Professional IronPython™

Chapter 17. Extending IronPython Using Visual Basic.NET

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Understanding the differences between C# and Visual Basic.NET extensions

• Developing a simple Visual Basic.NET extension

• Providing user interface support through a Visual Basic.NET extension

• Providing database support through a Visual Basic.NET extension

Visual Basic is a great language for many tasks, especially when it comes to database management. Sure, you can write great database management code using C#, but many developers feel that Visual Basic does a better job in this area. In addition, many developers find that Visual Basic is easier to work with for user interface tasks. Whether you agree with this assessment or not, Visual Basic should be another tool in your IronPython extension toolkit.

Note

This chapter assumes that you already know the requirements for building an extension. If you haven't already read the section "Understanding the Requirements for an Extension" in Chapter 16, you should do so before you start this chapter. The first section of this chapter describes the few differences between C# and Visual Basic.NET extensions.

This chapter begins with a simple Visual Basic.NET extension. You can use this example as the basis for your own extensions. Simply remove the example code and use the project itself to start your own extensions. Of course, this simple example is also useful for demonstrating how to create extensions. This chapter provides the complete Visual Basic.NET view of working ...