[RESOLVED] Latest Web Options for VB.NET?

[jeff.bowman]

Hello All...

I'm wondering about available alternatives for VB.NET web apps in the new ecosystems, given the lack of official templates on the web side. I'm afraid that lately I've had my head in the sand (fog) of back-to-back projects, and I haven't kept up with the latest.

I'd like to use VB.NET to self-host some type of web app (ASP.NET Core?) in a Windows Service. What're my best options for doing this using VB.NET under .NET 6?

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska

[Niya]

You could look at Blazor. That is one of Microsoft's latest technology for building web applications.

[jeff.bowman]

You could look at Blazor. That is one of Microsoft's latest technology for building web applications.

Thank you, but unfortunately Blazor is for C# only. I'm interested in serving up pages in an MVC manner, using the latest 'MVC-type' bits.

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska

[Niya]

Unfortunately, like VB6, Microsoft is looking to abandon VB.Net as well. You're not going to see it showing up that much in future Microsoft technology. My advice would be to not limit yourself. I'd start getting real familiar with C# if I were you and web applications are the direction I was heading in. It's probably not what you want to hear but this is the reality.

[jeff.bowman]

You could look at Blazor. That is one of Microsoft's latest technology for building web applications.

Thank you, but unfortunately Blazor is for C# only. I'm interested in serving up pages in an MVC manner, using the latest 'MVC-type' bits.

Well, I guess that's not entirely true. As someone mentioned elsewhere, we can use a C# project for the Interface (front end) and use VB project/s for Models, DB access, business code... etc.

I like that approach. It makes sense. I think I'll go with it.

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska

[jeff.bowman]

Unfortunately, like VB6, Microsoft is looking to abandon VB.Net as well. You're not going to see it showing up that much in future Microsoft technology. My advice would be to not limit yourself. I'd start getting real familiar with C# if I were you and web applications are the direction I was heading in. It's probably not what you want to hear but this is the reality.

Right. I've been of a similar mind, but I was able to find some small amount of encouragement recently in Cory's comments here.

Of course it'll take more than just that to heal my sadness over the whole affair, but seeing things like it does at least help a little bit.

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska

[Niya]

I mean don't get me wrong. VB.Net still has plenty of life left, but knowing Microsoft, there will be a point where you're going to feel the sting of their neglect. It happened with VB6, it happened SilverLight and it happened with XNA just to name a few. I don't blame them. It's just the price of progress. It took me years for me to finally understand that you have to be very flexible. You have to be willing to make leaps into things you may never have considered before. You can't fall too deeply in love with just one technology otherwise you could end up a bitter old man arguing on forums about the merits 20 year old tech that the world has forgotten.

[jeff.bowman]

[Y]ou could end up a bitter old man arguing on forums about the merits 20 year old tech that the world has forgotten.

Oh no, not this little boy! 😀

He's got better things to do than stand and shake his fist at the sky. Like write software using VB.NET 😉

Yeah, bolting on a C# layer just so's we can get to the latest bits is a kludge, but oh well... as you say, it's the price of progress. We have to be flexible in this minefield. But we also don't have to give up the tools we know and love. That's part of the beauty of .NET—sharing assemblies.

Granted, I could just as easily build an ASP.NET Core Owin/Katana piece and stick with pure VB.NET, but I'm curious enough about the new stuff that I want to at least kick the tires. I'm seeing indications of a lot less 'fiddling with the plumbing' in order to get an app up and working, and that promised ease seems worth the pain of working in C# for just a little bit. (But that camel case still irritates me! 😆 )

So Blazor it is. It's a perfect fit for the application—it's going to run on a machine on the LAN to be accessible by various workstations.

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska

[Niya]

Yea, as a life long BASIC programmer C# irritates the hell out of me in some areas such as case sensitivity and whatnot. But the great thing about being human is that we can get used to things pretty fast

[jeff.bowman]

... a life long BASIC programmer ...

Good for you 🙂

By the way, this isn't the first time I've watched this happen. I cut my programming teeth decades ago on FoxPro. I saw the writing on the wall with their first attempt to ditch it, and so I was well prepared by the time the final fatal blow came in '07.

Thanks,
Jeff Bowman
Fairbanks, Alaska