Getting the ball rolling. Which VB6 projects are you working on?

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Hoping this smaller animated GIF will post without being replaced, we'll see...



er, no. It was replaced... but the forum retained a copy of the original GIF, that at least is an improvement.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I do love coding in VB6, when it goes reasonably well.

Clock/Calendar widget with new about form. All the UI elements operate, ie. they go in/out or up/down and make the correct noise. The time slider is the next thing to address, then the analog/digital clocks.

[Niya]

(Notice the only difference from perfect VB6 compatibility is I prefer tB's "Return <value>" syntax instead of FunctionName = <value>.

This was one of the first habits I dropped when I moved to VB.Net. It was instant. I started using Return right from the very beginning. I have no clue why BASIC ever had such nonsense as returning a value through the function name. I've always hated that, even from way back when, before Visual Basic's time.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Show us what you are working on Niya rather than an another VB6/vs VB.NET chat. I don't mind if it is not VB6, let's have a quick look.

[2kaud]

I have no clue why BASIC ever had such nonsense as returning a value through the function name

Other languages (eg Pascal) also return a value this way.

[wqweto]

Other languages (eg Pascal) also return a value this way.

. . . and you can pass the (hidden) return variable ByRef to other procedures to assign result value.

Btw, in C/C++ it used to be possible to assign result to _EAX/_AX register intrinsic instead of returning it :-))

cheers,
</wqw>

[yereverluvinuncleber]

wqweto, how's the RC6 IDE idea progressing?

[Niya]

Show us what you are working on Niya rather than an another VB6/vs VB.NET chat. I don't mind if it is not VB6, let's have a quick look.

The last VB6 project I was working on was something intended for the CodeBank. Parts of it are written in assembly using Trick's add-in:-

;VB6 Prototype
;**************************************************************
;Public Function JenkinsHash(ByRef key As String) As Long
;**************************************************************
use32

push ebp
mov ebp, esp

push ebx		;We want to use EBX as the BSTR pointer
;----------------------------------

xor eax,eax		;Zero EAX. This will contain our hash
			;digest.

xor edx, edx		;Zero the EDX register. The lower 16 bits
			;will contain our current character
	

mov ebx, [ebp + 8]	;Get ByRef String pointer from 1st arg
mov ebx, [ebx]		;Dereference it to get BSTR pointer

cmp ebx, 0		;Check if the BSTR is null. 
			;Null BSTRs are valid

jz exitFunc		;Exit the function if null

loopStart: ;***************************

mov dx, [ebx]		;Read the current character
cmp dx, 0		;Is it the null terminator?
jz exitLoop		;If it is, then exit the loop

add eax, edx		;Add the current char code to the hash

mov ecx, eax		;Copy hash into ECX
shl ecx, 10		;Shift ECX to the left by 10
add eax, ecx  		;Add it to the original hash

mov ecx, eax
shr ecx, 6
xor eax, ecx

add ebx, 2		;Advance pointer to next character

jmp loopStart
exitLoop: ;***************************


;**********************************************
;It should be obvious what all of this does.
;If not, then look at the C implementation of this
;function in the comments above this function's VB6 stub in the
;ASMHelpers module.
;**********************************************
mov ecx, eax		
shl ecx, 3
add eax, ecx

mov ecx, eax
shr ecx, 11
xor eax, ecx

mov ecx, eax
shl ecx, 15
add eax, ecx
;**********************************************

exitFunc:

;----------------------------------
pop ebx

mov esp, ebp
pop ebp

ret 4

The above is an implementation of the Jenkins one at a time hash function meant for a hash table implementation I decided to do for fun. I wrote it in assembly on account of VB6's lack of dedicated bit shift operators.

