Visual Basic

Re: Need help on porting from VB application to Vb.Net

19-Jul-12 0:33

ash mishra wrote:
can anyone let me know what run time dll should be included so that it will work fine.

The .NET Framework should be included; the same version that you used to develop against. You can't install just "a few dll's", as most of them have quite some dependencies.

Does your installer have an option to see if there's a .NET framework?

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

if you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ZappaDog24-Jul-12 3:07

ZappaDog

24-Jul-12 3:07

1) Open VS 2008 and load the project.
2) Right click the project name in solution explorer and select properties.
3) Select the Compile tab and click the Advanced Compiler Settings
4) Check the target Framework version
5) Install that Framework version on target machine
6) Build project and copy EXE file to target machine

VB6 Compile "unexpected error"

MikeD 218-Jul-12 1:33

18-Jul-12 1:33

vb6 sp6 working in virtual XP machine under win 7

This setup has been working fine and the projects have existed for years but a couple of them have started failing to compile

They all compile and run ok with Control F5 (Run with full compile) but when you use the File->Make xxxxx.exe option it works for a while and the progress line of "Writing EXE" partially colours blue and it then stops with

Microsoft Visual Basic, "Unexpected Error" Ok Help

Help tells me I may have a hardware or software error. gee you think

At least one of the failing projects hasn't been modified (using sourcesafe so I can be sure of this) since it last compiled ok

Other projects compile ok

Does anyone have any ideas where to look for more info?

EDIT: Things I have checked
There is plenty of free disk
running the compiler from the command line gives the same result
a repair install doesn't change anything
repeat install of sp6 didn't help

modified 18-Jul-12 7:54am.

Eddy Vluggen18-Jul-12 2:09

18-Jul-12 2:09

Mike Deeks wrote:
Does anyone have any ideas where to look for more info?

In 2008, as that's when extended support for VB6 ended Roll eyes | :rolleyes:

FWIW;

Make sure you registered all the controls that you're using
Compile under Windows XP, or download XP-mode for Windows 7
Keep removing code (comment it out) until you got something that compiles again
Start migrating to VB.NET; the compiler is free, and you can mix VB6 and .NET code, using the Interop ToolBox from Microsoft.
Check if the VB6 IDE created a logfile under C:\Windows\System32, and check the EventLog for clues.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

if you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

MikeD 218-Jul-12 5:45

18-Jul-12 5:45

Eddy Vluggen wrote:
In 2008, as that's when extended support for VB6 ended

2008 is quite recent really Smile | :)

Thanks for the suggestions

it is possible that upgrading office broke it but that had to be done as office was broken, I will have a look when I did that and perhaps try another virtual machine

I am running under XP, in a virtual though

the code hasn't changed on at least one of the projects that is now failing to compile

I will investigate interop

no IDE log file unfortunately

Eddy Vluggen18-Jul-12 6:22

18-Jul-12 6:22

Mike Deeks wrote:
2008 is quite recent really

Read that again; extended support ended four years ago.

Imagine your virusscanner being outdated four years.

Mike Deeks wrote:
it is possible that upgrading office broke it but that had to be done as office was broken

..and now you have to re-create a working compiler-environment. And those Office-dependencies are usually tied to a specific version.

I suggest you create a minimal build environment in a VM, and keep it clean. That probably involves in listing all your external references and verifying their existence and that those are the correct versions.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

if you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

MikeD 219-Jul-12 2:34

19-Jul-12 2:34

Eddy Vluggen wrote:
Read that again; extended support ended four years ago.

Imagine your virusscanner being outdated four years.

Your right of course and my comment was not intended to be serious but...

Why should it worry me if the extended support that I never used anyway has expired. As long as the program is a valid method of producing binaries (maybe I should keep quiet about that is it isn't at the moment Smile | :)

) then I see no reason why I shouldn't use it

I like the language and, as the largest project is up to 140,000 lines of code, moving to another development environment is not at all easy but as the whole things changes every few years anyway it is hard to see the point. It would be interesting to know the overall number of developers currently using vb6, vb2005, vb2008, vb2010

I am not a luddite and keep up to date with technology but my grandads King Dick socket set still seems to work as well for me as it did for him when he bought it quite a few years ago

Thank you for your helpful advice

Eddy Vluggen19-Jul-12 2:53

19-Jul-12 2:53

Mike Deeks wrote:
Why should it worry me if the extended support that I never used anyway has expired.

It should worry the owner of the project; if your project is written in a dying language, the project will die along with the language. Unless you have the sources to Windows XP and VB6 (including the dependencies)

Mike Deeks wrote:
I like the language and, as the largest project is up to 140,000 lines of code, moving to another development environment is not at all easy

It IS easy - it's also a lot of work, but it ain't complex. The longer you write new code in VB6, the more you'll have to migrate.

