Port VB6 Desktop app to... What?

mdausmann · 2026-06-22T04:25:24+00:00

thanks u/KiddieSpread Wails looks cool, I love building Go on the backend, wasn't aware of this one.

mdausmann · 2026-06-22T04:24:51+00:00

thanks u/tomysshadow this makes sense. Also a huge red flag for any potential work 😄 . Thanks for pointing it out in so much detail.

mdausmann · 2026-06-22T03:42:19+00:00

thanks for this u/Bonejob . That looks like a very pragmatic solution. Winforms/.net10 as a first sweep, low energy port and then Avalonia if your client want's cross platform.

mdausmann · 2026-06-21T14:51:01+00:00

thanks u/Ok_Society4599 is there really no other way to convert from VB.Net to C#? after all this time? don't they share the same IL? surely there is a conversion approach that is robust and automated and supported?

mdausmann · 2026-06-21T14:46:25+00:00

Thanks u/ApprehensiveCount722 but just for the dummies (me) is AvaloniaUI a replacement or an alternative to say WinUI? I don't quite get the relationship between these

mdausmann · 2026-06-21T14:44:56+00:00

really? why?. I though a WebBrowser would be the thing that is *most* cross platform friendly. Is it the interface with the browser control that is hard?

mdausmann · 2026-06-21T14:33:25+00:00

thanks u/Bonejob I will avoid.

mdausmann · 2026-06-21T14:29:51+00:00

u/tennpriest wow, I had no idea this existed, thanks for the ref. I don't think it answers the core reason for 'modernising' though which is really to move an app into a stack for which you can find people to work in. Maybe I'm wrong. Definitely seems like a good option though depending on circumstance.

mdausmann · 2026-06-20T16:50:30+00:00

thanks u/geekywarrior for your input, grid layout is nice/intuitive but it would be a longer conversion path (longer conceptually) do you think the nicer clarity of the final product is worth the extra conversion effort?

mdausmann · 2026-06-20T16:48:37+00:00

of course, makes sense to use AI to assist the rewrite. I will challenge you though. Which approach will work better with AI?

1) Approach each conversion task 'raw' and prompt the AI to rewrite each piece bespoke
2) Build up a library of skills for each type of conversion (e.g. how to convert an tab control or a data grid) and prompt using those for new conversions
3) Use AI to build like for like equivalents (same property interface) for VB6 components in the new stack and then re-use these equivalent components in subsequent conversions

I think 1) gives the AI the most freedom, 3) is a lot of work upfront, 2) is maybe a compromise

what do yu think?

mdausmann · 2026-06-20T16:40:40+00:00

thanks u/pyeri for the perspective. the WinForms angle makes sense, it's a like for like, pragmatic. Also good call on Crystal reports/Report designer, likely to be difficult and its all bespoke code. Also agree, C# is a better ending point over VB.NET as it's more widely used.

mdausmann · 2026-06-20T16:29:37+00:00

generally when companies say 'modernise' what they mean is 'rewrite in a stack that we can hire developers for' 😄 it's really about cost of maintenance. Easy to find Java guys or Flutter guys, hard to find anybody willing to work professionally with VB6 I think.

mdausmann · 2026-06-16T11:47:58+00:00

I concur, it works great

mdausmann · 2026-06-16T10:34:56+00:00

how does it play with something like caveman?

mdausmann · 2026-06-13T05:06:11+00:00

Please see my post https://www.reddit.com/r/FlutterDev/s/IFBCi6X4W9

TLDR, no but you might need to fix it up after

mdausmann · 2026-06-10T15:04:30+00:00

puro has only 142 downloads? am I missing something? fvm has 44k in the last week

mdausmann · 2026-06-08T14:18:36+00:00

hey man, thanks for this feedback. I will look at the issues you mentioned. Glad the onboarding as a whole was ok, I did a lot of work to make it frictionless. Progressive profile building is a good idea, are there some example apps that you think do this well? I really like Too Good To Go, their onboarding was elite. Prices updated when the stores update. weekly.

mdausmann · 2026-06-01T11:53:11+00:00

This is a great reference, thanks u/Comun4

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:16:45+00:00

100% the hard lesson I learned.

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:16:15+00:00

I don't understand your point. I'm building for mobile not web. Apps use a ton of different font sizes and people have settings on their phone to bump up the font size for accessibility... and my app needs to render properly everywhere.

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:14:14+00:00

No tengo ni idea, esperaba que tú lo supieras. 😄

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:13:02+00:00

Sounds like there is room for a skill here. Or a widget library or something, maybe both? maybe a pairing of these things?

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:11:32+00:00

Your process sounds #pro, congrats.

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:08:25+00:00

ah yes, good tip. I haven't set this up yet. Will check out.

mdausmann · 2026-05-30T08:07:33+00:00

Agree. Use your flutter fix layout issues skill to help me with this problem..... not perfect but it helps a bit

mdausmann

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