PRB: Visual Basic Replaces Missing Controls with PictureBoxes (167707)

SYMPTOMS

If a Visual Basic project uses a custom control (.OCX) whose CLSID has changed since the project was last opened, the following message will be displayed when opening the project:

'<Path To OCX>' could not be loaded-Continue Loading Project?

After choosing "Yes," a second message will occur two times:

Errors during load. Refer to <Path To LOG File> for details

Once the project is opened, all occurrences of the custom control have been replaced with PictureBox controls.

CAUSE

When Visual Basic attempts to load a custom control, each control is verified by its CLSID. If the CLSID stored with the project differs from the CLSID of the custom control, Visual Basic cannot load the control. In an attempt to maintain as many properties as possible, Visual Basic replaces the missing control with a PictureBox control. The code associated with the missing control is retained.

A CLSID of a custom control changes when any of the following conditions are true:

The custom control project's Version Compatibility setting is set to "No Compatibility." When no compatibility is set, a new CLSID is generated for a custom control every time it is compiled.
The custom control project's Version Compatibility setting is set to "Project Compatibility" or "Binary Compatibility," and the control's interface has been modified in such a way that compatibility could not be maintained. This will primarily occur if a Property or Method definition has changed.
A control is overwritten and the newer version has a different CLSID.

For more information about project compatibility, refer to the REFERENCES section below.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE FOLLOWING STEPS PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides these steps "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

The CLSID of each custom control is saved in the project file (.VBP). The VBP file may be opened with Notepad or any text editor. If you know the new CLSID for the new version of the custom control, the VBP file can be modified to reflect this change in CLSIDs.

NOTE: Version compatibility in custom controls is used to ensure that your new version of a custom control will not break backward compatibility with applications that may be using older versions of your custom control. Following the example below to modify the project file with the new CLSID could result in unexpected errors in your application.

For example, if your custom control, named Custom.OCX, appears in your project, a line in the VBP file could read as follows:

   Object={B0784T02-A67Y-11E0-8840-00DD00F7B36C}#1.0#0; Custom.Ocx

You can modify the CLSID in the above line,

   {B0784T02-A67Y-11E0-8840-00DD00F7B36C}

with the new CLSID of the Custom.Ocx. Saving the VBP file and reopening the project with Visual Basic should solve the problem.

To obtain the new CLSID of your custom control, you may need to search the system registry or use a tool such as OLE2VIEW.EXE that can provide such information. The utility, OLE2VIEW.EXE, can be downloaded from the Microsoft Internet site at http://www.microsoft.com. To find the download file, search for "OLE2VIEW."

PRB: Visual Basic Replaces Missing Controls with PictureBoxes (167707)

REFERENCES

SYMPTOMS

CAUSE

RESOLUTION

STATUS