I do not own MapXtreme which I am assuming from the postings is a .NET based replacement for MapBasic. However, anything that would move us from the primeval computer days of MapBasic to a modern programming environment would have to be welcomed with a big Halleluiah! Here are a few comments from someone who has coded in VB, VBA, VB.NET and some MapBasic for a few years.
1. As noted by Roger, Microsoft does sell C# and VB.NET as individual applications... You do not have to purchase the full Visual Studio package that includes all supported .NET languages. The various Studio configurations are expensive but the stand-alone compilers are fairly reasonable. 2. The move from VB to VB.NET or C/C++ to C# is actually a move to an entirely new language. The only commonality is the syntax of basic programming logic like Loops or Select Case statements. Functions that were available under VB have been replicated as Methods in the .NET language. For example, if you want to convert a number to a string in VB one would use something like var_String = Str$(var_Number). In VB.NET or C# one would use the equivalent Method (var_String = var_Number.ToString). VB.NET supports all of the old Visual Basic functions but one should never use them since this backward support will probably be phased out at some time in the future. The same comments would apply to C# (basic language flow statements would remain the same but all the old C function calls should be changed to .NET Framework Method calls). 3. The VB or C# debate has no significance under .NET. All the .NET languages use the same .NET methods and one is only dealing with code flow statement differences, some code header variations and minor other points. A VB program written fully to the .NET framework can be converted to a C# program by changing the For, Select, etc. structures to the C format and adding a semi-colon to the end of the line. Since I was familiar with VB and VBA, I naturally moved to VB.NET. There is one real value in C#. As noted in other postings, many people did go for this syntax so there is actually far more code available on the internet in C# format. On the other hand, one can easily convert code snippets and there are online sites that will do this for you automatically (below). Since all .NET languages share the same Framework methods, they all have equivalent capabilities such as processing speed. http://authors.aspalliance.com/aldotnet/examples/translate.aspx http://www.kamalpatel.net/ConvertCSharp2VB.aspx 4. There are many .NET internet sites storing a tremendous amount of code. The quality of the code does vary widely. Find a good site or two!. Code-Architects ".DotNet2TheMax" site (formally VB2TheMax) is one of the best out there. The owners of this site are professional coders and they only post high quality solutions that have been written or reviewed by their group. Solutions are provided in both C# and VB.NET syntax. http://www.dotnet2themax.com/ 5. One of the DotNet2TheMax team is Franceso Balena. This fellow has a fantastic VB.NET book "Programming Visual Basic .NET", Microsoft Press. This 1500+ page behemoth is fabulous but NOT for the person new to programming. It assumes that the reader is a knowledgeable programmer already and has a working background is Visual Basic. Be careful of the books you purchase. Many of the early books on the Framework showed all sorts of code that simply used old function calls... the authors never fully converted the code. Here's the trick... if you are coding to the Framework and you find yourself calling any function that looks familiar to you, then it is not a good solution. You need to find the equivalent Framework Method. Lorne -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 12:22 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MI-L Dot NET To prepare applications in MXT.Net it's not essential to go out and buy Visual Studio and be relieved of thousands of dollars, unless you need to develop for enterprise environments and/or require multi-language support. If you only program in Visual Basic, then Visual Basic.Net for around $AUS 150 is good value. The VB examples in MapXtreme 2004 work fine in VB.Net --------------------------------------------- Roger Ling Technical Officer (MapInfo) Parks & Wildlife Service Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage & the Arts GPO Box 1751 Hobart Tasmania 7001 Australia Phone: (03) 6233 3199 Fax: (03) 6223 8308 Web: www.parks.tas.gov.au Intranet: http://tracks.parks.tas.gov.au FTP: ftp://tracks.parks.tas.gov.au Location: 2nd Floor - Lands Building CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER The information in this transmission may be confidential and/or protected by legal professional privilege, and is intended only for the person or persons to whom it is addressed. If you are not such a person, you are warned that any disclosure, copying or dissemination of the information is unauthorised. If you have received the transmission in error, please immediately contact this office by telephone, fax or email, to inform us of the error and to enable arrangements to be made for the destruction of the transmission, or its return at our cost. No liability is accepted for any unauthorised use of the information contained in this transmission. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 12:22 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MI-L Dot NET To prepare applications in MXT.Net it's not essential to go out and buy Visual Studio and be relieved of thousands of dollars, unless you need to develop for enterprise environments and/or require multi-language support. If you only program in Visual Basic, then Visual Basic.Net for around $AUS 150 is good value. The VB examples in MapXtreme 2004 work fine in VB.Net --------------------------------------------- Roger Ling Technical Officer (MapInfo) Parks & Wildlife Service Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage & the Arts GPO Box 1751 Hobart Tasmania 7001 Australia Phone: (03) 6233 3199 Fax: (03) 6223 8308 Web: www.parks.tas.gov.au Intranet: http://tracks.parks.tas.gov.au FTP: ftp://tracks.parks.tas.gov.au Location: 2nd Floor - Lands Building CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER The information in this transmission may be confidential and/or protected by legal professional privilege, and is intended only for the person or persons to whom it is addressed. If you are not such a person, you are warned that any disclosure, copying or dissemination of the information is unauthorised. If you have received the transmission in error, please immediately contact this office by telephone, fax or email, to inform us of the error and to enable arrangements to be made for the destruction of the transmission, or its return at our cost. No liability is accepted for any unauthorised use of the information contained in this transmission. --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 14600
