Software Development Platform.

[accmaster]

Hello everyone,

For last several years I am working on vb.net and SQL Server. I am designing a time tracking software to distribute to my all clients. My issue is some of my clients are using Linux and Mac OS.
If I design my software in vb.net how can I run it on Linux and Mac OS, is there any possibility to run software on these platforms?

Please advice.

Thank you
Ladak

[jmcilhinney]

Firstly, you have specified that you're using VS Code. You can do so if want but it doesn't have great support for VB. You might be better off using VS Community 2019. That's up to you though.

As for the cross-platform angle, it depends what you want to produce. You can create a VB.NET app that targets .NET 5.0, which is based on .NET Core, and then run it on platforms other than Windows. The problem is that to create a VB GUI app, you would need to use Windows Forms or WPF, both of which are limited to Windows. You can use Xamarin to create cross-platform GUI apps but I don't think that it supports VB. I believe that there has been talk of such support but I don't think it exists yet, if ever, so you may have to use C# instead.

[accmaster]

Hi, I am using VS 2013 for coding.

[jmcilhinney]

Hi, I am using VS 2013 for coding.

Then why did you specifically choose the VS Code prefix for your post? That is for questions relating to VS Code.

Also, you might consider upgrading to VS 2019. I'm sure that cross-platform support has improved significantly in recent years. VS 2013 wouldn't support .NET 5.0, for one thing. You can install multiple versions of VS side-by-side, so there's no need to uninstall what you have.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Prior to VS2019, there was also the option of using Cordova, though that may not have existed in 2013, either. Cordova has been removed from VS2019, and certainly wasn't around for VS2010. In any case, that still isn't VB.NET. Instead, it would be HTML and JavaScript, but was pretty easy to use on a variety of platforms. However, if you even consider that, then you should go to VS2017, because the JS editor in VS improved with each version. The editor in VS2013 was bare bones, in VS2015 it was meager, and in VS 2017 it was pretty good.

Also, since you are using VS2013, I edited the subject line to change it from VS Code to VS2013.

[Maverickz]

Hello everyone,

For last several years I am working on vb.net and SQL Server. I am designing a time tracking software to distribute to my all clients. My issue is some of my clients are using Linux and Mac OS.
If I design my software in vb.net how can I run it on Linux and Mac OS, is there any possibility to run software on these platforms?

Please advice.

Thank you
Ladak

As far as language, something like Java or Python would be better for cross platform. Unfortunately, I do not know of any software development platform for Linux or Mac, that supports a drag and drop UI designer like Visual Studio. There may or may not be one.

That said, for a time tracking app, have you considered making it as a webpage, using ASP.Net (using VB code)? Then any client can run the app from anywhere on any platform. You could even add code to make a mobile UI for the same code base so clients could use it from their phones, tablets, etc. If required you could even change the layout and branding based on the logged in user.

[jmcilhinney]

That said, for a time tracking app, have you considered making it as a webpage, using ASP.Net (using VB code)? Then any client can run the app from anywhere on any platform. You could even add code to make a mobile UI for the same code base so clients could use it from their phones, tablets, etc. If required you could even change the layout and branding based on the logged in user.

You could create a Progressive Web App (PWA). The web site can then be "installed" as an app on pretty much any platform. Of course, a web app of any sort pretty much means you need a central database that you maintain, rather than each client maintaining their own.

[Delaney]

As far as language, something like Java or Python would be better for cross platform. Unfortunately, I do not know of any software development platform for Linux or Mac, that supports a drag and drop UI designer like Visual Studio. There may or may not be one.

Python has one IDE that allows to drag and drop controls in a form but there is only a few controls for the moment and everything else (like the automatic management of the events like with VS) is not implanted but it is a beginning.