Welcome to Visual C# Express 2010

It is essential to know the different parts of the Visual C# Express environment. You also need to know the different tools and features that this IDE can offer to you.

Open Visual C# Express 2010, if this is your first time running the IDE, you need to wait for it to configure the initial settings for the user.




After the initial configuration, the Start Page of Visual C# Express 2010 will show up.

The numbered labels will be used to identify the different parts of the IDE.
 

The Menu Bar

The (1)Menu Bar is where the different menus for creating, developing, maintaining, debugging, and executing programs can be found.  Clicking a menu will reveal another set of related menus. Note that the menu bar still has hidden menu items which will only show on certain conditions. For example, the Project menu item will show if a project is currently active. Here are some of the description of each menu item. The following are some of the menus and their description.

Menu Item	Description
File	Contains commands to create new projects or files, open or save projects, exit or close projects, printing, and many file or project related tasks.
Edit	Contains commands to that are related to editing such as selecting, copying, pasting, finding, and replacing.
View	Allows you to open more windows that are initially hidden or add more toolbars items to the toolbar.
Project	Contains commands related to the projects you are working on.
Debug	Allows you to compile, debug(testing), and run the project.
Data	Contains command for connecting or creating different datasources for use in your application.
Format	Contains commands for arranging the layout of GUI components while in the Design View.
Tools	Contains the different tools, settings, and options for VS/VCE.
Window	Allows you to adjust the view or layout of the windows inside VS/VCE.
Help	Allows you to view the documentation and help topics, product registration details, and product version details.

The Toolbars

The (2)Toolbars contain commonly used commands which are also found in the menu bar. The toolbars serve as a shortcut to commands located in the menu bar. Each buttons has an icon that represents their functionality. You can hover each button to show a tool tip that describes their functionality. Some commands are initially hidden and will only show up on appropriate situations. You can also right click to any blank area of the toolbar to add more commands. Alternatively, you can go to View > Toolbars and check items to show up more toolbars. Some buttons have arrows beside them that when clicked, shows more related commands. You can also click the arrows beside each toolbar that will allow you to add or remove more buttons to tool bar. The left side of each toolbar allows you to move or change the arrangement of toolbars.

The Start Page

You will see some tips, tutorials and news in the (3)Start Page section of the IDE. You can also create or open projects from here. If you have created some projects, then they will show up here in the Recent Projects section so you won't have a hard time finding each project. You can access the latest news related to .NET and Visual Studio by going to the Latest News tab. You can open VS/VCE's internal browser by going to View> Other Windows > Web Browser.