Introduction

Prior to beginning Visual Basic .NET installation, you should make some preliminary checks first. You must verify that you meet the system requirements for installation. When you install Visual Studio .NET, it will also install the MSDN for Visual Studio .NET, which contains valuable information on .NET development. You can also install sample projects that help you learn .NET. If you aren t sure whether you need a component during installation, you can always add components later.

The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) has some changes, but it should be familiar to those of you who have used Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Studio. All projects, regardless of the programming language, will be developed in the same IDE now. When you start Visual Studio .NET, you no longer choose between tools such as Visual Basic or Visual C++; you just start Visual Studio. To keep in line with the new Internet strategy, Visual Studio starts with a home page. It contains links for various items, and you can customize it to your liking. You will see some new project options available. If you have used Visual Interdev 6.0, you are already familiar with the task list that is now available. The tabbed child windows feature makes navigation between windows easier. The new IDE makes development much easier, as we will see.

A new feature of the IDE is that it can be customized to your liking. You can customize the home page for the links you prefer, create a profile that...