Microsoft has released at least 9 different versions of Visual
Basic.
Versions 1 to 6 were introduced from 1991 to 1998 and none of
these versions are on sale any more, nor are they supported by
Microsoft. Current versions of Visual Basic include VB.Net which is
not free and Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition which IS free
and which is part of a suite of free programs called the Express
Editions suite. You should install and learn a current version
unless you have been specifically asked to work with an older
version. Thus READ NO FURTHER about VB 5/6 and follow instead
THIS LINK to learn about VB 2008
Express Edition instead.
Visual Basic version 5 Control
Creation Edition (VB5CCE) is available
free from this website (follow the link at the bottom of this page
of this page). Version 6 is
installed in all the computer rooms of our school. The full version
of VB6 was never free and in any case is no longer for sale, nor is
supported by Microsoft, but
many companies continue to use it for the time being. Compared with version
5, versions of VB6 are likely to be
much better for working with the Internet, but only for advanced users.
Purchased versions will include a useful 'database control' and will be able to
create EXE files that can be run on computers that do not have Visual Basic
installed. If you try to open in version 6 a project that was made using
version 5 you should not have any problems. If you try to open in
version 5 a project that was made using version 6 you
will probably have problems UNLESS you use a program such as Notepad to remove the line 'retained = 0' from the VBP
file - there could be other problems too. You can read more
about versions 1 to 6 in
this Wikpedia
article.
Visual Basic 5
Control Creation Edition (VB5CCE), is available free on the Internet!
Click
HERE
to download the 7.3 MB file - this could take 20 minutes on a 56K modem.
Once installed the program will occupy about 10MB. Note: this free version
has some limitations: it does not include the database control and it cannot
create EXE files. It DOES, however, have a working help system. When you use
this version, make sure you choose 'Standard EXE' each time you make a new
project.
