Thank you Jon. Good questions - let me try to answer them.

Actually, it seems that SQL Server can interact with normal DLLs. However, the DLL's functions have to be exported in order for them to work within SQL. VB does not seem to export its public functions when you compile a custom DLL, so that's why you can't use your functions as extended stored procedures. So you pretty much have to code in C to create an exported function.

Microsoft recommends you export a function (__GetXpVersion) returning the ODS version, which requires the ODS headers... since I didn't see this function inside the MSVBVM60.DLL file, I assume that the VB virtual machine does not contain references to the SQL Server headers.

But I don't believe you need the SQL Server ODS headers if you do not plan to interact with SQL Server from within the code. That's why I can call a MSVBVM60-exported function.

You can find the C headers (and samples) on the SQL Server CD. They do not install automatically, but are under the DEVTOOLS directory.

Good luck

Herve