[mono-vb] VB Compiler

[Rolf Bjarne Kvinge]

> 
> Hello,
>     I am a new mono user.  Took some doing, but I do have MonoDevelop
> working and compiling using the vbnc compiler.  I write mostly
> engineering type software.  Could be called utilities I guess.  I am
> interested in mono because the company I work for does International
> business and Microsoft isn't always  king in other countries.  Haven't
> had any requests for Linux support yet, but  I know they are in the
> future.  So that is more or less why I am here...
> 
>     I am having a lot of difficulty getting what I would call  a very
> simple program to run on mono.  I am trying to compile it on my Linux
> machine, in the hope the compiler will give me some clue as to what
> might need to be changed.  But the compiler doesn't seem to give very
> useful reports.  It tells me the type of problem, but not where to look
> for it.  Might be using compiler wrong, can't find any information
> about how to use it.  So here are a few questions. :-)

vbnc's error messages are still very basic, and most of the time it will
just crash when it encounters invalid code. It would however be of great
help if you included the compiler output.

> Are there any instructions for the vbnc compiler?  (Example of how to
> compile a Visual Studio solution from the command line would be
> awesome)

You can't just do "vbnc mysolution.sln", the compiler doesn't understand the
solution file, you have to pass it the command line arguments and source
files by hand. On the other hand the vbnc compiler's usage is exactly like
the MS' vbc compiler, you can use MSDN to find out how to use vbc, and just
replace vbc with vbnc and it *should* work. If it doesn't it's a bug, and
please send a mail here or open a bugreport (http://bugzilla.ximian.com).

When compiling in VS2005 the command line used to invoke vbc is normally
written to the output window, you can also copy that line (it will be long
if you have many source files) and replace vbc with vbnc, that should get
you starting.

Another solution that might work is to open the VS solution in monodevelop,
and you should be able to just hit the compile button.

> Which of the many downloads would give me the source for the compiler?
> Does the group believe monodevelop is the correct tool for VB.NET on
> Linux?  Are there any other IDEs worth looking at?

The vbnc source code is available for browsing here:
http://anonsvn.mono-project.com/source/trunk/mono-basic/vbnc/vbnc/source/

To download all the source, get the mono-basic download here:
http://go-mono.com/sources-stable/

And yes, we do believe monodevelop is the right tool for VB.NET on Linux,
actually I don't think there are other IDE's on Linux that support VB.NET.

> Am I going at this the wrong way?  The programs I have compiled with
> Visual Studio, do open on Mono, they just don't keep running. :-(
 
Again, if you can get more specific (any errors, output, exactly what you
expect and what happens, etc) it would be easier to help.

Rolf