Compile VB.NET code without Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll

Introduction

Let's say you are developing a program using Visual Basic.NET (2003 or 2005), and your wish to make sure that your code is using "pure" .NET and VB6 free.

Background

As you all know, Visual Basic.NET enables you to code using VB6 legacy syntax and keywords. For example CInt, Mid, InStr etc'.
The implementation of that compatibility layer is at the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll library.

Behind the scene

When compiling your program, using either VisualStudio IDE or the vbc command line compiler, the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll is added as a reference, and there is no direct approach of removing this reference.
The official (and quite not reasonable) solution to the problem is to add the -sdkpath command line option to the vbc (you cannot set this option at VB Visual Studio project)
Copy the .NET Platform assemblies that required by your project references, into a different directory, and build your program from command line, having the -sdkpath pointing to that directory.


(Aough..)

Behind the whole Theater

There is an undocumented vbc command line option -novbruntimeref, which you can use (at your own risk :), as an alternative to -sdkpath.
Adding -novbruntimeref excludes the implicit addition of Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll reference.
For example, compiling with -novbruntimeref option will fail if you will use Mid instead of Substring.

Now, Your compilation is VB6 free.
and don't get me wrong, VB was a great friend of mine since VB3, and some of my best friends are ...
well, you got the point.

Should I stop using Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace?

Yes and No.
No - Productivity.
If you wish to parse strings using VB6 Mid instead of Substring, it's your call.
After all, this layer was made for enabling you to import VB6 application into .NET, seamlessly, without code changes.

Yes - Compatibility.
For examples, VB6 collections are 0 based for read and -1 based for insertion.
Upgraded applications that use VB Collection through inconsistent implementation of Ilist may experience some nice bugs.

Both points are very important. The choice is all yours.

You must Sign In to use this message board.

FAQ    Noise Tolerance Very HighHighMediumLowVery Low   Layout Expand Posts & RepliesThread ViewNo JavascriptNo JS + Preview   Per page 102550

