Visual Studio Tools 

This section of the documentation contains information about tools and features available in Visual Studio.

In This Section

• Getting Started with Visual Studio
  Provides two sets of information about Visual Studio: one for users of previous Visual Studio versions, and another for programmers new to .NET Framework programming and Visual Studio.

• Using Help in Visual Studio
  Discusses the layout of the Visual Studio Help system and describes how to get Help.

• Interacting with Other Developers
  Provides an overview of how you can correspond with other developers using newsgroups, forums, and chats.

• Security and User Permissions
  Discusses features that might require administrative privileges to use as well as tips for developing more secure applications.

• Product Support and Accessibility
  Provides information about Visual Studio's product support and accessibility features.

• Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files
  Describes the common tasks you can perform when working with solutions and projects.

• Editing Code and Resource Files
  Provides information on programming practices; also discusses editing code, HTML, XML, and styles.

• Building, Debugging, and Testing
  Discusses how to use tools provided with Visual Studio to control build configurations, debug errors efficiently, and test your builds in a variety of ways.

• Deploying Applications and Components
  Discusses creating setup executable files, packaging files, and publishing Web sites.

• Customizing and Automating the Development Environment
  Provides information on creating add-ins and on customizing the appearance and behavior of the integrated development environment.

• Accessing Data (Visual Studio)
  Discusses aspects of incorporating data access functionality into your applications.

• Reference (Visual Studio)
  Includes user interface reference, error messages, and other reference topics that apply to features hosted within the Visual Studio integrated development environment.

Related Sections

• .NET Framework Class Library Reference
  Covers the library of classes, interfaces, and value types that are included in the Microsoft .NET Framework. This library provides access to system functionality and is designed to be the foundation on which .NET Framework applications, components, and controls are built.

• Samples and QuickStarts
  Has links to code and tutorials that provide instruction on various aspects of the .NET Framework.