Advanced Visual Basic Techniques
(Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
Author(s): Rod Stephens
ISBN: 0471188816
Publication Date: 06/01/97

Appendix
What’s on the CD-ROM

The CD-ROM contains Visual Basic source code for all of the applications described in this book. The files on the compact disk are separated by chapter. Code for the PeopleWatcher application described in Chapter 8, for example, is stored in the Ch8 subdirectory. Some chapter directories contain subdirectories that hold data or different programs described within the chapter. The contents of the directories are listed in table A.1.

Hardware Requirements

To run and modify the example applications, you need a computer that is reasonably able to run Visual Basic 5.0. You will also need a compact disk drive to load the programs from the accompanying compact disk.

The client/server applications described in Chapters 10 through 13 use more advanced networking and OLE server techniques that work only in the Visual Basic Enterprise Edition under Windows 95 and Windows NT. The ActiveX applications presented in Chapters 14 through 19 use features introduced in Visual Basic 5.

If you do not have the Enterprise Edition, or you are running an older version of Windows, some of these applications will not run as they are presented in the book. You can still read the chapters and learn valuable lessons about the application architectures, however. Using the fundamental architectures and some file management tricks, you can even implement similar applications without using OLE servers. This is a hard route to follow, however, and you may be better off if you upgrade your software and save a lot of time and trouble.

All of the applications on the compact disk have been tested in Visual Basic 5.0 under Windows 95 and Windows NT. The programs explained in Chapters 1, 2, and 4 through 13 were also tested using Visual Basic 4.0. Though the programs may look slightly different in the two environments, they will perform in roughly the same manner. The applications described in the Chapters 3 and 14 through 19 use features introduced by Visual Basic 5.0 so they will not run with earlier versions of Visual Basic.

The applications will run at different speeds on different computers with different configurations, but they will all work. If you own a 200 megahertz Pentium with 64MB of memory, applications will run much faster than they would if you owned a 486-based computer with 8MB of memory. Both machines will be able to run the applications, but at different speeds. You will quickly learn the limits of your hardware.

Installing the Software

You can load the example programs into the Visual Basic development environment using the Open Project command in the File menu. You can select the files directly from the compact disk, or you can copy them onto your hard disk first. Note that files on a compact disk are always marked read-only since you cannot save files to a compact disk. If you copy files onto your hard disk, the copies are also marked as read-only. If you want to modify these files, you must give yourself write permission for them.

You can do this with the Windows Explorer. First, copy the files you want onto your hard disk. Then select the files and invoke the Properties command in the Explorer’s File menu. Uncheck the Read Only check box and press the Ok button. At this point you can make changes to the copied application and save the changes to your hard disk. Do not worry about making careless changes to the copy and accidentally breaking the application. You can always copy the files again later from the compact disk.

User Assistance and Information

The software accompanying this book is being provided as is without warranty or support of any kind. Should you require basic installation assistance, or if your media is defective, please call our product support number at (212) 850-6194 weekdays between 9 A.M. and 4 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. Or, we can be reached via e-mail at: wprtusw@wiley.com. You can also send comments or questions to the author at: RodStephens@compuserve.com.

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