Adding a Reference to a Visual Basic Project

The following procedure describes how to add a reference to an COM object to a Visual Basic project. Your application can then use the classes of that object.

When you add an object as a reference, you can only use the type library provided by the control, or the "raw" type library. In contrast, adding a control as a component also exposes the Visual Basic extender properties and methods as if they were part of the control.

To make a Visual Basic reference to a component

1. On the Project menu, click References.
2. Click to select the check box next to the component you want to add. If the component is not listed, locate the .dll or .ocx file using Browse.
3. Click OK.

The component is now part of the project. Your application can create class instances using the New keyword.