by Mick Doherty (7 Submissions)
Category: Miscellaneous
Compatability: Visual Basic 3.0
Difficulty: Intermediate
Date Added: Wed 3rd February 2021
Rating: 
(5 Votes)
Windows XP ships with Common Controls version 5 and version 6. By default all windows apps use version 5. In order to force your app to use version 6 your application must have a manifest. It must also correctly call InitCommonControls().
A manifest is a text file with an xml script similar to this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
processorArchitecture="X86"
name="Your.App.Name"
type="win32"
/>
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"
/>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If your application is called 'MyApp.exe' then in the same directory you must have a manifest file called 'MyApp.exe.manifest' otherwise WinXP will use common controls v5.
Instead of having a seperate manifest file, this project inserts the manifest into the executable file, and therefore, safeguards the manifest file from deletion or corruption.
Download XP Manifest Inserter (33 KB)
VBcoders