Introduction

Now that we have learned how to work with Windows Forms, we will take a look at Windows Controls. Visual Basic .NET comes with an extensive amount of built-in controls for use in your applications. This allows applications to be developed more rapidly. There are controls for displaying labels, allowing user input of text, and working with numbers. There are controls for users to make choices, and various ways of displaying information to the user. As in previous versions of Visual Basic, you can also use controls created by third-party vendors. This allows you great flexibility in utilizing the controls that best fit your needs. Controls are manipulated by their properties and methods. A control can be configured at design time with its design-time properties and further controlled at runtime with its runtime properties and methods.

So what do you do if you can t find a control that does exactly what you need? One option is to compromise and accept the control(s) closest to your needs. This is not always acceptable, however. In Visual Basic .NET, you will still have the ability to develop your own custom-made controls, which allows you to create the exact desired functionality. You can even develop your own control to become one of those third-part vendors that sell controls. You can create design-time properties as well as runtime properties and methods to provide the developer with access to manipulate your control. You even have the ability to bind your control to a data source.