There are lots of additional control "packs" (libraries) that you can enable in VB6 via Project>Components.
I'm trying to find good replacements for the Sheridan SScommand and SSframe controls. But I also want to find additional controls like a Tabbed dialog.
I'm not sure which of the ones in the list of Components are ones that: a. I can distribute b. Are fairly mature and well supported (or at least were when development on VB6 ended).
Any tips?
Here's a list of Controls that Ship with VB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/194784
Sheridan Controls are listed. I don't know how well supported they are:
Control summary The following is a summary of ActiveX control files shipped with the different editions of Visual Basic:
ActiveX Control FileName Version Edition*
ADO Data Control 6.0 (OLEDB) MSADODC.ocx 6.00.8171 L,P,E
AXBrowse VCMAXB.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Cdlg RepCdlg.ocx 6.00.8161 P,E
Chart Control 6.0 MSChart.ocx 6.00.8079 P,E
Chart Control 6.0 (OLEDB) MSChrt20.ocx 6.00.8177 P,E
Comm Control 6.0 MSComm32.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Common Controls-3 6.0 ComCt332.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Common Dialog Control 5.0 (SP2) Comdlg32.ocx 5.01.4319 E
Common Dialog Control 6.0 ComDlg32.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
Data Bound Grid Control 5.0(SP3) DBGrid32.OCX 5.1.814 P,E
Data Bound List Controls 6.0 DBList32.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
DataGrid Control 6.0 (OLEDB) MSDatGrd.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
DataList Control 6.0 (OLEDB) MSDatLst.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
DataRepeater Control 6.0 (OLEDB) MSDatRep.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Desaware Animated Button Control AniBtn32.OCX 1.00.036 P,E
FlexGrid Control 5.0 (SP2) Msflxgrd.ocx 5.01.4319 E
FlexGrid Control 6.0 MSFlxGrd.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
Grid Control Grid32.ocx 1.0.2908 P,E
Grid Control Grid32.ocx 1.00.2930 P,E
Hierarchical FlexGrid Control 6.0 MSHFlxGd.ocx 6.00.3005 L,P,E
Internet Transfer Control 6.0 MSInet.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
MAPI Controls 6.0 MSMAPI32.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Masked Edit Control 6.0 MSMask32.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
MicroHelp Gauge Control Gauge32.ocx 1.00.0024 P,E
MicroHelp Key State Control KeySta32.ocx 1.00.0024 P,E
MSFlexGrid Wizard FlexWiz.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Multimedia Control 6.0 Mci32.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Outline Control MSOutl32.ocx 1.00.2922 P,E
Outrider SpinButton Control Spin32.ocx 1.00.0044 P,E
PictureClip Control 6.0 PicClp32.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Pinnacle-BPS Graph Control Graph32.ocx 1.00.047 P,E
RemoteData Control 6.0 Msrdc20.ocx 6.00.8169 E
Rich TextBox Control 6.0 RichTx32.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
Script Control 1.0 MSScript.ocx 1.0.02604 P,E
SysInfo Control 6.0 SysInfo.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Tabbed Dialog Control 5.0 (SP2) Tabctl32.ocx 5.01.4319 E
Tabbed Dialog Control 6.0 TabCtl32.ocx 6.00.8169 L,P,E
THREED32 Threed32.ocx 1.00.0041 P,E
Vbsql OLE Custom control module Vbsql.ocx 6.50.163 E
VisModelBrowser VCMVMB.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Visual Basic 6.0 Application Wizard AppWiz.OCX 6.00.8177 L,P,E
Visual Basic 6.0 DataForm Wizard DataForm.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Visual Basic 6.0 MSChart Wizard ChartWiz.ocx 6.00.8177 P,E
Windowless Controls 6.0 MSWLess.ocx 6.00.8169 P,E
Windows Common Controls 5.0 (SP2) Comctl32.ocx 5.1.4319 E
Windows Common Controls 5.0 (SP2) ComCtl32.ocx 6.00.8022 L,P,E
Windows Common Controls 6.0 MSComCtl.ocx 6.00.8177 L,P,E
Windows Common Controls Comctl32.ocx 1.00.2415 E
Windows Common Controls-2 5.0 (SP2) Comct232.ocx 5.01.4319 E
Windows Common Controls-2 5.0 (SP2) ComCt232.ocx 6.00.8022 L,P,E
Windows Common Controls-2 6.0 MSComCt2.ocx 6.00.8177 L,P,E
Winsock Control 6.0 MSWinsck.OCX 6.00.8169 P,E
If you maintaining a VB6 (or VB.NET) application over the long term I strongly recommend that you minimize the use of 3rd party controls. Third Party controls are great for something one-off "right now". However for long term maintenance they are a pain to deal with as the fortunes of the 3rd party vendor cause support to cease.
This is especially true for look and feel controls like the Threed control pack. We wound up making our own panel control that we maintain. It was a one time investment that made support a lot easier over the years.
I've found the controls at VB Accelerator to be really helpful as an alternative to the VB6 defaults and commercial products. They are open sourced, so you can make changes, but they are stable enough that I've only occasionally needed to do that.
I would avoid the Sheridan SS controls from threed32.ocx. They are not supported on Vista. I agree in general it's best to minimze your dependency on third-party controls as they are unlikely to still be supported by the control creator.