Lesson 2 : Creating Visual Basic 6 Application

2.1 Creating Your First Application

Launching the VB6 IDE

First, launch the Microsoft Visual Basic 6 compiler. In the New Project dialog, select Standard EXE to enter the Visual Basic 6 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). A default form named Form1 will appear.

Accessing the Code Window

Double-click on Form1 to open its source code window, as shown in Figure 2.1.

Visual Basic 6 source code window — Figure 2.1 The VB6 Source Code window

Understanding the Object and Procedure Boxes

At the top of the code window, you'll find two drop-down lists, as shown in Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.3:

Object Box: Displays the objects on your form (e.g., Form1, Command1, Label1, Picture1).
Procedure Box: Shows the events associated with the selected object (e.g., Load, Click, DblClick, KeyPress).

List of visual basic 6 objects — Figure 2.2: List of Objects

Writing Your First Code

You don't need to worry about the Private Sub and End Sub statements; just enter your code between them, For example:

Example 2.1.1

Private Sub Form_Load ( )
Form1.show
 Print "Welcome to Visual Basic tutorial"
End Sub

Running this code (press F5) will display the message in the form, as shown in Figure 2.4

Performing Arithmetic Operations

You can perform arithmetic calculations using the Print statement:

Example 2.1.2

Private Sub Form_Activate ( )
 Print 20 + 10
 Print 20 - 10
 Print 20 * 10
 Print 20 / 10
End Sub

press F5 or click on the run button to run the program and where the results are arranged vertically, as shown in Figure 2.5.

Figure 2.4 : The output of Example 2.1.1

Figure 2.5 : The output of Example 2.1.2

Concatenating Strings

Use the + or & operator to join strings:

Example 2.1.4(a)

Private Sub Form_Load ( )
 A = "Tom"
 B = "likes"
 C = "to"
 D = "eat"
 E = "burger"
 Print A + B + C + D + E
End Sub

Example 2.1.4(b)

Private SubForm_Load ( )
 A = "Tom"
 B = "likes"
 C = "to"
 D = "eat"
 E = "burger"
 Print A & B & C & D & E
End Sub

The Output of Example 2.1.4(a) &(b) is as shown in Figure 2.6.

2.2 Steps in Building a Visual Basic Application

Step 1: Design the interface

Add controls (e.g., buttons, labels) to the form.
Set their properties (e.g., Caption, BackColor, Font).

Step 2:Writing the Code for event procedures

Double-click on a control to open its code window.
Write the code that defines the control's behavior during events (e.g., Click, MouseMove).

Example 2.2 Changing Background and Foreground Color Randomly

In this example, we'll create a form with two command buttons and a label:

Command1: Changes the background color.
Command2: Changes the foreground color.
Label1: Displays the current foreground color.

We'll use the Rnd(), Int(), and RGB() functions to generate random colors.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Randomize
    R = Int(Rnd * 256)
    G = Int(Rnd * 256)
    B = Int(Rnd * 256)
    Form1.BackColor = RGB(R, G, B)
End

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Randomize
    R = Int(Rnd * 256)
    G = Int(Rnd * 256)
    B = Int(Rnd * 256)
    Label1.ForeColor = RGB(R, G, B)
    Label1.Caption = "Foreground Color Changed"
End Sub

Running this program allows users to change the form's background and the label's foreground colors randomly, as shown in Figure 2.7.

Summary

✅ In This Lesson, You Learned:

What Visual Basic 6 is and how to launch the IDE
How to navigate the code window using the object and procedure boxes
How to display messages and perform arithmetic with the Print statement
How to concatenate strings using + and &
How to build a simple GUI app with command buttons and labels
How to use Rnd(), Int(), and RGB() to change colors randomly
How to write event procedures like Form_Load and Command_Click

Next Lesson

Ready to learn about using controls? Continue to Lesson 3: Working with Controls.

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Last update:05/15/2025 14:25:08