What C# tools do you recommend?
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Resharper. And don't give it up, C# isn't terribly difficult. Like an English muffin, it just has many nooks and crannies, and is infinitely better with butter(Resharper). I would suggest a functional clone rather than direct conversion, though. It's unlikely that a VB6 program is structured in a way that will work well in C#.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
Thanks, I will check it out. And yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code. :omg:
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Unless it's less than 1000 lines of code, avoid auto-conversion software. I'd strongly recommend re-designing and then re-writing it in C#. The re-design is important because things are done way differently in modern .NET than it was during the VB6 days.
Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com
Thanks, I will check it out. And yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code.
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Resharper. And don't give it up, C# isn't terribly difficult. Like an English muffin, it just has many nooks and crannies, and is infinitely better with butter(Resharper). I would suggest a functional clone rather than direct conversion, though. It's unlikely that a VB6 program is structured in a way that will work well in C#.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
Nathan Minier wrote:
Resharper.
Gesundheit! Honestly, I love that nagging thing almost as much as I do JavaScript!
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Thanks, I will check it out. And yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code.
Yeah, you'd need to re-think the database schema, what database approach to use, do you keep it as desktop or do you roll out parts of it as web apps, host it on the cloud (AWS/Azure), use SOA and componentize the application structure, using Web API wrapper layers, designing for scalability, etc. Sounds like a really fun project. :thumbsup:
Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
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Delete and rewrite? Seriously - give that a thought: the logical flow is not the same in these two languages. I remember way back, when I was teaching myself C and how, after some time, I finally stopped writing FORTRAN programs with C syntax and started to write real C programs. That goes for your conversion, too. Now, dropping that VB6, is your chance to finally do it right!
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code. Can't delete, too many clients still successfully running their businesses with the VB6 code. :rolleyes:
all out of aphorisms...
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Thanks, I will check it out. And yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code. :omg:
No worries, just wanted to make sure you didn't end up down the rabbit hole :)
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
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Yes I am actually re-writing a functional clone as you suggest. Sorry I did not make that clearer. The Program is around 400,000 lines of code. Can't delete, too many clients still successfully running their businesses with the VB6 code. :rolleyes:
all out of aphorisms...
No real problem: let them keep doing what they're doing. Meanwhile, you write and debug the replacement. Switch over the willing. Note that, down the line, you'll have a much better chance of maintaining your (new) code.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Yeah, you'd need to re-think the database schema, what database approach to use, do you keep it as desktop or do you roll out parts of it as web apps, host it on the cloud (AWS/Azure), use SOA and componentize the application structure, using Web API wrapper layers, designing for scalability, etc. Sounds like a really fun project. :thumbsup:
Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com
He isn't kidding. I would LOVE to get into a project like that!
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Yeah, you'd need to re-think the database schema, what database approach to use, do you keep it as desktop or do you roll out parts of it as web apps, host it on the cloud (AWS/Azure), use SOA and componentize the application structure, using Web API wrapper layers, designing for scalability, etc. Sounds like a really fun project. :thumbsup:
Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com
Converted database schema to SqlServer years ago. The VB6 Code runs fine on SQLServer2016. Using CodeTrigger to create the data access layers. Like it a lot.:cool:
Old men need love and respect too... (Did not believe this when I was 25...
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
What might be useful, if it exists, is a tool that would let you embed C# in VB6 or vice versa allowing you to incrementally rebuild the app one module at a time. THis's dependent on the legacy apps structure not being too horrible; but at 400k lines and worked well enough to be kept alive this long I'm assuming that it did have more software engineering that the average craplication that earned VB6 so much hate over the years.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Resharper. And don't give it up, C# isn't terribly difficult. Like an English muffin, it just has many nooks and crannies, and is infinitely better with butter(Resharper). I would suggest a functional clone rather than direct conversion, though. It's unlikely that a VB6 program is structured in a way that will work well in C#.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
Nathan Minier wrote:
Resharper.
:thumbsup::thumbsup:
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What might be useful, if it exists, is a tool that would let you embed C# in VB6 or vice versa allowing you to incrementally rebuild the app one module at a time. THis's dependent on the legacy apps structure not being too horrible; but at 400k lines and worked well enough to be kept alive this long I'm assuming that it did have more software engineering that the average craplication that earned VB6 so much hate over the years.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
I have been a firm believer in Rokford Lhotka's Business Objects....
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
If all you're doing is converting it then what do you hope to gain? If you're not prepared to rewrite it just leave it as it is.
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Unless it's less than 1000 lines of code, avoid auto-conversion software. I'd strongly recommend re-designing and then re-writing it in C#. The re-design is important because things are done way differently in modern .NET than it was during the VB6 days.
Nish Nishant Consultant Software Architect Ganymede Software Solutions LLC www.ganymedesoftwaresolutions.com
Exactly. Your post is the voice of experience talking.
Jeremy Falcon
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
You clearly are looking to move to C#, but if you really want to shorten the learning curve, consider converting/rewriting to VB.NET. Once you get it to that point, there are tools that can convert to C#. Why VB.NET first? The learning curve is much shorter and at least some VB6 code will work without too much fuss. (beware of the whole int/short/long issues) If you want a direct conversion to VB.NET from VB6, I VB 2008 was the last IDE that had a migration tool.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
Just want to second what Nish said. Also, to plug to our old friend Tom Archer who works at Microsoft, it may be worth getting his book [^]. It's a bit dated now, but in this case that's good. It's a book that's specific about coming from a Visual Studio 6.0 world (from more of a C++ standpoint but still) to help with the fundamentals of C#. After the fundamentals, you can always read up on what's happened with the language lately... which has been a lot.
Jeremy Falcon
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If all you're doing is converting it then what do you hope to gain? If you're not prepared to rewrite it just leave it as it is.
By "Converting" I meant re-writing while keeping all of the same functionality.
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
Given that Resharper has already been mentioned, what other tools would be useful? Well, you might want to look into NDepend[^]. I use this tool a lot to check code quality; it's really useful for showing you dependencies and telling you the cost of those dependencies for instance. Then there's unit testing (whether or not you are a fan of TDD, having well written unit tests is a real bonus). You can go with something like NUnit, the Visual Studio unit tests, xUnit or so on. Speaking of unit testing, as your code grows you might want to invest in NCrunch[^]. It's a great way to see if your code changes have broken any tests without you having to remember to run the tests yourself. There are many other tools you can add as you grow, but I'd give these a look if I were you.
This space for rent
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I am trying to convert my VB6 code to C# (Desktop programs). I am looking for tools that will help increase my efficiency and shorten the learning curve. Any suggestions? Other than "give it up!" :laugh:
If everything seems to be going well you are obviously overlooking someone or something....
Is there an underlying reason to re-write beyond the fact that the code is out of date? You may find, along with Nish's brilliant advice, that you could speed things up by wrapping the old functional parts into an API that can be called by the 'new' version. That way you don't need to rewrite everything from day 1 to get moving. Wrap the API that can be called by the new solution and then you can replace the functionality piece meal rather than all at once.
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