I have been using VB6 with MSCOMM control for communicating with microcontroller from PC, for sending commands to uC and collecting data from uC, using RS232 serial interface.
VB6 is not supported by Win 7, though the compiled code works, there is a need for a replacement to VB6 for new programs. as XP goes obsolete. Please correct me if I am wrong!
Can someone please suggest an alternate for VB6, which would require minimum learning!

 

Visual Studio Express is free to download - http://www.visualstudio.com/en-US/products/visual-studio-express-vs

There are plenty of non-VB, non-Microsoft languages out there and the vast majority will talk to a serial port

 

Yep. Visual Studio (which contains Visual Basic dot net) still has a COMM control or something that works like it; I'm not sure if you drop a control on a form or just reference it but it's there, it's free to try, and will be in the help files.

 

Visual Studio Express is free to download - http://www.visualstudio.com/en-US/products/visual-studio-express-vs

There are plenty of non-VB, non-Microsoft languages out there and the vast majority will talk to a serial port

Do they work with Win 7 and Win 8?

Could you name some? Gracias.

 

I'm using VB6 on windows 8... The OPsys complains like hell... But it works... I cannot get the MSDN libraries on though!!! Help has changed toooooo much. But as I have a net connection I can still get help!

Forgot to ask.... What do you need VB6 for!!! If you try and learn C# it won't go out of fashion....

I use Blitzbasic ( the old amiga in me )

There is just Basic ( old liberty basic)

There is BBC basic for windows... Uses the old archimedes syntax...

Loads......

 

Do they work with Win 7 and Win 8?

Could you name some? Gracias.

Java and Python come immediately to mind. Windows Scripting Host can most likely do it. Various versions of C e.g. GCC/MinGW; FreeBASIC; GNAT ADA

Google has many more. The up-shot is that most of these things don't actually need "installing" the are just a collection of Executables and DLLs and as long as they can be found on the Path then they work on many versions of Windows. The limitation WRT to the OP's question is do they have the native libraries, or access to COM objects, for accessing the serial port. AFAIK those I have listed do.

 

Depends on the Win7 version perhaps. the starter version can't use graphics mode but it will run stone age MSDOS compilers in text mode.

Vista runs stone age Borland and Microsoft compilers altough the very first one's are junl because there is no way to display the help files.

You could run older Windows from an external hard drive (IDE with USB/IDE adapter works actually if the BIOS supports USB boot).

VB6 is kinda deprecated, and latest VS is very slow to startup on smaller machines. Solution: go for the VS2008, it is still modern but much faster to startup. The VB2008 is good for purposes such as RS232, there is functionality to use serial ports.

Try to get a full version since it includes MSDN documentation.
honestly the way Windows VS developement has changed has evoluted into a mess- the way the SDKs are used has changed quite a few times and there are quite a few concurrent technologies now in different versions. The Way of documentation has changed and evoluted as well.

Keeping up using old VB6 and the like is fine but the user base becomes smaller and smaller.

You can probably run it on a cheap laptop or netbook with Vista (but that's kinda deprectated too). By the way, Win Server 2008 is technically kind of a Vista flavour. Was released together with VS2008.

2

I have done a really ugly hack recently.
I am ashamed of that and the fact it has come that far with Windows.

From using LINUX for a while I became used to patching and hacking to make things work.

OK. I got the new shiny netbook brand new with Win7 Starter. Turns out, 32bit OS + kinda 4-core 64bit CPU.

OK. Installed VS2008 + MSDN + some SDKs- took me half a day.

Then I try to compile- it is impossible, no 32bit compiler.

I had the VS Express installed VS2013 but never used- slooooow.

I then had the genius stroke idea to point the VS2008 to the VS2013 linker (just that). Kaboom. My stuff compiled fine + it can execute totally perfectly.

Some SDKs (but not the brand new Metro stuff AFAIK) also contain VS binaries (aka compilers, linkers).

Believe me, if you don't always keep up buying the latest release full version + matched powerful machines, using dev. tools with Windows (of random flavour) is a mess.

Just for fun I downloaded nearly all old versions of C++ tried to make them compile the supplied examples.

I have the original old DirectX SDKs on my blog for download- from 1 almost nothing works anymore, but from 2 some work, and from 3, a surprising large amount of precompiled binaries work.

