JocularJoe's Q&A profile

• Visual Studio 2008 (Pre-release) Not wanting to embed image files in applications

  I've got alot of images in an application I'm developing at the moment - and the thing is, I don't really want them to be embedded into the executable as a resource. < Border.Background > < ImageBrush ImageSource = " Images/login_background.png " Stretch = " Fill " Opacity = " 0.8 " /> </ Border.Background > I set the build action to None for the image file and it copies to the output folder, however it won't work unless I set it as a resource. I would prefer to do this in XAML, but failing that, I can do it through code as well. Anyone with ideas Chris ...Show All

• Audio and Video Development Checking for an active title

  How do you check to see if any title is currently playing You could put a scheduled event at the start of your "blank" title, and when it fires you know that the other titles must have ended. Or maybe hook the title_start event (name may be wrong, but you get the idea). ...Show All

• Visual Studio Performance on large assemblies

  Sandcastle (Dec CTP) takes a long long time to build when given a largish assembly to document. Our project isn't that large (XML file is 19 MB, DLL is 6 MB) (134 494 elements says CopyFromIndexComponent - which generates 36 000 topics) but Sandcastle takes some 10 hours to build using the SHFB tool. We used to use DocumentX and HelpStudio from Innovasys and it would generate the documentation in a bit over 2 hours. Is there any chance that the next CTP will be faster Thanks David and Eric. This is great information. We will do additional investigation on ApplyVSDocModel and Cpref_reflection.xml and will make sure to improve the perf. Also the perf. in ReflectionToChmContents.xsl is slow as, xsl:document() gets the topic title a ...Show All

• Visual Basic config file to static object for real time key-value access via intellisense? .net 2.0

  I'm creating a config file with over 200 key value pairs - string/integer/boolean,etc. I would like to be able to create a static object on winform application startup that is hydrated from the config file. I want strong typing so I can use intellisense. During runtime, anytime a value is needed to either read or write, it would be as simple as dim var1 as integer = oConfig.setting1 dim var2 as string = oConfig.setting2 oConfig.setting1 = 5 oConfig.setting2 = "new string value" What .net 2.0 built in mechanisms can I use to convert the xml based config file into an object What .net 2.0 built in mechanisms can I use to write values directly to a key value pair (xpath ) in the config file rather than h ...Show All

• Windows Forms How to convert an object (custom object) into a byte [] array?

  i want to save the object in a binary format in Sql 2005. I don't want to create a file, an then read the file and convert to binary. Is there a way to do this directly, from object to byte[] without creating a file for it Hi,momo_lang This may helpful for you. Regards. Ye ...Show All

• SQL Server SSIS Job Failure

  Can network latency or insufficient memory cause SSIS packages to fail I run an agent job that consists of many individual SSIS packages. Most of these packages read flat files from a network drive, format the data, and load the data into SQL Server tables. Each step normally takes only about 30 seconds. Occasionally, the same step that took 30 seconds would take over 5 minutes to process. Sometimes a step would fail with a package execution error (no other clue given). It seems that after the server is rebooted, the job runs successfully. If a package step fails due to some sort of resource limitation, shouldn't the error be noted somewhere The memory is one issue, but SSIS can run even when it needs ...Show All

• SQL Server ETL: DTS/TSQL vs SSIS

  Now that SSIS has been out for a year, how is SSIS helping the data warehouse developers in the real world. I have seen etl projects done in terms of TSQL where data is ELTL in stead of ETL. The entire data is written into some staging database, transformed and then loaded in to the datawarehouse. Are there any real success stories out there where SSIS really made a huge difference over DTS or TSQL. I really like the product but just wanted to hear from the experts out in the field. Also, do you see IT industry being eager to start using SSIS in their production applications So far my opinion is SSIS is much better than DTS. It did solve many of the problems wtih DTS packages. However, it does have a ways ...Show All

• Visual C# StructLayout, Marshalling

  I send and receive packetized data over a serial port connection. The data is strictly defined, so the memory layout of the interface defintion has to be implemeted in C#. The type of packets I am sending/receiving look something like this: // Temperature Packet Id=5 int PacketId; int PacketLen; int32 CurrentTemp; int16 CurrentPressure; Bool IsHeaterOn; Bool IsHeaterEnabled; byte LastErrorLimit; // UserPacket Packet Id=12 int PacketId; int PacketLen; char [64] CurrentUserName; int32 LastLoginTime; So I will be setting/reading bits, bytes, words and strings in multiple packets. I have discovered the StructLayout attribute and think this could be the best way to implement this ( ! ). I am using C# and want to use manage ...Show All

• Smart Device Development **NEWBIE** Emulator for a Xda Exec?

