Library articles and tutorials

API Programming Series #1

By Sreejath S. Warrier, published on 13 Jul 2002
Sreejath S. Warrier
Page 5 of 7
  1. Foreword
  2. So what's API
  3. Where does the API reside?
  4. How can we access API functions from VB?
  5. Why use the API when I can achieve most of the thi
  6. What are the cons?
  7. Conclusion

Why use the API when I can achieve most of the thi

First of all the features offered by (pure) VB are pretty limited when compared to what can be achieved in windows. The recent additions have alleviated this problem somewhat, but the functionality offered by VB is still woefully inadequate in many areas, especially systems programming. Using the API can help you to work around this and would be much simpler than learning a new language.

Secondly, due to its architecture, programs written in VB run slower than their C++ or Delphi counterparts. This is the price one has to pay for easier debugging, simpler coding and a fast development cycle. API being the native interface to Windows is much faster than VB when compared to VB code and since the support files are present in all Windows installations (more about this in the Where does the API reside section) the distribution size is smaller too. So using the API in VB allows one to have the best of both worlds.

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Comments

  1. amiteshwar singh
    31 May 2007 at 18:41

    plz help me 4r api.gv some books on apiSad [:(]

  2. Praseeda
    09 Mar 2007 at 00:50

    The article is really valuble.It will give good exposure to Windows API

  3. hackaback
    19 Sep 2005 at 13:01

    hey ther, can anyone gve me an idea how to retrive the system's information in vb so that i could create a system dedicated application. or any other method

  4. Barry Whyte
    12 Mar 2003 at 19:38

    Look in the registry:


    For WinNT/2K (I assume this works on XP too...) 


    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOrganization



    You'll need to find a way to read this key as VB can't do it on it's own.  You can use API Routines Reg*.  Check msdn (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library) for more details.

  5. RT
    28 Nov 2002 at 09:36

    Hey
    just wondering if anyone has an advice for a problem tha i'm trying to solve:


    I need to make an API call from VBA within Excel to get information about the compnany that the machine is registered to.  I was wondering if anyones knows the DLL file it's in or any other way of getting this informmation into Excel


    Really appreciate anyone's input.


    Thanks RT

  6. fanen
    13 Jul 2002 at 09:04

    this looks quite promising, at least if he keeps goin' and wud be nice if he exposes some calls... for guys who want to expand their "Database"

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