How to build Visual Basic components

Jump down to:

• Find out tool versions
• View Visual Basic project dependencies
• Build single Visual Basic project
• Build all Visual Basic projects
• Remove all Visual Basic binaries
• Set DLL base address
• View binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data
• Update binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data
• View binary (dll, ocx, exe) meta-data
• View version compatibility

Find out tool versions

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:

• Visual Basic Project Dependencies
• Visual Basic projects list - an ordered project list that respects the dependencies.

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

• Download the following files into %BASE%:
  • build_vb_projects.bat
  • set_config.bat
  • vbprojectlist.txt
• Start command prompt:
  • Select Start => All Programs => Accessories => Command Prompt
• Change into %BASE%\

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:

• Download the following files into %BASE%:
  • delete_vb_binaries.bat
  • set_config.bat
  • vbbinarylist.txt
• Start command prompt:
  • Select Start => All Programs => Accessories => Command Prompt
• Change into %BASE%\

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