Replacement for VB 6
I have been using VB6 for many years now. It has a relatively stable IDE and VB6 BASIC always
produces a good result in a very quick time. For generating applications
quickly there is little to compare with it. As a learning platform it
is also very good indeed, having an effective and fully featured IDE
whilst not being too complicated in any respect. It is also one of the few
mainstream BASIC packages for Windows that you can rely
on - as there is nothing comparable that will definitely still be in existence in five
years time... (this is 2014). So many competing BASIC flavours have disappeared in the
last few years. VB6 still works and importantly, it has a great wealth of resource
behind it, lots of solutions on the net and vast amounts of sample code to do more or less anything you would like.
VB6
is also BASIC in a way that Visualbasic .NET just isn't. The VB.NET
language is
impenetrable and off-putting to the beginner in a way that VB6 never
was. Before we start discussing VB6 alternatives in depth, let me tell
you who I am with regard to the BASIC language - I am not a beginner in
VB, I started on GWBASIC and worked my way
through Qbasic 4.5 (I still love it and now there is a new
QB64 version
too that runs on Linux, Macs and Windows!), I then progressed onto VB
for DOS and then
Visualbasic 6.
Previously I had scripted using the Digital Command Language on VMS, I
now script in Javascript and
PHP. You can see from this potted history that I am not a 'pure'
programmer but rather a D-I-Y'er that has used VB6 as it really was the
best route for getting a job done.
Being a VB6-er I am very at home in the VB6 IDE and the language is
pretty much what I had come to expect from a BASIC language variant
right from the start. In comparison, the VB.NET variant of BASIC feels a
very unfriendly place for a VB6-er to be. The VB.NET changes are just
too
extreme, the IDE is familiar but different and the language has
undergone bloating
and complication that has made it BASIC-like but definitely not BASIC,
more like C.
My immediate conclusion of the experience of using VB.NET for the first
time was that if I had wanted to learn a language that was C-like then I
should have specifically gone for
the .NET version of C and not VB.NET. This leads me to think that
Microsoft missed the point of
Visualbasic, I think that some snobby lead developer at Microsoft
decided that VB6's
days were numbered and that it was time VB grew up and away from BASIC
altogether. There has always
been programmer snobbery over the use of BASIC and I guess that this had
some sort of role to play in the dismembering of VB6. Of course, I know
that VB6 is COM-based and as a result its days were numbered. We have to
accept it was
due for a major revamp of its technological underpinnings to allow it to
compete with more advanced languages. Some remedial work to fix
shortcomings in the language had to be expected.
Trying to be charitable, with regard to
the .NET syntax changes, it probably saved the design and development
team a
lot of time using the existing .NET framework and I suppose the
syntactic
standardisation seemed a sensible thing to do in itself, keeping all
Microsoft's language offerings within some sort of standard.
I am guessing that this is the route that took us to where we are today with VB.NET:
o different IDE,
o
different COM integration,
o
different syntax,
o
different semantics,
o
different compiler,
o
different debugger,
o
different runtime,
o
different forms engine,
o
different binaries.
So, the end result
though is not really VB6 anymore and so VB.NET is a tool
that isn't worth using by the majority of people who would - and could
have easily picked up VB6 and developed with it. A better approach would have
been a more gentle introduction of
.NET syntax and the whole .NET approach with the same old look and feel
of
the old VB6 IDE- giving VB6 enhanced functionality without alienating users too much...
The VB6 language has been derided by some professional programmers and
while we canm accept their criticisms there is no denying the VB6 IDE
really was first class. The VB.NET IDE is similar to the VB6 IDE but due
to certain major differences you do not feel "at home", one of which is
the overall speed of the IDE. The VB.NET IDE seems very slow to load,
react and run. A lot of work has gone into updating the look and feel,
adding tabs &c but it leaves the .NET IDE feeling more cluttered
than the VB6 IDE. The .NET IDE leaves you feeling annoyed by the
corporate blue slime that the new IDE sports. I'd like as little of
Microsoft's current branding as I can get, no popup feely, touchy
wizards please, just a clear and concise grey and white IDE. The .NET
IDE also changes the familiar locations for tool, options and
configuration all of which slow the transition of the VB6-er from VB6 to
.NET. The following image shows the fairly familiar VB6 IDE layout
retained by VB the Express IDE (a subset of the VB.NET IDE) with my
project undergoing the initial translation.
