Need Help Opening File In VB Format

Hello Everyone!

I have a program that works fine but it has a file that opens up another part of the program that has some added features that would be nice to use. My problem is that this file is in VB format. What do I need to do or get to be able to read this Visual Basic file? I'm really in the dark when it comes to Visual Basic information. I hope I've given you enough information to be able to give me some advice and help. If you need more info, just ask! :)

Thanks for any help you can give, it's very much appreciated!!!

:confused:

What is the extension on the file? Most VB source files are simple text files. However, unless you have VB, you can't compile them into an .exe file, so you can't really modify the VB program. If your file is a VBA file, then you might be able to make usable changes. I'm also wondering what features you want to enable that are currently disabled. More info would be helpful.

Thanks jdc2000 for your reply!

The program is Solar Fire 4.19 and the main program works fine. The file that won't open has the format of VB_ and one more related file to the Atlas with a file format of VBX.

It contains the ACS PC Atlas that gives longitudes and Latitudes. It's just an added feature of the program as I said. I can look these up manually in a book I have but it would be so much more easier if I could open this file and integrate it into the program as it should be.

This is a paid for and fully registered version and the vender says it should open with no problems. I ordered it from a company in California and dealing back and forth with the vendor leaves something to be desired. I feel my best way to go is to figure out how to make this work on my own and with help from VirtualDr experts rather than the impossible of trying to get a refund from the tighwad owner. LOL

I hope this has given you some help. :)

I'm betting that the file file with the .vb_ extension should have the extension changed to vb + some other character. Which one would be the question. How big is the file? If it is not too large, you could zip it and attach it to your next post so I could analyze it. I might be able to determine what extension to give it from the contents. You could also try making a copy of it and opening that copy with Notepad to see if it is just plain text. Of course, there is no guarantee that changing the extension will get your program to be able to access the data in the file, but it is worth a try.

Edit: The full filenames of the two files might also be helpful. If the .vb_ file looks like trash in Notepad, or says something like "This program requires Microsoft Windows" near the beginning, then the file extenstion MIGHT need to be changed to .vbx also.

It's been a long while since I first and last played with a VB file, but I believe you should be able to open it with Notepad and edit and save it. You'll need to open Notepad go to File/Open and then browse for the file in question. I believe that should work, but as I've said, been a while.

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It probably won't do any good to open the VBX file since it is the control that the program uses to read the data. VBX pre-dated ActiveX. So, the file it references is more likely to be binary than ordinary text. If you are lucky, then it is an ASCII text file, and as pointed out above, can be SENT TO Notepad.

It is also possible that the VBX references a Website, and so contains little data within the program's files, only having a means to reference the data.

Regardless, both files can still be read using a HEX reader, if you know how to use one of those. Depending on the reader being used, the data can be read, but still might not be recoverable in an easy manner. If the file contains many, many lines of data, then you might have to do a bunch of typing in order to copy what you want out of the file. Again, that depends on the reader you use, and someone may know of a free download that will do what you want.

VB programs usually have an install program that places the VBX file in its appropriate folder so that the program can find it. That would usually be the Windows\System folder. Otherwise if the program won't read it, and there are no instructions on how to use or place the files, then something is fishy.