HOWTO: Upgrade Project to Use New VB6 Controls

ID: Q190952

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS

The following controls are not automatically updated when a Visual Basic 5.0 project is loaded by Visual Basic 6.0:

Comctl32.ocx

Comct232.ocx

Mschart.ocx

You must manually upgrade the project to the new Visual Basic 6.0 controls:

Mscomctl.ocx

Mscomct2.ocx

Mschrt20.ocx

NOTE: The "Upgrading Applications that Use the Windows Common Controls" topic in the Visual Basic documentation incorrectly states that these controls are automatically upgraded. Specifically, the following statements are in error:

When an application - created with Visual Basic version 5 and using these controls - is first loaded in Visual Basic version 6, a dialog box will appear informing you that a new version is available, and that the controls can be upgraded. At that time, you can choose to upgrade the project to the new controls, or continue to use the older control versions.

CAUSE

This behavior is by design. The new controls are not backward compatible with the older versions and, in accordance with the rules of COM, were given new file names and new GUIDs. This prevents your application from breaking existing applications that use the older controls. Because the new controls have new names and GUIDs, they also have new Typelibs. When you load a Visual Basic project, it checks the Typelib version. However, Visual Basic does not know the Controls were updated because the Typelib for the new controls have a different GUID than the Typelib for the old controls.

RESOLUTION

To upgrade a project to the newer version, do one of the following:

Download the ActiveX Control Update Utility from the following Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/downloads/download.asp?ID=088

Manually update your project and from files using the following steps:

Open the .vbp file in a text editor, such as Notepad, and change the lines that reference the old version of the .ocx to the following:


      Object={831FDD16-0C5C-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0; MSCOMCTL.OCX
      Object={86CF1D34-0C5F-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0; MSCOMCT2.OCX
      Object={65E121D4-0C60-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0; MSCHRT20.OCX

Save and close the .vbp file.

Open any .frm file (or .ctl file) that uses one of these controls in a text editor, and change the lines that reference the old version of the .ocx to the following:


    Object = "{831FDD16-0C5C-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0"; "MSCOMCTL.OCX"
    Object = "{86CF1D34-0C5F-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0"; "MSCOMCT2.OCX"
    Object = "{65E121D4-0C60-11D2-A9FC-0000F8754DA1}#2.0#0"; "MSCHRT20.OCX"

Change all text that references the old libraries to the new library names. You need to replace ComCtlLib, Comctl2, and MSChartLib with MSComCtlLib, MSComCtl2, and MSChart20Lib. For example, change:
```
       ComctlLib.ImageList

   To:

       MSComctlLib.ImageList
 
```

Save and close the file. When you open the project in Visual Basic 6.0, it will use the new Mscomctl.ocx, Mscomct2.ocx or Mschrt20.ocx controls.

NOTE:

IMPORTANT: Before you edit your .vbp, .frm, or .ctl files, you should backup all of the files in your project.

While the objects listed in step 1 and 2 are very similar, they are not identical and the upgrade will not work properly if each is not copied exactly to the correct file.

If you get a message stating that the header is corrupt when you attempt to load the project, you have probably made a copy error. Please go to your backup and repeat the process.

If you prefer to continue using the older versions of these controls, Comctl32.ocx and Comct232.ocx are included on the Visual Basic 6.0 product CD-ROM in the \OS\System directory. Mschart32.ocx resides in the \Common\Tools\VB\Controls directory.


Keywords          : kbVBp600 kbComCtrls 
Version           : 
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 10, 1999