Converting adp file to VB 6

[Deodiaus]

I was thinking of converting my ADP files to use VB projects.
What are the pros/cons of doing such a thing?
One big pro is that I would be able to easily edit and keep track of
my VB files?
What are the downsides?
How long would it take to convert such a beast?
Are there any automated tools which do such a thing?

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

VB6 is no longer sold by Microsoft at all. You can still find a copy on
sites like eBay; however, I doubt the logic of converting an application to
something that is no longer sold nor really supported anymore by MS.

A better option would be to convert to .NET. If you want to know about the
pros/cons of doing this, I suggest that you start the conversion of one of
your ADP projects. Working on something is always the best way of learning
about something.

 

[deodiaus]

Ok, I don't want to convert to VB.NET because I am not sure that
the .Net framework is going to be installed.
If it were up to me, then I would choose Java, but it is not up to
me. I have this ugly wart on my ass and I want it off.
However that is not my question. I have VB 6 installed on my machine.
The real question is how to convert from ADP to VB anything.
Ideally, in under 2 hours using some cheap tool.

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Your original question was « What are the pros/cons of doing such a
thing? »; so I answered you about that.

As to your second question - which is more or less irrelevant in my mind if
the answer to the first question is far from beeing positive: to my
(limited) knowledge, such a tool doesn't exist. However, if you search the
internet or ask to a VB6 newsgroup, it's possible that you might find one or
at least, that you might find something that will be able to perform a
partial conversion.

Personally, I seriously doubt that you will find anything capable of doing
that, wheither or not this tool to be cheap and/or capable of doing this job
in less than 2 hours; so I'm afraid that you will have to use your ten
little fingers to do that.

Finally, as to know if the .NET framework will be installed on a target (or
client) machine; don't forget that you will be faced with the same problem
with Java: any Java program require its particular runtime to be installed
and these are far from beeing small.

 

[deodiaus]

Any guesses on how long it would take to convert a basic sample ADP
project to a VB project?
Yes, I know it scales as a function of the classes and such, but I was
wondering how long something basic takes. Are there any sample adp
projects which have been ported, so that that I could see what all is
involved and to what extent it is obvious?

 

[William Vaughn \(MVP\)]

It's hard to say. It really depends on how the original application was
built and the skill of the developer(s)--both the original developer and the
developer doing the conversion. It's like asking how long would it take to
remodel a house. If you ask a plumber, it might take considerably more time.
A simple application where you are simply implementing forms over data
should be done in a day or so. As Sylvain said, I don't know of any tools
that can magically convert an application. I certainly would not consider
converting to VB6 at this point in time. You're simply trading one set of
issues for another. Virtually all systems will have the Framework
installed--if not it's a painless install. It's part of Windows Update so
it's probably already there.

--
__________________________________________________________________________
William R. Vaughn
President and Founder Beta V Corporation
Author, Mentor, Dad, Grandpa
Microsoft MVP
(425) 556-9205 (Pacific time)
Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server (7th Edition)
____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

If you want to have a guess, you should ask someone who knows about VB6. In
my opinion, the best place to find such a person would be in a VB6
newsgroup.

--
Sylvain Lafontaine, ing.
MVP - Technologies Virtual-PC
E-mail: sylvain aei ca (fill the blanks, no spam please)


Any guesses on how long it would take to convert a basic sample ADP
project to a VB project?
Yes, I know it scales as a function of the classes and such, but I was
wondering how long something basic takes. Are there any sample adp
projects which have been ported, so that that I could see what all is
involved and to what extent it is obvious?

 

[argusy]

If you want to have a guess, you should ask someone who knows about VB6. In
my opinion, the best place to find such a person would be in a VB6
newsgroup.

Ummmm.....
What sort of newsgroup do you think we're in?
I don't think there's any newsgroup dedicated to just VB6, but surely
this newsgroup qualifies for 'classic' visual basic (VB1 to VB6)

Then again, you could have a smile on your dial, seeing who reacts to
what you wrote, an' jus' stirrin' th' pot a bit <grin>

 

[bcap]

Ummmm.....
What sort of newsgroup do you think we're in?
I don't think there's any newsgroup dedicated to just VB6, but surely this
newsgroup qualifies for 'classic' visual basic (VB1 to VB6)

Then again, you could have a smile on your dial, seeing who reacts to what
you wrote, an' jus' stirrin' th' pot a bit <grin>

Sylvain is in microsoft.public.access.adp.sqlserver, as am I. Check out the
crossposting.

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Yeah, I've just noticed myself that this thread has been crossposted to both
m.p.access.adp.sqlserver and m.p.vb.database.

