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Visual Basic .NET/Visual Basic 6 to .NET Function Equivalents

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The information provided here is intended to help Visual Basic 6 developers who are making the switch to Visual Basic .NET and who wish to learn how to accomplish tasks without the use of the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace (which contains all of the legacy Visual Basic 6 functions).

Do not be mistaken; by using functions in the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace, you are not using "old code," because all of those functions map to their new equivalents within the .NET Framework. The main benefit of avoiding these functions is so you can familiarize yourself with the namespaces contained in the .NET Framework.

If you would like to remove the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace, you can do one of two things:

  • Manually remove the import every time you start a new project.
  • Create a project template that does not include the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace.

To create a template, take look at these links:

Notes

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  • Some functions listed here may not be exact equivalents, but are the closest that are available.
  • You are encouraged to use the Object Browser (F2) to explore the .NET namespaces yourself.
  • Click on any of the .NET equivalent functions to visit Microsoft Developer Network and find out more information about that function.

Miscellaneous

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Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
App.Path Application.StartupPath
CallByName Type Object.InvokeMember
Circle Graphics Object.DrawEllipse
Collection Collections.Hashtable, Collections.Dictionary
Command Environment.GetCommandLineArgs
DoEvents Application.DoEvents
Environ Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable
Err Deprecated - Use Exception object and Try ... Catch ... End Try statement
Error Exception Object.Message
GetSetting Deprecated - Look into Configuration.ConfigurationSettings
IIf Deprecated
InputBox Deprecated - Make your own form
Len Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf
MsgBox MessageBox.Show
RGB Color Object.FromArgb
SavePicture Image Object.Save
SaveSetting Deprecated - Look into Configuration.ConfigurationSettings
SendKeys SendKeys.Send
Shell Process.Start
Switch Deprecated
TypeName Any Object.GetType.ToString
Unload Deprecated
VarType Any Object.GetType

Strings

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Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
Asc Convert.ToInt32(Char)
Chr Convert.ToChar
Format Any Object.ToString(Format String)
FormatCurrency Any Numeric Object.ToString("c")
FormatDateTime Date Object.ToString(Format String), Date Object.ToLongDateString
FormatNumber Any Numeric Object.ToString(Format String)
FormatPercent Any Numeric Object.ToString("p")
Hex Integer Object.ToString("x"), Convert.ToString(Integer, 16)
InStr String Object.IndexOf
InStrRev String Object.LastIndexOf
Join String.Join
LCase String Object.ToLower
Left String Object.Substring
Len String Object.Length
LTrim String Object.TrimStart
Mid String Object.Substring
Oct Convert.ToString(Integer, 8)
Replace String Object.Replace
Right String Object.Substring
RTrim String Object.TrimEnd
Space String Object.PadLeft, String Object.PadRight
Split String Object.Split
String String Object = New String(Char, Count)
StrReverse Dim c() As Char = Array.Reverse(String Object.ToCharArray)
Trim String Object.Trim
UCase String Object.ToUpper

Files & Directories

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Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
ChDir IO.Directory.SetCurrentDirectory
CurDir IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory
Dir IO.Directory.GetFiles, IO.Directory.GetDirectories, IO.Directory.Exists, IO.File.Exists
EOF IO.StreamReader.Peek = -1
FileAttr Deprecated - Use StreamReader or StreamWriter
FileCopy IO.File.Copy
FileDateTime IO.File.GetLastAccessTime, IO.File.GetCreationTime
FileLen IO.FileStream Object.Length
GetAttr IO.File.GetAttributes
Loc IO.Stream Object.Position
LOF IO.Stream Object.Length
MkDir IO.Directory.CreateDirectory
RmDir IO.Directory.Delete
SetAttr IO.File.SetAttributes

Arrays

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Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
Filter Array.BinarySearch
UBound Any Type of Array.GetUpperBound(0)

Date & Time

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Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
DateAdd Date Object.Add
DateDiff Date Object.Subtract
Now DateTime.Now
Visual Basic 6 .NET Equivalent
Abs Math.Abs
Atn Math.Atan
Cos Math.Cos
Exp Math.Exp
Fix Math.Truncate, Math.Floor (for negative numbers), Math.Ceiling (for positive numbers)
Int Math.Floor
Log Math.Log
Randomize Deprecated - Random Object is automatically randomized declared
Rnd System.Random Object.Next
Round Math.Round
Sgn Math.Sign
Sin Math.Sin
Sqr Math.Sqrt
Tan Math.Tan
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