Finding and Reusing Components With Visual Component Manager (VCM)

When information about components resides in VCM, developers can find the components and reuse them in their projects.

Depending on whether you published the compiled component or its source code, developers can get the compiled component or a copy of the source code.

To find and reuse a component with VCM, complete the following steps:

STEP BY STEP
12.2 Finding and Reusing a Component with Visual Component Manager

1. Open VCM (refer back to Figure 12.10) from the VB toolbar by clicking on the VCM icon.

2. Click the Find (binoculars) icon on the VCM toolbar.

3. On the resulting Find dialog box (see Figure 12.20), enter either a component name or text to locate in the component's keywords, description, or annotations. You can also limit your search to just one type of component by making a choice in the Of Type drop-down menu.
   
   
   FIGURE 12.20 VCM's Find dialog box.

4. When the desired component appears in the Find window, double-click its name to select it.

5. The Select Folder dialog box appears. You can choose a folder to place the component in the current project (see Figure 12.21).
   
   
   FIGURE 12.21. Selecting a project in the VCM Find dialog box.

6. After you have clicked the OK button, the component appears in your project. If the component included source code, the source-code files (typically for a VB project) will appear in the indicated folder. If the component was compiled, an ActiveX control component's icon will now appear in your toolbox. Other COM component types will be added to your project's References list.
   
   If you can see the component in the VCM project window, you can forego steps 2 through 6. All you need do is rightclick the component's name in the VCM window to bring up the component's shortcut menu (see Figure 12.22). If the component is an ActiveX control, choose the Add to Toolbox option. If it's another type of component, you can choose the Add to Project option or the Add to Project Group option.
   
   
   FIGURE 12.22 Using the VCM component shortcut menu to add a component to a VB project

• Storing VCM Information in Repository Databases
• Making VCM Available in the VB IDE
• Publishing Components With VCM
• Finding and Reusing Components With VCM