Creating ADD ONS
in [Visual Basic]
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From: Webbiz on 12 Feb 2010 00:48 Suppose you have a VB6 application that is already completed, but you want to now add new functionality by way of ADD ONS that are purchased separately. What is the direction one would take to do this? For example, say you have a stock charting program and you want to make available various 'modules' that a user can purchase. When purchased and properly installed, it shows up under the ADDON menu that the user can now select and it will do its thing. This would be the first time I've tried to do something like this and I'm not sure what the approach is. Suggestions, pointers, etc. would be appreciated. TIA Webbiz
From: Dee Earley on 12 Feb 2010 04:19 On 12/02/2010 05:48, Webbiz wrote: > Suppose you have a VB6 application that is already completed, but you > want to now add new functionality by way of ADD ONS that are purchased > separately. > > What is the direction one would take to do this? > > For example, say you have a stock charting program and you want to > make available various 'modules' that a user can purchase. When > purchased and properly installed, it shows up under the ADDON menu > that the user can now select and it will do its thing. > > This would be the first time I've tried to do something like this and > I'm not sure what the approach is. > > Suggestions, pointers, etc. would be appreciated. Personally, I'd look at COM for doing this. You make the main project an ActiveX exe, then create a class structure for addins to be able to register/setup icons, etc. Each addin on install would then list its ProgID somewhere the app can read it from. On startup, the app creates each object in turn asking it to set itself up. That's the basic structure, but I can't give many more details as it will be VERY specific to your app, what they need to provide, UI, etc. -- Dee Earley (dee.earley(a)icode.co.uk) i-Catcher Development Team iCode Systems
From: Horst Heinrich Dittgens on 12 Feb 2010 04:31 AFAIK there are two ways: First one, you can add a dll (ActiveX). A little bit complicated, but you can have access to your main app's data in an easy way. Second one, you can add separate exe files having there own data handling and/or having a mechanism to communicate with the main app for getting data. Don't ask me for details for the dll solution - I don't like ActiveXs because there are too much open detail questions left after reading the VB helpfiles. If you want to get ActiveX examples have a look to www.planet-source-code.com.
From: Henning on 12 Feb 2010 07:49 "Webbiz" <nospam(a)noway.com> skrev i meddelandet news:6jq9n5131mbqvq03htf378bqdrlca13b7g(a)4ax.com... > Suppose you have a VB6 application that is already completed, but you > want to now add new functionality by way of ADD ONS that are purchased > separately. > > What is the direction one would take to do this? > > For example, say you have a stock charting program and you want to > make available various 'modules' that a user can purchase. When > purchased and properly installed, it shows up under the ADDON menu > that the user can now select and it will do its thing. > > This would be the first time I've tried to do something like this and > I'm not sure what the approach is. > > Suggestions, pointers, etc. would be appreciated. > > TIA > > Webbiz As a lot of others, ship the complete app with parts of it disabled if not activated by a new key. /Henning
From: Dee Earley on 12 Feb 2010 07:55
On 12/02/2010 12:49, Henning wrote: > "Webbiz"<nospam(a)noway.com> skrev i meddelandet > news:6jq9n5131mbqvq03htf378bqdrlca13b7g(a)4ax.com... >> Suppose you have a VB6 application that is already completed, but you >> want to now add new functionality by way of ADD ONS that are purchased >> separately. > > As a lot of others, ship the complete app with parts of it disabled if not > activated by a new key. Not much use for 3rd party components, or components that are updated later, and leaves it open for someone to crack the protection. -- Dee Earley (dee.earley(a)icode.co.uk) i-Catcher Development Team iCode Systems |