Mike Deeks wrote:
I am not a luddite and keep up to date with technology but my grandads King Dick socket set still seems to work as well for me as it did for him when he bought it quite a few years ago

Hehe, aight - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You got a good point there. And yes, I admit that even 16-bit apps from Win3.1 might still run on Win7, but if something goes wrong, you're (almost) on your own.

You can't compare VB6-code to "pascal code", or any other "older" language; VB6 is tied to Microsoft, is proprietary (they own the language), and it will die if they do not support the language actively.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

if you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Dave Kreskowiak18-Jul-12 2:19

Dave Kreskowiak

18-Jul-12 2:19

Make sure the folder is writable and that the target .EXE file isn't locked (running) or, even better, doesn't exist already.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak

MikeD 218-Jul-12 5:47

18-Jul-12 5:47

unfortunately all checked and even changed the folder just in case

some projects compile and some give the "unexpected error"

I will have to go through and check references/components to see if there is any commonality

Dave Kreskowiak18-Jul-12 7:33

Dave Kreskowiak

18-Jul-12 7:33

Either that or the VB6 compiler is finally rotting away. Good riddance! Big Grin | :-D

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak

Paul Conrad18-Jul-12 9:40

Paul Conrad

18-Jul-12 9:40

Dave Kreskowiak wrote:
VB6 compiler is finally rotting away

Wooooot!!!!

"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon

Bernhard Hiller18-Jul-12 2:29

Bernhard Hiller

18-Jul-12 2:29

When you build COM objects, those COM objects get registered. And that means: writing to the registry in a part where a user must not write.
Hence my idea: Do you get the same error when you run the IDE in elevated mode?

MikeD 218-Jul-12 5:50

18-Jul-12 5:50

don't think you can elevate on Windows XP SP3

and I am an administrator on the PC

but good thought

Bernhard Hiller18-Jul-12 21:03

Bernhard Hiller

18-Jul-12 21:03

True, the virtual machine has its own registry, and with XP, an administrator can write to that.

mciSendCommand in VB.NET

kingneb17-Jul-12 5:52

kingneb

17-Jul-12 5:52

On MSDN, I found code that is designed to change between multiple sound cards on a PC. I need to do this in .NET. I attemped to translate the VB6 code on MSDN (see link) into .NET but wind up with a PInvokeStackImbalence exception.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/180032[^]

Here is my attempted translation:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

'Media Manager relegates the playing of *.wav files over multiple sound cards.
Public Class MediaManager

    'Parameters for mciSendCommand dwParam2.
    Structure MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS
        Dim dwCallback As Long
        Dim dwTimeFormat As Long
        Dim dwAudio As Long
        Dim wInput As Long
        Dim wOutput As Long
        Dim wFormatTag As Integer
        Dim wReserved2 As Integer
        Dim nChannels As Integer
        Dim wReserved3 As Integer
        Dim nSamplesPerSec As Long
        Dim nAvgBytesPerSec As Long
        Dim nBlockAlign As Integer
        Dim wReserved4 As Integer
        Dim wBitsPerSample As Integer
        Dim wReserved5 As Integer
    End Structure

    Public Enum SoundFlags As UInteger
        SND_SYNC = &H0          ' play synchronously (default)
        SND_ASYNC = &H1         ' play asynchronously
        SND_NODEFAULT = &H2     ' silence (!default) if sound not found
        SND_MEMORY = &H4        ' pszSound points to a memory file
        SND_LOOP = &H8          ' loop the sound until next sndPlaySound
        SND_NOSTOP = &H10       ' don't stop any currently playing sound
        SND_NOWAIT = &H2000     ' don't wait if the driver is busy
        SND_ALIAS = &H10000     ' name is a registry alias
        SND_ALIAS_ID = &H110000 ' alias is a predefined id
        SND_FILENAME = &H20000  ' name is file name
        SND_RESOURCE = &H40004  ' name is resource name or atom
    End Enum

    'Plays a *.wav file denoted by a file name.
    Private Declare Auto Function PlaySound Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal pszSound As String, ByVal hmod As UInteger, ByVal fdwSound As UInteger) As Boolean

    'Used to change between different sound cards.
    Private Declare Auto Function mciSendCommand Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "mciSendCommandA" (ByVal wDeviceID As Long, ByVal uMessage As Long, ByVal dwParam1 As Long, ByRef dwParam2 As MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS) As Long

    Sub New()
        Dim Parameters As MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS
        mciSendCommand(0, &H80D, &H800000, Parameters)
        PlaySound("C:\thermo.wav", 0, SoundFlags.SND_FILENAME Or SoundFlags.SND_ASYNC Or SoundFlags.SND_LOOP)
    End Sub



End Class

Can Anyone assist me?

