Mark Wills's Q&A profile

• .NET Development Version 2.0 is not a compatible version

  I seemed to have a basic misunderstanding about the compatibility of .NET releases. I was under the impression that one could develop .NET dlls under any version, and they would be compatible with all .NET versions. In particular, if you only used classes, members, etc that were included in that .NET dll, you would be safe. I guess this is not true. .NET dlls are not like the Win32Api dlls! I tried to use a .NET dll that was developed under .NET V2.0.50727. I was trying to use this dll with the Lahey V7.1 compiler which is stuck at V1.1.4322. This is not restricted to the Lahey V7.1 compiler though. C# also shows the same problem. You cannot use a V2.0 dll with a V1.1.4322 C# development. Is this true Can you shed some light on why this is ...Show All

• Visual Studio 2008 (Pre-release) call a wcf enabled webpage from a wcf enabled windows service.

  hi, This question might be tricy but let me explain the whole concept. i have wcf enabled windows service,i want that service to control the life time of a web application. say for example we have to athenticate a person to enter in to a website from a windows service . as soon as the person gives his credential it should validated by the windows service and it should open the webpage. Suggestions appreciated pramod. Hello, If I understand your scenario correctly, the WCF would just authenticate the users of your web application. In that case, why not just use the authentication features of ASP.NET Thanks. ...Show All

• .NET Development .NET Framework 2.0 does really support XPath 2.0?

  Hi to everybody, today I am facing a really tough problem. I am trying to compile the following XPath 2.0 expression : ancestor::node()[1]/position() in order to get the ordinal position of a context node within its context node-set. Here it is the simple code that I'm using: XPathExpression expression = XPathExpression.Compile(xpathExpression, nsMgr); Here it is the simple code that I'm using but when I execute the program I receive this error: ' ..... /position()' has an invalid token I have tried to evaluate the same expression with Altova and it's work. Could be a bug of the Microsoft's XPath 2.0 implementation Just use: count(preceding-sibling::C) + 1 Cheers, Dimitre Novatchev ...Show All

• Game Technologies: DirectX, XNA, XACT, etc. Playing (avi) video's in XNA?

  I would like to play a little into-video before my game starts, its simple and small and it's an avi (though I could easily change its format), how do I play it with XNA MDX used to have AudioVideo playback, but I can't find that in XNA. my thought would be, if you want it to work on xbox, you're going to have to write your own content importer for the avi file itself. then manually extract each frame of the avi and sync up your framerate to match the framerate of the avi, playing one frame of avi per game frame. that's the abstract thought i have about it... though in practice, i haven't the foggiest! ...Show All

• SQL Server Sharepoint Reporting Services Addin and Sharepoint Server 2007 Trial

  Hello, My question is: can I install Sharepoint Reporting Services Addin CTP on computer with 1. Sharepoint Server 2007 Trial, 2. MS SQL Server 2005 (Developer Edition) SP2 CTP, Reporting Services included installed Documentation tells that I can use "Office SharePoint Server 2007, Beta 2 Technical Refresh or later". Does Sharepoint 2007 Trial fit in ...Show All

• Software Development for Windows Vista When will SideShow drivers be available for my Windows Mobile 5 device?

  I'm dying to run SideShow gadgets on my WinMo 5 pocket pc. When will drivers be available and will there be any hardware-related restrictions on what type of gadgets will run Thanks, Scott I can't understand Ms logic with SideShow ... it's obviously a HOT feature of Vista. I'm sure you know Engadget : http://www.engadget.com/search/ q=sideshow The comments show that SideShow is a WOW factor of Vista! And what about Imate momento review : http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/25/hands-on-with-the-i-mate-momento-70/ Yet, the biggest problem of sideshow right now as they say is the lack of sideshow gadgets.   Why won't people create gadgets for Sideshow One simple reason : no device in hand. I have cre ...Show All

• SQL Server Reading Records from Excel File

  Hi all, Whilst reading in records from an excel source via the SQL command method I've stumbled across a problem. my SQL query takes in all records where the date column is not NULL, this ensures that only populated rows are obtained. If the date is in a format that is incorrect i'd really like the whole data flow to fail. However... What seems to happen is that any rows with a fault in the date column are just missed out and not pulled through the pipeline. I have tried changing the error output from fail component to ignore error and redirect row but nothing seems to catch it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this may be the case Many thanks, Grant The field is converted to a NULL by the driv ...Show All

