In it March issue, Visual Studio Magazine published an in-depth article about legacy migrations called “Unlocking Legacy Code”. This article talks about the challenges faced by companies migrating from Visual Basic 6.0 to .NET, the drivers behind these migrations and the pros and cons of using an automated migration solution.
The article uses BEMAS Software as a case study for successful migration products. I am incredibly happy they are doing as well as they are with the conversion – they are using our tools, and I visited BEMAS about a year and a half ago to train them on the VBUC and help them plan the migration project. I remember they had a lot of conditional statements (by “a lot”, we are talking thousands of different combinations), as mentioned in the article:
"We also ran into some issues with the conversion tool because early on in the VB code we did a lot of #ifs, which means that the code acts differently depending on how you compile it," Pownall adds. BEMAS worked with ArtinSoft so that VBUC would recognize those instances and convert the code correctly.
It was quite a challenge to get it to convert, since the default behavior of the VBUC is to convert the code inside the conditional statement that evaluates to “TRUE”. Commenting out the conditionals wasn’t going to work either, since that would cause multiple variable declarations and other semantic errors that caused issues during the migration of this particular code. In the end we worked together with BEMAS, and with heavy involvement of the VBUC development team, we managed to modify the tool enough to get the code converted correctly.
Another very interesting item mentioned by Steve Pownall in the article, that I want to talk about some more, is the fact that even though the code came through very cleanly, it didn’t have the .NET architecture they were aiming for so they had to “The dev team had to massage or opted to rewrite the rest of the codebase manually in C# and .NET 3.5 using VS2008.”. This is a very important point, since the overall architecture of the code will remain as it was in VB6.0. The migration, however, gets you quickly to a stable .NET codebase that you can then rework to make it take advantage of the latest features of the .NET Framework. In our experience, this path (migrate, then enhance) is the one with the lowest risk, and it allows you to reduce the time to market for your applications by a wide margin. This is important to keep in mind, since we, as developers, always want to improve the code base – it is part of our professional formation, and I would say, part of our nature – but we sometimes fail to grasp the additional risk this implies. The migration is very controlled process, that gets you predictable results in a short time. Enhancing the application after the migration may seem like duplicating work (and indeed, there are enhancements that can be done during the migration process) but it guarantees that you will get a .NET in the allocated timeframe and budget, not to mention the cost advantage.
Read the complete article, Unlocking Legacy Code at Visual Studio Magazine.
Next Monday, August 17, I will be presenting a Webinar along with Microsoft for the Latin America region on how you can use several options to get your VB6.0 applications to run on Windows 7 AND get the Windows 7 logo. The webinar will be in Spanish, and covers the business reasons for the migration, the benefits of using in the .NET Framework, alternatives, and information (+demo) of the VBUC.
Here’s the link so you can register for the Webinar:
Actualiza tus apliaciones y consigue el logo de Windows 7
Fecha: 17 de agosto 05:00 p.m. Ciudad de México
Register for the Webinar
A quick post to let everybody know that you can now follow us on twitter. To do so, you just need to follow @artinsoft, or add “artinsoft” in your favorite Twitter client. In this account we are posting news and articles related to software migrations, and you can also use it to communicate directly with us in case you have any question or want to give us any feedback.
ArtinSoft Twitter page
In the last couple of months we’ve done several significant updates to the website that I think are worth commenting about. Here is a quick rundown of what has changed:
- Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Online Documentation: Back with the release of version 3.0 we also went live with the vbtonet.com website, a centralized resource for all information about the VBUC. It contains useful information such as a description of the features of the VBUC, a knowledge base with solutions to common migration problems, the VBUC Quick Start Guide, several How-To’s and other general information about the tool and migration projects in general.
- Updated Services offering: We completely revamped the Migration Services website. You can now get a general overview of our migration services offering, obtain a quick VB Migration Project Ballpark estimate and check out the necessary steps for engaging our services. The ballpark can obviously vary, and sometimes significantly as requirements for a migration are further refined and all applications are different, but normally migrations projects are within the same order of magnitude as the numbers produced by this page.
- Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Trial download: You can download, as before, a fully functional trial of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Developer Edition, limited to 10,000 Lines of Code with migration solutions up to 2,000 Lines of Code in size, or request a personalized trial of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Enterprise Edition.
