convert vb.net to asp.net

[Guest]

Hi,
can someone please let me know if there is a way to convert a vb.net
application to asp.net. Or if a vb.net application written in 3-tier could
be run on the net???

Thanks!

 

[Scott M.]

Sure. Since you've already got your app. written in VB.NET, then you
already have a .NET assembly with .NET classes. All you would have to do is
have your ASP.NET project make a reference to your existing .NET assembly
(more on this below) and then your web pages could make instances of your
VB.NET classes.

You can't make a reference to an .exe assembly though. However, you could
simply rename the .exe to .dll and then you would be able to acess the
classes therein.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

Converting directly to ASP.NET would probably not be very easy.
It might be easier deploy your VB.NET application as a Smart Client over the
web.
Here's more info:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/using/building/windows/analystreports/smartclient.aspx

 

[Scott M.]

If the OP is not using Windows Forms controls, it should be very easy to put
an ASP.NET front-end on the app.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

I'd say that's a pretty bold statement for you to make considering we know
nothing about the size or complexity of his application.
State issues alone can make such a conversion quite daunting sometimes, not
to mention all the other paradigm shifts involved.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Scott M.]

Performance is one thing, conversion is another. Converting a VB.NET back
end to run from an ASP.NET front end should not be a big deal. State
management is a matter of client requirements and server workload, there are
many mechanisms to choose from, but none are hard to implement. The rest is
UI.

I'd say that's a pretty bold statement for you to make considering we know
nothing about the size or complexity of his application.
State issues alone can make such a conversion quite daunting sometimes,
not to mention all the other paradigm shifts involved.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

The process you describe could take months for a large and complex project.
I wouldn't call that "easy."
It's not the kind of project a company embarks on without a lot of
forethought and budget planning.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Scott M.]

True, but you aren't really addressing the OP. What you say below is, of
course, true for any change to any large and complex project. And, large
and complex projects should, of course, have much forethought and budget
planning.

But, I don't believe that was what the OP asked us. The OP asked if a
client .NET app. could be converted to an ASP.NET app. The answer to that
is "Yes". The OP asked if a 3-tier VB.NET app. could become an ASP.NET app.
The answer to that is "Yes".

Would that take time and money to accomplish? Probably, but it doesn't mean
that it is rocket science. If we are talking about a smaller project, then
it could be done quite quickly with minimal changes. We are really talking
about state management and UI here.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

The question was "is there a way to convert a vb.net application to
asp.net."
I agree with you that the answer is yes.
Certainly the steps involved are fairly clear to an experience web
developer, but his question suggests that he is not a very experienced web
developer.
So I just thought that you describing it as "easy" was a bit presumptuous.
No big deal though; I think our little conversation has likely provided good
information about the process for him, if he is even still listening...


--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Scott M.]

"but his question suggests that he is not a very experienced web
eveloper." - - which also suggests that it's not a very large or
complicated application that needs to be converted.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

Just because he's not an experienced web developer doesn't necessarily mean
he's not an experienced windows developer.

 

[Scott M.]

You've moved from reasonable assumption to guessing Steve.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

You're the one that guessed that he's got a small and simple project and
that it will be easy. You have no real evidence of that.
I made no assumptions about how easy his task will be because I know nothing
about how big and complex his project is.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Scott M.]

Come on Steve, now you are just looking for an argument. You made an
assumption: "but his question suggests that he is not a very experienced
web developer" and I made an assumption that he's not dealing with a "large
and complex project" (your words).

I think we can all agree that "large and complex projects" are not easy to
convert. But, in the sense of converting a Windows app to an ASP.NET app,
it's not that difficult to do. That's a fact.

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

I did not make any assumption.
As you pointed out, to an experienced web developer the steps involved in
converting a windows app to a web app are fairly straight forward.
He did not know the steps, therefore he is not an experienced web developer.

This is called logic. Apparently you should familiarize yourself with this
concept.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net

 

[Scott M.]

Yep, I knew you were looking for an argument...I won't waste any more of my
time on you.

 

[Guest]

First off, I would like to say sorry for any problems (arguments) i may have
caused the two of you, but i do truly appreciate it as you guys talking back
and forth has taught me that this can be done and hopefully won't be too
hard.. The program I have written in vb.net is something that i have been
working on for the past few months and is not too complicating but is a fair
size project. more just a couple of really big pages that may give some
trouble converting and a bunch of smaller ones that shouldn't be too hard...
since it is in 3-tier i hear i can just keep tiers 2 and 3 the same, as
asp.net uses vb.net code.. so now i am just trying to re-design the look of
all the pages (tier1 - maybe 40ish pages in total) then see if all the code
will work on them. some of the pages are giving a problem since asp.net
doesn't have all the same options for the look of the pages as vb.net does,
but i'm trying to work around it , then change the code for it when i get to
that point. This is seeming more and more complicating as i go on with it,
but i'm keeping my fingers crossed... Please keep me informed if you know of
any other ways that may make this converting thing quicker... Thanks again
for everything, and try not to argue but do try and keep talking with
eachother as having more than one sided answers do make things easier.

 

[Guest]

Hi again, I thought i should tell you two a bit more about my project so you
know what it's all about. it is connected to a mysql database, and there
will be different companies accessing the site, with 3-6 users from each
company... one user will upload files to the database, another will access
it, makes changes, and record some audio about the file.. the other user will
access the audio and do some writing on it and save that file, for the first
user to access it again.. and it keeps on cycling like that.. there will be
lots of images, lots of audios, and lots of documents all being uploaded and
downloaded all the time.. It is a great looking windows application (vb.net)
right now, as i am fairly good in it.. but asp.net and web applications i
know very little about (kicking myself for always skipping those classes now
) I hope i can get this done soon...

 

[Scott M.]

Not to side track you, but you *could* host your windows form in an ASP.NET
application with some tweaking. I don't know too much about it but a Google
search on "hosting windows forms in asp.net" returns many results. Here is
one that is interesting:

http://www.15seconds.com/issue/030610.htm

Good luck with your project!

 

[Steve C. Orr [MVP, MCSD]]

Yes, as I suspected it sounds like you are an experienced windows developer,
but not so experienced with web development.
It sounds like your project is fairly complex, and therefore is no "easy"
way to convert it to ASP.NET.

In addition to state management issues I mentioned and the UI issues you've
already encountered, it sounds like you'll also need to watch out for
bandwidth issues involved with sending large audio files and documents back
and forth across the internet.

I wish I could point you to some software that would do an automatic
conversion for you, but I don't think there are any good ones..
As I mentioend previously, a web deployment of your windows app (most
commonly deployed as a Smart Client) would be the quickest way, but then
it's not truly an ASP.NET application and your users would all need the .NET
Framework.

Maybe Scott M. can give you the "easy" solution he claimed to have that
magically turns your windows application into an ASP.NET application.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD, MVP
http://Steve.Orr.net