Microsoft Binary Format and Turbo Pascal Real Conversions for Visual Basic

Introduction:

One of the things that Microsoft left out of Visual Basic for Windows were
the MKDMBF$, MKSMBF$, CVDMBF, and CVSMBF functions.  These functions
converted the old Microsoft Binary Format numbers used by BASICA or older
versions of QuickBASIC (3.0 and earlier) to the new IEEE format.  Of course,
there never was an internal function in QuickBASIC to convert Turbo Pascal
6-byte Reals into numbers that QB could understand.  Two functions included
in this package, MDKTPR$ and CVDTPR, allow you to perform this conversion.
They were included in this package because these routines were included in
the original C routines.

To assist Visual Basic programmers who need a way to access or convert the
data created by these older programs these routines are presented
for your use without any charge or registration required.

This is the second version of these routines to be released.  The first
version was put together rather quickly to meet my own and others deadlines.  
It was quick and dirty and was in need of some refinements and bug fixes.
The most important change to the conversion routines was changing them from
Subs to Functions for this version and getting rid of several global
variables that the routines depended upon. The other major change was
putting everything into a help file.  All of the conversion routines are
in CVDMBF.HLP, as well as in the CVDMBF.BAS file.  You can either add
CVDMBF.BAS to your project to have access to all of the routines.
If you don't want to load all of the routines into your project you can
use the 'Copy Topic' button in the help file to just get the routines
you want to include.

In case you are looking for routines to do the other MK?? and CV??
functions, they are included in this package as well, since they are
required for the proper operation of the MBF routines.  These routines are
from a Microsoft Knowledge base article that described using the hmemcpy
API call to perform this operation.

Loading the Help File:

You can view the help file by selecting FILE|RUN from Program Manager and
typing in WINHELP CVDMBF.HLP or by double clicking on it in File Manager.

Thanks and Acknowledgments:

First I would like to thank David W. Terry for putting the original C
routines on CompuServe for all to use.   These original routines are in 
REALCN.ZIP in the IBMPRO forum C file library.

I would also like to thank Bryan Donaldson, Fred Bunn}, and Mark Howard,
all of whom contributed to the creation and debugging of these routines.  
Also, a thank you to Kenneth Jamieson who suggested several of the
refinements found in this version.

Disclaimer:

No warranties or guarantees are made for these routines and you are solely
responsible for their use or misuse.  The routines are considered Public
Domain. You may use or modify them as needed.

All the company names and products mentioned in this document 
are trademarks of the respective companies.

Since I don't have a copy of Turbo Pascal, I was unable to test the TP
related routines a throughly as I would have liked.  If you encounter
problems with them, let me know so that I can make corrections to it.

Comments & Suggestions:

I would like to hear from anyone who gets any use out of these routines.  
I am also available for programming projects and consulting in Visual Basic.

You may contact me at:

J. Frank Carr
1532 Amber Trail
Duluth, GA 30136  USA

Voice Mail: (404) 880-5762 

CIS:  75120, 2420

America OnLine:  JFCarr