Visual Basic

15-Jun-09 20:58

Hello ,

I am designing a VB application where i am forcing a machine shutdown using function as below.
Function InitiateSystemShutdown Lib "advapi32.dll"

But i found that the user can stop the forced shut down using the command "shutdown –a". So wanted a help as to how I can overcome this command and still force the shutdown.

Thanks in advance for the same.

Here in InitiateSystemShutdown function i am passing the forced parameter as true. still a user with admin rights on the m/c is able to abort the shut down.

Mithun.Shitole15-Jun-09 21:08

15-Jun-09 21:08

Hi,
Following link might be useful.
http://www.dreamincode.net/code/snippet90.htm[^]

Personally I think its not a good idea to force shutdown on user for whatsoever reason.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

RK11@200915-Jun-09 22:26

15-Jun-09 22:26

Thanks Mithun, but i wanted to know if the forced shut down has been initiated, the user should not be able to stop this by using "shutdown –a" command.

How to achieve this?

Mithun.Shitole15-Jun-09 22:52

15-Jun-09 22:52

RK,
The link tells you about a function "ExitWindowsEx" Lib "User32" , If you set parameter to FORCE, I think it can not be stopped using shutdown -a. ( I have tried it once and failed as system gets shutdown quickly )
Also I have tried by creating a batch file as following:

shutdown -f
shutdown -a

Still my system logged off.

So i think ExitWindwsEx with FORCED parameter is function for you.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

RK11@200916-Jun-09 1:26

16-Jun-09 1:26

I am using the InitiateSystemShutdown function and am forcing the shut down still a person with admin rights on the m/c is able to abort the shut down using shutdown -a command.

so any help here.

Mithun.Shitole16-Jun-09 1:34

16-Jun-09 1:34

Try setting the timeout parameter to 0.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

RK11@200916-Jun-09 1:42

16-Jun-09 1:42

No , we have to dispaly the message to user some 5 mins before so that he can save the changes, so we can not put the timeout parameter as 0.

Dave Kreskowiak16-Jun-09 2:05

16-Jun-09 2:05

In that case, you have a few options, none of them in code.

Remove the admin rights from the user

Remove the shutdown.exe from the machine

Add shutdown.exe to the list of forbidden executables using group policy

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008

RK11@200916-Jun-09 2:21

16-Jun-09 2:21

Hi Dave, Thanks for your reply but we can not implement the above suggestions as the some user need the admin rights on their m/c and also the exe file has to run on each individuals m/c so that it can shut their PC at a particular time. Any other suggestion then pls do let me know.

EliottA16-Jun-09 2:52

EliottA

16-Jun-09 2:52

Stupid suggestion but how about when you run your shutdown function rename shutdown.exe to shutdown.exe.bak or something so they can't run shutdown.exe with any parameters..

Check out the CodeProject forum Guidelines[^]

Dave Kreskowiak16-Jun-09 4:08

16-Jun-09 4:08

Than you just ruled out every option you have to preventing the users from aborting the shutdown.

You're only other option how is to threaten people with termination for violating company policy.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008

Mithun.Shitole16-Jun-09 18:54

16-Jun-09 18:54

Then I think you have to write your own daemon so that you can connect to it, n call a routine which will show a shutdown timer , and on time up call a forced shutdown with 0 time inerval. Smile | :)

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

Dave Kreskowiak17-Jun-09 1:29

17-Jun-09 1:29

True. A little extreme for the problem at hand, but then again, they did themselves in with the poorly designed environment and policies.

BTW: You may want to reply to the OP and not me. He's has no idea you posted this message because he didn't get the email that you posted to mine.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008

Mithun.Shitole17-Jun-09 1:45

17-Jun-09 1:45

Thanks Dave,
I am new to cp and was unaware of this cool feature.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

Referece Lost [modified]

Mithun.Shitole15-Jun-09 19:46

15-Jun-09 19:46

Hi,
I am developing an application using vs 2008 and vb.net.
There are 4 projects in my solution which uses a same DLL created in vb6.
Now when I compile the solution each time my reference to dll gets lost in each project. ( I have added separate reference to each project). How can I overcome this problem? Is there any better way of adding reference in my case?

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

modified on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 1:57 AM

Christian Graus15-Jun-09 22:17

Christian Graus

15-Jun-09 22:17

I assume it's a COM dll, if not, you actually can't add references to it. I am not sure if you can p/invoke it ( as a better way )

Christian Graus

Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.

"! i don't exactly like or do programming and it only gives me a headache." - spotted in VB forums.

I can do things with my brain that I can't even google. I can flex the front part of my brain instantly anytime I want. It can be exhausting and it even causes me vision problems for some reason. - CaptainSeeSharp

Mithun.Shitole15-Jun-09 22:45

15-Jun-09 22:45

I have resolved the issue using regsvr32. I register that dll and added references from COM reference.
Thanks for your help.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

Nagy Vilmos15-Jun-09 23:07

Nagy Vilmos

15-Jun-09 23:07

If you are just building the VB6 project without selecting binary compatability, you are opening up a whole continent of hurt for later.

Panic, Chaos, Destruction.
My work here is done.

Mithun.Shitole15-Jun-09 23:26

Transfer of data from LIstview to table in MsAccess

15-Jun-09 23:26

Thanks Nagy,
I was completely unaware of "binary compatible" thing.

Mithun Shitole
"Free Your Mind"
http://www.technoyaari.com

sazd115-Jun-09 16:21

sazd1

15-Jun-09 16:21

I am working in Vb Express 2008 with MsAccess as database.
Please advise code for transfer of data records from ListView to a table in MsAccess. ListView shows like this:
FirstName LastName City
Peter Anderson NewYork
John Pierce Lansdale

Re: Transfer of data from LIstview to table in MsAccess

Dave Kreskowiak15-Jun-09 16:29

Re: Transfer of data from LIstview to table in MsAccess

15-Jun-09 16:29

The same as doing it with a collection of strings or any other source. You supply the code to write one record at a time to the database, then just call it repeatedly for each string or other data you have.

There a TONS of examples all over the web on how to work with databases in VB.NET. Google results for "vb.net write data to database[^]"

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008

sazd115-Jun-09 17:15

sazd1

15-Jun-09 17:15

thanks for your reply.
i tried the sites you suggested but there is code for vb only. i could not find code for vb express.
please adivse.

Re: Transfer of data from LIstview to table in MsAccess

Dave Kreskowiak15-Jun-09 18:01

Detecting object with vbscript

15-Jun-09 18:01

There is no difference between the two. The language is the same.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007, 2008

chatko15-Jun-09 11:56

chatko

15-Jun-09 11:56

I'm trying to detect if my ATL control is installed on the users system in IE8. There seems to be a functional difference between the two implementations below. The first always returns "true" (even if control is uninstalled), while the second seems to detect the case where my control is not installed, however it raises IE8 security prompts ("Are you sure you want to run this control?"). Ideally, I just want to know if the control is installed or not so i can prompt a download if needed. Can anyone help?

function DetectActiveX (controlName)
    on error resume next
    dim res
    res = 0
    if IsObject(CreateObject(controlName)) then
        res = 1
    end if
    DetectActiveX = res
end function

function DetectActiveX (controlName)
		on error resume next
		dim tControl
		dim res
		res = 0
		set tControl = CreateObject(controlName)
		if IsObject(tControl) then
			res = 1
		end if
		DetectActiveX = res
	end function

I know about the codebase attribute, but I don't want to use it as testing has proven its very slow to refresh after install.

Thanks,
Chris

Re: Detecting object with vbscript

Dave Kreskowiak15-Jun-09 16:27