Visual Basic 6 Win32 API Tutorial

Win32 API calls from Visual Basic 6 - allowing the VB programmer to access the powerful repertoire of API calls available when programming in Windows.

Visual Basic does an excellent job of letting developers build sophisticated Windows applications in a relatively short amount of time. This allows one to quickly build prototypes for end-users to evaluate and test, which can accelerate the development cycle. However, this ease of use does have its disadvantages. By shielding the programmer from the low-level Win32 calls, s/he may not be able to optimize certain functions and/or perform some tasks that the users have requested. Unless a programmer has started his/her career developing Windows applications in a lower level language like C or Pascal, they may be unfamiliar with the API calls that can be made to the OS. This can lead to frustration or confusion in using an API procedure that may behave unexpectedly.

Currently, there exist a number of references, both on the Internet and in printed form, that have documented virtually all of the Win32 API calls that can be made. While most of them do an fine job in explaining what the calls do, there are relatively few books that show clear, step-by-step examples that can be applied to business development. This book will address the newcomer to VB who is just starting to learn how to code within the environment, and give them clear explanations to the Win32 calls within a project application.

Jason Bock has received both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University. He has worked primarily in VB since vesion 3.0 writing client/server applications for a variety of business applications, ranging from application tracking systems to payroll processing to custom query analysis tools. These systems used and/or integrated with a multitude of different technologies and software packages, such as SQL Server, COM, Sybase, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and MS Office. Currently, Jason is a Consultant for Keane, Inc., where he is able to pursue his professional and personal interest in pushing VB as far as it can go.

When he's not starting at a computer monitor, Jason enjoys golfing, playing tennis, biking, spending a lot of time with his wife, and playing with his cat Simon.