Visual Basic 6 Coding Tips

Research has shown that the initial way in which software is constructed can have a dramatic impact on its lifetime cost.

It is therefore essential to employ best practice and technique when writing your Visual Basic applications and components. Follow our coding tips to add value and improve the quality of your source code.

VB6 Coding Tips ...

Make Your Code Self-Documenting

Combine best practices for code structure and layout, indentation, naming conventions and commenting to make your code self-documenting.

Define And Enforce Visual Basic Coding Standards

Ensure all developers employ consistent coding style and adopt recommended best practices. Take a look at the VB Coding Standards document we generated from the VB Law sample VB Coding Standards rulebase.

What's In A Name? How To Make Your Code Easier To Understand

The choice of names for code members can have a considerable influence on the ease of understanding and maintenance costs for your Visual Basic source code. Find out some of the techniques used by many professional Visual Basic programmers to create code which is easier to read, understand and maintain.

Expect Errors! Make Your Error Handling Exceptional

Run-time errors are an expensive fact of life both during development and following the release of software to customers. Learn about important design considerations for the construction of robust and reliable applications and how error logging can aid software support and accelerate delivery.

Understand Binary Compatibility And Avoid Error 429

Understand how Visual Basic implements COM versioning. Learn how to build binary compatible components and avoid error 429 - ActiveX component can't create object.

Performance Tuning Tips

A number of tips to help you improve the performance of your Visual Basic 6 code.

Recommended Books ...

Visual Basic 6 Core Language, Steven Holzner

Recommended read! [Easy to read, easy to re-visit.] Good general purpose guide to Visual Basic 6 covering all major areas of Visual Basic from code structure through to ActiveX components with a useful tear-out language reference card. Suitable for novice programmers wishing to avoid common pitfalls and become more productive and experienced in the field of Visual Basic. The book offers solutions to many coding problems without assuming too much prior knowledge. Also serves as an excellent reference book.

Programming Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Francesco Balena

Recommended read! [Easy to read, easy to re-visit.] Thorough how-to guide to Visual Basic 6 covering all major areas of Visual Basic that is packed with useful and relevant information in a logical and easy-to-read format. The book is aimed at the intermediate developer pushing to become an 'expert' developer. If you are looking to master the many topics of Visual Basic 6, and want to see real-world examples then this is the book for you.

Advanced Visual Basic 6, Matthew J Curland

Our opinion: Not for the faint-hearted! [Seriously low level, easy to read, easy to re-visit.] A book where the term 'Advanced' really does mean just that! This is a seriously low level, under-the-hood look at how Visual Basic interacts with COM and the Win32 API. Recommended only for die-hards who really want to know how it works but who are hopefully sensible enough not to use the examples in production code (or at least that's what you told your manager!).

Code Complete 2, Steve McConnell

Our opinion: Must read! [Best read in sections, easy to re-visit.] 'A Practical Handbook Of Software Construction' is an accurate description of this book. Packed with valuable tips on all aspects of coding it leaves no stone unturned. Some development managers make this book mandatory reading for developers joining their team and, after reading it, you'll understand why. If you want to avoid bad coding habits and learn how to write better code then you won't be disappointed with this book.