I don't mind if it is not VB6

    Private Function CalcNewPosition(ByVal currentPos As PointF, ByVal previousPos As PointF, ByVal frictionCoeff As Single, ByVal forcesTotal As PointF, ByVal deltaTime As Single) As PointF
        '************************* Formula Explanation *************************
        ' Calculates the new position using an adapted Verlet Integration formula with friction:
        ' newPosition = 2*currentPos - (currentPos - velocity * (1 - frictionCoeff)) + forcesTotal * deltaTime^2
        ' This version incorporates friction into the standard Verlet formula for motion under constant acceleration.
        '***********************************************************************

        ' Calculate the velocity as the difference between the current and previous positions.
        Dim velocity As PointF = VectorHelpers.Subtract(currentPos, previousPos)

        ' Apply friction to this velocity.
        Dim frictionAdjustedVelocity As PointF = VectorHelpers.Multiply(velocity, (1 - frictionCoeff))

        ' Adjust the previous position as if friction had been applied in the previous step.
        Dim frictionAdjustedPreviousPos As PointF = VectorHelpers.Subtract(currentPos, frictionAdjustedVelocity)

        ' Calculate the acceleration displacement, assuming forcesTotal is acceleration.
        Dim accelerationDisplacement As PointF = VectorHelpers.Multiply(forcesTotal, deltaTime * deltaTime)

        ' Compute the new position using the Verlet integration formula, substituting the actual previous position
        ' with the friction-adjusted previous position in the calculation.
        Dim newPosition As PointF = VectorHelpers.Add(
    VectorHelpers.Add(
        VectorHelpers.Multiply(currentPos, 2),
        VectorHelpers.Multiply(frictionAdjustedPreviousPos, -1)
    ),
    accelerationDisplacement
    )
        Return newPosition
    End Function
End Class

Private Function CalcOverlapCorrections(ByVal b1 As Ball, ByVal b2 As Ball) As PointF()
    'I'm particularly proud of this function. I came up with it 
    'completely on my own. 

    'It corrects overlapping balls by moving them away from each
    'other based on the angle between their centers
    '*********************************************************
    'Written by Niya (05, Mar, 2024)
    '*********************************************************

    'The clostest the balls are allowed to each other
    Dim minimumDist As Single = b1.Radius + b2.Radius

    'Get the path from b1 to b2 as a vector
    Dim positionVector = VectorHelpers.Subtract(b2.CurrentPosition, b1.CurrentPosition)

    'Get the current distance between the two balls
    Dim dist As Single = VectorHelpers.GetMagnitude(positionVector)

    'The distance any ball needs to travel so they no longer overlap
    Dim distDelta As Single = minimumDist - dist

    'Get a unit vector from the position vector
    Dim normPosVector = VectorHelpers.Normalize(positionVector)

    'Lengthen normalized vector to cover half the distance needed and flip the
    'direction. This is how b1 has to move.
    Dim b1Move = VectorHelpers.Multiply(normPosVector, distDelta / 2 * -1)

    'Lengthen normalized vector to cover half the distance needed but leave
    'the direction unchanged. This is how b2 has to move.
    Dim b2Move = VectorHelpers.Multiply(normPosVector, distDelta / 2)

    'Calculate the new positions of the balls
    Dim newPosBall1 As PointF = VectorHelpers.Add(b1.CurrentPosition, b1Move)
    Dim newPosBall2 As PointF = VectorHelpers.Add(b2.CurrentPosition, b2Move)

    Return {newPosBall1, newPosBall2}
End Function

A pair of extracts from a VB.Net project also intended for the CodeBank. It's part of a simple physics demo.

Things took a drastic turn in my life recently which has left me with very little time to write code so for the time being these pet projects are in limbo.

[SomeYguy]

I have no clue why BASIC ever had such nonsense as returning a value through the function name. I've always hated that, even from way back when, before Visual Basic's time.

I suppose but I would much rather work in a language which can return values through the function name if desired. To me, makes for much less complicated code and easier to see what is happening and therefore to maintain. But the cool thing is that we have choices .

