Visual Basic Settings

Visual Basic settings are designed to optimize the user experience and to maximize the productivity of Visual Basic developers. It is part of the Customizing Development Settings feature, which enables you to customize and save your settings in the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

You can also port or reload your IDE settings on other computers. For more information, see How to: Share Settings Between Computers or Visual Studio Versions.

Windows and Views

Feature

Displayed by default?

Notes

Class View

No

Hides Hidden Types and Members

Command Window

No

Dynamic Help window

No

Does not appear when you press F1.

Immediate Window

Yes, when debugging starts.

Object Browser

No

Displays, by default:

  • Namespaces

  • Public members

  • Inherited members

Output Window

Yes, when build starts.

Properties Window

Yes

Solution Explorer

Yes

Server Explorer

No

Displays data connections and available system services.

Start Page

Yes

Appears the first time you start the IDE. You can customize it.

Task List (Visual Studio)

Yes, when compile errors or warnings exist.

Team Explorer

Yes

You can use Team Explorer to access your team projects and use the application lifecycle management features of Team Foundation. These include version control, builds, project management, integrated reports, and dashboards.

Toolbox

Yes

Displays controls and components in alphabetical order.

In addition, the following elements have certain behaviors enabled when you select Visual Basic Development Settings.

Dialog Boxes

Feature

Behavior

New Project dialog box

When other platforms are installed on the computer, the IDE enables the combo box that allows you to specify the targeted platform.

Options Dialog Box (Visual Studio)

Visual Basic enables simplified Options pages. Click the Show All Settings check box to see the full list of options.

Keyboard

Feature

Behavior

Visual Basic 6.0 default shortcut keys

Supports typical Visual Basic 6 keyboard mapping.

Miscellaneous IDE Elements

Feature

Behavior

Tool tips

  • Appear for all menu items and toolbar buttons when the mouse hovers above them.

Visual Basic IntelliSense Code Snippets

Includes a library of code snippets that are ready to be inserted in your application.

Visual Basic-Specific IntelliSense

  • Provides all of the IntelliSense features with some productivity enhancements for Visual Basic developers.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Change Select Settings

How to: Specify Settings for a Team

How to: Share Settings Between Computers or Visual Studio Versions

Reference

Import and Export Settings, Environment, Options Dialog Box