Visual Basic Programming Introduction

Ross Sheppard High School
Computer Programming 20
Student Learning Guide
Introduction to Visual Basic Programming

When you have finished this project, you will be able to:

describe the Visual Basic desktop

describe the following terms:

event-driven
rapid application development

The Visual Basic desktop, or project development area, consists of the following parts:
- menu bar
- tool bar
- tool box
- project design and code development window
- project window
- properties window
Click on the various parts of the Visual Basic desktop below to learn more.

Get to know and understand the parts of the Visual Basic development environment - you will be using it all the time during this course.
Before you can start programming, it is important that you understand the various programming conventions that we will be using in this course. One of the secrets to becoming a really great programmer is the use of these conventions, or standards, throughout your programming. It is the use of the conventions that allows other programmers - and yourself - to troubleshoot and understand how a program works. If you choose programming as a career, it will be extremely important that you understand these conventions. While different companies use slightly different conventions, understanding how and why to use the conventions is what is important.

Click here to see a table of the Ross Sheppard Visual Basic Programming Conventions

There is also a link to this reference in the Navigation frame to the left for future use.
When programming, it is much easier if you follow accepted procedures. For this reason, you will follow a step-by-step process as you create you first few programs. In the next project, you will create you first Visual Basic program, and the instructions you receive will be very specific, and every step will be given. As you gain experience, only the endpoint will be given, and you will be required to remember the steps that led up to that point.
For example, when you create the object and code for your first event, the Exit button, you will be given instruction step-by-step on how to create that object. In the second project, however, you will be told only to create the Exit button.
Remember, you can always return to each part of this web site to review the process.
In general, here are the steps that you will use to create a VB project:
- draw the visual implementation - the user interface
- start a new VB project
- place the objects on the form
- enter the properties for each object
- create the code for each event
Visual Basic is an event driven programming environment, which means that when a user does something, something else will happen. For example, the user might click the mouse, and a message box will appear. In this case, the event was the mouse click. The result was the message box.
When programming in any language, it is necessary to approach your project in a logical fashion. Much of what you will learn in this course is about how to approach programming.
Continue to the next project in which you will create your first program.