win32 api books for vb 2010?

[amvx86]

Hey everyone,

I hate posting in forums asking people for help, and then searching for hours and wanting to throw my computer out the window because I can never seem to find the resources I need for programming. I feel that in vb 6 everything was well documented and now here in 2010 it's harsh and nothing is well documented. Can anyone suggest books on win32 api programming? Or, any books on vb 2010 API programming at all? I would appreciate it more than being answered in the forms and posting every time I have a problem.

Regards,
amvx86

[pritaeas]

MSDN perhaps? Or something like this book? I know it's old but the basics are still the same. Most new books only address .NET

[amvx86]

I have tried the MSDN but for some reason it never seems to work for me. The older MSDN was well documented and put together. I come from a pretty sound vb 6 background and could have designed anything in that language. But the API calls are confusing as hell. I do understand a good majority of the api calls from VB6. But I am just lost. Do you have any tutorials? I'm kinda skeptical when I search for code I rarely find things that I'm looking for, just like getwindowtext it returns everything but what I'm looking for. I remember when I needed apis i would search and in a few minutes I'd have what I needed. Or, more so, I found the great resource of planet source code, and even that, too has been in the decline. I'm getting desperate for answers and I don't like bugging people for help.

[tinstaafl]

Here's an srticle on Calling Windows API's in VB.net. It includes links to other articles as well.
a trick I found useful for searching in MSDN is add, vb vs.100, to your search terms. this will filter the results specifically for vb 2010. Also make use of the preset filters, search the library first, then switch to only forums.

As for the API's, alot of that is included in .net and makes direct access to api's redundant in most cases. That's why forums, especially this one, can be a great resource. Sometimes there can be a tendency to over think something, and someone can point out a simpler or easier solution, or already has for someone else.

[amvx86]

This is a useful resource, however, is it possible to find a resource, or is there one that shows you what each library does? Mind you I have not programmed in approximately 5 years, or better since .net took off. So most of this stuff is a bit blurry to me. I remember there was something (like the new pinvoke trace) that gave you examples, and the code that you can plug in. For instance, say user32.dll it will have say findwindow, findwindowex, etc. Then it would give you how to make the call and how to reference it. Is there anything online or a binary that does this?

[tinstaafl]

You might find this article useful. But like was mentioned, you might be overthinking things, and maybe putting the cart before the horse. Since so much of the win32 api is implemented in .net, you would be better off making sure that what you want to do, needs direct access to the api, before filling your head with information that will be basically useless. For instance before .net running an external app was clunky at best, without using the api directly. Now with the Process class you can run, pass arguments, control standard in/out/error, run with or without display, etc.