[AccessD] MS Access to VB6 or VB.net

Jim Lawrence (AccessD) accessd at shaw.ca
Mon Sep 13 16:21:29 CDT 2004


Hi Jim:

I have been wandering around the .NET pool for some time. This fall I have
finally made the commitment to take up diving. A full POS and part
accounting package by Christmas. It will be either sink or swim on this one.

I do remember the original Access 1, a good start but a long way from a full
product. I do not think until A97 we had a product to crow about...a good
five years from start to market acceptance. .Net will probably be the same
and I believe M$ is committed... Microsoft never had free leatures, gave
away documentation and copies of standard FP.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 10:56 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: RE: [AccessD] MS Access to VB6 or VB.net


Brett,

<<When evaluating dev tools for an upcoming project, it became apparent to
me that the new OO capabilities of .NET would be worth the learning
curve.>>

  I was in the same place several years ago.  .Net was brand new and not
much was around. I also wanted to get a standalone .EXE, get away from
reference headaches with Access, etc.  So I picked up VFP (Visual FoxPro).
I must say I was disappointed at first because so many people I spoke with
raved about it.  While it had very strong database and OO capabilities, some
of it was just plain junk.  That's changed quite a bit as Microsoft has
continued to add to the product.  It has released two major versions since
then with a third on the way.  It too had a steep learning curve.

<<Judging by the developer journals and 3rd party tool developers, I
wouldn't say that it has been "poorly received".  It's getting tough to
find VB6 articles in print or online.>>

  I said that in light of the fact that .Net has been around for several
years now and yet very few shops use it or are just getting into using it.
Even Microsoft has said publicly that the response has been poor.  They had
to back off the whole .Net centric campaign and have refocused once again.
And while that may have born some fruit, it seems for the most part that
.Net is still not main stream.

<<I've already gotten into the "which is better" war on this list, so I'll
save it this time.  However, after a week long boot camp course, I
firmly believe that it's the best tool for the job, regardless of how
many other developers agree.>>

  Been there done that<g> and this isn't about that.  I was mainly curious
if .Net was catching on down in the trenches or still ho-hum.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Brett Barabash
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 9:41 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: RE: [AccessD] MS Access to VB6 or VB.net


#2.
When evaluating dev tools for an upcoming project, it became apparent to
me that the new OO capabilities of .NET would be worth the learning
curve.

Judging by the developer journals and 3rd party tool developers, I
wouldn't say that it has been "poorly received".  It's getting tough to
find VB6 articles in print or online.

I've already gotten into the "which is better" war on this list, so I'll
save it this time.  However, after a week long boot camp course, I
firmly believe that it's the best tool for the job, regardless of how
many other developers agree.


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Dettman
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 7:45 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: RE: [AccessD] MS Access to VB6 or VB.net


Richard,

  I think rather then the worrying about the front end, you should be
considering the BE and the technology behind it.  However without
knowing a lot more about your app, it's hard to say if that's critical
or not.  Also, you didn't mention why you were considering moving from
developing the FE in Access itself.

  As for VB.Net, I've been ignoring it for the most part for some of the
same reasons you outline (distribution) plus the fact that it has a
large learning curve.  I can't see spending the time on that when I
already have tools at my disposal that do the job fine. And I'm not the
only one.
Overall it seems that .Net has been poorly received by the development
community.  Most developers I know are happy (for the most part) with
what they already have/know.  Of course a lot depends on the types of
apps you develop and the end users you target.  I think most of us on
this list are on the smaller end of the scale developing typical
business type apps for 50 concurrent users or less.

  How about a quick un-scientific poll?

1. Do you currently develop in .Net (you know it and use it on a regular
basis)
2. Are you learning .Net for a project (your just starting out with it
and have done a small project or two).
3. Don't know anything about it, but are interested in it.
4. Could care less.

  I'm firmly at #4 for the moment.

Jim Dettman
(315) 699-3443
jimdettman at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Griffiths,
Richard
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 5:20 AM
To: AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: [AccessD] MS Access to VB6 or VB.net


Hi Group

After advice and thoughts.  I have a piece of commercial software
(library s/ware for schools) written with A97 FE and BE.  I am about to
rewrite and can't decide over VB6 FE/A2K(DAO) BE or VB.net FE / A2K
BE.(reason for change to VB as opposed to MS Access is that the VB
footprint will be smaller 1-2mb [easier to email/download and manage
than my 12-13 mb Access FE]).

On one hand the VB6 route will be quicker to develop (no learning curve)
and I think to deploy. On the other hand VB.Net is the future (most
likely!!)(and learning and developing in this will be more interesting
and will spur me on) but I am concerned (mainly) about deployment as my
users are not very IT literate and their pc's (at this time) are not
up-to-date (some W95 many W98 32-64mb ram - I know .net is no go on
W95).  So deployment of .net requires not only the framework but they
need minimal Data Access 2.7, IE 5.01, Windows installer etc also
installed.  But 6-12 months down the line I don't want to be in the
posistion that having used
VB6 to then consider rewriting in Vb.net.

What I can't gauge here is how significant these issues are (and any
other issues).  So what I am hoping to get here is how you would
approach this conundrum - tried and tested VB6 or new VB.net?

Thanks

Richard


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