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I'm a good bit ignorant of the workings of VB, and have only recently discovered the API (through this bord). What I want to know is, where does it all come from? How in the world do you guys know this stuff???? Where is the documentation of the functions of the API? And most of all, why can't is VB so limited without the API (i.e. why can't I reproduce API functions with VB code - shouldn't most of this stuff be built into VB already?)?
Just seeking enlightenment.
Brewguru99
- where does it all come from?
from the Platform SDK, which is part of MSDN
- how...do we know this stuff?
by RTFM :-), and by experience in C(++) programming, and by reading magazines and books
- why is VB so limited?
well, VB was NOT designed to be a system-level programming tool, which is good IMHO.
I think VB is good for writing Client-/Server-Apps. And, for things it can't do, you can still use the SDK functionality if you want to and know how to do it.
And then, the "API" is flexible: whenever a new DLL comes out, you can use it by Declare-ing the functions in VB. It wouldn't make sense to create a new VB version.
Many of VB's functions are simply wraparounds for the API. I imagine much of the work that goes into creating VB involves deciding what part of the API to expose and what not to expose.
Refer to the book a Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to Win32 API by Daniel Appleman if you are interested in learning more about the API
Charlie Zimmerman
http://www.freevbcode.com