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I have looked at several posts....and I am still confused.
Can someone advise what is the latest service pack for VB6
Is it
VB60SP6-KB2708437-x86-ENU.msi available from Microsoft dated 8/16/2012
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...s.aspx?id=7030
Or Vs6SP6B available from Microsoft dated 3/25/2004
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...s.aspx?id=5721
Or something else? - Thanks
The second one there is the one you want
What is the first one? The date says 2012 but is years after all the service pack would have been released.
Looked over the MS websites. Appears that 1st one is a patch for some of the components in the toolbox: common controls, winsock, chart, mask edit & other controls.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightwalker83
I tend to think they are the same. The second one is a zip, dated 2004. The first one is an msi (just execute, no need to unzip). Assembled in 2012, same content I presume, they dropped the B in the file name.
At any rate, the second is preferable.
I think it is generally considered that SP6 (2004) is all you need. There are some later service releases but they apparently had faults which were never addressed, once installed these later releases are not un-installable and you are stuck with their shortcomings unless you re-install Windows. Take care.
Nahhh, the "B" in the filename states that it's just the Visual "BASIC" update, without updating the entire Visual Studio suite.
EDIT: And yeah, I just use my original disks, and then install the VS6SP6B update, and I'm usually good to go. MSDN package is a take-it-or-leave it depending on whether you want HELP or not.
Also, there do seem to be some later versions of the standard OCX controls floating around. However, I always use the SxS stuff with a .manifest files, so I tend to not "fix" things until something is clearly broken.
What I'd tend to call the standard OCX controls is: Richtx32, Tabctl32, Mscomctl, Mscomct2, Comct332, and if you must, the Comdlg32. I also make some use of the Msflxgrid. Beyond those, I try my best to stay away from OCX controls and even third party DLL API calls. Also, I've long abandoned the Comdlg32 control in favor of straight-up API calls.
Not entirely sure about that, although that make sense... I do have a VB6SP6A on file, from many many years ago. The older versions SP5 and SP4 have disappeared from MS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elroy
Anyway, second link posted on top definitely is the one to get.
Hmmm, Navion, I'll admit that I'm working from memory. I just remember, early on, before we got to SP6, that there were service packs for the entire Visual Studio suite and then also service packs for just the Visual Basic portion of it. In fact, I've got original CD's for the entire Visual Studio Professional, and another set that's just for Visual Basic Professional. It seemed that the service packs always started with VS and not VB, but I could be mistaken. I will admit though that, to the best of my recollection, I downloaded the vs6sp6B and that it was for Visual Basic Professional and not Visual Studio professional.
Who knows though.
That makes me think back to one of the worst bugs in the IDE. In some version, if you did a "Find" and there were no occurrences, it would hang the entire IDE. That may have been one of the releases of VB5 or maybe even VB4. I just don't remember anymore. VB6 may not be 100% perfect, but it's about the most bullet-proof IDE (and still being full featured: help, tracing, excellent IntelliSense, etc, etc) that's out there. The only annoyance I sometimes find is that the project module list window sometimes gets out of sync when adding new modules and/or doing a "Save As..." on an existing module. However, a save, get out, and reload always fixes it.
I looked up in my archives. Found a whole lot of VS support packs, from 1 to 6 in fact and a few for Basic alone. No sign of VB6SP6A, but I am still pretty sure it does exists on one my older CD-ROM based archives. No need to look for them though... VS6SP6B supersedes all previous stuff.
A bit out of topic here, so I won`t got much into it... but I agree the VB6 system is amazingly bug free. Still there are a few. One in particular the comes back all the time is .vbp files not always keeping references on top, resulting in registry error loading projects. Trivial.
A couple more I have had to deal with just recently are dealing with numerical near floor values for the Single data type from a double math function, and some controls inherited properties that would create havoc upon setting them. Both of these did cost me quite a bit of time lost and a few more gray hairs but once they were singled out and understood, a proper workaround was applied. I have not seen them mentioned anywhere so they are no worry for anyone, but they are confirmed to exist.
>comes back all the time ... resulting in registry error loading projects
If you do not run the IDE elevated.
Well that's a new bit to me.. can you cue me on this?Quote:
Originally Posted by Magic Ink
I don't have problems like I mentioned with any of my own projects. Just once in a while, when I take a look at some free source gathered here and there, registry error messages occur. Invariably, the original .VBP has one or more references at the wrong place.
> .VBP has one or more references at the wrong place
I have never noticed that however something I experienced when I first began using VB6 under Vista and ignored the advice to use the IDE elevated( because everything seemed to work ok). Every now and then I would load a project and get the 'all my OCX based controls have changed into picture boxes' problem; this problem no longer happened after running the IDE elevated.
And just how do you run the IDE elevated?
>... how do you run the IDE elevated?
In Windows File Explorer Get down into Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98 and right click the VB6.EXE file; select Properties, the Properties dialog opens; select the Compatibility Tab and tick the 'Run this program as an administrator' checkbox. Done.
Awwww, pffff, I thought I was gonna get to do programming while levitating (i.e., elevated). :p
Ahhhh that's what you mean. Well thank you for the tip, but no, I much prefer my VB6 un-elevated lolllQuote:
Originally Posted by Magic Ink
Then you are doomed to numerous subtle problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by Navion
SP6, SP6A, and SP6B were all VB6 Service Packs. The "B" never had anything to do with "Basic."
Be very careful about installing anything downloaded from the first link above. This was yet-another-attempt to reissue the ill fated December 2008 Security Rollup. It is still broken.
This set of patches cannot be uninstalled. It contains lots of bugs including quite a few "off by one" coding errors that cause some of the controls patched to become unusable. In some cases internal collections are broken (numeric index vaues are off by 1), in others data gets truncated (Winsock control can return truncated-by-one-char values, e.g. LocalIP).
Ahhh I knew I did not dream that....Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
And what are the perils I am doomed about when running not elevated? I have been running VB6 for four years now on Vista and it is absolutely rock steady with everything I use. GDI, GDI+, MCI, my own C++ dll's
If it has anything to do with automation or OCX, that will not be a problem since I don't use any.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dilettante
Thanks All - SP6B it is then :o)