Lesson 1 · Introduction

Introduction to Visual Basic 2026

A comprehensive overview of Visual Basic 2026 (VB 17.13) in the .NET ecosystem, the Visual Studio 2026 IDE, and creating your very first Windows Forms application.

❮ Previous: Home Next: Lesson 2 — Designing the UI ❯
Key Takeaway: Visual Basic 2026 — officially identified as Visual Basic 17.13 — is the latest version of Microsoft's beloved VB.NET language, shipped as part of Visual Studio 2026. In this lesson you will install the IDE, tour its interface, and build and run your first program.

1.1 What is Visual Basic 2026?

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2026 as the next major evolution of its flagship IDE. With it comes Visual Basic 17.13 — the version we brand as Visual Basic 2026 throughout this tutorial series, following the same convention Microsoft uses (e.g., Visual Basic 17.0 shipped with Visual Studio 2022).

Visual Basic has been part of the Microsoft ecosystem for decades. Starting as a rapid-application-development tool in the early 1990s, it evolved into the fully object-oriented VB.NET platform running on the modern cross-platform .NET runtime. Today, VB 2026 targets .NET 10 (LTS) and supports Windows Forms desktop applications, class libraries, and console applications.

Visual Studio 2026 supports multiple languages on a shared platform. Alongside Visual Basic, developers can use:

📋 Official Version Reference

According to Microsoft Learn, the current version is Visual Basic 17.13 / Visual Studio 2026. This is the version covered throughout this tutorial and is the one you should download today.

New Language Features in Visual Basic 17.13

Visual Basic 17.13 introduces two important compiler-level enhancements over the previous VB 17.0 (Visual Studio 2022) release:

🔒 Unmanaged Generic Constraint

VB 17.13 now recognises the unmanaged generic type constraint, allowing you to write high-performance generic methods that work only with value types that contain no managed references — essential for interop and unsafe memory scenarios.

⚡ OverloadResolutionPriorityAttribute

The compiler now honours System.Runtime.CompilerServices.OverloadResolutionPriorityAttribute, letting library authors guide the compiler to prefer specific method overloads — reducing ambiguous-call errors in complex APIs.

AI-Powered Development in Visual Studio 2026

Visual Studio 2026 represents the most AI-integrated IDE release in Microsoft's history. Every stage of the development workflow — from writing code to debugging and committing changes — benefits from embedded intelligence:

🤖 GitHub Copilot

An AI pair programmer that suggests whole lines and entire functions as you type, understanding VB.NET syntax, Windows Forms patterns, and your project's context.

🧠 Intelligent IntelliSense

Context-aware completions powered by IntelliCode that learn your personal coding patterns and surface the most relevant members first.

💬 Natural Language to Code

Write a plain-English comment such as ' Calculate sales tax at 8%' and Copilot converts it into working VB.NET code automatically.

🔍 AI-Assisted Debugging

When an exception occurs, Copilot analyses the stack trace and proposes the most likely root cause and fix — right inside the IDE.

You can download the free Community Edition of Visual Studio 2026 — fully featured for individuals, students, and open-source projects:

Download Visual Studio 2026 Learn About GitHub Copilot

1.2 The Visual Studio 2026 Start Page

When you launch Visual Studio 2026 for the first time, you are greeted by a redesigned Start Window. It is cleaner and more AI-integrated than previous versions, with a Copilot chat panel available from the very first screen.

Visual Studio 2026 Start Page
Figure 1.1 — Visual Studio 2026 Start Window. The layout is similar to VS 2022 but with expanded AI panels.

The Start Window presents three primary options:

Click Create a new project to proceed to the template selection screen.

Visual Studio 2026 New Project Dialog
Figure 1.2 — The New Project dialog. Use the language filter to select Visual Basic and the platform filter to select Windows.
💡 Tip

On the Configure your new project screen, enter a project name (e.g., MyFirstVBApp), choose a location on your hard drive, and optionally name the solution. Click Next, then select the target framework — choose .NET 10 (Long-term support) for the most stable and feature-rich experience.

Configure New Project
Figure 1.3 — Configure your project name, location, and target framework (.NET 10).

1.3 Visual Studio 2026 IDE Overview

After clicking Create, Visual Studio 2026 generates the project scaffold and opens the integrated development environment (IDE). At first glance the IDE can look overwhelming, but it is logically organised into a set of purpose-built panels.

Visual Basic 2026 IDE
Figure 1.4 — The Visual Basic 2026 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Key panels are labelled below.

Key Components of the IDE

Panel / Window Purpose Default Location
Menu Bar Access to all IDE features — File, Edit, View, Project, Build, Debug, Tools… Top
Toolbar Quick access buttons for common actions (Run, Stop, Save, etc.) Below menu bar
Toolbox Drag-and-drop UI controls (Button, Label, TextBox, etc.) onto your form Left panel (Ctrl+Alt+X)
Design Surface Visual form designer where you arrange and resize UI controls Centre
Code Editor Where you write VB.NET code; replaces the Design Surface when active Centre (double-click control)
Solution Explorer Tree view of all projects, files, and references in your solution Right panel
Properties Window Inspect and set the properties of any selected form or control Right panel (below Solution Explorer)
Output / Error List Build results, compiler errors, and diagnostic messages Bottom panel
GitHub Copilot Chat AI chat panel — ask questions, request code, explain errors Right panel (new in VS 2026)

The Toolbox

The Toolbox is one of the most important panels for Windows Forms development. It contains categorised lists of UI controls you can drag directly onto your form. Press Ctrl+Alt+X to show or hide it.

Visual Studio 2026 Toolbox
Figure 1.5 — The Toolbox with Common Controls expanded. Drag a control from here onto the form designer.
💡 Tip — Pinning panels

Click the pin icon (📌) on any panel's title bar to keep it open permanently. Un-pinned panels auto-hide to save screen space — useful on smaller monitors.

