Importing a Visual Basic Project with dependencies scan

To create an installer for an application created with Microsoft Visual Basic (versions 5.0 or 6.0), act as follows.

1. Make sure that the Visual Basic project is up to date and that its output file is fully compiled. Then close Visual Basic.
2. Create a new Tarma Installer project, or open an existing project if you want to add the contents of the Visual Basic project to an existing installer.
3. Choose File > Import > Visual Basic Project... and select the desired .vbp file.
4. Click Open. Tarma Installer parses the .vbp file and adds the Visual Basic project's output file plus all its dependencies to your Tarma Installer project. It also adds the Visual Basic runtime, updates the project information, and, if the Visual Basic output file is an .exe file, adds a shortcut to the file and marks the file as the main executable.

The import process reports its progress in the Diagnostics Messages area. Most messages are for information only; however, warning messages are generated if one or more dependencies cannot be resolved. If that is the case, you should review the messages and manually add the required files to your Tarma Installer project.

If desired, you can repeat the import process after adding missing files or after changes to your Visual Basic project. Tarma Installer only adds files that are not yet part of the Tarma Installer project, so repeated imports do not add duplicate files.

Dependencies scan

During the import process, Tarma Installer collects all ActiveX controls and type libraries that are listed in the .vbp file. It then tries to find the corresponding files on your system and adds them to your Tarma Installer project, if not already present. For each file that it encounters, Tarma Installer then checks to see if a dependencies file is present on the system and if it is, uses that to determine what other files are required. These files are then added as well, with their dependencies checked in turn. This process continues until all dependencies are resolved.

Note that the accuracy of the dependencies scan depends on the quality of the dependencies files for each ActiveX control. These dependencies files are text files with the same name as the ActiveX control, but a .dep extension. They are normally installed along with the ActiveX control itself when you install Visual Basic. If they are missing, you may be able to obtain them from the original distribution of Visual Basic or the ActiveX control in question.