What would have kept all those VB6 programmers
loyally on-side? - a friendly IDE and backwards syntactic
compatibility in a more compatible VB7, with users understanding the
need to upgrade. As it is, lots of us
were left by the roadside, many of the aspiring 'real' programmers
jumped ship and made the leap successfully to
VB.NET, some saw the future and moved entirely onto 'proper' languages
such as C and its derivatives,
some moved to Java whilst others carried on using VB6 whilst in parallel
trying to
get to grips with VB.NET. Some, like me, recognising my own deficiencies
in VB.NET and not wanting to learn another language from scratch just
stopped coding in BASIC altogether. Was that Microsoft's intention?
Reading everywhere that VB6 was dead, I stopped developing in VB6 and
transferred my limited scripting skills
to javascript and PHP, changing direction away from BASIC altogether.
Now I do very
little coding in compile-able 3GLs. I discovered that javascript is very
similar to basic and I simply transferred such skills that I have to
Javascript. My programming style is still very much VB6 orientated but
it seems to work in javascript. The main problem is the lack of a
similarly productive IDE and runtime environment so that you can code
and test your work "on the fly". I managed to become productive again
using Photoshop as the forms generator in association with a photoshop
script that generated yahoo widgets automatically. With the
Yahoo widget runtime engine (Y!WE) javascript and the
context editor
for windows I was able to create applications for both Macs and
Windows using the same javascript code. This was until Yahoo pulled the
support plug for the widget engine (due to cashflow problems caused by
Yahoo's failure in the search-engine marketplace). The Yahoo widget
engine still works of course and will do so for the forseeable future
but for the purposes of this analysis it is another development dead-end
and we are looking to the
future for a usable alternative.
Having previously given up VB6, I had call to pick up an old basic project that I had
promised to upgrade/complete a long while ago. It was written in VB6 and hasn't
been touched for years. I decided to bring it into the nineteenth
century (it is a steampunk app.) which meant reskinning. However, I needed
to determine the new coding environment, VB.NET, Realbasic, KBasic, Freebasic, Y!WE, which
to choose?
I checked these products out a while back when VB.NET came out, looking
for an alternative but times have changed and some of the competing
Basic offerings are now dead or dying. Some of them have moved on and
are considered usable alternatives. It was time to re-try the
offerings that are still available and see if they are any more usable
than they were first time around.
First of all, I downloaded the free but limited version of VB Express
that Microsoft provide (good for them!), I retried the VB6 to .NET
converter and it just tells me
that loads of my
VB6 code that did this (and that) is now completely incompatible with
.NET. Bearing in mind that in order to to perform this upgrade I have to
learn .NET, largely from
scratch and then convert hundreds of lines of incompatible code I soon
realise I just can't be
bothered, not for a few bug-fixes and a reskin. It could take ten times
longer to learn the new language and the new IDE than it would to
complete in VB6. I've started the .NET
conversion job
just to see how steep the uphill climb would be and I can see from the
work I have done that it is
pointless to continue. I've
learnt enough to know that VB.NET is not for me, being cumbersome and
not
suitable for RAD (Rapid Application Development). In addition, you have
to have the following items installed before you can even think about
installing or running your own VB.NET application:
o The latest Windows Service Pack (34 - 150 MB)
o
Microsoft Installer (1.7MB)
o
Internet Explorer (9 - 30 MB)
o
Microsoft Data Access Components 2.7 (5 MB)
o
.NET Framework (50 MB+).
Imagine having to install all that lot along with your little program on
every single PC that is going to run it. Frankly it is non-starter. On
the positive side though VB.NET does have the Express version which is
free. However, it needs to be free to get anyone interested,
there is no way I would spend the £1,000 or so required for the
professional version nor the £100 for the personal version for this one
project.
