VB6 Books
LondonLad
Is there a good VB6 Book that gives code examples across the whole of VB6
for example all Functions,Objects,Elements etc?
Rick Rothstein
VB6 reference under which almost all of what you asked for can be found (be
warned... there is a **lot** of material here to go through!)...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338032(VS.60).aspx
If you have the MSDN help files installed, you can find this same material
in there as well (it should run quicker from the hard disk than online).
These two books are also (in my opinion) excellent reference books...
http://www.amazon.com/VBA-Nutshell-Languages-Paul-Lomax/dp/1565923588
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Controls-Nutshell-Professional/dp/1565922948/ref=pd_sim_b_26
--
Rick (MVP - Excel)
"LondonLad" <Lond...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1A144D1D-FE4D-48B7...@microsoft.com...
mayayana
I'd recommend Visual Basic 6 Complete if you can find
it. Sybex publ.
http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/SybexTitle/Visual-Basic-6-Complete.productCd-0
782124690.html
The "Complete" series are books printed on cheap paper, for
a cheap price, but are compilations of other writings. That was
the only code sample book I ever found useful. It has lots of sample
projects. But most are very much beginning level. Once you get
past that I don't think there's much worth buying in terms of books.
But I would second Rick's recommendations for basic ref. -- the
two O'Reilly books.
Beyond that I think it depends on specifics. For instance, if you
get into using a WebBrowser control then you'll want to know
about the IE DOM. But you won't find that in VB books.
--> Hi
Ralph
"LondonLad" <Lond...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1A144D1D-FE4D-48B7...@microsoft.com...
> Is there a good VB6 Book that gives code examples across the whole of VB6
> for example all Functions,Objects,Elements etc?
>
Matthew Curland's "Advanced Visual Basic 6" is required reading as well.
http://www.powervb.com/
To Rick's list of Nutshell books I would add "MCSD in a Nutshell".
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781565927520
Bruce McKinney's "Hardcore Visual Basic", while a bit dated and a tad
quirky, is also worth a read. Especially if you track along with his
adventures in migrating his code from VB5 to VB6 and piddle with his
examples. Provides a view of the inter-workings, gliches, and gotchas, you
won't find anywhere else.
http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Visual-Basic-Bruce-McKinney/dp/1572314222
None are what I would describe as chocked full of code examples, but the
indepth view of the examples they do provide - will provide the information
to build on for for your own solutions.
The basic issue with just "Code Examples" is that they are either trivial or
specialized for one particular solution - and seldom explain the trade-offs
involved.
-ralph
C. Kevin Provance
| quirky, is also worth a read. Especially if you track along with his
| adventures in migrating his code from VB5 to VB6 and piddle with his
| examples. Provides a view of the inter-workings, gliches, and gotchas, you
| won't find anywhere else.
Karl has that work reprinted on his site: http://vb.mvps.org/hcvb.asp
- Kev
MarkJ
I like Francesco Balena's book "Programming Microsoft Visual Basic 6".
It provides a good survey of the whole VB6 territory.
Bruce McKinney's book is excellent, so is Matt Curland's
Cheers
Mark
argusy
programming guide - most cost me more than $80 each. (Damn expensive here in Oz,
with the most expensive being the one by Galena - $145)
From left to right in front of me -
VB6 Database Programming Bible - Wayne Freeze
Internet Programming with VB6 in 21 days - Aitken
Mastering VB6 - E Petrouisis
VB6, The Complete reference - Noel Jerke
VB6 Unleashed - Rob Thayer, et al
VB6 Superbible - Jung, et al
Microsoft Programming VB6.0 - Galena
Database Access with VB6 - McManus
Using VB6 - Reselman, Peasley and Pruchniak
VB6 programming Blue Book - Aitken
VB6 Database How-to - Winemiller, Hoff, Heyman and Groom
The Visual Guide to Visual Basic (not specific to any VB version)
They've all got their pro's and con's and they all cover different ground, so
there's no real stand-out by any of them. That's why I don't think you will find
any book that gives code examples across the whole of VB6
Next to them are the original four books that came with VB6, and I installed the
MSDN in total on my PC.
