VISUAL BASIC

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GENERAL VISUAL BASIC QUESTIONS

Does VB/Win make standalone .EXE files?

Visual Basic 5.0 creates true, compiled EXE binaries. Like the applications normally written with e.g. Visual C++, it requires library files. The difference is that VC++ et al can create standalone EXEs if you write the whole interface code from scratch, which is not possible in VB.

For earlier versions: No. VB 4.0 and below produces .exe files, but they are not standalone. All VB/Win programs must be distributed with the VBRUNx00.DLL file (where x is the major version number). This DLL must accompany all VB/Win programs for these early versions, but only one such file should reside on every system where VB programs are used. The EXE file is not a real binary executable, but a binary is encapsulating the application which is in the form of so-called pseudocode.

What is the current version of Visual Basic for Windows?

VB/Win is at version 5.0, released in February/March 1997

Where can I get updated VB and other Microsoft files?

One Stop Answer: http://www.microsoft.com/vbasic/

For backwards compatibility, I still include this old information:

Microsoft Software Library (MSL) is accessible from the following services:

Compu$erve

GO MSL
Search for <filename.EXE>

Microsoft Download Service (MSDL)

Dial (206) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL

- Internet (anonymous FTP)

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com
Change to the \softlib\mslfiles directory

(There are a LOT of files in this directory! It is not advisable to list all the files unless you have good time.)

Where can I get good up-to-date information about VB?

This is the Web version of the original FAQ file for the Usenet groups in the comp.lang.basic.visual.* (shortened clbv) hierarchy, in particular comp.lang.basic.visual.misc. This Usenet group contains a great deal of information, and you can have your non-frequently asked questions answered there. Currently, the clbv.* hierarchy lists these newsgroups:

The Microsoft Visual Basic KnowledgeBase (KB) are indispensable for serious VB programmers. If you are constantly networked, all you need is a shortcut/bookmark to http://www.microsoft.com/kb/. To get patches and file updates for all MS products, including VB, go to: This Site.

Microsoft also has its own VB 4.0 FAQ file at http://www.microsoft.com/VBasicSupport/content/faq/vb40/Microsoft maintains its own resource Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/VBASIC/vbinfo/vblink.htm

Carl 'n Gary's Visual Basic HomePage at http://www.apexsc.com/vb/ is a good place for VB programmers. This page has hotlinks to lots of goodies.

This FAQ (ahem) is a pretty good source as a digest of many of the VB issues that are discussed in the comp.lang.basic.visual.* newsgroups.

For easier access to and use of the older text-only FAQ document, get the Windows Help file format FAQ doc by anonymous ftp to quasar.sba.dal.ca and look under /www/hlp. The .HLP version is made by Tim Roberts <tjr@sbacoop.sba.dal.ca>. This updated FAQ is unlikely to be converted to .hlp format, since web pages mostly have replaced help files for online information.

The most recently updated part of the Usenet FAQ is the Visual Basic Tools FAQ, which you can obtain along with the other text-only FAQs from http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/visual-basic-faq/top.html.

Jakob Faarvang <jakobf@apexsc.com> has done many interesting VB projects online, and has contributed a lot to this FAQ. He's now involved with Visual Basic Online which can be found at http://www.vbonline.com/vb-mag/. Their favourite topics index page is a good place to start for tips & tricks and many quality articles.

Visual Basic Heaven at http://www.kuai.se/~gillis/vb/ is a VB site with a very nice collection of OCXs and other controls.

Some excellent free utilities for advanced I/O and other low-lever stuff VB has problems with is available from SoftCircuit's web site at http://www.softcircuits.com/software.html. Pay it a visit!

With an ambitious name like "Ask the VB Pro," we had high expectations for http://www.inquiry.com/thevbpro/.This is also one of the most comprehensive sites, which gave it top marks in Yahoo's reviews.

The Robins Company provides us not only with a very tasteful homepage, but also The Visual Basic Resource Index at http://www.qns.com/~robinson/vb/vb.html. Among other things, you will find a very useful list of available freeware/shareware OCXs.

Jens Balchen <balchen@sn.no> has a Visual Basic Home Page at http://www.vbi.org/. He hosts quite a bit of useful tips, code examples and links to a large number of VB sites.

