more VB blues

I'm having a weird problem with Visual Basic apps on my IZZI Pro - every time I try to open the .vb file, I get an error message "Cannot open program file [name of file]." I tried deleting the .vb key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and then opening the .vb file. Of course, I am prompted to select a program with which to open it, so I select \Windows\pvbload.exe, and then check "Always use this program when opening this type of file." At that point the app opens, but after I close it, every time I try to open a VB app after that I get the above-mentioned "Cannot open program file . . ." message.

As I've revealed in my thread about SearcH/PC, I've been trying to port some CE 3 VB apps back to H/PC Pro by using hexedited versions of Pocket PC or H/PC 2000 VB runtime files; could it have anything to do with this? (Two relevant bits of info: I'm using the H/PC 2000 versions of the MSCE DLLs, the rest are H/PC Pro versions [the H/PC 2000 versions produce the same results as the H/PC Pro versions - so they can probably be used with SearcH/PC]; and the above-mentioned error message occurs with VB apps written for H/PC Pro as well.)

You have probably mashed up the VBRTL subsystem registration, try removing the non-native dll's and fully re-registering the 2.11 ones.

Can I just delete them and soft reset? The runtime files are in ROM, aren't they?

If that's what's going on, I wonder why I haven't had this problem with any other H/PC Pro device on which I've tried porting CE 3.0 VB apps (NEC 800, J820, PA-2400W). On those I've successfully run lots of VB apps.

I should also note, BTW, that I'm getting the same error message with .pvb apps on my 360LX, even though I've put the CE 2.0 SH3 runtime files in \Windows on that device (and, of course, haven't tried any other versions on that device). (Not having any problem running .pvb apps on my Mobilon [CE 2.0 MIPS] nor on my PA-2400U [CE 2.0 SH3].) That suggests to me that there must be some other possible cause of this error.

Edited by CE Geek 2007-09-17 1:15 PM

Correction: What I'm getting on the 360LX is the error message "There is no application associated with . . . ." I'll open a separate thread on that in the CE 2.0 forum.

I tried deleting the files and replacing them with the CE 2.11 ones, and I think you're right, C:Amie, cuz then the .vb files were automatically associated with pvbload.exe. Of course, the CE 3 ones wouldn't open then. Weird, though, that I never had this problem with my other H/PC Pro devices (I can even open most of the CE 3 apps on my Casio E-105 Palm-size PC). The only problem I've had in the other H/PC Pro devices is that the menu bars, complete with popup menus, don't work. (Since there is no H/PC 2000 - or H/PC Pro - version of MSCEMenuBar.dll, I'm using one installed from a Pocket PC app, together with a hexedited aygshell.dll. None of the available aygshells solve this problem in any of my H/PC Pro devices, regardless of CPU version.) I found that the CE 2.11 runtime files were completely absent from the IZZI Pro's ROM; weren't some of them included in the ROMs of other H/PC Pro devices? Or are there separate builds of H/PC Pro (CE 2.11) that handle the files differently? This has me curious.

Edited by CE Geek 2007-09-21 8:07 PM

Runtime inclusion is/was down to the individual OEM, it was not mandatory.

Did a re-registration of the dll's help at all?

Nah. I tried that many times. (I assume you're talking about the H/PC 2000 runtime files; I assume that the H/PC Pro files don't need to be registered, especially since regsvr2.exe closed as soon as I tapped on "Register" on one of those files.)

Weird problem that. I can open lots of CE 3 VB programs on the IZZI Pro if I leave the file extension unassociated and choose the association manually each time. I can even open a few that produce error messages on my other H/PC Pro devices where the other VB programs work. From the results I'm getting, I'm thinking that the value created in the .vb key is confusing the device. Interestingly, too, I've noticed that the registry value for .vb seems to vary between H/PC Pro devices where it works. One has the string value "VBCE.ProjectRun," while another has the string value "vbfile." The keys corresponding to these values, though, appear to have the same subkeys and subkey values. I've tried changing the .vb string value from one to the other manually in the IZZI Pro, but I get the same result in both cases. Should I try importing the key(s) from the registry of one of the other H/PC Pro devices?

Edited by CE Geek 2007-09-22 2:28 PM

Well, I finally tried the last idea I mentioned, and it appears to have solved the problem. I imported the keys ".vb" and "VBCE.ProjectRun" from my NEC 800, and all the CE 3 VB apps work, though only with all H/PC 2000 runtime files (not just the MSCE ones). I guess the versions of those keys that I had on the IZZI Pro were corrupted somehow.