The 'VB6 Unleashed' was the best buy - they printed it with the cover upside
down and back to front - so I pointed it out to the bookshop (Dymock's), and got
it for less than half price. Hmmm.... Does that make it a rare book?
I borrowed Rick's nutshell books from the UniSA library for a while - they are
very good
And I STILL couldn't find what I wanted!!
I'm actually passing on to other things (retirement, gardening, photography,
holidays), so if anyone is interested in any of the books, please let me know.
Graham
Mike Williams
"argusy" <arg...@slmember.on.net> wrote in message
news:00c37542$0$15564$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
>> Is there a good VB6 Book that gives . . .
>
> VB6 Database Programming Bible - Wayne Freeze
> Internet Programming with VB6 in 21 days - Aitken
> Mastering VB6 - E Petrouisis
> VB6, The Complete reference - Noel Jerke
> I'm actually passing on to other things (retirement, gardening,
> photography, holidays), so if anyone is interested in any of the
> books, please let me know.
The Internet Programming book looks interesting, but I'm afraid I've only
got 7 days to spare so it won't be much use to me. Have you got a faster
version?
Mike
Larry Serflaten
"LondonLad" <Lond...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> Is there a good VB6 Book that gives code examples across the whole of VB6
> for example all Functions,Objects,Elements etc?
Just to chime in, over the years I've collected about 50 books on programming,
with over half of those about VB. The one that saw the most use was the first
edition of Dan Appleman's Guide to the Windows API. The one I probably
enjoyed reading the most was Rod Stephens' Visual Basic Algorithms.
LFS
Ralph
"Larry Serflaten" <serf...@usinternet.com> wrote in message
news:uJKC%23tIiK...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
[A mildly on topic observation ... <g>]
I never quite understood the popularity of Appleman's book. It seemed merely
a re-hash of common knowledge. It wasn't until I started working with new
programmers, for whom VB was their first primary development platform, that
I began to catch on.
I started Windows programming using C/SDK, and all roads began with Petzold.
The beauty of VB is the complexities of Windows are hidden from view, the
ugly-side of VB is the complexities of Windows are are hidden from view.
Sooner or later to get the best out of VB you have to learn how Windows
works. A surprisingly few VB books actually explain how Windows works, and
if one wants to move from intermediate to advanced - that knowledge is
essential and Appleman helps.
-ralph
Larry Serflaten
"Ralph" <nt_cons...@yahoo.com> wrote
> I started Windows programming using C/SDK, and all roads began with Petzold.
I'm sure I've got something of his, but it isn't the Window's "bible" that he was
famous for (I don't recall the title). The frustrating part about the SDK (early on)
was that all the examples were written for C developers! If there was an API
call that maybe wasn't covered in Appleman's book, and you go look through
the SDK for an example, we'd have to learn a fair amount of C just to be able
to translate the code into VB. What a bummer when callbacks were used,
and so on....
Appleman's examples targeted VB, that is probably why it got the acclaim
that it did....
LFS
mayayana
> I never quite understood the popularity of Appleman's book. It seemed
merely
> a re-hash of common knowledge. It wasn't until I started working with new
> programmers, for whom VB was their first primary development platform,
that
> I began to catch on.
>
> I started Windows programming using C/SDK, and all roads began with
Petzold.
> The beauty of VB is the complexities of Windows are hidden from view, the
> ugly-side of VB is the complexities of Windows are are hidden from view.
> Sooner or later to get the best out of VB you have to learn how Windows
> works. A surprisingly few VB books actually explain how Windows works, and
> if one wants to move from intermediate to advanced - that knowledge is
> essential and Appleman helps.
>
To my mind he only helps for lack of anything better.
His book is full of raw code dumps, partial explanations,
and with a nearly useless index that looks like probably
no human had a part in writing it. At first I used the book
because I was unfamiliar with SendMessage options and
he listed a lot of those. I never used the book for much
else.
