Activex EXE compatibility help

Hi,
I have an activex exe compiled with binary compatibility.

I works perfect, when referenced in an another project.
But when I compile it to it's original settings right from the
begining as if I am compiling it for the first time
(I also received a message about breaking of compatibility) then
there is a problem in the referenced project.
The error I get is 'Activex cannot be created'.

What I want is to accomodate updated activex exe in the
referenced project without disturbing the compatibility.

I use VB 6.0 version

Try recompiling it in project compatibility mode instead.

ActiveX components have various GUIDs associated with then under HKCR in the registry. I can't remember the proper names for these, but there is one generated for the project and one generated for each public class in your project.

You can probably guess that the project GUID is the one to identify it for your "references".

When a VB project is compiled as No Compatibility, all the GUIDs are regenerated (meaning the new component looks nothing like the old one). Any dependant component needs to have it's references updated and then recompiled.

If it's compiled with Project Compatibility only the class's GUIDs are regenerated. This means that your references remain intact, but all dependant components need to be recompiled to accept the new changes.

If Binary Compatibility is used then none of the GUIDs are regenerated. This means that existing components can quite happily use the changed component without recompilation.

Hope this helps.
Dave

One other thing.

VB isn't very good at cleaning up components. When you break compatibility all the GUIDs are regenerated and the old GUID values remain in the registry.

This means that ghost images of your old components remain and can confuse references in dependant projects.

I recommend that before you break compatibility on a project, that you unregister the component first.

Also, never delete an activeX component using the delete key. Always always use Shift+Delete. Windows tries to be smart when you use delete and can update the registry to point to your component in the recycler ... this can give misleading success conditions which suddenly stop working when the recycler finaly deletes it.

Enjoy
Dave