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* It will be quicker to do a VB6-to-VB.Net migration, since there is a code translater built into VS. &nbsp;It isn't fool-proof, but will get you close. &nbsp;I write this sentence assuming you have a more recent version of VS. &nbsp;The early VS versions, prior to 2005/2008, didn't implement partial classes and the VB code environment was crappy.<br />
<br />
* Considering the learning curve; you are already proficient with the VB syntax, statements, and functions; the maintenance of the VB.Net version will likely be accomplished in less time than if you had to learn a new language.<br />
<br />
* You will also need to migrate the VB6 forms to web forms.
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There is no difference between VB.NET and C#. And given your requirement, VB.NET will be good enough for you. As ste5an suggested you can use EF to access your data. However don't go that path if you are not comfortable with EF and OOPS concept. You cannot avoid OOPS completely even with VB.NET but it is very similar to VB 6 so you should not have any challenge.<br />
<br />
I started with ASP, moved on to VB.NET and then to C#. The journey took some 15 years and in these 15 years I have not once encountered a programming job that can be done in C# and cannot be done in VB.NET.<br />
<br />
So don't worry. You will be OK doing the conversion to vb.net and SQL Server.
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Do not go the conversion route as was suggested. It no necessarily easier, because you need to debug the resulting code that is a mess. Also, the resulting code is something that no .NET programmer would write, so it is a very bad way to learn VB.NET.<br />
<br />
VB.NET is very different from VB6, so the converter needs to simulate in .NET the way things worked in VB6. This brings extra code that is not very bad, but also has quite an impact on the performance.<br />
<br />
And the conversion would still work with Access and recordsets, so you would have to rewrite most of the code anyway in order to make it work property with SQL Server in the way it is intended to be used in .NET.<br />
<br />
A rewrite is always the best solution.<br />
<br />
I have see or heard of many conversion projects where programmers worked for weeks and even months trying to debug and optimize a converted application, only to drop everything and start from fresh in .NET. I do not see that as a way to be quicker.<br />
<br />
Also, the converter was dropped a few versions ago, there is none available for current versions of the framework, and since you are beginning, I suppose that you will go for the newest version.<br />
<br />
And you do not have to migrate the VB6 forms to web forms. You can well keep working with Windows Forms, with a possible alternative using WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) forms.
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oops. &nbsp;I should have written &quot;Win forms&quot; instead of &quot;web forms&quot;<br />
Thanks, James.<br />
<br />
I think there are some coding standards enforcers, like FX Cop, that might make code conversion a more sane process.
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FX Cop is no longer necessary in newer versions of Visual Studio, it is incorporated into the Analyze menu. And it does not enforce coding standards. It simply analyze your code against the standards and suggest modifications to make. It's up to you to make the changes in the code. And sometimes, a warning on one line of code forces a rewrite on 20 lines. One needs to have the time to do that.<br />
<br />
And it would not help much with applications that were converted. Converted applications do not have the same structure as .NET applications. They still use old techniques such as On Error GoTo instead of Try...Catch.<br />
<br />
Running FX Cop of the analysis tool on converted code would force an almost complete rewrite, that would be more complex and not as good as a clean complete rewrite.<br />
<br />
I tested the thing when I was preparing my first VB.NET course in 2002. I thought that we would begin the training session with a conversion and then go on from there.<br />
<br />
I thus wrote a very simple VB6 applications, 2 small forms, one that displayed and enabled changing data in a single table in an Access database, another one doing the same thing with a text file. I took care not to use stuff that would give problems after the conversion, such as using the Variant data type that does not exists in .NET.<br />
<br />
I Passed it through the converter and ended up with over 100 warnings and errors from the compiler.<br />
<br />
After working 3 days correcting the errors and lowering the warnings to about 50, I got it to work.<br />
<br />
I passed it through FX Cop and ended up with over 500 more warnings.<br />
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Definitively not the way to go.<br />
<br />
I then rewrote the same application from scratch in VB.NET. It was my first .NET application, my first use of ADO.NET. It took me 2 days (less than debugging the converted application) to get something that compiled and worked. FX Cop reported only 50 or so warnings, which is quite good for a first application.<br />
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And this one a simple demo application. Imagine what it would have been with a real one. This goes to say that the converter was for amateurs who needed to convert their bowling league scores application, not for professional work. I have heard that later versions of the converter were a little better, but not much.
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My comment for code analysis (FX Cop or built-in): Clean-up your code till no more warning pops up. Many warnings are there for a real purpose, because they tell you, that when your code is wrongly used or used in way not intended, it may result in a run-time error.
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vb.net and c# compile to the same intermediate code. &nbsp;you can have vb modules and c# classes in the same solution (but different projects) and they can work with each other, you just have to get the references right. So program in what you are most comfortable with.<br />
<br />
If you make your own msbuild then they can be in the same solution as the code will be compiled into modules and you can link them together (this is not supported in the ide though)<br />
<a href="http://thomasfreudenberg.com/archive/2006/08/21/mixing-c-and-vb-net-in-one-assembly/" rel="ugc">http://thomasfreudenberg.com/archive/2006/08/21/mixing-c-and-vb-net-in-one-assembly/</a>
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The opinions for whether VB.NET or C# is better usually come from the die-hards of either language. People who come from a VBx background will swear by VB.NET; those who come from a C/C++/Java background will swear by C#. Write in the language that your shop chooses to write in--whether it be a collective decision or whether it be a decision made by the boss. At the end of the day, it's all of you who have to maintain the thing, and having an assortment of languages scattered across all of your projects doesn't help anyone--trust me, I work in a shop that has no less than 5 languages (several are legacy systems) going on. If the boss decides that you're going to be a VB.NET shop, then you're going to have to suck it up...or find a different job. If you want to learn C# on the side: &nbsp;go for it. Being multilingual is a great skill to show on your resume.<br />
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The majority of your time will probably be spent learning libraries and frameworks--not to be confused with the .NET Framework--rather than any particular language, especially if you get into web development.
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We had considered running the program through a conversion tool of sorts, but decided to write from scratch instead.<br />
I'm not sure if we would need mobile accessibility since it is a program for keeping track of a customers proposals, jobs, customers, purchase orders, sales and etc. &nbsp;I might consider making a small app in the future with info. the guys would need when at a jobsite - but for the meantime, I need is to get the program they are using in the office working faster, brighter and shinier.<br />
Thanks for all your advice!
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looking at all the comments it seems that all the bases are covered, using VB or C# its a preference thing. I started off in VB because I am dyslexic and it made things easier to read and write (at the time) I then converted over to C#, and this is simpler, but its plugging into the same framework so it doesn't really matter. <br />
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The only time I have found major differences is with I use Linq and Lambda expressions, everything else is just really a matter of declaration and instantiation. <br />
<br />
for example<br />
vb<br />