- Purchase Licenses Online: The biggest addition we’ve done to the site is that now it is possible to purchase licenses for both the VBUC Developer and Enteprise Editions up to 150,000 lines of code directly, online, from this link. This was motivated by the success we’ve had with selling licenses for the VBUC DE on the web since January. Given the requests of our customers, we decided to both expand the amount of offerings in terms of lines of code allowed per migration with the Developer Edition (from 50,000 to a max of 150,000, plus a 25,000 LOC option) and to make available licenses of the Enterprise Edition in that LOC range as well.
We hope you find this new information we published useful, and please add a comment to this post or send me a message with your thoughts on the new changes and if there’s anything you would like to see on our site.
Today we formally released version 3.0 of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion, including both the Enterprise and Developer Edition of the migration tool. This is a significant new release, which has improved the efficiency of the conversion tool by reducing the amount of work required to the the applications to functional equivalence by over 30% (and more in some cases). All migration improvements are based on the feedback from the experiences of both our clients and our own consulting team, and we are very happy the changes have such an effect. I already talked about specific new features on a previous post.
Also, today we went live with a new companion website to the VBUC at www.vbtonet.com. This repository of information should help you in all aspects of the migration, and includes both best practices for, for example, finding customization opportunities in the code, and both overall strategies and detailed examples on how to solve migration issues. This site is tightly integrated with the VBUC, and migration issues identified in the code by the tool will contain a link to latest information to help you solve the issue, like the following example:
'UPGRADE_TODO: (1067) Member MyMember is not defined in type Variant. More Information: http://www.vbtonet.com/ewis/ewi1067.aspx
This library of information will continue growing over time, so make sure you come back often during your migration project to check out the latest content.
You can read the official press release here.
A couple of days ago we made available the final release candidate for version 3.0 of both the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Enterprise Edition and Developer Edition. You can now directly download a trial of the VBUC Developer Edition on the trial download page, or request a trial of the Enterprise Edition on this page.
I need to mention an obligatory disclaimer saying this is the final Release Candidate, so, unless we find something at the last minute, it should be the same version officially released within a week or so. We need your help to verify we won’t find anything by downloading it and trying it out. :)
I already covered some of the features of this version on a previous post. There was significant improvements in several areas from version 2.2, which should help you achieve even greater productivity on your migration projects.
This week Microsoft updated its support statement for Visual Basic 6.0 to include the upcoming Windows 7. Even though the original idea was to not support VB6 in Windows 7, given the outstanding demand, the runtime WILL BE included in the OS.
To summarize, the support status of the different Visual Basic 6.0 components is:
- Visual Basic 6.0 IDE: Unsupported as of April 8, 2008.
- Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime: Supported for the lifetime of Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7. *This is the big change in the Support Statement*.
- Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files: The supported versions are here.
Even though the runtime components will be supported in Windows 7, it is important to consider the implications of the IDE not being supported (as I described in this post). There are also additional advantages of moving to .NET such as 64-bit support (VB6 apps are 32-bit only) and all the productivity, maintainability and deployment gains provided by the platform.
This week we published a new case study on the migration we performed for Banamex, part of Citigroup and one of the largest Mexican banks. In this project we migrated 124 Visual Basic 6.0 and ASP applications from different divisions of the bank to C# and ASP.NET. All in all, we migrated over 5 MILLION LINES OF VB6 AND ASP CODE. This is the largest VB6 to .NET migration we’ve done so far, it was a huge success story – so much that we are now working on the migration of some other applications that weren’t originally included in the scope of the project.
You can read the details here.
A quick post to let you all know that we now have a trial available for download of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Developer Edition. To obtain the trial you need to fill in your information here, and we will email you the download link and the necessary licensing information to activate the trial.
The trial will allow you to migrate up to 2,000 lines of code simultaneously, and has a limit of 10,000 lines of code total – which means that every time you migrate some code, the amount of lines you migrated are discounted from the 10,000 total.
So don’t wait and download the VBUC DE trial now!
Remember that you can also request a trial for the Enterprise Edition of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion at this page. You will need to run the Assessment Tool first, and based on the results we will send you a custom trial for a portion of your application.
Earlier this week we launched an joint initiative with Microsoft and Avanade in the UK for helping Visual Basic 6.0 developers move their applications to .NET. The initiative consists of several parts:
The initiative is UK-only at the time, but if you want to take advantage of these time-limited deals feel free to contact us. The press release for the campaign can be found here and at our website. Eric Nelson from Microsoft has been heavily involved - you can read his blog post on the initiative here.