[fafalone]

This was one of the first habits I dropped when I moved to VB.Net. It was instant. I started using Return right from the very beginning. I have no clue why BASIC ever had such nonsense as returning a value through the function name. I've always hated that, even from way back when, before Visual Basic's time.

It is convenient sometimes, consider the classic function i've used thousands of times:

Public Function LPWSTRtoStr(lPtr As LongPtr, Optional ByVal fFree As Boolean = True) As String
SysReAllocStringW VarPtr(LPWSTRtoStr), lPtr
If fFree Then
    Call CoTaskMemFree(lPtr)
End If

-----------------

Anyway, I'm still working on my memory list manager... I saw another open source app like it, and I wanted mine to have equivalent features while looking even nicer. So I added some Shape controls to visualize standby/modified RAM in relation to actually free, added an 'Autooptimize' button to apply the 3 most common procedures in the correct order, set up a feature to run that automatically, and added a minimize to tray option, with tray context menu where all options (+restore UI and quit) are available.



Just gotta test the monitoring feature then it will probably be released tomorrow; but thought I'd post here to see if anyone had any features they think it's missing? Or information (again keeping in mind it's not a general memory tool meant to show everything, just very basic info + stuff relevant to the standby/modified memory).


(PS - The numbers in the bar up top don't add up right because I modified zero-byte categories to show up with fake numbers just to demonstrate it; I've checked their values normally)

[wqweto]

wqweto, how's the RC6 IDE idea progressing?

It’s not moving anywhere - there is no compiler ready )

[yereverluvinuncleber]

It's part of a simple physics demo.

I am going to need some VB6 pendulum code soon, I have an implementation (of sorts) in .js that I used in the Konfabulator version, I may just convert that and see how it goes. If you know of any VB-like pendulum physics code that could be utilised, do let me know. It'll have to be relatively simple for this small brain to comprehend.

Things took a drastic turn in my life recently which has left me with very little time to write code

Sorry to hear it. You may be aware of the drastic events that took place in my own life (father died, mum dementia), I've moved on from that and I am sure you will too.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Anyway, I'm still working on my memory list manager... I saw another open source app like it, and I wanted mine to have equivalent features while looking even nicer.

I'm impressed by this tool, I appreciate how it is progressing. Always good to take advantage of another's GUI styles to improve your own contributions. I've been spurred on many times by someone else coming up with something I really enjoyed. Inspiration seldom comes from nowhere.

I would suggest a DPI aware version for those with high DPI screens and scaling.

My prefs screens on my 4K screen for comparison


High DPI


Low DPI

The low DPI version auto-scaled by Windows has some charm in the way the fonts are rendered, I almost enjoy the blurry effect but small window apps using small fonts do suffer somewhat.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

It’s not moving anywhere - there is no compiler ready )

Does that mean you are working on one?

[fafalone]

Olaf has allegedly been working on an RC6-based compiler for years and will be for the next decade. But its completion will apparently herald his perfect world where the conditions for open sourcing RC6 (or RC20) are finally met, and I guess then we're all supposed to forget about VB6 and tB and start rewriting our apps around RC6/Cairo. Or something like that.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Olaf has allegedly been working on an RC6-based compiler for years and will be for the next decade. But its completion will apparently herald his perfect world where the conditions for open sourcing RC6 (or RC20) are finally met, and I guess then we're all supposed to forget about VB6 and tB and start rewriting our apps around RC6/Cairo. Or something like that.

Ah, I seeeeeee. I'm treading on places I should not. I now see Wqweto's comments in a new light.

I assume that by building VB6/RC programs I may appear in your eyes, to have joined the dark side...

For me, VB6+RC6/Cairo just does a job that I would struggle to achieve using GDI or GDI+

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Has anyone dared ask Olaf if he has an intended completion date or a measure of completion? I don't want to stir up a hornet's nest, I am genuinely interested.

