Can not open VB 6.0 files in Visual Studio 2010

Question

If Visual Studio includes Visual Basic, why can't I open a VB 6.0 file in Visual Studio 2010?

Answer 1

That's correct. I upgrade to 2008 then to 2010. You have to run the installed program from vb6 first then it will upgrade. You might have terminal failures from unfound assemblies. Go into the .vb form file with a text editor. REM out any failed to load assemblies from the fail report. Then you can re-write the VB code for code errors as the lingo changed. Next upgrade to vb 2010 using that wizard and re-write for new lingo again.

Form sizes are converted to vb6. in 2008, then that is scrapped in 2010, don't re-write that in 2008, if you're upgrading right away, you'll have to re-write in 2010 anyway.

Common file open/save/browse/color/font routines become vb powerpacks 10 which you load with your vb 2010 assembly. You have to re-insert the new common assemblies into the form from the toolbox and re-work the code. There's a bunch of stuff there, but it is do-able.

Answer 2

Darin is basically right but omits an important detail.

• There's a difference between VB6 and VB.Net, and Visual Studio 2010 includes VB.Net
• Earlier versions of VB.Net included an upgrade wizard to help convert VB6 code to VB.Net. This was dropped in Visual Studion 2010. You might want to use Visual Studio 2008 to help upgrade your VB6 to VB.Net, and then migrate to Visual Studio 2010 later. Upgrading VB6 to VB.Net can be a large task.

Answer 3

Because there's a difference between Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic .NET which is what Visual Studio 2010 includes.

Answer 4

I have not used VS 2010, but based on my readings, the latest VB is effectively a new language altogether. Since introduction of VB .NET, VB 6.0 has become a stagnant language.