1.4 Creating Your First Visual Basic 2026 Application

Nothing beats learning by doing. Let us build a simple but complete Windows Forms application that responds to a button click and displays a welcome message. Follow these steps carefully:

1

Set the Form Title

Click anywhere on the blank form in the designer to select it. In the Properties window (bottom-right), find the Text property and change its value to My First VB 2026 Application. The title bar of the form updates immediately.

2

Add a Button Control

In the Toolbox, locate the Button control under Common Controls. Double-click it (or drag it) onto the centre of your form. A button labelled Button1 appears on the design surface.

3

Change the Button Text

With the button selected, go to the Properties window, find the Text property, and change it to OK. You can also change the Font size and BackColor to style it however you like.

4

Add a Label (Optional Enhancement)

From the Toolbox, drag a Label onto the form above the button. In Properties, set its Text to Welcome to Visual Basic 2026! and increase the font size to 14 or 16 for a polished look.

5

Open the Code Editor

Double-click the OK button on the design surface. Visual Studio automatically creates a Click event handler and switches to the Code Editor, positioning your cursor inside the event procedure.

6

Write Your First Code

Inside the Button1_Click procedure, type the following single line of code, then press F5 to run the program.

First VB 2026 Application Design
Figure 1.6 — The finished form design: a Label at the top and an OK Button in the centre.
Visual Basic 2026 
Public Class Form1

    ' This event fires when the user clicks the OK button
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        ' MsgBox displays a pop-up dialog with a message
        MsgBox("Welcome to Visual Basic 2026!")

    End Sub

End Class
Visual Basic 2026 Code Editor
Figure 1.7 — The Code Editor with the Button1_Click event handler. IntelliSense (and Copilot) assist you as you type.

Press F5 (or click the green ▶ Start button on the toolbar) to compile and run your application. The form appears. Click OK and you will see:

Message Box Output
Figure 1.8 — The MsgBox dialog displayed when the OK button is clicked. Congratulations — your first VB 2026 app works!
💡 Understanding the Code

MsgBox is a built-in Visual Basic function that displays a modal dialog box containing the text you pass as an argument. The Button1_Click procedure is an event handler — code that executes automatically whenever a specific event (a mouse click, in this case) occurs on a control. This event-driven model is fundamental to all Windows Forms programming.

1.5 Using GitHub Copilot in Your First Project

Visual Studio 2026 is the first version where GitHub Copilot is deeply embedded at every level of the IDE. Even as a beginner, you can benefit from it immediately. Here are three practical ways to use Copilot in this lesson's project:

1. Asking Copilot to Explain Code

Select any line of code, right-click, and choose Ask Copilot → Explain this. Copilot will describe what the code does in plain English — great for understanding existing examples or code generated by the IDE.

2. Generating Code from a Comment

Type a comment describing what you want, then press Tab to accept Copilot's suggestion:

Visual Basic 2026 — Copilot Suggestion 
' Show a greeting that includes the current time
' ↓ Copilot suggests the following line automatically:
MsgBox("Welcome to VB 2026! The time is: " & DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString())

3. Using the Copilot Chat Panel

Open the Copilot Chat panel from View → GitHub Copilot Chat and type a question such as "How do I change the background colour of a Windows Form in VB.NET?". Copilot will respond with working code and an explanation — all without leaving Visual Studio.

⚠ Note

GitHub Copilot requires a free or paid GitHub account. The free tier includes a generous monthly quota of completions and chat messages. Sign in via File → Account Settings in Visual Studio 2026.

1.6 Running, Stopping, and Building Your Application

Understanding the build and run cycle is essential before you write more complex programs:

Action Keyboard Shortcut Description
Start Debugging F5 Compile and run the app in debug mode. Breakpoints and watch windows are active.
Start Without Debugging Ctrl+F5 Run the release build without attaching the debugger — slightly faster.
Stop Debugging Shift+F5 Stop the running application and return to design/code view.
Build Solution Ctrl+Shift+B Compile the code and check for errors without running the program.
Rebuild Solution Build menu → Rebuild Force a full recompile of all files, ignoring cached output.

When you run the project with F5, Visual Studio compiles your VB.NET source code into an executable (.exe) stored in the bin\Debug\net10.0-windows\ folder inside your project directory. You can share this .exe with anyone who has the .NET 10 runtime installed.

📋 Error List

If you have a syntax error, Visual Studio will not run the program. Instead, it will highlight the offending line with a red squiggle and list all errors in the Error List panel at the bottom. Double-click any error to jump directly to its location in the Code Editor.

📘 Lesson Summary

  • Visual Basic 2026 corresponds to VB language version 17.13, shipped with Visual Studio 2026 and targeting .NET 10.
  • VB 17.13 introduces the unmanaged generic constraint and OverloadResolutionPriorityAttribute support.
  • You can download the free Community Edition of Visual Studio 2026 from Microsoft's website.
  • The IDE consists of core panels: Toolbox, Design Surface, Code Editor, Solution Explorer, Properties Window, and the new Copilot Chat panel.
  • A Windows Forms App is created by selecting the right template, configuring a project name, and targeting .NET 10.
  • You created your first VB 2026 application using a Button control and the MsgBox function inside a Click event handler.
  • GitHub Copilot is built into Visual Studio 2026 and can suggest code, explain existing code, and answer questions via the Copilot Chat panel.
  • Press F5 to run, Shift+F5 to stop, and Ctrl+Shift+B to build without running.

Next: Lesson 2 — Designing the UI

Learn how to lay out a professional Windows Forms user interface, work with the Properties Window in depth, and master the visual form designer.

Continue ❯

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