I want to write a program converting Zulu Time to Central (standard and daylight) Time. At work, employees call me from all over the world asking questions. I always have to look up at the many clocks on the wall to convert the time difference.

If I try to build a program on VB.NET Studio 2003 on my PC, can I just copy and paste the code to Access 97 (Visual Basic)? Will it still work? I wish I could just download VB.NET to my work PC, but I'm not allowed.

If I attempt this, it will most certainly take me a long time. I'm just learning programming. :-?

When you've finished your program in VB.net, you can compile it to a .exe file. If you've used no other DLL's than the standard windows clock DLL (or even no DLL), all you have to do is copy this .exe file to your work PC.

You'll learn about compiling in your programming courses. Basically, it makes a stand alone program from your VB code.

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Sounds complicated.

Making an .exe is "nothing":

file->make myprogam.exe (and some OK pressing).

About the DLL's: I think it is not an issue for your clock program. You'll ony use DLLs that are available on every PC, so all you need is the .exe file.

What you can do, to make sure you've got all the needed VB runtime files on your work PCs to make your program work: after you made your .exe, you go in the start menu to the VB entry, and choose the package&deployment wizard. it will get you through a process of mainly OK clicking, that will make a nice installer that includes all files needed (unless you've done fancy custom things like sound files, which need to be included manually).

The difficulties in your clock program itself will be
*retrieving the current windows clock time
*doing maths on a clock time and giving the rsult in clock notation.

All these things aren't difficult once you've seen the code, but it aren't commands you can just make up yourself (while standard mathematical algoritms are).

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To run an exe that was compiled in VS.Net 2003, the target PC will also have to have the .Net Framework v1.1 installed. This may have already been installed via Windows Update.

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to answer the question in the OP VB .NET is structually different from VBA 97. So a cut and paste will not be correct.

I'm curious. What will the program do? Will it show two clocks, one for Zulu time and one for Central time? Will you enter a time and a country or zip code and have it return zulu and central time? Why do you need it in Access 97 ? As was alluded to in other posts, you don't need to have VB.NET on the computer that you are running. All you need is the .NET framework, which is free. The question is whether you are permitted to install it on your computer. If you have Access 97 and need to use Access 97, then why not just write the program in Access instead of trying to port it from .NET.

Candy,

If the code doesn't work out, try World Time -- it's a free download and you can configure as many clocks as you want and have them stay resident on your screen in a nice little bar.

get it at www.pawprint.net

I just want to convert the times easier. Like with our Indian office. I get so freaking confused, because they are ->12.5<- hours off from me. I get to the point where I just think of them in Central Time.

I'd rather just check a box for the offices we have now outside of Central Time, like Canada and India. United doesn't really have the extra monies right now to upgrade every computer. The only place I can find something that I am familiar with is in Access 97. ops:

Hey, if you know how to do it in Access 97 from scratch... I don't. 8-[

I just want it for me, but I know it will come in handy for all the Coordinators and my Manager. I want to make it a shortcut on the desktop. Plus, it gives me the upper-hand in a dog eat dog economy.

I may try Spacewriter's suggestion. I just wanted to do it myself. It's like job security having the ability to understand programming. I'm surprised I've lasted this long at United - 8 years in May. I'm like a handful of folks that originally started in Indianapolis that is still around.

Look here: http://www.python.org/doc/2.4/lib/module-datetime.html

Python is a really easy language to learn.

If you have Excel, and you just want the results, you can do a quick and dirty spreadsheet. For your current date and time use the

+now()

function. To add 1 1/2 hours to that:

+now()+1.5/24

Just place a series of these in a column for the different time zones, and use the Format/Cells menu option to select the date/time format you want. Add explanatory text in a separate column. Be SURE to press F9 when you want to update the time value (it won't update automatically). You won't learn much this way, and it is ugly, but it works.

VB .NET isn't too difficult to learn if you know a bit of VB 6.0 or even VBA to some extent, but not they generally would cross over. VB .NET often has simlar syntax, but a very different structure.

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Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I will just let it ride for now (at work), and experiment on my PC. If I come up with something I like (or that works), I'll post it. I've been told I get too excited over the smallest things.