VB6 Zone: July 2010

Thursday, July 15, 2010

MS Closed Newsgroups

Microsoft recently shutdown their newsgroup server, and asked users to move to their online forums for community help. But people can still access newsgroups using a 3rd party news-server or even google groups.

Article: VB Community Transition

How to Access Newsgroups?
* Go to eternal-september.org or aioe.org
* Register an account and change server in your Newsreader.
* and join comp.lang.basic.visual.misc or microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

Note: You can also use Google Groups but we cannot access it using a newsreader. Detailed Instruction here

ClassicVB Users Regroup at comp.lang.basic.visual.misc

Thursday, July 8, 2010

VB6 Petition to Microsoft

A petition to Microsoft to continue the development of unmanaged (Non .NET) version Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications.

http://www.classicvb.org/petition/

Please sign the petition and share the link with your friends.

(14,444 signatures as of now)

Modern Look to your Apps*

How to Give Modern Look to your VB6 Applications

*Topics*

Toolbar:

OfficeMenu:
http://www.teebo.com/OfficeMenu.htm

MDI Tabs:
http://www.teebo.com/tabbed-mdi.htm

Skinning:
http://www.skincrafter.com $199
http://www.codejock.com/products/skinframework/ $149

Tools: ThunderVB

ThunderVB is an add-in for VB6. ThunderVB let's you embed Asm and C instructions directly in you VB source programs. Furthermore ThunVB let's you create a true StdCall Dlls. Moreover ThunVB can extend VB IDE to a basic Asm/C code editor. That means it can do syntax-highlighting of Asm/C keywords and supports intelli-sense for InlineAsm code as well.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/thundervb/

http://www.freewebs.com/hardcorevb/tvb.html

http://www.pscode.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=62038&lngWId=1

Monday, July 5, 2010

VB6 Unicode Controls

Free

UniControls by Merri in VBForums.com

TimoSoft-Software.de

Paid

UniSuite

HexaGora Unicode Control

Classes and Functions

Unicode classes and functions by Merri in VBForums.com

Unicode File Open/Save Dialog

Tutorials

Unicode Tutorial by cyberactivex.com

Tools: Manifest Creator

Manifest files are needed for XP+ theme support and Vista+ UAC security
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=606736

Sunday, July 4, 2010

VB6 Updates

VB 6 Runtime Files
Run-time files are required by all applications created with VB6
OS: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP
[MS Download Page] [Download]

VB 6 Service Pack 6
Latest update to VB6 IDE
[Download]

Latest Cumulative Updates
- May-2009 (KB-957924-v2)
  [View KB Article] [Download]
- Oct-2009 (KB-974899)
  [View KB Article] [Download]
- May-2012 (KB-957924)
  [View KB Article] [Download]

VB6 Common Controls Update
This is an update for the VB6 Common Controls: mscomctl.ocx and comctl32.ocx. Install this update after installing Service Pack 6, if you are having issues with Comctl32.ocx Listview control. You dont need to install this if you have already installed the cumulative update above.
Date: Nov-2005
[View KB Article] [Download]

Which Updates To Install?
Install Service Pack 6, and then May-2012 (KB-957924) Update. Thats all. May-2012 update replaces the May-2009 and Oct-2009 Update.

Updates NOT to Install
Never install the Dec-2008 (KB 957924-v1) Cumulative Update, it is very buggy according to Make My Manifest blog.

Further Reading:
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=550276

VB6 Alternatives

Here is my comparison of VB6 Alternatives. The exe size mentioned here is of a typical hello world application.

---Paid---

RealBasic [Homepage]
Cost: $99 for one OS, $299 for Pro
Cons:
1. This is a complete package but there are still some problems with the IDE, the IDE lacks good intellisense support, you have to press Tab to mimic the intellisense and there are no tooltips for control properties while coding, instead this information is displayed in the statusbar.
2. Not that good property pages.
3. Large exe size (about of 3.2 MB)
Pros: Cross Platform, COM support

PowerBasic [Homepage]
Cost: $199 for Compiler + $99 for GUI Designer
Cons: Separate Compiler and GUI designer, Expensive
Pros: Small exe size (about 75KB), No Runtimes, COM support.

KBasic [Homepage]
Cost: Euro 25
Cons: No ActiveX Support, Large Runtime size (about 30 MB)
Pros: Cross Platform, Syntax Compatible with VB6

PureBasic [Homepage]
Cost: Euro 79
Pros: IDE Available for Multiple Platforms
Cons: No COM support, Confusing Project Management

LibertyBasic [Homepage]
Cost: $60

---Free---

JustBasic [Homepage]

FreeBasic [Homepage]
Pros: Free, Multiple IDE/GUI Designer Available

Jabaco [Homepage]
Description Jabaco is a Basic language compiler closely based on VB6 syntax that generates 100% Pure Java bytecode that runs on the Java VM, and includes a GUI builder and IDE.

Tools: Virtual PC 2007

Virtual PC 2007 allows you to run multiple operating systems at the same time. very good tool for testing you app.

[Virtual PC Homepage] [Download]

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Tools: Mouse Wheel Add-In

Here are a list of few VB6 Addins which adds mousewheel scrolling support to the VB6 IDE.

MS Mousewheel Addin - This addin is released by Microsoft, they have also released source code for it. [Download]

FreeWheel - This is another Addin which does the same thing and comes with more features. [Download]

VBScroll - This is another Addin which does the same thing and comes with few extra features like Horizontal Scrolling [Download]

Add-Ins: MZ-Tools

MZ-Tools 3.0 is a freeware add-in for Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Basic 5.0 and the Visual Basic For Applications editor (provided by a 32-bit VBA-enabled application such as those in Office 2000-2010) which adds several productivity features to the IDE.

You can download it from www.mztools.com

Tools: Make My Manifest

Make My Manifest is a tool to generate manifest files for your application so that you can use ActiveX controls without registering them first, aka Reg-Free COM.

[http://mmm4vb6.atom5.com]

Tools: API-Guide

API-Guide is a API database which lists all API example on allapi.net in a easy to use offline tool. API-Guide has over 900 functions, all documented, and explained with an example.

[Download]

Tools: API Viewer

If you work with API, you've probably noticed that the win32api.txt file that comes with Microsoft's API Viewer is totally out of date. This file is based on the Windows95 header files, and with the arrival of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP, many new functions were created.

ApiViewer is a replacement for Microsoft's API Viewer. The data-file is based on the latest Windows XP header files, so that means you get access to approximately 6500 functions and 55600 constants! Win32api.txt has approximately 1500 functions and 5000 constants.

[Download]

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