mutant

Cast the child's MdiParent property to the Parent's type and then you can easily use its methods.

Sorry I got the words mixed, I should have said SurfaceLoader. :)

You can save a surface to a file by using the TextureLoader's Save method. Add a reference to Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX and it should be available in the Direct3D namespace.

Use: Me.Handle.ToInt32()

Why would you want to preserve anything in the array that is getting completely emptied? But that aside, you can redim it to -1 if you want to set its capacity to 0. To convert an Arraylist to an array use its ToArray method.

You don't instantinate an array but rather its contents. You can do something like this: cells(1) = New XlCell() After you declare your array.

As far as I know you would be breaking the EULA by redistributing applications made with the Express beta.

Now why in the world would you want VB.NET code to be backwards compatibile with VB6? :) You are not thinking about "porting" programs to VB6 are you? ;)

This depends on how much of the file you want to read. If you want to read the whole file then use the StreamReader's ReadToEnd() method, if you want a line then use the ReadLine() method, etc. If you are using INI files, you might want to take a look at this useful set of classes for working with INI files: http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/VbNetClassIniFile.asp

Because noone will do your work for you, without you at least trying to do it. People are generous enough to even look at your post using their free time so you should have some respect. With that attitude you the only way you will get this done is if you pay somebody.

I would suggest running the Knoppix distribution first to see if you really want to run Linux after using Windows for a long time. Knoppix is a special distribution that runs of a bootable cd and doesn't require any kind of installation, and may prove to be a great way to see what Linux is all about.

You are calling the drawing routine during the Form's load event, when none of the controls is yet visible. When they do become visible, they will be redrawn in their original appearance since GDI+ does not keep the drawn modifications on controls. Try drawing on your control when the form is visible. But even then, if the control needs to be redrawn, it will loose any appearance modifications, so the best way to keep something drawn on the form/control is to draw it in the Paint event of the object.

You are trying to modify (delete in this case) the collection while it is being enumerated, which is not possible because it will mess up the enumeration process. Those keywords you just mentioned explain very well why there was an exception thrown :).

You are referring to Visual Studio .NET right? The minimum memory req. depends on what OS you are running. WinXP Pro minimum is 160mb, WinXP Home is 96mb, Win2000 Pro is 96mb, Win2003 is 160mb. While those numbers might be helpful, I can easily say from experience having the minimal hardware will bring you an experience which will leave much to desire. You have an amount of memory that meets those requirements but not by much. I would recommend upgrading your memory, not only for VS.NET (with such a big project), but for the sake of overall improvement in your computer's performance.

You can reference DLLs from the .NET Global Assembly Cache. Google for that or GAC (short for Global Assembly Cache :)) and you will get a lot of examples that deal with that.

This might be just me, but I would create a separate class with all the needed objects exposed as static or instanced as needed, instead of making the MDI parent form a container for all that. :)

Talking about me :) ? I don't think DirectX needs its own category right now, but it certainly is getting closer to that point. I think we need to base our main categories on what seems to be a popular/important topic. Managed DirectX is certainly getting more and more popular amongst developers. There is more and more tutorials, more and more engines popping out, etc. So in my opinion, sometimes soon it might be a good idea to make Managed DirectX its own forum. Also one more thing, for now I think it would be a good idea to change the name of the subforum from "DirectX" to "Managed DirectX" to prevent one-time posters posting questions about "normal" (:)) DirectX, which happened a few times. It is not that I don't like unmanaged DirectX but most of people that frequent this forum want to discuss Managed DirectX, which after all is the .NET way.

You just have to live with the facts :), or wait and see if they will be added in the next version. You could get get something equivalent to: MyFlags |= Flags.Type5 As in: MyFlags += Flags.Type5 But only if you turned off Option Strict and we know you don't want to do that :).

You should really think about using interfaces to expose the functionality of your scripts instead of CallByName. Look for an article about this in the Tutor's Corner subforum.

Managed C++ is able to use the .NET Framework, while "pure" or unmanaged C++ uses its standard libraries.

Search for tutorials on shaders/HLSL. This will give you the desired effects.

I can't test this right now, but try not to clear the ZBuffer since you are not using one. Change the third argument in the device.Clear() call to 0.0F.

If you use anything other than Hardware you are pretty much set for ultra low FPS. Additionally Reference device is not available in the End User runtime, but only in Debug runtime.

You can find the the Product ID by going to the help menu and then clicking About Microsoft Dev. Env.

I never worked with either, so sorry I can't help you. But just for aside from your question, C# can be used as a scripting language too.