Utility source code thread

I bid you good luck with this. This is very needed and can very well help people get to a stabilized operating system. Windows is good yes but Linux is helpful in the long run.

 

I would post my source code, but I only make tools for Windows games!
I would gladly give anybody that asks my code (if you can understand Visual Basic .NET).

 

Ok, is it actually possible to port VB 9.0 to something which works on Mac? If anyone is able to do it, I'm fine with it. Just PM me and I will send the source.

 

You could either use Mono or install .net Framework in wine. I don't know about 9.0 (.net 3.0) though!

 

I could never get WINE to work for me. And with the expensive and bloaty emulators, you might as well buy a Windows at that point.

So exactly how possible is it for an average program to be ported to another operating system?

 

Cross-compiling? Not always as straightforward as that though depending on libraries used by your program... I think.

 

There are two possible targets for VB.NET code: Mono w/ MonoDevelop, and REALbasic.

Mono supports up to VB8 fully (.NET 2.0). Some work has been done for VB9, but I don't know how much of VB9 is actually supported.

Mono is the easiest path to take, and it is fully cross platform, with Windows, Mac, and Linux support built right in. Mono includes a native compiler that will take VB8 code and compile it straight to native Linux binaries. The official .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0 Frameworks do not have this capability.

The REALbasic path requires quite a bit of work to rework, since it isn't based on VB7, VB8, or VB9. It's closest ancestor would be VB6, but it is far from that as well.

In your case, the program is not written in VB.NET, but VB6. You have two paths you can choose: KBasic or REALbasic.

The easiest choice for VB6 code would be KBasic, it is fully cross platform and sticks rather close to the VB6 style of object oriented BASIC. You will be required to make a few changes, but probably nothing too drastic.

However, the last time I tried KBasic, it wasn't very stable on my Windows desktop, though that could be because of Vista... It probably is a lot better now than it was several months ago, when I did try it.

The other path for VB6 code would be REALbasic. REALbasic requires a lot more work, but it is very mature and has a community of developers who help to extend REALbasic.

KBasic can be compiled from source to be used with Windows and Mac indefinitely for open source applications only. The full blown professional edition binary from the site is already free (for open source use) for Linux users.

REALbasic Personal Edition for Linux can be acquired for free if you plan to use it for open source software.

S1TCG can likely be directly recompiled with Mono to work on Mac and Linux, if it still works with only the .NET 2.0 Framework.

 

I rarely post my source codes because even though I'm an awesome programmer, most of the times there are at least one or two badly written routines in my programs because of my lazyness and I don't want people to see them. This is what I get for writing programs in a rush when I get the inspiration instead of planning routines in advance with pen and paper... However if you don't mind to see code which is half awesome and half crap, feel free to ask, I might even agree.

 

I know about Mono already, I'm just saying that all of my programs are for editing Windows-only games, so a Mac/Linux port would be kind of pointless.
My S&K Collection Level Editor however, could somewhat easily be reworked to edit the Genesis version, so maybe...