Professional Visual Basic® 2010 and .NET 4

Appendix B. Visual Basic Power Packs Tools

This appendix takes a look at the Visual Basic Power Packs Tools. These tools started as a set of off-cycle release packages that focused on helping developers, who are maintaining traditional VB6 applications, begin the process of transitioning to Visual Basic .NET. Key portions of the original Power Packs have been incorporated as features within Visual Studio. In addition to the Power Packs this chapter looks at a second tool for those working with VB6, the VB6 Interop Toolkit. These tools contain a set of features intended for developers with years of Visual Basic experience to replicate tasks and behaviors that were easy in VB6 in Visual Basic .NET.

This appendix briefly examines the two installation packages that are currently available. These packages were released targeting Visual Studio 2005, and have been updated for Visual Studio 2010. Additionally, elements of the Visual Basic Power Packs3.0 package for printing were fully integrated with Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and continueto ship with Visual Studio 2010.

This appendix focuses on three areas:

• Power Packs background, including goals and installation

• The Interop Forms Toolkit 2.1

• The Visual Basic Power Packs 3.0

These tools are available as free downloads; however, due to licensing restrictions on the Express Editions, Visual Basic Express and the other Express Editions do not support any add-ins. Thus, to leverage the Interop Forms Toolkit, you need a licensed version of Visual Studio ...