On top of this I have to add that I am now always a little suspicious of
MS offerings in that Microsoft always builds-in obsolescence to all
their products. We've seen this with VB6, Windows gadgets and now .NET
which is mooted as having a finite shelf-life due to the adoption of
METRO
in favour of .NET. That must be very frustrating for all those .NET
programmers and another reason for us VB6-ers to avoid .NET. The
replacment is dead!.
Alternative to VB6 - RealBasic - RealBasic was renamed to RealStudio and over the intervening years it has had a significant change allowing it to
create web app.s as well as native o/s executables. The ability to
compile for Mac/Linux/Windows and the web is very attractive indeed. The only
trouble is that the professional version is required to do all the bells and whistles and
it costs close enough to £250.
The Realstudio IDE is not based on that from VB6 and so might take a bit
of getting used to. However, Realstudio may be one of the best bets as
it has an active development team, active forums, many users and a good
product, though the high cost of entry is quite
off-putting. They do have a personal version that creates native
binaries but only for the o/s you have purchased and installed upon.
This slightly defeats the
point of a multi-platform language and it is still £70 which is quite a
lot of cash for a product you
may not actually like. Bear in mind that once you have upgraded to the
professional version and have shelled out a further £250 there is still
the web version to upgrade to at well over £450!. There is a trial
version though which is well worth giving a go, it seems to provide all
the functionality of the professional/web versions but in a time limited
release. The conversion from VB6 to RealBasic will still require time
and effort as the two languages and IDEs are not the same. Test it well
before you go too deep as you may be in for a lot of future expense.
During my testing I found that it was not easy to reskin a RealBasic
app. The controls do not readily take an image nor does the form
background. As my main skill is skinnning then this means that RealBasic
is not for me.
Update on REALStudio - XOJO
RealStudio/Xojo has had its fair share of name changes since its first
incarnation as Crossbasic, RealBasic and then RealStudio. It has now
undergone another name change along with a new IDE and support model. It
has also had a few changes to the licensing model. It is now named
XOJO, a good catchy name. What else has changed? Well, if you bought
RealBasic or RealStudio thinking it was the future for VB/VB6
development then you will probably be kicking yourself. The previously
stated high costs for RealStudio have just jumped by 20-30% and the full
licence cost is now a whopping 800 Euros - you can do the conversion
calculations to £/$ yourselves, the result in either currency may have
you reeling.
The basic desktop version is still approx. 250 euros but to deploy to
anything other than than the desktop requires another 250 euro upgrade
for each additional component. The worst thing about the new licence and
why it is now so expensive, is that the licence lasts for just two
years at which point you'll need to renew the licence - and pay again
every year of course. The 80 euro personal version has also disappeared
from the shopping cart.
The main changes to Xojo are the IDE, improved web and gesture
recognition support for IOS devices such as the iphone/ipad as well as
full documentation. The new IDE means change and hopefully improvement
(I haven't tested it) but some like Xojo because of the language
familiarity to VB6 and as a result they may tend to be people that don't
like change in general. They may not want the newer look nor the IDE's
reported decrease in responsiveness. Oh well, all change!
What's behind these renaming, relicensing changes? It seems that
RealStudio is going upstream as a corporate replacement for VB, now that
Microsoft seems intent on alienating all its developer base. It is
firmly repositioning itself as a professional development environment
for cross platform delivery (still no news yet re: Android as a target
platform)
Xojo is still just as powerful and desirable in all its cross platform
capabilities and cannot be discounted as a major force in the future for
VB-style development, it just isn't for the likes of me - purely due
to the initial and ongoing licence cost. If I had previously chosen
RealStudio as my future development route I'd be pretty annoyed by the
licensing changes and increased costs entailed. I'm glad I didn't.
Alternative to VB6 -
Jabaco
There is another very
interesting project which I had hoped would get off the ground. It was a project
called
Jabaco . It is an IDE which is based upon the VB6 IDE and is very
familar ground for a VB6-er, the language syntax is 95% VB6 and the
code looks like VB6 to me. The rather amazing thing about the code Jabaco produces is
that it is java bytecode which means it runs on any operating system
with the java run-time engine installed. With Jabaco your VB6 knowledge is retained, the code
is multi-platform, the IDE is familar and there is a nice VB6-compatible tool that
beginners can pick up and run with. Sounds great, if only the project transits from beta to live.
