Nerseus

It looks as though calling Begin on a Sprite object will reset the device's VertexFormat. Your project is using CEngine, which declares an instance of CPainter, which has an instance of Sprite. When you call c3DEngine.BeginScene, it calls Begin on the Sprite object which is resetting the vertex format. If you don't need the CPainter class, you could try removing it. Or you could just stick with setting the VertexFormat on every loop. You'll probably end up doing that anyway if you're using 3D, as almost all 3D apps are going to display sprites at some point (for a hud, a player name, score, etc.) and that will require changing the vertex format. -nerseus

...did you change your PresentInterval as well? -ner

Silly question, but can you just use DTS in SQL Server? It was made to import tables and data from other databases. It even allows you to write some VBScript in between the process if you need to do something other than just copy data and tables... As for your ADO.NET problem: First, do you have an identity column on SQL Server? Are you saying that it looks like the Access table isn't being read in the right order and that your subsequent INSERTs into SQL Server aren't in the right order? How are you sorting your Access data, with an ORDER BY or by using a DataView with a sort order? Set a breakpoint to go off when you hit these rows (1499) and step through, seeing what values are getting passed to the SQL Server insert. Hopefully you can debug it that way. -nerseus

A trusted connection is used on databases that support NT Authentication (or similar) as a way of allowing a user access t oa database without explicitly specifying a username/password in the connection string. If you set up the security on SQL Server by telling it you want to allow trusted connections, then it "trusts" that you've been authenticated into windows and thus, into SQL Server. -nerseus

Ah, thanks divil. I didn't realize the Process class wasn't JUST static methods, my first assumption. I didn't see a way for the program to check for termination. Here's a code snippet to use the Process class to start a process. I couldn't figure out a built in way to WAIT for completion, as the original Shell method works. You may have to build in your own logic to simulate waiting on data. Your requirements sound like you may not need to actually wait as you're mainly interested in being notified when the VB6 app is done so you can take some action. private void OnProcessExited(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { Debug.WriteLine("done"); } private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { System.Diagnostics.Process p1 = new System.Diagnostics.Process(); p1.StartInfo.FileName = "project1.exe"; p1.EnableRaisingEvents = true; p1.Exited += new System.EventHandler(this.OnProcessExited); p1.Start(); } -nerseus

If you're setting your device's present parameter's interval to anything but Immediate, you may be locking yourself into the monitor refresh. If you change the value to One, you should see it pick up: presentParams.PresentationInterval = PresentInterval.One; Check out the values for your swap effect and interval in the help for more info. You may want to use the C++ documentation if the C# docs aren't helpful enough. -Nerseus

You can shell out to another process and wait for it to return. When your VB6 application ends, you can query the database to do what you need to do. From within VB.NET, use: ' The "True" param is what makes the Shell command wait Shell("project1.exe", AppWinStyle.NormalFocus, True) MessageBox.Show("done") For C#, you'll have to use the VB Shell command. First, add a reference to "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Runtime" (the name in the Add References dialog). The name in the project, when you expand References, is "Microsoft.VisualBasic". Then use this code to shell out: Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.Shell("project1.exe", Microsoft.VisualBasic.AppWinStyle.NormalFocus, true, -1); MessageBox.Show("done"); -Nerseus

Wyrd, you can include two sections: one for languages/tools/technologies that you know/use often and one for those you're only familiar with (like being able to read and/or tweak existing C++ code). Again, be prepared to talk about what you can do with the "familiar" languages - like you've tweaked code, compiled it, or just read up on it. -Nerseus

Your zip is missing form1.vb... can't do much without it :) -nerseus

I should note that I've always worked for smaller companies and that's where I do my interviewing. I've done contract work at larger companies but I didn't like it as much. I prefer the smaller groups of experienced people. It's quite possible that some of my tips won't work as well when interviewing for larger companies, especially if they have a more formal Human Resources dept. -Nerseus

You can use MDIParent if you just need reference to a standard Form object. If your MDI form is exposing specific methods or properties, you'll need to cast the MDIParent as the particular class. For example, if your MDI Form is called frmMain: public class frmMain : Form { public string MyCoolStringField; // The rest of frmMain } Then you can access it from another form with: // Within Form1, say in a button click: string s = ((frmMain)this.MDIParent).MyCoolStringField; -nerseus

