Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart

Chapter 6. Moving from VB 6 to VB 2005

To take the plunge and move your current VB 6 application to VB 2005 requires more than just a cursory overview of the capabilities of the language. Each type of application currently deployed in your environment warrants different considerations. In this chapter, I will discuss some of the factors you need to consider before upgrading your current application to VB 2005. I will also discuss various upgrade strategies that you can take should you decide to use VB 2005. This chapter will end with a look at using the Code Advisor for Visual Basic 6.0 and the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard to upgrade your VB 6 application to VB 2005.

Migrate, Replace, Rewrite, or Reuse?

Once an organization has decided that a certain application no longer meets its business needs and that doing nothing is no longer an option, modernization comes into play.^[1] There are at least four ways to approach the modernization of a VB application that should be considered. The deciding factors are:

• The quality of the application code

• The business value of the application

Quality in this case is about the suitability of the application in business and technical terms and should be assessed in accordance with the following parameters:

Current effectiveness of application

Generated errors, number of workarounds, and level of support needed.

Stability and completeness of core business rules

Will the application logic remain the same in the foreseeable future? An underlying assumption in ...