamespace

muchlessverbose.

IntelliSenseWhenyouweretypingtheimportstatementabove,youmayhavenoticedthatafteryoutyped

importSystem.

something

happened.

You

probably

saw

something

like

this:

WhathappenedwasaVisualStudiofeaturecalledIntelliSenserecognizedwhatyouweretyping,and

steppedintohelp.Inthiscase,IntelliSenserecognizedthatyouwerenotcurrentlyinsideanamespace,

andhad

started

to

type

an

import

statement.

IntelliSense

knows

that

ifyou

have

typed

an

import

statement,thenyoualsoneedtoaddanamespace,soitpresentedyoualistofallofthenamespaces

thatwerecurrentlyavailableinyourproject(basedontheprojectitself,andtheassembliesthatyou

havereferenced).

Whenthishappens,youcancontinuetotype,inwhichcasethelistofoptionswillgetgraduallyfiltered

downtomatchthecharactersthatyouhavetypedsofar:


38/47



Atany

time

during

this

process

you

can

use

the

arrow

keys

or

mouse

to

select

asuggested

value,

and

thenpressenter, tab,orspacetoinsertthatvalueintoyourcode.Ifyoudontwanttheassistancethen

youcanhittheescapekeytoclosetheIntelliSensepromptsandofcourseyoucanjustignorewhat

itsdoingandkeeptyping.

IntelliSenseiscontextsensitive,sonomatterwhereyouareworkinginapieceofcodeyoumayfind

thatitjumpsinthereandoffersshortcutstowhatyouretyping.Itcanhelpyoucompletethenamesof

statements:

Andtypes:


39/47



Andvariables:

Andparameters:

IntelliSenseisverypowerful,butuntilyougetusedtoworkingwithit,canalsosometimesbealittle

frustrating.Themainreasonforthisresultsfromthefactthatthespacekeyisoneofthewaysofasking

IntelliSensetocompletewhatyoutyped.Forexampleifyouretypingsomething,andIntelliSenseis

offeringyousomethingthatmatchesthecharactersthatyouhavetyped,youmightinstinctivelypress

thespacebartoleavewhatyouhavetypedandmoveontothenextword,butIntelliSensestepsinand

replaceswhatyouhavetypedwithwhatevermatchitwasdisplayingwhenyoupressedthespacebar.

ThesolutiontothisistohittheescapekeytodismissIntelliSensebeforeyoupressthespacebar,butat

firstthis

can

be

alittle

frustrating.

However,

it

is

well

worth

persevering

and

getting

used

to

the

way

thatIntelliSenseworks,becauseonceyoumastertheartitcansaveyoualotoftyping.

SnippetsAnotherfeaturethatcansaveyoualotoftyping,particularlywhenyouarewritingnewcode,isa

featurecalledsnippets.AsnippetissimilarinconcepttoanaliasinWorkbench.Asnippetisapieceof

predefinedandnamedcodethatisinsertedintotheeditbuffer,atthecurrentcursorposition,when

thenameofthesnippetistypedfollowedbytwotabcharacters.Thefirsttabcharacterselectsthe

snippet,andthesecondexpandsit.

Visual

Studio

also

presents

snippets

to

you

via

IntelliSense,

like

this:


40/47



Youcantellthatanitemisasnippetbecauseofits icon.

Withasnippetselected,typeTABTABtoselectandexpandit.Forexample,theFORsnippetexpands

likethis:

Somesnippetsjustexpandtoapieceoffixedcode,butmostexpandtoapieceofcodethatincludes

specialtokensthatareintendedtobereplacedwithsomeothervaluebytheprogrammer.Youcansee

thesetokensintheexampleabove,theiwiththegreenbackgroundisthecurrentlyselectedtoken,and

1,lengthand1withtheyellowbackgroundsareothertokenstobeselectedandreplaced.

Withasnippettokenselected,simplytypethevaluethatyouwanttoinsert,thenpressTABtomoveon

tothe

next

token

or

press

ESCAPE

to

exit

from

token

replacement

completely.