As someone who started with VB, though, I'd agree
that people need something. I 've found it difficult to work
backward, especially since the whole VB approach is
that one probably *shouldn't* be trying to understand
what's under the hood. I remember trying to grasp
the long, involved advapi Registry calls. It all seemed
so arbitrary. Why do I have to send a buffer? Why does
Windows care how long that buffer is? It never asked
me before. :) It's sort of like learning to drive a car
without ever even knowing how it moves. Then people
begin to talk about engines, cylinders, pistons, etc.
and it's hard to put the whole picture together. (I still
don't get heap vs stack, even though I've read a dozen
explanations. It's not something I've needed to deal
with directly, so it's not very real for me.)
One book I found useful was Steven Roman's Win32
API Programming with Visual Basic. He explains quite
a bit. But it's not a systematic explanation for VB people.
It's more like a well-written smattering of useful things.
To the extent that I've dabbled in C++ I've found
it somewhat thrilling. The actual data in memory is
*right there* all the time. It feels very different from
VB in that way. Now if they'd just clean up the syntax...
lose the semi-colons, eliminate the case sensitivity
that results in everyone using all-lower-case variables...
then we'd be getting somewhere. :)
Perhaps we're at a transition point? It seems that
the main idea with VB, .Net and Java has been to
allow for a division of labor, with the math people
dealing in low-level libraries while a new group learns
the increasingly complex collection of possible
functionality working at user-level. And maybe that
transition has been approached too quickly, since VB,
.Net and Java all have serious limitations when
"used as directed".
Ralph
"mayayana" <mayaX...@rcXXn.com> wrote in message
news:eSn$3vJiKH...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Ha. We've been at a "transition point" for the last 35+ years. (Less or more
depending on where you would like to draw a line.) The search for a better
RAD tool will go on until we can write new applications with a few taps on a
plastic sheet, or just sit back and say "Computer, ...".
All of the products you mentioned do have limitations, but not sure I would
call them "serious" limitations, as all provided better facilities for some
solutions than what we had before.
It is useful to point out that through it all, C and his buddy C++, have
always been there. If one truly wants to avoid the aggravations of
"transitioning" then learn C/C++ and be done with it. The pay rate is better
and as it takes longer to get anything done you make more that way too. <g>
-ralph
Jeff Johnson
news:uzYqoVJi...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> I started Windows programming using C/SDK, and all roads began with
> Petzold.
> The beauty of VB is the complexities of Windows are hidden from view, the
> ugly-side of VB is the complexities of Windows are are hidden from view.
> Sooner or later to get the best out of VB you have to learn how Windows
> works.
Looks like we started in much the same way, except that Petzold was my
second book and I really wish it had been my first. It took a while for the
light bulb to go on with my first book, but once I understood the message
concept I was off and running.
Cor Ligthert[MVP]
I was surprised I did not see the book from Balena mentioned in this thread,
but maybe because he is a MVP.
In my years active in newsgroups and forums this book seemed to be like a
....................... for VB6 developers.
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Microsoft-Visual-Basic-6-0/dp/0735605580
I've never read this one, so it is not my personal opinion.
The book I had went with everything I had from Visual studio earlier then
version '08 to the thrash bin.
If I've not used a book for 3 years than that is the place it goes, Internet
has enough information for me.
This long addition to avoid the easy troll replies which I could expect on
this message.
Cor
"MarkJ" <mark.tunna...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:ca5121ba-e3fe-4d9f...@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
LondonLad
I have chosen 3 books see links below
http://www.amazon.com/VBA-Nutshell-Languages-Paul-Lomax/dp/1565923588
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Controls-Nutshell-Professionaldp1565922948/ref=pd_sim_b_26
http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Visual-Basic-Bruce-McKinney/dp/1572314222
I see that some of the data refers to VB5 I have VB6 SP3 will I still be
able to use the syntax and samples that the books provide?
Larry Serflaten
"LondonLad" <Lond...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> I have chosen 3 books see links below
>
> http://www.amazon.com/VBA-Nutshell-Languages-Paul-Lomax/dp/1565923588
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Controls-Nutshell-Professionaldp1565922948/ref=pd_sim_b_26
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Visual-Basic-Bruce-McKinney/dp/1572314222
>
Were you aware that the last is available online (free)?
