The Moth

It is amazing how many requests in the newsgroups are something like

"...I have this C# code I need to translate to VB..."

Occasionally we get requests for translating VB to C# and the same principle applies.

If you really need to translate the code, *please* learn how to at least read the other language: it will make you a better .NET developer, guaranteed. There are many sites that list the differences and there are many converters for VB-to-C# or for C#-to-VB or both.

However, if you just picked up a C# file and you need to use it from your VB project you can do just that by adding it to a dll first. Given that the advice leads to more "how to" questions (believe me it does!), here are the steps needed to achieve just that:

1. Create New C# Smart Device project (not for Full Fx)
2. From the wizard select the target and then Class Library. Choose a suitable name and location.
3. Delete the default file Class1.cs
4. Project->Add Existing Item (from the menu)
5. Navigate to the folder where you have saved/downloaded your C# file. Open the file (which makes a copy to the project's directory) or Link to it (which allows you to use it in the project but only keeps one copy on disc)
6. Double-click in solution explorer to view the file. Note the namespace declaration at the top (e.g. namespace OpenNETCF.IO). Optionally change it to the name of your project.
7. Repeat steps 5-6 for any other files
8. Build->Rebuild Solution
9. You now have a dll in the bin\Debug directory under the project you just created

From your exe/application project select from the menu Project->Add Reference and browse to the dll; Select it and OK.