[VB6] - WinRT Interfaces & XAML Islands TypeLibs for VB6/VBA x86 and VBA7 x64

[VanGoghGaming]

This project has already been available for quite some time as a package on the twinBASIC server and I finally got around to exporting it as a TypeLib (both 32-bit and 64-bit) for whoever wants to use it in their VB6 and VBA projects. The TypeLibs contain extensive coverage of the most popular WinRT namespaces although they are far from complete.

The twinBASIC package contains a changelog with what is currently included:

1.0.0.5   - Preliminary public release
            Windows.ApplicationModel
            Windows.ApplicationModel.AppService
            Windows.ApplicationModel.Background
            Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer
            Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer.DragDrop
            Windows.Data.Json
            Windows.Data.Pdf
            Windows.Data.Xml.Dom
            Windows.Devices.Input
            Windows.Foundation
            Windows.Globalization
            Windows.Graphics.Capture
            Windows.Graphics.DirectX.Direct3D11
            Windows.Graphics.DirectX
            Windows.Graphics.Imaging
            Windows.Graphics
            Windows.Media.Ocr
            Windows.Security.Credentials.UI
            Windows.Security.Cryptography
            Windows.Storage
            Windows.Storage.Pickers
            Windows.Storage.Pickers.Provider
            Windows.Storage.Provider
            Windows.Storage.Streams
            Windows.System
            Windows.System.Threading
            Windows.UI
            Windows.UI.Core
            Windows.UI.Input
            Windows.UI.Notifications
            Windows.UI.Popups
            Windows.UI.Text
            Windows.UI.WindowManagement
            Windows.Xaml
            Windows.Xaml.Controls
            Windows.Xaml.Controls.Primitives
            Windows.Xaml.Data
            Windows.Xaml.Hosting
            Windows.Xaml.Input
            Windows.Xaml.Markup
            Windows.Xaml.Media
            Windows.Xaml.Media.Animation
            Windows.Xaml.Media.Imaging
            Windows.Xaml.Media.Media3D
            Windows.Xaml.Navigation
            Windows.Web
1.1.0.10  - Added namespaces:
            Windows.ApplicationModel.AppService
            Windows.Devices.Core
            Windows.Devices.Enumeration
            Windows.Media
            Windows.Media.Audio
            Windows.Media.Capture
            Windows.Media.Capture.Core
            Windows.Media.Capture.Frames
            Windows.Media.Casting
            Windows.Media.Core
            Windows.Media.Devices
            Windows.Media.Devices.Core
            Windows.Media.Editing
            Windows.Media.Effects
            Windows.Media.FaceAnalysis
            Windows.Media.MediaProperties
            Windows.Media.Playback
            Windows.Media.PlayTo
            Windows.Media.Protection
            Windows.Media.Streaming
            Windows.Media.Streaming.Adaptive
            Windows.Media.Transcoding
            Windows.Networking
            Windows.Networking.BackgroundTransfer
            Windows.Networking.Connectivity
            Windows.Networking.Sockets
            Windows.Security.Authentication.Web
            Windows.Security.Credentials
            Windows.Security.Cryptography.Certificates
            Windows.Security.Cryptography.Core
            Windows.System.RemoteSystems
            Windows.UI.Xaml.Documents
            Windows.Web.Http
            Windows.Web.Http.Filters
            Windows.Web.Http.Headers
1.2.0.17  - Added namespaces:
            Windows.ApplicationModel.Search
            Windows.Devices.Printers
            Windows.Graphics.Display
            Windows.Graphics.Effects
            Windows.Graphics.Printing
            Windows.UI.Composition
            Windows.UI.Composition.Effects
            Windows.UI.Xaml.Shapes
1.3.0.30  - Added namespaces:
            Windows.System.Threading.Core
            Windows.System.Profile
            Windows.UI.Xaml.Interop
            cAwait
            cBindableVector
            cPop
            mdlSubclass
1.4.0.64  - Added namespaces:
            Windows.Data.Text
            Windows.Devices.SerialCommunication
            Windows.Storage.BulkAccess
            Windows.Storage.Search
            Windows.UI.Text.Core
            Windows.UI.ViewManagement
          - Added support for ByVal UDTs as well as helper methods and properties for many UDTs:
            Color, CornerRadius, DateTime, Duration, FontWeight, GeneratorPosition, GridLength, HSTRING, KeyTime, Matrix, Matrix3D, POINTF, RepeatBehavior, RECTF, SIZEF
            UUID, Thickness, TimeSpan, WindowId
1.5.0.107 - Added namespaces:
            RoMetaDataApi (refactored mdlNamespaces to resolve runtime class names from MetaData (*.winMD files) instead of hard-coding them in a XML file)
            Windows.Data.Html
            Windows.Media.Playlists
            Windows.Media.SpeechRecognition
            Windows.Media.SpeechSynthesis
1.6.0.125 - Added namespaces:
            Windows.UI.Composition.Core
            Windows.UI.Composition.Desktop
            Windows.UI.Composition.Diagnostics
            Windows.UI.Composition.Interactions
            Windows.UI.Composition.Scenes
            Windows.Web.UI
            Windows.Web.UI.Interop

The backbone of any VB6 project using WinRT classes is the NewObject function that instantiates an activatable WinRT class and provides access to its interfaces. On the first call it also parses the system .winmd metadata files and builds a collection of activatable classes (this process is very fast, well under 100ms) so that subsequent instantiations are pretty much instant.

Here's an example of how to instantiate the MediaPlayer runtime class:

' Sample usage:
Dim MediaPlayer As IMediaPlayer
    Set MediaPlayer = NewObject("MediaPlayer")

I'll be updating this collection with some sample projects described below showcasing the usage of these TypeLibs with various WinRT classes:

Download the WinRT Samples Collection.zip

Here are the TypeLib files:

• WinRT Interfaces x86.zip - for VB6/VBA (32-bit)
• WinRT Interfaces x64.zip - for VBA7 (64-bit)
• twinBASIC users should continue using the package (although these TypeLibs work just fine as well)

Requirements: Windows 10 or later!