So,tofullyusetheFORsnippet,youcouldtype:

forcount101 1

Whichwouldresultinthefollowingcode:

Whilethismayinitiallyseemcomplicated,whenyouactuallydoitintheeditoritisverynatural,andcan

savetime.Anotherbenefitofusingsnippetsisthatyoureprettymuchguaranteedtoproducethe

correctcodebecausethesnippetdoesalotoftheworkforyou.Tryitout:

Placeyourcursorintheproceduredivisionofthebutton1_Clickmethod,aftertheDebug.Printstatement,onanewline

Typeforandpresstabtwice. Typevar3andpresstabtwice(oncetodismissIntelliSense,oncetocompletethesnippet

token).

Typetabtoacceptthedefaultvalue1. Type10toinsertacustomvalue. Typetocompletethesnippetexpansion


41/47



Noticehowwhenyoupressedtheescapekey,thecursormovedintothebeginendblock.Thatspartof

thefunctionalityofthesnippetalso.

RemovetheFORloopfromthecode.By

the

way,

if

you

have

blocks

of

code

that

you

use

frequently,

then

you

can

also

create

your

own

code

snippetsandaddthemtoVisualStudio,butthatsalittlebeyondthescopeofourobjectivesforthis

tutorial.

CodeBeautifierSynergy.NETincludesacodebeautifier,whichcanhelpyoureformatthesourcecodeinanedit

window.ThebeautifierfollowsthestylerulesthatyouhaveconfiguredinyourVisualStudio

environmentwelllookathowtodothatshortly.

Usingthecodebeautifiercouldntbeeasier;simplyopenasourcefilethatneedscleaningupand

activatethebeautifierbyselectingEdit>Advanced>FormatDocumentfromthemenu,orbytyping

thekeysequenceCtrl+KthenCtrl+D.Tryitout:

PlaceyourcursoranywhereintheForm1.dblsourcefile. TypeCtrl+Atoselectthewholemethod. TypeShift+Tabseveraltimestocauseallofthecodetobeunindentedtotheleftmargin. Clickanywhereinthefiletodeselectthecode. TypeCtrl+KfollowedbyCtrl+Dtoactivatethecodebeautifier.

Youcan

also

drag

out

aselection

within

the

edit

buffer

and

reformat

just

that

selection

using

Format

Selection,orCtrl+KthenCtrl+F.

AddingnewItemsWhenyoufirstcreatedtheprojectthatyouhavebeenworkingonyouusedaProjectTemplate,which

configuredanewprojectforaspecifictypeofdevelopmentproject.Whenitcomestimetoadd

additionalitemstoaproject,youcanuseanothertypeoftemplate,thistimecalledanItemTemplate.

Itemtemplatesprovideaneasywaytoaddvarioustypesoffilestoanexistingproject,andoften

providedefaultcontentinthefilesthatareadded.

Closeanyopenfilesbyclickingonthecloseicon(cross)inthetabforeachfile.IfyouarepromptedtosavechangesthenclickYes.

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickontheIntroToVisualStudioproject(itstheoneinbold)andthenselectAdd>NewItem,ortypeCtrl+Shift+A.


42/47



YouwillseetheAddNewItemdialogappear.Itlookslikethis:

Asyoucansee,thedialogcontentisfilteredtofiletypesappropriateforaddingtoaSynergy/DEproject,

andorganizedintoseveralcategories.IfyouselecttheSynergycategorythenyouwillseeallofthe

availableitemtemplatesandclickingononeofthemorespecificcategories,suchasCode,resultsinthe

templatelistbeingfilteredtoonlyitemsthatmatchthatcategory.

SelecttheCodecategory. SelecttheClasstemplate. ChangethenameoftheclasstoCustomer.dbl ClicktheAddbutton.

YoushouldseeanewfileaddedtoSolutionExplorer,andthenewfileshouldopenintheeditor;it

shouldcontaindefaultcontentforanewclass.

Noticethatthenameoftheclasshasbeensettothenameofthefilethatyouentered,andalsothat

thenamespacethathasbeeninsertedisthedefaultnamespaceforyourprojectasspecifiedinproject

properties.Filesinsertedbyitemtemplatesarenotnecessarilyproducedfromstaticcontent;rather

theycanbegeneratedasappropriate.


