.NET Framework Class Library in Visual Studio
The .NET Framework class library is comprised of namespaces. Each namespace contains types that you can use in your program: classes, structures, enumerations, delegates, and interfaces.
When you create a Visual Basic or Visual C# project in Visual Studio, the most common base class DLLs (assemblies) are already referenced. However, if you need to use a type that is in a DLL not already referenced, you will need to add a reference to the DLL. For more information, see Adding and Removing References.
The topics below provide the following information:
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Lists of the most important namespaces for each feature area.
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Links to reference topics in the .NET Framework about each major namespace.
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Links to procedural and conceptual topics about how to use those namespaces in your Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET applications.
In This Section
- Introduction to the .NET Framework Class Library in Visual Studio
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Explains namespaces and assemblies.
- Programming Basics Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the .NET namespaces for collections, character encodings, file I/O, and threading.
- Data Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces in the .NET Framework for manipulating and accessing data from traditional data sources and from standards-based XML.
- Web Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers .NET namespaces for ASP.NET Web applications and XML Web services.
- Windows Applications Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces in the .NET Framework for creating rich Windows applications and graphics with Windows Forms.
- Component Model Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces for implementing the run-time and design-time behavior of components and controls.
- Framework Services Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces for interacting with a variety of back-end server resources.
- Security Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces that provide the underlying structure of the .NET Framework security system and that implement ASP.NET security in Web applications.
- Network Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespace that provides a simple programming interface to many of the protocols found on the network.
- Configuration Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespaces that work with .NET Framework configuration settings and handle errors in configuration files, and that allow you to write custom installers for components.
- Globalization and Localization Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Provides links to the namespaces in the .NET Framework that are designed for developing world-ready applications.
- Reflection Namespaces in Visual Studio
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Covers the namespace that provides a managed view of loaded types, methods, and fields, with the ability to dynamically create and invoke types.
- Visual Basic Runtime Namespace in Visual Studio
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Describes the modules, enumerations, and attributes that provide the properties, functions, and constants you can use in Visual Basic .NET applications.