Commercialising a VBA project: VBA to VB6 versus VB.Net

[chatterbox]

Hi Everybody.

I have read many threads on the subject of VBA to VB6 versus to VB.Net
and yet I am not certain of the best course to take. If I should post
my question to a different forum could you suggest an appropriate
one ?

I have an Excel 2003 VBA project that I wish to make secure and
potentially commercialise. I don't know VB6 or VB.Net, though I can
learn if needs be. What I am trying to avoid is going down one route
only to find the other may have been a better choice.

Q1. What would be the simplest or most sensible route going from a VBA
project to a bells and all commercial product which a user could auto
install; VB6 or VB.Net ?

Q2. Can you suggest any references to read that would tell me how to
go about doing this ?

Kind Regards

chatterbox

 

[Charles Williams]

It all depends really on your target market, price strategy, marketing
strategy and sales volumes, but IMHO what you need first is

- bullet-proof error handling
- a professional install package (I use Wise, but there are several
alternatives)
- help files and user guides
- a licensing strategy and implementation
- a delivery strategy and implementation

after that I would personally choose either VB6 or VBA for performance and
installability reasons, and it would be less of a rewrite than VB.NET.

regards
Charles
______________________
Decision Models
FastExcel 2.3 now available
Name Manager 4.0 now available
www.DecisionModels.com

 

[chatterbox]

Charles

Thanks for your advice. It all looks so onerouse when laid out so
starkly. Then again, it must all be done. Its useful for me to hear
that you as a professional developer would recommend I opt for VB6. It
makes the decision to go down that route more reassuring.

I am also interested to hear if that is what others would suggest. But
if not, why not ?

Kind Regards

chatterbox

 

[NickHK]

Whilst the port to VB6 will be pretty painless, you should be aware that MS
ceased support for this language earlier this year. As such, it does not
have future as far as MS are concerned, although many will continue to
develop in it and OS's will support it until that after Vista, apparently.
Also, many are unsure as to how serious MS are about VB.Net as a long term
development language.

If you are starting from scratch, then why not look at the whole range
available to you, as long as it COM support, so you can interact with Excel.

Just my 2c.

NickHK