C# Discussion Boards - CodeProject

Re: Create An "add-in-able" Application

3-Oct-02 3:06

HI MStanbrook

Have a look at my IRC client I wrote a while back. http://myrc.sourceforge.net[^]. It has complete support for plugins, UI the lot. My help you what Eric meant in the port below. Just Remeber the interface is the most important part. I had made several interfaces , so some plugins can have a GUI and/or Menus or nothing at all.

I must admit that was my 1st biggish C# project so some of the coding is shocking, but for you to see how I have done , it will suffice.

Hope it helps Smile | :)

Give them a chance! Do it for the kittens, dear God, the kittens!
As seen on MS File Transfer: Please enter an integer between 1 and 2.

Eric Gunnerson (msft)2-Oct-02 11:33

Eric Gunnerson (msft)

2-Oct-02 11:33

How difficult this is depends upon what your requirements are.

If you want to just load add-ins at runtime, it's quite simple.
1) Define the interface you want an add-in to implement, and compile it to a .dll
2) Create a directory for add-ins off of the directory where the .exe lives
3) In the main exe, use Assembly.Load() to load in the assembly4)
4) Use reflection to find the types in it that implement your assembly
5) Use activator.CreateInstance() to create the instance
6) Cast it to your interface, and then go to town.

If you want to be able to update them on the fly, that gets more complicated. Look at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncscol/html/csharp05162002.asp

for more information.

Re: Create An "add-in-able" Application

MStanbrook2-Oct-02 18:15

MStanbrook

2-Oct-02 18:15

Eric Gunnerson (msft) wrote:
If you want to be able to update them on the fly, that gets more complicated. Look at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncscol/html/csharp05162002.asp

Great article. It's a bit out of my realm for now, but looks like some interesting ideas to keep in mind while getting me feet wet!

Thanks.

Mike Stanbrook
mstanbrook@yahoo.com

How do you know you're in design mode vs. running?

Zombies with Coffee, LLC2-Oct-02 4:59

Zombies with Coffee, LLC

2-Oct-02 4:59

I need two slightly different actions if I'm in design mode or if I'm running the actual program.

Is there a function to determine that?

Re: How do you know you're in design mode vs. running?

Paul Riley2-Oct-02 5:22

Paul Riley

2-Oct-02 5:22

if (this.DesignMode)?

Paul

Re: How do you know you're in design mode vs. running?

Zombies with Coffee, LLC2-Oct-02 5:30

Zombies with Coffee, LLC

2-Oct-02 5:30

hahaha... I tried IsDesignMode, GetDesignMode... I got to start thinking like .NET more.

Thanks bro!

Microsoft Exchange programming

Ola Carlsson2-Oct-02 3:43

Ola Carlsson

2-Oct-02 3:43

Hi!
I need some programming examples about programming MS Exchange server 5.5.
Also wonder if I Can I use ADSI for this purpose?
I’m using C# ASP .Net.
Thanks
/Ola Carlsson

Re: Microsoft Exchange programming

Michael P Butler2-Oct-02 4:00

Michael P Butler

2-Oct-02 4:00

Not sure about C# samples for 5.5 but the Exchange SDK and samples are
here http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/topic.asp?URL=/MSDN-FILES/028/001/373/topic.xml[^]

Michael

"Time and tide melts the snowman."
-- The Doctor (Doctor Who: Time and the Rani

Re: Microsoft Exchange programming

Stephane Rodriguez.2-Oct-02 4:18

Stephane Rodriguez.

2-Oct-02 4:18

The trouble is that Exchange 5.5 is regarded by MS as legacy, and MSDN itself now almost only references Exchange 2000[^]+ articles. I guess you need older MSDN.

I would use CDO[^] objects (they exist prior Exchange 2000) or DAO depending on what you like. In fact, you have a couple of COM objects that you just reference in your ASP.NET project before start using them.

For ActiveDirectory, that's the same. There's a bunch of ADSI COM objects.

Good luck!

sometimes it helps to look at the IL generated code
a MS guy on develop.com "answering" .NET issues

Calling COM Object in C#

RAVI H R1-Oct-02 20:06

RAVI H R

1-Oct-02 20:06

Hi,

I am trying convert following VB Code to c#.

