Coding Software for VB.NET

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

What software do you use to make VB.NET macros for SolidEdge? Our IT guy said we would have to use Visual Studio which is $45 per month. Is there any other software that can generate VB.NET code?

[KennyG]

What software do you use to make VB.NET macros for SolidEdge? Our IT guy said we would have to use Visual Studio which is $45 per month. Is there any other software that can generate VB.NET code?

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/free ... er-offers/

You can use Visual Studio Code for free. It is a single code file editor but has plugins for different code types.

Visual Studio Community (free) can be used if you fit these requirements:

Organizational License. If you are an organization, your users may use the software as follows:

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test applications released under Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved open source software licenses.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test extensions to Visual Studio.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test device drivers for the Windows operating system.

· Any number of your users may use the software only for Microsoft SQL Server development when using the SQL Server Data Tools or the extensions “Microsoft Analysis Services Projects”, “Microsoft Reporting Services Projects”, or “SQL Server Integration Services Projects” to develop Microsoft SQL Server database projects or Analysis Services, Reporting Services, Power BI Report Server, or Integration Services projects.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test your applications as part of online or in person classroom training and education, or for performing academic research.

· If none of the above apply, and you are also not an enterprise (defined below), then up to 5 of your individual users can use the software concurrently to develop and test your applications.

· If you are an enterprise, your employees and contractors may not use the software to develop or test your applications, except for: (i) open source; (ii) Visual Studio extensions; (iii) device drivers for the Windows operating system; (iv) SQL Server development; and, (v) education purposes as permitted above.

An “enterprise” is any organization and its affiliates who collectively have either (a) more than 250 PCs or users or (b) one million U.S. dollars (or the equivalent in other currencies) in annual revenues, and “affiliates” means those entities that control (via majority ownership), are controlled by, or are under common control with an organization.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/free ... er-offers/

You can use Visual Studio Code for free. It is a single code file editor but has plugins for different code types.

Visual Studio Community (free) can be used if you fit these requirements:

Organizational License. If you are an organization, your users may use the software as follows:

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test applications released under Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved open source software licenses.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test extensions to Visual Studio.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test device drivers for the Windows operating system.

· Any number of your users may use the software only for Microsoft SQL Server development when using the SQL Server Data Tools or the extensions “Microsoft Analysis Services Projects”, “Microsoft Reporting Services Projects”, or “SQL Server Integration Services Projects” to develop Microsoft SQL Server database projects or Analysis Services, Reporting Services, Power BI Report Server, or Integration Services projects.

· Any number of your users may use the software to develop and test your applications as part of online or in person classroom training and education, or for performing academic research.

· If none of the above apply, and you are also not an enterprise (defined below), then up to 5 of your individual users can use the software concurrently to develop and test your applications.

· If you are an enterprise, your employees and contractors may not use the software to develop or test your applications, except for: (i) open source; (ii) Visual Studio extensions; (iii) device drivers for the Windows operating system; (iv) SQL Server development; and, (v) education purposes as permitted above.

An “enterprise” is any organization and its affiliates who collectively have either (a) more than 250 PCs or users or (b) one million U.S. dollars (or the equivalent in other currencies) in annual revenues, and “affiliates” means those entities that control (via majority ownership), are controlled by, or are under common control with an organization.

Thanks for the info @KennyG!
I installed Visual Studio Code but I can't figure out how to export it to a .dll or .exe. Do I not have the right extension installed or am I missing something else?

[KennyG]

Thanks for the info @KennyG!
I installed Visual Studio Code but I can't figure out how to export it to a .dll or .exe. Do I not have the right extension installed or am I missing something else?

I mentioned Code because it is completely free. While I have Code installed, I do also have the full Visual Studio product installed and thus never use Code for SE macros/add-ins.

VS Code is just a code file editor and supports many languages and their native file output, so for instance VB can be saved out to .VB, .VBS, .BAS, etc... and C++ can be saved out to .CPP, .C++, etc... It does not have a compiler by default so cannot create EXE or DLL files OOTB, but you can find Extensions do that for some languages like C++ or there are online compiler options like JDOODLE for VB.NET (https://www.jdoodle.com/compile-vb-dot-net-online/). To be honest, using Code is going to be difficult because it lacks the completeness and niceties of full Visual Studio, but if "free" is your only option and you don't qualify for VS Community, not sure what other options you have.

I did find an open source IDE for .NET languages called SharpDevelop (https://github.com/icsharpcode/SharpDevelop). Know nothing about it other that it appears to be recommended as a free option to VS.

[Jaylin Hochstetler]

I mentioned Code because it is completely free. While I have Code installed, I do also have the full Visual Studio product installed and thus never use Code for SE macros/add-ins.

VS Code is just a code file editor and supports many languages and their native file output, so for instance VB can be saved out to .VB, .VBS, .BAS, etc... and C++ can be saved out to .CPP, .C++, etc... It does not have a compiler by default so cannot create EXE or DLL files OOTB, but you can find Extensions do that for some languages like C++ or there are online compiler options like JDOODLE for VB.NET (https://www.jdoodle.com/compile-vb-dot-net-online/). To be honest, using Code is going to be difficult because it lacks the completeness and niceties of full Visual Studio, but if "free" is your only option and you don't qualify for VS Community, not sure what other options you have.

I did find an open source IDE for .NET languages called SharpDevelop (https://github.com/icsharpcode/SharpDevelop). Know nothing about it other that it appears to be recommended as a free option to VS.

Thanks for the info!
IT ended up installing Visual Studio 2022 on my computer. I've been playing around with it a little bit. Looks like I got a big learning curve in front of me.
Do you know of any good resources? I have done a little bit of programming in Python and VBA, just enough to get the gist of it and to get myself in trouble.

[KennyG]

Do you know of any good resources? I have done a little bit of programming in Python and VBA, just enough to get the gist of it and to get myself in trouble.

Jaylin, have a look at the following sites and make sure to download the "Solid_Edge_Sample_Programs_2022.zip" and "SDK_2022_English.exe" files from the Siemens Solid Edge Downloads. Best way to learn is start small and use examples to see how stuff was done.

Solid Edge Community GetHub... Samples of how to use the various API's in C++ and VB.NET. SolidEdgeSpy for monitoring SE interactive usage to see what commands it's calling. Templates for VS. I would not use the other NuGet packages for VS as they are out of date and aren't necessary.
https://github.com/SolidEdgeCommunity

Solid Edge Developer Community... Discuss coding questions/issues with other SE coders
https://community.sw.siemens.com/s/topi ... -developer

[SPerman]

There is a free version of visual studio. Will that not work for some reason? Visual Studio Community:


https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/

[KennyG]

There is a free version of visual studio. Will that not work for some reason? Visual Studio Community:
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/

Visual Studio Community was mentioned in a prior reply, but it has specific licensing requirements for allowed usage. For what Jaylin wants to do with it, his company must have less than 250 PC's and have less than 1 million US dollars in yearly revenue. If either of these are exceeded, then the company is regarded as an "Enterprise".

Here is the license agreement for Visual Studio Community 2022 for reference:
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/lice ... community/

[KennyG]

For anyone looking for a free IDE for .NET development, it appear the SharpDevelop was discontinued and now MonoDevelop is the recommended replacement (https://www.monodevelop.com/). Don't know anything about it other than that.

[SPerman]

IMO, a guy writing macros for his own use isn't the same as someone developing commercial code. But Microsoft's opinion is the one that counts, not mine.