VB Code bank is a simple application which, I believe, would be a good learning tool for beginners. When I was first starting out with VB it was nearly impossible to find a complete working project to learn from. Books and manuals talk all around a subject but never really show you how to do anything practical. They give you a few snippets of code, but never a project complete enough to give you the big picture.

There's a lot of practical coding in this project for beginners, including:

• Starting the program with a splash screen
• Programming the tree view control
• Programming the toolbar control
• Programming the tabstrip control
• DAO programming without using the Data Control
• Linking the tree view control to an Access database.
• Linking to a help file
• About box with e-mail link

I hope you learn as much from the project as I did.

If you make any improvement to the program (I know it's not perfect), I'd appreciate your passing the code back to me:

Screenshot

Download

Codebank for VB 6 (size=124 KB)

Codebank for VB 4 (size=117 KB)

Installation

If your version of VB has problems loading the codebank.vbp file, then you can recreate the project manually:

1. Click "File" then "New project"
2. Delete the default Form1 that VB automatically adds
3. Add references to:
   • DAO
   • Microsoft Common Dialog Control
   • Microsoft Windows Common Controls
4. Then add each of these files to the project:
   • codebank.res
   • about.frm
   • main.frm
   • repair.frm
   • splash.frm
   • main.bas
   • contxtid.bas

VB Tools

• API Guide
  Sooner or later you will "hit the wall" with VB and need to do something that VB is not capable of. That is when you will need to access the Windows API. This handy free utility lists all the common Windows API's, their decriptions, declarations, and usage.

• Axialis AX-Icons
  AX-Icons is a sweet icon maker program, I use it all the time, I think it cost $20. One thing that took me a while to realize was that Windows 95 (and up) does not "shrink" icons very well. Therefore, your program icons should include both 16x16 and 32x32 formats, otherwise they look distorted in the taskbar and Start menu.

• Inno Setup
  Inno Setup is a powerful, free program installer. It rivals and even surpasses many commercial installers in feature set and stability. Inno Setup is not idiot proof, it is script based, there is a steep learning curve, but there is a very active and helpful user group.

• Paint shop pro
  An easy to use graphics editor at an affordable price. Create graphics in any format, including animated GIF's. Download a free 30-day trial version.

• VB HelpWriter
  HelpWriter is an easy to use, inexpensive IDE for creating Windows help files. You can download a free trial version from their website.

VB Books

		Teach Yourself Database Programming I found this to be a very thorough introduction to database programming in VB. It offers complete working examples that are missing from most other VB books.
		Database Access with Visual Basic 6 This is an intermediate to advance level book that picks up where most other books leave off. Very thorough coverage of a sometimes perplexing subject.
		Pure Visual Basic This is a very handy reference book. A good book to keep within reach for a quick overview of a subject.
		Code complete This is not a book specifically for VB, instead it teaches proven effective programming practices. Using the techniques in this book, you can improve your coding and write better, more efficient programs.