Integrated Development Environment for Visual Basic 6.0 Users
Visual Basic 2008 is fully integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 integrated development environment (IDE), which differs in several ways from the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE.
Window and Layout Changes
In Visual Basic 2008, the standard arrangement of windows is different than it was in Visual Basic 6.0. If you prefer the Visual Basic 6.0 arrangement, you can set it by manually arranging the windows—the next time you open the IDE, your arrangement is preserved.
In Visual Basic 6.0, the IDE is set to MDI (multiple-document interface) layout by default; you had the option to set it to SDI (single-document interface) layout. In Visual Basic 2008, the default layout for the IDE is the Tabbed documents layout; SDI layout is no longer supported. To change to the MDI layout, on the Tools menu choose Options, and on the Environment, General tab, select Multiple documents.
In Visual Basic 6.0, you can control the docking behavior for some tool windows by choosing Options from the Tools menu. In Visual Basic 2008, all windows are dockable by default; you can control their behavior with the Dockable command on the Windows menu.
There are also some differences in the available windows between Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic 2008.
Note
In Visual Basic 2008, some of the debugging windows are available only in run mode; when you switch to design mode, the windows are hidden.
The following table shows some Visual Basic 6.0 windows and their Visual Basic 2008 equivalents.
Visual Basic 6.0 |
Visual Basic 2008 |
|---|---|
Color Palette |
New implementation |
Data View |
New implementation; replaced by Server Explorer |
Form Layout |
New implementation |
Project Explorer |
Solution Explorer |
Watches |
Watch 1, Watch 2, Watch 3, Watch 4 |
Menu Changes
Menu commands in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 are standardized for all languages; in some cases, Visual Basic 6.0 menu commands are replaced by different commands in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
In Visual Basic 6.0, all menu commands are visible at all times but are dimmed when out of context; in Visual Basic 2008, the set of available commands differs according to context.
The following table lists some common Visual Basic 6.0 commands and their Visual Basic 2008 equivalents.
Visual Basic 6.0 |
Visual Basic 2008 |
|---|---|
Add-Ins, Add-In Manager |
Tools, Add-in Manager |
Debug, Add Watch |
Add Watch (context menu only) |
Debug, Edit Watch |
New implementation. Watches are edited in the Watch window. |
Debug, Run To Cursor |
Run To Cursor (context menu only) |
Debug, Set Next Statement |
Set Next Statement (context menu only) |
Debug, Show Next Statement |
Show Next Statement (context menu only) |
Edit, Complete Word |
Edit, IntelliSense, Complete Word |
Edit, Find |
Edit, Quick Find |
Edit, Find Next |
Edit, Quick Find |
Edit, Indent |
Edit, Advanced, Increase Line Indent |
Edit, Insert File |
Edit, Insert File As Text |
Edit, List Constants |
Edit, IntelliSense, List Members |
Edit, List Properties/Methods |
Edit, IntelliSense, List Members |
Edit, Outdent |
Edit, Advanced, Decrease Line Indent |
Edit, Parameter Info |
Edit, IntelliSense, Parameter Info |
Edit, Quick Info |
Edit, IntelliSense, Quick Info |
Edit, Replace |
Edit, Quick Replace |
File, Make ProjectName |
Build, Build ProjectName |
File, Make Project Group |
Build, Build Solution |
File, Print Setup |
File, Page Setup |
File, Recent files list |
File, Recent Projects |
File, Remove Project |
Edit, Remove |
File, Save Project Group |
File, Save SolutionName or File, Save All |
File, Save Project Group As |
File, Save SolutionName As |
File, Save Selection |
File, Save Selected Items |
Format, Size to Grid |
New implementation. Controlled by Snap to Grid environment option. |
Help, Microsoft on the Web |
Community, Developer Center |
Project, Add Class Module |
Project, Add Class |
Project, Add Data Environment |
New implementation. Data Environment is not supported. |
Project, Add Data Report |
New implementation. Data Reports are not supported. |
Project, Add DHTML Page |
New implementation. DHTML Pages are not supported. |
Project, Add File |
Project, Add New Item or Project, Add Existing Item Note In Visual Basic 6.0, the file itself is added to the project; in Visual Basic 2008 a copy of the file is added. |
Project, Add Form |
Project, Add Windows Form or Project, Add Inherited Form |
Project, Add MDI Form |
Project, Add Windows Form or Project, Add Inherited Form |
Project, Add Property Page |
New implementation. Property Pages are not supported. |
Project, Add User Document |
New implementation. ActiveX Documents are not supported. |
Project, Add Web Class |
New implementation. Web Classes are not supported. |
Project, Components |
New implementation. Components are managed in the Toolbox. |
Project, References |
New implementation. References are managed in Solution Explorer. |
Project, Remove item |
Edit, Delete .gif "Note") Note:
"Remove item" removed the item from the project but not from disk; "Delete" deletes the item.
|
Run, Break |
Debug, Break All |
Run, End |
Debug, Stop Debugging |
Run, Restart |
Debug, Restart |
Run, Start |
Debug, Start Debugging |
Run, Start With Full Compile |
New implementation. You can still run without debugging by pressing CTRL+F5. |
Tools, Add Procedure |
New implementation. Procedures are added in the Code Editor. |
Tools, Menu Editor |
New implementation. The Menu Editor is replaced by the MainMenu and ContextMenu components. |
Tools, Procedure Attributes |
New implementation. |
Tools, SourceSafe |
File, Source Control |
View, Call Stack |
Debug, Windows, Call Stack |
View, Color Palette |
New implementation. There is no Color Palette window. |
View, Data View Window |
New implementation. There is no Data View window. |
View, Definition |
Go To Definition (context menu only) |
View, Form Layout Window |
New implementation. There is no Form Layout window. |
View, Immediate Window |
Debug, Windows, Immediate |
View, Last Position |
New implementation. Use Bookmarks |
View, Locals Window |
Debug, Windows, Locals |
View, Object |
View, Designer |
View, Project Explorer |
View, Solution Explorer |
View, Watch Window |
Debug, Windows, Watch |
Window, Arrange Icons |
New implementation. |
Window, Cascade |
Only available in MDI layout mode. |
Window, Tile Horizontally |
Only available in MDI layout mode. |
Window, Tile Vertically |
Only available in MDI layout mode. |
Window, Window list |
Windows |
Keyboard Mapping Changes
Keyboard mappings in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 are based on a settings profile that you choose the first time you load the IDE. If you chose the Visual Basic profile, the keyboard mappings will be the same as in Visual Basic 6.0. You can change the keyboard mappings or restore them to their original settings in the Tools, Options dialog box. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.