Install Visual Basic 6 in Windows 7

Follow the StackOverflow answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/10501908/5539403

The steps are copied here in case link is dead

  • Before proceeding with the installation process below, create a zero-byte file in C:\Windowscalled MSJAVA.DLL. The setup process will look for this file, and if it doesn’t find it, will force an installation of old, old Java, and require a reboot. By creating the zero-byte file, the installation of moldy Java is bypassed, and no reboot will be required.
  • Turn off UAC.
  • Insert Visual Studio 6 CD.
  • Exit from the Autorun setup.
  • Browse to the root folder of the VS6 CD.
  • Right-click SETUP.EXE, select Run As Administrator.
  • On this and other Program Compatibility Assistant warnings, click Run Program.
  • Click Next.
  • Click “I accept agreement”, then Next.
  • Enter name and company information, click Next.
  • Select Custom Setup, click Next.
  • Click Continue, then Ok.
  • Setup will “think to itself” for about 2 minutes. Processing can be verified by starting Task Manager, and checking the CPU usage of ACMSETUP.EXE.
  • On the options list, select the following:
    • Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
    • ActiveX
    • Data Access
    • Graphics
    • All other options should be unchecked.
  • Click Continue, setup will continue.
  • Finally, a successful completion dialog will appear, at which click Ok. At this point, Visual Basic 6 is installed.
  • If you do not have the MSDN CD, clear the checkbox on the next dialog, and click next. You’ll be warned of the lack of MSDN, but just click Yes to accept.
  • Click Next to skip the installation of Installshield. This is a really old version you don’t want anyway.
  • Click Next again to skip the installation of BackOffice, VSS, and SNA Server. Not needed!
  • On the next dialog, clear the checkbox for “Register Now”, and click Finish.
  • The wizard will exit, and you’re done. You can find VB6 under Start, All Programs, Microsoft Visual Studio 6. Enjoy!
  • Turn On UAC again
  • You might notice after successfully installing VB6 on Windows 7 that working in the IDE is a bit, well, sluggish. For example, resizing objects on a form is a real pain.
  • After installing VB6, you’ll want to change the compatibility settings for the IDE executable.
  • Using Windows Explorer, browse the location where you installed VB6. By default, the path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\
  • Right click the VB6.exe program file, and select properties from the context menu.
  • Click on the Compatibility tab.
  • Place a check in each of these checkboxes:
  • Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
    • Disable Visual Themes
    • Disable Desktop Composition
    • Disable display scaling on high DPI settings
    • If you have UAC turned on, it is probably advisable to check the ‘Run this program as an Administrator’ box

After changing these settings, fire up the IDE, and things should be back to normal, and the IDE is no longer sluggish.

Cannot find Microsoft Date and Time Picker ActiveX control in Excel 2013

I was able to solve this problem by install Visual Basic 6.0 and Service Pack 6 for VB6, the control is in mscomctl2.ocx file.

Alternatively, the problem can be solved by installing the windows common controls pack manually.

Follow the article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/957924

And it seems in order to install this pack, Visual Basic 6.0 sp6 needs to be installed?

Selecting nodes with no namespace using XPath in C#

When nodes in an XML document has no prefix at all you would think that they are associated with the default namespace, but apparently this is not the case.

Those nodes are considered not associated with any namespace at all. So to select them using XPath, in the NamespaceManager first add the default namespace with any arbitrary prefix of your choosing but not string.Empty, for example:

namespaceManager.AddNameSpace(“x”, “http://…”);

Here x is just a randomly chosen prefix

Then, you can use XPath to select nodes using the prefix you just added

doc.SelectNodes(“//x:NodeName”, namespaceManager);

I spent 2 hours to figure this out, talk about wasting time.

Consume Web API response in SSRS

Follow the article: http://jaliyaudagedara.blogspot.sg/2015/10/using-aspnet-web-api-as-data-source-for.html

Need to configure the web api service to always return XML data. When configuring the data source, add ?type=xml at the end of the URL.

Note: for SSRS/Report Builder to retrieve the fields, don’t use blank query string, use the following:

<Query>

</Query>

Find /bin folder for SSRS integrated with SharePoint

SharePoint strikes again.

Follow the article http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/aroney/archive/2013/02/11/custom-dlls-with-sql-server-reporting-services-in-sharepoint-integrated-mode/

Normally, you can find the SSRS at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ MSRS10_50.SQLSERVER\Reporting Services\

If you want to find the folder for SSRS integrated with SharePoint, it’s not where it’s usually located but under the /15 hive, C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Service Extensions\15\Webservices\reporting\bin