Create a Windows Forms app in Visual Studio with Visual Basic

  • 4 minutes to read

In this short introduction to the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE), you'll create a simple Visual Basic application that has a Windows-based user interface (UI).

Create a project

First, you'll create a Visual Basic application project. The project type comes with all the template files you'll need, before you've even added anything.

  1. Open Visual Studio 2017.

  2. From the top menu bar, choose File > New > Project.

  3. In the New Project dialog box in the left pane, expand Visual Basic, and then choose Windows Desktop. In the middle pane, choose Windows Forms App (.NET Framework). Then name the file HelloWorld.

    If you don't see the Windows Forms App (.NET Framework) project template, cancel out of the New Project dialog box and from the top menu bar, choose Tools > Get Tools and Features. The Visual Studio Installer launches. Choose the .NET desktop development workload, then choose Modify.

    .NET Core workload in the Visual Studio Installer

  1. Open Visual Studio.

  2. On the start window, choose Create a new project.

    View the 'Create a new project' window

  3. On the Create a new project window, choose the Windows Forms App (.NET Framework) template for Visual Basic.

    (If you prefer, you can refine your search to quickly get to the template you want. For example, enter or type Windows Forms App in the search box. Next, choose Visual Basic from the Language list, and then choose Windows from the Platform list.)

    Choose the Visual Basic template for the Windows Forms App (.NET Framework)

    Note

    If you do not see the Windows Forms App (.NET Framework) template, you can install it from the Create a new project window. In the Not finding what you're looking for? message, choose the Install more tools and features link.

    The 'Install more tools and features' link from the 'Not finding what you're looking for' message in the 'Create new project' window

    Next, in the Visual Studio Installer, choose the .NET desktop development workload.

    .NET Core workload in the Visual Studio Installer

    After that, choose the Modify button in the Visual Studio Installer. You might be prompted to save your work; if so, do so. Next, choose Continue to install the workload. Then, return to step 2 in this "Create a project" procedure.

  4. In the Configure your new project window, type or enter HelloWorld in the Project name box. Then, choose Create.

    in the 'Configure your new project' window, name your project 'HelloWorld'

    Visual Studio opens your new project.

Create the application

After you select your Visual Basic project template and name your file, Visual Studio opens a form for you. A form is a Windows user interface. We'll create a "Hello World" application by adding controls to the form, and then we'll run the app.

Add a button to the form

  1. Click Toolbox to open the Toolbox fly-out window.

    Click the Toolbox to open the Toolbox window

    (If you don't see the Toolbox fly-out option, you can open it from the menu bar. To do so, View > Toolbox. Or, press Ctrl+Alt+X.)

  2. Click the Pin icon to dock the Toolbox window.

    Click the Pin icon to pin the Toolbox window to the IDE

  3. Click the Button control and then drag it onto the form.

    Add a button to the form

  4. In the Appearance section (or the Fonts section) of the Properties window, type Click this, and then press Enter.

    Add text to the button on the form

    (If you don't see the Properties window, you can open it from the menu bar. To do so, click View > Properties Window. Or, press F4.)

  5. In the Design section of the Properties window, change the name from Button1 to btnClickThis, and then press Enter.

    Add a function to the button on the form

    Note

    If you've alphabetized the list in the Properties window, Button1 appears in the (DataBindings) section, instead.

Add a label to the form

Now that we've added a button control to create an action, let's add a label control to send text to.

  1. Select the Label control from the Toolbox window, and then drag it onto the form and drop it beneath the Click this button.

  2. In either the Design section or the (DataBindings) section of the Properties window, change the name of Label1 to lblHelloWorld, and then press Enter.

Add code to the form

  1. In the Form1.vb [Design] window, double-click the Click this button to open the Form1.vb window.

    (Alternatively, you can expand Form1.vb in Solution Explorer, and then click Form1.)

  2. In the Form1.vb window, between the Private Sub and End Sub lines, type or enter lblHelloWorld.Text = "Hello World!" as shown in the following screenshot:

    Add code to the form

Run the application

  1. Click the Start button to run the application.

    Click Start to debug and run the app

    Several things will happen. In the Visual Studio IDE, the Diagnostics Tools window will open, and an Output window will open, too. But outside of the IDE, a Form1 dialog box appears. It will include your Click this button and text that says Label1.

  2. Click the Click this button in the Form1 dialog box. Notice that the Label1 text changes to Hello World!.

    A Form1 dialog box that includes Label1 text

  3. Close the Form1 dialog box to stop running the app.

Next steps

To learn more, continue with the following tutorial:

See also

  • More Visual Basic tutorials
  • C# tutorials
  • C++ tutorials