Today, I delivered a Webinar on ‘Features of .NET 4.0‘

Total duration of webinar: 1 hour
Total participants: 200

Take away from the session:

• Features of .NET 4.0
• Optimizations in .NET 4.0 vs .NET 3.5
• New look of WCF in .NET 4.0
• New in Silverlight 4.0

Good question!  Now, this was a question in one of my sessions at Microsoft Community at Cognizant.  We need to use User32 API’s to do this stuff. It isn’t that difficult. Just a small snippet and you are through!

Here’s the neat solution.

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.Winapi)]
internal static extern IntPtr GetFocus();

private Control GetFocusedControl()
{
          Control focusedControl = null;

          // To get hold of the focused control:
          IntPtr focusedHandle = GetFocus();

          if(focusedHandle != IntPtr.Zero){

                 // Note that if the focused Control is not a .Net control, then this will return null.
                focusedControl = Control.FromHandle(focusedHandle);
         }
         return focusedControl;
}

Related posts:

• Winform Tip#3:Avoiding multiple instances of child forms
• Exception Message Box in C#
• ComboBox Sorting Defect!

Oops! Never expected this behavior from such a standard control: Winforms ComboBox.

One of the common things our applications require is bind a data source with Collection-base UI elements like ComboBox. The best code any one could write would be: 

cmbTest.DisplayMember = "Name";
cmbTest.ValueMember = "ID";
cmbTest.DataSource = _employeeRecords; 

I would give this a perfect 10!

The combo box displays all the Employee Names in the combo box.  What if you wanted to sort these items?

Let’s use the Sorted property of ComboBox.

this.cmbTest.Sorted = true;

Dush!!!  The code stopped working.

You won’t see Employee Names in the combo box any more. What you would come through is items showing the namespace of the object

_employeeRecords

Now did you expect that?

Related posts:

• Strong Naming an existing assembly
• VS 2008 : Plugin Pop-up issue
• Winform Tip#1: Transparent Form

Its time to forget the old traditional message box with limited functionalities. buttons, icons, text area and what not! Microsoft has unleashed a new message box – new, yet not so new.

For those who have used SQL Sever 2005 GUI, might have probably noticed a message box that shows additional information, copying the text to clipboard, a checkbox on message box, different set of buttons and many more features.  This message box is now open for reuse in your applications. 

This is not a ‘big-bang’ release made by Microsoft.  It has come out very quietly. Yes the name ‘ExceptionMessageBox’ is confusing – but you can still use it in your applications. This standalone exception dialog box can be used in applications just like any other managed APIs.

Probably, you never know the next version of myTracker may use this message box too

Let’s hear it from Microsoft:

The exception message box is a programmatic interface that you can use in your applications for any tasks for which MessageBox may be used. The exception message box is a supported managed assembly designed to elegantly handle managed code exceptions. It provides significantly more control over the messaging experience and gives your users the options to save error message content for later reference and to get help on messages.

Download Link: 

http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/7/4/f74cbdb1-87e2-4794-9186-e3ad6bd54b41/SQLServer2005_EMB.msi 

Related posts:

• Strong Naming an existing assembly
• DLINQ
• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4

Wow!  Compatibility between SCSF and EL 4 has troubled me many a times in some of my critical projects. Visual Studio 2008 does not allow installation of EL 3.1 and SCSF is based on EL 3.1.

To install EL 4.0 and to make it compatible with SCSF on VS2008 – here are the steps:

1. Rebuild Block Assemblies
2. Update Guidance Package
3. Update SCSF Application
 

Rebuild Block Assemblies

1. Extract the Smart Client Software Factory Source Code.

2. Open the SmartClient.Offline solution located at the source code installation folder.

3. Remove from the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary and SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Tests projects the references to the following assemblies:

     –  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common
     -  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data
     –  SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe

4. Add, In the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary and SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Tests projects, references to the following Enterprise Library assemblies (located at Enterprise Library assemblies located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin):

     –  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll
     –  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll
     –  Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll

5. In the SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary project, open SmartClientDatabase.cs file and replace the following using statement:

using Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe;

with:

using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe;

Updating the Guidance Package
 

1. Open the GuidancePackage solution located at the SC-SF source folder.

2. Open the App.config.template located under the folders located at Templates\Solutions\Projects\Shell.*.* (Shell.Basic.CS, Shell.Basic.VB, Shell.Extended.CS and Shell.Extended.VB) in the SmartClientFactoryPackage project.

3. Find and replace on each App.config.template file the string “Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a” with “Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35”.

4. Create a folder to store the new assemblies (e.g. at %SC-SF installation folder%\Lib with EntLib 4.0). In this folder, copy the Enterprise Library 4.0 assemblies and the Smart Client assemblies generated in Step 1. You should have the same assemblies you have at %SC-SF installation folder%\Lib but updated to use Enterprise Library 4.0.

