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VB6.0 Upgrade Questions


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*DISCLAIMER*

Not a programmer, never claimed to be one, however project has been passed to me and well I have to at very least manage this.

So I have several small applications that were developed in Visual Basic we are believing they were developed with Visual Basic 6.0.

Now these applications are being run on Server 2003 then passed out over Term Services and /or Citrix. There seems to be some performance issues, some bugs and some install issues.

We have the source and so forth but it looks we are going to have to recompile this. BTW locating the Visual Basic 6.0 Studio Seems to be a task.

My Question really seems to be is it worth it to try to upgrade this program? Will it be hard to go to .net? Will it be a complete pain in the arse?\

I see alot of programs on the net that indicated there are some conversion programs and so forth to update it to .net

Thanks

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If you are not a programmer then it's better that you get your hands on Visual Studio 6 and recompile those sources.

If you want to use .NET, then you will have to learn both VB6 and which ever language you choose to port the applications, even if it's Visual Basic .NET there will be considerable differences.

Just my 2 cts.

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If you're not a programmer, then get a programmer to do it, or just recompile the code.

VB.NET is a much nicer language than VB6, and while most of it is compatible there are still going to be bits that will need to be changed/rewritten to fit in with how .NET works.

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Visual Studio.NET has a conversion process. So if a VB6 project is opened in VS.NET it will start the converter and it will leave the existing code alone.

It will also notate the areas that need addressing (API calls, etc)

Since you are not a programmer you are going to need some help (to say the least) This is one of those times when hiring someone for a short term gig will likely be the best route unless you have the time to learn. (You didnt say when the project is due)

VB6 cannot be purchased anymore from MS etc, but I just checked Amazon and they have copies for under $100. MS does not support VB6 anymore. So here and other net sites are going to be the only place to get support.

Best of luck,

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Hey I appreciate all the help guys. Ive decided to give this a shot with recompiling the software. Now I have this question, The platform this software runs on (win2k3) is obviously later then the software it was originally compiled for. Now I m hoping Im on the right train of thought here but I m assuming I will need to recompile this with the updated dlls. Now If Im using VB.NET (Found the CDS) how can I make sure that Im compiling with the latest dlls?

Thanks

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If you have the Visual Studio.NET discs (as you said) install that and then open the current VB6 project. It will then run the converstion of the source.

Now, the issue with external dlls. Meaning DLL files that the current project uses that are not part of VB6. I guess the easist thing to ask you to do is to open the project file (.vbp) in notepad and copy and paste it here. We can then tell you IF there are any external dlls (also known as references) required by your application. Be aware that some DLLs require a developer licence on the machine your are going to recompile the application. Without that licence you MAY not be able to recompile.

Side note: For the record VB6 has two DLL runtime files that need to be on any machine running a VB6 application. .NET has it's own set of files. Depending on what version of Visual Studio.net you will need to have what is called the .Net Frameworks versions 1.0, 1.x, 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5. If you tell us what version of Visual Studio we can tell you want framework you will have to install on the target machine(s)

btw: Good luck with all this. You're lack of knowledge on development issues is going to make this difficult. I'm not saying that to be mean or to discourage you from moving forward, I just think you will benefit from knowing this is going to be more difficult that setting up a server or writing a web page. I've been a VB prof for 15 years and there is always something to learn.

I wish you luck.

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