C# Discussion Boards - CodeProject

24-Mar-04 6:22

this isn't directly c# linked as it can be applied to a lot of other languages, but there you go. when developing applications what do people normally name their versions as? major.minor.revision or also build number etc. i'd be interested to hear the standard or if there is one at all. also how do you cope with making patches (if you need to! Wink | ;)

) surely you wouldn't have to release a new program each time and send it?? can't you have some some of file that updates the original?

cheers,
surgeproof

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Michael Flanakin24-Mar-04 6:50

Michael Flanakin

24-Mar-04 6:50

As far as version numbers go, that kind of depends on how you build the app. What I prefer, is to have a nightly build process with version numbers that are <major>.<minor>.<months><days>. Any builds outside of this would be the same, appending .<24hr time>, or some other unique identifier. The <months> and <days> represent how many months and days you've been working on the <major>.<minor> version.

If I'm not using a scheduled build, I usually just do <major>.<minor>.*, which lets .NET decide what the rest should be. For larger apps, or those with frequent changes, that don't have scheduled builds, I'd do <major>.<minor>.<revision>.*.

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surgeproof24-Mar-04 7:15

24-Mar-04 7:15

thanks, this helps. any ideas about the upgrade/patch routine? and also, do you name all the version yourself or incorporate it into the code? can't you type something like version.major in your code?

once again,
thanks.
surgeproof.

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Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 8:55

24-Mar-04 8:55

You specify the version of the assembly using the AssemblyVersionAttribute. You can also increment the version of only the file - keeping the assembly version, which is what is used for Type references, the same to facilitate easier updates - by using the AssemblyFileVersionAttribute.

For instance, .NET 1.0 uses the assembly versions 1.0.3300.0, but the file versions (as of SP2) are 1.0.3705.228. If you examine your MANIFEST in your assemblies that target 1.0, you'll always see assembly references to versions 1.0.3300.0 for .NET 1.0 (1.0.5500.0 for 1.1).

All this is to facilitate side-by-side installation of both the .NET Framework versions and applications that use these versions. In many cases, applications can work on newer frameworks for which they were compiled so long as you don't use obsoleted functionality and don't use reflection to access private members (you may get lucky and it may still work, but it isn't gauranteed).

To learn more about versioning your apps - including how to redirect assembly bindings to newer or older assemblies, read the following articles:

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surgeproof24-Mar-04 9:19

24-Mar-04 9:19

thanks, this helps! Smile | :)

surgeproof.

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Transparent Label on a Progressbar?

Michael Flanakin24-Mar-04 10:32

Michael Flanakin

24-Mar-04 10:32

I'm not sure what the best solution for patches is. I would think that, if you have a modularized application, where you might have a bunch of DLLs and/or EXEs, you could have a patch that would replace whatever needed to be updated. Other than that, I'm not sure. I've never done a patch process before. Most of the stuff I've worked with has been either small Win Forms or Web Forms, which don't use patches - they just deploy the new version.

And, as far as setting the version, I'm not sure. I didn't do that part. I want to say that there was something that was based off of either the source control or build tool. NAnt is supposed to be a good build tool. I haven't played with it myself, but am hoping to get a chance to give it a good look.

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DennisMetz24-Mar-04 5:54

DennisMetz

24-Mar-04 5:54

Hi,

is it possible to have an transparent Label on top of a progressbar, so that I can still see the progressbar?

Setting the color of the label to transparent does not work - at least for me. The progressbar still is not visible trough the label, neither in the ide nor in the exe. Moving the label in front of another label will make it transparent - so it seems like a progressbar-related problem.

Any idea?

regards,
Dennis

Re: Transparent Label on a Progressbar?

surgeproof24-Mar-04 6:24

Re: Transparent Label on a Progressbar?

24-Mar-04 6:24

not sure, i would've just thought you set it transparent like you've done. :s Unsure | :~

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Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 9:54

Re: Transparent Label on a Progressbar?

24-Mar-04 9:54

If your goal is display a message while the progress bar increments (like the percentage, which was common with older controls), you might be better off just extending the existing ProgressBar and provide your own painting by overridding OnPaint (do your drawing after calling base.OnPaint to make sure that the progress bar itself is draw first and your code gets drawn on top of it).

Getting the label to be transparent actually has to do with the parent forum in which it's contained. This only works in Win2K and newer (i.e., XP, 2003) since it uses layered Windows, "Windows" (or forms, dialogs) being the optimal word. A transparent color or alpha value is specified for the form an any control that uses the same color (ambience) down the chain of child controls is transparent/translucent as well. Since the ProgressBar is not a form and would paint in different colors anyway, that's one problem (the reasons go deeper, but I won't get into that).

Your painting method could be as simple as:

protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
  base.OnPaint(e);
 
  int value = (int)(Value / Maximum);
  string s = value + "%";
 
  StringFormat format = StringFormat.GenericTypographic;
  format.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
 
  e.Graphics.DrawString(value + "%", Font, SystemBrushes.ControlText,
    (RectangleF)Bounds, format);
}

This is untested, but should work and at least give you some ideas.

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DennisMetz24-Mar-04 11:40

DennisMetz

24-Mar-04 11:40

Thank you.

I already considered this solution, but still hoped for a Label-based solution.

Again, thanks for your help.

Regards,
Dennis

Apps without Mice

Andrew Torrance24-Mar-04 5:43

Andrew Torrance

24-Mar-04 5:43

I have just joined a company that develops its own in house apps for call centre use but does not like using mice on the call centre floor. Has anyone got experience of developing .NET apps that do not use a mouse , but still use a winform based environment . If so , are there any big pitfalls to look out for ?

