I know I won’t be able to use any of these files (apart from maybe some graphic files) in the new web based system.
I have a new client (although I have known them personally for a number of years) and his current system was written in VB6, is loaded onto his office computer and is only accessible from within his office. He now wants this to be web based but to get an understanding of how his current system works I need to be able to load his current system onto my desktop.
He has sent me all the files they have that were used to create their admin system. There are a number of issues
I am not fluent in VB.
I don’t have Visual Studio, and if I did I wouldn’t know where to start.
The system was created some 20 years ago (so I believe).
The developer retired 10 years ago, is not well now and so is unable to help in any way.
Does anyone have any experience in VB that could guide me into setting this up so I can play with it?
I can get into the Access Database so that isn’t a problem.
From an old email that the developer sent to my client, he said “Your problem will be finding someone who can do Visual Basic 6 (VB6) and Data Dynamics Reporting an early version. These are skills that died out 10 years ago realistically.” Doesn’t give me much confidence!
Of all the files he sent (170Mb in total) here are the primary directories
Hi Neil. I’ve done similar where I’ve replaced an old Access-based system. I’ve found the best way is to get them to do screen recordings of them using their existing system. Break it down into sections and get them to cover everything. This would give you a great resource to get familiar with it in your own time. Freeze it for screen layouts, etc. and play it over and over again as needed.
The existing database could be converted to MySQL fairly easily using something like Navicat but I would build the database from scratch just using the existing one as a reference.
Don’t be put off by it being a very old VB6 application and you certainly don’t need to know anything about VB to build a new one.
Hope that helps. I actually love jobs like this. I’ve just finished one where I was supplied Excel files showing their existing structures and processes and they made building the new system pretty straightforward.
I’m working on a fairly large system at the moment and I do frequent zoom meetings with the client and get them to show me aspects of their current system and I record that part of the zoom meeting so I can go back to it. It’s brilliant.
I often deal with data from very old systems. In most cases, you can pretty sure that a lot of what you find can be ignored, because it was never used, not fully implemented or is no longer relevant. It’s easy to waste time trying to make sense of everything rather than finding out what you need to focus on.
Hi guys, I understand what you are saying and you are right, it’s all about the processes and almost ignore the code that was done 20 years ago. Things change, processes change, needs change. And that’s part of the reason for wanting to redo the system as a web-based one.
My problem is that he is not good at articulating what he does and what is required. And also, if I ask him to screen record his screen he’ll look at me as if I have just stepped off an alien spaceship!
I have already asked him about some menu items and he says he doesn’t go in to those areas as he doesn’t need them. I then ask him what they are and he doesn’t know! They could be the glue between two areas. Very frustrating. That’s why I wanted a play in my own time. He doesn’t want to give me the freedom to play on the live system at his office.
Not the ideal way to work. He wants me to work with his daughter on the new system and she doesn’t know or understand the old one.
I’ll get there, I just wondered how difficult it would have been to set this up. Certainly not the end of the world if I don’t.
Zoom recording could be your best solution. Just get them onto a Zoom call with you (most are familiar with Zoom now) and get them to share their screen and then record them using the system. That’s been the best solution for me.
Good advice from everyone Neil.
Get him to do a walkthrough via zoom or something similar and record the session.
Take a copy of his database and write a routine to convert to MySQL (you will need that again later when you do a final import)
again, extend the script to convert the structure into the new structure you want. If you get the new structure wrong don’t be tempted to do any changes manually, update the conversion script and re-run it or mistakes will probably happen later (looking at lots of custom queries here to restructure the tables)
write each feature in the old system as a separate section via Wappler.
test it yourself thoroughly then test again
demo to customer and HAVE HIM test and agree it is ready .Ensure he realises that once deployed it is not feasible to run both systems side by side, it will have to be “hot fixed”
Re-run the data conversion script so data mirrors old site
Go live
Pray to whatever god you believe in
I remember some years ago (2001) having, on a daily basis, to take a text dump (CSV) from a Tandem non stop mainframe running a COBOL program and a second CSV from an Oracle Database I had to import then both into access, merge and process the data with scripts in access then output as .DBF files for use in Lotus Approach (horrible DB platform but was the company standard DB app). That was a nightmare!!!
