VB Forum / General 2 / January 2004

The answer to your first question is: NO!
...to the second: anything from "A lot!" to "Everything!"

Most of the syntax is similar, *but*!
VB.NET is a new, different Language, it is not just the next
version of VB (as the difference between VB5 and VB6 was).

Different concepts, Different way of thinking, really (to utilize it
fully).

Completely new, and different class library, 20Mb runtime, etc, etc

Depending on how complex your application is, you may be better off
with a complete rewrite for .NET

--
Dag.

Posted and emailed:

No.

Microsoft have a free download of Code Advisor for Visual Basic 6
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/downloads/codeadvisor/default.aspx)
It's an add in for VB6 which will insert a comment for each line in a
VB6 program that needs to be changed to port it to .NET.

Some things you can do in VB6 to help the conversion (even if you end up
re-writing):

Don't use Variants and don't use Optional parameters.

Isolate code that calls APIs in separate functions, they will change
quite a bit.

Explicitly pass ByVal, unless you need ByRef.

Don't use default values, i.e. use Text1.Text, not Text1; use
MyCollection.Item(1), not MyCollection(1), etc.

Form code gets changed a lot. Put as much of the logic as possible in
seperate functions or classes, and call them from the event handlers.
Pass values from controls (i.e. Text1.Text), so your code is working
with ordinary variables as much as possible.

If you use ADO (or other major libraries), keep that code in separate
functions and classes as well.

The good thing about all that is it makes for better coding practices
anyway.

Imagine ripping out any code that refers to forms, controls, APIs, or
libraries. Arrange things so you have something left, because that is
basically what you will be doing, replacing the lot with references to
the Framework.

VB.Net bears very little resemblance to VB; it's a totally different
language. Microsoft publishes a 400 page book detailing the differences, and
makes an analyzer tool available that puts out a diagnostic for almost every
line in your VB6 program. Only the most simple, trivial programs can be
ported with little or no work.