HOWTO: Get Visual Basic Knowledge Base Articles on Internet

ID: Q140521

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation, Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 5.0
Microsoft Visual Basic Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

All Microsoft Visual Basic Knowledge Base articles and Microsoft Software Library (MSL) files are available for downloading from the Internet by using an FTP service (ftp.microsoft.com). The MSL file tree (softlib) contains drivers, patches, and other support files from Microsoft Technical Support.

MORE INFORMATION

How to Open a Connection to the Microsoft FTP Site

Connection to the Microsoft Internet server requires a "live" session to the Internet by way of an FTP (File Transfer Program) service provider.

Log on to your Internet account.

At the Internet prompt, type:


   open ftp.microsoft.com

-or-

Use the following IP address:


    open 207.46.133.140

When prompted for a user name, type:

anonymous

When prompted for a password, type your full e-mail address, for example:

johndoe@test.com

How to Download Individual Visual Basic Knowledge Base Articles

This example includes downloading an actual article (Q100369), which contains all the documentation errors for Visual Basic version 4.0. Microsoft Knowledge Base articles are stored in a directory tree by their unique identification number also known as their Q number.

After logging onto the FTP server, use the CD command at the FTP prompt to change to the correct directory:
```
      cd/developr/devutil/kb 
```

Use the GET command to retrieve the Readme.txt and Index.txt files. The Index.txt file contains a complete list of all the article titles and their Q numbers. If you already know the Q number you want, you don't need to look in the Index.txt file. To download these files, type the following from the FTP prompt:
```
      get readme.txt

      get index.txt 
```

Once you have the Q number (for example, Q100369), use the GET command to download the Knowledge Base article.

Knowledge Base articles are stored in a directory tree structure with each Q number represented as two subdirectories and a two-digit file name. This method avoids storing thousands of articles in one subdirectory, which would slow server performance.

You can translate the Q number into a GET command. There are three parts to each Q number. Reading backwards, the file name is the last two characters plus a .txt extension. For example, the file name for Q100369 is 69.txt. The sub area is the first digit to the left of the file name (3 in this example), and the primary area is the remaining characters to the left including the Q (Q100 in this example).

In the GET command, place a forward slash (/) between the file name, sub area, and primary area (primary/sub/filename). For example, a six-digit Q number translates to:

Q99704 = Q99/7/04.txt

A seven-digit Q number translates to:

Q100369 = Q100/3/69.txt
Use the GET command from the FTP prompt to download this article:

get Q99/7/04.TXT Q99704.txt
get Q100/3/69.TXT Q100369.txt
The "Q100369.txt" part at the end is the destination name for the file -- the name of the file as appears on your hard drive.

To close the connection with the server for most FTP clients type the following from the FTP prompt:
```
      bye 
```

If you receive an "access denied" error during any transfers, it means you do not have write access in your current working directory on your client system. Contact your system administrator for help.

How to Download All Visual Basic Knowledge Base Article Help Files

If you want all the Visual Basic Knowledge Base articles in two Help files with full-text search, download Vbkb32.exe (for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT) or Vbkb16.exe (for Windows for Workgroups), a self-extracting file, from the MSL:

Change to the softlib area:
```
      cd/softlib/mslfiles 
```

Get the file. Make sure you have room for it on your computer. The compressed file is more than four megabytes in size, so you need about 10 megabytes of space to extract its contents:
```
      get vbkb32.exe EXE (for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT) 
```
-or-
```
      get vbkb16exe (for Windows for Workgroups) 
```

Close the connection:
```
      bye 
```

Put the Vbkb32.exe or Vbkb16.exe file in an empty directory on your computer and run it to extract the files it contains.

Additional query words: dskbguide RefsPSS kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbdss kbVBp kbDSupport kbInternet


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 26, 1999