Author: Liew Voon Kiong

We can create a calculator that resembles a typical scientific calculator , albeit a simpler version. In our version, we have only included the trigonometric functions and the logarithmic functions. The reason of creating a simpler version of the calculator is to help users to learn the programming concepts in a gradual manner and not to confuse them especially those who are learning to program in Visual Basic.

To design the interface, we just to need to modify the interface of the basic calculator that we have created earlier using Visual Basic 6. In this calculator, we have added five more buttons, they are Sin, Cos, Tan, Log and Ln. The common trigonometric functions in Visual Basic 6 are Sin, Cos, Tan and Atn.

Learn more about the scientific calculator by following the link below:

http://www.vbtutor.net/index.php/scientific-calculator-created-using-visual-basic-6/

In Visual Basic 6, we can create a scientific calculator that resembles a typical scientific calculator albeit a simpler version. Other than the number buttons, the operator buttons and some additional buttons such as the memory button and the clear button, we have added all three trigonometric functions and the log functions.

The interface is shown below:

I want you to try writing code for this calculator and I will show you the full code later.

We have learned how to handle decisions making process using If…Then…Else and also Select Case program structures in Visual Basic. Another procedure that involves decisions making is looping. VB allows a procedure to be repeated many times until a condition or a set of conditions is fulfilled. This is generally called looping . Looping is a very useful feature of VB because it makes repetitive works easier. There are two kinds of loops in Visual Basic, the Do…Loop and the For…….Next loop

Learn more about looping in Visual Basic from our updated Visual Basic 6 lesson 9

To control the program flow in Visual Basic 6, we can use various conditional operators. Basically, they resemble mathematical  operators. Conditional operators are very powerful tools, they let the Visual Basic 6 program compares data values and then decide what action to take, whether to execute a program or terminate the program and more.  Some of the conditional operators are +, -, >, < ,>= and <=.

On top of the conditional operators,  there are a few logical operators which offer added power to the Visual Basic programs. They are And, Or, Xor and Not.  To effectively control the Visual Basic program flow, we shall use the If…Then…Else statement together with the conditional operators and logical operators.

Read more about conditional and logical operators and the usage of If….Then.. Else in our newly updated and enhanced Visual Basic 6 Lesson 7.

Before we start building a Visual Basic 6 application, we need to understand the basic concepts of properties , events and methods. Every object in VB 6, such as a form , a command button , a text box and more have a set of properties that describe them. Setting the objects’ properties is the first step in building a Visual Basic application, i.e. designing the interface. We will learn more about setting properties in the lesson 3.

The next step in building a Visual Basic application is to write code to response to the events. Events usually comprises actions triggered by the user, such as clicking the mouse buttons, pressing a key on the keyboard, dragging an object and more.

Read more about building Visual Basic applications  in our newly updated Visual Basic 6 Lesson 2