Program No.

– 2
AIM:- TO STUDY ABOUT VISUAL BASIC ANDN ITS FEATURE

Introduction

Visual Basic (VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated
development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. VB is also
considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of its graphical
development features and BASIC heritage. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables
the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access
to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and
creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are
syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently.

A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic
itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires
external function declarations. The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsoft's extended
support ended in March 2008 and the designated successor was Visual Basic .NET (now known
simply as Visual Basic).

Features

1. Visual Basic was designed to be easily learned and used by beginner programmers. The
language not only allows programmers to create simple GUI applications, but can also
develop complex applications.
2. Programming in VB is a combination of visually arranging components or controls on a
form, specifying attributes and actions of those components, and writing additional lines
of code for more functionality. Since default attributes and actions are defined for the
components, a simple program can be created without the programmer having to write
many lines of code.
3. Forms are created using drag-and-drop techniques. A tool is used to place controls (e.g.,
text boxes, buttons, etc.) on the form (window). Controls have attributes and event
handlers associated with them. Default values are provided when the control is created,
but may be changed by the programmer.
4. Many attribute values can be modified during run time based on user actions or changes
in the environment, providing a dynamic application. For example, code can be inserted
into the form resize event handler to reposition a control so that it remains centered on the
form, expands to fill up the form, etc. By inserting code into the event handler for a key
press in a text box, the program can automatically translate the case of the text being
entered, or even prevent certain characters from being inserted.
5. Visual Basic can create executables (EXE files), ActiveX controls, or DLL files, but is
primarily used to develop Windows applications and to interface database systems.
Dialog boxes with less functionality can be used to provide pop-up capabilities.
6. Controls provide the basic functionality of the application, while programmers can insert
additional logic within the appropriate event handlers.
 7. A Visual Basic component can have no user interface, and instead provide ActiveX
objects to other programs via Component Object Model (COM). This allows for server-
side processing or an add-in module.
8. The language is garbage collected using reference counting, has a large library of utility
objects, and has basic object oriented support. Since the more common components are
included in the default project template, the programmer seldom needs to specify
additional libraries.
9. Visual Basic is generally not case sensitive, although it will transform keywords into a
standard case configuration and force the case of variable names to conform to the case
of the entry within the symbol table. String comparisons are case sensitive by default, but
can be made case insensitive if so desired.
10. The Visual Basic compiler is shared with other Visual Studio languages (C, C++), but
restrictions in the IDE do not allow the creation of some targets (Windows model DLLs)
and threading models.

History

VB 1.0 was introduced in 1991. The drag and drop design for creating the user interface is
derived from a prototype form generator developed by Alan Cooper and his company called
Tripod. Microsoft contracted with Cooper and his associates to develop Tripod into a
programmable form system for Windows 3.0, under the code name Ruby (no relation to the
Ruby programming language). Tripod did not include a programming language at all. Microsoft
decided to combine Ruby with the Basic language to create Visual Basic.

The Ruby interface generator provided the "visual" part of Visual Basic and this was combined
with the "EB" Embedded BASIC engine designed for Microsoft's abandoned "Omega" database
system. Ruby also provided the ability to load dynamic link libraries containing additional
controls (then called "gizmos"), which later became the VBX interface

Versions

• Project 'Thunder' was initiated.

• Visual Basic 1.0 (May 1991) was released for Windows at the Comdex/Windows World
trade show in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Visual Basic 1.0 for DOS was released in September 1992. The language itself was not
quite compatible with Visual Basic for Windows, as it was actually the next version of
Microsoft's DOS-based BASIC compilers, QuickBASIC and BASIC Professional
Development System. The interface used a Text user interface, using extended ASCII
characters to simulate the appearance of a GUI.
• Visual Basic 2.0 was released in November 1992. The programming environment was
easier to use, and its speed was improved. Notably, forms became instantiable objects,
thus laying the foundational concepts of class modules as were later offered in VB4.
• Visual Basic 3.0 was released in the summer of 1993 and came in Standard and
Professional versions. VB3 included version 1.1 of the Microsoft Jet Database Engine
that could read and write Jet (or Access) 1.x databases.
• Visual Basic 4.0 (August 1995) was the first version that could create 32-bit as well as
16-bit Windows programs. It also introduced the ability to write non-GUI classes in
Visual Basic. Incompatibilities between different releases of VB4 caused installation and
operation problems. While previous versions of Visual Basic had used VBX controls,
Visual Basic now used OLE controls (with files names ending in .OCX) instead. These
were later to be named ActiveX controls.
• With version 5.0 (February 1997), Microsoft released Visual Basic exclusively for 32-bit
versions of Windows. Programmers who preferred to write 16-bit programs were able to
import programs written in Visual Basic 4.0 to Visual Basic 5.0, and Visual Basic 5.0
programs can easily be converted with Visual Basic 4.0. Visual Basic 5.0 also introduced
the ability to create custom user controls, as well as the ability to compile to native
Windows executable code, speeding up calculation-intensive code execution. A free,
downloadable Control Creation Edition was also released for creation of ActiveX
controls. It was also used as an introductory form of Visual Basic: a regular .exe project
could be created and run in the IDE, but not compiled.
• Visual Basic 6.0 (Mid 1998) improved in a number of areas [7] including the ability to
create web-based applications. VB6 has entered Microsoft's "non-supported phase" as of
March 2008. Although the Visual Basic 6.0 development environment is no longer
supported, the runtime is supported on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and
Windows 7.[8]
• Mainstream Support for Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 ended on March 31, 2005. Extended
support ended in March 2008.[9] In response, the Visual Basic user community expressed
its grave concern and lobbied users to sign a petition to keep the product alive.[10]
Microsoft has so far refused to change their position on the matter. (but see [11]) Ironically,
around this time (2005), it was exposed that Microsoft's new anti-spyware offering,
Microsoft AntiSpyware (part of the GIANT Company Software purchase), was coded in
Visual Basic 6.0.[12] Its replacement, Windows Defender, was rewritten as C++ code

All versions of the Visual Basic development environment from 1.0 to 6.0 have been retired
and are now unsupported by Microsoft. The associated runtime environments are
unsupported too, with the exception of the Visual Basic 6 core runtime environment, which
will be officially supported by Microsoft for the lifetime of Windows 7. Third party
components that shipped with Visual Studio 6.0 are not included in this support statement.
Some legacy Visual Basic components may still work on newer platforms, despite being
unsupported by Microsoft and other vendors.