[VB6] How to tell if being run from IDE or EXE?

[DukeBlazingstix]

Hi, I’ve just got a small question that’s been driving me nuts. I used to do alot of VB6 programming back in “the day” but I haven’t done any in years, and am quite a bit rusty. I now find myself in the unenviable position of having to write a few “small” programs for work.

I would swear up and down that there was a simple way of telling if the program was being run through the IDE or through a compiled exe, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is, and I just have no luck hitting the right keywords to find it on google.

Does anybody have any easy, or not-so-easy methods they’d be willing to share?

[DukeBlazingstix]

Of course, wouldn’t you just know it. Not one minute after I ask the question do I find the answer on my own.

Debug.Assert does not get compiled, so all I have to do is:

Dim IsIDE as Boolean
IsIDE=False
Debug.Assert IsIDE=True

And the EXE will never see the Debug command. Or if that syntax isn’t perfect, some such varient of that code will do the trick.

For anyone who might stumble along here through google some distant day, I found this Debug.Assert method here: http://visualbasic.about.com/od/usevb6/l/blfaq0012a.htm

<sigh>Now I feel like a real smeghead, answering my own questions, like I only asked so I could feel smart or something. I know I’ll be back soon enough with another question I couldn’t figure out on my own. Say... how are any of you with SQL?

[dman]

Glad you found it. I use something similar.

Private Function devmode() As Boolean
   Dim ltest As Long
   Debug.Assert Not chkmode(ltest)
   devmode = ltest = 1
End Function

Private Function chkmode(ltest As Long) As Boolean
   ltest = 1
End Function

Private Sub Command1_Click()
   If devmode() = True Then
      MsgBox ("Development Mode")
   Else
      MsgBox ("Runtime Mode")
   End If
End Sub

I use it to set paths for development, since app.path returns the vb6 dir. What are you using it for.

sidenote: in VFP you can do this with function version(2). Everything is so much easier in VFP.

Edited July 8, 2005 by dman