In this tutorial, you learn how to:

 Create a Visual Studio project

 Run the default application
 Add code to ask for user input
 Extra credit: Add two numbers
 Add Git source control
 Clean up resources

Prerequisites
If you haven't already installed Visual Studio, go to the Visual Studio downloads page to install
it for free.
Create a project
First, you create a Visual Basic app project. The default project template includes all the files
you need for a runnable app.
Note
Some of the screenshots in this tutorial use the dark theme. If you aren't using the dark theme but
would like to, see the Personalize the Visual Studio IDE and Editor page to learn how.
1. Open Visual Studio 2019.
2. In the start window, choose Create a new project.
3. In the Create a new project window, choose Visual Basic from the Language list. Next,
choose Windows from the Platform list and Console from the project types list.
After you apply the language, platform, and project type filters, choose the Console
Application template, and then choose Next.
Note
If you do not see the Console Application 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.
 Then, in the Visual Studio Installer, choose the .NET Core cross-platform
development workload.

After that, choose the Modify button in the Visual Studio Installer. You might be
prompted to save your work. 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, enter WhatIsYourName in the Project
name box. Then, choose Next.
5. In the Additional information window, .NET 5.0 (Current) should already be selected
for your target framework. If not, select .NET 5.0 (Current). Then, choose Create.
 Visual Studio opens your new project.
1. Open Visual Studio.
2. On the start window, choose Create a new project.
3. In the Create a new project window, choose Visual Basic from the Language list. Next,
choose Windows from the Platform list and Console from the Project types list.
After you apply the language, platform, and project type filters, choose the Console
App template, and then choose Next.
Note If you do not see the Console App 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.
 Then, in the Visual Studio Installer, choose the .NET desktop development workload.

After that, choose the Modify button in the Visual Studio Installer. You might be
prompted to save your work. 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, enter WhatIsYourName in the Project
name box. Then, choose Next.
 5. In the Additional information window, .NET 8.0 should already be selected for your
target framework. If not, select .NET 8.0. Then, choose Create.

Visual Studio opens your new project.

Run the app
After you select your Visual Basic project template and name your project, Visual Studio creates
a Program.vb file. The default code calls the WriteLine method to display the literal string
"Hello World!" in the console window.
There are two ways to run this code, inside Visual Studio in debug mode, and from your
computer as a regular standalone app.
Run the app in debug mode
1. Select the WhatIsYourName button or press F5 to run the default code in Debug mode.

2. When the app runs in the Microsoft Visual Studio Debug Console, "Hello World!"
displays. Press any key to close the debug console window and end the app:
1. Select the WhatIsYourName button or press F5 to run the default code in Debug mode.

2. When the app runs in the Microsoft Visual Studio Debug Console, "Hello World!"
displays. Press any key to close the debug console window and end the app:
Run the app as a standalone
To see the output outside of Visual Studio, in a system console window, build and run the
executable (.exe file).
1. In the Build menu, choose Build Solution.
2. In Solution Explorer, right-click on WhatIsYourName and choose Open File in File
Explorer.
3. In File Explorer, navigate to the bin\Debug\net5.0 directory and
run WhatIsYourName.exe.
4. The Main procedure terminates after its single statement executes and the console
window closes immediately. To keep the console visible until the user presses a key, see
the next section.
1. In the Build menu, choose Build Solution.
2. In Solution Explorer, right-click on WhatIsYourName and choose Open File in File
Explorer.
3. In File Explorer, navigate to the bin\Debug\net8.0 directory and
run WhatIsYourName.exe.
4. The Main procedure terminates after its single statement executes and the console
window closes immediately. To keep the console visible until the user presses a key, see
the next section.
Add code to ask for user input
Next, you add Visual Basic code that prompts you for your name and then displays it along with
the current date and time. In addition, you add code that pauses the console window until the
user presses a key.
1. Enter the following Visual Basic code after the Sub Main(args As String()) line and
before the End Sub line, replacing the WriteLine line:
2. Console.Write("Please enter your name: ")
3. Dim name = Console.ReadLine()
4. Dim currentDate = DateTime.Now
5. Console.WriteLine($"Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at
{currentDate:t}")
6. Console.Write("Press any key to continue...")
7. Console.ReadKey(True)
o Write and WriteLine write a string to the console.
o ReadLine reads input from the console, in this case a string.
o DateTime represents a datetime, and Now returns the current time.
o ReadKey() pauses the app and waits for a keypress.

