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- ======================================================================
- Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)
- BV0701: FEATURES QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
- ======================================================================
- Revision Date: 11/92
- No Disk Included
-
- The following information applies to Microsoft Visual Basic(TM) for
- Windows(TM) versions 1.0 and 2.0.
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
- | INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY |
- | ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an |
- | Application Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY |
- | KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO |
- | THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A |
- | PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the |
- | accuracy and the use of this Application Note. This Application |
- | Note may be copied and distributed subject to the following |
- | conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and |
- | all pages must be included; 2) If software is included, all files |
- | on the disk(s) must be copied without modification [the MS-DOS(R) |
- | utility DISKCOPY is appropriate for this purpose]; 3) All |
- | components of this Application Note must be distributed together; |
- | and 4) This Application Note may not be distributed for profit. |
- | |
- | Copyright 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |
- | Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Visual Basic |
- | and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OS/2 and |
- | Presentation Manager are registered trademarks licensed to |
- | Microsoft Corporation. |
- | dBASE is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate Corporation. |
- | Paradox is a registered trademark of Ansa Software, a Borland |
- | company. |
- | SYBASE is a registered trademark of Sybase, Inc. |
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 1. Q. Does Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows support a line-
- continuation character?
-
- A. Neither version 2.0 nor version 1.0 of Visual Basic offers a line-
- continuation character. However, the maximum line length in
- version 2.0 has been increased to 1,024 characters from 255
- characters in version 1.0.
-
- 2. Q. Can I create database applications using Microsoft Visual
- Basic for Windows?
-
- A. The Visual Basic Professional Edition version 2.0 provides an
- Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) dynamic-link library (DLL) and
- an SQL driver so that you can access data on a Microsoft or
- SYBASE(R) SQL Server. The ODBC DLL was designed to offer a
- generic interface to any database system. Currently, the ODBC DLL
- only supports Microsoft SQL Server databases; you cannot use the
- ODBC DLL to access local database files, such as those created by
- dBASE(R) and Paradox(R). As drivers become available for these
- database systems, you will be able to access the data for these
- systems. The next question and answer set provides more
- information about Microsoft SQL Server.
-
- If you are not using the ODBC interface to write database
- applications, you can devise your own data storage and access
- scheme by using the file-related statements provided with Visual
- Basic or by acquiring a database add-on library or custom control
- from a third-party software vendor.
-
- 3. Q. I am familiar with Microsoft SQL Server and am interested in
- using SQL Server with Visual Basic. Where can I get more
- information on this?
-
- A. Call Microsoft OnLine Sales at (800) 443-4672 for information on
- using Visual Basic with Microsoft SQL Server.
-
- 4. Q. OS/2(R) Presentation Manager(R) is mentioned throughout the
- version 1.0 "Programmer's Guide." Is there an OS/2 Presentation
- Manager version of Microsoft Visual Basic?
-
- A. No, there is currently no version of Visual Basic that supports
- OS/2. The version 2.0 Visual Basic for Windows documentation does
- not mention support for OS/2 Presentation Manager. We may choose
- to develop a similar product for OS/2 Presentation Manager in the
- future.
-
- 5. Q. Does Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows support serial
- communications?
-
- A. The MS COM control provided with Visual Basic Professional
- Edition version 2.0 supports serial communications.
-
- Visual Basic version 1.0 essentially has no built-in
- communications support. You can use the Open statement to open a
- COM port, but you cannot specify parameters and there is no "On
- Com" statement. All communications can be performed using the
- Windows application programming interface (API).
-
- 6. Q. Can I create an multiple-document interface (MDI)
- application using Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows?
-
- A. Version 2.0 of Visual Basic supports the creation of MDI
- applications by supporting MDI containers and MDI child forms.
- Version 1.0 does not support these features. The Visual Basic
- Professional Toolkit for version 1.0 provides an MDI child
- control that is also compatible with Visual Basic version 2.0;
- however, it is recommended that you use the MDI features provided
- with Visual Basic version 2.0 instead of the MDI child control.
-
- Because version 2.0 supports MDI, no updated MDI child control is
- available with Visual Basic Professional Edition version 2.0.
-
- 7. Q. Can I call Windows API routines and third-party DLL routines
- from my Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows application?
-
- A. Yes. Visual Basic can call any routine in any dynamic-link
- library as long as the DLL uses the Pascal calling convention and
- does not accept any function pointers as parameters.
-
-
-