Rick Strahl's Web Log

Weblog Posts in April 2005

Creating a DropDown that doesn’t drop down in WinForms
April 30, 2005 @ 11:23 pm

How do you keep a Windows DropDownList from dropping down? Answer: Not easily. Here are a couple of solutions that work in most cases, but watch for some inconsistencies...

Previewing HTML with InternetExplorer.Application in C#
April 29, 2005 @ 1:41 am

Here's a small reusable C#.NET class that makes short work of using the InternetExplorer.Application object in your apps without using an Interop assembly.

5 comments

Vertigo
April 28, 2005 @ 6:26 pm

Need to feel like you're spinning out of control?

What is locking my assembly in VS.NET?
April 26, 2005 @ 3:48 am

I ran into an odd problem where Visual Studio seemed to have my assembly locked. It turns out that my recent rearrangings of the projects resulted in a pathing setup that Visual Studio has some trouble as files get compiled multiple times.

5 comments

Circular assembly references
April 24, 2005 @ 5:07 pm

Circular assembly references are sending me cursing today . I can't figure out how to clearly abstract an Add-in interface without ending up with circular references. The workaround is a stuffing the Add-in code in with the UI code, but that's not exactly clean...

1 comment

ISAPI Impersonation in Web Connection
April 22, 2005 @ 5:18 pm

Web Server Impersonation in ISAPI extensions is a confusing topic for many users of our Web Connection software. In this topic I describe how it works, and how it applies to configrting COM security for Web Connection Servers, as well as musing about some potential changes in Web Connection to simplify the model.

2 comments

WinForms Focus, hotkeys and ‘saving data’
April 21, 2005 @ 11:57 pm

Fix Edit focus of controls when using menu hotkeys can be an insidious bug that often slips through the cracks.

12 comments

Why you shouldn't use InProc Session State in ASP.NET
April 20, 2005 @ 3:49 pm

InProc sessions in ASP.NET are very volatile due to ASP.NET's processing model. While much faster, InProc sessions are very susceptable to unloading which often has nasty results for the users on your site. Here's a summary of some of the ways that InProc session can unload.

11 comments

Whidbey Beta 2 – still no luck with Smart Devices
April 19, 2005 @ 4:42 pm

The device application stuff just does not want to work for me in Whidbey even on a clean install. Here are a few more details.

4 comments

Posted a couple of new songs
April 19, 2005 @ 6:11 am

I recorded and posted a couple new tunes on the site today. Another fun 'relaxing' excercise and a welcome distraction from too much code time. If only the days were 30 hours long...

3 comments

Formatting Html Source
April 19, 2005 @ 4:08 am

TidyCom is a nice simple way to clean up the mess that Microsoft editors make of HTML.

2 comments

A few Beta 2 Installation problems - Smart Device and Mobile Sql packages didn't install
April 18, 2005 @ 5:45 am

Beta 2 install seemed to go Ok, but apparently the Smart Device extensions didn't register and it's causing causing problems with other stuff such as the Server Explorer and connection dialogs.

3 comments

Fun with COM Interop: Building a .NET Add-in for a Visual FoxPro app
April 16, 2005 @ 11:50 pm

Here's a cool example of using COM interop from VFP by creating an extension framework using .NET. This entry talks about how to execute .NET assemblies dynamically, handle object lifetime management and deal with COM strong typing issues when type library info is not available.

3 comments

Strong Typing vs. Loose Typing
April 13, 2005 @ 7:34 pm

Having worked extensively with FoxPro and .NET which are loosely and strongly typed respectively I can tell you that I have s strong preference for strong typing. However, some people seem to think that strong typing is too much work and a hassle.

11 comments

Turning off the IE Security Warden?
April 06, 2005 @ 5:32 am

Some of the security warnings stuff is going just a little too far. It's getting too damn complicated to turn this stuff off when I have explicitly told Windows how I need to use my machine. It's hard enough fighting all those funky settings but then being slapped at the last minute basically says - yeah, we see you know what you're doing, but we don't trust you to be safe anyway.

6 comments

A simple generic Web search for Help Builder with ASP.NET
April 05, 2005 @ 5:15 am

Here's a quick and very dirty way to add search capability to a document based Web application. It's a very simplistic disk bound search, but it can add significant value in self-contained environments where indexing is not option - in my case static output generated by Help Builder.

A few hiccups with Windows Server 2003 on my laptop
April 03, 2005 @ 10:11 pm

Installing SP1 for Windows 2003 is causing me a few application hiccups. Also some of the DCOM configuration options leave me confused about how the new functionality is supposed to work.

19 comments

Proprietary plugs on my AudioVox SmartPhone
April 02, 2005 @ 3:15 pm

Recently I was thinking I could get away with using my AudioVox SMT 5600 as a toned down music player, but I was denied. The phone uses a proprietary earphone plug and the player UI experience is not really enjoyable.

23 comments

Web Browser HTML Editing Focus issue resolved finally
April 01, 2005 @ 12:45 am

Getting the Web Browser Controls' Edit features to properly focus when hosted inside of Visual FoxPro is a bit of hassle, but after all the hassles I'd gone through the solution is relatively simple using a delayed focus assignment operation.

7 comments