43/47



AddingExistingItemsAswellasaddingnewitemstoaproject,youcanaddexistingfiles.Infacttherearetwodifferentways

toaddexistingfilestoaproject,onewhichplacesaCOPYoftheoriginalfiledirectlyinyourproject

folder,andonewhichplacesaLINKtotheoriginalfileintoyourproject.

Tocopy

an

existing

file

into

your

project,

go

to

Solution

Explorer

and

right

click

on

the

project,

then

selectAdd>ExistingItem.Usetheresultingfilebrowserdialogtolocateandselectthefileorfilesthat

youwishtoaddandclicktheAddbutton.Remember,thismechanismmakesaCOPYofthefilesdirectly

inyourprojectfolder.

Analternativeistoaddlinkstotheexistingfiles,withoutcopyingthefilesintoyourproject.The

procedureforthisissimilarexceptthatyouwillselectAdd>ReferenceExistingItem.Whenyouadd

linkstoexistingitemsintoaproject,thefileisnotcopiedintoyourprojectfolder,butisincludedinthe

compilationwhenyoubuildtheproject.

OrganizingFiles

in

Folders

Asyourdevelopmentprojectsgetlargeryoumayfinditnecessarytoorganizeyoursourcefilesinto

multiplefoldersbelowyourprojectfolder.Thisalsohastheadvantageoforganizingthefilesintofolders

withinSolutionExplorer,andcanmakeitmucheasiertoworkwithlargerprojectsinVisualStudio.

Theapproachusuallytakenistogroupsimilarroutinesintofolders.Forexample,ifyouaredeveloping

anapplicationusingtheMVVMdesignpattern,youmightchoosetoplaceallofyourviewsourcecode

intoaViewsfolder,allthemodelcodeinaModelsfolder,andalloftheviewmodelsintoaViewModels

folder.Bytheway,thisisntaspecificrecommendation,itmaybebettertoorganizethosethingsinto

entirelyseparateprojectsandassemblies.Itreallydependsonthescaleoftheapplicationandseveral

otherfactors.

Tocreateanewfolderinyourproject:

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickontheIntroToVisualStudioproject(itstheoneinbold)andselectAdd>NewFolder.

ChangethefoldernametoModelsandpressenter. RightclickonthenewfolderandselectAdd>NewItem. EntertheinformationforanewClasscalledProduct.dblandclickAdd.

Youshould

see

the

new

class

added

to

Solution

Explorer

in

the

Models

folder,

and

the

new

file

should

openinacodeeditorwindow.

YouwillnoticethatthenamespaceusedforthenewitemisIntroToVisualStudio.Models.Youll

rememberthatIntroToVisualStudiowasthedefaultnamespacefortheproject,andthatitemsthatyou

addtotheprojectareplacedintothisnamespace.But,asyoucansee,whenanewitemisaddedtoa

FOLDERintheproject,thedefaultbehavioristoaddtheitemtoanestednamespace,basedonthe


44/47



nameoftheproject.Thisbehaviorisconsistentwithother.NETlanguagesandisgenerallyagoodidea.

However,ifyoudontwanttomakeuseofnestednamespaces,thenyoujustneedtorememberto

changethenamespacewhenyouaddnewitemsintoafolder.

AddingProjectstotheSolutionSo

far

weve

only

considered

developing

with

asolution

containing

asingle

project.

But

very

often

when

workinginVisualStudioyouwillworkwithsolutionscontainingseveralprojects,asyoustriveto

organizeyourapplicationintologicalunitsthatcanbereusedfromotherplaces.

Aswediscussedearlier,aprojectisusedtocreateasingleassembly(programorclasslibrary).

Developerscommonlyorganizereusablecode(theequivalentoftraditionalSynergyssubroutine

libraries)intoseparateassembliesandreferencethemfromtheprojectswhichusethetypesthatthey

contain.

Letslookatasimpleexample:

InSolutionExplorer,rightclickontheIntroToVisualStudioSOLUTION(itstheoneattheverytop)andselectAdd>NewProject.

IntheAddNewProjectdialog,selectSynergy/DEandClassLibrary. SettheNameoftheclasslibrarytoMyLibrary. PresstheOKbuttontoaddthenewlibrary.

