HALCON/COM User's Manual

Chapter 3
Example Visual Basic Session
In this chapter you will learn how to develop HALCON applications quickly using Microsoft Visual
Basic and the HALCON/COM interface. There will be simple steps describing what to do.
The result will be a very small exemplary vision application with doubtful value but equipped
with a graphical user interface. As an additional source of information you are strongly encouraged
to have a look at the other examples which are supplied as Visual Basic sources together
with HALCON.
The program developed in this chapter is also available ready to go in the
±ÀÄÇÆÊÇÇ̱ÒÜÑÔÐ×ÒÚÒÅÒÙÐ directory together with other examples. However,
it is recommended to follow the steps below and program it yourself, as you will get a
better impression of how Visual Basic program development works and gain a lot of additional
information with the single steps.
Please note, that to use HALCON/COM inside Visual Basic you need Windows NT 4.0 with
Service Pack 4 or Windows 2000, and Visual Basic 6.0.
3.1 First Step: The GUI
Go ahead and
1. Launch Visual Basic. A dialog named ÆÛ ÈÖÓØ should appear allowing you to
select the type of project you want. Switch to ÆÛ in the tab list, select ËØÒÖ
and click ÇÔÒ.
2. Select ÈÖÓØ from the menu bar and click ÓÑÔÓÒÒØ×. A dialogue box shows up
listing the components installed on your system. Switch to ÓÒØÖÓÐ× in the tab list and
place a check next to the item ÀÐÓÒ ØÝÔÐÖÖÝ Î½º¼.
3. Press ¾. The object browser should appear. See if you can find ÀÁÑ and browse
through some of the corresponding methods. Clicking on a method shows its parameterization
as well as a short help text about what it will do in the status area at the bottom
of the object browser. Close the object browser.
4. Have a look at the dialogue template (’form’) showing in the lower half of the
screen; it should be titled ÓÖѽ. In the upper half you will discover an area titled
ÈÖÓÔÖØ× ¹ ÓÖѽ. Here you can set and retrieve the active GUI object’s (in this
17