Good Looking UI Components - C# Discussion Boards

Good Looking UI Components

19-Jul-07 2:24

Hi, .NET has a DateTime struct that holds both date and time information.
And that is what everyone seems to be using to insert date information into a database
(unless the field is defined as a string that is).

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

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Re: C# Date functions

Mike Dimmick19-Jul-07 2:38

Mike Dimmick

19-Jul-07 2:38

DateTime.Parse, DateTime.ParseExact, DateTime.TryParse, DateTime.TryParseExact.

If you know the format, prefer (Try)ParseExact. Use the Try version if you would prefer to test whether the format matches rather than getting a FormatException exception.

Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder

Sukhjinder_K19-Jul-07 2:17

Sukhjinder_K

19-Jul-07 2:17

Any Links to Beautiful Looking Controls Like Buttons, Scrollbars, Labels, etc. I've come across Aqua Buttons, Arrow Buttons, Round Buttons. I'd like a Good Looking Scrollbar and ListBox.

http://javootoo.l2fprod.com/[^]

An Excellet Site for Java's Look And Feel Classes. There has to be some for C# as well.

Thanks...

Re: Good Looking UI Components

Martin#19-Jul-07 2:36

Re: Good Looking UI Components

19-Jul-07 2:36

Hello,

Just search in the articles[^] here on CP!

All the best,

Martin

Eduard Keilholz19-Jul-07 2:37

Eduard Keilholz

19-Jul-07 2:37

I use Infragistics[^] controls. They have very good looking GUI controls.

.: I love it when a plan comes together :.
http://www.zonderpunt.nl

ListBox with LARGE Rows

Sukhjinder_K19-Jul-07 2:15

Sukhjinder_K

19-Jul-07 2:15

Hi, I want to create a ListBox in which I can Display Data which can be easily viewed from a 10 feet distance. So I need to make my ListBox's Data Appear Large. Any Ideas. Thanks...

PS: I'm Writing a Media Center Application...

Re: ListBox with LARGE Rows

Luc Pattyn19-Jul-07 2:26

Re: ListBox with LARGE Rows

19-Jul-07 2:26

Hi,

if your ListBox is showing text only, you can choose any font you like.

anyway, you can decide to draw the items yourself. See DrawMode property, and
MeasureItem/DrawItem events.

There also is a property making it show only an integral number of items at once.

MSDN will tell you all the details.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

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Sukhjinder_K19-Jul-07 2:28

Sukhjinder_K

19-Jul-07 2:28

Thanks Luc Pattyn. Works Like a Dream...

HttpWebResponse

nasambur19-Jul-07 2:12

nasambur

19-Jul-07 2:12

Hi all,

We are developing a Load testing tool like WebLoad.
We use HttpWebRequest/Response objects to make request/response.

I want to know how much time taken to download first chunk of data after i make request.

As HttpWebRequest.GetReponse() method doesn't allow to get data in chunks..

Please help..

Thanks & Regards,
nas

Control updating is slow

Geert van Horrik19-Jul-07 2:05

19-Jul-07 2:05

Hi all,

I have written a custom control (derived from ComboBox) which lists a lot of users (userid's). I have a splashscreen where I create an instance of my form (I have made it a singleton class) so the loading of the items from the database occurs when I first create the instance (which I can do in my splashscreen).

This all works fine, and the combox items are filled during the splashscreen. However, the real drawing (or updating) occurs when I show the form, so the users still have to wait about 10 seconds before they can actually use the form.

Is there any way I can fill the combobox so it will be usable immediately when I show the form?

Thanks!

Best regards,

-----
Geert

Need an advanced auto-update feature for your software? Try Updater!
Visit my website: http://www.catenalogic.com

Martin#19-Jul-07 2:14

19-Jul-07 2:14

Hello,

If you set the Splash as TopMost, you could Show() the Forms you want to initialize before the customer first jumps to the page.
This will have the effect, that the startup will take longer, but the first jump to the form is faster.
Hope it helps!

All the best,

Martin

Geert van Horrik19-Jul-07 2:26

19-Jul-07 2:26

Thank you for your answer. However, I don't want to show any form.

In my startup, I want to use this code:

<br />
                // Show splash screen<br />
                EASplashScreen splash = new EASplashScreen();<br />
                splash.ShowDialog();<br />
<br />
                // Run application<br />
                Application.Run(MainForm.GetInstance());<br />

The splash screen does the complete initialization such as listing plugins, getting the first instance of the mainform etc. Then, it automatically closes when it is ready.

I then want the application to be completely read (at least the mainform).

