To Buy, or Not To Buy?

[johnmtb]

Dear All,

I have now been using the Free, Downloadable version of VB 2008, for some time, and have written about one dozen programmes using this language. In fact, having convetted those programmes from ones that I had already written in VB 6.

I am now thinking seriously about buying Visual Studio 2008 Professional, and need some advice.

I have found that, compared to VB 6, the VB 2008 programmes take a long time to get going. Even the VB 2008 package takes a long time to load, before I am able to start work, and takes even longer to close when I finish.

Also, I notice that after a lot of debugging, my whole computer slows down to a crawl, and I generally have to reboot.

I don’t like some of the kludge ways that I have now had to change my VB 6 code to VB 2008 code, because I can no longer use the arrays of Textboxes on the forms, but have to set up the following code:

Public objTextBoxes01 As New System.Collections.Generic.List(Of TextBox)
-
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Public objTextBoxes05 As New System.Collections.Generic.List(Of TextBox)     
-
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objTextBoxes01.Add(frmLessThan5.txtItem1)
objTextBoxes01.Add(frmLessThan5.txtItem2)
-
-
objTextBoxes02.Add(frmLessThan5.txtQty1)
objTextBoxes02.Add(frmLessThan5.txtQty2)
-
-
objTextBoxes03.Add(frmLessThan5.txtUnit1)
objTextBoxes03.Add(frmLessThan5.txtUnit2)
-
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objTextBoxes04.Add(frmLessThan5.txtDescription1)
objTextBoxes04.Add(frmLessThan5.txtDescription2)
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objTextBoxes05.Add(frmLessThan5.txtUnitPrice1)
objTextBoxes05.Add(frmLessThan5.txtUnitPrice2)

For i = 0 To 6
               Item(i) = objTextBoxes01.Item(i).Text
               Qty(i) = CInt(objTextBoxes02.Item(i).Text)
               Unit(i) = objTextBoxes03.Item(i).Text
               ItemDescription(i) = objTextBoxes04.Item(i).Text
               UnitPrice(i) = CDbl(objTextBoxes05.Item(i).Text)
Next

Instead of simply:

For x = 0 To 6
	Item(x) = txtItem(x)
	Qty(x) = Val(txtQty(x))
	Unit(x) = txtUnit(x)
	ItemDescription(x) = txtDescription(x)
	UnitPrice(x) = Val(txtUnitPrice(x))
Next

Any suggestions, comments, or even ridicule, would be welcome.

Regards,

John

 

[RiverGuy]

For Visual Basic, I use Visual Studio 2005 Professional at work and I use Visual Studio 2008 Standard at home. I don't have any issues with performance with either. I do remember when I tried Visual Basic 2005 Express that I saw some memory usage issues while debugging my applications. If your PC is old, I would assume Visual Studio 2008 would be a little slower than Visual Studio 6. I would think that many programs written in the last year would run slower than programs written eleven years ago, on older hardware.

As far as your control arrays are concerned, remember that Visual Basic.Net is a completely different language and development environment than Visual Basic 6. It's a fully object-oriented language, and some shortcuts that existed in Visual Basic 6 may not be there in Visual Basic.Net. So, instead of thinking of Visual Basic.Net as an upgrade to Visual Basic 6, think of it as a completely different language with it's own set of best practices.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Coincidentally, I use the same set up as RiverGuy and also have no performance issues.

The IDE however is alot slower to load and close compared to the VB6 IDE, but then again it's not a painful difference, just means you can have a 25-30 second longer chat with colleauges at the start of the day

HarleyQuinn
---------------------------------
Carter, hand me my thinking grenades!

You can hang outside in the sun all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters. - Eric Cartman

Get the most out of Tek-Tips, read FAQ222-2244: How to get the best answers before posting.

http://lessthandot.com

 

[TheVampire]

You didn't say why you wanted to buy VS2008 Professional. is there some feature in Pro that you need and it's not in Express?

 

[RiverGuy]

Express only allows Click-Once Deployment. Standard and Professional allow you to create a setup project. That, in my opinion is reason to upgrade to a pay-for version.

