[Mono-list] VB .NET and default instances

[Styma, Robert E (Robert)]

> Subject: Re: [Mono-list] VB .NET and default instances
> 
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Styma, Robert E (Robert)
> <robert.styma at alcatel-lucent.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >   I have inherited a VB.net application.  The application
> > is currently developed under Visual Studio 2008 and is
> > a GUI using a bunch of Windows Forms.  I would
> > like to be able to run this under Linux and it appears I
> > need Mono to do this.  In the documentation, I noticed
> > the documentation mention that the "Default Instance"
> > is not supported.  This application happens to use this
> > feature in several places.
> 
> What documentation are you referring to?  I am unaware of any .NET or
> C# feature called "default instance."

I don't exactly remember where I saw the reference.  In VB .Net, I can
refer to a class name as an object and access non-Shared (static) 
methods.  The term "Default Instance" was used to refer to an
instance of the object which is created to allow this.  This technique
makes me uncomfortable even though it is probably implemented under
the covers as a singleton.  Since the main Windows Form is created
by the runtime, that is how I have to access public methods data items
in the main form, so I can't get rid of this completely.

> 
> >   The way I have seen this done in Java is to have a
> > "getInstance() method which accesses a static copy of the
> > object and creates it the first time getInstance() is called.
> > Would this be a workable mechanism to get the program
> > to run under Mono?  It would be a pretty easy change to make.
> 
> Yes, this is the singleton pattern.  It has worked with Mono for as
> long as I have used Mono.

Good.  Thank you.

> 
> >   The documentation seems to say that I can run the .exe
> > created by Visual Studio with the Mono Runtime if I can get
> > the libraries correct.  I have not been able to do this yet,
> > but I am thinking I need to clean up the default instance issue
> > first.  Is this the case?
> 
> It's hard to say whether or not that's the case without seeing some
> sort of diagnostic output from Mono.  You might look at running your
> app through MoMA <http://mono-project.com/MoMA> to see if it's doing
> anything blatantly non-portable.
> <http://www.mono-project.com/Guidelines:Application_Portability> is
> also a good read in this regard.

The previous responder pointed me a MoMa, and that has made a bunch
of things clear.  The calls to build Excel Spread Sheets (CreateObject)
and a bunch of the things called in the printer compatibility library
pretty much stop me for a while.  My primary purpose in this exercise
was to lure some of the users from the "Dark Side" to Linux.

Thank you for the infomation
> 
> -- 
> Chris Howie
> http://www.chrishowie.com
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Crazycomputers
>