To the OP: the fact that no one from m.p.vb.database has answered you yet
should give you a strong indication of the level of support that you'll get
from now on for VB6. VB6 is now mostly a thing of the past and will keep
dwindle down on a dayly basis.

 

[Schmidt]

To the OP: the fact that no one from m.p.vb.database has
answered you yet should give you a strong indication of the
level of support that you'll get from now on for VB6.

Nahh - the vb.db-group is alive as I see it - though not much
traffic here (never was in the last years - seems all VB6-DB-
questions are asked and already answered ... it's all archived
on Google.Groups now ... <g>.

The reason no VB6-user replies (myself included), is probably
more caused by ... ehm, having no answer to that specific
question (adp-VB6-converter-tool? ... WTF? ;-).

VB6 is now mostly a thing of the past and will keep
dwindle down on a dayly basis.

That's what everyone says, except the VB6-community
of course. ;-)

Olaf

 

[argusy]

Sylvain is in microsoft.public.access.adp.sqlserver, as am I. Check out the
crossposting.

Duh! Graham....
(Had the header turned off, didn't I)

 

[Jaccess]

diodiaus, just to throw a few cents into this, I have done in the past
extensive work with VB 6 (5,3), and have done such jobs. I don't know what a
basic sample of an ADP is so, I have to say to you, as the developer of this
to consider the basic design for a VB 6 model.

Data Access\Broker Layer: This would be a DLL encapsulating the;
-Connection Class
-Recordset Class
-Command Class
Handy if you have already constructed this DLL.

Maybe a 'strong-typed' data broker class.....? Maybe not.

Business Logic Layer(s): From 1 to many DLLs and lots of classes;
-That refer to the above Data Layer.

Interface UI, Maybe report generator too, with an interface helper.
- At this level you may require implementing Win32APIs. Handy if you have
already got this class.
User forms in Access are a little more than slightly different to the VB 6
ones, just to add some time to the time estimate.

Link it all in to create your application. While we're at it, you may need a
loging-messaging class too.

Look at your ADP and see what you can port over, and what you will have to
contruct from the ground up.

Like others have stated in the post it may not be worth heading towards the
VB 6 path. I now see why I have not seen such conversion tools as well.

Just speaking from my experiences. Not trying to turn you off it, if you're
that way inclined (as I), it can be fun, you'll learn a lot too.

- Jaccess

Any guesses on how long it would take to convert a basic sample ADP
project to a VB project?
Yes, I know it scales as a function of the classes and such, but I was
wondering how long something basic takes. Are there any sample adp
projects which have been ported, so that that I could see what all is
involved and to what extent it is obvious?

 

[bcap]

Duh! Graham....
(Had the header turned off, didn't I)

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

The process of conversion of an ADP project to VB6 would be very similar to
the process of converting an ordinary MDB database file (frontend + backend)
to VB6. Both process should take about the same time and involve many of
the same steps.

 

[Jaccess]

Something you could of told Deodiaus in the first place.

- Jaccess

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Something you could of told Deodiaus in the first place.

A lot could have been said to Deodiaus in the first place; in fact, even a
whole book could only partially cover the subject. However, I don't see the
point in putting to much energy and effort - for free - into something
that's essentially a dead-end in my opinion.

 

[Michael Cole]

Yeah, I've just noticed myself that this thread has been crossposted
to both m.p.access.adp.sqlserver and m.p.vb.database.

To the OP: the fact that no one from m.p.vb.database has answered you
yet should give you a strong indication of the level of support that
you'll get from now on for VB6. VB6 is now mostly a thing of the
past and will keep dwindle down on a dayly basis.

To build on what Schmidt said, perhaps before having a go at VB6, consider
the fact that the only reason that people from the adp group have responded
is that they know what VB is, wheras VB users may have no idea what adp is.

Which probably says a hell of a lot more about the level of respective
support that you can get for each product...

 

[Michael Cole]

The process of conversion of an ADP project to VB6 would be very
similar to the process of converting an ordinary MDB database file
(frontend + backend) to VB6. Both process should take about the same
time and involve many of the same steps.

Well, given that VB is not a database, it would be a bit difficult to
convert an MDB file to VB. Front end, sure, not a major problem. Access
uses VBA as a programming language so apart from some minor issues, it
should mostly port straight across.

Now if I knew what the hell ADP was, I might even be able to give an answer
to the OP's question...

 

[deodiaus]

I see this tool offered
http://www.microtools.us/
The problem I have is whether or not to believe the marketing &
guarentee.
A lot of things are advertised, but don't work as well as stated.