sjn78

Think I have it all working now. The tlbimp.exe that comes with Express 08 didnt want to work for me, so I installed Express 05 and used that version of it...same command and the 2005 version works where the 2008 doesn't. Maybe the 2008 version is targeted at .Net 3.5, which you think would of worked at home because I installed the 3.5 framework when I installed Express.

I thought about that as well, maybe as a last resort. The program has an associated dll with the verion number in the filename. But I would have to compile the program on several machines with the different versions...which dont have ide's installed on them. I was mucking around with trying to compile from command prompt since you dont need any sort of ide installed, but didn't get too far as I couldn't find the right arguement/parameter to indicate I am using a com library. Also looked into using tblimp.exe to create the interop dll but all the examples I have found on the net, won't work. I thought if I could get the program to look for the interop dll and see what version it is and if its not correct, make a new one. But seems like it only comes with vis studio. Not sure if it is Vista, but I get that annoying program has stopped working dialog, which gives no information at all.

I don't have VS installed at work, so will have to test it out tonight. Its built using .Net 2, 32 bit and I think set for Any CPU. I still think its something to do with the version of MapInfo on the machine as when I compile my exact same code on machines with different versions of MapInfo, it will work fine. Just a thought, because it makes the interop dll when you compile it would a way around it be able to see what version of MapInfo is running, if the interop file is missing or a different version to whats already there, re-create the interop file to match the current version of MapInfo on the machine. I read somewhere that you can do this pretty easily. I only say this because I could compile my code right now and it would work. So this would create the interop file for the newer version of MapInfo and everything will be happy

This is from JIT debugger. I compiled it at home last night using an earlier version than I have at work, so don't want to recompile it here...generally you would assume backward compatibilty. ************** Exception Text ************** System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80040154): Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {BA2638EB-CB99-4908-9915-771E04BBB7D3} failed due to the following error: 80040154. at Test.Forms.frmMain.frmMain_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\*********\Forms\frmMain.cs:line 30 at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) In the bin folder, it creates a file Interop.MapInfo.dll. I am guessing this is specific to the installed version of MapInfo on the machine it is being compiled on. When I reference the exe, I tried changing the CopyLocal option to false, but my program crashes then. The line 30 the error is referring to is where I create a new object for MapInfo so I can start using it in my program.

Its software to perform mapping, GIS to be specific. I should of explained about the exteranl software a bit more. The software is called MapInfo, most people wouldn't know about it unless in the GIS industry. The reason why I am using it in my program is to allow a customised interface and tools. When you load MapInfo into your application, it creates an instance of the software but runs silently in the background on your pc - you can see it running in the processess list. Therefore you are pretty much taking MapInfo and embedding it into your own application and have full access to its functionality. I build the gui side of things that will give better access to any viewers/tools/editors. They are a worldwide company and they won't change it just for 1 person developing on top of their software in this way. That is why they allow you to embed their program and utilise it this way, so you can alter it, make it perform differently or add your own custom tools.

I started running into problems at work when I wrote a program which references to another piece of commercial software...I will it call ProgramX. The problem is that we have about 4 different versions of ProgramX, so of course when I compile the program I wrote which references the latest version of ProgramX, it works fine on my machine. But when someone else tries to run my program and has an older version of ProgramX, my program will throw an error and stop working. I also tried compiling it using an old version of ProgramX, but it seems like you can only run my program on a machine with the same version of ProgramX as it was compiled on. ProgramX is always installed to the same path, same file name, same everything. Not much changes between versions, just some new added features which doesn't alter the internal workings of it. Is there a way to get .Net code to ignore this versioning problem and allow my program to run properly? I am accessing ProgramX via COM and work won't upgrade ProgramX to all the same versions. There is too much cost involved in doing this and only the people who use it regulary get the new versions. Steve

By default, express editions dont have the options to build in debug or release. Tool -> Options then make sure Show all settings is ticked at the bottom. Then go to the Projects and Solutions treenode and there is an option Show advanced build configuations. Turn that on and OK the options dialog. Now you have the drop down box enabled with the build mode next to the Run arrow.

