Web Buttons have a gradient texture that mimics the appearance of the textured molded plastic buttons used on car stereos and remote controls. This effect is achieved by creating a custom, gradient bitmap that is stretched at run time to fit the button.

One kind of Web Button is the "push button," which is a rounded button with a charcoal gray, matte finish. It has separate captions for each state (True/False) that can be displayed in any color that the system supports. An ellipse around the edge of the button smooths the jagged edges of the gradient bitmap. Like the caption, this ellipse can be any available color.

The "rocker button," an elliptical object with a charcoal gray, matte finish, is another Web Button. Inside the elliptical object there are three regions. The upper region is a thumbnail-shaped button that contains a sunken, triangle-shaped LED. The middle region contains the button's caption, which can be any available color. This region is not clickable. The lower region is a thumbnail-shaped button that contains a sunken, triangle-shaped LED. An ellipse around the edge of the button smooths the jagged edges of the gradient bitmap. Like the caption, this circle can be any available color. When you click on either button, the LED in that region lights up.

In limited mode, the "min" and "max" values determine the limits possible within one revolution. The dial can be turned only one revolution. In the non-limited mode, the "min" and "max" values set the range of the dial in one revolution.

The dial can be turned unlimited revolutions. The limited mode could be used to adjust a value between two extremes say 1 and 100. The non-limited mode could be used to determine how much adjustment is possible in the margins of a page. Each revolution could equal one inch.

Developers can either set the display by assigning the numeric number to the value, or set a mask value, and the display will only show the segments that the mask specifies. This allows the user to create unique display items, such as an underline or dash, that are not defined by a numeric value.

This sample shell extension enhances the shell by adding custom commands to the context menu for all .ini files. Sample code for an INI file viewer has been provided that is run by the shell extension when the user right clicks over any file with the .ini extension and selects the option to view INI file. This sample uses the new Visual Basic 5 Implements feature to create system callable interfaces.

Note: This sample requires the release version of Visual Basic 5.0 Professional or Enterprise Edition.

Using queries and sample data provided by the National Software Testing Laboratories, developers can select a combination of queries, data sources, query methods, and database engine options to explore Visual Basic's data access capabilities. As tests are completed, DAE displays the time required for each data access option. Those results can be viewed from within the DAE test window or as a text file.

An "Export To Excel" option is provided for those using Excel.

You can use the Component Manager to publish components you author to a wider audience. You can also organize all your components in one place and easily search attributes such as keywords, property values, descriptive text, etc.

The Component Manager is implemented on the Microsoft Repository. V1.0.

These are the main features of Visual Modeler:

• Class diagrams where you describe the design of the system you are about to develop in terms of a model, using a high level of abstraction.
• Code generation lets you automatically generate Visual Basic code from the design model you have created with Visual Modeler.
• Reverse engineering lets you automatically create or update the model with changes made to the Visual Basic code.
• Round-trip engineering which is the combination of modeling, code generation, coding, and reverse engineering.

For example, Active Messaging enables you add script to a Visual Basic application or web site to provide support for creating, sending, and receiving e-mail as well as participating in discussions and other public folder applications.

Active Messaging does not represent a new messaging model, but rather is an additional scripting interface to the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) model.

Because a Visual Basic argument cannot assume the role of variables passed by reference (non-string values) and by value (string values), API functions are provided in the ODBC Declare file, Odbc32.txt. This file should be copied to the \Samples\Clisvr\Db_odbc directory of the main Visual Basic directory.

The MSChart control has many visible parts, all of which can be programmed. Use the MSChart control's three-dimensional chart features to lend a certain sparkle to a report. In order to see these features, you must either set the ChartType property to a valid 3D type, or set the Chart3D property to True.

The ActiveX Document Debugger provides two drop down combo boxes and two buttons. The comboboxes load a selected ActiveX document into one of three hosts. The buttons start and stop the process.

If you want the doc files which are easier to print, download this file.

The sample code must be compiled and registered in order to create this feature.