If it was not a beta version I would have had my future path laid out in front
of me. However, after a long gestation period it is still in beta and
seems to have gone rather quiet over the
last two years or more. There was a rumour that it was due to be released in
the first
quarter of 2012 but that date has come and gone and after watching the
forums closely for a year or two now now I personally think the project
is absolutely
dead in the water.
Jabaco IDE pictured below, its VB6-like IDE is apparent here. It is slick and useful.
If it is ever released then I suggest it would be the development path
of choice for VB6-ers like myself, that friendly Jabaco IDE is a draw in
itself. If the project was live and not beta I would have to buy it
even if it cost
a few pounds.
You can find
Jabaco here, try it for fun and see, it is really rather
good but I personally wouldn't start coding with it in real life as I suspect you'll be up another dead end.
Alternative to VB6 - FreeBasic
There is another multi-platform tool called
Freebasic,
up until recently
it lacked its own IDE (it now has two open source IDEs still under
development) and is very
similar to QB45/QB64 in that it derives its syntax from Quickbasic but
adds more modern functions to QB. It is a completely free
offering but does not yet quite fit my needs. At the very minimum I need
a
good stable VB6-flavoured IDE and VB6 syntax. Although the IDE I tested
(FBedit) is very good (as can be seen from the image below) the
integration with the basic code is not quite as complete as that of the
fully-integrated VB6 IDE. For example, double-clicking on a control in
the IDE form generator requires you to supply and type in the name of
the procedure to link the button dblclick event to, a little bit
cumbersome for me.One issue is that updates for FreeBasic are few and
far between which often leads you to suspect that the project has
stalled or is slowly dying. Developmet i staking place on the IDEs
though which is a positive.
Due to the fact that some crucial features of VB6 are missing, such as
the ability to skin a form or button control, for my needs it it cannot
yet be considered as the route for a VB6 conversion, although for other
projects it appears to be a very useful tool. The image that follows
shows the impressive IDE for Freebasic, FBedit in dialog generator mode.
Not quite as slick as that for VB6 but familiar, friendly and useful
nonetheless.
Where does this leave me? Up the same gum tree as I was when I dropped
VB6. Jabaco is not ready,
Gambas is a nice BASIC environment but for
Linux only so I'm not even going to review it here.
Alternative to VB6 - Kbasic
Checking around again I see that
Kbasic
is still available but the project has now been abandoned in favour of Q7Basic.
More reasons against - The IDE was considered painful by those that
previously commented on it, it is also a
commercial project and costs money for the windows version. There is a
free Linux version but you need to get your Linux environment sorted
first...then install, trial it, &c &c. For windows users like
myself this is really a non starter. I could try Kbasic but reading
around t'net
something told me that KBasic is sufficiently not VB6 and I really
couldn't be
sure how long it was going to be around given that their site was very
quiet. I don't see people deserting VB6
in droves for KBasic. Also, on my install of Linux Mint, KBasic's IDE
crashes my process and logs me out whenever I try to create a new
project. That doesn't bode well but I can also report that it runs fine
on Windows. Here is a screenshot of the IDE in Windows.
Alternative to VB6 -
Q7BASIC -
is a new BASIC variant product that has only just reached version 1.0
after a log period of gestation. It is heavily based upon a previous
product, KBASIC, where the designer was one of the lead developers. It has
features of both VB.NET and VB6. It uses the very professional open
source QT framework and the QT Designer/IDE which when combined with
Q7BASIC allows you to create C++ native applications for Symbian phones
and Nokia N9 smartphones in addition to the main desktop platforms,
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It compiles Visual BASIC to very fast C++
executables, and requires none of the massive framework that .NET
requires. You can use all the QT API calls that have no equivalent in
Basic and you can also use native C++ classes.
