Need Guidance in Creating a VB.NET App

Hello,

First, some quick background info. I have been developing VB apps for some time now, and a few years ago I created a VBA application within AutoCAD. This app would read & update text within title blocks in an AutoCAD drawing. I also added the ability to "spool" prints of these drawings to a plotter que. This routine was called by an ACAD button I customized to load the application & run it.

I have been asked to create a new app that does this using VBdotNET. I did some research on how to do this by downloading examples & demonstrations from the AutoDesk site. After some experimenting, I could see two ways to accomplish this: by either creating a DLL that can be opened by using the "netload" command, or creating an executable program file.

Based on the brief description I have given above, what would be the best way to do this? I could see minor limitations of either method that might cause me some issues. For example, since the "netload" command isn't transparent, I would have to create a small AutoLISP routine to load my specific app & run it.

I would appreciate any suggestions from people with more experience than me. Also, I would appreciate any guidance in how to create the app I have described above.

Thanks in advance!