  Hi, I am new to windows mobile, and i have been asked to find an Emulator for a Xda Exec. Im not really sure what an emulator is, can anyone direct me to any site whare i could get this emulator and some useful documentation Thanks. WM 5.0 VGA emulator is the one you should use for all VGA devices including XDA Exec. This emulator is included with WM 5.0 SDK and would be hooked into VS 2005 automatically. ...Show All

• Visual FoxPro MSCHART AND VISUAL FOXPRO 9

  I am trying to use MSCHART with VFP9 and have some success until I want to set or change Legions, Titles, Colors etc. or to enter data into the second Y axis. Using any of the property / constant names only produces the message "Name Unknown". Any suggestions. No I didn't and that is why I said "try". I don't have VFP (nor any other thing including .Net framework) to test something (on this box). If you want to see working code, visit universalthread.com and search for codes that I sent multiple times. Making = arrData style is not important though. You can simpy use row,col in a loop (check the sample on UT for many different types of settings). I don't understand "of course" part. ...Show All

• Visual Studio Express Editions Can't download from microsoft also

  I ve been having a similar challenge. I can not download from microsoft. I have comcast and have spoke with them they say they are not blocking my modem and that it is a microsoft problem. I have three PC's in my home and none of them can download from microsoft. They all have valid windows XP installed. I am able to get auto updates, and when XP is reinstalled onto my pc its goes through the validation just fine. I get a can not display the webpage every time i try and download something. I am not able to even open the validation link pages to run the validation checker tool. I have XP pro and Explorer 7 which i have made sure that all the active X options are enablesd and that the enable third party extentions in the ad ...Show All

• Software Development for Windows Vista Cancelling Workflows Spawned From InvokeWorkflowActivity

  It seems like there must be some way to cancel workflows spawned from an InvokeWorkflowActivity. I currently have two sequential workflows set up such that one workflow performs a set of intialization activities and then at some point, in a ReplicatorActivity, I execute an InvokeWorkflowActivity for a given number of times. The InvokeWorkflowActivity operates asynchronously such that as soon as it executes, it completes (does not wait for spawned workflow to complete). Once the ReplicatorActivity finishes, I have a WhileActivity with a HandleExternalEventActivity which receieves notifications from the spawned workflows that they've completed. In some scenarios, though, let's say only one of the spawned workflows needs to comple ...Show All

• Visual Studio 2008 (Pre-release) Passing, persisting, and returning anonymous types

  This is what I am trying to do: static void Main( string [] args) { var t = new {Number=5,Name= "test" }; Test(v); } static void Test( object v) { Console .WriteLine( "{0}" ,t.Number); } Is this possible or must the dynamic (anonymous) class be used within the scope of the method it is declared in. Since i cant use var as a field, I am having a hard time understanding what to do with a projected type such as in the example below: var storelist = from store in Program . DataContext .Stores from region in Program . DataContext .TaxRegions where store. TaxRegion == region.RegionID && store.StoreI ...Show All

• Windows Forms ClickOnce Question

  I have a project that has two parts: 1) Server 2) Client GUI I will be giving the server to my customers, and it is up to them to distribute the Client GUI to their own customers. Is it possible to publish the Client GUI using ClickOnce, then have my customer provide the server for download/installation of the GUI. Obviously I will not be able to specify an installation URL for every one of my customers, so I am looking for a way for them edit a file so they can customize the ClickOnce to look for their own server. Is this possible Hi, Does the click once application have to be signed What if the customer does not want to go throught he trouble of creating the certificate and all that. Thanks, ...Show All

• Software Development for Windows Vista Why have nested transaction rules changed?

  I'm very annoyed by the change in nested transactions. Previously it was perfectly ok to nest a transaction with a different isolation level to the current Tx providing it didn't ask for a stronger isolation level. Now it seems it has to be exactly the same. This has made porting from Enterprise Services to System.Transaction a complete nightmare! Why the change, it makes a mockery of ambient transactions since now every component has to understand what Tx they're in...surely this is a mistake or I've missed something First - a clarification for the readers - nested transactions are not currently supported. Nested TransactionScope-s are supported, and pkr2000 is referring to them.   The change to allow only the exac ...Show All