Interview Do's Dress appropriately (may mean suit and tie, may not). Don't "go casual" simply because it's a small company. Be prepared to talk about your resume, your jobs, what you did, etc. Be prepared to talk about your skills: language specifics, tools used, etc. Some companies may even put you in front of a computer and give you an "assignment" Be prepared to talk about your likes/dislikes with languages, tools, previous jobs Be prepared to talk about why you're leaving your current job (if you have one) Be prepared to talk about your future - where you want to be in a year, 2 years, 5 years Be yourself Interview Don'ts Don't lie - you *will* get caught Don't say you've done something you haven't, you will get caught Don't try and talk about a technology or use a buzzword unless you know what it means. If you're going to say you've developed an n-tier architecture you'd better know some specifics Don't say you were bitten by a spider and have to go (yes, I had someone tell me that) Don't be afraid to say "I don't know" - maybe even a lot. My interview process for people that should be mid to senior level involves some *really* difficult questions. Not everyone has used MSMQ, COM+, Active Directory, etc. but I'm going to ask, just to see if someone knows (especially if they list it) The bottom line, as you can see from the "don't" section, is that you shouldn't over-exagerate what you know. Stick to what you do know and don't be afraid to say you don't know something. If your resume looks like a junior developers then the interviewer isn't going to expect you to know the three normal forms for a database nor how to set up DCOM security for using COM+ across a VPN. I could make a monster sized list of the stupid things people say during an interview. I could make an even bigger list of the people that say they are experts at something yet can't answer the simplest question. Here's a sample of things that I swear I've heard in interviews, starting with "spider man": After asked to clarify something that just didn't sound right, an interviewee asked to end the phone interview as he had "been bit by a spider earlier ans wasn't feeling up to continuing". Three years later, give or take, the SAME man interviewed again (I was at a different company but still doing interviews for developers) only this time, about 30 minutes in his kids started screaming in the background (he was calling in from home). After hearing him yell quite loud and meanly at his kids, he said he had to go. We asked if he wanted to continue later and he made up some other ludicrous answer (I don't remember because I was waving my arms at my friend pointing out that this was the spider guy). Here are some things that self-titled experts couldn't answer (I swear I'm not making this up): 1. Database expert: Didn't know how to sort records descending 2. Database expert: Didn't know the difference between inner and outer join 3. Database expert: Never heard of normalizing. When told what it was he *argued* against it: "Why not just store the string value, why bother with all those indirect numbers and joins - it slows everything down!". Never argue during an interview... 4. VB6 expert: Had never created a class - UDTs all the way 5. VB6 expert: Didn't know how to write an error handler 6. VB6 expert: Didn't know the difference between ByRef and ByVal 7. VB6 expert: Never created a DLL - one guy didn't know you could 8. ADO expert: Couldn't name the two common objects (Connection, Recordset). We usually prompt with one "one is a connection... what's the one you use to get records from a database? - no answer) 9. ASP expert: Doesn't know what Response or Request is used for. 10. COM+ expert: Didn't know how to use transactions 11. COM+ expert: Didn't know how to install a package into COM+ or export one My second favorite (next to spider man) was Ukelale boy. He said he'd do anything to get his foot in the door, even run around giving us massages, getting us lunch, and playing his Ukelale (quite famous in his native country) - just so he could get some experience. Ah, ukelele boy... -nerseus PS Wow, do I ramble when it gets late or what?