Drawbacks? Well, there is one. Q7BASIC does not yet have its own native
IDE. At the moment Q7BASIC uses the QT IDE and QT designer (pictured
above) as the front-end IDE and forms generator whilst its own native
IDE is developed. The QT tools are very good indeed having been designed
for developers using the QT framework. However professional and slick
the IDE appears to be, it is not tightly integrated into Q7BASIC the way
that the VB6 IDE is to the VB6 code. We had been informed bythe
developer that he was creating a new IDE based upon the KBASIC IDE. The
image of the older KBASIC IDE is an indication of what it might
have been like. Word has recently reached me that the developer has
abandoned the new IDE for the moment as he has run into some serious
technical problems.
Q7BASIC can be found here. The Qt Designer is a good IDE though that will do the job at a pinch.
UPDATE: since this was written the developer has abandoned the KBASIC-like IDE and recommeded
we focus on using the QT IDE instead. Since 2012 the project has been a
little quiet but the developer is still present and online...
The most important thing about Q7basic is that it targets multiple
platforms with one code base. I am keeping a close eye on this one. If
the IDE turns out to be VB6-like and I can be productive in it then it
seems like the natural choice for a VB6-er like myself. The other good
point to Q7BASIC is that it seems to be 'progressing' unlike some other
offerings that have stalled in their development (Jabaco/FreeBasic). It
is good to part of a community that is growing, is actively developing
the product and is making actual headway.
Alternative to VB6 - XWIDGET - There is another left-field
solution that could possibly fill the gap, it is Xwidget(s). Xwidget(s)
is a fully live (as in non-beta) offering for creating widgets on
Windows XP/Vista/7 & 8. Why is it a solution for Vb6-ers looking for
a
replacement?
Well, Xwidget is not just a widget engine, it is also a
fully fledged and advanced IDE supporting javascript and vbscript. So if
you are a Vbscripter then your skills are enhanced by a fully
graphical IDE which is designed for the job. Xwidget(s) was written in
Pascal and is a non-.NET application. This means that Xwidget is a
compact and fast running application. I am a widget developer writing
mini-apps in javascript as well as a VB6-er, so it makes good sense to
port my skills to this new IDE/engine.
Previously, I had promised that I would give it a go and let you
know the results of my labour, well here is the result of my investigation:
-oOo-
If the application is a heavyweight app then continue your search for a
VB6 replacement language and look elsewhere as Xwidget may not be for
you. If your application is lightweight-ish I can only recommend using
your VB6 skills to code for a javascript runtime engine. A dood thing
about javascript is that it is extremely portable and upgradeable. I
seem to have gravitated towards using javascript runtime engines such as
the Yahoo Widget Engine, the Xwidget engine and QML/javascript on
Linux. The main reasons being portability and suitability for Rapid
Application Development. If the particular engine you have chosen should
ever become obsolete, you simply port your javascript code to another
engine. Similar javascript engines are appearing on different platforms
and should continue to do so as one or other platform gains popularity.
I let the engine do the graphics handling and the system level API calls
and the rest of the coding is done in straight-forward javascript. My
code is SO similar to my old VB code style that it seems a very familiar
place to be. Javascript is a full OO language and is also an up-to-date
place to be.
The Xwidget engine is such an engine, it uses javascript or vb6 syntax
so VB6-ers will be familiar with the code syntax. There is a built-in
IDE but bear in mind that it is not in any way the equal of the old VB6
IDE. Lower your expectations and you will not be disappointed.
Fig 9.0 The widget IDE in full screen mode
The Xwidget engine is relatively mature and appears to be working well.
The development environment is however quite immature but it works and
will no doubt improve. The following image shows the IDE complete with
graphical widget in the GUI designer, that has a code window, some
syntactic checking and xwidget 'cores' that provide interfaces to system
calls and other functionality for weather, time &c.
