Microsoft Visual Studio Beginner: Working With Projects

Name: Microsoft Visual Studio Beginner: Working With Projects
Author: Gerald Eckert

Make the most out of projects in Visual Studio

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Gerald. In this lesson, I will show you how to get started creating your first project. We'll cover two different types of projects and some of the important details. Here, we have the Visual Studio start screen. On the right hand side, we're gonna select create a new project. This will open the create a project wizard. Our first example is going to be a class library. A class library usually contains reusable code and classes that you can use in multiple apps. So in the search bar, we'll type Class Library to search. And here, we see the different types of class libraries. We'll choose the .NET framework version in this example. Go ahead and click Next to create the project. Here, we're going to specify a name for our class library. We'll call this one Extension Helpers. We also have an option for where we went to save the project on our file system. And also the framework version. We'll leave everything at the default. Click Create to open the project in Visual Studio. So here we have our brand new project, which is a class library project. You can see on the right hand side in the Solution Explorer, we have a new solution for this project, and then the actual project itself. An important part of projects are the properties. To edit the properties for a project, you right click on the project and scroll down to the Properties menu and click that. This opens a new tab here with all the project properties. Now, depending on the type of project you're working on, there's gonna be specific properties in here and additional tabs to modify your project. Whether it's a gaming project, a web API, a Windows Form, or WPF, whatever you're building, they're gonna have specific custom properties on these windows for yours. Some of the common ones are the assembly name and the name space. So if you wanna customize your name space within your code, you can do that here. We also have the framework and output type. There's an assembly information button here where you can customize the assembly information. So that's the details that are gonna show up on your DLL when you right click it and say, show me the details. So you can put a description in here, your company and product, any kind of trademarks you have. And there's also versioning tools in here for the assembly version and the file version. There's also other tabs here such as Build. You can specify build options. What do you wanna do when you build the app? Do you wanna allow unsafe code? How do you wanna treat warnings? Things like that. There's a lot of detail and options here. So definitely check this out. And then there's build events. So if you wanna run executables after you build your project, maybe to zip it up and FTP it to a different server, you would put those kind of commands in here. Another important property is the Signing tab. If you're gonna distribute your project to other developers to use in their systems, you're probably gonna wanna sign the assembly with a certificate to prove it's yours and so they can trust it and know that it's yours. And that's what you'll do here on the Signing tab with the sign the assembly option. Now let's take a look at the file that gets generated behind the scenes. 'Cause there are times where you'll need to modify the file to change options for the project that aren't available in the properties window. So if you right click your project, I'm gonna open the project in Visual Studio Code. If you don't have this extension, you can use this option here, open folder in File Explorer and open the file using Whichever text editor you have on your computer, that's how you'll want to open this. I'm gonna open with Visual Studio Code. And here, we can see the project file. It's laid out with XML, but it has all the options from the properties window specified in here as well as a list of references. So there are many times where you're gonna want to edit options that aren't available in Visual Studio, maybe some unique thing you're doing with your project. So you'll want to come into the XML here and update it with whatever you need to get the job done for you. Let's look at a different project. We're going to create a WinForm project. Here, I restarted Visual Studio. I'm gonna click create a new project again, and I'm going to go to my recent project templates, 'cause I created one earlier, Windows Forms App .NET framework, and we'll click Next. We'll make this a desktop application and we're gonna keep all the defaults. So a WinForm is a desktop app that has a GUI with buttons and text boxes and things like that. So let's create this. And here, we have our WinForm project opened in Visual Studio. You can see in the Solution Explorer, there's a couple more options here, a couple more items. We have a form and we have an app config. This was different than the class library. And you can see, depending on the project you choose, you'll get different things in your Solution Explorer. We'll take a look at the properties of this WinForm project, and you can see, it's a lot of the same options. We do have extra items here, such as resources and settings. These are already created and ready to start using the settings. You could put things like connection strings in here. If you wanted to specify connection to a database, you would put those items in the settings. Resources. These are usually images, font files, any kind of resource, HTML files, images, icons, whatever you need for your WinForm app is going to go into this Resources tab here. So you can see the properties page for the projects are different depending on the project. Now I do wanna cover how to organize your project a little bit. So one of the best things you can do is create folders and to organize your code files and your different components. So to add folders to your project, you can right click on your project, select Add, and then select New Folder. And let's give this folder a name. Let's call it Controls. WinForms use controls as user interface elements like buttons and text boxes. And let's add a control to this folder. So I'll right click, select Add, and then select New Item. In here, add new item, we will search for controls, a user control. And we'll call this Control Button Text Box. So we're adding a control to our project. Now let's quickly add a button and a text box. Pin this here, let's drag a button over, and let's get a text box. So now I have a custom user control with a button and a text box. Now this is just a way of organizing components. I would normally add another folder for classes. And in your classes folder, you can add your individual code classes. And you could also add another folder to organize your forms, your GUI elements. So this is just a good habit, a good way to organize your projects. Now you have learned how to create different types of projects, update their properties, and how to organize code within them. Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the next lesson where we will explore installing and using new Git packages.

Beginner Provider : Gerald Eckert 3 Lessons · 23m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Projects are the foundation of software solutions built in Visual Studio. They are the separate logical components of your solution. In these lessons, we will cover using a variety of solutions, including class libraries, .Net frameworks, and NuGet packages, as well as their different applications. We will explore potential issues with downloading packages and templates and the ways Visual Studio can automatically fix packages. We will also cover finding and using code from a repository, and best practices for extension and repository downloads. Knowing how to correctly use and organize projects within your solution is key to building software, and these lessons will provide the foundation for beginning your projects successfully.

In these lessons on Working with Projects, we will cover setting up and organizing different types of projects. You will learn how to create your first project, install and use external libraries with NuGet packages, and how to work with multi-project solutions.

What You'll Learn

Create your first project in Visual Studio
Install and use external libraries with NuGet packages
Identify and include external libraries in your solution
Organize code into logical components
Work with multi-project solutions
Find and use code from a repository following best practices for extension and repository downloads

Key Takeaways

Projects are the foundation of software solutions in Visual Studio and act as the separate logical components of a solution.
The lessons cover a variety of solution types, including class libraries, .Net frameworks, and NuGet packages, along with their different applications.
The course explores potential issues with downloading packages and templates and the ways Visual Studio can automatically fix packages.
It covers finding and using code from a repository, along with best practices for extension and repository downloads.
Knowing how to correctly use and organize projects within a solution is key to building software and provides the foundation for beginning projects successfully.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this Visual Studio course on working with projects?

You will learn how to set up and organize different types of projects, create your first project, install and use external libraries with NuGet packages, and work with multi-project solutions.

What topics and lessons does this course cover?

The course includes three lessons: Creating Your First Project, Installing and Using NuGet Packages, and Working with Multiple Projects. It also covers solution types such as class libraries, .Net frameworks, and NuGet packages, as well as finding and using code from a repository.

Who is this course for?

This is a beginner course in Microsoft Visual Studio for those starting to build software, providing the foundation for beginning your projects successfully.

What skills does this course help develop?

It helps develop skills including implementing projects, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visual Programming Language, Microsoft Visual Studio, project method, and project structuring.

How does this course help with managing packages?

It explores potential issues with downloading packages and templates and the ways Visual Studio can automatically fix packages, as well as best practices for extension and repository downloads.