1. Microsoft Visual Basic 2005
BASICS
Lesson 2
Forms, Controls, and
Properties
Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 BASICS

2. Objectives
 Create a new Visual Studio 2005 project.
 Save a Visual Studio 2005 project.
 View and modify form properties.
 Create controls, such as command
buttons.
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3. Objectives (cont.)
 Move, resize, and delete objects.
 Explain the concept of focus.
 Set additional properties (BackColor, Top,
and Left).
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4. Creating a New Project
 Create a new project
 Select the New Project option
 From the File menu
 Or push the New Project button
 On the Start Page
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5. Creating a New Project (cont.)
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6. Creating a New Project (cont.)
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7. Forms
 Forms are the windows and dialog boxes
when the program runs.
 Every program must have at least one
form.
 All other objects must be contained within
forms.
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8. Forms (cont.)
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9. Forms (cont.)
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10. Saving the Project
 Visual Basic will save your project
whenever you compile the program.
 Use the Save All button
 To save your project manually
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11. Viewing and Modifying
Properties
 The Properties window
 Allows you to easily alter the properties of
objects
 Important properties of a form
 The Text property specifies the text that
appears in the title bar.
 The Name property names the object for
coding.
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12. Viewing and Modifying
Properties (cont.)
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13. Viewing and Modifying
Properties (cont.)
 Naming objects
 Use names that are meaningful and that
describe the object you are naming.
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14. Viewing and Modifying
Properties (cont.)
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15. Creating Controls
 Controls are the objects that make up the
user interface.
 One of the most common controls is the
command button.
 To create controls, you must access the
Toolbox.
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16. Creating Controls (cont.)
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17. Creating Controls (cont.)
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18. Setting Properties of the
Command Buttons
 Command buttons
 Have many properties that can be set
 Text property
 Specifies the text that the user sees on the
command button
 Name property
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19. Moving, Resizing, and
Deleting Objects
 Objects can be moved and resized.
 Using techniques common to most
Windows programs
 Delete an object
 Select the object and press the Delete key.
 Snap lines
 Colored lines
 Help you line objects up with one another
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20. Moving, Resizing, and
Deleting Objects (cont.)
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21. Moving, Resizing, and
Deleting Objects (cont.)
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22. Understanding Focus
 The object that is currently active on the
screen is said to have the focus.
 Press the Tab key
 To move the focus from one control to
another
 Each object in a window will get the focus
in a sequence.
 Called the tab order
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23. Setting Additional Properties
 Other properties commonly set when
creating Visual Basic programs
 BackColor
 Position and size of objects
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24. Setting the BackColor
Property
 By default, forms have a gray
background.
 Use BackColor property
 To change form background color
 Collections of colors
 System colors
 Web colors
 Custom colors
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25. Setting the BackColor
Property (cont.)
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26. Setting the Top and Left
Properties
 Use Location property
 For precise placements of objects
 Location property
 Point with X and Y values
 Locates the object at a distance from the
upper-left corner of a form
 By default, the unit of measure is pixels.
 Smallest dot on a screen that the computer
can address
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27. Summary
 To create your own Visual Basic program,
you must create a new project. The
Windows Application project template
allows you to create a program from
scratch.
 Projects created using the Windows
Application template begin with one blank
form. Forms become the windows and
dialog boxes when the program runs.
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28. Summary (cont.)
 Every program has at least one form. All
other objects must be contained within
forms.
 Visual Studio 2005 will save your project
whenever you compile the program.
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29. Summary (cont.)
 A window created from a Visual Basic
form has certain functionality by default,
such as the ability to be moved, resized,
maximized, minimized, and closed.
 Properties are the characteristics of
Visual Basic objects. Properties can be
modified in the Properties window.
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30. Summary (cont.)
 The Text and (Name) properties are two
of the most important properties. The
Text property controls what the user sees
in the title bar of a form and in other
objects, such as command buttons.
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31. Summary (cont.)
 When we add programming code later,
the (Name) property allows us to refer to
the object using a meaningful name.
Programmers often use a naming
standard when naming objects.
 Controls are the command buttons, text
boxes, scroll bars, and other objects that
make up the user interface.
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32. Summary (cont.)
 A command button is a standard push-
button control that commonly appears in
dialog boxes. Command buttons can be
moved, resized, and deleted like other
Windows objects.
 Focus refers to the active status of one of
the objects in a window. Only one object
can have the focus.
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33. Summary (cont.)
 The BackColor property controls the
background color of a form.
 The Location property can be used to
accurately position objects. By default,
the X and Y point values of the Location
property use a measurement called
pixels.
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