[RESOLVED] whats the diff. between forms 2.0 obj. lib. and the standard object lib.

[leinkyle]

hello..

now i am modifying a program that uses forms 2.0 object library control rather than the usual form controls..as i noticed, almost all the controls of the 2.0 library are same as the standard controls..

this is the first time for me to work with 2.0 objects.

can anyone tell me the difference between 2.0 objects and the standard objects, regarding of usage and anything i have to know prior to this things??..

a useful link may help..

thanks in advance..

[DigiRev]

One of the most important things, and I've heard it from a few people on here, is that they are not distributable...

[leinkyle]

what do you mean not distributable?, I've never tried to use them, not once.

[DigiRev]

Furthermore, Forms 2.0 is part of Microsoft Office and is not redistributable. Therefore, you cannot distribute Forms 2.0 (fm20.dll) with your application. It must already be on the target machines.

For additional information on distributing fm20.dll, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

224305 INFO: Usage and Redistribution of FM20.DLL [OffDev]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/193540

[leinkyle]

Ok, but is there any good reason to use 2.0 instead of standard objects?.

[DigiRev]

Have you added the controls to your form, looked through the properties/methods, etc.? There are quite a few things about the form 2.0 controls that aren't in the standard ones that can be seen pretty easily just by looking at the properties window.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to find specific things through Google since most of the results are about redistributing them or bugs/errors in the controls. You will probably learn more by just messing with them.

[leinkyle]

I think I saw what you are saying, I looked at the properties of a combo box from 2.0 and noticed that its height is actually size able, plus some of the added properties can help it look better.

And about that Google thing, yes I've tried to look there but i didn't find anything useful.

[westconn1]

note also they do not have an index property, so can not be used as a control array

[DrUnicode]

The main advantage of Forms 2.0 Object Library is that the controls support Unicode. Although Microsoft does not recommend or provide support for use of these controls under Visual Basic they do appear to work well despite the disclaimer.

No Uniscribe support, No XP theme support, Requires FM20ENU.Dll (installed only with US versions of Office or via ActiveXControlPad), Windowless controls thus no hWnd, Requires at least VB6-SP4 to use IME(Input Method Editor).

While it is true that it is not redistributable anyone can get it for free by downloading MS ActiveXControlPad at http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...S/setuppad.exe.

[jmsrickland]

The one and only reason I use Forms 2.0 is because I like the scrollbar style. I do not like the scrollbar style with the white background (to me it looks tacky) and the style of the scrollbar in Forms 2.0 has that fine checkered look; like the one you see on most applications but you dont see on application created with VB 6 standard scrollbars.

[leinkyle]

thanks guys for all the replies, truly appreciated them.
Everything is clear now..