Rhino 8 Grasshopper script editor: VB not working

Scripting
1

I have just installed the Rhino8 upgrade.

Recent GrassHopper scripts from Rhino7 that contain VB code will open, but the VB code does not work.

  1. The VB editor shows up as ‘old’, without the usual possibility to upgrade.
  2. If I place an instance of the new code editor on the canvas, it only has options for Python and C#. No VB.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Rhino 7 and Rhino8. That didn’t help.

Does anybody have any pointers on how to solve this?

Thanks, Jack Bakker

2

Hi Jack -

Could you post a .gh file with such component?

The old label is just that, a label. It indicates that a newer component is available but it should not mess with that legacy component.

As with all depreciated components, you can still place new versions of those components on the canvas by double-clicking the canvas, and starting the search term with a hatch:
image

-wim

3

Hi Wim,

Thanks for the reply.

  1. It turns out the error message was generated because the type of one of the inputs (a double) was not declared. After fixing that, the legacy component works as normal. Apparently the compiler in Rhino 8 is a bit more strict than in Rhino7.

  2. Thanks for the tip, I did not know about the ‘#’ prefix. But I was assuming that the new editor could also handle VB. If not, I would expect a non-legacy VB component. Am I missing something? Is VB support on the way out?

_Jack

4

RH-78855 VB Script Component in GH should not be Obsolete

6

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear it is not supposed to be obsolete. I have done a mountain of coding in VB.

However after installing v8, I get the following:

All VB scripts show the component as ‘old’, they still work. In v7 they show up as normal.

old
old1797×855 102 KB

There is no VB option in the math/scripts tab.

image
image1087×295 29.6 KB

Jack

7

Hi Jack -

Just to make sure, yes, that’s what RH-78855 is about.
-wim

8

@Jack

added it back for Rhino 8.3 RC, alongside single click components for other languages:

Rhino_ZrlOVe8Kda

10

@eirannejad

Thanks for the quick response.

When it is added back in, will the editor also get its normal functionality back?
In old/legacy mode, it has now lost all the things I have come to rely on (automatic cleaning up of indentation, suggestions for parameters when calling functions etc…).

_Jack

11

@Alain Anyway we can have feature parity with the older VB component? I’m planning to add VB to the list of languages so maybe it’s better to do that instead

13

I am having the same problem. When I add the VB scripting component to GH in Rhino 8, and I double click it to open the script editor, NOTHING opens. I am unable to add code in VB. What’s going on?

14

Thanks for adding it back in. It’s there, but to be honest, it’s not working properly.

  • there is neither auto complete nor parameter suggestions for RhinoCommon types and functions
  • the font size is so small that it is unreadable. And no obvious way to change it.

I don’t understand the decision to effectively kill VB support. I upgraded to Rhino 8, expecting everything to still work.

Is there a way to make it work properly?

Jack

15

…I see now that people are having the same problems when editing C#. So not specifically a VB problem. Can this please be fixed soon? As it is, it doesn’t make sense to start using RH8.

17

@Jack Would you mind testing the latest 8.7 RC? We have had some good improvements

18

Hi Ehsan,

Thanks for the heads-up.
I installed SR7, but from what I can see none of my issues with VB have been addressed.
Am I missing something?

Just to summarize:

  • the legacy VB component editor does not do auto-completion, parameter suggestions, etcetera… for RhinoCommon objects.
  • the legacy component editor does not do auto format.
  • the new general editor does not do VB at all.
  • the font size in both editors is very small and not adjustable.

All these feature work fine in Rhino7.

Jack

21

@Jack

Yes to be honest I am still trying ot figure out how much VB.Net is still needed in the Rhino3d community. The VB component in Rhino 8, is the old one from previous Rhino version with a new updated editor. It is technically not using any of the new scripting infrastructure. The amout of work to make it work is considerable mostly to ensure we can get debugging implemented for it.