VB CODE
--------------
Set oLogonCtrl = CreateObject("SAP.Logoncontrol.1")
Set oBAPICtrl.Connection = oLogonCtrl.NewConnection
oBAPICtrl.Connection.System = "00"
oBAPICtrl.Connection.MessageServer = txtSysMessageServer
oBAPICtrl.Connection.GroupName = txtSysGroupName

C# CODE
________
SAPBAPIControlLib.SAPBAPIControl oBapiControl=new SAPBAPIControlLib.SAPBAPIControl();
SAPLogonCtrl.SAPLogonControl oLogonCtrl=new SAPLogonCtrl.SAPLogonControl();
oBapiControl.Connection=oLogonCtrl.NewConnection();
oBapiControl.Connection.System="00";

The SAPBAPIControl is a COM control I am using in C#. In visual
Studio I am referencing this and VS creates wrapper for the COM
control.

Till oBapiControl.Connection=oLogonCtrl.NewConnection() I have
no problem. But when I try oBapiControl.Connection.System="00"
I get message "'object' does not contain a definition for 'System'".

Any Ideas why this must be happening ?

Thanks in Advance
Ravi H R

Stephane Rodriguez.1-Oct-02 20:44

Stephane Rodriguez.

1-Oct-02 20:44

Looks like the System property is badly interoped.

I guess all problems you have are at compiling-time. You haven't run anything yet ?

You have probably dropped the SAP control from the toolbox to your Form (or you have added a reference by browsing the actual dll/exe COM object). Let's make sure the signature is right :
- using intellisense, what's brought to you when you type oBapiControl.Connection. ? Is there any System property available ?
- does it change if you add a using SAPBAPIControlLib; statement ?
- when adding a reference from a COM object, the IDE automatically imports the type-library. In addition, if this control is an ActiveX, it creates an interop ActiveX layer as well. Those 2 files are in the /obj directory. It may be useful to have a look inside, using a disassembler such like Anakrino[^].

sometimes it helps to look at the IL generated code
a MS guy on develop.com "answering" .NET issues

RAVI H R1-Oct-02 23:05

RAVI H R

1-Oct-02 23:05

Thanks for your response Stephene,

First When I type oBapiControl.Connection. I see following
methods "Equals","GetHashCode","GetType" and "ToString".
I donot see any other properties or methods.

I added the control through Project-> Add reference->COM. I could see the control here. When I selected the component,
I got message "Couldnot find primary interop assembly...
would you like to have a wrapper generated ?" I said yes.
After this I could see the components is solutions explorer(SE). I saw additional thing in SE by name "stdole".

Using SAPBAPIControlLib didnot have any effect.

I see 2 dlls in obj folder "Interop.SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2.dll" and "Interop.SAPLogonCtrl_1_1.dll"

what could be wrong ?

I will wait for your response

Thanks & Regards
Ravi H R

Stephane Rodriguez.1-Oct-02 23:41

Stephane Rodriguez.

1-Oct-02 23:41

RAVI H R wrote:
I see following
methods "Equals","GetHashCode","GetType" and "ToString".
I donot see any other properties or methods.

This means that appropriate SAP references are missing. What you said next confirms it.

RAVI H R wrote:
After this I could see the components is solutions explorer(SE). I saw additional thing in SE by name "stdole".

Now you probably see the names SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2 and SAPLogonCtrl_1_1 in the reference. In your file can you type SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2., what's brought up by intellisense ?

RAVI H R wrote:
what could be wrong ?

My crystal ball sees a marshaling problem, for instance the System property passed as a VARIANT** instead of a BSTR, or something like that. But what I say is already beyond the simple thing : you should first be able to see the System property in the intellisense dropdown box.

You may send me these 2 files, so I give a look.

sometimes it helps to look at the IL generated code
a MS guy on develop.com "answering" .NET issues

Help reading a binary file

RAVI H R2-Oct-02 0:29

RAVI H R

2-Oct-02 0:29

Hi Stephane,

You have written
Now you probably see the names SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2 and SAPLogonCtrl_1_1 in the reference. In your file can you type SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2., what's brought up by intellisense ?

I see in reference
SAPBAPIControlLib and SAPLogonCtrl.

Intellisense doen't show anything when i type SAPBAPIControlLib_1_2.

I tried one more thing

C# CODE
-----------
APLogonCtrl.SAPLogonControl oLogonControl=new SAPLogonCtrl.SAPLogonControl();
//SAPBAPIControlLib.SAPBAPIControl conn=new SAPBAPIControlLib.SAPBAPIControl();
SAPLogonCtrl.Connection conn=new SAPLogonCtrl.Connection();
conn=(SAPLogonCtrl.Connection)(oLogonControl.NewConnection());
conn.Client="500";
conn.User="";
conn.Password="";
conn.Language="en";
conn.ApplicationServer="localhost";
conn.System="00";
bool bRtcd=conn.Logon(0,false);
if(bRtcd!=true)
Console.WriteLine("bRtcd="+bRtcd.ToString());

I get invalid typecast the code compiles when I execute I get Invalid Typecast exception for conn=(SAPLogonCtrl.Connection)(oLogonControl.NewConnection()). The oLogonControl.NewConnection() returns object.

