Member Avatar for red_evolve

Greetings.

I've just got a project to do. The project is going to be a desktop application.
It has to be in VB - but I have yet to decide whether to do it with VB6 or VB.net.
As I read on some of the threads in VB.net, I guess it would be worthwhile to do it in VB.net instead.
I have used VB6, would not say I'm good.

I did a search on Google to search for some good tutorials around.
I've got this:
and some others. I hope some of you would shed some light for me to follow. Which tutorial is good? :-|
Thanks.

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Short practical guide for choosing VB6 vs VB.NET (desktop app)

This thread already has useful direction: and point toward learning resources and books, and calls attention to language and control-model differences. The core decision comes down to two things: project constraints (deadline, target machines, existing VB6 code) and long‑term goals (maintenance, new features, reuse of modern libraries). VB.NET means a managed runtime and a much larger standard library; VB6 can be faster to deliver for very small, throwaway tools or locked-down environments.

Quick checklist to apply to the current project:

  • Timeline and deployment: if target machines cannot get the appropriate runtime or installation is forbidden and speed is critical, favor the legacy toolchain; otherwise plan for the runtime dependency.
  • Maintenance and future-proofing: longer-lived projects benefit from the newer platform’s libraries, debugging, and safer memory model.
  • Reuse and interop: existing VB6 components can often be reused, but expect wrapping/interop and testing.
  • Team skill and third‑party controls: pick the option that minimizes risk given available experience and required UI/controls.

Recommended approach (practical, low-risk)

  • Build a very small prototype of the key app flow on the newer platform to reveal deployment and API surprises early.
  • Use a focused book or two plus the official platform reference for day-to-day questions, and follow hands‑on tutorials to learn the IDE and debugging features (echoing ’s advice to learn by doing).
  • When migrating existing VB6 code, treat automatic conversion as a starting point: manual cleanup, testing and rework of UI/event patterns are normally required (this follows ’s point about differences in object/property organization).

Cautions and forum etiquette

  • Expect differences in control properties, object models and packaging—allocate time for that.
  • For specific, narrow problems (migration errors, deployment packaging, control behavior), separate forum threads help others find and answer the issue; keep this thread for the high‑level decision and learning-roadmap discussion.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for red_evolve

Greetings.
Thanks, slade.
But, mind telling me why did you recommend me to start on that?
Actually, I have done some reading on that site some months ago when I was attached to a project using VB6.

Member Avatar for big_k105

i have heard there isnt very many good tuts online for vb.net as of yet. so if you wanted to learn vb.net your best bet is to buy a book. i will get the links to the ones ppl have recommended to me to use.

Professional Vb.NET
another vb.net book

i have heard that vb.net is a good thing to move to but i guess untill you have the .net framework stuff down you wont get the full power of it. but im not sure as i have jst started looking at vb.net myself :)

Member Avatar for Slade

books are the way to go.... Vb .net isn't too hard to move to from vb6 I found, but you say you haven't had much experience there. Just do what I did, just go out on a limb, don't expect to learn it all in one day, that just isn't going to happen. I work with programmers that will never go back from .net, and neither will I.


Anyways, it all depends on what you wanna use it for. Oh and the "sams teach yourself" are good books to learn from :).

Slade

Member Avatar for red_evolve

Greetings.
Thanks for the information, guys.
Yeah, there aren't many good tutorials for vb.net around.
But I'll be on the lookout for that in the mean time.
I'll be on the lookout for a book too some time soon.
Err, what slade has said is true, I think I better brush up on my skills in VB6 first.
Btw, do I post questions here when I encounter problems in VB on this same thread that I have started? Or start a new one?

P.s. Just don't feel like crowding the forum with more and more threads. :D

Member Avatar for red_evolve

Greetings.
Sigh sigh. Assume I've never asked that last question.
LOL. Staring at my own post after posting the last one only did I realised that this thread belongs to VB.net. LOL.

Member Avatar for Slade

lol, its cool. I do that alot.

Member Avatar for cypher

If you know VB 6 pretty well, then making the switch to VB.NET isn't really hard at all. Especially if you've ever tinkered with C/C++ or Visual C++ (especially VC++). Just keep a few things in mind. Everything in VB.NET is an object, even your string and integer variables. Also, nothing has a "Caption" property. The collection class is used profusely throughout VB.NET to support controls, like the TreeView, that have multiple items. And finally, don't get frustrated when you can't find a property that you were used to. Most of the time, it's still there, just under a different name.

Good luck! Once you get the hang of VB.NET, you'll trash VB6 (ok well, maybe you'll keep it around like i do just for having to fire up quick, easy things).

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