Danger VBA Developers, VBA Will Be Offline

Okay not quite as catchy or timeless as "Danger Will Robinson!" or "Robot is online." (both from Lost in Space), but I hope you get where this is all heading.  However, it is the ugly truth that is coming towards all of us at sub-light speeds.  AutoCAD 2011 will be the last release of AutoCAD that will support the ability to install a VBA enabler and run DVB project files.  That means, if you do not migrate your VBA programs (DVB files) to AutoLISP, .NET, or ObjectARX you will not be able to use them in the next release of AutoCAD.

Here is the text from the AutoCAD Readme about VBA and its future in AutoCAD:

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

Microsoft Visual Basic^® for Applications (VBA) is available for free download at http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download. Autodesk is transitioning from VBA technology to .NET Framework. The VBA module is available for AutoCAD 2011-based products as an unsupported feature. It will not be available in future releases of AutoCAD. Autodesk will provide documentation and other assistance to help customers and developers migrate from VBA to .NET Framework.

To migrate your VBA projects, you will need to download the VBA enabler for AutoCAD 2011 (or AutoCAD 2010) from the following URL:

  http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download

With a bit of effort and a basic understanding of .NET you can migrate your code from VBA to VB.NET.  To help make the transition, we created several procedures on creating a .NET project and placed them in the AutoCAD .NET Developer's Guide which was posted last summer.  The AutoCAD .NET Developer's Guide also contains a large number of code samples that can be copy and pasted into a VB.NET or C# project and used with minimal effort.  The AutoCAD .NET Developer's Guide can be viewed from the following location:

http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-net-developers-guide

As the year goes along, I will post articles that focus on migrating from VBA to VB.NET and some of the basics of VB.NET as they might apply to you the VBA developer.  Until later, take some time to review the AutoCAD .NET Developer's Guide and let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Comments

[Mike Weaver]

We have been hearing this for a while, but I'm now wondering if Autodesk will change directions now that Microsoft has appeared to change. It seems Microsoft is moving away from VSTA and back toward VBA. See this post: http://visualbasic.about.com/b/2010/03/27/vba-forever.htm

[Lee Ambrosius]

Things can change, but right now Microsoft is not offering anything for third-party vendors to embed VBA7. So until Microsoft allows embedding again like VBA6 did, I would not expect much to change. Anything is possible though, but it will be up to Microsoft in the end as to which way they decide.

[Peter Kompier]

Not true.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=770215#section1

[Lee Ambrosius]

Not sure by what you mean as it is 'Not True'.

The page mentions you should port from VBA and move all future development to .NET. The AutoCAD ActiveX/COM library will continue to be supported for use with .NET/C++/AutoLISP/Microsoft Office products.

From the page:
'What is the status of VBA support in the AutoCAD 2011 product line?
Microsoft made the decision to stop offering VBA distribution licenses to new customers as of July 1, 2007 and they have expressed that there are no plans to provide VBA product enhancements in the future. As a result of this, though Autodesk will continue to “unofficially” support VBA in its 2011 products, software developers are strongly encouraged to base all future Microsoft Windows based development for AutoCAD based products on the Microsoft .NET Framework (VB .NET, C#, managed C++ etc).'

[Patrick EMIN]

This raises also the question of upgrading your AutoCAD software. Some will be tempted not to upgrade to keep the VBA... But not to upgrade is a technological risk and not be a good idea in the long term.