VB6 - C# Interop Form Toolkit

Interop Form Toolkit was released few days ago. It allows an easy creation of mixed VB6/VB.NET application. One thing it is missing is the ability to do it in C#.

Introduction

After a long period of talking and expectation Interop Form Toolkit is finally released. I blogged about it few days ago here. If you have an existing VB6 application and are considering options to combine it with new .NET module, you definitely need to check it out.

After couple of hours playing with Interop Form Toolkit, one thing I could not understand is "why it supports VB.NET only?" So I decided to fix this injustice.

Two things should be replaced to make the toolkit work perfectly well with C#: Project template and Add-In for Wrapper objects creation. First of all, I created a new C# project template ("VB6 Interop Form Library C#") and a new item template ("C# Interop Form"). Now you will be able to create a new C# project from this template and add new forms with all needed references and attributes. The original Add-In does not bother even to check in which language the current project is written. It assumes that the only possible choice is VB.NET. Add-In creates a wrapper object and deals with public constructors, properties, methods and events. It will add to wrapper only public members marked with one of Interop Toolkit attributes (InteropFormProperty for example). New Add-In can replace the existing one. It can generate wrappers both in C# and VB.NET, based on project language. If you will invoke it in mixed VB.NET/C# solution, for each, project wrappers will be created in the correct language.

Notes

Other .NET languages except VB.NET and C# are still ignored.
I can only take credit mostly for translation work. Creators of the original Toolkit deserve a lot of thanks.
It is unsupported and definitely not a bullet proof tool. Please let me know about problems or feel free to fix the attached code.

Installation

I apologize for not creating the setup for this, but installation is very easy. First of all, you will need to download and install Interop Form Toolkit. Then, you need to copy template zip files into template directories (usually project template will go into ...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\Windows, and item template into ...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ItemTemplates). And the last one: copy add-in files into Visual Studio 2005 Add-Ins directory (...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Addins).

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

Leon Langleyben

Web Developer

Israel

Member

Leon works as Chief Architect at SRL Group. He leads architectural design and development of various enterprise level projects.
You can meet him on user groups, conferences and forums dedicated to Architecture, ASP.NET, Team System etc. or join him for the next white water rafting adventure

Article Top

Poor

Excellent

Add a reason or comment to your vote: x
Votes of 3 or less require a comment

Comments and Discussions

You must Sign In to use this message board. (secure sign-in)

Search this forum
	Profile popups Noise Layout Per page

Re: Expose custom properties and methods to host app

Fessen

21:52 11 Feb '09

Also in this solution there is no use of custom properties. Custom properties doesn't work....
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Re: Expose custom properties and methods to host app

SuperSly

9:38 17 Feb '12

Hi all! This message is very old but topic is still very accurate...I've been looking around for several hours trying to expose C# custom events and properties to my VB6 app and I finally got it to work so I thought it is worth sharing so hopefully it'll save you time.
 
Example to add a RecordSaved event:
 
Perform the following steps within your c# usercontrol class,
---------------------------
Step 1 - Create your event
---------------------------
<pre lang="cs">[InteropFormEvent()]
           public event RecordSavedEventHandler RecordSaved;
           public delegate void RecordSavedEventHandler(object sender, System.EventArgs e);</pre>
 
Step 2 - Assuming you have a button on your usercontrol UI, put this in the Click event:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
<pre lang="cs">private void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
        if (null != this.RecordSaved)
            this.RecordSaved(sender, e));
}</pre>
 

Step 3 - Make your event visible to COM
---------------------------------------
Add this :
<pre lang="cs">[DispId(3)]
void RecordSaved(object sender, System.EventArgs e)</pre>
 
to this block:
<pre lang="cs">public interface __usercontrolnamehere
    {
        [DispId(1)]
        void Click();
        [DispId(2)]
        void DblClick();
        //add additional events visible in VB6
    }</pre>
 

That's it!
 
