Microsoft Declines VB6 Petition

Microsoft has Declined the VB6 Uservoice Petition with 7,400 Votes. Group Program Manager Left a Note and Closed the suggestion. Visit the site to read his comments.

http://visualstudio.uservoice.com

VB6 To Be Supported on Windows 8

Microsoft have updated their support statement for VB6 and included Windows 8 too.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ms788708

Flash Control Error in VB6

There has been recent news about Adobe Flash Control causing problem in VB6 projects. The last version of flash which didnt had any problem with VB6 was Flash10e.ocx it seems all version after that are having the same problem.

Problem
When we try to save a form containing a flash control, VB6 shows an error message.
---------------------------
System Error &H80004005 (-2147467259). Unspecified error
---------------------------

If we open an old project which already have a flash control, there is no problem in saving or compiling the app as long as we dont open the form containing the flash control.

*Adding Flash Control or Adding any control to a form having a flash control
*Opening a form with flash control and/or changing property of existing control

And then trying to save it produces errors.

Solution
Downgrading to flash10e.ocx seems to fix the problem. Flash10f.ocx, Flash10g.ocx, Flash10h.ocx, Flash10i.ocx (the latest) all having the same problem. i tested all these controls.

Fortunately its not happening at runtime. And if it ever happens in the future then solution would be to use Reg-Free COM Manifest file and include the older version of Flash control with your application.

Step 1: Uninstall flash, we need to use the adobe flash uninstaller, because the flash installer leave a check in the registry and doesnt allow us to install an older version. so 1st uninstall flash using the instruction provided here

Step 2: Getting Old Version. oldapps.com has Flash10d.ocx installer, download version 10.0.42.34 from there OR Adobe provides old version of their player on this page, you need to download the fp10_archive.zip 157 MB zip file and then go to \10r45_2 folder to find flashplayer10r45_2_winax.exe which is the Flash10e setup.

fp10.1_archive.zip
\10_1r53_64 = Flash10h.ocx
\10_1r82_76 = Flash10i.ocx

fp10_archive.zip
\10r32_18 = Flash10c.ocx
\10r42_34 = Flash10d.ocx
\10r45_2 = Flash10e.ocx

Searching in Adobe forum here i found many people having the same problem. If someone see this blog post and have any solution then please suggest. Thanks!

Update: Sep 6, 2011.

These workaround dont require you to downgrade the control and will work on any flash version installed.

Workaround 1: For compiling existing application. If you have a multi-form application then you can safely compile the application If you dont open the form containing the flash control.

Workaround 2: Manual Edit method for adding flash control to new app. Add and code the flash control, then remove the control, then add a picturebox with same name as your flash control, then save and exit VB6 IDE. now open your VB Form in notepad and find the picturebox control replace the picturebox code with the code below, modify the top, left values and also other value you want to change.

ShockwaveFlashObjectsCtl.ShockwaveFlash Flash1
Height = 3615
Left = 360
TabIndex = 1
Top = 960
Width = 4815
_cx = 8493
_cy = 6376
FlashVars = ""
Movie = ""
Src = ""
WMode = "Window"
Play = "-1"
Loop = "-1"
Quality = "High"
SAlign = ""
Menu = "-1"
Base = ""
AllowScriptAccess= ""
Scale = "ShowAll"
DeviceFont = "0"
EmbedMovie = "0"
BGColor = "000000"
SWRemote = ""
MovieData = ""
SeamlessTabbing = "1"
Profile = "0"
ProfileAddress = ""
ProfilePort = "0"
AllowNetworking = "all"
AllowFullScreen = "false"
End

now move to top of the code and just below VERSION 5.00 add the following line.
Object = "{D27CDB6B-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}#1.0#0"; "Flash10e.ocx"

save the file, start VB6 and compile your project (without opening the form).

Tools: Right-click OCX Register

This registry file will add Register/UnRegister context menu to all OCX/DLL files so we can quickly register/unregister them without manually using regsvr32. A real timesaver.

[Download]

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.

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]