March 11th, 2020

Visual Basic support planned for .NET 5.0

.NET Team

We’ve heard your feedback that you want Visual Basic on .NET Core. Earlier versions of .NET Core supported Class Library and Console applications types. Starting with .NET 5 Visual Basic will support:

Class Library
Console
Windows Forms
WPF
Worker Service
ASP.NET Core Web API

We are supporting these application types to provide a good path forward for the existing VB customer who want to migrate their applications to .NET Core. This allows Visual Basic customers to take advantage of new platform features like side-by-side deployment, cross platform support, performance and new API improvements.

One of the major benefits of using Visual Basic is that the language has been stable for a very long time. The significant number of programmers using Visual Basic demonstrates that its stability and descriptive style is valued. Going forward, we do not plan to evolve Visual Basic as a language. This supports language stability and maintains compatibility between the .NET Core and .NET Framework versions of Visual Basic. Future features of .NET Core that require language changes may not be supported in Visual Basic. Due to differences in the platform, there will be some differences between Visual Basic on .NET Framework and .NET Core.

If you are happy with .NET Framework, you can be confident that it will remain supported as long as Windows is supported because it is shipped with the OS. Both Visual Basic and C# customers can continue to use .NET Framework and need to port to .NET Core only if you want features like those listed above. If your application uses technologies that aren’t supported on .NET Core, like WebForms, Workflow or WCF, you might want to stay on .NET Framework because porting will require work to move to newer technologies.

Visual Studio regularly adds new features to improve the experience for developers, including those using Visual Basic and either .NET Core or .NET Framework. An example is the recent addition of IntelliCode for Visual Basic.

Visual Basic is a great language and a productive development environment. The future of Visual Basic will include both .NET Framework and .NET Core and will focus on stability, the application types listed above, and compatibility between the .NET Core and .NET Framework versions of Visual Basic.

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.NET Team

.NET is the free, open-source, cross-platform framework for building modern apps and powerful cloud services.

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Roseliger Luo May 4, 2024 3

It's a heartbreaking matter that Microsoft is forgetting its roots. Just a couple of days ago, I came across an old video where Bill Gates was demonstrating the latest release of Visual Basic 1.0 to customers. After watching it, I felt a surge of emotion and decided to write this article. While others were struggling with GUI using C or Java, I could effortlessly design beautiful GUI with just a few mouse clicks, greatly improving...
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It’s a heartbreaking matter that Microsoft is forgetting its roots. Just a couple of days ago, I came across an old video where Bill Gates was demonstrating the latest release of Visual Basic 1.0 to customers. After watching it, I felt a surge of emotion and decided to write this article. While others were struggling with GUI using C or Java, I could effortlessly design beautiful GUI with just a few mouse clicks, greatly improving productivity. This was Microsoft’s strength, and I once believed that this was the direction GUI design would take in the future.

Do you still remember why your IDE is called Visual Studio and where the “Visual” comes from? The glory of Winform and WPF still shines today, but why are WinUI3 and MAUI struggling now? It’s because our proud visual “designer” is gone. The greatest feature of .NET and VS lies in this “Visual,” yet you have abandoned it. So, without it, the most important competitive advantage of .NET and VS is gone. How can this gap be filled?

Let’s talk about Visual Basic. We see the three languages of .NET, with C# being the most popular, which is understandable given the current era. C# combines features of VB, C++, and many modern programming languages, making it the unquestionably most advanced mainstream language. However, you are willing to spend more effort maintaining F#, a language that ranks nearly 20th, and yet you are unwilling to take a second look at VB, a language that could easily maintain a top ten ranking. I’m not discriminating against F#; I just hope that the three siblings of .NET can advance together and develop jointly, as none of them is particularly lagging behind, are they?

This is what I’m saying: stick to your roots. The first programming language I self-taught was VB, and it was because of VB that I became interested in .NET. Since I started studying software engineering, I’ve used many programming languages, but I still prefer VB. If it weren’t for VB, I might not have touched .NET. After all, it’s all one platform. Why wouldn’t I choose the more popular Java instead?

Please don’t cut off the things we love anymore.

