Description of the cumulative update rollup for the Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 Runtime Extended Files

Microsoft has released a cumulative update rollup for the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6) Runtime Extended Files. This cumulative update rollup includes security update 926857 and updated versions of many other Microsoft ActiveX controls that make up the Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files.

For more information about security update 926857, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

What are the Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files?

The Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files include select ActiveX control OCX files, libraries, and tools that are delivered together with the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE media and as an online release. Typically, the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE or the Microsoft.com Web site installs these files on the development system. Then, the developer redistributes these files together with the developer's applications.

As of April 8, 2008, support for the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE has ended. However, Microsoft still offers support for select runtime extended files that are distributed together with applications. For more information about support for the Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

After I install this cumulative update rollup, do I have to install security update 926857?

This cumulative update rollup includes and supersedes security update 926857. Therefore, after you install this cumulative update rollup, you do not have to install security update 926857. If you previously installed security update 926857 and then install this cumulative update rollup, security update 926857 is automatically removed. This behavior occurs because this cumulative update rollup supersedes security update 926857.

Do I really need this cumulative update rollup?

Yes. This cumulative update rollup contains the previously mentioned security fixes and several other stability fixes and performance fixes for the ActiveX controls that are included in the Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files. Additionally, the ActiveX controls that are included in this cumulative update rollup will be the baseline for any future updates for these ActiveX controls. This includes security updates and hotfixes for these ActiveX controls. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you install this cumulative update rollup to have the latest supported baseline for these ActiveX controls.

I am a third-party software developer, and I use the ActiveX controls in my application. What do I have to do?

If you redistribute the ActiveX controls, make sure that you update the version of the ActiveX controls that are installed together with your application by downloading this cumulative update rollup. For more information about the best practices for using redistributed components, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

I am developing software that contains a redistributable ActiveX control. What do I do?

Install this cumulative update rollup for your development software. If you redistributed an ActiveX control together with an application, issue an updated version of the application to your customers. In the updated version of the application, include the updated version of the file in this cumulative update rollup for your development software.

Note In May 2009, Microsoft re-released the cumulative update for the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6) Runtime Extended Files. This supersedes the cumulative update that was originally released in December 2008. This cumulative update refresh addresses several issues discovered in the original December 2008 release.

List of fixes to issues discovered in December 2008 Cumulative Update for Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6) Runtime Extended Files

The following issues were discovered in the December 2008 Cumulative Update for Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6) Runtime Extended Files, and were corrected in the May 2009 cumulative update refresh.

1. When you use the Controls.Add method to programmatically add one of the original Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 Run-Time Extended Files to a Form, you receive run-time error 731. The error message that is shown here is an example of a failure when doing this with the Microsoft Winsock control that was updated in the original cumulative update release in December 2009.
   "Run-time error 731 – In order to use ‘MSWinsock.Winsock’, you must specify a license string for the control. Use Licenses.Add to add the license string to the Licenses collection."
   If you change your Visual Basic code to use the Licenses.Add method to work around this problem, the code succeeds in adding the control. However, you will receive a "Type Mismatch" error when you try to cast the Control variable to a specific type. For example, if programmatically adding the Microsoft Winsock control by calling Licenses.Add and Controls.Add, trying to cast the Control variable to a MSWinsock.Winsock type results in a "Type Mismatch" error.
2. The DataCombo control (MSDatLst.ocx) and the DBCombo control (DBList32.ocx) do not paint the text in the Edit section of the combo box correctly when you run an application which uses these controls. The text in the Edit portion is painted below the Edit portion of the combo box at run-time.
3. When you set the ValueFormat or PercentFormat properties of the DataPointLabel object within a Microsoft Chart control (mschrt20.ocx), the chart is not painted at all or may cause your application to crash with an Access Violation.
4. When you use the Microsoft Tabbed Dialog control (Tabctl32.ocx), Japanese characters are displayed incorrectly to the right side of each Tab.

How to obtain the cumulative update rollup for the Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 Runtime Extended Files

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the cumulative update rollup for the Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 Runtime Extended Files package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CB824E35-0403-45C4-9E41-459F0EB89E36&displaylang=en)

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

To install this cumulative update rollup, you must have at least Windows Installer 3.1 or a later version installed on the computer. To obtain the latest version of Windows Installer for the computer, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Command-line switches for this cumulative update rollup

For more information about the different command-line switches that this cumulative update rollup supports, visit the following MSDN Web site:

Cumulative update rollup removal information

This cumulative update rollup cannot be removed after it is installed. This behavior resembles other previously released updates for Visual Basic 6.0 components.

File information

This manifest contains the file information for the May 2009 refresh of the cumulative update rollup for the Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 Runtime Extended Files. These files supersede the original cumulative update that was released in November 2008. The English version of this cumulative update rollup has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Known issue

Consider the following scenario. You install this update on a computer that has a software solution installed. The software solution is based on Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The software solution creates an instance of the control directly through Microsoft Office. In this scenario, you may experience one of the following problems:

• You may receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to run a macro:
  Object library invalid or contains references to object definitions that could not be found.
  When this problem occurs, the macro does not run.
• You may receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to add one of the updated controls to an Office Visual Basic for Applications form:
  Element not found.
  When this problem occurs, the control is not added to the form.

To resolve the problem, delete cached versions of the control type libraries. To do this, search the hard disk for “.exd,” and then delete all occurrences. The .exd files are re-created automatically by using the new controls the next time that you use VBA.