Programming Visual Basic 2005

Projects and Solutions

Visual Studio .NET uses projects and solutions to organize your applications. A project contains user interface and source files, as well as other files such as data sources and graphics. Typically, the contents of a project are compiled into an assembly, e.g., an executable file (.exe) or a dynamic link library file (DLL).

You can create many types of projects in Visual Studio 2005, including:

• Windows application

• Windows service

• Windows Control Libray

• Web Control Library

• Class Library

• Pocket PC templates

• SmartPhone templates

• Windows CE templates

• Crystal Reports Windows application

• SQL Server project

• Word and Excel document and template

• Screen saver

Templates

When you create a new project by clicking the New Project... link on the Start Page or File → New Project ..., you get the New Project dialog box , as shown in Figure 15-3.

Figure 15-3. New Project dialog box

Warning

As described in the "Web Sites" section, web applications are not created by creating a new project, but by creating a new web site.

To create a new project, you select a project type and a template. There are a variety of templates for each project type. For example, the templates for Visual Basic 2005 Projects, shown in Figure 15-3, are different from the templates available to Other Project Types → Setup and Deployment. By selecting a Visual Studio Solutions project type, you can create an empty solution, ...