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-20-41398875-1"><span>Dim i as Interger = 0</span>
<span>Dim sb as New stringbuilder()</span>
</code></pre>
<br />
c#<br />

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-20-41398875-2"><span>var i = 0;</span>
<span>var sb= New stringbuilder(); </span>
</code></pre>
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if you didn't want to use var and give the variable an explicit type do this <br />
<br />

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-20-41398875-3"><span>int i = 0;</span>
<span>stringbuilder sb= New stringbuilder();</span>
</code></pre>
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but then as I say, everything else is the same framework so its just preference of which language but a good understanding of OOP is a must, always challenge what you already know or think you know, have a specification to work to otherwise you will encounter scope creep get use case scenarios so you can make a better, simpler interface if you think it needs to change and if you get stuck theres always this site, stackoverflow and other resources..
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@SimonPrice3376<br />
<br />
VB's equivalent to C#'s <b>var</b> is <b>Dim</b> without an <b>as</b>:<br />
<br />

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-20-41399277-1"><span>Dim i = 0</span>
<span>Dim sb = New stringbuilder()</span>
</code></pre>
<br />
Your VB example is equivalent to your 2nd C# example.
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youre right... I was typing on the fly and mixing two languages wasn't a good idea, but wanted to give the OP the insight to the subtle differences
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Actually, var and Dim alone do not always do the same thing. There are 2 options in the project's properties that defines what Dim will do.<br />
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By default it works like var, but if you change the Option Infer property to False, then the result of Dim without a type will give you an Object instead of a type defined by Inference. And if you also set Option Strict On, then you are force to specify a type, and the syntax without the type will generate an error.
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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Hi. &nbsp;Years ago I developed a program using Access and VB6. Different components and reports were added along the way, creating a huge beast. We are now converting to a SQL back end and I was going to re-write the code with VB.Net. &nbsp;Of course someone (aka the pain in my ass) has their opinion that there are all kinds of problems with VB.Net and I should just learn C# and write it in that language.<br />
OBVIOUSLY, there would be a longer learning curve if I were to write in C# - I am much more comfortable with VB - but don't want to make a mistake either, and realize it after hundreds of hours of programming.<br />
Please, I could use some expert opinions on this. Thank you so much in advance. &nbsp; <br />
<br />
- Melissa
</div>
</div>


Hi.  Years ago I developed a program using Access and VB6. Different components and reports were added along the way, creating a huge beast. We are now converting to a SQL back end and I was going to re-write the code with VB.Net.  Of course someone (aka the pain in my ass) has their opinion that there are all kinds of problems with VB.Net and I should just learn C# and write it in that language.
OBVIOUSLY, there would be a longer learning curve if I were to write in C# - I am much more comfortable with VB - but don't want to make a mistake either, and realize it after hundreds of hours of programming.
Please, I could use some expert opinions on this. Thank you so much in advance.   

- Melissa

Old program using Access &amp; VB6

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is an object-oriented programming language implemented on the .NET framework, but also supported on other platforms such as Mono and Silverlight. Microsoft launched VB.NET as the successor to the Visual Basic language. Though it is similar in syntax to  Visual Basic pre-2002, it is not the same technology,

Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic is Microsoft’s event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) for its Component Object Model (COM) programming model. It is relatively easy to learn and use because of its graphical development features and BASIC heritage. It has been replaced with VB.NET, and is very similar to VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), the programming language for the Microsoft Office product line.

Visual Basic Classic

The .NET Framework is not specific to any one programming language; rather, it includes a library of functions that allows developers to rapidly build applications. Several supported languages include C#, VB.NET, C++ or ASP.NET.

.NET Programming

C# is an object-oriented programming language created in conjunction with Microsoft’s .NET framework. Compilation is usually done into the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is then JIT-compiled to native code (and cached) during execution in the Common Language Runtime (CLR).

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) enables building user-defined functions (UDFs), automating processes and accessing Windows API and other low-level functionality through dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). VBA is closely related to Visual Basic and uses the Visual Basic Runtime Library, but it can normally only run code within a host application rather than as a standalone program. It can, however, be used to control one application from another via OLE Automation. VBA is built into most Microsoft Office applications.

Old program using Access &amp; VB6

Old program using Access & VB6