VB.NET etc.

[dbroada]

as I find VB far easier to use than LISP many of my office routines have been writen in VBA. As all reports suggest I should now be using VB.NET I have downloaded the free microsoft offering and am begining to get to grips with the interface but this has led to a couple of questions.

 

Our parent company AutoCAD standard is for AutoCAD 2008. Am I able to use VB.NET on 2008? Most of the help I can find implies VB.NET is only usable from release 2009 but I can't be sure.

 

And if I do ever port any of my routines from VBA to .net, how do I actually use them? I haven't got far enough yet but can anyone give me an example/point me to an example. The search on this forum is a little lacking for short search terms.

[NBC]

From my own (extremely) limited understanding of VB.net the main outputs from it are .dll files. These are used within AutoCAD by NETLOADing them in; in a similar way to how APPLOAD works.

[dbroada]

Thanks Jon, your understanding is in advance of mine

 

Have you created any dlls for AutoCAD yet?

[NBC]

Nope, I'm not even allowed to download Visual Studio at work, let alone create anything with it.

Heck, they haven't even installed the VBA module for AutoCAD on anyone elses machine apart from mine !

So at this moment in time, there is little point (aside from a personal one) in me getting my fingers dirty with vb.net

 

Also, we have more versions of LT than we do the full version of AutoCAD so any programming/customising I achieve has to be able to be run on LT, so I'm severely limited to created scripts/action recorder/menus/tool palettes to maintain company standards !

 

[dbroada]

if we are in rant mode, I don't think I'm allowed to either! I was thinking that with our current work load it might be a good time to investigate, especially as our parent company are currently evaluating a global update to all seats. I don't want to find that nothing will run suddenly. (The update will probably be to 2009 in 5 years time though.)

 

At least we got the VBA module loaded but we are extremly short of the blocks they supply with electrical. ONLY blocks sourced from our parent company were included. No Rittal, no wiedmuller, no so basically not much use. Fortunatley I got a set of symbols at the training course I went on.

 

end of mini rant

[Tyke]

Try these links for some general information:

 

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2010/ENU/AutoCAD%20.NET%20Developer%27s%20Guide/index.html

http://download.autodesk.com/media/adn/DevTV_Introduction_to_AutoCAD._NET_Programming/

 

 

and these for migrating VBA code to VB.NET:

 

http://download.autodesk.com/media/adn/DevTV_VBA_Migration/english/DevTV_VBA_To_VBdotNet_Migration_English.html

http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2010/02/updated-devtv-autocad-vba-to-vbnet-migration-basics.html

 

Its sometimes a bit of a pain, but it does work and has saved me hundreds of hours of work rewriting all my VBA code.

 

There's plenty of eBooks out there on the subject if you have time to look for them.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Tyke

[dbroada]

Thanks Tyke. I had already found those first two links but not the other two. We are a bit more busy at the moment and I have now forgotten all that I had taught myself. I will give it another try one day but not just yet.

[Tyke]

That's OK, I just hope it helps a bit.

[hunszab]

Thanks a lot, really good post!

[Tyke]

Just a quick note on migrating VBA code to VB.NET

 

AutoCAD Dev Tech have the migration tool which writes VB6 code from the VBA code, in the webcast they describe how to import that into VB.NET. But it only works with Visual Studio 2008 or earlier. Visual Studio 2010 doesn't support VB6 conversion any more.

See this link: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vbide/thread/17ef3146-1368-4d09-8efc-1753ddb9fb54

 

This goes for the Express version too. I have Visual Studio 2010 Professional and can confirm that it doesn't work. A friend has Visual Studio 2010 Express and he has the same problem.

 

It would appear that VS 2008 will have to be used to get a VB.NET project and then upgrade the project in VS 2010. I've not tried that yet.

[Jeff H]

VB.Net can be used back to 2007

[BlackBox]

I am unable to get Visual Studio (VS) installed at work. VBA seemed a bit overwhelming to me earlier this year when I began developing, so I went the AutoLIPS route... until I discovered Visual LISP. As it uses the same ActiveX COM API as VBA, I had all of the capabilities, with an AutoCAD (syntax) twist (i.e., VLA-*).

 

I very much want to have access to VS, and have already completed numerous AU courses for .NET, but sadly, without a production deployment mirrored onto my home computer, I cannot develop much of anything (for work).

 

My company was acquired this summer, so I also felt it prudent to at least wait until the new PC's arrive, the new directory structure has been implemented, etc. :sigh:

 

Being adept at ActiveX, I speculated that VB.NET would be a logical choice, moving forward... I'd be very interested if someone would kindly clarify the pros/cons for C#.NET vs. VB.NET...?

[SEANT]

Beyond preference for syntax there is not much different. At one time VB.NET had a little bit of an edge when dealing with MS OFFICE, but I believe even that has changed with VS 2010.

 

Both access the same AutoCAD api’s (Managed ObjectARX, ActiveX). Both are very robust platforms for Object Oriented Programming.

 

One advantage to C# is that the syntax is similar to other “C” based languages (C, C++, Java). That provides a head start towards migration in those directions.

[BlackBox]

Beyond preference for syntax there is not much different. At one time VB.NET had a little bit of an edge when dealing with MS OFFICE, but I believe even that has changed with VS 2010.

 

Both access the same AutoCAD api’s (Managed ObjectARX, ActiveX). Both are very robust platforms for Object Oriented Programming.

 

One advantage to C# is that the syntax is similar to other “C” based languages (C, C++, Java). That provides a head start towards migration in those directions.

 

 

Maybe I will have to look into the C# side, as my boss (and his boss) tapped me to lead the charge for cross training our Transportation department for both Civil 3D and MicroStation (MS)... where MS's MDL API primarily supports a C++ based development environment.

 

Thanks for the great information, Seant!

[danerden]

I am new in VB.net and In a few days ago, I have join the institute to learn VB.net.In Vb.net everything is new for me. So, please share some tips about VB.net

[Patriiick]

Hi, you might also find useful ressources and code for beginners here.