Visual Studio Code for VB6/VBA projects

[wisekat]

Is anybody using Microsoft's Visual Studio Code to work with VB6 or VBA projects? Can we get any benefits if we open a VB6 project in this tool? Say, better code analysis, etc. And if someone does not have the VB6 IDE installed, is Visual Studio Code a better tool compared to Notepad/Notepad++ to open and work with a VB6 project?

[techgnome]

Well... considering it clearly states "Build and debug modern web and cloud applications." I'm going to go out on a limb and say - Probably not.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/l...-are-supported

Even though VB is listed, it's probably assumed to be VB.NET and not VB6 or VBA.

If someone wants to prove me wrong, great! It would be nice if it were the case, but something tells me that it probably won't.


-tg

[dilettante]

Is anybody using Microsoft's Visual Studio Code to work with VB6 or VBA projects? Can we get any benefits if we open a VB6 project in this tool? Say, better code analysis, etc. And if someone does not have the VB6 IDE installed, is Visual Studio Code a better tool compared to Notepad/Notepad++ to open and work with a VB6 project?

Anyone who fiddles with VB6 source files outside the IDE risks doing a great deal of damage. Yes, it can be done... with care. There are even a few times when you want to do this, but normally only for a few narrowly specific reasons.

If you want "code analysis" you need 3rd party tools. Some of the best of these are implemented as IDE add-ins. For example:

Project Analyzer

In general you should avoid tampering with VB6 source files at all unless you really know what you are doing. And make no mistake about it, opening them in a text editor is tampering.

[bPrice]

Some of the best of these are implemented as IDE add-ins. For example:

Project Analyzer

As much as I like that site, those are not freewares...

[Sitten Spynne]

I get the feeling there isn't, and hasn't ever been, a way to develop VB6 without Visual Studio itself. MS owns the language and the toolchain, and it's not from an era when they were friendly to open source or letting third-parties run with their toys.

If you want free or open-sourced toolchains, you should consider .NET or some other language that's already opened, it's probably unlikely MS will release an open-sourced VB6.

[R.J. Dunnill]

If you want free or open-sourced toolchains, you should consider .NET or some other language that's already opened, it's probably unlikely MS will release an open-sourced VB6.

Yes, Microsoft has been trying to choke off VB6 for many years now. Open-sourcing VB6 would counter that effort.