MORE
-----
To expose custom properties, you create your property as you normally would and then add a reference to it under this line (7 being the next logical number based on previous DispId values in the same block):
 
<pre lang="cs">//add additional properties visible in VB6</pre>
<pre lang="cs">[DispId(7)]
        int myPropertyName { [DispId(7)] get; [DispId(7)] set; }</pre>
 

And voilà! Have fun! :)

Sylvain Audet
http://MyDevPartners.com

Error while loading adddin

Amit_bad

21:35 9 Jul '07

I copied the 'InteropfromAddin.Addin' from binary, at "My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Addins". When i restart the VS2005 designer it gives me following error - "The Addin in 'InteropForm Wrapper c# Class generator' failed to load or caused an exception. Would you like to remove this Add-in ?". Amit
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Re: Error while loading adddin

scrapetoe

3:03 28 Apr '08

I am getting same error, did you ever get this fixed or find out why?
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Re: Error while loading adddin

scrapetoe

4:13 28 Apr '08

just in case someone else has the same problem. There is a .dll included in the project. I moved that .dll to the same folder as the addin. That fixed the error
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Re: Error while loading adddin

johnp3210

11:35 21 Apr '09

Using VS 2008 and still get error. Anyone else see this in 2008 using Interop 2.0 toolkit.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

V2.0 Update?

T. Brian Hughes

4:41 25 May '07

Do you plan to make updates to this project for the 2.0 version of Interop Forms Toolkit? Thanks for your time, Brian Hughes
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	5.00/5 (2 votes)

Re: V2.0 Update?

Bruce Armstrong

19:13 12 Jul '07

Same question here, particularly since 2.0 supports interop controls, not just forms.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.00/5 (1 vote)

Re: V2.0 Update?

Bruce Armstrong

19:34 12 Jul '07

Never mind, just discovered this: http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/VB6InteropToolkit2.asp Works great for controls.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

sample code for my ref

mbalajhee

4:27 23 Apr '07

hi leon i have the addin that u have provided . i can see the 'smily face' in tool 'generate interopform wrapper classes' project is reffreed in vb but i cant able to see the form on with events. pls help
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

What about TAB???????

hav29a

2:54 19 Feb '07

Thanks a lot (i mean it) but: TAB key doesn't work when C# form is used from VB6 I missed something? Ganar o perder es cosa de dioses, a los hombres solo nos queda luchar...
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	4.00/5 (1 vote)

Re: What about TAB???????

CosmicArts

9:11 8 Aug '07

Has anybody found a solution for the Tab Key???
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

can only add one form

clovisA123

4:14 2 Feb '07

Great work, but, although I can add more than one form to the project using the interopform toolkit, the client only ever sees the first form that was created.

There seems to be a problem with creating more than one c# coclass in a classlibrary. Even though you can create them the client only ever sees one.

This isn't a problem with vb.net.

Do you know if there is a work around to this problem.

many thanks,

Mark Edwards

How to use with VS6 C++

Joe Calabrese

6:25 5 Jan '07

Does anyone have any experience calling the .NET interopForm from Visual Studio 6 C++? If so, what is needed to get it to work from there?
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.33/5 (5 votes)

.Net user controls in Vb6

Kodici

2:02 5 Jan '07

As a company we would like to move all of our code to C#, but we share development with a third party who wants to stay at VB6. We currently supply them with a number of VB6 OCX controls which they embed in their applications. We would like to build C# controls but wrap them in a way such that they can continue to use them as OCXs.

I have experimented with the toolkit and been able to popup C# forms from within VB6 but this model and UI experience would be an unacceptable change to the users. I have searched around and come up with the following but none are great.

1. Create Web control inside an ASP.NET page and display it using the internet browser control in VB6.

2. Popup a frameless C# form and attempt to position and move it inline with the parent, yak!!

3. Create UI for the OCX in VB6 but delegate all functionality to a .NET library wrapped so the OCX can call it.

Any other ideas ?

Confused | :confused:

Tanglesoft

How to open c# form in MDIChild in VB6 ? [modified]

lake11

4:23 7 Dec '06

There is old program and there is need to do new forms in c#! How to open c# -form in MDIChild in VB6 ? VB6 form is MDIParent! -- modified at 3:26 Friday 8th December, 2006
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.25/5 (4 votes)

New to .Net not sure of what the install entails.

Skater Dude

10:40 25 Oct '06

Hey Leon, Sounds great, but I'm not sure of what from the InteropFormCSBinaries.zip file gets moved to where. Could you be a bit more concise for a newbie. Thanks a bunch Skater
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.00/5 (1 vote)

Re: New to .Net not sure of what the install entails.

Leon Langleyben

21:36 25 Oct '06

Hi Skater,
There are two template zip files in InteropFormCSBinaries.zip
I suggest you to put at "VB6 Interop Library C#.zip" into [C:]\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\Windows (Make sure to replace [C:] and [User Name] with actual drive and folder names). The other one ("C# Interop Form.zip") should go into ...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ItemTemplates. AddIn (files InteropFormAddIn.AddIn and InteropFormAddIn.dll) should go into \My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\AddIns directory.

