The C# Express IDE is centered on its editor. An editor is much like a word processor, except that it produces simple text (that is, text with no formatting, such as bold and italics). All source code files are simple text files. The color that you saw applied to some of the text in the Hello World project in Chapter 1 isn’t just formatting; it’s a form of highlighting that Visual Studio applies to help you differentiate between keywords, comments, and other kinds of code elements.
The C# Express IDE also provides support for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs), which are integral to Windows and web projects. The following pages introduce some of the key features of the IDE.
The IDE is a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) application, much like other Windows applications you may be used to, such as Word and Excel. There is a main window, and within the main window are a number of smaller windows. The central window is the text editing window. Figure 2-3 shows the basic layout.
Figure 2-3. The IDE is where you’ll be spending most of your time as a C# developer. Notice that the interface contains multiple windows.
To the left of the editing window are a number of tabbed windows that contain tools you may need when creating Windows and web applications. To the right of the editing window are both stacked and tabbed windows. Shown on top is the Solution Explorer, which allows you to examine and manipulate the files in the solution. Below the Solution Explorer is the Properties window. The Properties window is used extensively when you’re creating web and Windows desktop applications, but you won’t see it when you create console applications.
In Visual Studio 2008, at the bottom of the IDE are five tabbed windows—Error List, Task List, Output, Find Results, and Find Symbol Results—but they don’t appear in C# Express.
All of these windows, plus the Toolbox, are resizable and dockable. You can resize any of them by placing the mouse cursor over the edge you want to move. The cursor will change to a double-arrow resizing cursor, at which point you can drag the window edge one way or the other, just like most other windows in the Windows interface.
Right-clicking on the title bar of a dockable window pops up a menu with five mutually exclusive check items:
- Floating
The window will not dock when dragged against the edge of the C# Express 2008 window. The floating window can be placed anywhere on the desktop, even outside the C# Express 2008 window.
- Dockable
The window can be dragged and docked along any side of the C# Express 2008 window, as you’ll see later in this chapter.
- Tabbed Document
The window occupies the work surface, with a set of tabs for navigation.
- Auto Hide
The window will disappear, indicated only by a tab, when the cursor is not over the window. It will reappear when the cursor is over the tab. A pushpin in the upper-right corner of the window will be pointing down when Auto Hide is turned off and pointing sideways when it is turned on.
- Hide
The window disappears. To see the window again (to unhide it), use the View main menu item.
If you click the title bar of a window and drag it, it floats free. You can now place it where you want. C# Express 2008 provides guides to help you with locating the window. To see this at work, grab the Properties window and pull it free of its current position. As you move about, the IDE positioning indicators appear, as shown in Figure 2-4.
As you click on each positioning indicator, a shadow appears to show you where the window would go if you release the mouse. Notice in the center of the editing window that there is a cluster of five indicators. If you choose the center square, the window will be tabbed with the current window. To put the Properties window back where it belongs, hover over the Solution Explorer window; a five-part indicator will appear, and you can select the lower indicator to place the Properties window below the tabbed set of the Solution Explorer.
You can also double-click on either the title bar or the tab to dock and undock the window. Double-clicking on the title while docked undocks the entire group. Double-clicking on the tab undocks just the one window, leaving the rest of the group docked.