 

Wow! So many recommendations! I am studying the alternatives and trying to zero in on some best fit for me.

@sirch2:
I am trying to use data controls which gets the job done with literally no programming work (me lazy). I am looking at your alternatives too.

@Ian Rogers:
How did you manage to install VB6 on Win 8? I dont have Win 8 PC yet. On Win 7, VB6 installation would not go through. With some help from the net, I could proceed a bit further, but could not complete installation.

 

I did struggle.... But it did go on.. I had to disable a couple of things in the boot sequence ( there is a guide online )... But at least its working...

 

I don't have the win7 to try, but some people said that it's works, you could try it.

Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.

 

Python sounds good for your requirements. It has a minimal learning curve, works across platforms and has easy access to the serial/USB ports through many freely available libraries.
Here is a minimum working example to talk to your COM port:

# Sample application to try pyserial library (Python 2.7)

# Get the pyserial library
import serial

def Comm():

    serial.com = serial.Serial(2, 9600)          # Open COM3 at 9600 baud

    print serial.com.portstr                      # Print port name

    line = serial.com.read()
    print line

    serial.com.close()

def main():

    Comm()

# Boilerplate code (you could probably skip this for smaller projects)
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Hope this helps.

 

@takao21203:
You are really resourceful and adventurous! Special Thanks for all the tips.

 

I am using free pascal / lazarus for CDC on PC side. Application can be compiled on any OS.
http://www.freepascal.org

 

VB6 programming is still supported by Microsoft until at least 2024.

You can install the VB6 IDE on Windows 7, 8 and 10.

Here is a utility to install VB6: http://nuke.vbcorner.net/Articles/VB60/VisualStudio6Installer/tabid/93/language/en-US/Default.aspx

or if you prefer to install VB6 manually: http://www.fortypoundhead.com/showcontent.asp?artid=20502

 

VB6 programming is still supported by Microsoft until at least 2024.[...]

Is Microsoft aware of this?

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

 

Is Microsoft aware of this?

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

They are, though for most of us support is limited to the VB6 Runtime (that is apps you develop). The IDE isn't supported unless you pay for a custom support agreement. However they do make 'every effort' to ensure the VB6 IDE runs on newer releases of Windows, and it does run fine on Windows 7, 8.1 and the Windows 10 technical preview.

 

They are, though for most of us support is limited to the VB6 Runtime (that is apps you develop). The IDE isn't supported unless you pay for a custom support agreement. However they do make 'every effort' to ensure the VB6 IDE runs on newer releases of Windows, and it does run fine on Windows 7, 8.1 and the Windows 10 technical preview.

They explicitly state in the link that there is no support or updates for the IDE.

The runtime is supported for 5 years after the OS ships, which, for Windows 7 is now, then goes into Extended Support.

No VB6 has, or will have, 64-bit OS support.

While VB6 is basically on life support, it's probably better to just move on and let it die quietly.

But, the thread is referencing XP, which has no support.

 

Look at Power Basic

 

They explicitly state in the link that there is no support or updates for the IDE

Custom support is available for the IDE, but has to be paid for.

No VB6 has, or will have, 64-bit OS support.

The VB6 IDE and the VB6 Runtime both run on 64 bit PCs. The runtime is supported whether on 32 bit or 64 bit.

VB6 isn't supported on operating systems that are no longer supported. So Windows 7 support ends in 2020. The support policy under Windows 10 is unlikely to be announced until Windows 10 is launched.

 

Custom support is available for the IDE, but has to be paid for.

...And? Having support available and being actively supported are two different things.

The VB6 IDE and the VB6 Runtime both run on 64 bit PCs. The runtime is supported whether on 32 bit or 64 bit.

From the link I already posted (emphasis mine):

The Visual Basic 6.0 IDE has never been offered in a native 64-bit version, nor has the 32-bit IDE been supported on 64-bit Windows. VB6 development on 64-bit Windows or any native architecture other than 32-bit is not and will not be supported.

VB6 isn't supported on operating systems that are no longer supported. So Windows 7 support ends in 2020. The support policy under Windows 10 is unlikely to be announced until Windows 10 is launched.

Read the support lifetime statements - Mainstream Support ends this year for Windows 7, and enters into Extended Support (which is not the same) for the next 5 years.