The campaign has been well received so far. In the two days since launch, we already have several leads interested in both offerings!!
Jointly with the Visual Basic 6.0 migration campaign we are launching in the UK, today we released the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion Developer Edition. This is a scaled down version of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion, targeted at individual developers that want to migrate their Visual Basic 6.0 applications as fast and painlessly as possible. It has a license that is valid for three months and allows you to migrate an application of up to 50,000 lines of code.
The VBUC Developer Edition does have some fewer features than the fully-fledged Visual Basic Upgrade Companion. All the features that we decided to include in the Developer Edition, however, are targeted towards automating as much of the migration process as possible. So, we left out features that have been introduced by the request of our enterprise customers over the 7+ years the tool has been on the market (yep, we were already doing VB6 migrations before the official release of .NET - and it wasn't all fun with the Betas). We made it so that getting an application up and running in C# or VB.NET is as simple as possible.
Here you can see the VBUC Developer Edition in action (video recorded by yours truly :) ):
And, as an introductory offer, The VBUC Developer Edition will only cost £199 for a limited time. So why wait?
After several months of hard work, we are proud to announce the release of version 2.2 of the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion. This version includes significant enhancements to the tool, including:
- Custom Maps: You can now define custom transformations for libraries that have somewhat similar interfaces. This should significantly speed up your migration projects if you are using third party controls that have a native .NET version or if you are already developing in .NET and wish to map methods from your VB6 code to your .NET code.
- Legacy VB6 Data Access Models: for version 2.2 we now support the transformation of ADO, RDO and DAO to ADO.NET. This data access migration is implemented using the classes and interfaces from the System.Data.Common namespace, so you should be able to connect to any database using any ADO.NET data provider.
- Support for additional third party libraries: We have enhanced the support for third party libraries, for which we both extended the coverage of the libraries we already supported and added additional libraries. The complete list can be found here.
- Plus hundreds of bug fixes and code generation improvements based on the feedback from our clients and partners!
You can get more information on the tool on the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion web page. You can also read about our migration services, which have helped many companies to successfully take advantage of their current investments in VB6 by moving their applications to the .NET Framework in record time!
I was expecting the annoucement near the end of the week, but here it is - The Visual Basic Upgrade Companion version 2.0 was released today! Just in time to attend that other tool's funeral ;)
I am still waiting for the official press release, but at least the press here in Costa Rica is already talking about it (link in spanish). So you know, the VBUC2.0 is a considerable improvement over previous versions of the Companion. Some of the most interesting new features are:
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Solves over 800 issues reported by our consulting staff, testing team, partners and end-users.
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Significantly reduces the amount of manual work required to compile the migrated application, so you can start the testing earlier in the migration process
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Improves the quality of the migrated code
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Adds the concept of Migration Profiles - you can select from a series of migration features and apply only those that you want to a particular migration. This greatly improves both the quality of the migrated code, and decreases the amount of manual work required after the migration. It also allows greater future expandability of the product.
As you probably know, eye candy sells. And it makes your life easier, too. So the VBUC2.0 includes a new Graphical User Interface called the Upgrade Manager, that incorporates all the features and concepts described above into one easy to use environment:
If you have been thinking about upgrading your VB6 applications to the .NET framework, think no more. With this new version of the VBUC you will be able to have your .NET application up and running in no time!
A quick post to tell everyone that the day finally came: Windows Server 2008 was released today. You can find more information about it on the Windows Server 2008 page, and watch the keynote here.
The biggest deal, from my perspective, is Hyper-V. This will have a significant impact on the IT market, by exposing thousands of IT profesionals to a hipervisor-based virtualization solution. Another very interesting technology is RemoteApp, which allows you to use, through Terminal Services, just one application instead of the complete desktop. It solves a deployment issue that required expensive software solutions in the past - and something we run into every once in a while when determining the best deployment strategy for migrated Informix 4GL applications.
.... and so we reached 2008. This may seem like any other "average" year - the price of gas keeps going up, everybody talks about global warming, and will be an election year in the US (so we have one more reason to stop watching TV). However, for a large group of IT departments around the world, 2008 is a BIG year. 2008 is the year when Microsoft officially kills support for Visual Basic 6.0.
It took a while, but as in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, everybody knew it was coming. Microsoft's Product Family Life-Cycle Guidelines for Visual Basic 6.0 details the different support stages VB has gone through:
...
