Project Files - What are they? (Visual Studio 2008)

A Visual Basic project does not contain just a single file. There are several other file types that are essential to the project which Visual Basic creates as they are needed. In fact most projects consist of at least one each of the following files:

Project (.vbproj) file.  One per project. The project file contains:

• A class library reference list.
• A class library Imports list.
• A list of the all the files that the project contains (often with the explicit path to the location of those files).
• A Settings section that determines the project type (i.e. Windows Application, Code Library, etc.).

Form (.vb) files.  One for each form, module, or component in your project. These files contain textual descriptions of the form and its controls, including their property settings, and the code from their event procedures. They also contain form-level declarations of constants, variables, and external procedures; event and general procedures. 

Resource Template (.resx) files.  One for each .vb file in the project. Stores binary data (in Unicode/Mime format) for forms that have controls with properties that have binary data values, such as the Image property of a PictureBox control which may contain a bitmap file.

My Project folder.  One per project.  Stores customization and configuration files that contain information about the Visual Studio 2008 development environment.  When you change settings in the development environment, i.e. font size, editor settings, window layout, etc.  Those settings are stored in the files in the My Project folder.

Resources folder. One per project.  Stores binary files (pictures, sounds, video, etc.) that are part of your project.  These items are linked to your project through the resource template files (.resx) that go with each form in your project.