FILE: WinAPI.exe Windows API Declarations and Constants for VB (73694)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 2.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 2.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 1.0
This article was previously published under Q73694

SUMMARY

The file WINAPI.TXT supplies declarations for Microsoft Visual Basic programmers who want to call Windows API routines.

To use WINAPI.TXT, you need a reference for Windows API calls, such as the documentation provided with the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). If you don't have a reference manual for Windows API calls, you can obtain the Visual Basic add-on kit number 1-55615-413-5, "Microsoft Windows Programmer's Reference" and Online Resource (which includes WINAPI.TXT on disk), available from Microsoft for a fee.

MORE INFORMATION

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

WinAPI.exe

For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

WINAPI.TXT is an ASCII text file containing the functions and constants in the Microsoft Windows 3.0 API, declared in the format used by Microsoft Visual Basic.

To use WINAPI.TXT, you must have the book "Microsoft Windows Programmer's Reference" for Windows version 3.0 (published by Microsoft Press, 1990), or you must have the reference manuals provided with the Microsoft Windows SDK.

WINAPI.TXT includes the following:
  • External procedure declarations for all the Microsoft Windows API functions that can be called from Visual Basic.
  • Global constant declarations for all the constants used by the Microsoft Windows API.
  • Type declarations for the user-defined types (structures) used by the Microsoft Windows API.
WINAPI.TXT is too large to be loaded directly into a Visual Basic module. Attempting to load it directly into Visual Basic will cause an "Out of Memory" error message.

WINAPI.TXT is also too large for the Notepad editor supplied with Microsoft Windows, but it can be loaded by Microsoft Write. To use WINAPI.TXT, load it into an editor (such as Microsoft Write) that can handle large files. Copy the declarations you want and paste them into the global module in your Visual Basic application.

NOTE: Some of the Windows API declarations are very long. Some editors will wrap these onto a second line, and will copy them as multiple lines rather than a single line. Declarations in Visual Basic cannot span lines, so if you paste these as multiple lines, Visual Basic will report an error. If an error occurs, you can either adjust the margins in the editor before copying or remove the line break after pasting.

The global module is the recommended place for the declarations that you copy from the WINAPI.TXT file; however, you can place the external procedure declarations in the Declarations section of any form or module. You can also place the constant declarations anywhere in any module or form code if you remove the Global keyword. Type declarations must be placed in the global module.

Once you have pasted the declaration for a Windows API routine (as well as any associated constant and type declarations) into your application, you can call that routine as you would call any Visual Basic procedure.

For more information about declaring and calling external procedures, see Chapter 23, "Extending Visual Basic," in "Microsoft Visual Basic: Programmer's Guide."

WARNING: Visual Basic cannot verify the data you pass to Microsoft Windows API routines. Calling a Microsoft Windows API routine with an invalid argument can result in unpredictable behavior: your application, Visual Basic, or Windows may crash or hang. When experimenting with Windows API routines, save your work often.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/4/2004
Keywords:kbdownload kb16bitonly kbfile kbSample KB73694 kbAudDeveloper
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