[bcelestia]

I'm working to convert a small test utility I originally wrote in VBA (Excel 2003) way back in 2007. The Utility generates 2 accurate low flow rates from a mass flow controller. At the higher flow rate a small vane should just begin spinning. At the lower flow rate the vane should not spin. The utility communicates with the MFC through the manufacturers DDE server Software.


https://imgur.com/a/s3XOooP

(Struggling to get the image to actually appear in the post?)

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Use imgur to host the image, use the imgur link provided. This forum regularly eats images for breakfast.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

[bcelestia]

Thanks for that yereverluvinuncleber - I'm obviously using the wrong spell!. Have the App mostly finished now - needs some tidy up. Might add a slider to go from 0 to full scale on the MFC. Had one in the original Excel version. Can't say I'm fond of DDE. I have 2 more apps which I need to start soon.

1. A Test app for a bluetooth ECG device connected to an ECG simulator. Need to write a serial number and name to the ECG and verify that the ECG interprets the simulator waveforms correctly with minimal noise. Not sure whether to use Excel VBA or VB6 for this. Capturing data from the ECG and charting it sounds easier to do in Excel. Also need to print a record of the test to PDF.
2. An app to profile the motion of a slowly moving piston using a Digital dial indicator with serial O/P for a new product.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Good to see VB6 being used in the sort of job it was designed for. A nice graphical framework for straightforward forms that do exactly what they need to do. It is a real job in the real world and interfacing with devices. It is what a computer should be doing.

In comparison, my stuff tends to be a bit OTT, ephemeral and ridiculous but that is how I like it.

[gaouser]

Making a VB7 IDE using the VBA. right now theres absolutely nothing because im just reading weird Microsoft docs.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Making a VB7 IDE using the VBA.

Looking forward to seeing it. Next post please have something to display.

[Thierry76]

I haven't coded in VB6 professionally for over 14 years, just rarely during my sleepless nights. Recently I had a hard drive crash that hosted my old sources and my backup system failed...
I just restored an old VM that I used for R&D in 2007, and there's still life in it... I started to review and comment on old things that I've never seen here for you share them: a curious but very simple personal addin to facilitate the creation of addins and the modification of code in very large projects, another to create MDIChilds (by API) hosted in Dlls, etc... but the code found is not the best and my motivation is low...
Redoing what we have already done, the commentary is not exciting...My nights are sometimes long and I am also working on new projects which motivate me more:
• a very practical Word Addins manager (for *.dotm) but never finished
• Addins which add functionality to “BI Publisher Desktop”
• a fork of the fabulous Krool controls to have styles in VBA and which makes them more VBA compatible..
• and I would like to take some time to get started with TwinBasic and see what it could bring me

and again and again learn from others, from you, the CodeBank experts

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Thierry, if/when you manage to revive any of your projects please add an image to show us what you are working on.

Re: loss of your old projects. It is a lesson to all of us that a copy or two of the data is NOT a backup. It is merely a copy and with our current technology you can lose that data at any time. Identifying and implementing a sufficient backup process is what is required and then adhering to it. All my old projects are making their way to github whether I find them useful/current/helpful or not. I no longer make the choice, I just stick everything on github and mark it obsolete/current as necessary.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Crikey... I just counted and found I am working on sixteen VB6 projects simultaneously. Yes, sixteen now plus another ten that need tinkering... I have a problem with boredom and burnout and so I seem to have to switch to an older project or create another new one in order to be able to make any progress at all or keep interest.

The majority of my Panzer System Metric Gauges are 98% complete, just needing some multi-monitor testing and creation of installers plus creation of some remaining Help CHM files. My weather gauges are working and operating on my desktops but I need to refactor the code somewhat. My resurrection of my first old steampunk clock/calendar has made great progress but I am now burnt out with that. I feel it is good to recognise the burning smell before boredom sets in.

My older RC5 widgets possibly need upgrading to RC6 (unsure as to whether I want to even do that)

I need to refactor my SteamyDock code and also find/fix the leaking handles.