 

[johnmtb]

All,

thank you for your comments. but what is the bottom line?

do you recommend that i purchase Visual Studio 2008 Professional?

i already have Visual Studio 2005, but i haven't used it much. and i do like to have the latest if it is worth it.

it is only about $700 or $800.

regards,

john

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I suppose it depends which version of the framework you will be wanting to develop applications for. The majority of the customers in my company still use framework 2.0 so I can happilly develop in VB2005. If you're wanting to develop for later versions of the framework (and want to use the extra deployment options RiverGuy mentioned and have $700-$800 burning a hole in your pocket) then go along the upgrade VB2008 route.

HarleyQuinn
---------------------------------
Carter, hand me my thinking grenades!

You can hang outside in the sun all day tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters. - Eric Cartman

Get the most out of Tek-Tips, read FAQ222-2244: How to get the best answers before posting.

http://lessthandot.com

 

[TheVampire]

There are ways to get a setup project other than buying Professional. Advanced Installer works well.

 

[johnmtb]

Dear All,

Thank you all for your input.

When I finish downloading the 90 day trial package, I will use it for the ninety days, and then probably buy it, unless something very bad puts me off.

To tell the truth, I don’t really have to provide my colleagues with programmes, but it does speed up the work. In general I have always been lazy, and I would prefer to write programmes that would obviate the need to perform repetitive, mind numbing work.

Regards,

John

 

[tcsbiz]

I have found that a PC needs 2GB RAM and 2GHZ processor to run reasonably well.

 

[Sorwen]

johnmtb, that is exactly why I spent so much time convincing my boss to get us VS a few years ago. I much rather have the computer make minor corrections to 3000 account every month (among a host of other simple things) then have to sit there and have my eye cross while I do it. That was after my suggestion about hiring a monkey to do it got declined. I was even willing to pay for the bananas myself.

-I hate Microsoft!
-Forever and always forward.
-My kingdom for a edit button!

 

[johnmtb]

Sorwen,

did you get it eventually, and was it worth it?

regards,

john

 

[Sorwen]

Yes, a long time ago. We were using 2005 and now we are using 2008. Like others have said it all depends on what you want it for. Did we really need to move to 2008? Not really. We did however have to buy new copies (licensing issues) so we decided to move to 2008. In some ways it doesn't play as nice with some of the COM components we have to use as 2005 did. I still use 2005 at home because there isn't really that much reason for me to upgrade. They fixed some things and restricted others.

The whole standard vs. pro generally speaking pro isn't worth the cost difference unless you need very specific things. I don't remember off the top of my head, but the differences were totally unnecessary unless you had some very specific requirements.

-I hate Microsoft!
-Forever and always forward.
-My kingdom for a edit button!

 

[johnmtb]

Sorwen,

thank you.

regards,

john

 

[RiverGuy]

The whole standard vs. pro generally speaking pro isn't worth the cost difference unless you need very specific things. I don't remember off the top of my head, but the differences were totally unnecessary unless you had some very specific requirements.

Microsoft has changed their strategy. Initially, "Standard" versions were of just one language. Now, "Standard" allows you to program in VB or C# or C++. Standard is much cheaper than Professional, which is why I purchased it for home/consulting development. I haven't found anything lacking which I really need, although it would be a good idea to look up the differences on MSDN.Microsoft.com.

 

[Sorwen]

Yeah, that is what I was getting at. Was I unclear or are you just agreeing/expanding on it?

-I hate Microsoft!
-Forever and always forward.
-My kingdom for a edit button!

 

[RiverGuy]

Expanding on it. I was unsure if Standard Edition is an option for john.

 

[johnmtb]

RiverGuy,

the Visual Basic that i am using is the Visual Basic 2008 Standard Edition, which i downloaded free of charge.

but, if there is a version which i should purchase, Visual Basic only, i will purchase that version in order that i may have my colleagues use the programmes.

in other words, is there a licensable version of Visual Basic 2008 that i should purchase?

regards,

john

 

[RiverGuy]

The free version is Visual Basic Express. The "Standard" versions are no longer for just one language.

Here's an edition comparison:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...B0-B575-47AB-9FD8-4EE067BB3A37&displaylang=en

I noticed that the 2005 Visual Studio Edition comparison lists Standard as only allowing Click-Once deployment. However, this 2008 datasheet lists Visual Studio 2008 Standard as allowing Windows Installer. That might be something to confirm that's changed.

 

[Sorwen]

That would be a change because in copies before now Standard does allow Windows installer.

-I hate Microsoft!
-Forever and always forward.
-My kingdom for a edit button!