Best regards,

-----
Geert

Need an advanced auto-update feature for your software? Try Updater!
Visit my website: http://www.catenalogic.com

Luc Pattyn19-Jul-07 2:31

19-Jul-07 2:31

Hi,

when adding a lot of items to a ListBox, ListView, ... Control performance gets
improved by:
either adding several items at once (AddRange)
or (much better) to temporarily disable the visual update (with Control.SuspendLayout and Control.ResumeLayout).

A good splash screen lets the initialization proceed in the background, and disappears
when initialization is done (possibly with a minimum delay enforced, so the user can
read and enjoy the splash).

BTW obviously you must obey the "no cross-thread" rule: controls should be
manipulated only by the thread that created them.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

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Geert van Horrik19-Jul-07 2:48

19-Jul-07 2:48

Indeed, that's why the splash screen is show first and uses a thread in the background to initialize all information.

It seems the control doesn't know any SuspendLayout function, but I already use the BeginUpdate and EndUpdate functions:

<br />
        public void ListData()<br />
        {<br />
            // Check if we have a valid connection string<br />
            if ((_connectionString == "") || DesignMode)<br />
            {<br />
                // Exit<br />
                return;<br />
            }<br />
<br />
            // Begin update<br />
            BeginUpdate();<br />
<br />
            // Clear current list<br />
            Items.Clear();<br />
<br />
            // Declare variables<br />
            MySqlConnection connection = null;<br />
            MySqlDataReader reader = null;<br />
<br />
            // Search for all patients<br />
            try<br />
            {<br />
                ... some code to get the reader ...<br />
<br />
                // Fill dataset with adapter<br />
                reader = command.ExecuteReader();<br />
            }<br />
            catch (Exception)<br />
            {<br />
            }<br />
<br />
            // Check if we have a valid reader<br />
            if (reader != null)<br />
            {<br />
                // Check if we found at least one patient<br />
                if (reader.HasRows)<br />
                {<br />
                    // Add all records<br />
                    while (reader.Read())<br />
                    {<br />
                        Items.Add(reader["primaryKey"].ToString());<br />
                    }<br />
                }<br />
<br />
                // Close reader<br />
                reader.Close();<br />
            }<br />
<br />
            // Check if we have a connection<br />
            if (connection != null)<br />
            {<br />
                // Close connection<br />
                connection.Close();<br />
            }<br />
<br />
            // End update<br />
            EndUpdate();<br />
        }<br />

Still, the code is way to slow (why doesn't the thing already draw itself when I ask it to).

-----
Geert

Need an advanced auto-update feature for your software? Try Updater!
Visit my website: http://www.catenalogic.com

Martin#19-Jul-07 3:04

19-Jul-07 3:04

Geert van Horrik wrote:
Still, the code is way to slow (why doesn't the thing already draw itself when I ask it to).

Because it's not handled if you only instanciated.
You will have to Show it (behinde the splash in your case), to create the handles!
You could Close it as soon as OnPaint is called.
So I would override Onpaint and set an init flag for the first time!

All the best,

Martin

Luc Pattyn19-Jul-07 3:20

19-Jul-07 3:20

Hi Martin,

I am not sure when and how Geert organized the initialization.
It may be OK, it may be sequential, depends on the code.
I cant tell when LoadData() gets called, I hope inside the form's
constructor.

As a consequence I am unsure what the handles got to do with it;
also you can enforce the handles to be generated by doing something
that needs them, not necessarily painting the form. So I dont feel
like fiddling with OnPaint.

My advise is to add logging with timestamps, so Geert has the
facts on which he can then proceed.

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

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Geert van Horrik19-Jul-07 3:22

19-Jul-07 3:22

But the combobox is already being filled during the splashscreen, so the db code is handled BEFORE I even call the Show function of the form.

But, then the showing of the combobox takes a long time.

-----
Geert

Need an advanced auto-update feature for your software? Try Updater!
Visit my website: http://www.catenalogic.com

Martin#19-Jul-07 3:24

19-Jul-07 3:24

That's what I assumend and what Luc missunderstood (at least I think so).
I don't think that the filling of the combobox is the bottleneck, I think the painting itself takes long for the first time!

All the best,

Martin

Geert van Horrik19-Jul-07 3:28

19-Jul-07 3:28

Exactly!

However, I can't show the main form in the splash screen since that is handled in a separate thread (and it is giving me some (understandble and logical) dragdrop errors).

Best regards,

-----
Geert

Need an advanced auto-update feature for your software? Try Updater!
Visit my website: http://www.catenalogic.com

Martin#19-Jul-07 3:38