Professional Visual Studio 2017

2The Solution Explorer, Toolbox, and Properties

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Arranging files with the Solution Explorer
• Adding projects, items, and references to your solution
• Working with the Properties tool window
• Including your own properties in the Properties tool window

WROX.COM CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

The wrox.com code downloads for this chapter can be found at www.wrox.com by searching for this book’s ISBN number (978-1-119-40458-3). The code and any related support files are located in their own folder for this chapter.

In Chapter 1, “A Quick Tour,” you briefly saw and interacted with a number of the components that make up the Visual Studio 2017 IDE. Now you get an opportunity to work with three of the most commonly used tool windows: the Solution Explorer, the Toolbox, and Properties.

Throughout this and other chapters you see references to keyboard shortcuts, such as Ctrl+S. In these cases, we assume the use of the general development settings, as shown in Chapter 1. Other profiles may have different key combinations. And, as you will see in upcoming chapters, you can use the Quick Launch area to get to commands regardless of the development settings that you use.

THE SOLUTION EXPLORER

Most of the time, when you create or open an application, or for that matter just a single file, Visual Studio 2017 uses the concept of a solution to tie everything together. Visual Studio 2017 introduces the concept of a Folder view, which is discussed further later ...