VBA v VB .net

[MartinSomerville]

Hello.

 

Done a few searches on internet but couldn't find the answer I was after quickly.

 

I have been playing with AutoLisp and VisualLisp (to a lesser extent) and feel reasonably comfortable with them.

 

Haven't done much at all (or anything really - just a couple of tuts on afra) with VBA.

 

There is talk about VB .NET being used with future (2010) acad releases.

 

I was just wondering if I was to spend time learning this next step, is it a case of me chosing either VBA or VB .NET. I am not sure if they do the same thing.

 

Or do I need to learn both.

 

The whole VB, VBA, VB .NET AUTOCAD .NET is a little confusing to me.

 

Sorry for the ignorance but if someone could give me a brief overview (or point me to a site) that'd be great. Then I'll have an idea on which way go in terms of learning.

 

cheers

martin

[SEANT]

VBA has the same language syntax and underlying architecture as VB6 – the standalone programming language. That architecture, however, has not progressed over the past few years and will not get the necessary upgrade to accommodate 64bit computing.

 

Instead, Microsoft has developed the new .NET architecture. This advancement is designed to replace VBA/VB6, and will offer more capability with regard to 64bit, MultiCore/MultiThreaded, access to core Windows functionality via .NET Framework, etc.

 

The VB.NET Language syntax will be similar to VBA/VB6, so the transition should not be too difficult. It is not likely, however, that code copied directly from one format to the other would work. Some modification is required.

 

Edit:

 

I should also mention that VBA (and VisualLisp) accessed AutoCAD through COM/ActiveX.

 

 

VB.NET’s primary access to AutoCAD will be via the Managed ARX API, though can be setup to make use of the older COM/ActiveX conduit.

[MartinSomerville]

Thanks!!

 

So it looks like I should bypass VBA/VB and try and learn VB.NET.

 

Also, I was talking to my workmate who also mentioned VSTA

 

this what he said:

 

Dunno how old that is but Microsoft have a new language called VSTA that is most likely to be new long term replacement of VBA in Acad post 2010

Austodesk have a .NET developers guide in the making but I think the plan is eventually to go for VSTA because you can code in VB or C# using VSTA

VSTA is Visual Studio Tools for Applictions.

 

But looks like they don't plan to drop VBA support for a while

 

From discussion groups;-

We will continue to support VBA now and into the foreseeable future in the AutoCAD product line. We are putting together a transition plan to .NET and VSTA and expect to support VBA until our research shows most customers have migrated their code (which could take years.)

We are offering VBA for download on our website - which will appear once the product officially ships. You can download the product and install and deploy it within your organization. Your VBA code should work just as before.