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Microsoft Visual Basic:

  • Help => About Microsoft Visual Basic…
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (SP6) For 32-bit Windows Development

View Visual Basic project dependencies

To build a project requires all its pre-requisite projects to have been built. See:

To see project dependencies within Visual Basic:

  • To see dependencies:
    • Select Project => References…
    • All possible dependencies are shown (and more can be added with Browse…)
    • Project-specific dependencies are those that are checked
  • To see component dependencies:
    • Select Project => Components…
    • All possible dependencies are shown (and more can be added with Browse…)
    • Project-specific dependencies are those that are checked
    • Beware! Any component dependencies that have not been built will not be shown checked - Visual Studio will warn you about these when the project is opened

To see project dependencies within a text editor:

  • Right-click vbp file name
  • Select Open With => Choose Program…
  • Double-click WordPad
  • Dependencies and component dependencies are listed as Reference, Object and Module entries e.g:

  Reference=*\G{...}#2.0#0#..\..\..\..\WINDOWS\system32\stdole2.tlb#OLE Automation
  Reference=*\G{...}#2.0#0#..\..\Database Engine\D6DbEng.dll#Distance 6 Database Engine
  Reference=*\G{...}#1.0#0#..\..\Utilities\D6Util.dll#Distance 6 Utilities - Shared enumerations, properties and methods

  Object={...}#1.0#0; Vsflex7d.ocx
  Object={...}#2.0#0; Actbar2.ocx
  Object={...}#2.0#0; SPLITTER.OCX
  Object={...}#2.0#0; mo20.ocx
  Object={...}#1.2#0; comdlg32.ocx
  Object={...}#1.0#0; LLine3.ocx
  Object={...}#2.0#0; mscomct2.ocx
  Object={...}#1.0#0; CSDesc3.ocx
  Object={...}#1.0#0; D6Legend.ocx

  Module=CModHelp; ..\..\Utilities\Help\distance.b

Build single Visual Basic project

To build a project within the VB GUI:

  • Open project in Visuual Basic:
    • Double-click vbp file in project folder e.g. %BASE%\Map\Legend\D6Legend.vbp
  • Build:
    • Select File => Make PROJECT e.g. Make D6Legend.ocx…

To build a project from a command prompt:

  • Start command prompt:
    • Select Start => All Programs => Accessories => Command Prompt
  • Change into %BASE%:

chdir %BASE%\
  • Build the project:

start /wait "VB6" "C:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vb98\vb6.exe" /make "C:\Application Development\Distance60\PROJECT.vbp"
  • For example:

start /wait "VB6" "C:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vb98\vb6.exe" /make "C:\Application Development\Distance60\Map\Legend\D6Legend.vbp

Build all Visual Basic projects

chdir %BASE%
  • Run the build script:

build_vb_projects.bat

Remove all Visual Basic binaries

To remove all ocx, dll and exe files for a complete rebuild:

chdir %BASE%
  • Run the delete script:

delete_vb_binaries.bat

Set DLL base address

The default DLL base address is &H11000000. This will cause lots of memory re-allocation. Components will load faster if a random number between this and &H80000000 is chosen. It is recommended that you choose:

  • A 64K boundary (i.e. the rightmost four digits of the address are 0000) is chosen.
  • Ensure an even spread of components out across the addresses.

To set the DLL base address:

  • Open project in Visual Basic:
    • Double-click vbp file in project folder e.g. %BASE%\Map\Legend\D6Legend.vbp
  • Select Project => PROJECT Properties… e.g. D6Legend Properties…
  • Click Version tab

DLL Base Addresses provides a list of addresses used to date. If you add a new component or change an address, remember to update this list.

View binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data

  • Right-click file and select Properties
  • Click Version tab

Update binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data

  • Open project in Visual Basic:
    • Double-click vbp file in project folder e.g. %BASE%\Map\Legend\D6Legend.vbp
  • Select Project => PROJECT Properties… e.g. D6Legend Properties…

To update project name and description:

  • Click General tab
  • Enter Project Name: e.g. D6Legend
  • Enter Project Description: e.g. Distance 6 Mapper Legend control

To update application name, used in Task Manager, and icon (for exe files):

  • Click Make tab
  • Enter Application, Title: e.g. Distance 6.2
  • Select Application, Icon

To update version number:

  • Click Make tab
  • Enter Version Number, Major: e.g. 6
  • Enter Version Number, Minor: e.g. 2
  • Version Number, Revision is automatically incremented if Auto Increment is checked

To update ownership, copyright etc:

  • Click Make tab
  • Select Type: and enter Value: to set specific values e.g.
    • Company Name: Research Unit for Wildlife Population Assessment, University of St Andrews
    • File Description: Distance 6.2 Executable
    • Legal Copyright: Copyright (c) 1998-2013 RUWPA
    • Product Name: Distance 6.2

View binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data

  • Right-click file and select Properties
  • Click Version tab

View version compatibility

Visual Basic’s compatibility mode allows for checks to be done to ensure that libraries or components do not change their interfaces in a way that can break compatibility with older versions.

For Distance, original versions of dll and ocx files are stored within %BASE%\Compatibility folder stores all the original versions

To see the original version of a binary that is used by a project:

  • Open project in Visual Basic:
    • Double-click vbp file in project folder e.g. %BASE%\Map\Legend\D6Legend.vbp
  • Select Project => PROJECT Properties… e.g. D6Legend Properties…
  • Click Component tab
  • If Version Compatibility, Project Compatibility is enabled for the project then there will be an associated link e.g. ....\Compatibility\D6Legend.ocx