The sample Visual Basic (VB) plug-in adds a folder to the iSeries™ Navigator hierarchy that provides a list of i5/OS® libraries, and illustrates how to implement properties and actions on those library objects.
In addition to installing the plug-in code, the sample plug-in includes a Readme.txt file, and two registry files, one for use during development, and another for distribution with the retail version. See the sample VB plug-in directory of files for detailed description of all the files included with the VB plug-in.
In order to get the sample VB plug-in running on your PC, you must complete the following steps:
| Download the VB plug-in | Download the executable file vbopnav.exe. When you run the file it will extract all the files associated with the plug-in. Make a new directory, c:\VBSample, and copy all the files into it. If you create a different directory, you will have to modify registry file to specify the correct location for the plug-in. |
| Create the VB project | Open vbsample.vpb in Visual Basic. In the reference dialog, select IBM® iSeries Access
for Windows® ActiveX
Object Library, and iSeries Navigator Visual Basic Plug-in
Support. Note: If either of these references do not appear in your
References dialog, select Browse and look for cwbx.dll and cwbunvbi.dll in
the iSeries Access
for Windows shared
directory. The IBM iSeries Access
ActiveX Object Library contains OLE automation objects that the sample application
requires to make remote command calls to the iSeries server. The iSeries Navigator
Visual Basic Plug-in Support contains classes and interfaces required to create
a Visual Basic Plug-in. directory.
|
| Build the ActiveX server DLL | Select Make from the Visual Basic file menu to build the DLL. If it doesn't compile and link, locate and fix the errors, and then rebuild the DLL. |
| Build the resource library |
Note: You do not have to create this DLL on your own. The sample includes
a resource DLL that contains the translatable text strings and other locale-dependent
resources for the plug-in is included with the sample. Even if your plug-in
supports only one language, your plug-in code must load its text strings and
locale-specific resources from this resource library.
|
| Register the plug-in | Double-click the file vbsmpdbg.reg in order to register the plug-in. If you did not use the directory c:\VBSample, edit the registry file, and replace all occurrences of "c:\\VBSample\\" with the fully-qualified path to the plug-in code. You must use double back slashes in the path. |
| Run the plug-in in iSeries Navigator | Start iSeries Navigator, and click on the "+" next to an iSeries server to expand the tree. iSeries Navigator will detect the changes to the registry, and prompt you to scan the iSeries server in order to verify that it is capable of supporting the new plug-in. After completing the scan, iSeries Navigator will display the new plug-in in the tree hierarchy. |