Basically, what I want to is be able to explore an ActiveX DLL.
I normally fire up VB 6, add the DLL to the "References" of the project, and use Object Explorer.
However, in this particular machine I can't install VB / VS.
I'm sure there's a tool out there that does this. Does anyone know of one?
Thanks
If the machine has Microsoft Office installed, you can go into the built-in Visual Basic for Applications IDE and load the object there:
Tools menu -> Macro -> Visual Basic Editor (or press Alt+F11)
Then when inside the VBA window, Tools menu -> References -> Browse to locate your DLL
and View menu -> Object Browser to view the object's content (or press F2)
I've used Microsoft's OLE/COM Object Viewer for this. It used to be installed with older versions of Visual Studio, and is still part of the Windows SDK.
It also seems to be available separately -- this is from an older version of the Windows SDK, but I don't imagine this tool has changed much recently.
To view the type information for a particular DLL or OCX, File, View TypeLib... is the option you're looking for. You can also dig through the Controls group in the main window to view details on a registered control. Right-click the entry for the control and click View Type Information to see details on the types and methods it exposes.
This will show rather more information than VB6 would. If you're looking at an ActiveX control, the coclass and dispinterface sections of the type library display are the things to look at.
(There's also an Expert Mode option in the View menu -- this will show you pretty much everything stored in the Registry to do with COM, OLE and ActiveX. This is generally rather a lot of information...)
Is it possible to download the component from that machine and examine it locally in Visual Studio? (That'd be my first suggestion.) (And BTW, the .NET versions of Visual Studio also feature a VB6-like Object Explorer which works nicely for this.)
Alternatively, and it's not free, but you might try ActiveXplorer. (I haven't tried this, but it looks promising.) (Discontinued)
Related
how can I modify Visual Studio 2015 to be able to search the internet (my fav search engine happens to be google) from the context menu in the code editor?
Ideally, I would like it to open as a new tab in my (default) external browser, because the internal web browser is still...lacking, shall we say?
I found one extension "web search" for older VS, but I have found no extension that works with VS 2015. I found no article that still works.
For comparison, when you're in Chrome, you can select some text, right click and say Search Google for 'what you selected'.
I think this would be handy when learning new technologies from a project that uses those technologies, or just for help.
Ok this turned out to be fairly easy. I just added a tool to Tools, External Tools
Command: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
Arguments: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&safe=active&q=%22$(CurText)%22
I enclosed the $(CurText) variable around quotes (%22) so that it would search on the exact phrase.
Then, to make it more accessible and actually put it in the context menu (and other places), I clicked the Move Up button to make it the first command, then customized the Standard toolbar to include Tools.External Command 1. I also added it to Other Context Menus | Html Context and Editor Context Menus | Code Window
Then I also went into Tools, Options, Keyboard and associated Tools.ExternalCommand1 with Alt+G
IMPORTANT: Because Visual Studio (still, in 2015) doesn't save some modifications to the IDE until it shuts down, you need to shut down all other instances of VS and then lastly shut down the instance that you used to enact these IDE modifications for them to "stick". And, if VS 2015 is like previous versions, be prepared for the menu / toolbar modifications to simply go away one day, at which point you'll just have to redo them.
Please excuse the noobness that is probably about to follow...
I'm making an vb.net 2010 app which needs to have a calendar system in which the user can add appointments and events etc.
I've downloaded the source for a control which looks promising (http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/10840/Another-Month-Calendar) but I have no idea how to add this in to my project. I've googled for help on adding the control but have had no luck.
If I right click on my toolbox, go 'choose items...' and try and add it there, it tells me it couldnt be opened.
Any help is appreciated!
Well you've downloaded the source code.
Place the source code in a specific location on your pc and then compile it 9If your planning to use this control in your own project then compile it in release mode. Assuming that there are no compile errors close visual studio and then open up the project of your own that you want to use this control in.
Right click on the general tab in the toolbox and click choose items. Using the bowse button in the choose items dialog navigate to the folder in which you placed the source code for the control you want to use.
