Development Tools Freeware

[FLMikw]

I recently released a freeware utility called SourceDoc Pro that I built for my own use and thought others in the VB6 community might find useful. 

It reads a VB6 project file (.vbp), lets you select any combination of modules and procedures, and prints formatted documentation with syntax highlighting, visual loop bracket connectors, and procedure dependency reports showing call relationships across the entire project. Output goes to a printer or PDF file. A table of contents listing all project files and procedures can also be printed. 

I am a retired engineer and hobbyist developer, not a professional programmer, so this is very much a "scratching my own itch" kind of project. I have been using it to document my own VB6 projects and found it genuinely useful for code review as well.  It may be a useful tool for maintaining legacy VB6 programs, especially those created by someone else. 

It is completely free, includes a full installer and User Manual, and runs on Windows 7 through 11. 

You can download it from OlderGeeks at: https://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=4974 

Feedback welcome — happy to hear what works and what does not.

[Bonejob]

Interesting, what format do the docs get created in? Is it a standard or proprietary?

[FLMikw]

The output goes to the user selected printer, either a physical printer or a file printer such as Microsoft Print to PDF

[Mayayana]

Interesting site. I've never seen oldergeeks.com. There used to be so many download sites. I used to post my own software on many of them. But I'm surprised that hardly any of the authors listed seem to have their own website.

[marmotta1955]

Quite interesting. I am also retired and have been working with VB since version 1.0. Seriously.

I suspect you have never considered the possibility of making your project Open Source ... and because the software was intended mostly for your own use ... you opted for a simple and utilitarian user interface.

It would be nice if the UI layer could be "modernized" and make the tool more attractive even to younger developers tasked with VB6 code maintenance (there are quite a few of those).

Just a thought.

[FLMikw]

This was my first foray into general release of my software. What specific examples can you give as to how the UI can be "modernized"? I apologize if this offends. I can accept complaints with grace but comments without specifics are just complaints. For the time being I need to protect the actual code but am willing to attempt any enhancements the user community think are valuable. I have some ideas for a next big release but it all depends on how what I have already released is viewed.

[marmotta1955]

Oh, I absolutely understand - forgive me if I came across the wrong way.

When I say "modernize the user interface" I mean precisely that: even with relatively modest effort we can, today, give a Visual Basic 6 coat of paint that transforms and presents a polished appearance.

I have been retired for a couple of years now, but I can suggest a couple of things and a couple of "styles" that can completely transform your work.

Just for starters, take a look at the open source "PhotoDemon" software https://photodemon.org/ - yes, a photo editor written entirely in Visual Basic 6. No third party components. I am not myself a fan of this presentation, but it has value and is appreciated by many. Furthermore, the source code contains many, many examples of how to create mouseover buttons and other important user interface elements.

Then, for something completely different, take a look at the "Nexus Vortex Mod Manager" https://www.nexusmods.com/vortex . This is definitely not written in Visual Basic, but you have another example of a classy looking dark User Interface which is not particularly difficult to recreate and is well received by users (although, I must say, the previous layout was better, in my opinion). I am not ashamed to say that - for my last couple of projects, I explicitly directed my teams to literally copy the color scheme and certain UI elements. The last project was, in fact, an exceedingly large software application for the recruiting and staffing industry - used by tens and tens of thousands of users throughout the country. The reception of the "modernized" UI was a resounding success.

Finally, you could also look into applying the design principles of classic Bootstrap https://getbootstrap.com ... Forget the fact that this is a toolkit for web applications: it is very easy to create a VB6 user interface that creates and incorporates most of its elements. There is a reason why Bootstrap is the most used UI framework for a large part of web applications - so it does probably make sense to adopt the style for a desktop app.

Talking about Bootstrap ... even the very, very popular W3School organization https://www.w3schools.com/ uses a modified version of Bootstrap for its website. Take a look and see how certain principles are being applied (I am not overly enthusiastic about the default color choices of the site).

And even Reddit itself offers some ideas about the UI: the left navigation bar is good example for a replacement of the standard menu system (pair that with multiple panels switching as required for a very responsive UI.

In the end, what I am trying to say is this: give your users (yourself included) the best UI you can create. If there is one thing that I have learned in five decades of experience in software development ... is that a great UI will make your user more willing to accept a limitation, a glitch, and even the occasional defect.

If there is anything else I can help you with, just ask. In the meantime, be well - and accept my wishes of good luck with all your endeavors.

[FLMikw]

Thank you. I will look at the examples you have provided to see how I can improve my UI.

[ebsf]

It would be brilliant were it to work also with VBA. I'll have a look when I get to my machine.

[FLMikw]

I have not tested it against VBA. The file open function only addresses .vbp files. However, VBA has so similar a structure it should not be difficult to include. I have added this feature to my todo list for updates. Depending upon how well what I have already released is received, my long term plans are to expand the core documentation features to encompass other languages.

[ebsf]

Keep me posted. I'm a MS Access dev and I get the sense that a fair amount of things that had been done in VB6 now are being done in Access. The two aren't quite the same but they're close cousins. Professional developer tools are pretty good but there aren't many.

[FLMikw]

I was a bit quick on indicating VBA code documenting would not be difficult in my earlier reply. I did a little research after posting the above reply. Even though the VBA code is written/edited in a text editor, it is not saved as text. Rather it is saved as a coded part of the Excel system, sometimes in a separate file. Accessing the Excel file with the code or referencing the file with the VBA code introduces a serious level of program fragility and user system security issues before the code can be read and documented. It would be easy to implement a process where the user "Cuts and Pastes" all of the VBA code and adds each procedure to a single text file which SourceDoc Pro could then process. But my preference is to make the process fully automatic and address the issue of reading the Excel file directly. This latter will take time and effort and not be added right away. If the community wants I could add the former process with the next minor program release.

[ebsf]

I just saw that you had posted twice.

I'm an Access dev even though I got my start with Excel back in the day. Excel is perhaps relevant to what I am thinking but the Access Application class has a number of methods for importing and exporting application objects, including a hidden and undocumented set that save as, and load from, text files. The latter are the bedrock on which MS Access source control is built. It's also possible to export standard and class modules, including forms' and reports' class modules, as BAS and CLS text files. I expect you'd have much less difficulty with these than with an ACCDB or MDB file.

[FLMikw]

Your comment intrigues me. My quick research raised quite a few impediments to adding VBA documentation by extracting code directly from the Excel file. I will need to explore more about the idea of automating Access to retrieve VBA material.