How to clone an object in VB6

Question

I am trying to automatically clone an object without having to instantiate a new one and manually copy every single variable.

I remember back in the day (when I did VB6 everyday) I came up with a method of cloning objects using the PropertyBag, which was pretty cool. But I've lost the code and don't remember how to do it anymore.

Does anyone remember or have another method?

Answer 1

Is this what you were looking for? Article is copied below for posterity.

Serialize Data Using a PropertyBag

You can serialize your data quickly by placing it into a PropertyBag object, then reading the PropertyBags Contents property. This property is really a Byte array that is a serial representation of the data in your PropertyBag object. You can use this byte array for many purposes, including an efficient means of data transmission over DCOM:

Private Function PackData() As String
    Dim pbTemp  As PropertyBag

    'Create a new PropertyBag object
    Set pbTemp = New PropertyBag
    With pbTemp
        'Add your data to the PB giving each item a 
        'unique string key
        Call .WriteProperty("FirstName", "John")
        Call .WriteProperty("MiddleInitial", "J")
        Call .WriteProperty("LastName", "Doe")

        'Place the serialized data into a string 
        'variable.
        Let PackData = .Contents
    End With

    Set pbTemp = Nothing
End Function

To retrieve the serialized data, simply create a new PropertyBag object and set the serialized string to its Contents property. Convert the string into a byte array before assigning it to the Contents property:

Private Sub UnPackData(sData As String)
    Dim pbTemp  As PropertyBag
    Dim arData()    As Byte

    'Convert the string representation of the data to 
    'a Byte array
    Let arData() = sData

    'Create a new PropertyBag object
    Set pbTemp = New PropertyBag
    With pbTemp
        'Load the PropertyBag with data
        Let .Contents = arData()

        'Retrieve your data using the unique key
        Let m_sFirstName = .ReadProperty("FirstName")
        Let m_sMiddleInitial = _
            .ReadProperty("MiddleInitial")
        Let m_sLastName = .ReadProperty("LastName")
    End With

    Set pbTemp = Nothing
      End Sub

Mike Kurtz, McKees Rocks, Pa.