New Features In Visual Studio 2005 Windows Forms “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” the little voice in my head shouted as I contemplated using the worn out cliché “Good things come to those who wait” to describe the experience of designing Windows applications with Visual Studio 2005. However, that cliché accurately communicates the idea that building Windows Forms applications in Visual Studio 2005 is better, makes you more productive, and provides you with more fun than doing the same in Visual Studio 2003, not to mention VB6! Part of what makes working with Windows Forms so exciting these days is Microsoft’s renewed emphasis on smart client development. It is no secret that Windows applications provide a richer and better user experience than Web-based applications. Web-based applications have had the upper hand primarily because they are easier to deploy. For years now, IT departments have been willing to sacrifice the user experience in order to take advantage of the deployment advantages offered by Web-based applications. | " |
I think the pendulum is about to swing back in favor of developing rich, user-centric, Windows applications for internal corporate applications.
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Microsoft has addressed the Windows application deployment issue with the new ClickOnce technology introduced with Visual Studio 2005. For more information, see “ClickOnce: Bringing Ease and Reliability to Smart Client Deployment” by Patrick Darragh in this issue of CoDe Magazine .Of course Web-based applications will always have their place on the Internet, but I think the pendulum is about to swing back in favor of developing rich, user-centric, Windows applications for internal corporate applications. This article touches on some of the new enhancements made to the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE), new controls, and new components. I chose to code the samples in Visual Basic and I am sure that will not adversely hamper a C# programmer from learning about the new Windows Form features in Visual Studio 2005. Visual Studio 2005 IDE Features The Visual Studio IDE and Windows Form teams have been busy adding or improving features that increase your productivity. A reorganized Toolbox will be one of the things you notice when you create your first Visual Studio 2005 Windows Form application. Controls are grouped according to function into categories including Common Controls, Containers, Menus & Toolbars, and Data, to name a few (Figure 1). 
Figure 1: The Toolbox is organized into sections.The new snap lines feature will be the next feature you notice. This feature provides visual confirmation that controls are horizontally or vertically aligned (Figure 2). This will save you time because you will never have to set Left or Top properties or use the Format > Align menu option to ensure controls are lined up correctly. 
Figure 2: Lining up controls is much easier with the new snap lines feature.Drop a Textbox control on a form, select it, and you will see a small smart tag arrow in the upper right corner of the control. Clicking this arrow displays the Textbox Tasks dialog box which provides a list of the common operations performed on the control (Figure 3). 
Figure 3: With smart tags common options are just a click away.I could go on and on about additional enhancements made to the Visual Studio development environment and project structure, but I will leave that for another article. For now, I will move on to specific Windows Form enhancements. | & | | 
By: Jim Duffy Jim Duffy is founder and president of TakeNote Technologies, an award-winning training, consulting, and software development company specializing in .NET software developer training and helping clients create business solutions with Microsoft enterprise technologies like Virtual Earth. Jim's expertise is with Visual Studio, Visual Basic, ASP.NET, SQL Server and Visual FoxPro-to-.NET conversions. He has a BS degree in Computer and Information Systems and over 25 years of programming and training experience. He is an energetic trainer, skilled developer, and has been published in leading developer-oriented publications.
Jim is a Microsoft Regional Director, a Microsoft MVP award recipient since 2003, an INETA speaker, and is an entertaining and popular speaker at regional user groups and international developer conferences. He is also a co-host of Computers 2K9, a call-in radio show on WRBZ (AM 850), 850 The Buzz, in Raleigh, NC.
You can find additional information about Jim, TakeNote Technologies, links to his blog, as well as a public training class schedule, on-site training information, consulting information, and software development services at www.takenote.com.
jduffy@takenote.com | Fast Facts | | With .NET 2.0 comes a new deployment technology called ClickOnce aimed squarely at reducing the number of Web-based intranet applications being developed in favor of developing smart client applications. | |
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