APIs (the basics only)

[hayessj]

An API is an Application Programming Interface.

With VB you get an API viewer with VB that allows you to browse the Win32 API & some others.
The Win32 API exposes loads of standard Windows functions such as getting the Windows directory, reading or writing to the registry etc.

It's main strengths are that it allows you to use existing code and it also allows you do things you might not be able to do directly in VB.

It does define functions for registry operations, I think there is an exmaple of this on this site.

It's not different from VB programming in that you make the call from VB by declaring the function at the top of the module and then making the call somewhere in your code.

There are plenty of tutorials / examples all over the web which you should have a look at because sooner or later you will need to use it.

Take a look at the API tutorial on this site.
http://www.vb-world.net/api/winapi/