Thanks,
kingneb

Luc Pattyn17-Jul-12 6:21

Luc Pattyn

17-Jul-12 6:21

When calling native code from managed code, stack imbalances are most often caused by applying the wrong "calling convention" (which says who, caller or callee, is responsible for cleaning up the stack). You will need to apply an explicit DllImport directive and specify the correct calling convention, most likely StdCall.

You will find an example here[^].

I wrote a little article[^] on P/Invoke, unfortunately it isn't finished yet, so it doesn't have the details for VB.NET; you might find it useful anyway.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

kingneb17-Jul-12 6:45

kingneb

17-Jul-12 6:45

OK, I specified the standard calling convention, but no cigar? I think it is something else unless I am still not using the right calling convention.

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

'Media Manager relegates the playing of *.wav files over multiple sound cards.
Public Class MediaManager

    'Parameters for mciSendCommand dwParam2.
    Structure MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS
        Dim dwCallback As Long
        Dim dwTimeFormat As Long
        Dim dwAudio As Long
        Dim wInput As Long
        Dim wOutput As Long
        Dim wFormatTag As Integer
        Dim wReserved2 As Integer
        Dim nChannels As Integer
        Dim wReserved3 As Integer
        Dim nSamplesPerSec As Long
        Dim nAvgBytesPerSec As Long
        Dim nBlockAlign As Integer
        Dim wReserved4 As Integer
        Dim wBitsPerSample As Integer
        Dim wReserved5 As Integer
    End Structure

    Public Enum SoundFlags As UInteger
        SND_SYNC = &H0          ' play synchronously (default)
        SND_ASYNC = &H1         ' play asynchronously
        SND_NODEFAULT = &H2     ' silence (!default) if sound not found
        SND_MEMORY = &H4        ' pszSound points to a memory file
        SND_LOOP = &H8          ' loop the sound until next sndPlaySound
        SND_NOSTOP = &H10       ' don't stop any currently playing sound
        SND_NOWAIT = &H2000     ' don't wait if the driver is busy
        SND_ALIAS = &H10000     ' name is a registry alias
        SND_ALIAS_ID = &H110000 ' alias is a predefined id
        SND_FILENAME = &H20000  ' name is file name
        SND_RESOURCE = &H40004  ' name is resource name or atom
    End Enum

    'Plays a *.wav file denoted by a file name.
    Private Declare Auto Function PlaySound Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal pszSound As String, ByVal hmod As UInteger, ByVal fdwSound As UInteger) As Boolean

    'Used to change between different sound cards.
    <DllImport("winmm.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall)>
    Private Shared Function mciSendCommand(ByVal wDeviceID As Long, ByVal uMessage As Long, ByVal dwParam1 As Long, ByRef dwParam2 As MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS) As Long

    End Function

    Sub New()
        Dim Parameters As MCI_WAVE_SET_PARMS
        mciSendCommand(0, &H80D, &H800000, Parameters)
        PlaySound("C:\thermo.wav", 0, SoundFlags.SND_FILENAME Or SoundFlags.SND_ASYNC Or SoundFlags.SND_LOOP)
    End Sub



End Class

Thanks,
kingneb

Luc Pattyn17-Jul-12 6:55

Luc Pattyn

17-Jul-12 6:55

Are you still getting StackImbalance exceptions, or something else?

Using P/Invoke is very similar to programming assembly code, it requires great meticulousness.

In this short time, you did not read the MS link I provided and my article. If you had, you would know that data types differ in managed and native worlds, so your longs very likely are wrong too. And there may be more. Don't expect this to work in a matter of minutes, start with a simple function and get that working, then build from there.

Take your time, experiment, learn the technology. And when you run into real trouble, ask specific questions providing detailed and accurate observations. "No cigar" isn't helpful.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

Dave Kreskowiak17-Jul-12 11:05

Dave Kreskowiak

17-Jul-12 11:05

On top of what Luc said, if you're converting VB6 code to VB.NET the biggest trip is using the wrong data types:

VB6 type      VB.NET type
---------  =  ------------
Byte          Byte          8-bit unsigned integer
Integer       Short         16-bit signed integer
Long          Integer       32-bit signed integer
Single        Single        32-bit floating point
Double        Double        64-bit floating point
Currency      Decimal       (not a direct conversion)

When the function you're calling expects a certain size value, using the wrong type will most assuredly screw up the stack.

Also, you may want to bookmark P/Ivoke.net. It has the correct signatures for most Win32 functions for C# and VB.NET. For example, PlaySound[^] and mciSendString[^], as well as tons more.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak