Update:
I finally figured out the problem so I figured I might as well post it. Apparently, it wouldn't let go of the file. The system had opened it in a way which it was unshareable, so after it loaded the first time when I tried to update the picture, the file was already open, so it failed (and gave me a nice, confusing error that had nothing to do with the actual problem). The problem was fixed after I spent about an hour figuring out a workaround and now my program works
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First off, I've been using it for about 5 years. Therefore I have experience with this product and I know what i'm talking about.
VB6 was tolerable. It had a few annoying quirks though. If I typed DO:LOOP in the immediate window, it crashed. Sometimes when I was working with class modules and objects, it would crash instead of ending a program normally (and yes, I was using the SET OBJECT = NOTHING crap, even though it's not required). This was annoying, but a small price to pay for fast development. If I needed something to read binary data, convert it to bitmap data, and paint it with the StretchDIBits API, VB rocked because I didn't have to make any static classes or waste time finding any hDCs on my own, like I would have had to with c++ w32.
EDIT: I meant the static window class used internally with windows, like the "Button" class, or "List" class. Substitute static with image.
Then I decided I should finally upgrade to VB .NET. It only took me a few days to figure out why no one wanted to upgrade. For one, you have crap like this:
Doevents has become Application.Doevents().
Infact, VB .NET requires you to type more code to do the same thing you could do in VB6, and it's a HELL OF A LOT SLOWER. (It takes forever to compile a practically blank project) Horrid! The region macro is cool, but this auto-correct stuff is annoying. They seem to expect everyone to write code in order. They don't seem to think I might want to go back and change stuff (that's not the Microsoft way anyways.. Let's leave it full of bugs and security holes!)
I still wasn't convinced however that it was crap. After all, it had console projects finally (The way it handles them practically rips off Java's System I/O, although they probably think they can get away with it since most VB users either don't notice or care). Today changed everything. I've been working on a program that connects to a server, pulls a webcam image, disconnects, and displays it (Sockets, not IE control). For some reason, VB doesn't understand my JPEG (I get OUT OF MEMORY errors on a 34.2KB file), but Paint Shop Pro 6, MS-Paint, Windows Exploder, and a variety of other programs do. I went into a hex editor and compared it with my mozilla version. It's the same damn file. Even more annoying, is the fact I made a different jpeg that was 100+ KB, and it worked JUST FINE. How in the hell would a smaller file give you an out-of-memory error when a larger one doesn't. The IMAGE.FROMFILE() routine has a bug.
Note for VB extremists:
Yes, VB6 even had bugs, and some were obvious (eg: the textbox doesn't move right when you use the tracker on your mouse). Ever noticed how when you exit a routine after getting the value of the filename string property, it goes null? That's not supposed to happen. You'll need to setup a ByVal CopyString command if you want to preserve it or copy it (if copied via ByRef, the strings containing the copy will also appear to go null, and if you know anything about pointers, you should be able to figure out why that happens. Why this hasn't been patched, I don't know.)
Finally, i'm amazed how Microsoft ruined a nice, simple, and easy language. VB .NET is almost a different programming language than VB6 is, and I don't feel any motivation to learn anymore of it.
[ February 09, 2004: Message edited by: anphanax ]
[ March 08, 2004: Message edited by: anphanax ]