Hope it helps, if not, let me know.
Regards,
Leon

------------------------
Langleyben Leon
Software Architect
MCSD

SRL Group ltd
leon@srl.co.il
972-54-4860715
972-3-7662020

Re: New to .Net not sure of what the install entails.

grxie

10:23 10 Jul '07

Hi Leon, Thanks for your excellent post. You created VB6 Interop form Library C#. I would like VB6 interop user control Library C#. Do you have it already? Actually I would like to user C# user control in VB5 project. Your any help would highly be appreciated. I can be reached by Frank2u2u@yahoo.ca Thank you very much. Frank
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink

Call from vb6 creates a form not in project.

UnderWing

9:20 28 Sep '06

I created a c# interop form with some buttons, labels and texboxes. I compile the solution and everything compiles. Then I create a new vb6 project referencing Microsoft Interop Library and my newly created C# interop Dll.

VB 6 code:
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim t As SalesUtility.Interop_frmSalesUtility
Set t = New SalesUtility.Interop_frmSalesUtility
t.Show
End Sub

I get a form to display but it is not the form with my buttons, labels and textbox.

Any help is appricaited.

Re: Call from vb6 creates a form not in project.

Leon Langleyben

7:19 3 Oct '06

Hi,
There was a problem with form initialization. InitializeComponent() was not called from C# form constructor. It is fixed now. You can download and use updated templates. To fix existing projects, add InitializeComponent() call to original C# form constructor. In your example add

public Interop_frmSalesUtility()

{

   InitializeComponent();

}

to Interop_frmSalesUtility.cs
Thanks for noting this.
Your help is appreciated.

------------------------
Langleyben Leon
Software Architect
MCSD

SRL Group ltd
leon@srl.co.il
972-54-4860715
972-3-7662020

It keeps generating wrappers in VB when using C#

marioavc

9:05 25 Sep '06

Hey Leon, nice work so far. Problem is I am reproducing the sample in the how-tos from the documentation, but when trying to use the Add-in, it just keeps generating the wrapper class in VB, even though my project was created from scratch as a VB6 Interop Form Library C#, using the template. Can you point me where to go from here? Mario Vasquez
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.00/5 (2 votes)

Re: It keeps generating wrappers in VB when using C#

Leon Langleyben

11:42 25 Sep '06

Thanks Mario,
Please check that you are using my Add-In and not original one (from toolkit). You can recognized by siley icon in Tools menu (original one has no icon). I sugest you to rename InteropFormProxyGenerator.AddIn into InteropFormProxyGenerator.AddIn_ in ...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Addins folder to be sure. Check that Add-In is loaded (in Add-In manager). If it fails to load for some reason (you can not see it in Tools menu), try to clear it by rynning
devenv /ResetAddin Microsoft.InteropFormTools.InteropFormProxyGenerator.Connect /ResetAddin InteropFormAddIn.Connect
command from Visual Studio Command Prompt.
Thanks again for your comment, please let me know how it goes

------------------------
Langleyben Leon
Software Architect
MCSD

Software Resources (S.A.B.) ltd
leon@srl.co.il
972-54-4860715
972-3-7662020

Re: It keeps generating wrappers in VB when using C#

marioavc

12:15 25 Sep '06

Thanks, for replying.

I was switching on and off the add-in distributed from Microsoft, and I thought the same (maybe the original add-in was kicking in), but it is not the case, I was using yours (smiley), because when I clicked on the old one, it didn't even create the files (an error shows "cannot create wrapper clases", or some like that).

Now, I did the renaming on the old addin, and reset the devenv as suggested, now the only addin appearing in the tools menu is yours, and when clicked, again creates the folder and the file... in VB.NET, therefore, it won't compile.

Double checking.... I downloaded the binaries, and the codeproject package contained the following files:

- C# Interop Form.zip
- VB6 Interop Form Library C#.zip
- InteropFormAddIn.AddIn
- InteropFormAddIn.dll

Are we complete? Is something missing?

The latter two were put in the ...\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Addins

Thanks again.

Mario Vasquez

Re: It keeps generating wrappers in VB when using C#

Leon Langleyben

12:09 25 Sep '06

Hi Mario, I have just uploaded small bug fix that can solve possible language selection problem. Please try to download new version. ------------------------ Langleyben Leon Software Architect MCSD SRL Group ltd leon@srl.co.il 972-54-4860715 972-3-7662020
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink