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README.TXT Release Notes for Microsoft (R) Visual Basic (TM) Version 1.00 (C) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1991 This document contains release notes for version 1.00 of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows Version 3.0, and later. Information in this document is more current than that in the manuals. Information in online Help may also be more current than that in the manuals. Microsoft revises its languages documentation at the time of reprinting, so some of the information in this online file may already be included in your manuals. Contents =========================================================================== Part Description ---- ----------- 1 Software Installation Information 2 Notes for "Microsoft Visual Basic Programmer's Guide" 3 Notes for "Microsoft Visual Basic Language Reference" 4 Notes for Tutorial 5 Miscellaneous Notes and Tips Part 1: Software Installation Information =========================================================================== Before installing Visual Basic you should make backup copies of all the distribution disks. Do not write-protect the distribution disks you use to install Visual Basic. If you do, Visual Basic cannot be successfully installed. Also ensure that the Windows directory, including drive letter, is in your PATH. If the drive letter is not included in your PATH statement, Visual Basic will be unable to determine where Windows resides. SETUP.EXE is a Windows application; that is, it is run from Windows, rather than from the DOS prompt. SETUP.EXE will only run in Windows Standard or Enhanced mode. It will not run in Real mode. You can determine how Windows is configured on your computer by choosing About from the Help menu in the Program Manager. To install Visual Basic, use Program Manager or File Manager to start SETUP.EXE as you would any other Windows application. For example, if you are installing from A: 1. From the Program Manager File menu, choose Run. 2. In the Run dialog box, type A:SETUP and choose OK. Most of the files on these disks are compressed and must be expanded before they can be used. For Visual Basic to work properly, you must install the files using SETUP.EXE. You cannot simply copy the files to your hard disk. Part 2: Notes for "Microsoft Visual Basic Programmer's Guide" =========================================================================== Page Section\Note ---- ------------ 117 An Application that Adds and Deletes Menu Commands -------------------------------------------------- Change the last item in the table near the bottom of the page so that CtlName is SepBar and Index is blank. At the bottom of the table add another line with a blank caption, AppName as the CtlName, indented once, with 1 as the Index. Insert a sentence immediately following the table that reads: Turn off the Visible property for AppName by toggling the Visible check box. Change "AppName" in the sentence following the table to "SepBar". 118 Delete the sentence that begins "Therefore, you cannot..." from the second paragraph on the page. Add the following line of code just above the End Sub for the AddApp_Click procedure: AppName(LMenu).Visible = -1 170 Creating a Control Array ------------------------ In the example code at the bottom of the page Format(I) should be Format$(I). 223 Displaying the GroupChoice Form ------------------------------- The last sentence on the page should read: Then create a list box (named GroupList) large enough to hold six or more items. 353 Chapter 22 - Communicating with Other Applications -------------------------------------------------- This chapter discusses the links that enable applications to exchange information through dynamic-data exchange (DDE). The correct names for the two kinds of DDE links are "hot link" and "cold link." On pages 360, 370, and 371 cold links are incorrectly referred to as "warm." 360 LinkTimeOut ----------- The note near the bottom of the page incorrectly indicates that the Alt key is pressed to interrupt pending DDE operations. Actually, the Esc key is used to interrupt DDE operations. 364 LinkExecute ----------- The example code shown will work correctly, however to be syntactically correct, it should appear as follows: Sub Form_LinkExecute (CmdStr As String, Cancel As Integer) Const FALSE = 0, TRUE = Not FALSE If CmdStr = "[Quit]" Then Cancel = FALSE End Else Cancel = TRUE End If End Sub 386 Null Pointers ------------- The call to the FindWindow DLL routine near the top of the page should read as: hWndExcel% = FindWindow%(ByVal 0&, ByVal "Microsoft Excel") Insert the following paragraph immediately following the statement shown above: The use of ByVal when passing a string is necessary because the data type of that argument was declared as Any. Including ByVal when passing a string declared as Any causes Visual Basic to convert the string to the null-terminated form expected by most DLL routines. 386 Properties ---------- The Lib clause in the external function Declare statement should say "GDI" instead of "User." Part 3: Notes for "Microsoft Visual Basic Language Reference" =========================================================================== Page Section\Note ---- ------------ 9 Table 3 - Properties by Programming Task ---------------------------------------- In the Windows category at the bottom of the page, the property for "Get handle for form" should be hWnd, not hWin. 27 AutoRedraw Property ------------------- The Note should include the following paragraph: When you minimize a form whose AutoRedraw property is set to False (0), ScaleHeight and ScaleWidth are set to icon size. When AutoRedraw is set to True (-1), ScaleHeight and ScaleWidth remain the size of the restored window. 