Look at ftp://ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/win95/programr/vbasic/ Best/largest (?) source for Visual Basic files, utilities,example programs, VBXs, etc.

There's a VISBAS-L mailing list for Visual Basic. This webpage allows automagic subscription (subscription form hosted by Visual Basic Online Campanion). Note that the traffic on this list may overflow your mailbox if you have a limited mail buffer. Expect around 40-50 messages every weekday, a bit less during weekends.

There's also a VBDATA-L list for Visual Basic Database Programming.

There is also an ACCESS-L mailing list for discussions about Microsoft Access database. The address for the MS ACCESS listserver is LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM. To subscribe, send email to this listserv with SUBSCRIBE ACCESS-L your-name in body of email (and yeah, your-name is just that, not your email address.).

There are several other Usenet newsgroups dedicated to Microsoft Windows programming and use. In fact, far too many to list here.

Microsoft also has its own set of Usenet groups, with MS resource persons online to help you! Go to http://www.microsoft.com/support/news/ for info. You point your NNTP Newsreader (like the ones in Internet Explorer 3.0 or Netscape, or a standalone like Fortè [Free] Agent) to msnews.microsoft.com.

NOTE: PLEASE don't post VB stuff to the Usenet group comp.lang.visual. This newsgroup has nothing to do with Visual Basic, and the academics discussing "real" visual programming there are very, very annoyed at what they call "quasi-visual" stuff and postings about those languages to their group.

There are magazines dedicated to VB:
The best known is Fawcett Technical Publications' Visual Basic Programmer's Journal (VSPJ). Phone 800-848-5523 (for US credit card orders) or 303-541-0610 (int'l and US other orders), Email 74003.224@compuserve.com to Shirley Modric for subscription info. Address is 280 Second Street, Suite 200, Los Altos, CA 94022-3603 USA.

Pinnacle Publishing Inc.'s provides a newsletter for Visual Basic Developers called Visual Basic Developer, found at http://www.pinpub.com/level3/l3nvbd.htm.

From Randy Coates (rcoates@telerama.lm.com): I currently subscribe to "Inside Visual BASIC for Windows" from the Cobb Group. Although it is a helpful monthly paper (about 14 pages per publication), I find it to be overpriced when compared to VB Programmers Journal. Here is the information anyway: Domestic $59/yr ($7.00 each); Outside US $79/yr ($8.50 each). Visit site at http://www.zdnet.com/cobb/ivb/index.html.Phone: Toll Free: 800-223-8720), Local: 502-491-1900, Customer Relations Fax: 502-491-8050, Editorial Department Fax: 502-491-4200. Address: Inside Visual BASIC for Windows, 9420 Bunsen Parkway, Suite 300, Louisville, KY 40220.

The Development Exchange is a quality online magazine which can be found at http://www.windx.com/scripts/homepage.epl.

Are there any examples of commercial applications built using Visual Basic?

Profit by Microsoft was written mostly in Visual Basic. Most of the current version of Quicken was written in VB2. The viewer/launcher/installer in the oh-so-popular Way Cool [Topic] for Windows series of CD-ROMs was written in VB3. Microsoft Project was also developed in VB.

The award winning web page editor Hot Dog from Sausage Software (http://www.sausage.com) was written in VB.

Microsoft uses VB extensively for smaller utilities. 3 of the small apps in the Windows and Windows for Workgroups Resource Toolkits are written in VB. Also, if you have the Microsoft Bookshelf CD-ROM, you will notice that the MVOPTION.EXE program, which is an "options" program for MS Viewer, is created in VB.

Note: The existence of VBX/OCX files in a package doesn't necessarily mean that it was written in VB. The most popular C++ compilers also support OCX/VBXes.

Limits of VB?

Are you kidding? VB has no limitations... Uh, yeah ;-)

For starters:

• Even though 5.0 is a real compiler, a minimal distribution requires many huge run-time files.
• It's not really object-oriented (Try looking for the parent of e.g. a line control, and you'll wonder why it has no hWnd - SpyWorks is an add-on you may need if this is annoying)
• No arrays of constants.
• No procedural parameters.
• Your Complaint Here!

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