PDFCreator and VB6 on 64-bit: ActiveX component can't create object

Question

I'm using PDFCreator to create PDFs in VB6. My VB6 development VM is Windows XP 32-bit. On that system PDF generation works both from a desktop app and from ASP (via VB web class runtime).

When I create an exe to run on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or use it in the web class runtime I get:

Run-time error '429':
ActiveX component can't create object

This is when using early binding. I add a project reference to "C:\Program Files\PDFCreator\PDFCreator.exe" and then in my code I do:

Public WithEvents mPDFCreator As PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator
Set mPDFCreator = New PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator

If I don't use a project references and use late binding instead, then it works on the desktop app but still not in the web class runtime. Late binding is done like so:

Set mPDFCreator = CreateObject("PDFCreator.clsPDFCreator")

I want to use early binding so that I can use the events, plus I need it to work in ASP/Web Class Runtime.

I realise I'm dealing with ancient technologies here and I should have tempered expectations when running such things on modern 64-bit Windows and IIS. If porting this legacy app to .NET were an option, I would.

On IIS I have set the Enable 32-bit Applications setting on my app pool. I have also tried running it as Administrator to rule-out security problems.

I've done everything I know how to debug this, but I'm stumped. I suspect it has something to do with PDFCreator being a 32-bit app and COM registration. I've also tried running regsvr32 out of SYSWOW64 but PDFCreator.exe can't be registered.

Answer 1

Windows 64-bit architecture does not allow the load of 32-bit dll into 64-bit processes.

But you can modify the configuration of your vb project to convert it from an in-process dll COM component into an out-of-process exe COM server. This will allow you to instantiate your 32-bit component from a 64-bit process.

See Process Interoperability

Answer 2

Since this is a VB6 question there aren't any 64-bit processes to worry about.

It seems far more likely than anything else that this library just isn't being registered properly. I haven't use it since I don't know whether its setup works properly. I do know that the download itself does not display with a UAC Shield on its icon, suspicious in itself. For all I know the setup program spawns a run of the wrong regsvr32.exe.

But it seems more likely you have misregistered the library manually after copying it naked over to these 64-bit Win7/Server 2008 systems.

In any case, going over all of the symptoms you describe, I'd guess it got registered as a 32-bit ActiveX library but registered in the per-user virtualized part of the registry for the user you were logged on as when you registered it.

This can be a hassle to clean up after. However you should, and then be sure to manually run the original setup once again with elevation.

These threads that include hand-wringing over "ancient technologies" really get old. It's a poor workman who blames his tools. In the future why not hire an experienced programmer to handle tasks like this?

Answer 3

I use PDFCreator in my accounting software written in VB6. Years ago, I noticed that after a certain update from the makers of PDFCreator, my software stopped working properly with it. The problem stopped after I re-installed the older version, and came back when yet another new update was released from them, so I have had my customers freeze at the version that worked. I don't know off the top of my head what version that was, but I can check my own web site since I made it downloadable for my customers if it would help, but it's likely many years old now.