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| Title | Write a DLL in Visual Basic .NET that saves images in different formats (GIF, JPG, etc.) and call it from Visual Basic 6 |
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| Description | This example shows how to write a DLL in Visual Basic .NET that saves images in different formats (GIF, JPG, etc.) and call it from Visual Basic 6. |
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| Keywords | VB .NET, VB 6, Visual Basic 6, DLL, save image, GIF, JPG, JPEG |
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| Categories | Files and Directories, Graphics, VB.NET |
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Visual Basic 6 itself can save image files only in a bitmap format, not in GIF, JPEG, or other formats. Visual Basic .NET can save images in those formats, however. This example builds a VB .NET DLL that a VB 6 program can call to save images in those other formats.
In VB .NET, make a new DLL project. Select the Project\Properties menu item. Open the Configuration Properties folder, click the Build page, and check the "Register for COM Interop" box. This exposes the project's public classes for use by Visual Basic 6.
The following code shows a very simple class that saves an image in a bitmap, GIF, or JPEG file. It defines a public Enum to tell the SaveImage routine the desired file format. SaveImage takes as its first parameter a handle to a bitmap. The code uses that handle to create a Bitmap object and calls its Save method. Compile the DLL.
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Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Imaging
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
<ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual)> _
Public Class ImageSaver
Public Enum saverImageFormats
bmp
gif
jpg
End Enum
Public Sub SaveImage(ByVal hbm As IntPtr, ByVal _
file_name As String, ByVal image_format As _
saverImageFormats)
Dim bm As Bitmap = Bitmap.FromHbitmap(hbm)
Select Case image_format
Case saverImageFormats.bmp
bm.Save(file_name, ImageFormat.Bmp)
Case saverImageFormats.gif
bm.Save(file_name, ImageFormat.Gif)
Case saverImageFormats.jpg
bm.Save(file_name, ImageFormat.Jpeg)
End Select
End Sub
End Class
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In the Visual Basic 6 application, select Project\References. Click the Browse button and select the .tlb file created for the .NET DLL. Now the Visual Basic 6 program can use the public classes defined by the DLL.
The following code shows how the Visual Basic 6 program uses the DLL.
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Private Sub cmdSave_Click()
Dim file_name As String
Dim saver As ImageSaver
Set saver = New ImageSaver
Select Case LCase$(Split(txtFile.Text, ".")(1))
Case "bmp"
saver.SaveImage Picture1.Image, txtFile.Text, _
saverImageFormats_bmp
Case "gif"
saver.SaveImage Picture1.Image, txtFile.Text, _
saverImageFormats_gif
Case "jpg", "jpeg"
saver.SaveImage Picture1.Image, txtFile.Text, _
saverImageFormats_jpg
End Select
MsgBox "Done"
End Sub
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While a Visual Basic 6 program can use this DLL to save images in new formats, it does require you to install the rather large .NET framework.
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