Using Claude Code in VB6! OMG!

[Darkbob]

I've been using Claude's web interface for a while to "vibe code" a few small web projects. It's fun and cool. But there's a terminal mode that links to Claude Code.

So it hit me... can Claude Code write in VB6? I have a massive legacy application all using DAO and using a pile of 3rd party OCX files. Migrating it to VS is impossible - it needs a complete rewrite. But I'd like to at least migrate it first to ADO then support ADO and SQL depending on the customer's infrastructure. Sadly this ancient app has at least 200 forms and over 250,000 lines of code. It would take months to convert and financially it's not viable. Plus I would go insane.

So I thought.. humm... why not let Claude have a crack at it. The first few runs were a nightmare but we developed a decent conversion guide and stored it in an Convert_Guide_From_DAO_to_ADO.MD file. I opened up VS Code, linked to Claude Code, ask it to read the guide and then tell it the name of the form to convert. It's churning through the files one by one. You should see it convert seeks and bookmarks into SQL. It's simply mind blowing.

The 4 forms it has completed in the past hour are pretty much flawless. I only have the $20 plan so I don't want to toss the entire code base at it all at once or I'd burn through all my tokens. But I could just say "Convert every file in folder C:\Backup". I think I'll have to upgrade to the $100 plan for a month. But wow... just... wow.

[Eduardo-]

And why do you need to convert DAO to ADO?
Were you having any issue?

[Darkbob]

Yes. One of my customers has a 50 terminal clinic and running into performance issues and concurrency issues. He is migrating to SQL server. So step 1 is DAO > ADO (which should benefit other customers too) then from ADO > SQL. Even smaller offices with 5 to 8 terminals can set up an inexpensive SQL server install.

[Eduardo-]

Have you ever used DAO's Seek method in your code?

[zx81sp]

Yes. One of my customers has a 50 terminal clinic and running into performance issues and concurrency issues. He is migrating to SQL server. So step 1 is DAO > ADO (which should benefit other customers too) then from ADO > SQL. Even smaller offices with 5 to 8 terminals can set up an inexpensive SQL server install.

What do you mean with ADO > SQL?

I've migrated some apps from DAO to ADO and it requires to rewrite some code, it depends of how your app manage the data (sentences like db.execute "Select * from Dummy" would work as is, but the typical "set rs=db.openrecordset('dummy',dbopendynaset)" should be replaced for the ADO syntax, take a look to the addnew event, if you use sentences like "findfirst", "movenext"...you should decide if the cursor would work better locally, etc. And also you could rewrite queries in a more efficient way using ADO.

It's a easy but boring task and I probably would prefer to do it by myself becuse the AI tools sometimes break more than fix.

[LorinM]

I tried Claude and CoPilot to write code for monitor my LAN traffic. Neither could do it after a dozen or so tries each.
I already had code to do it but wanted to see what they could do.

I tried other complex code and both failed after multiple tries.

Other request for complex code worked OK.

Claude has the preferred interface for me.

Do do not be surprised is Claude or CoPilot fails.

[xiaoyao]

MAYBE YOU CAN CHANGE TO m2 disk. 2000mb/sec read/write

PCIe 5.0 SSD: Currently the performance peak in the consumer market, with a staggering sequential read speed of 14.9GB/s3. However, they are usually expensive and generate a large amount of heat during operation, often requiring additional heat sinks or active cooling fans to achieve optimal performance. At present, it is more suitable for audiophiles and users in specific professional fields who pursue ultimate performance.

You can also split a database into 3-10 databases. Historical data is specifically split into multiple files, and frequently used data tables can be stored separately in multiple databases. Then using multiple threads for operation, each thread reads a database, which can greatly improve the running speed.
your database is sql server2000 or ?access?

If you are using an ACCESS database, converting from DAO to ADO may not bring any further performance improvement, but ADO has the ASYNC asynchronous option, which may not cause lag in the main interface UI when querying or connecting to the database.
But there won't be much improvement for high-frequency queries or writes.
If a major refactoring is required, the core database needs to be replaced, such as upgrading ACCESS to SQL SERVER 2008 or 2014, or using MYSQL database server. Reuse multi-threaded queries for writing, transactions, and other operations.

[wqweto]

Why stop at DAO -> ADO -> SQL? You can continue with VB6 -> JS I guess. . .

[jdelano]

Some of today's AI tools are pretty magical at times. Good luck with your re-write, it sounds like a bear! I would love to see the progress as you work through the update.

[amorosik]

"...I opened up VS Code, linked to Claude Code, ask it to read the guide and then tell it the name of the form to convert. It's churning through the files one by one. You should see it convert seeks and bookmarks into SQL. It's simply mind blowing...."

This is extremely interesting.
And I think it could be useful to everyone here.
Can you tell us exactly how you did it?

[SomeYguy]

Very cool! My preferred AI helper is MS Copilot just because I like his(her? - I guess that's up to me) personality.

[Eduardo-]

Very cool! My preferred AI helper is MS Copilot just because I like his(her? - I guess that's up to me) personality.

its.

[Darkbob]

It's not hard. You get a claude account (I think it only works with the paid account type but I never tried it with the free one). You install VS Code. Then you go to the anthropic site and install the claude code interface. Aim the terminal it at your code folder (make sure you have a good backup) and then you just describe what you want it to do.

Be very VERY careful with permissions. If it runs BASH and you approve it, the crazy thing has access to your whole hard drive and it can do massive harm.

https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/c...e-integrations

[seshme]

How did this go?

I'm in the same position with a big complicated app with a bunch of Sheridan controls for grids and dates that I have been procrastinating about upgrading for 10+ years but now maybe AI can save.

What did you move it to? Has anyone else used Claude or similar?

[zx81sp]

How did this go?

I'm in the same position with a big complicated app with a bunch of Sheridan controls for grids and dates that I have been procrastinating about upgrading for 10+ years but now maybe AI can save.

What did you move it to? Has anyone else used Claude or similar?

First of all I don't like AI, It's changing the world but not for better, but it's here.

In the last six months I've replaces some old VB6 apps with new ones, some of them have been ported to web apps, other in desktop app, but I've only coded a few lines, 99% has been done using Claude but really you can use any other tool like GPT, Grok, Gemini...some of them can manage more context than other but it depends of the size of your project and if you want to plan a long task and let the tool to do the job or if you want to build it step by step. Once you know the logic and what you want to do it's easy to create projects from scratch with a very limited knowledge of programming and really you can have zero knowledge about the language you choose, it will work anyway. For me it's very sad because I came from a world where we counted clock cycles to optimize code, fight with computers with 1K of ram, learn coding reading books, etc. but it's what it its. It's also a reality that if you have experience it's easier to prevent the delirious that sometimes that tools have, but not a must.

A simple setup with VSCode (or Visual Studio if you want to go to .net) and a GitHub Copilot account is enough to start. The prices are going to increase heavily in the next months so...hurry up.

You can also improve VB6 code using AI connecting a VSCode with your app directory if you don't want to abandon VB6.