Now locate the 'Bin' folder and in that locate the 'release' folder. Inside that you will see a dll (named presumably something like MothCalendar.dll. Select that dll and then click add and OK (Button sequence will vary according to vs version). The control should then appear in your toolbox under the general tab and you should then be able to drag it onto your forms for use in your project.
Just to start off, this question does seem very similar to another post Add the DLL (lame_enc.dll) reference to my project, but I haven't been able to successfully apply that answer. I am pretty new to VB.NET so it is very possible I'm simply missing something obvious.
I am trying to link a DLL to a VB.NET 2010 project to allow my VB app to play *.ogg files. I followed some other advice here on the forums and downloaded FMOD's FMOD Ex Programmers API. I am trying to now reference that functionality. These appear to be the files I need to somehow reference.
C:\Program Files (x86)\FMOD SoundSystem\FMOD Programmers API Windows\api\fmodex64.dll.
C:\Program Files (x86)\FMOD SoundSystem\FMOD Programmers API Windows\api\libfmodex64_vc.lib.
I haven't discovered how to add a *.lib reference (or the equivalent), but selecting the DLL as a reference gives the following error.
A reference to 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FMOD SoundSystem\FMOD
Programmers API Windows\api\fmodex64.dll' could not be added. Please
make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly
or COM component.
I'm not sure what I could be missing. Any ideas? Thanks!
In Solution Explorer, double-click the My Project node for the project.
In the Project Designer, click the References tab.
Click the Add button to open the Add Reference dialog box.
In the Add Reference dialog box, select the tab indicating the type of component you want to reference.
Select the components you want to reference, then click OK.
Another approach I was trying is working for me. I found a site with a working example of a LibZPlay VB.NET sample ( http://planetsourcecode.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=7789&lngWId=10 ). It runs under VS 2008 and I was able to adapt my project to use LibZPlay (open source library http://libzplay.sourceforge.net/WELCOME.html ) under VS 2008.
That is sufficient for me for now. Thanks for your advice. It was likely some configuration issue or misunderstanding on my end.
Using VB.net 2015 I (could not add or even find a System32 dll) as a reference using Solution Explorer, Tab References. Going to the MAIN Menu, Projects/Add References...
Used Browse and All the System32 dll were visible. Then I was able to load the needed dll.
What is a standard way to open the Designer (automatically generated) code for a VB file?
As a workaround, I can get to it by searching the entire solution for some keyword that is usually only found in those files: Global, Partial, etc.
Open the Solution Explorer. Along the toolbar at the top there is a tool Show All Files (it is the 2nd from the left on my version of visual studio). Click on that tool. All of your Form files will now have an arrow beside them. click on that arrow to expand. Look for the code file named FormName.designer.vb. Double-click on it to open.
You have to click the "show all files"-Button. Then you can also see the Designer.vb-files.
Note: For C# and VS 2008, but the same applies to VB in VS 2010.
http://peterkellner.net/2007/12/31/visualstudioshowallfiles/
http://blog.brianhartsock.com/2009/09/14/visual-studio-tip-show-all-file/
Keyboard shortcut for Show All Files
Show All Files is a useful little button in the Visual Studio solution explorer to give us a full view of the directory structure our project files are sitting in. When it is off, we only see the files that are explicitly included in the project, but when it is on, we see everything. This makes it very easy to explicitly opt a file into the project without doing an add -> existing item -> find existing item in directory structure and add to project.
The default when creating a new Visual Basic application in Visual Studio is to not show all files, and unfortunatly there is no setting you can adjust to change that.
Open the code file, and in the top-right corner of the code window is a drop-down containing all methods. Open this and select "InitializeComponent".
A screenshot from a newer version. Visual Studio 2015 and 2017 will look like this.
Is there a tool out there that allows me to browse all the ActiveX controls I have installed on my system and the methods and properties that I can access? And of course their UUIDs.
Oleview which comes with every Windows SDK, look under the controls section.
You can see the methods if you right click on the object and select "View type Information...".
http://twitpic.com/7g2je http://twitpic.com/show/large/7g2je