VB6 is the most used programming language of its time, and even today, it powers millions of people around the world. But, as VB6 is outdated and Microsoft has withdrawn support from the technology, it is no longer impactful to businesses. It’s obsolete and that is nothing but a liability for you. The out-of-support technology requires a lot of arrangements to function, and that will be a costly affair.
You can still find thousands of businesses and individuals using VB6 applications and spending thousands of dollars maintaining them. That’s the reason you will discover VB6’s popularity is growing incessantly, and it is at the No. #6 position. But, having a favor does not mean it is as popular as it used to be. Every business with a legacy VB6 application is facing limitations. Migrating them to the newer platform is the only solution. But, still, if you need to migrate your VB6 applications to modern technology, this article will help you understand the potential challenges you are carrying along with your legacy system.
In this article, we will discuss the following points;
- Challenges Associated with VB6 Legacy System
- Solutions to Eliminate Challenges in VB6 Applications
Challenges Associated with VB6 Legacy System
Visual Basic 6 (VB6) was once a popular choice for software development, but it’s a technology without support since 2008. As businesses strive to stay competitive and up-to-date, migrating from VB6 to the .NET framework has become necessary. In the following paragraphs, we have listed some of the top challenges associated with VB6 applications. Let’s explore them one by one.
1: Outdated Technology
As we have mentioned, Microsoft retired the VB6 software in 2008. Since then, outdated technology has posed many challenges, limitations, glitches, and compatibility issues with modern systems. They lack advanced features, create dependencies, and more. The adoption is a big challenge with this legacy system.
2: Compatibility Issues
VB6 is outdated and incompatible with modern technology, such as .NET components. Integration becomes a challenge as legacy VB6 code with .NET components carries the risk of disruptions in functionality. You cannot make one outdated (legacy VB6) or other software system communicate together. They may differ in many terms and specifications, such as protocols, standards, or configurations.
3: User Interface (UI) Modernization
Modern users are tech-savvy, while the ageing user interface of VB6 applications lacks consistency. User Interface (UI) in VB6 faces navigational issues and lacks the website navigation process. When you cannot easily move from features, pages, or functionality to another, it can deter users and impact the overall user experience.
4: Data Migration
You cannot migrate legacy VB6 application data to .NET or other systems. Migrating data from VB6 to .NET often involves transforming data formats. The legacy system comes with specific formats which are not compatible with modern systems. Being adamant about legacy systems can lead to complexities and potential data loss.
5: Business Logic Transformation
Business logic often refers to terms such as showing, creating, storing, and altering the data. You cannot do this proper planning in VB6. Whether it is rewriting or restructuring business logic to fit the .NET framework, careful planning and execution will be needed.
6: Third-Party Dependencies
Dependency is another big issue in VB6 applications. Most often, the third-party controls stop working as they do not update their controls. Even though VB6 runtime is supported on Windows 10, they are under no obligation to keep it. Unless you have searched for proper solutions, migrating third-party components to .NET, or finding suitable replacements, can be intricate and time-consuming.
7: Performance Optimization
Performance is one of the primary reasons vendors opt for VB6 migration. Even if you are migrating your legacy system, you must be careful about its performance. It may arise during migration. It requires proper code optimization to ensure the new application meets performance expectations. That means you need to partner with a perfect software migration agency with core expertise in application modernization and migration.
8: Testing and Validation
When it comes to migration, rigorous testing and validation are crucial. Every company does this to ensure the migrated application functions correctly and meets business requirements. It’s a challenge if migrated by novice developers.
Solutions to Eliminate Challenges in VB6 Applications
The one answer to every challenge mentioned above is, ‘to partner with a reputed software modernization company to migrate your VB6 application. They can handle every challenge concur during VB6 migration. But knowing the solution will help you take control over your project and get better outcomes. Here we are with the key to counter every challenge the VB6 application may face during migration.
#1: Choosing the Right Migration Strategy
Whether it is refactoring, re-hosting, relocating, re-platforming, or repurchasing that you want to go with. According to your choice, you need to create a migration strategy that aligns with your business goals and resources. Apart from the type of migration you want to perform, you also need to determine whether it’s a gradual transition or a complete rewrite.
#2: Modernizing the UI
More than anything else, creating a smooth and appealing user interface (UI) should be your priority. Redesign the user interface to adhere to modern design principles, ensuring it enhances user engagement and delivers satisfaction. Especially check with website navigation and ensure users do not face issues while navigating the contemporary interfaces.
#3: Implement Migration Best Practices
This is more about your tech partner. But, you need to ensure that your partner implements migration best practices. For example, a good application modernization agency ensures that it performs clean coding, proper testing, bug fixing, deployment, and performance analysis. Tools, resources, and technologies are necessary to expedite migration while manually adjusting code where necessary.
#4: Refactoring and Code Optimization
A good software migration agency uses 50-70% of existing code and refactors them to improve maintainability, enhance performance, and ensure compatibility with the .NET developer. Such practice not just cut significant cost over development but also saves tremendous time and data and provides smooth migration.
#5: Data Migration Techniques
Most software migration firm uses the ETL process to migrate legacy VB6 to a modern platform. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) is a process to smoothly migrate data, transforming it to fit the new data structures. Its practices combine raw data from multiple sources.
#6: Integration of Third-Party Components
Not every software migration engineer does this, especially if you are working with freelancers. Whosoever your partner is, make sure they provide third-party tools integration. More than that, your partner will evaluate third-party components used in VB6 and either integrate them into the .NET environment or find suitable alternatives.
#7: Testing and Quality Assurance
Migration without testing is not possible. You need to ensure that your migration partner implements comprehensive testing at each migration stage to identify and fix bugs before deployment. There are various methods of testing; just ensure they use the right one.
Final Thoughts
Legacy VB6 application migration is not so easy, nor is it complex. All it matters is who migrates your applications. If you are doing it your own (by building your in-house team), ensure an industry expert heads the team. Besides, if you are choosing an offshore software migration agency, you need to ensure you have selected the right firm with good years of experience in the industry. More than that, you must go through various resources to explore more about migration so you know the basics and choose the right partner. We have explained the challenges and solutions, so you know what challenges you might face while migrating the software and how to overcome them.