INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 1: Important Issues - Read First! (170164)

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Passing User-Defined Types to Procedures

With Visual Basic 6.0 it is possible to pass a user defined type (UDT) as an argument to a procedure or function. However, there is a restriction. Passing a UDT to a procedure in an out-of-process component or across threads in a multi-threaded component requires an updated version of DCOM for Windows 95 and Windows 98, or Service Pack 4 for Windows NT 4.0. This update is required on your development computer as well as on any computer that will run your application. A run-time error will occur if the required files are not installed.

The above does not apply to passing UDTs within a single-threaded application; this will work without updating. The Package and Deployment Wizard will not determine the dependencies for the necessary components - it is up to you to make sure that the files are on the end user's computer. You can test for the existence of the components by trapping for run-time error 458 - "Variable uses an Automation type not supported in Visual Basic". If this error occurs, the DCOM or Service Pack components must be updated; the update procedure differs depending on the operating system:

• Windows 95 or Windows 98
  
  DCOM98.EXE is a self-extracting executable that installs the updated DCOM components for Windows 95 or Windows 98. It can be found in the DCOM98 directory of the Visual Basic 6.0 CD. This file may be freely distributed with your Visual Basic application.
• Windows NT 4.0
  
  The updated DCOM components are automatically installed with Service Pack 4 (SP4). When it is released, you can download the Service Pack from the Microsoft Web site.

Searching Online by Topic Title

To search for a topic when you have the title:

1. In the navigation pane of the MSDN window, click the Search tab and then type or paste the title of the topic you want to find. Enclose the search string in quotation marks.
2. Click Search Titles Only.
3. Click List Topics. (If your search returns more than one hit, you can sort the topic list by clicking the Title or Location column heading.)
4. Select the title of the topic you want and then click Display.
   
   To find where a topic is located in the table of contents, click the Locate button on the toolbar. The table of contents will synchronize with the topic you are viewing.
   
   NOTE: The Locate button is unavailable for the topics in the Reference node of the Visual Basic documentation.

Cross References to Internet Client SDK

Refer to the Internet/Intranet/Extranet SDK

In the Building Internet Applications book within the Component Tools Guide, multiple cross references are made to a part of MSDN referred to as the "Internet Client SDK." The correct name for this SDK is the "Internet/Intranet/Extranet SDK." When searching for an Internet Client SDK reference in MSDN, please look in this section.

Context-Sensitive Help

To use Help buttons and the F1 key to access Help without having the MSDN CD in your CD drive, you must choose the Custom install option during setup of the MSDN Library. Check the boxes labeled "VB Documentation," "VB Product Samples," and "VS Shared Documentation." You may also want to check "VSS Documentation" if you are using Visual SourceSafe.

Sample Code Sometimes Does Not Cut and Paste Properly

Line breaks and formatting information may not copy correctly when you copy and paste sample code from the MSDN Library Visual Studio documentation to your code editor. To work around this issue, do one of the following:

• Manually edit the line breaks after you copy the code.
• View the sample code source, copy the entire code sample, including the <pre> and </pre> tags, paste it to your code editor, and then delete the unwanted sections from the pasted version.

Locate Button Disabled for Reference Topics

When you find a language reference topic in MSDN through the Search tab, you cannot use the Locate button to find where the topic is located in the MSDN Table of Contents tree.