Using Online Help

You can access the help file for an ActiveX control via the More Info button from the Controls and Components Gallery. See Reusing Code Topics for more information on using the Controls and Components Gallery dialog box.

Help text is also commonly available from a control's property sheet, which you can access from the Dialog editor. Simply right-click the dialog box and select Properties. You can then use the question mark icon to get help for a property page.

In some cases, a control's help file will have Visual Basic example code. However, there is a direct translation between Visual Basic and Visual C++:

Calling a Method

Method (function) names are the same in Visual Basic and Visual C++.

Visual Basic	Visual C++
dblist.FuncName	dblist.FuncName();
dblist.FuncName x, y	dblist.FuncName(x, y);

Setting a Property

Property names are the same in Visual Basic and Visual C++, but Visual C++ uses Set accessor functions.

Visual Basic	Visual C++
dblist.MyProp = "abc"	dblist.SetMyProp((LPCTSTR)"abc");

Getting a Property

Property names are the same in Visual Basic and Visual C++, but Visual C++ uses Get accessor functions. Note that the Get accessor functions use return values rather than out parameters.

Visual Basic	Visual C++
Dim x as string	CString strTemp("");
x = dblist.MyProp	strTemp = dblist.GetMyProp();

By reading the generated .idl file, you can determine what properties, methods, and events are exposed by a control, as well as see method and accessor function declarations directly. Additional information can be obtained from the control using the OLE/COM Object Viewer.

Back to Getting Help on Controls.