Make a custom button to launch ArcScene from ArcCatalog

Summary

Note:
This article pertains to ArcGIS versions 9.x. Later versions of ArcGIS may contain different functionality, as well as different names and locations for menus, commands and geoprocessing tools.

Instructions provided describe how to make a custom button to launch ArcScene from ArcCatalog.

Note: 
Support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for ArcMap and ArcCatalog ended with the ArcGIS 10.2.2 release, and Esri has not included VBA compatibility setups since version 10.5. See: ArcGIS Desktop and VBA Moving Forward

Procedure

1. Start ArcCatalog.
2. Create a new UIButtonControl: How To: Create a new UIButtonControl

Note:
For more information on creating a UIControl, see the ArcGIS Desktop Help topic: 'Creating custom commands with VBA and UI Controls'

3. Right-click the UIButtonControl and select View Source.
4. Copy this code into the UIButtonControl's click event.

    Dim MyAppID, ReturnValue
    MyAppID = Shell("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\arcscene.exe", 1)
    AppActivate MyAppID

5. Select File > Save Normal.gxt and close the Visual Basic Editor.
6. Select Tools > Customize.
7. Select UIControls from the Categories under the Commands tab.
8. Drag the just created button ('Normal.UIButtonControl') onto a toolbar in ArcCatalog.

This button now launches ArcScene from ArcCatalog. When the Customize menu is open you can right-click this button on the toolbar and select Change Button Image to pick a new button image.