Control Development Kit Lets Developers Extend Microsoft Visual Basic with New Controls

May 20, 1991 — Microsoft announced Monday the Microsoft Visual Basic Control Development Kit, a kit that allows software developers to extend the capabilities of the Visual Basic programming system by developing custom controls for the Visual Basic Toolbox.

Visual Basic is a general-purpose programming system hosted within the Microsoft Windows graphical environment that lets programmers quickly develop new applications for that environment.

Custom controls created with the Control Development Kit can provide new visual interface elements, trap events and add functionality — just like the built-in controls that come with the product. Once the custom controls are loaded into a project, they are available for use along with the standard controls.

Standard Toolbox controls include such items as command buttons, option buttons, text boxes, check boxes, scroll bars, timers and file system controls. Possible custom controls that third parties could develop with the Control Development Kit include controls for data access, multimedia environments, and Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing.

For example, they might develop custom SQL Server controls that trap messages from the server; animation, video and sound controls for multimedia PCs; and controls for handwriting input and recognition for the Windows for Pen environment. Custom controls are written in C; developers using the Control Development Kit must also be familiar with the Windows application programming interface (API).

”Visual Basic will make Windows programming much more accessible, allowing millions of programmers to create their own Windows programs,” said Tom Button, product marketing manager for the Microsoft applications programmability group.

”Now, with the Control Development Kit, third-party software developers can participate in and help define this new opportunity.  Visual Basic programmers will also benefit from the development of custom controls, since these controls will provide more options for application development.”

Beta sites for the Control Development Kit are also enthusiastic about the product. ”I think Visual Basic is going to be a very successful product — and a key factor in its success is the fact that it’s so incredibly extensible,” said Daniel Appleman, president of Desaware, a software company based in San Jose, Calif. ”With the standard product, you get a set of built-in controls that are very useful; with the Control Development Kit, you get the ability to add virtually any control you want. And, once they’ve been added, the custom controls are just as easy to use as the built-in ones.”

The Visual Basic Control Development Kit includes 5.25- and 3.5-inch disks, plus documentation. It requires the Visual Basic programming system, the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (version 3.0 or later) and the Microsoft C compiler (version 6.0 or later). The kit will be available from Microsoft in June for $49.95 (a) plus shipping, handling and applicable sales tax.

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