I will send across the two dlls through email

Thanks

Regards
Ravi H R

David Williams1-Oct-02 13:36

David Williams

1-Oct-02 13:36

I need to read a binary file into a ushort array. The file was created with another app, and just consists of two bytes per ushort (big endian). FileStream.Read will get the bytes in OK - as bytes. I'd like to read them in directly to ushort. Sounds simple. Is it?

leppie1-Oct-02 14:35

1-Oct-02 14:35

David Williams wrote:
I'd like to read them in directly to ushort. Sounds simple. Is it?

It does sound simple, especially if you see how a mapping of the will look. Unfortunately there is no direct way.

I would make a class deriving from FileStream and overload the Read method with some thing like this:

public ushort ReadUShort()
{
  return (ushort) ((ReadByte() << 8) + ReadByte()); //not sure about my bit operations also order :zzz: CHECK IT!
}

public int Read( ushort[] buffer, int offset, int length)
{
  Position += offset;
  int i = 0;
  if (CanRead) {
    for (; i < length; i++)
    {
      buffer[i] = ReadUShort();
    }
  }
  return i;
}

You can try that, someone might have an easier idea Unsure | :~

Hope this helps Smile | :)

Give them a chance! Do it for the kittens, dear God, the kittens!
As seen on MS File Transfer: Please enter an integer between 1 and 2.

David Williams2-Oct-02 7:06

David Williams

2-Oct-02 7:06

Yep. This works, and you do have the bit ops correct. Thanks Smile | :)

leppie2-Oct-02 9:30

2-Oct-02 9:30

David Williams wrote:
Yep. This works, and you do have the bit ops correct. Thanks

Cool Smile | :)

I remembered I saw something like << 16 for Int32 , so the guess was made accordingly WTF | :WTF:

hehe.

However, the way I did it may not be (and probably is not) efficient.

You maybe use the Encoding class (UTF8 and Unicode (BigEndian) ) in a reverse fashion, it sounds a lot like you are dealing with a UTF8 to Unicode(BigEndian) conversion.

Alternatively, the more "dangerous" way is to use a bit of marshalling, remember what I said about the way the data is laid out in memory. So make a small converter.

ushort[] ConvertToUShortArray( byte[] array)
{
	int size = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(byte)) * array.Length;
	ushort[] output = new ushort[array.Length/2];
	IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
	Marshal.Copy(array, 0, ptr, array.Length);
	Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr, output); //hope this works ??
	Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
	return (ushort[])output;
}

Ugly!! but efficient Smile | :)

Hope this helps Smile | :)

Give them a chance! Do it for the kittens, dear God, the kittens!
As seen on MS File Transfer: Please enter an integer between 1 and 2.

30-Oct-02 8:45

I have big problem for making class deriving from FileStream or BinaryReader
I need to read a binary file into a some struct. Pleas help.

Paul Riley2-Oct-02 4:50

Paul Riley

2-Oct-02 4:50

Check out BinaryFormatter.Deserialize

I'm pretty sure that will do the job for you.

Paul

James T. Johnson2-Oct-02 5:38

James T. Johnson

2-Oct-02 5:38

The formatters are used for serializing and deserializing classes/structures to and from streams. They also write and read an extra header that tells the runtime what type of object is in the stream and what name (if any) it has.

To sum it up; the formatter can't be used unless it was used to create the data.

James
Sig code stolen from David Wulff

Paul Riley2-Oct-02 5:44

Paul Riley

2-Oct-02 5:44

Daaamn! That's very cool... but slightly annoying if it's not what you want Laugh | :laugh:

Paul

David Williams2-Oct-02 7:10

David Williams

2-Oct-02 7:10

Yeah, I tried the deserialize and found it needed a header. Just to see what it needed, I serialized a 10 byte binary file and found the binary formatter put 28 bytes of header up front. Oh, well. lippie's solution works. Thanks for the response, though.;)

Eric Gunnerson (msft)2-Oct-02 11:30

Eric Gunnerson (msft)

2-Oct-02 11:30

I think the easiest thing to do is to use a BinaryReader, and just call ReadUInt16().

leppie2-Oct-02 11:39