Msgs 1 to 20 of 20 (Total in Forum: 20) (Refresh) FirstPrevNext

Microsoft now released this feature in VB9 ORCAS Rafael Mizrahi 1:37 12 Jun '07   and now it is official. Microsoft added this feature in VB compiler version 9 at ORCAS Visual Studio 2007 "In order to make it easier to support these and other platforms, like .NET Compact Framework and the XBox 360, Visual Basic 9 has added significant flexibility to how the runtime is supported. One option developers will have is to not reference the VB Runtime at all. Obviously this means the associated language features will not be available at compile time." http://www.panopticoncentral.net/archive/2007/05/31/20766.aspx[^] http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/06/VB-Runtime[^] Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink what happen when I use DirListBox in c# Do.It 2:00 11 Apr '07   I am using DirListBox in c# form...What happen to this control when I run the Form? Does this work as unmanaged code?...Basically if I use anything from following namespaces: Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility Does it work unmanaged...that is something not managed by .net framework... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink You people need to calm down [modified] LuharVB 8:01 25 Jan '07   Why is there such hostility towards the author of this article? He offered a solution that some VB programmers, including myself, might find useful. While some of his reasoning may be off base, the information provided is genuinely useful. If you don't want or need this information, then don't use it. There is no need to bash the author for trying to offer something to the community. I found this article while trying to figure out how to get Microsoft's XNA Game Studio to work with VB.Net. It appears that one of the main reasons VB.Net can't be used to write XNA games for the Xbox is because of VisualBasic.dll, so there's at least one answer to why this article may be useful. Thank you Mr. Mizrahi. I appreciate your contribution. -- modified at 13:06 Thursday 25th January, 2007 Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: You people need to calm down Rafael Mizrahi 8:26 25 Jan '07   LuharVB, thank for your support as a fighter against language racism, (and a programmer of more than 5 languages) I value VB and most of the languages by the purpose of requirements and not by prejudging. thanks again. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink novbruntimeref compiler option Rafael Mizrahi 1:10 4 Aug '06   This thread has become not effective. All I wanted to share was the -novbruntimeref compiler option. The rest of the argument, is yours. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Wrong reason jwelch2 5:42 3 Aug '06   ---------------- Author said " Yes - Compatibility. For examples, VB6 collections are 0 based for read and -1 based for insertion. Upgraded applications that use VB Collection through inconsistent implementation of Ilist may experience some nice bugs." ---------------- How does poor coding with a collection in System.Collections namespace change based on whether or not you include Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace? Can you provide an example of this argument showing the difference of including the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace and an example of not including it? This technique of excluding a .NET namespace is a personal preference of whether to impose an unnecessary handicap on yourself by limiting which namespaces of the .NET Framework you use. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Why? jwelch2 5:10 1 Aug '06   Why? Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll is part of the .NET Framework, so everything within the library is "pure .NET". There's nothing impure about using System.Math, Microsoft.Data, or Microsoft.Win32, so why is Microsoft.VisualBasic not valid for use? Even C# users can include the Microsoft.VisualBasic library and use those features. It seems like you are restricting yourself from everything you have to work with, since its already included within every .NET distribution. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.33/5 (2 votes) Re: Why? Anthony Missico 10:01 3 Aug '06   No. This layer was not made to import VB6. The "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Compatibility Data Runtime" and "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Compatibility Runtime" are specifically for compatibility with VB6 applications. The "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Runtime" is the namespace for Visual Basic language constructs. Not using "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Runtime" while programming in the Visual Basic language is just dumb. Dim foo as string Len(foo) 'visual basic or (foo Is Nothing) OrElse (foo.Length = 0) ' what the author calls 'pure' .net Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Why? [modified] Michel Posseth 23:51 1 Aug '06   You are right The person who wrote this article is totally wrong with his arguments i invite him to tell his ferry tale here http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb&lang=en&cr=US[^] The Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll has nothing to do with Visual Basic 6 This hole article is unnecesary if you are a VB programmer who wants to code without VB syntax well ( i wonder what you do in the VB IDE then just code in C++ or C# or whatever ) Wake up ! the visual basic namespace is nothing more as a framework wrapper some of the methods you find there are more efficient as writing it all out in framework code the methods are just shortcuts in the framework simple example ? len() does the same as string.length however it will not raise an error if the string was not initialized but simply returns zero and so i can dig up several examples ,,, It is all a mather of preference , but as i said we are talking about native VB syntax if you do not want to code in VB then Code in another language , but do not tell people to criple there VB VB is a RAD removing the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll will make VB a C# / C++ etc etc my personal opinion is that the advantage of the framework is that a vb progger can also choose to use pure framework code if he does not need the additional checks that code in the Visual basic namespace performs to speed up code execution p.s. You can remove the vb namespace under project , properties , references ( the namespace box ) result is C# without the curly braces and weird variabel declaration regards Michel Posseth [MCP] -- modified at 6:18 Wednesday 2nd August, 2006 Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (2 votes) [Message Deleted] Rafael Mizrahi 0:07 2 Aug '06   Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Re: Why? Michel Posseth 0:36 2 Aug '06   Well i do not give You up yet Many people have discussed this before, the Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility.dll is something that I can understand you would want to avoid, but Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll does not fall into the same category. As a experienced VB6 and VB.Net coder i can tell you ( started on the C64 with basic ) that Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll has some methods that do not behave the same as there legacy VB6 counterparts ( datediff for example ) Also i do not think or believe anything ,, i talk facts . How do i get these facts ? by beeing active in my job an listen to the people who make the product that i am working with , believe me if the ms VB development team told us that the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll is there for backwards compatibility purposes i was one of the first to abandon it , when my colegues still coded with DAO i used ADO cause i knew it was the future the below is written by Stephen Weatherford, Developer on the Visual Basic team and Cameron Beccario, Developer on the Visual Basic core compiler team Host: Cameron (Microsoft) Q: I didn't think the runtime was included if you didn't use it. A: The VB runtime is always included for every VB program. The VB runtime not only includes familiar functions like UCase and MsgBox, but also a host of helper functions that the compiler uses. For example, the VB runtime has a helper function for converting Strings to Booleans. And the entire mechanism for latebinding also sits in the VB runtime. Note that the VB runtime is different than the compatibility library (Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatiblity.dll), which you should reference only when you need it (such as when upgrading your code from VB6 to VB.NET using the upgrade tool). Host: Stephen (Microsoft) Q: Re: the question, "There are two VB namespaces, right? Compatibility and regular VB?" A: Let me add to this... There *are* two namespaces--Microsoft.VisualBasic and Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility. Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility is only used when you upgrade a VB6 application, and is for backwards compatibility purposes (it is a separate DLL from Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll). The Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace, however, provides the runtime functions for Visual Basic. As Cameron pointed out, you always get this reference for free (it is different from the VB compatibility runtime). It is *not* for backwards compatibility, but rather for current Visual Basic .NET programs. I hope to have shined some light on the subject regards Michel Posseth [MCP] Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) Re: Why? [modified] Anthony Missico 10:06 3 Aug '06   You are so wrong. What you call Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll IS the "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Runtime". Rafael Mizrahi, your argument is completely wrong. Your peers have review your article and have found your suggestion and argument wrong. Do us the favor and withdrawal your article. -- modified at 15:06 Thursday 3rd August, 2006 Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... Duncan Edwards Jones 7:47 28 Jul '06   In your Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 2003\Common 7\VB7\VBProjects\ there is a file called "EmptyProject.vbproj" (or wherever your Visual Studio is) This is an xml mile that defines your standard new project and it includes the imports section: <Imports> <mport Namespace = "Microsoft.VisualBasic" /> <Import Namespace = "System" /> </Imports> Backup this file then delete the <Import Namespace = "Microsoft.VisualBasic" /> bit and then any new VB projects will not include the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace. '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... dfinger 2:38 1 Aug '06   How about doing this in VS2005? Any Ideas? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... Daniel Finger 3:28 1 Aug '06   Oh, I meant the idea removing the reference in the xml-file. The xml-file doesn't exists in VS2005 so I wanted to ask if there is another way to use the ide (not cmdline) without referencing Microsoft.VisualBasic in VS2005. Regards Daniel Finger Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... lpellerin 4:37 6 Sep '06   Well you can easily remove it in VS2005 by going in your Project's properties, then clicking on the Reference section, and finally, unchecking "Microsoft.VisualBasic". A quick recompile will show all the "bad" stuff you have used thus far in your project. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... Rafael Mizrahi 22:04 6 Sep '06   You are correct. VS2005 IDE solved this problem. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... nitkapy2k@gmail.com 22:42 12 Mar '08   No, this problem is not solve ,when i open my dll through reflector it contains visual basic reference. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... Rafael Mizrahi 23:01 12 Mar '08   Hi nitkapy2k, well, we need some more information in order to help you. this findings were using VS2003 and vbc, what VS are you using? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Prevent the reference being added to new projects ... nitkapy2k@gmail.com 5:29 13 Mar '08   i m using VS2005. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

Last Visit: 8:10 5 Jul '09     Last Update: 8:10 5 Jul '09 1