Re: Apps without Mice

surgeproof24-Mar-04 6:15

24-Mar-04 6:15

can't think of any pitfalls.

use tab orders, key press events and suchlike. it isn't too hard to do.

surgeproof

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Re: Apps without Mice

Colin Angus Mackay24-Mar-04 6:25

Colin Angus Mackay

24-Mar-04 6:25

Make sure that the tab order of the controls is logical. i.e. the tabs move through the controls in one logical group before jumping to the next.

.
.  +--------+  +--------+     +--------+ +--------+
.  | Ctrl1A |  | Ctrl1B |     | Ctrl2A | | Ctrl2B |
.  +--------+  +--------+     +--------+ +--------+
.
.  +--------+  +--------+     +--------+ +--------+
.  | Ctrl1C |  | Ctrl1D |     | Ctrl2C | | Ctrl2D |
.  +--------+  +--------+     +--------+ +--------+

So, in this example, you'd tab from 1A to 1B to 1C to 1D rather than go for a Left-To-Right-Top-To-Bottom reading order approach.

This is just the first thought that popped in my head. There was a thread in the lounge today on bad-design (Some of it was quite funny) so the second thought is: As you test the system with your nice handy mouse beside you - resist the temptation to use it! Smile | :)

"You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar

"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
--Charles Babbage (1791-1871)

Re: Apps without Mice

Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 9:12

how to wrap some dll functions from VC6

24-Mar-04 9:12

Also, assigning shortcut keys to menu items is easy enough. To handle function keys or even simple key strokes you can handle the various Mouse* events (or override the various OnMouse* handlers in derived classes for more efficient and controllable code). If you need to respond to keys pressed at any time while any window is open, see the Application.AddMessageFilter method and the corresponding IMessageFilter interface which you'd implement and handle the keys trokes you want (in which case the values match up with the Keys enumeration to make things easier) by handling the various keyboard notification messages (see the Platform SDK for values).

Finally, to have a form handle key strokes while any control has the focus, see the Form.KeyPreview property documentation.

Using all that, who needs a mouse? Smile | :)

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yyf24-Mar-04 5:37

yyf

24-Mar-04 5:37

Hi, everyone

I am using a dll developped in VC6. There are some functions I don't know how to wrap it in C#.

1. one function's parameter use self defined type, type definition is like this:

#ifndef LPLONG
typedef long far *LPLONG; /* 32 bit */
#endif

2. one function's parameter use 'BOOL *'

3. one function's parameter use 'char *'

4. one function's return value use 'char *'

5. one function's parameter use a structure

6. one function's parameter use a structure *

How shall I deal with these?

Thanks in advance.

Re: how to wrap some dll functions from VC6

Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 9:08

Re: how to wrap some dll functions from VC6

24-Mar-04 9:08

1. ref int
2. ref bool
3. [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]string
4. [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]string
5. Just pass the struct, but see the docs for the StructLayoutAttribute
6. ref YourStruct

All these - escept for 3 and 4 - are value types so you use ref or out (the latter if you don't need to pass any initial value to your functions). Don't use ref or out with a string because it is already a reference type. Both char* and char[] are strings since a string is only an array of characters. Since you're using char and not wchar_t (or TCHAR), you must marshal them as ANSI strings.

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yyf24-Mar-04 10:23

yyf

24-Mar-04 10:23

How about void *? Thanks.

Re: how to wrap some dll functions from VC6

Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 11:19

24-Mar-04 11:19

IntPtr

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Property Sheet

DrGreen24-Mar-04 4:41

DrGreen

24-Mar-04 4:41

Hello,

I'm trying to create a property sheet in C#. My idea is:

Create several user controls (derived from UserControl class) that represents my property pages.

Create a windows form that contains one Panel object to use like a placeholder for the pages created above.

The problem is that I don't know how to add a UserControl to a Panel object. (perhaps it's not possible...)

If someone has any idea on how to do this please reply Smile | :)

Thanks in advance

Pedro

Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 4:50

24-Mar-04 4:50

Add a TabControl to a form with a few Buttons under it. Add your UserControls to each tab. After compiling your project, the UserControls should be available in the Toolbox. If not, add them manually by adding a private field for each Type and instantiate them and initialize them in the InitializeComponent method that the Windows Forms designers use. It's not difficult and the designers aren't magic. Knowing how to add this stuff without a designer is essential in good development skills.

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DrGreen24-Mar-04 5:08

DrGreen

24-Mar-04 5:08

Hi,

Thanks for your post!

The solution you gave works well, but I was looking for something like CPropertySheet and CProperyPage in MFC.

Is there any control that we can use as placeholder for other controls?

Thanks again.

By the way, I like programming with the keyboard, not with the mouse Big Grin | :-D

Heath Stewart24-Mar-04 5:13

24-Mar-04 5:13

That's not really what you asked for, though.

If you want a good implementation, see the IPropertySheet documentation in the Platform SDK on http://msdn.microsoft.com[^]. For example, I use a implementation similar to the following in our application:

public interface IPropertyPage
{
  string Title { get; }
  void Save();
  void Cancel();
  event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}

Implement this type of interface on your control. Then create a PropertySheet class that allows you to add IPropertyPage implementations to it. When you call ShowDialog on your PropertySheet (should derive from Form) it has all the pages in a TabControl. When the event is fired, enable the Apply button. When Apply or Save is clicked, call Save on each IPropertyPage in your collection and close the dialog if Save was clicked (it annoys me to no end when people click Apply then OK since OK is supposed to apply changes and close and - with all Microsoft implementations - does).

This is very similar to how MFC and the Windows Shell interfaces do it.

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