Upgrading VB Application Wizard Projects

Chapter 17

Upgrading VB Application Wizard Projects

This chapter looks specifically at upgrading projects created with the VB Application Wizard. Because the wizard generates the same forms and modules for the applications it creates, each project will have the same problems that can be fixed in the same way. Of course, the wizard creates shell projects that are used as a basis for development. Here we ll discuss only the issues common to these shell projects generated by the wizard not ones that may occur with code you have subsequently added.

When you create a new project in Microsoft Visual Basic 6, the New Project dialog box gives you a number of choices as to the type of project to create. The most common choice is Standard EXE, followed by ActiveX DLL. These create empty projects, to which you have to add menus, toolbars, and the corresponding logic. Since many projects have the same basic components, Visual Basic 6 provides a VB Application Wizard that generates many of these components for you. This wizard starts when you select VB Application Wizard as the project type in the New Project dialog box, as shown in Figure 17-1.

Figure 17-1

Starting the VB Application Wizard from the New Project dialog box.

The VB Application Wizard asks you a number of questions about the project you want to create, such as the type of interface you want the project to have, the menus and submenus you need, whether strings will be stored in a resource file, and what data access forms the application will have. After you answer these questions, the wizard creates a project that is prepopulated with commonly used forms and classes. This project then becomes a template for your application. You create more forms and classes and add the business logic. Table 17-1 lists the project items the wizard creates.

Table 17-1 Project Items Created by the VB Application Wizard

Project Item	Description
frmAbout form	frmAbout is the form that opens when users choose About from the Help menu.
frmLogin form	frmLogin is a simple username/password login form that opens when the application first starts.
frmMain form	Each project created with the VB Application Wizard has a form called frmMain. This is the primary form of the application.
frmSplash form	frmSplash is a splash screen that shows after the frmLogin form but before frmMain opens.
frmBrowser	An application for which you specify Internet connectivity has a frmBrowser form. This form contains a WebBrowser ActiveX control.
Data forms	Data forms are added to display and edit information from a database.
Module1 module	Each project created with the VB Application Wizard has a module called Module1. This module has a Sub Main method, the startup object that opens the frmMain form.
frmDocument form	Each MDI interface project has a form called frmDocument; this is the MDI child form.
frmOptions form	frmOptions is a tabbed dialog form for setting application options. Because this form upgrades without issues, we won t discuss it any further in this chapter.

Your project created with the VB Application Wizard may have all or some of the project items listed in Table 17-1, depending on the options you selected in the wizard. Each of these project items has its own unique set of upgrade issues. Let s look at these items and see what you have to do to get them working in Visual Basic .NET.