VB6 and Windows 8

**George1111** · June 18th, 2012, 08:45 AM

Apparently VB6 will continue to work under Windows 8
I presume our screens will just look like normal VB6 screens.
It would be nice to be able to Metro Style a VB6 application, (without rewriting it from scratch)
Or at least make the application look a little more modern.
(Even apps written in VS2008 and below are starting to suffer from an old technology look)
Has anyone got any ideas on how this may be done ?
Has anyone tried VB6 on W8 ?

Clearly one could just dump all their VB6 code and rewrite the application in VS2012 and HTML5. All I would need is a couple of years

This almost feels like the time we all migrated from 80col x 24line screens to Windows GUI - I note with interest a few excellent tools were developed which gave the impression that the system was a Windows System by simply creating a new presentation manager which took your existing program and making it look GUI.

**DataMiser** · June 18th, 2012, 08:52 AM

I've been meaning to try it out but as of yet have not downloaded windows 8.

I did see that VS2012 RC was available the last time I visited the site. Still do not know when the release version of either software will be available. I have received the SQL Server 2012 DVD though.

**HanneSThEGreaT** · June 18th, 2012, 09:33 AM

This is the Support statement for VB 6 on Windows 8 :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/ms788708.aspx

**dglienna** · June 18th, 2012, 12:44 PM

If you're talking about the new METRO STYLE APPS, then VB6 will never be able to do that. You will be able to DEPLOY an application installer, and it will run on the DESKTOP side. A VS2010 program can create a TILE, and point it to your EXE, in FULL-SCREEN mode. It will switch to DESKTOP automatically.

Although Microsoft announced that HYPER-V would be in Windows 8, which means you can run XP MODE, and VB6 Development IDE. I installed Win8 RC on my old laptop, with a 64MB SSD. After installing Win8 AND VS2012, I still have about 28M FREE. Dual-Core Intel w/4gb of RAM. It runs GREAT! Better than Vista or Win7 on the same laptop, since 2008!

**WizBang** · June 20th, 2012, 02:15 PM

Interesting. Went looking for some screenshots of W8, and found this:
http://techland.time.com/2011/09/13/...otos-and-more/

**George1111** · June 22nd, 2012, 07:34 AM

I guess I was hoping for some sort of "skin" which would allow one to "pretend" to be a Metro App (while still being VB6)

**George1111** · June 22nd, 2012, 07:45 AM

I looked at the 50 screen shots. Lots of nice photos and pictures - No real applications viewing
And everytime you see mention of W8 they show the colourful desktop (same picture everytime it seems)
I presume MS Office will look the same as MS Office under W7 ?

**dglienna** · June 22nd, 2012, 10:12 AM

Hard to tell before they release a preview... Just ran my Inno Setup app (from '08) on Win8 x64. It installed successfully, asked me if I wanted to enable 16-bit support, and installed all the controls successfully. It ran, and read the hard disk serial number, enabling ACTIVATION! Pretty psyched about it! Hyper-V is also in the Azure Cloud, so...

**dglienna** · June 26th, 2012, 02:19 PM

Decided to install on Windows 8 x32. Might have to re-code a few pieces to utilize Azure Blog Storage instead of a flat file. Login to the VHD (of Win7) will query the cloud to get the correct files downloaded BEFORE the app starts. Then, spin up a few instances, rather than sell the app!