Automating a VBP via VB

[Michael L]

Dear Brains Inc.

I am very keen to know if someone knows how to automate VB, just like you use VBA to automate Word Access Excel etc.
Can you use a VB program to work on another VB program???
If so how??
I want to start and get ready for VB Net and have an idea how to accelerate the process, but it hinges on whether I can use VB on a VBP.

All help gladly accepted

Cheers
Michael

[jim mcnamara]

I had wondered about this last fall, myself.


You'd have to learn how the VB vitual machine and the associated COM objects work. For example, every VB app has a hidden window that you cannot access directly. You can see it in spy++. I assume SendMessage works with it.

I've been able to find only a few straight dll functions associated with VB. Virtually everything is completely undocumented. OLEVIEW and dependency walker are not a whole lot of help.


As a weak alternative, you can use SendMessage to create and control puppet windows, but this is not really an answer.

[Edneeis]

You may also find some useful information searching for tutorials on Visual Basic Add-Ins. When you make addins you can work with parts of the visual basic COM objects and interface which may give you ideas on how to get started. Good Luck.