Hi Ben, My own opinion is that you need to learn the (old) basics of VB before attempting to convert to .Net. I think that anyone should understand the development of individual programs before getting in to the intricacies of the new environment. There are many good books and sites that you can use to help you get started. The 'Dummies' books are helpful but the one that I recommend to my students is 'Visual Basic 6 Complete' from Sybex. It's cheep but good. Hope this helps Alan ...

Not sure if this will help - I did it years ago in 'C'. Back then we read the file as a binary input. found the width and height in the bitmap header file ( you should be able to find the structure layout on the net or use an API function. Having discovered the start bit/byte (depends on the format) you can read across the pixels noting the colours. Black on white should be relatively easy. Other colours need some thought! Good luck. I'm sure I've seen a sample of this in VB5 or VB6. I haven't migrated to .Net yet so couldn't say about that. Alan ...

Hi, At what level are you wanting to access the database (Read/write or full management i.e create /delete table)? Are you using VB6 or VB.net? What version of Access are you using? All these questionsneed to be answered to point you in the right direction. Alan ...

Thanks for that. I'll experiment at home before suggesting to the student but it sounds as though this might work. I'm not aware of an upper limit for class objects. Thanks again, Alan ...

The student is trying to simulate an Air Traffic Control workstation and needs to be able to maintain 'Cards' showing various aspects of incoming and overflying aircraft. So far, he is showing about 200 cards on the screen each containing (I think) flight number, altitude, heading, and another text line of about 15 characters whose data I am not sure about. As the beginners VB lecturer, I have been asked to help but I havbe never created a custom control in any language. Again, any help or guidance would be greaty appreciated. Alan ...

Hi, I'm having trouble placing multiple controls onto a VB6 form dynamically. I have created a control array of picture boxes but seem to be restricted to about 200 instances on the form. I need perhaps 260 to 300 (12 columns of 25). This is for a college project. I am using picture boxes because I can 'print' to them (undocumented) in different fonts and sizes - similar to a rich text control - and change the background colour. Any suggestions. Perhaps creating a lightweight control in visual C may be the answer but I wouldn't know where to start.:confused: Any help would be more than welcome, Alan ... Keep the Pound - reject the Euro