YoushouldnowhavetwoprojectsshowinginSolutionExplorer.You

willnoticethattheIntroToVisualStudioisstilldisplayedinbold.That

isbecauseitissetasthesolutionsStartupProject,meaningthat

whenyouexecuteordebugthesolutionthatistheprojectwhose

executablewillbestarted.

Veryoften,solutionscontainingmultipleprojectswillcontainone

applicationandoneormoreclasslibraries,whichcantbestarted

directly,soitisusuallyclearwhichprojectshouldbethestartup

project.Howeverinsomesituationsyoumaydecidetohavemultiple

applicationprojectsinasolution,andinthatcaseyoucandetermine

whichprojectisthestartupprojectbyrightclickingtheprojectand

selectingSet

As

StartUp

Project.

Youhaveaddedaclasslibraryprojecttoyoursolution,anditcontainsasingledefaultclasscalled

Class1.Werenotgoingtoworryaboutfunctionalityrightnow,becausethistutorialisabouthowtouse

VisualStudiowithSynergy.NET,butwhatwedoneedtodoisshowhowtomodifytheapplication

projecttohaveareferencetothenewclasslibraryproject,sothatitcanusethetypesinthelibrary.


45/47



InSolutionExplorer,undertheIntroToVisualStudioproject,rightclickontheReferencesfolderandselectAddReference.

IntheAddReferencedialog,selecttheProjectstab. SelectMyLibraryandclicktheOKbutton.

YourIntroToVisualStudioprojectnowhasareferencetoyourMyLibraryclasslibraryassembly,andcan

useanypublictypesinthatassembly.

UsingtheCodeConverterSynergy.NETincludesacodeconverterutilitywhichiscapableoftranslatingC#syntaxtotheequivalent

Synergy.NETsyntax.

SelectTools>C#toSynergyCodeConverterfromthemenu.

Tousethecodeconverter,eithertypeorpastetheC#codethatyouwishtoconvertintotheboxonthe

left,andthenclickthetranslatebutton .Thetranslatedcodeisplacedintoyourclipboardsothatyou

canpasteitintoasourcefile.

ThecodeconvertercanbeveryusefulwhenlearninghowtoprogramsomethinginSynergy.NET

becausetherearemanyC#codeexamplesintheVisualStudiodocumentationandontheInternet,

generally.

Thecodethatyouplaceintheleftboxmustbeacompletepieceofcodeinanamespace.Pastingsmall

snippetsofcodeintotheconverterwillnotwork.


46/47



ThecodeconverterhasbeensubstantiallyimprovedsincetheinitialreleaseofSynergy.NETandisnow

capableofconvertingmostC#code,buttherearesomesyntaxconstructsavailableinC#thathaveno

directequivalentinSynergy.NET,sooccasionallythecodeconvertermayreportFailedtoconvert.

Also,occasionallythecodeconvertermayencounterC#syntaxwhichcanbeimplementedinSynergy

.NET,but

which

is

too

complex

to

be

converted

automatically.

In

these

cases,

whenever

possible,

the

codeconverterwillinsertaTODO:commentintotheresultingcodetoindicatethatyouneedtodo

somemanualwork.

Inmanycasesthecodeconverterisabletoproducecodewhichis100%correct,butifyouareusingit

toproducecodethatyouactuallyintendtouse(ratherthanjusttolearnatechniquefrom)thenitis

recommendedthatyoureviewthecodethatwasproduced.

Closethecodeconverterwindow.BuildingWithMultipleProjectsWhenyouworkwithinasolutionthatincludesmultipleprojectsthenVisualStudiowillbuildany

projectsthatareoutofdatewheneveryouexecuteordebugtheapplication.Also,typingCtrl+Shift+B

(buildsolution)willalsobuildanyprojectswhichareoutofdate.Tryit:

TypeCtrl+Shift+BChecktheoutputwindowandyoushouldseethatbothofyourprojectswerebuilt:

YoualsohavetheoptionofbuildingtheprojectsindividuallyviamenuitemsontheBuildmenu.Youwill

seeseparateoptionstobuildthesolutionorthecurrentproject.Th

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