It's easy to try the software. You install the software (a trial version is available) on a system with Visual Studio .NET 2003 The installation also offers to open a tutorial located in the help file and the latest product FAQ. The help file tutorial looks very much like the online tutorial described in the next section, but it contains better links, so I suggest you use the help file tutorial instead.

It's a good idea to read the FAQ so that you know about some of the caveats of using the software. The vendor is relatively honest about most common product limitations. It also contains a number of interesting bits of information, such as, "I am a C# developer. How do I convince my manager or co-workers that we should switch from VB to C#?" The FAQ does contain a lot of useful tidbits as well, such as, "What do I do if I want to convert earlier versions of Visual Basic such as VB6?" It turns out that you have to convert the VB6 application to Visual Basic .NET first; but at least the FAQ gets you started with the process and provides you with a helpful pointer to Microsoft's conversion program.

Using the Tutorials

The online tutorial takes you through the basic process of using C Sharpener. For example, you might run into a problem where the product doesn't appear on the Visual Studio Tools menu and the tutorial provides a link that answers this question. You'll also see the steps the wizard takes you through to complete a conversion. It's relatively straightforward, but using the tutorial answers the basic questions and gets you going quickly.

Unfortunately, the online tutorial falls short when it comes to explaining the options on the Select Options dialog box, shown in Figure 1. In fact, it doesn't explain them at all and leaves you wondering how you're supposed to verify the options when you don't know what they mean. Considering the importance of this particular dialog box, I would have expected the vendor ro provide more information.

Figure 1: The online tutorial doesn't do much to explain the Select Options dialog box.

The tutorial directs you to the help file at the very end of the process. Not only doesn't it explain the entries in the Translation Complete dialog box, but it tells you that the product might not convert everything satisfactorily... and then it directs you to the help file for assistance. Overall, the tutorial will get you started and it does answer very basic questions, but don't assume it will help you with any of the more difficult topics.

The help file tutorial is just like the online tutorial; it's precisely the same material. However, the help file version actually contains more links that the online tutorial. For example, you'll find a link that answers the question of what all of those options in the Select Options dialog box mean. In short, you'll get more out of the help file tutorial.

The Bottom Line

In all, I tried 20 applications of various kinds when performing this review. All of the applications converted. Simple applications will convert 100% of the time without any effort from you. Most database and all multiple form applications also convert without too many problems, but you begin running into a wealth of odd conversion output. I can highly recommend C-Sharpener for this kind of application conversion.

Unfortunately, even the simplest application that relies on PInvoke will require help from you. When working with PInvoke, you'll save a little time using C-Sharpener instead of converting the code by hand, if your applications rely on simple PInvoke workarounds. Yet, I can't recommend this product for complex PInvoke application requirements; I found hand conversion to always produce a better result.