• .NET Development .Net 2.0 WebService and binary serialization

  Hi,  I'm writing a webservice and client application in .Net 2.0 to exchange datatables. Everything is working fine, but I want to force the client and the webservice to use the binary format. I tried adding the following lines to the web.config, but I didn't notice a difference in speed nor getting a result in binary format when I invoke a method on the service.asmx. How can I check if the data is send in binary format Many thanks.  <system.runtime.remoting> <application> <channels> <channel ref="http"> <clientProviders> <formatter ref="binary"/> </clientProviders> </channel> </channels> </application> </system.runtime.remoting> ...Show All

• Visual Studio Express Editions Question about BackgroundWorker & SQL query

  Are there any known issues with running a SQL query in a BGW thread   The datagrid in my app is being filled properly with the query results, but then the UI freezes up everytime & becomes nonresponsive.  Here is the main code:   Private Sub QueryButton_Click( ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles QueryButton.Click CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = False BackgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync(QueryComboBox.Text) End Sub Private Sub BackgroundWorker1_DoWork( ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs) Handles BackgroundWorker1.DoWork QueryString = e.Argument.ToString() Dim myAdapter As Odbc.OdbcDataAdapt ...Show All

• Visual Studio 2008 (Pre-release) Change Default Toggle button pressed color

  Is there a way to change the background color of a togglebutton when it is pressed. By default it takes on the windows blue color. I need it to be something else but it looks like the only way is to override the control template. Anyone know a better way Figured I would answer my own question in case some else needs the answer. Bottom line is there is not easy way. You have to grab the default template for a toggle button and override its base behavior with a new template. There are no properties you can just set to do this. ...Show All

• Visual Basic Code Ran When Form Is Activated???

  I'm trying to make some code run whenever the startup form first appears. It's name is "Form1", and whatever I do, it doesn't seem to work. I tried: Private Sub Me_Activate() 'Do some stuff... End Sub   Private Sub Form1_Activate() 'Do some stuff... End Sub   and I've tried   Private Sub Form_Activate() 'Do some stuff.... End Sub                 You're looking for form events There is the form activated event - there is the form load event (before the form is visible). There is the visible changed event. These events are called during different stages of form activation. 1.) Activ ...Show All

• Windows Live Developer Forums VEPushpin.OnMouseOverCallback is not very customizable please help.

  i have just started using virtual earth and i am having to face issues. can someone help. hte problem is specifying the description and title for a pushpin is an expensive operation for me and i dont want to do it for every pushpin. I infact i want to load the description for the pushpin when user hovers over it. There on the callback function i need to a reference to that pushpin object that i created so i can grap the pushpin id that i assigned and use that primary key to get the contents from the database and load a usercontrol dynamically on the server, get its rendered out and assig the description property this text. thanks zeeshan Hirani No there is nothing like this in VE currently bu ...Show All

• Visual Studio Team System How to assign users to Load test agents

  We have been running unit testing scripts in Load Test and we have set up four load test agents and a controller to simulate 200 users. We use Load Test Plug-in to perform most of the setup steps on the agents. Is it possible to assign a range of users through code (VB .NET) to each agent so that the same users won’t be simulated on multiple agents (for e.g. 1-50 on agent 1, 51-100 on agent 2 etc.) ...Show All

• Smart Device Development My VS 2003 is missing System.IO.Port

  Hi I have VS 2003 enterprise edition on my PC. I also have VB.NET, C# Express installed. I've installed the .NET CF 2.0. But still in my VS 2003 Smart application project (VB Console Application) it says System.IO.port is not there. I then looked at the object browser, mscorlib -> system -> IO  , Port or Serial are not there. I am   not sure is the VS 2003 using .NET Framework 1.1 or it automically loads .NET CF 2.0 when I create a Smart mobile application project..... is there anyway to check in object browser that that mscorlib is from which .NET  framework version (.NET 1.1 or CF 2.0 ) ... I want to do some work with the Serial port....that's why i am looking for this API.. Thanks   ...Show All

• Visual Basic VB.NET UserControl used in VB6 application

  Hi. I build in VB Net 2005 an usercontrol that contains a toolstrip.On this toolstrip I add in runtime 9 toolstripbuttons.The code in which I add those buttons is: Public Sub AddButtonsOnToolbar(ByVal intNob As Integer) Dim tsButtons(8) As ToolStripButton For i = 0 To 8 tsButtons(i) = New ToolStripButton tsButtons(i).Tag = i tsButtons(i).Image = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile("D:\Work\Controale_Espot\Pictures\01.gif") tsButtons(i).AutoSize = False tsButtons(i).Size = New Size(48, 48) tsButtons(i).ImageScaling = ToolStripItemImageScaling.SizeToFit If i = 0 Then tsButtons(i).Margin = New Padding(80, 5, 0, 2) Else tsButtons(i).Margin = New Padding(10, 5, 0, 2) ...Show All