Does anyone else here work on multiple projects?

It does help that these are all hobby/educational projects.

[fafalone]

Released another version of my gPdfMerge utility today. It merges multiple PDFs into a single PDF; and the new version has a search tool to find what page ranges you want to merge.



I hadn't seen Save functionality in VB6 before; I think I know the hangup-- the write callback has to be CDecl. This wasn't even practical until The trick's VBCDeclFix in 2021. Of course tB supports it natively. Since that's required for anyone wanting to use my code in VB6, I no longer felt the need to use the _stdcall pdfium.dll builds from 2018 like other projects; the new version uses the latest pdfium.dll builds from this month. You can use them in VB6 too thanks to The trick's work.

Of course, VB6 people are increasingly becoming like those who every so often wander in here asking about VB3 or VB4.. the new version of VB is much better !! Lol. But again even if you're not ready I still think the project is of interest to VB6 people since as per above it *can* be fairly easily backported.

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....sed-PDF-merger

https://github.com/fafalone/gPdfMerge

[Erwin69]

Crikey... I just counted and found I am working on sixteen VB6 projects simultaneously. Yes, sixteen now plus another ten that need tinkering... I have a problem with boredom and burnout and so I seem to have to switch to an older project or create another new one in order to be able to make any progress at all or keep interest.

The majority of my Panzer System Metric Gauges are 98% complete, just needing some multi-monitor testing and creation of installers plus creation of some remaining Help CHM files. My weather gauges are working and operating on my desktops but I need to refactor the code somewhat. My resurrection of my first old steampunk clock/calendar has made great progress but I am now burnt out with that. I feel it is good to recognise the burning smell before boredom sets in.

My older RC5 widgets possibly need upgrading to RC6 (unsure as to whether I want to even do that)

I need to refactor my SteamyDock code and also find/fix the leaking handles.

Does anyone else here work on multiple projects?

It does help that these are all hobby/educational projects.

I have 3 applications that are used by approx 400 users around the globe. As they are increasingly intergrated with each other, it basically means a new release for one, means new releases for the other two as well. Leads to interesting balancing acts.

In addition there are 3 internal "support" apps, that need some updating at times as well.

Isn't the last 10-20% of each project the boring part of ironing out bugs, and getting people to provide feedback so that the final release is of the best quality? How many times over my career I've had situations where you're "begging" for weeks or even months to get feedback, only to get a bug reported the day after client release...

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Released another version of my gPdfMerge utility today.

That is such a useful tool and improving!

I have 3 applications that are used by approx 400 users around the globe.

Do you have any hobby apps in addition Erwin?

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I recommenced coding in VB6 during a period in my life when needed to check whether my brain was still capable of learning. I had taken time from work to look after my family and when one stops using the brain it begins to deteriorate. It loses its 'edge'. At least that's what it felt like was occurring, in my limited experience.

So, I picked up VB6 to code a project that was a functional clone of an existing project that was in the process of being abandoned by another set of developers. That was Rocketdock and my clone creation was SteamyDock using VB6 and GDI+. That honed my old coding skills back to some sort of sharpness. On the back of that I also picked up some .NET skills and after that I played with RC5 and 6 and some new (to me) methods of coding, classes &c.

Due to project related burnout I've just picked up Steamydock again to review the code, fix some outstanding bugs and apply what I have learnt over the intervening period. Amazed by how primitive some of my code was just a few years ago and how much I can improve it now. This coding thing is really a learning process isn't it?

Steamydock at the bottom of my desktop



SteamyDock close up.



The SteamyDock config utility



The icon Settings Utility with my more recent VB6 offerings



These utilities are all VB6 but using three graphics frameworks, VB6 native forms, GDI+ and RC5-6/Cairo. To me, that's an interesting combination. SteamyDock and its utilities all work barring a few bugs. I will fix those bugs and hopefully, beat it into a shape where I start to become proud of it. At the moment, I am not, at least not from the coding perspective. Are we all embarrassed about our code?