Resume Do's (aimed at someone with less experience) Include everything you know: languages, technologies, etc. If you leave something off that you even partially know, the person reviewing your resume won't know you know it Include any experience you have, even if it's not professional List details about each job - your duties, tasks, skills used for each, etc. List certifications and degrees even if you're only pursuing them (mention that you are going for MCSD for example) If you're in college, run your resume by the English Dept. or Librarian (my school had people on staff to critique resumes) Don't be afraid to list your fry cook job. Maybe you handled stressful lunch crowds well or had to take over when others didn't show up - these are good qualities, regardless of the type of work Try to keep everything on one page. If you have enough experience to warrant two or more pages, then maybe If you have work experience, don't list what the company does or what your coworkers did - list what YOU did at the company Include all skills, even non-computer skills. For example, if you work well with others, find a way to put that in the resume. Resume Don'ts Don't use Comic Sans font - use something more professional like Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman, etc. Don't list "too" personal data - age, race, religion, favorite hockey team Don't include your picture Don't include pictures of the tools you use (like MS's VB logo or the MCSD logo) Don't list every language, technology, skill that you've ever heard of - you'll be asked about them during an interview plus the interviewer is going to KNOW you don't know 8 computer languages proficiently if you're still in school (or even out) There's a fine line between including everything you know and including too much. Remember that anything you put on your resume is something that you might get asked about during an interview. If you don't feel at a good comfort level talking about something, you might not want to put it on the resume. That's a good start. Don't forget, you can always post your resume here for us to critique. There are also two good websites (probably many more) for preparing for a job: dice.com and monster.com. I always liked dice, aimed more at computer professionals, but I know monster is bigger. They both have good tips on resumes, interviewing, etc. You can also scan through the job postings to see what's available. keep in mind that these aren't all the jobs that are out there... -Nerseus

If you use the built in type Point (part of System.Drawing) you won't have to overload - they work as expected. If you just want to see how to implement operator overloading, here's a sample: struct MyStruct { public int x; public int y; public MyStruct(int x, int y) { this.x = x; this.y = y; } public static bool operator ==(MyStruct v1, MyStruct v2) { return (v1.x==v2.x && v1.y==v2.y); } public static bool operator !=(MyStruct v1, MyStruct v2) { return (v1.x!=v2.x || v1.y!=v2.y); } } And here's the sample code to test: MyStruct m1 = new MyStruct(1, 2); MyStruct m2 = new MyStruct(3, 4); MyStruct m3 = new MyStruct(1, 2); // The following is true; if(m1 == m3) Debug.WriteLine("="); // The following is not true if(m1 == m2) Debug.WriteLine("="); -nerseus

You'd be surprised what people don't know during an interview. If you've ever caught a glimpse of American Idol or heard about it, you know that there are some deluded people out there that think they know more than they do... I've met way too many. :) (Moving on to the other thread) -nerseus

If you're learning VB, I'd suggest not worrying about COM or DCOM. VB.NET doesn't really do COM anymore (not without writing wrappers to make your .NET objects into COM objects) and you *really* don't to worry about DCOM. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you an experience programmer that's learning .NET or is this your first language? -nerseus

There used to be a way to get the Handle to the Backbuffer so that you could use the API to draw directly onto it, but I'm not sure if it's there in DX9. This might be desirable if you need to draw some primitives that GDI+ can do but DirectX can't, such as an Arc, a Bezier curve, etc. -nerseus

Well shoot - you have to tell us it still wasn't working. I thought you had posted what you had after you got it working :) Anyway, it looks like your Form1's Closed event isn't hooked up. In Form1 in the InitializeComponent sub (the one you didn't include :)), you need the line: this.Closed += new System.EventHandler(this.Form1_Closed); This is what actually hooks up the event to your function. -nerseus

I disagree with Robby about the type of diploma or school. I interview for developers, nothing else and I don't care what school someone got their diploma from normally - I only care if they know how to do what they're going to be hired to do or are willing to learn. The resume *does* help you get an interview, but it's more about what you know than the credentials you have. And don't put every language you've ever glanced at - it's a personal pet peeve of mine and I always weed out what someone knows from what they don't (or what they saw their co-worker doing that they're taking credit for :)) If it's an entry level position (Junior developer), I'll ask about basic coding questions (can you code a sort, do you konw what recursion means, how do you declare/use an array). Hopefully they'll know the answers regardless of their school. Nothing against a bigger name university vs. community college but I like a developer that knows how to code (among other things) and preferably enjoys it. I have a monster sized list of questions I use for interviewing, most of which will get skipped depending on the person's experience and the way they answer certain questions. If you want to start a new thread on "What I need to know for an interview process" I'd be happy to throw in a few ideas. Likewise, if you want a Do's and Don't list for developers, I could add something there, too. One that I *hate* is a picture on the resume - that almost guarantees no interview. Besides the fact that it's cheezy, there are too many legal problems that might come up if we did an interview and turned them down. I think it was divil that responded to someone awhile back when someone posted their resume for comments. As he pointed out, don't put on personal information (race, religion, etc.). -Nerseus