The place I work for hands out equipment according to your pay scale. I got a new computer the other week. They told me this was a test pc they got from their pc supplier and no one else had one to these specs yet. My 3 year old home pc is still better than it. They will give a secretary a high end pc and someone who needs a fast pc misses out because of their 4 year replacemnet cycle on desktops. So with my pc at wok, it will be 7 year old technology by the time it comes around to replace. A couple of us do have 21" lcds which im not complaining about, but with Dell bringing out bigger and cheaper monitors all the time, it won't be long before the lcd I have becomes old technology. I have the 24" widescreen dell at home and would never go any smaller. Same goes with keyboards at work. We all get the $10 version while the higher paid people get an ergonomic one. And our chairs, might as well bring in a milk crate to sit on. But saying all that, I get on pretty good with the IT guys there so I know how to 'break' the equipment to get something newer. By the way, we still run Win2000. We plan on upgrading to XP around the same time Vista is released. Shows how far behind we really are.

Im running a 3.2GHz, 1gb memory and 128mb graphics card. Seems to boot up the same speed as XP. The only thing I found with performance was the redrawing of windows on your desktop, sometimes that got a bit slow and annoying. The menu system will take a little whie to get use to, but luckily they have 'Classic View' everywhere in case you can't find something in their new layout. I was looking for the 3D rotating windows as you see on their website. Can't find it so I guess its not implemented yet. Think I skimmed by something when installing it that not many graphics cards will have this ability so they are using DirectX for now. Installation was pretty easy, easier than XP. But then again, this is BETA so maybe when the proper release comes out there will be more installation options. Took a while to install compared to XP, but Vista is on a DVD not a regular CD. They have taken so many ideas from Linux. Just open Explorer and you will see this. Click on a file and you can have a preview pane of the contents of it, not your tiny little thumbnails like in XP. One cool thing I noticed with the dual boot. If you go into XP, C:\ is the drive where ur xp is and vista is D:\, go into Vista, C:\ is where ur vista files and xp is D:\.

So I downloaded all 3.2GB of Vista today and installed it on a 2nd partition on my pc. Few buggy things that I still have to fix to get XP back up and running. Should of searched the net first before I installed it, a few tricks to get it done right, but anyways. All seems to be running pretty smoothly, no sound though, creative havn't made vista drivers yet. I then run a program I have been working on in .Net 2. Was a bit of a shock, controls are all different colours, although some controls look pretty good in vista. Going by that, I think most programs will need a lot of work done to make them look good. Will have to try and install a few other things, see how they go. Has anyone else install this yet? And what problems have they come across so far. I've only had it running for a few hours now and nothing has crashed.

Usually when I create a program that has icons in it, I embed all the icons into the executable. And when I need them, just pull them out of the assembly. I am just wondering what is the best way to handle this. Embed all icons/images into the app and then apply it to the buttons or wherever I need them manually when the control loads or by doing it at design time with image lists or just setting the image to the control. I guess imagelists embed the icons anyway but to only the size you specify. Where the icon will have several different icons sizes in the file, so you can use it at any size that is available and avoid any loss in quality if you decide you want an image from the imagelist to be drawn larger than it was originally set to. Any comments or thoughts would be great.

My program loads forms into the main form of the application. These forms are loaded from Class Library projects. The forms in the DLL's have text boxes on them so, in the closing event I do a check to see if any values differ from the database and then put up a message box to give the user a chance to save. It works fine when I close the DLL form. Problem I am having is when you close the app using the close icon on the main form, it disregards the DLL forms closing event and closes the whole thing. How can I intercept this? Since I can't set a value back to the main app using a dll (or can I?) without using proper plugin design.

Has anyone been able to send an email successfully in any of the 2005 Express editions? I have all the code correct as per their own samples, but the problem I am getting is that the email won't actually send until I fully quit from my application. I hit my send button and nothing happens, but once i close the program, good old norton pops up and scans it and sends it away. Just curious if anybody else has played around with this.

I have found most Try-Catch's will freeze the app while in debug build. Once you build it in release, its fine.

For Each itm In strMin If itm.StartsWith(":GA:") Then MainApp.minCombo.Items.Add(itm.Substring(4)) End If Next