Runtime error '429'

[Roger.Irving]

I gather this is a bit of an old chestnut, but I would appreciate some help.

I have inherited some code which needs development and I haven't used VB for donkey's years so more than a bit rusty (I am a C++ programmer normally).

There is a program which fires off an ActiveX '.EXE component. This works fine. However when I make mods to the ActiveX bit, recompile and try to rerun it I get the error:

Run-time error '429':
ActveX component can't create object

This happens even if I make no actual coding changes.

What I have tried:

I have unregistered and registered the component by running the item with
/unregister and /register (I don't know if it works though because I get no response or errorlevel)

I have tried modifying the version number from within VisualStudio6 to what I think the version number should be.

I have tried compiling it and shutting down VS (someone told me this makes a difference).

... thats about it. I have been messing about with it for the best part of a day now and it's getting pretty frustrating. Google comes up with the same stuff all the time and I have tried most of it.

The last thing is that if I restore the original ActiveX component, it works just fine again.

This is running on an old PC with Windows 2000 as well, which probably doesn't help.

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers

Roj

[si_the_geek]

Welcome to VBForums

Before you compile it, go to "Project" -> "Properties".

On the "Component" tab make sure that Binary compatibility is ticked, and that the file listed is the original file (or one that you have complied before since doing this step).

[LaVolpe]

As si_the_geek pointed out. If you did make changes to any public property/sub/function parameters, public enumerations or variables, you may be prompted with a dialog that says basically, "no can do".

In that case, backward compatibility isn't an option and your apps that use the previous version of the ocx won't be able to use the new version as is. The old version will need to be removed & replaced with the new. This can be troublesome if there's lots of code related to it and/or properties already defined. One workaround there could be the following, but may require modifications to your code that execute any functions/subs/properties you changed in the new version.

1. Backup whatever project you will be trying this hack on
2. Open new project, add compiled ocx to a form
3. Save project & close it
4. Open the vbp file in notepad, find the line near the top that defines your ocx. It will contain a GUID
5. Now open your older project's vbp file in notepad that used the previous version
6. Find the line near the top that describes your older ocx. Copy & paste (overwrite) that line with the line from step 4
7. Do this for each .frm, .ctl files in your project, using notepad. Only ones that have your ocx hosted on it will have the entry needing replacing
8. When done, save your changes and try opening that project in VB
9. If it loads without errors, press Ctrl+F5 and see if any code triggers any errors.

Edited: Note that if you changed the control's name also, there will be places inside the form where you will have to replace the old name with the new ocx name. Search for the old ocx name in the frm & ctl files, as needed