Subclassing is a technique that enables you to intercept Windows messages being sent to a form or control. By intercepting these messages, you can then write your own code to change or extend the behavior of the object. VB5 provides the AddressOf keyword, which can be used to reroute Windows messages to your own message processing procedure. Subclassing using the AddressOf is very efficient, but makes debugging a project difficult. If the window you are subclassing receives a message when you are in break mode, VB will crash.

Anything that you need to do to a resource file (short of editing bitmaps & cursors) can be done in the Resource Editor, operating entirely within the Visual Basic integrated development environment.

The following list highlights most of the new and/or updated Tools shipping with Visual Basic 5.0.: Application Performance Explorer, RAC Manager, Visual Database Tools, API Viewer, Setup Toolkit, Service Packs, Documentation, Internet Tools, TSQL Server Side Setup, Help Compiler Workshop, Sample Code, Template Manager, Dialog Objects, Mastering Series Demo, OleView and SpyXX.

Example of use: Why would a developer want to use this code? Suppose you've created a control which is invisible at run-time, such as a Timer or an ImageList. Such controls often simply display an icon at design time. If you have a large number of such controls on your form, it can be quite a bit of work to determine which one is which, to make sure that you've set properties on the correct control, etc. With this code, each control will clearly identify itself by name, preventing any such confusion.

Take for example, the new-style toolbar buttons: As soon as you move over them, they activate, drawing a border around them. Then, after a pause, they activate at a higher level by showing a ToolTip. When the mouse moves off, they deactivate, erasing the border and the ToolTip. This sample code helps developers to implement this behavior.

IObjectSafety should be implemented by objects that have interfaces which support "untrusted" clients (for example, scripts). It allows the owner of the object to specify which interfaces need to be protected from untrusted use. Examples of interfaces that might be protected in this way are:

• IID_IDispatch - "Safe for automating with untrusted automation client or script"
• IID_IPersist* - "Safe for initializing with untrusted data"
• IID_IActiveScript - "Safe for running untrusted scripts"

* anything starting with IPersist

Two HTML samples have been included to demonstrate the use and testing of the ObjSafety.dll and ucObjSafety.OCX sample Visual Basic projects.

The application you generate contains a toolbar and a status bar. The default toolbar for SDI and MDI forms is similar to a Microsoft Office toolbar. It includes the New, Open, Save, Print, Cut, Copy, Paste, Bold, Italic, Underline, Align Left, Align Right, and Center buttons.

Explorer-style applications have a default toolbar with the Navigation Buttons, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Properties, View Large Icon, View Small Icon, View List, and View Details buttons. You can customize the toolbar. The status bar includes information about the status of the application and the date and time.

This Upgrade Contains:

• Completely customizable menus with persistence between sessions
• A Toolbar Builder which builds a Toolbar when you drop one on a form
• Integration with the Data Form Wizard to allow more user-specific database scenarios

You can use the Data Form Wizard to create either single query forms to manage the data from a single table or simple query, or Master/Detail type forms used to manage more complex one-to-many data relationships. If you are using a control, you can also create a grid or datasheet type form.

The Data Form Wizard is used in conjunction with either the Data or the RemoteData controls, or DAO or RDO code.

This Upgrade Contains:

• Ability to build code-only forms where controls are not bound to a data control
• Use of DAO or RDO code depending on database type
• Integration with the App Wizard

This Upgrade Contains:

• Addition of Enums
• Addition of ParamArray, Optional, ByVal, and Default values in argument list
• Bug fixes

Enums appear only on the All tab.

The Setup Wizard supports:

• Multiple floppy disks, and it can split files that are too large to fit onto a single floppy.
• Copying your files to a hard disk directory for distribution over a network or on CD-ROM.
• Distribution of your application across the Internet using automatic code download from Microsoft Internet Explorer, Version 3.0.

Note The Setup Wizard is designed for Visual Basic developers and isn't a general Windows Setup Tool.

This Upgrade Contains:

• Bug fixes to the Setup Wizard that was released with VB 5.0