Challenges Faced in VB6 Migration to .NET

Challenges Faced in VB6 Migration to .NET

By Imran Salahuddin | March 12th, 2021 |

Key Factors for Project Success

Migrating from VB6 to .NET is not a simple loading of a platform into existing software. There are many stakeholders within the process. In addition to counting the end customers of the business who wishes to migrate from VB6 to .NET, there are in house developers, product managers, operations manager, senior company management and more. There will be questions in everyone’s mind about the migration, and it is always better to listen to everyone’s concerns right at the start. When going systematically through everyone’s concern important key points which will be identified ensuring easier acceptance once complete.

Why is it Inevitable to Migrate your Visual Basic Application?

Let us break down the process of beginning migration in even more detail, the process starts asking and answering questions from within the organizations. Having these questions documented an answer bye all stakeholders is a starting point of success.

  • What are the primary factors driving the need to migrate?
  • What are the benefits of upgrading the application from VB6 to .NET?
  • What new features and functionalities would the company add or remove from the migration process?
  • Is it better to migrate or is a new off the shelf solution or a new from the ground up a better business decision?
  • What is the upgrade plan and detailed schedule?
  • Will the upgrade happen in pre-defined stages, or will it be done all at once, or take an Agile dynamic methodology?

Code Auditing

As the migrations process begins, there will be some pre-migration activities which may uncover poor coding practices such as, too many lines of codes that goes nowhere or does nothing. During the code auditing, it is better avoid blaming the old code but rather keep the focused on the new after migration application. 

Control Analysis

VB6 applications are known to use many native and third-party controls. Many of the third-party controls may not be compatible with .Net. Note when using these third-party controls, you may limit the speed and performance of the .Net platform. If there are no appropriate third-party controls, then what is the alternate the path to provide the desired functionality?

Quality Control and Bug Fixing

This is one of the steps that will decide if the migration can be automated, or if it must be fully manual. If the legacy code is full of bugs and the code quality is poor, you might not want an automated migration process. Here developers, software testers, and quality assurance engineers must be honest in the evaluation of the current system.

Assemble the Team

After there is a picture of what the scope of individual activities will be, there will be a time frame to commit to and some parts of the migrations will have a no-compromise component as well, which are the functionalities. Putting the business first instead of the technology, it is important that the business logic and software functionalities are not sacrificed in favor of a smooth transition.

Finding the Right Partner

Finally, you need a technology partner who has a history of successful migrations, while many of the migrations fail even before starting. Macrosoft has bucked that trend by constantly landing on the expectations of our clients. If you have doubts or concerns about migrating to .Net from VB6, contact us as we are more than happy to help.

Why is it Inevitable to Migrate your Visual Basic Application?

Imran Salahuddin on Linkedin
Imran Salahuddin
VP of Technology & Migration Services at Macrosoft Inc
Imran serves as Macrosoft’s VP of Technology & Migration Services. With two decades of industry experience, Imran continues to demonstrate his ability to ensure seamless migrations. Imran works with Project Managers, sales/strategy teams, and clients to ensure the successful migration of legacy applications. Moreover, Imran exhibits effective communication skills and an eye for quality service.

As a Microsoft Certified and PMI Project Management Professional, Imran can migrate a myriad of difficult technologies. Most recently, he migrated a VFP legacy application which communicated to networking equipment. Testing the application without detailed knowledge of the domain was the real challenge.

Imran also dedicates his time to IoT (Internet of Things), as well as Online Sales, and looks to improve upon all of Macrosoft’s existing verticals.
Recent Blogs

How to Virtualize your VFP Application
How to Virtualize your VFP Application
Read Blog
Choosing the Right Approach when Converting from Visual Basic to .NET
Choosing the Right Approach when Converting from Visual Basic to .NET
Read Blog
Why VB6 Migration to .NET is Essential Now
Why VB6 Migration to .NET is Essential Now
Read Blog
Critical Reasons to consider Legacy Application Migration
Critical Reasons to consider Legacy Application Migration
Read Blog
Microsoft’s Move from FoxPro to .NET
Microsoft’s Move from FoxPro to .NET
Read Blog

Copyright © 2024 Macrosoft Inc