Mainstream Phase
The Mainstream phase will be in effect for six years after the product's general availability date. Visual Basic 6.0 was generally available in January 1999. Mainstream support will end March 31, 2005.
Extended Phase
The Extended phase will be in effect from seven to nine years after the product's general availability date. Extended Phase support begins in April 2005 and ends March 2008.
Non-Supported Phase
Visual Basic 6.0 will no longer be supported starting March 2008.
If you are still using Visual Basic 6.0, however, there is no need to despair. According to the Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista, the VB6 runtime will be supported in Vista for at least 10 more years (5 of mainstream support + 5 of extended support). The IDE, however, will be unsupported from April 8, 2008. And you will be missing all the new technology shipping with the .NET development tools - web services, WPF, managed code, etc. There is, however, an easier way to move away from VB6 quickly...
You can use the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion to move your application quickly and effectively from VB6 to either Visual Basic .NET or C#. Our experience in migration projects shows that by using the VBUC, you can drastically reduce the time it takes to move your application to the .NET Framework, reducing the risk vs. a complete rewrite, and keeping all your business rules, but in a modern platform that will allow you to use the latest technologies moving forward.
You can find more information on the Visual Basic Upgrade Companion here.
Some time ago I was interviewed (via email) by El Financiero, a weekly business-oriented newspaper from Costa Rica, regarding 64–bit technologies. A small quote from the interview was published a couple of weeks ago, along with some information I gave them on the advantages of moving to 64–bits.
The technical journalist from the newspaper did an article on how the Costa Rican Central Bank, BCCR, is moving their payments system (SINPE) from 32–bit to 64–bit servers, and the benefits they are getting from the move. These benefits include enhanced speed and database performance, given the large memory capacity of the new architecture. This is a fairly large system that handles over 3 million financial transactions per month.
ArtinSoft had some involvement in moving this system from Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET some time ago, in the dawn of the .NET era. There is even a published case study on the system – you can find it here.
Their plan currently is to slowly move all their systems to 64–bit over a period of 2 years.
You can check out the article here: BCCR ajustó tecnologías (you may need to be registered with the site).
Yep, it’s that time of the year again. I just wanted to write a quick post to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
I’ll probably make a couple of post in the next few days, since I won’t be taking time off for the holidays. But for those of you that do, I hope you have a happy holiday!!
Cheers.
My coworker Hendel Valverde will be presenting a webcast called Complete Methodology for Migrating Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET, tomorrow at 1:00 PM Pacific. It covers all the steps necessary to prepare and perform migrations from VB to VB.NET, from what to look for during the analysis and planning stages to the final testing of the migrated application.
Link: MSDN Webcast: Complete Methodology for Migrating Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET (Level 200)
And here’s the link to ArtinSoft’s press release: ArtinSoft and Microsoft Announce New Webcast on VB6 to .NET 2005 Migration Methodology.
Windows Vista RC1 was completed today. From the Windows Vista Team Blog:
It’s official — Windows Vista RC1 is done!
...
You’ll notice a lot of improvements since Beta 2. We’ve made some UI adjustments, added more device drivers, and enhanced performance. We’re not done yet, however — quality will continue to improve. We’ll keep plugging away on application compatibility, as well as fit and finish, until RTM. If you are an ISV, RC1 is the build you should use for certifying your application.
Right now it is only available for customers on the TAP program, but according to a post in the forum, they plan to make it available to MSDN and Technet subscribers.
After several years of delays, the Dual-core Itanium 2, formerly known as Montecito, was unveiled by Intel. According to the press release:
They double the performance and lower energy requirements, improving performance per watt by 2.5 times compared to existing, single-core versions.
The Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® 2 processor 9000 series delivers performance at a system scale unmatched by competing RISC architectures. It set world record results in several key server benchmarks including a score of 4230 SPEC_int_rate_base_20001, nearly triple the previous record.
The CPU incorporates virtualization features, similar to the ones found on current-generation Intel x86 CPUs. My understanding is that neither Windows 2003 Server nor Viridian will support VT on the Itaniums, but my guess is that other vendors will, especially with the enhanced CPU horsepower and memory capability of this boxes.
Also, according to the press release, the Itanium Solutions Alliance is working on new system and applications that will leverage the power of this new CPU. We've worked with the ISA in the past, for the Developer Days events, in which we showed ISV how to port and optimize their applications for 64-bit Windows.
Link to the press release: New Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® 2 Processor Doubles Performance, Reduces Power Consumption