ADO in C# 2005 without using ADO.NET

I finally did it. I was tasked to convert the business logic in an internal application from Visual Basic 6 to C# 2005, for use in our new .NET application. I could have done it the “easy” way by upgrading the project to VB.NET first, and then using C-Sharpener to convert the upgraded project to C#.

Instead, I decided to do it literally one line at a time. I took every single Declare, Sub and Function, and converted them into proper C# code. Now I have a program that looks very similar to the original, and it was written by hand. I take the same point of view when writing HTML for web design.

Then of course there was ADODB, which was used extensively in the original VB6 code. Instead of using ADO.NET for database connectivity, I included an InterOp assembly for backward compatibility. You see, if something works, why fix it? I knew that implementing ADO.NET would affect the way the database connectivity works, and my task was to make sure it works *exactly* the same way in .NET.

The point is, it’s finished now. From over 1500 error messages to 0 error messages, 0 warnings and a compiled DLL, I’m happy.

Now all I have to do before my “show-early” demonstration next Monday is to create an interface between the old and new database structure. I can do this through the DB engine or with C#, but I think I’m going to go the database route. I will create views on the data that mimick the old DB design, and use stored procedures to enforce the integrity of the new database design.