Forum Discussion

dbeavon's avatar
dbeavon
Contributor
3 years ago

OneStream .Net Platform Language

Was the OneStream product itself built using VB.Net?

If so, I'm pretty impressed!!

If it was built using C#, I'm wondering why customers are then forced to use VB.Net for business rules?  It seems like a double standard.  Is there a licensing reason why VB.Net is redistributed to customers while C# is not? 

If it isn't about licensing then maybe onestream has internal BR tooling that is incompatible with C#, or third party tooling that is incompatible? 

Any info would be appreciated.  Obviously the selection of either .net language it is a matter of choice ... but if OneStream picked C# for development of the product, then they should allow customers to pick C# as well for our business rules.

 

 

 

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  • ChristianW's avatar
    ChristianW
    Valued Contributor
    3 years ago

    The platform itself is build using C#, but the market place solutions are build in VB.net. The main reason for VB.net as the business rule language is its similarity to the Excel macro language VB for applications.

    Functional-vise, I think they are very similar, the C# syntax is shorter and I can understand, why programmers prefer to use it, but you can do the same things (till now).

     

    • dbeavon's avatar
      dbeavon
      Contributor
      3 years ago

      Thanks for the reply.  Are you aware of any technical reasons why we are limited to VB.Net?

      Also why is it important for the business rule language to have similarity to the Excel macro language VB for applications?  Much of our interaction with the API will use advanced programming concepts, like sessions and classes and interfaces and datasets.  And the BR's can grow quite large.  You mention macros, but I would only categorize a small number of our BR's as "macros".

       

      I can understand why your underlying platform is built with C#.  For exactly the same reasons you picked C#, some would rather pick C# for our custom extensions in OneStream.  

      I think I've heard that we can import our own assemblies, and use VB.Net as a simple shim.  But it would be nice if C# was a first-class citizen of OneStream, just like VB.  It doesn't sound like you had mentioned any technical reasons why OS is restricting customers to VB.Net, so it seems like the choice of a programming language should be left up to the customers.

      Ideally VB should not be forced on us, especially if you aren't using it for the platform itself.  Depending on the amount of customization, some customers may end up writing 10's or 100's of thousands of lines of code in OneStream, and ideally it wouldn't be a massive pile of VB code.  I guess that last part is just my opinion. 

       

      • BGrant's avatar
        BGrant
        New Contributor II
        3 years ago

        dbeavon 

        we understand where you are coming from. Traditionally, mostly users in finance departments have been tasked with administering OneStream, and since they heavily use Excel and macros, VB was preferred. As OneStream's footprint has grown, users outside of the Finance department are taking a more active role, and the preference for C# over VB has been something we have heard more of. 

        We agreed that the customer should have a choice, and we are in the process of enhancing shared business rules to support both VB and C#. The project is on track for the 7.1 release, so keep an eye out for the release webinar and announcements! 

  • TonyToniTone's avatar
    TonyToniTone
    Contributor II
    3 years ago

    My mistake Nicole and Lee.  Ideastream has not been released to the entire community as of today.  Enhancement requests can still be submitted through the ticket system.  

    • LeeB's avatar
      LeeB
      Contributor II
      3 years ago

      Has IdeaStream launched?  I get access denied when following that link.

    • NicoleBruno's avatar
      NicoleBruno
      Valued Contributor
      3 years ago

      Hello! 

      Same as Lee, I get Access Denied: 

       

       

  • LeeB's avatar
    LeeB
    Contributor II
    3 years ago

    Just spotted this statement in the new Finance Rules and Calculations Book, published last week.

     

  • ChristianW's avatar
    ChristianW
    Valued Contributor
    3 years ago

    Just to complete the topic, since version 7.1.1 C# is available as optional business rule language:

     

  • Krishna's avatar
    Krishna
    Valued Contributor
    3 years ago

    C# is more easy vs VB Dot Net. I would recommend OS to transform to C#....!!!!! for an example RESTAPI works easy in C# vs VB .Net... Is there are any roadmap for C# ???

    Thanks

    Krishna