My apps tend to be based upon high resolution images that provide a
specific UI/UX. That is why the widget approach works for me. I design
an UI/UX in a day to a week and when done - at the touch of a button I
can build a working app. No working code behind it of course but it is
satisfying when a design converts in an instant to a program that
actually runs. I use Photoshop as the basis for this which is a superb
Graphics IDE. The way I do it as follows:
Due to the immaturity of the Xwidget IDE I choose to design the
application using Photoshop giving each object on the design its own
photoshop layer, then I use readily available scripts to convert the
design to XML with each layer becoming a separate image described within
the XML. The result is a working widget that actually runs on the
desktop giving the look/feel of the final app. It will have a
preferences screen and be moveable.
This is all done in the old Yahoo widget engine (hold on before you pass
judgement). The above process is almost RAD resulting in minimal XML
code, no javascript yet - but a working program.
Then I add the javascript 'flesh'. First, I add all my standard code
with 'include' statements using the code editor of my choice. Then I
start adding any new javascript functionality I am intent on developing.
Now, here is the strange thing, I use the Yahoo javascript engine to
test and debug the program as I go (re-running the program can be done
at the drop of a hat and is quick to load/start/debug. It is important
not to be waiting all the time while the IDE debugs your code - like the
slow .NET IDE).
You
are asking why I am using the yahoo widget engine even when Yahoo have
abandoned it? Well, it works, is more elegant and the scripts exist to
help develop image-rich apps. It also creates widgets that work on
Macs... The next pertinent question is why use another engine when I am
developing for Xwidget? Well, the Xwidget engine IDE is simply not yet
fit for purpose when you compare it with an IDE such as that for VB6.
For example the code text size is 12 point and cannot be changed, it
means you cannot view your code without maximising the Xwidget IDE
window. The syntactic checking is sometimes less than useful. Like the
proverbial curate's egg, the IDE is good in parts - but immature. The
development team numbering only 2-3 developers in total have other
priorities such as porting the Xwidget runtime engine to Android. They
are simply working on the stuff that interests them.
Fig 10.0 The widget IDE in windowed mode - it looks OK but it is hard to use.
So instead of using the Xwidget IDE I choose to use photoshop for
design, a script to convert the design, the old 'Context' editor for
code editing the XML and javascript, and the yahoo widget engine for
testing and debugging. Only then do I port to other engines.
When the first RAD widget is complete, I port the code to the Xwidget
engine (which uses pretty much the same javascript syntax). The Xwidget
has javascript which is very compatible to the Yahoo widget engine with
only a few minor changes. Any system calls will need to be modified but
the first YWE/Xwidget conversion soon teaches you the differences. Note:
the documentation for xwidgets is patchy and insufficient but there is
an active forum where questions can be answered.
When the Xwidget is complete you have a program that runs on Windows XP,
Vista (hic), Windows 7 and 8 (hic). It will also display on Android
though most of the functionality will be missing as only a minimal
amount of system calls have been replicated, also your widget will have
been designed for mouse operation and not gesture-style actions such as
those that are commonly found on Android applications. Expect more
functionality here in the near future. At the end you will also have a
widget that works on Windows and Mac OS/X using the Yahoo widget engine,
so you are almost a multi-platform developer with one set of core code!
The above is an Xwidget that I have created from one of my Yahoo
widgets. I used the process as set out above. If you go to my steampunk
widgets page you can view the widgets that have been created for various
other engines. There is quite a bit of code behind most of them. The
UI/UX is always unique but even if you don't like my stuff, ignore my
designs, think of your own UI design being the thing that sets your app.
apart from everyone else's. This is why I now design widget apps rather
than more serious apps using a 'proper' IDE and a grown-up language
such as c# or VB.NET. These days the look and feel must be unique and
widget apps lend themselves to graphical interfaces in a way that more
traditional programming languages do not. Javascript is a full object
based programming language and you can use any IDE/editor you wish. It
is a grown-up language. Widget development is the way to go, though many
have not yet realised it.
Alternative to VB6 -
REACTOS - Why ReactOS? Reactos
is an operating system and not a replacement for VB6 - So how does a new
operating system help us in any way whatsoever in a search for a VB6
replacement? Actually, it doesn't help much now but it might well do in
the future.