31 BorderStyle Property -------------------- In the Description section change the word "picture" to "text." Add the following paragraph at the end of the Remarks section: Because of appearance, the BorderStyle for forms with a menu can only be set to Sizable (2) or Fixed Single (1). Setting the BorderStyle property to None (0) or Fixed Double (3) forces the BorderStyle property to Fixed Single (1). 147 Icon Property ------------- In the Description section change "read-only" to "read-write." Change the note to read as follows: For a form icon to be functional, the BorderStyle property must be set to either 1 (Fixed Single) or 2 (Sizable). The MinButton property must be set to True (-1). At run time, you can assign an object's Icon property to another object's DragIcon or Icon property. You can also assign an icon returned by the LoadPicture function. Doing this assigns an empty (null) icon, which enables you to draw on the icon at run time. 176 LinkExecute Event ----------------- The default value for the Cancel% argument to the LinkExecute event is True (-1). This is done so that if no LinkExecute procedure is written, Visual Basic properly returns a negative acknowledgement to any application that attempts to send a string to Visual Basic to be executed. 188 List Property ------------- The last sentence in the Description should be changed to read: The List property is not available at design time; it is read-only for drive, file, and directory list boxes and read-write for combo and list boxes. 285 SetData Method -------------- The parentheses shown in the syntax example should be removed. Part 4: Notes for Tutorial =========================================================================== Tutorial Screen Conflicts ------------------------- Some Windows programs that run in the background and automatically perform some action on the screen may behave unpredictably when the Visual Basic Tutorial is running. For this reason, we recommend that you turn off or unload screen savers and background clock-type programs before running the Tutorial. Part 5: Miscellaneous Notes and Tips =========================================================================== Using Frames ------------ If you plan to group controls on a form using a frame, draw your frame first, then draw the controls in the frame. This allows you to reposition the frame and the controls it contains as a single unit rather than having to move each part separately. Deleting or Renaming Controls ----------------------------- When you delete or rename a control for which you have written event procedures, the event procedures themselves are not deleted. All such event procedures become general procedures with their names preserved. If you create a new control of the same name, those general procedures will once again become attached to that control. If you rename those general procedures to match the name of an existing control, they too will become attached to that control. Note that while the event procedures are restored, the value of any properties you previously assigned to the deleted control are lost. Displaying Modal Forms from the Immediate Window ------------------------------------------------ Forms cannot be displayed modally using the Show method in the Immediate window. You can, however, call a procedure from the Immediate window which contains a Show method to display a modal form. There are no restrictions on the display of non-modal forms. Design-Time Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) --------------------------------------- If you establish a design-time DDE link (either as a client or as a server) between another application and a Visual Basic text box, changing any property which causes the text box to be destroyed and recreated will terminate the link. For example, changing a text box from single line to multiline terminates a design-time DDE link; the Visual Basic developer must re-establish the link if it's still needed. Terminating DDE Links During Form_Unload ---------------------------------------- You must terminate all DDE links before you close a form that contains any controls involved in the link. Submenu Visibility ------------------ If you have a menu with submenu items, at least one submenu item must always be visible, i.e., the Visible property must be set to True (-1). Calling DLL Routines by Ordinal Number -------------------------------------- Some DLLs export their routines by ordinal number rather than by name. To call one of these DLL routines, you must declare it with an alias string that includes the number sign character (#) followed by the ordinal number. For example, to declare the routine with ordinal number 234: Declare Sub AnyRoutine Lib "AnyDLL" Alias "#234" (ByVal Var As Long) Default WindowState ------------------- Whatever WindowState (minimized, restored, or maximized) a form is when Visual Basic goes to Run mode may become the new default WindowState. If you want your forms to retain a specific WindowState you must either close the form before running or explicitly set the WindowState in the Form_Load event. However, this last technique prevents the application from being run in a state different from the state explicitly set. Custom Controls --------------- You must remove all instances of a custom control from project forms before removing the custom control file from the project. If you're replacing or updating a custom control file with a newer version, you should not remove (using File Remove File) the old version and then add the new version (using File Add File). Instead, simply copy the new version over the old version and reload the entire project.