VB6 versus the mouse wheel
Published 5.20.2005 by ~mattg
Not so much me as everyone who is forced to develop in VB6. I mean, what do you expect: Visual Basic has been around longer than I’ve known what a variable is, so it stands to reason that a majority of the applications I am now forced to maintain are Visual Basic applications.
Unfortunately, Visual Basic (even version 6) came out before the scroll wheel was put on the mouse, so Microsoft simply said “Hey, don’t worry about that scrolly thing,” and Visual Basic 6 does not support the mouse wheel (AKA, you can’t scroll using the mouse in the VB6 IDE). Now, trying to make up for this, Microsoft did release an add-in to the IDE that makes the scroll wheel work, and it’s even referenced in a knowledge base article.
However (and this is what kills me), the link to the add-in is broken, and a search of the Microsoft Download center yields nothing as far as this add-in is concerned. I’ve also googled the file, and the only references point back to the same MS location. If you read the rest of the article, the second method to fix this is to DOWNGRADE your mouse drivers. So I guess if you want new Intellipoint features AND VB6 IDE Scrolling, your SOL.
Luckily, a VB6 enthusiast wrote Free Wheel, a tiny app that allows you to scroll in VB6. It hasn’t interfered with any of my other apps to this point, so I’m sticking with it. It hasn’t been updated in a while, but neither has VB6, so we should be ok. How does the adage go: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Filed under Windows
I found your site when searching for a fix to the no scroll mouse support for VB6. I went to the Microsoft page and it was actually there and was able to download the add-in! kinda funny to be excited for such a small thing!
Crikey!
works in the Visual C/C++ 4.0 development environment too!
what a treat!
Thanks a bunch, worked for VB6, but unfortunately not for the VBA editor, I figured it would work the same but the Add-in doesn’t show up. Maybe I’m missing something, back to google…
Nice to get the wheel in VB6! I can’t believe how much I depend on it. Now I don’t have to move my hand AAALLLLLLLL the way over to the scroll bar! woo-hoo
scratch the “not for the VBA editor” part, the MS download came with the VBA fix, just had to merge the .reg file.
Thanks for the article, It was very helpfull!
Hey Dug,
I just came across this forum so you’ve probably already fixed it but..
I do a lot of work in vba, usually at a client’s site.
Drives me nuts not having the scroll work in the vba editor. The fix is; at a clients site load the mouse driver on the local machine, then it works.
Usually no-one bothers cause the scroll works everywhere else.
THANK YOU!!! This is so helpful. I use c#.net and some vb6, but when I use vb6 without wheelmouse ability, I feel like the tips of my fingers are cut off. Thanks for the link.
The link is fixed, you can download it from the referenced MS kb article http://support.microsoft.com/?id=837910
h
Thanks man, works like a charm
Thanks you! I have been looking for that answer.
I had no problem in VBA but was going nuts in VB6 IDE.
Have a Great New Year.
Install ‘intellimouse-compatible’, for lack of a better term, drivers (eg. Logitech has SetPoint.exe). When running it will provide the mouse APIs to most standard window/controls. Though it appears to use a signed word value, regardless. So to get the full 65,536 range would require some manipulation.. otherwise it’s stuck to a range around 32k.