FIX: Comctl32.ocx Is Binary Incompatible with Previous Version

Your application may experience a crash if it was created using COMCTL32.OCX version 5.00.3422 or 5.00.3601 and your system has been upgraded to COMCTL32.OCX version 5.00.3714. Version 5.00.3601 shipped in the Microsoft Office Developer's Edition 97 and version 5.00.3422 shipped in Beta-1 of the Visual Basic Control Creation Edition.

Some changes in version 5.00.3714 caused the V-Table of COMCTL32.OCX to change. With the V-Table changed, it is possible that an application will call a method or property and crash because the function signature does not match. Version 5.00.3714 ships with Visual Basic 5.0 Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions.

This problem has been fixed in version 5.00.3828 of COMCTL32.OCX. This version is binary-compatible with the 5.00.3422 version of COMCTL32.OCX and the 5.00.3714 and 5.00.3601 versions of COMCTL32.OCX.

There is no need to re-build applications built with version 5.00.3422 and 5.00.3601; to get them running correctly, you simply need to install version 5.00.3828. However, if you are going to re-deploy your application, you may want to rebuild your setup program so that it distributes version 5.00.3828.

To obtain the latest version of COMCTL32.OCX Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0, and Visual Studio 97, owners should install the Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 1.

For additional information about the Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 1, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The COMCTL32.OCX update file is also available as a separate download for customers that do not own Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0, or Visual Studio 97.

To obtain the latest version of COMCTL32.OCX, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Version 5.00.3828 of COMCTL32.OCX also shipped with the final release of the Visual Basic 5.0 Control Creation Edition.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug has been corrected in COMCTL32.OCX, version 5.00.3828. This bug has also been corrected in Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 1.