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Fixed my handles issue on SteamyDock using the following two tools from NirSoft: GDIView and HandleCountersView.exe.



Bloody useful.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I haven't coded in VB6 professionally for over 14 years, just rarely during my sleepless nights.

I just re-read that post and that one line jumped out at me. So, Thierry, you wake up and can't sleep and so you begin to code in VB6...

Is that because it is therapeutic and calms you? Is VB6 your instinctive 'home' and makes you feel safe?

Very interesting comment that. So much potentially revealed in a line of text.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Anyone working on anything interesting?

I've just started the conversion of the old YWE desktop hole widget to VB6/RC6.





Only just started and it needs a lot of work to complete but I'm making progress. It is a desktop tidy tool. You drag and drop desktop icons to various files/shortcuts &c and it sorts them automatically to the correct location, predefined.

Also, adding the alarm clock functionality to my steampunk clock/calendar and fixing remaining bugs in my Panzer gauges.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Faf, I love this project of yours, I use it all the time.

Since IMHO tB is just as on-topic as VB 1, 2, or 3; I started this project a while ago but I've been finishing it up recently. I've been making my own Device Manager:



This is an example of "Things you can't do in 32bit."... The SetupDiCallClassInstaller API to perform the enable/disable/some others functions return ERROR_IN_WOW64 if you try to call it from a 32bit app on 64bit Windows, it's not allowed. So you need twinBASIC and 64bit for all of this app's features to work. The Resources tab you see in the system device manager is absent from the above picture--- it's also only available in 64bit mode; the above screeshot was running in 32bit, in 64bit, you get the extra tab:



I got stuck for a while on how to show the properties then gave up for a few months while working on other things, until a week or so ago I came across DeviceProperties_RunDLL and DevicePropertiesEx, which show the properties popup you see with a simple call, much easier than the method I had been trying (pulling the prop pages manually). With that working I'm just about finished now; principal coding is done and about half of the features have been tested. So it should be out next week, since I probably won't get much done over xmas weekend.

The last few weeks I had gotten back into hardware when I found another interesting feature: undocumented radio management interfaces/coclasses. A couple days ago I released a small app capable of turning on/off individual radios, as well as the system radio master switch-- 'Airplane mode', complete with having the airplane icon in the system tray.







RadioMan was released the other day:

VBForums: [twinBASIC] RadioMan - Undocumented Radio Management interfaces

GitHub: RadioMan Repository

The interfaces used by it are in the current release of WinDevLib (formerly tbShellLib) for twinBASIC, and will be included in the next oleexp.tlb release for VB6, but that new version has not been posted yet. Stay tuned.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

My nice, shiny and new Dell 5511 laptop just went 'pop' and died. A capacitor in a Chinese Tofu dreg external CD reader destroyed itself and took my laptop with it. There will be some damage to the mobo on the USB side which I may be able to get fixed. For the moment though I am back on my old dependable Dell E6410 laptop from 2010. Anyone else had similar problems recently?

Luckily all the code is on github so I am now cloning all my recent projects onto 'old faithful.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

My communications program FireCall uses startTLS 1.2 (from Wqweto) to regularly communicate by email, summing up and sending all conversations over a recent period.

I have previously used Microsoft outlook's SMTP server and a hotmail address to send the outgoing emails. Microsoft is now introducing OAuth2 for authentication and I need to upgrade my tool to account for that, digging into OAuth2 to see who has already dipped their toes into making this operate within the VB6 world. So far, seems problematic. Might just change the SMTP server and email address for now.

[VanGoghGaming]

As long as your Microsoft account has two-factor authentication enabled, SMTP will continue to work. Same for Gmail for that matter.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Thanks for that. I will configure now and test.

[VanGoghGaming]

You also need to generate an "app password" and use that instead of your main account password.