(Using AI translation to English, I’m sorry for any errors)

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- Federico Dutto July 31, 2024 0
  
  I fully agree. Just look at Tiobe index, to see as if NO effort, vb is... I really can't believe that this decision can't be rethought. Now that I grow up, I have my children and what I liked most about VB is that it could be in some way to propose this self-taught learning. with others it is not the same. In the current context with AIs, assistants, etc., it seems to me that...
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  I fully agree. Just look at Tiobe index, to see as if NO effort, vb is… I really can’t believe that this decision can’t be rethought. Now that I grow up, I have my children and what I liked most about VB is that it could be in some way to propose this self-taught learning. with others it is not the same. In the current context with AIs, assistants, etc., it seems to me that they would be a different and strong alternative. At least we can demonstrate here. Hopefully, decisions will be revoked
  
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Андрей Важенин February 15, 2023 1

I love my VB.NET 🤩

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- Maosheng Lv March 23, 2023 0
  
  I really whish to develop android app with VB,
  But sadly, I cannot.
  
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  - Cristian Luis Teixeira April 3, 2023 0
    
    your wish will come true!
    
    access
    anthonydgreen.net/2022/08/20/introducing-modvb/
安银卢 January 26, 2023 0

本人开发过php、asp、vb6、vb.net、C#，总体总结发现vb.net语法结构明了，开发细路清楚，个人觉得vb.net 很好，但现在在vb.net在支持传递过程方面不是很好，希望加入=>（）这样的语法进来，这样就更简洁了，现在使用vb.net 开发web api的模式不是很多，大部分还停留在windform方面

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安银卢 January 26, 2023 0

VB.net 在asp.net core7上面的模板太少了，希望官方多开发一些模板出来

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Marcelo David January 11, 2023 1

Olá a todos.
Eu realmente gostaria que o Visual Basic seja mantido. Tenho um carinho muito grande por essa linguagem, pois iniciei minha carreira nela e até hoje, arrisco a dizer que é a sintaxe mais bonita e fácil de entender que existe.

Seria um grave erro a Microsoft deixar para trás essa linguagem, pois assim como eu iniciei nela, a Microsoft também se popularizou entre os desenvolvedores graças ao VB.

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Antonio Stoyanov November 15, 2022 0

According to the official documentation, VB.NET was downgraded from version VB.NET 16.9 in .Net6
to version VB.NET 15.5 in .Net7

The VB.NET version 15.5 in .Net7 is even lower that than the VB.NET version 15.9 in .Net3.1

Anyway the VB.NET Blazor WebAssembly production websites are working even better in .Net7 Core
Free VS2022 project templates (VB.NET Blazor WebAssembly and MVC – for .Net7 and .Net6) are available for download at: vblazor.com

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Antonio Stoyanov September 19, 2022 1

I started my programmer journey using BASICA for DOS many years ago. Later moved to VB3 (for Win3.11) and went to VB6. Meanwhile we created a VB team and made a lot of business applications.
VB is the best computer language for making business application. It is rapid to create app on VB and the final app is robust. The apps made on VB is not taking so many resources and not needed third-party components....
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I started my programmer journey using BASICA for DOS many years ago. Later moved to VB3 (for Win3.11) and went to VB6. Meanwhile we created a VB team and made a lot of business applications.
VB is the best computer language for making business application. It is rapid to create app on VB and the final app is robust. The apps made on VB is not taking so many resources and not needed third-party components. They are cheap for support with very low monthly fees. The members of the VB team are dedicated to their current tasks and is working on collaborative environment. This was called “teamwork” – everyone knows what is doing.
We have created a lot of business applications until we moved to VB.NET
We progress with WinForms, WebForms and MVC on VB.NET until the day when we received the news that VB.NET will be discontinued. And we are not able anymore to have Web business applications made on VB.NET in MsCore.
We decided to switch to C# implementing Agile and Scrum. Half a year later, we realize that team spirit was gone, motivation was low. No one knows what to do, agile meetings were a mess, few people are doing the same task because they are “full-stack” understanding everything – business logic, design, optimization, database. The projects went down. C# was not the right choice for making business applications and expensive for support.
So we decided to get back to VB.NET in .net6. There was no other way. Many people said – “Mission impossible”. Really? After short investigation, we realized that VB.NET is not deprecated in .net6, just the razor engine in Core cannot recognize it. Great, the solution was simple: create projects in VB.NET – including entire business logic. And just use the C# and Javascript for visualization (front-end)
We created templates for VS2022 on VB.NET in .Net6 for MVC and Blazor. We implemented a lot of code to avoid using third-party components. We implemented Identity, get rid other security solutions with different UI (looks like phishing). Of course, we are using Database-first approach. And we migrated 3 VB6 projects in VB.NET to .net6 on a fly, thanks to our VS templates. I saw the sparks in the eyes of my colleagues because VB.NET was serving business logic. Just the designers are using C# and JS for visualization. The teamwork also is back, and everyone knows what to do.
We decided to share our VS2022 templates absolutely free. And to support VB.NET developers creating cheap VB.NET business applications in .net6 for MVC and Blazor.
Please find our VS2022 templates on: vblazor.com
Please share, share, share because is free.
Welcome back VB.NET

