Introduction

In addition to the powerful .NET platform, Microsoft has introduced a new version of its Visual Studio Suite, called Visual Studio.NET (VS.NET). Even in its Beta stages, VS.NET provides the developer with powerful visual tools for developing all kinds of applications on the .NET platform.

VS.NET helps in the speedy creation and deployment of applications coded in any of the managed languages, including C#. This chapter gets you familiar with the new features of VS.NET and teaches you to customize it according to your needs. We cover the many new features of VS.NET, including the .NET Framework, Web Services, XML support, and the Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

Also, we cover the XML editor, which has tag completion for Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLTs). We go over the IntelliSense feature and how it is used in the different windows. Finally, we cover how to customize your settings within the IDE.

VS.NET is a complete development environment. The components stay the same regardless of language, making it very easy to switch projects and languages and have the same features in the same place. Also, with the expanded IntelliSense with tag completion, routine code writing is faster.

Introducing Visual Studio.NET

The Start pages deliver a great many resources for the development environment. The Start page is the default home page for the browser inside of the IDE. You can tap all aspects of the IDE from these pagesi. We go over the three most useful Start pages, starting...