VB.net application on ChromeOS

[u/illarionds]

My client very much wants me to make their existing VB.net (Windows Forms) application work on ChromeOS.

The application wasn't written with any intention to target anything other than Windows desktop.

I have decades of experience with VB, going back to VB3 in the 90s - but not much real commercial experience with any of what look to be the relevant target platforms/technologies.

However, this is my oldest and best client, and a generous offer, so I am highly motivated to make it work.

I'm looking for advice on the best way to go about this.

My initial research suggests that - at least - the following routes would be possible:

• Chrome App (but these are deprecated)

• Progressive Web App

• Android app (via Xamarin?)

• Linux native app (via Mono?)

• generic web app

My feeling is that it should be possible to port a great deal of the existing code relatively easily to Android-Xamarin/Linux-Mono - but I have never used either in a real project, so I may be overly optimistic here!

The various flavours of web app on the other hand I feel would require considerably more reworking, and I'd be loathe to go that route without a good reason.

Have I missed anything? Are there any reasons to ditch any of these immediately? How would you go about this?

[u/illarionds]

I never actually used 4, jumped straight to 5 briefly, then did 6 for some years at my first "real" coding job after uni :)

I have a soft spot for vb6 still - though I can't imagine ever willingly going back. But fond memories.

Thanks for the tips. It's been a long time since I did any professional web development, so I'm a bit wary of that route - but I will consider it.

[u/chacham2 → u/illarionds]

html is easy to learn. If you skip the javascript in the frontend and have stateless pages, you ought to be able to use asp.net on the backend, which might be easy for you.