15

Anand Narayanaswamy

You would notice from the above figure that I didn’t change the name of the project. It is set to its default name. But while developing a real project, you should always give a meaningful name to reflect the project being done so that you can locate the project easily at a later stage of its development.

Upon clicking the OK button, a separate tab titled Class1.cs will be created on the top of the IDE. If you have more than one class file, they will be listed one-by-one. You will also notice that the code editor automatically creates the required template for writing a C# program as shown in listing 15.1:

Listing 15.1

using System;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Class1.
/// </summary>
class Class1
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//
// TODO: Add code to start application here
//
}
}
}

The above code calls the program’s default namespace named ConsoleApplication1, Main() method and the required documentation comments as discussed in one of the previous FAQ. The IDE also creates a class named Class1. This name can be modified from the Solution Explorer window. The STAThread attribute in the code denotes your applications threading model and you will use this attribute at the time of working with COM Interoperability.

Your next task is to write the required statements for running the application by deleting the TODO comment portion and entering the following code:

Console.WriteLine(“Welcome to C-Sharp”);

You will also notice that Visual C# .NET automatically colors the syntaxes and also shows IntelliSense while entering the code as shown in the figure shown here.

The above program is now ready to get compiled. Press F5 to build the application. When you build an application using Visual C# .NET, it compiles the program and also automatically executes the program. Alternatively, you can build your project by selecting the Debug | Start menu from the IDE.

For our above program, Visual C# .NET displays the command window and closes it instantly. It can be rectified by adding the following code just below the statement you have entered above:

Console.Read();

If you build the project now, Visual C# .NET displays the command window as shown in the figure shown on the left side.

Visual C# .NET automatically creates the required assembly and manifest files in the background. If there are any errors, it will be displayed on the Task List window on the bottom of the IDE. Double clicking an entry on the task list takes you to the specified location of an error. For instance, if you remove a semicolon, a red mark will appear on the specified location. The task list reads as “; expected”. The entries on the task list will immediately disappear as soon as you rectify the relevant error.

How much time will it take to install Visual Studio .NET?

It entirely depends upon your system configuration such as the processor speed and RAM. It would be better if you install it on a system with at least 512 MB RAM.