Generating a type library for Visual Basic 6 ActiveX Components

When generating setup code or isolation code (for Side by Side assemblies and Registration-free COM), VB6 ActiveX Components can be a little troublesome.

ActiveX exes in particular can be difficult, with the WiX heat tool and various SxS tools not being able to harvest COM registration information from them properly.

A good way of avoiding these problems is to generate a type library (.tlb) from the VB6 component, and then pointing the code generation tools at the type library.

In VB6, you can generate a Type Library (.tlb) file for an ActiveX component:

1. Project > Properties…
2. Go to the Component tab
3. Check Remote Server Files
4. Click OK and build the project

You should now see a .tlb and .vbr file next to your binary.

The .vbr file is a text file containing registry information, which will be very helpful if the type library is still missing information you want to use for your isolation or installation authoring.

Reference

How To Make a Typelib (.TLB) File for ActiveX Components @ MSDN