ReactOS intends to be an open source, binary compatible version of
windows NT. If ReactOS ever reaches a live state (it is still in alpha
but is being actively developed) then it could be a stable platform for
VB6 for the next 5-10 years without worrying about the vagaries of
Microsoft's future corporate policies. At the moment getting VB6 working
on
ReactOS is right at the bottom of the developer team's priorities. The
Reactos developers are an interesting bunch, not always as communicative
and as
open to suggestions as you'd like but their priorities are different to
yours - to get the
o/s out of alpha and into beta. Don't expect VB6 to work on ReactOS any
time soon but when it does it may well the o/s platform of choice.
Alternative to VB6 - PowerBASIC -
This product seems to the basic of choice for many serious developers. I
have no experience of it yet as it is a commercial product and the owner
of the product was not prepared to let me have a copy of the product
for evaluation...
Hearsay is
that it runs very fast indeed and is a very stable product. PowerBASIC
has a simple IDE which is basically just a source code text editor with
syntax highlighting. VB6 users will expect more than this and although
there is a graphically based forms designer available as a separate
product the two don't quite match the quality of the VB6 native IDE. I
think this might put off a lot of VB6-ers who are looking to move onto a
product that will allow them to maintain the same level of
productivity. The website is very old fashioned and out-of-date in style
and expected content, giving it the impression of an older possibly
obsolete product. The owner needs to move his site into the 21st century
and make thhis version of Basic available for evaluation purposes.
Otherwise why would anyone want to buy it without knowing how good it
is.
Alternative to VB6 -
PureBasic - More on this soon.
Alternative to VB6 -
Liberty BASIC - More on this soon. 3rd party IDE pictured below:
Conclusion:
So, what did I do instead of the above? I picked up the VB6 IDE and even though I haven't
used it in years I was productive in just 30 minutes. The IDE is familiar,
well-laid out and VB6 just provides. I have been very
critical of Microsoft's products over the years (Internet Explorer, Word, Frontpage) but here is a Microsoft
product that I really like. How daft were they to abandon it? Microsoft
would say that they didn't abandon it but merely improved it. That's not
strictly true, VB.NET is acknowledged by all as a new language and even
Microsoft
states there is no upgrade path from VB6.
So, having picked up the VB6 IDE, pictured above, what did I do? It may
sound daft but I have decided to upgrade my old project in VB6, the IDE
feels warm and friendly, it is quick
to debug, compile in, the results are good and I am coding again. VB6
is great, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Here it is, in all its
glory, skinnable, fully functional, quick and easy to use.
Here is a resized screenshot of the finished program showing just what VB6 can produce with a little help from photoshop.
One of the reasons I wrote this article is to document my search for the
right platform, I've updated the article as my search has proceeded.
Whilst writing it a lot has changed, one thing that has is Microsoft's
commitment to VB6, it seems to have been confirmed that VB6 will
continue to work under windows 7 and now Windows 8. The IDE may have a
few issues but VB6 programs will continue to work and the runtime will
continue to be shipped with Windows 8.
Here is the link to Microsoft's statement on the matter:
I keep my eyes open with regard to VB6 and its possible alternatives and
I regularly update this article. In so doing, I have become quite
astonished by the "head of steam" that seems to
have been generated recently behind VB6 and by its loyal users. It seems
that people (even windows users) are realising that the "Microsoft way"
is not the only way and that there are actually other ways of doing
things. I've been keeping my eyes open for a long while now and the
"driving wind" behind alternatives is greater than it has ever been.
Microsoft doesn't seem to be aware of it or perhaps it is blind to the
outside world. Reversion to VB6 as a potential development platform for
the future is one thing that I see emerging from Microsoft's Windows 8
car crash.
I reckon that if there is a chance for a VB6 alternative and a
compatible and familiar IDE, then the time for it is has arrived or is
arriving. There seems to be a lot of disillusionment from users with
Microsoft's new NT6 GUI and also from Developers across the board
regardless of which Microsoft technology they are familiar with. People
are still loathe to drop the Windows environment they are familiar and
productive with - but no longer expect Microsoft to provide it.
Be well, beloveds, and be grateful.
___________________________________________
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