Wait til he figures out the Relationships property of the DataSet and hierarchical datasets/grids :) -nerseus

First, the certification only costs as much as the tests required to get it. For MCAC there are 4 tests at $100-$150 apiece. For MCSD (the new .NET track) there are 5 or 6 tests (can't remember offhand). Personally, I've never had of an employer that gave raises, bonuses, etc. based on developer certification. I also can't say that it ever got me a job -- as expected, experience is the major component for getting a job. The certification won't hurt you and some employers have commented that they like it, but it's not a make-or-break thing. My guess is that if you have no real world experience (no professional computer experience that is), then a certification is not going to get you the job. Without any real experience, getting the MCAD or MCSD is going to be fairly difficult (the solutiosn test is hard). Now if you have a year or two of experience AND a certification, then it will show the employer that you're taking an interest in your job and you like what you do. The certification alone still won't get you the job though :) If you decide you want to take the tests, I'd suggest waiting til you get on at a company and see if they'll pay for it. Most companies are glad to help out, even buy you books to help study with. If you are applying at a company you can always do some research to see if they want you to have a certification before you come in. My current employer is hoping that all developers set a goal of getting certified at some point, even if it's a year or more away. I think studying is useful in that it forces you to study some topics that you might otherwise think aren't important and exposes you to things you might otherwise skip. In some cases, those "unimportant" things will come in handy one day. Another factor of certification, one not mentioned as broadly, is that Microsoft offers special titles for companies that have X number of certified professionals. I don't know the specifics, but they can give companies names like "Partners" and "Solution Partners" and such (I may have the names wrong). For instance, my company has 2 MCSD's (2nd oldest track - MCSD is in it's 3rd incarnation now) and 4 more that are 1 test away. We have some title that our clients like to see (I can't remember exactly, but then again I'm no sales person selling our company to clients :)) I will say that the Solutions test is one of the hardest ever - it involves everything from Database Diagrams to Use Case analysis and more. I liked it, as I think you have to have some real-world experience to pass that test, unlike the language tests (VB6, VB.NET, C#, etc.) that ask too-easy questions (in my mind). -Nerseus PS I do most of the interviewing at my company, along with two other people. We can tell pretty quick what people know. If we see a certifaction it's usually "oh, he/she has an MCSD" - a mental note that they've taken the time and effort to pass the exams. It still doesn't mean they know what they're doing :)

Yes, you'll have to set it on your device, something like: dev.VertexFormat = CustomVertex.TransformedColoredTextured.Format; -nerseus PS I had *just* looked at sample 4 from DirectX4b last night for a post on the VB6 message boards and noticed the "weird" X/Y values of 10 and 210 - the sames ones you were using. :)

If you can provide a simple web server then the clients could call a simple webservice to notify your process that a file has arrived. Also, you could require that each client uploads a small "alldone.txt" type of file after the main file. Your process could then check for the existence of the dummy file to indicate the first one is finished. This works well if each client has their own directory they upload to or a standard naming convention for their uploads. -nerseus

I should have mentioned that to create an "unbound" DataSet you simply create it like any other object. You can add tables and columns pretty easily, too. For example: DataSet ds = new DataSet("MyDataSet"); DataTable dt = ds.Tables.Add("MyTable"); dt.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(Int32)); dt.Columns.Add("FirstName", typeof(string)); dt.Columns.Add("LastName", typeof(string)); dt.Columns.Add("DOB", typeof(DateTime)); DataRow row; // Add all values in one shot dt.Rows.Add(new object[] {1, "Dan", "Jones", new DateTime(1971, 11, 28)}); // Add all values in an array ArrayList a = new ArrayList(); a.Add(2); a.Add("Carl"); a.Add("Jones"); a.Add(new DateTime(2001, 11, 1)); dt.Rows.Add(a.ToArray()); // OR Add explicitly (my favorite) row = dt.NewRow(); row["ID"] = 3; row["FirstName"] = "Bob"; row["LastName"] = "Jones"; row["DOB"] = new DateTime(2000, 1, 1); dt.Rows.Add(row); // Show the results Debug.WriteLine(ds.GetXml()); -Nerseus

With no solution open, I chose File->Open->File... (Ctrl-O). I get a resource listing in a tree view. You can also try copying it elsewhere (to a temp directory) and opening from there. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what the problem is. -Nerseus