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- Peter Row October 5, 2023 0
  
  Sorry, but none of those problems were due to C#. I don't know why your team struggled so much but I can give an example of the opposite.
  I worked on a win forms app that migrated from VB.NET to C# close to 2 decades ago, no problems, the team worked fine together. Morale improved, because even back then it was clear MS were not going to put as much effort into VB.NET moving forward.
  
  After...
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  Sorry, but none of those problems were due to C#. I don’t know why your team struggled so much but I can give an example of the opposite.
  I worked on a win forms app that migrated from VB.NET to C# close to 2 decades ago, no problems, the team worked fine together. Morale improved, because even back then it was clear MS were not going to put as much effort into VB.NET moving forward.
  
  After that I worked on a web app with a team of 3 other backend and 2 front end devs. It was tight knit group and everybody understood how the business logic, data access and authentication worked and we could add new features or extend existing ones with ease.
  
  Given you description, it sounds more like your team was set in their ways. The idea that C# cannot be used for business logic is laughable. For the most part it’s just syntactical changes. With VB being way more verbose.
  
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- Cristian Luis Teixeira October 1, 2022 0
  
  @Antonio Stoyanov
  
  Congratulations on the Attitude and Initiative.
  
  Right here on the blog I say that what a VB developer lacks is just that, having Attitude and Initiative.
  
  Even with Microsoft's decision, the future of VB only depends on its developers and the community, the best, the simplest, the easiest, the most productive cannot lose to commercial fads or a group of people with super ego and C -like religious.
  
  C# is not my choice and it won't be,...
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  @Antonio Stoyanov
  
  Congratulations on the Attitude and Initiative.
  
  Right here on the blog I say that what a VB developer lacks is just that, having Attitude and Initiative.
  
  Even with Microsoft’s decision, the future of VB only depends on its developers and the community, the best, the simplest, the easiest, the most productive cannot lose to commercial fads or a group of people with super ego and C -like religious.
  
  C# is not my choice and it won’t be, I identify with “BASIC” thinking and Microsoft will not choose my path.
  
  In the near future, I expect VB.NET to have its own ecosystem like IDE, Compiler, JS-superset and be in all development scenarios.
  Once again my congratulations and thanks for sharing your work.
  
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Cristian Luis Teixeira August 22, 2022 · Edited 1

News for VB.NET!!!

For hundreds of thousands of programmers who have chosen VB.NET as their programming language of choice, we have news!!!

Anthony G, pre-released ModVB, a modified VB compiler that can be added to VB projects as a nuget, to offer more features for VB.

https://
anthonydgreen.net/2022/08/20/introducing-modvb/

ModVB “Wave 1”—JSON Literals & Pattern Matching
https://
anthonydgreen.net/2022/08/20/modvb-wave-1-json-literals-and-pattern-matching/

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yu ben December 31, 2021 0

最开始接触编程就是vb，后来用过python，我的感觉是他们很像。请继续支持vb，发展vb，移动端开发也能用vb。在中国会vb的很多，也许他们并不用来做主要开发，但vb在中国很有基础。

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