8. Select the WhatIsYourName button or press F5 to build and run your first app in Debug
mode.
9. When the debug console window opens, enter your name. Your console window should
look similar to the following screenshot:
10. Press any key to end the app, and then press any key to close the debug console window.
1. Enter the following Visual Basic code after the Sub Main(args As String()) line and
before the End Sub line, replacing the WriteLine line:
2. Console.Write("Please enter your name: ")
3. Dim name = Console.ReadLine()
4. Dim currentDate = DateTime.Now
5. Console.WriteLine($"Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at
{currentDate:t}")
6. Console.Write("Press any key to continue...")
7. Console.ReadKey(True)
o Write and WriteLine write a string to the console.
o ReadLine reads input from the console, in this case a string.
o DateTime represents a datetime, and Now returns the current time.
o ReadKey() pauses the app and waits for a keypress.

8. Select the WhatIsYourName button or press F5 to build and run your app in Debug
mode.
 9. When the debug console window opens, enter your name. Your console window should
look similar to the following screenshot:

10. Press any key to end the app, and then press any key to close the debug console window.
Now that your new code is in the app, build and run the executable (.exe file) in a system console
window, as described previously in Run the app as a standalone. Now when you press a key, the
app exits, which closes the console window.
Extra credit: Add two numbers
This example shows how to read in numbers, rather than a string, and do some arithmetic. Try
changing your code from:
Module Program
Sub Main(args As String())
Console.Write("Please enter your name: ")
Dim name = Console.ReadLine()
Dim currentDate = DateTime.Now
Console.WriteLine($"Hello, {name}, on {currentDate:d} at
{currentDate:t}")
Console.Write("Press any key to continue...")
Console.ReadKey(True)
End Sub
End Module
to:
Module Program
Public num1 As Integer
Public num2 As Integer
Public answer As Integer
Sub Main(args As String())
Console.Write("Type a number and press Enter")
num1 = Console.ReadLine()
Console.Write("Type another number to add to it and press Enter")
num2 = Console.ReadLine()
answer = num1 + num2
Console.WriteLine("The answer is " & answer)
Console.Write("Press any key to continue...")
Console.ReadKey(True)
End Sub
End Module
And then run the updated app as described in the earlier section, Run the app.
Add Git source control
Now that you've created an app, you might want to add it to a Git repository. Visual Studio
makes that process easy with Git tools you can use directly from the IDE.
Tip
Git is the most widely used modern version control system, so whether you're a professional
developer or you're learning how to code, Git can be very useful. If you're new to Git,
the https://git-scm.com/ website is a good place to start. There, you can find cheat sheets, a
popular online book, and Git Basics videos.
To associate your code with Git, start by creating a new Git repository where your code is
located:
1. In the status bar at the bottom-right corner of Visual Studio, select Add to Source
Control, and then select Git.
2. In the Create a Git repository dialog box, sign in to GitHub.
 The repository name auto-populates based on your folder location. Your new repository
is private by default, which means you're the only one who can access it.
Tip
Whether your repository is public or private, it's best to have a remote backup of your
code stored securely on GitHub. Even if you aren't working with a team, a remote
repository makes your code available to you from any computer.
3. Select Create and Push.
After you create your repository, you see status details in the status bar.

The first icon with the arrows shows how many outgoing/incoming commits are in your
current branch. You can use this icon to pull any incoming commits or push any outgoing
commits. You can also choose to view these commits first. To do so, select the icon, and
then select View Outgoing/Incoming.
The second icon with the pencil shows the number of uncommitted changes to your code.
You can select this icon to view those changes in the Git Changes window.
To learn more about how to use Git with your app, see the Visual Studio version control
documentation.
Clean up resources
If you're not going to continue to use this app, delete the project.
1. In Solution Explorer, right-click on WhatIsYourName to open the context menu for
your project. Then, select Open Folder in File Explorer.
2. Close Visual Studio.
3. In the File Explorer dialog, go up two levels of folders.
4. Right-click on the WhatIsYourName folder and select Delete.
Next steps
Congratulations on completing this tutorial! To learn more, see the following tutorial.
Build a library with Visual Basic and the .NET Core SDK in Visual Studio
See also
 Visual Basic language walkthroughs
 Visual Basic language reference
 IntelliSense for Visual Basic code files
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