5. Open the file CreateSmartClientFactorySolutionCommon.xml file located at Recipes\Common folder of the SmartClientFactoryPackage project. You will change the path where the Create Solution recipe looks for the required assemblies by default.

6. Find the SupportLibrariesPath argument and replace it with the following:

7. Save all.

8. Register the custom Guidance Package. To do this, right click the SmartClientFactoryPackage project and select Register Guidance Package.

Update existing SCSF Application

1. If your solution uses the Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll assembly, follow the steps described in the Rebuilding the Block Assemblies section to update this assembly and perform the following sub-steps:

1.  
   1. Find the Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll generated assembly located at %Source code installation folder%\Blocks\Offline\Source\DataAccess.EnterpriseLibrary\bin\Debug.
   2. Copy the previous assembly and replace them in the Lib folder of your solution.
   3. Update the references of your projects to use the updated Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.dll assembly
   4. Remove the reference to Microsoft.Practices.SmartClient.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll (it was replaced with the one provided by Enterprise Library 4) and add a reference to Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.SqlCe.dll assembly located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin.

2. Copy the Enterprise Library 4.0 assemblies (located at %Enterprise Library 4 installation folder%\Bin) and replace them in the Lib folder of your solution.

3. Update the references to the Enterprise Library assemblies in all the projects in your solution using the new assemblies copied into the Lib folder.

4. Open the App.config file and find and replace the string “Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a” with “Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35”.

5. Save all

Related posts:

• Strong Naming an existing assembly
• Exception Message Box in C#
• Finding currently focused control

Now this is one problem that we face when we use a 3rd party DLL, which is not-strongly named & we still want to dump it to GAC.

So, lets see the 5-step solution:

1. Go to Visual Studio Command Prompt
2. Generate a Strong Name Key File
   sn -k keyPair.snk 
3. Obtain MSIL for the assembly
   ildasm Assembly.dll /out:Assembly.il 
    
4. Rename the original assembly
   ren Assembly.dll Assembly.dll.old 
    
5. Create a new assembly from MSIL & Key File
   ilasm Assembly.il /dll /key= keyPair.snk 

Related posts:

• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4
• Bluetooth with C#
• Exception Message Box in C#

While adding a pop-up to a plugin, designed in VS 2008, one of the commonly faced problem is:

Error 1 The best overloaded method match for ‘EnvDTE80.Commands2.AddNamedCommand2(EnvDTE.AddIn, string, string, string, bool, object, ref System.Array, int, int, EnvDTE80.vsCommandControlType)’ has some invalid arguments C:\Punit Ganshani\Desktop Applications\MyAddin2\MyAddin2\Connect.cs 40 24 MyAddin2
Error 2 Argument ‘7′: cannot convert from ‘ref object[]‘ to ‘ref System.Array’ C:\Punit Ganshani\Desktop Applications\MyAddin2\MyAddin2\Connect.cs 40 140 MyAddin2

Resolution:

Change:
object []contextGUIDS = new object[] { };
to:
System.Array contextGUIDS = new object[] { };

and it should compile & execute perfectly.

Related posts:

• Exception Message Box in C#
• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4
• DLINQ

DLinq (Data – Language Integrated Query) in .Net is one of the new & powerful feature that Microsoft has introduced in .NET 3.5 framework.

Overview of Linq and how it is beneficial for Developers is explained in presentation & the example:
Download the presentation & example [ ZIP, 262 KB ]

Some of the key-benefits of Linq are:

- Unified querying of Objects, Database and XML eases the interaction between XML and databases.
- High performance
- Lesser time to code resulting in faster & improved productivity of developers.
- Ease of switching from Disconnected/Offline mode to Online mode in Smart Client applications.

Most Smart Client applications use XML as datasource in Offline mode & use SQL database in the Online mode. Since only the datasource name changes and other code remains AS-IS, it becomes easier to handle data.

Prerequisite for usage of sample application:
- AdventureWorksDb Database (SQL Server 2005)

Punit Ganshani

Related posts:

• DLinq training kit
• ComboBox Sorting Defect!
• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4

Bluetooth Manager has following functionalities:

1. Discovery of devices

2. Finding out MAC address

3. Sending a File through Bluetooth

You can search the device, select one of the available ones and then send a text file to the user. The application uses In The Hand APIs. For more information about APIs: http://inthehand.com/

Click here to download the example

Related posts:

• Exception Message Box in C#
• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4
• Strong Naming an existing assembly

Requirement: TextBox in C# should accept only numbers as input.

Solution:

Raise an event KeyPress and paste following line of code.

private void txtInput_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
if (!Char.IsNumber(e.KeyChar))
e.Handled = true;
}

Here, e stands for the arguments of the function and e contains several attributes and methods like:

e.KeyChar : Character that has been pressed
e.Handled : Whether it is an acceptable character or not.

Related posts:

• Interface vs Object vs Aspect Oriented Programming
• VS 2008 : Plugin Pop-up issue
• Using Smart Client with Enterprise Library 4