INFO: Program Compiles in Background w/Compile On Demand Set

SUMMARY

Visual Basic 4.0 has a Compile on Demand feature. To set it, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Advanced. This feature is selected by default. When this feature is selected, code segments are not forced to be compiled until called upon in the application. This means that the application will typically start more quickly, but there will be some delay during the running of an application from the design environment if a code segment is called that has not yet been compiled.

However, even with Compile On Demand set to True, Visual Basic still compiles code during any idle time that the processor has - including time in Debug mode and when the program has been stopped - if the Background Compile option has been selected. Consequently, a program may run just as fast with the Compile On Demand feature set to True as when it is set False if there is plenty of idle time before any given code routine is called.