LFS
LondonLad
I have chosen 3 books:-
http://www.amazon.com/VBA-Nutshell-Languages-Paul-Lomax/dp/1565923588
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Basic-Controls-Nutshell-Professional/dp/1565922948/ref=pd_sim_b_26
http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Visual-Basic-Bruce-McKinney/dp/1572314222
Some of these relate to VB5 do you think this will be a problem for a VB6
user?
mayayana
I think most things will be the same, but there are a
few new functions. I think Replace, InStrRev, Join and
Split are among them. Also, AddressOf for doing
callbacks and subclassing. So VB5 code will be using
workarounds where those techniques are needed.
Also,
watch out for the FileSystemObject in Lomax's book.
In general I find that book pretty good, but it's aimed
at beginners rather than being a core reference.
Lomax has left out such things as VarPtr, StrPtr, ObjPtr,
but included the entire set of FileSystemObject
methods and objects, presenting them as a new feature
of VB6! I can't imagine where he came up with such a
looney idea. The FSO is part of the scripting runtime,
scrrun.dll, and is installed with the Windows Script Host.
It has no direct relationship to VB6.
Nobody
> You might want to get a list of "What's new in VB6".
> I think most things will be the same, but there are a
> few new functions. I think Replace, InStrRev, Join and
> Split are among them. Also, AddressOf for doing
> callbacks and subclassing. So VB5 code will be using
> workarounds where those techniques are needed.
AddressOf first appeared in VB5. I think Replace/Split/Join exist in VB5,
even below, but I am not sure. As for InStrRev, it was introduced in VB6,
but see these alternative implementations which are faster than VB6 own
implementation:
http://www.xbeat.net/vbspeed/c_InStrRev.htm
C. Kevin Provance
"Nobody" <nob...@nobody.com> wrote in message
news:u3FUaoJj...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
| AddressOf first appeared in VB5. I think Replace/Split/Join exist in VB5,
| even below, but I am not sure. As for InStrRev, it was introduced in VB6,
| but see these alternative implementations which are faster than VB6 own
| implementation:
Replace/Split/Join appeared with VB6.
Ralph
"mayayana" <mayaX...@rcXXn.com> wrote in message
news:OSMcUSJj...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> I think most things will be the same, but there are a
> few new functions. I think Replace, InStrRev, Join and
The Replace, Join, and Split string functions.
CallByName
Validation Event
The ability to return Arrays from functions.
Ability to pass publicly declared UDTs in Procedures and Methods.
Ability to assign resizable arrays.
Updated common controls, plus new controls ...
Image Combo
Month View
Coolbar
??? (what else am I forgetting?)
Data Binding properties
- more emphasis on OLE DB/ADO from DAO
Ability to create data sources / consumers / bindings
Fixed a major glitch in VB5 when using Implements.
[I would throw in the File System Object and the Dictionary - although those
were actually included as part of the scriping library.]
But THE shinning star of VB6's new features ... <insert drum roll> ... The
new Internet/Web crap that no one ever asked for, wanted, or used. <g>
-ralph
Larry Serflaten
"Ralph" <nt_cons...@yahoo.com> wrote
> ??? (what else am I forgetting?)
Was Controls.Add in there, it was new to VB6...
LFS
Karl E. Peterson
Mike Williams submitted this idea :
> "argusy" <arg...@slmember.on.net> wrote ...
>
>>> Is there a good VB6 Book that gives . . .
>>
>> VB6 Database Programming Bible - Wayne Freeze
>> Internet Programming with VB6 in 21 days - Aitken
>> Mastering VB6 - E Petrouisis
>> VB6, The Complete reference - Noel Jerke
>> I'm actually passing on to other things (retirement, gardening,
>> photography, holidays), so if anyone is interested in any of the
>> books, please let me know.
>
> The Internet Programming book looks interesting, but I'm afraid I've only got
> 7 days to spare so it won't be much use to me. Have you got a faster version?
Kids these days. Never enough bandwidth!
--
.NET: It's About Trust!
http://vfred.mvps.org