Entries for BitFlipper

Is there a better way to write this Enum extension method? [Is there a better way to write this Enum extension method?]

BitFlipper — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:15:01 GMT

So I got really tired of writing the following type of code:

[code language=""]if ((enumValue & MyEnum.Foo) != 0)
{
}
[/code]

...or even worse, the suggested way of doing this:

[code language=""]if ((enumValue & MyEnum.Foo) == MyEnum.Foo)
{
}
[/code]

This gets especially tiresome and error prone if you need to check for complex flag combinations. So I thought that maybe an extension method might make it easier, but the best I could come up with so far is:

[code language=""]public static bool HasAnyOf(this Enum thisEnum, Enum flags)
{
    return (thisEnum.GetHashCode() & flags.GetHashCode()) != 0;
}

public static bool HasAllOf(this Enum thisEnum, Enum flags)
{
    int flagsValue = flags.GetHashCode();
    return (thisEnum.GetHashCode() & flagsValue) == flagsValue;
}
[/code]

Now you can simply write:

[code language=""]if ((enumValue.HasAnyOf(MyEnum.Foo))
{
}
[/code]

Doesn't seem much easier but as I said when you start needing to check for complex combinations, the code becomes cleaner and easier to follow. But those extension methods have some problems:

Relying on GetHashCode is a bit of a hack and isn't guaranteed to give the actual value of the enum. Or is it?
How fast is calling GetHashCode vs casting to a int?
While the value you passed into the extension method has to be an Enum, there is no type checking to ensure it is the same type of enum as the one that the call is made on.

Any suggestions to improve this?

in reply to Is there a better way to write this Enum extension method?

DllExport as opposed to DllImport in C# [DllExport as opposed to DllImport in C#]

BitFlipper — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:11:00 GMT

I am working on a C# 3.5 plugin that is used by an unmanaged C++ host application. This C++ application is a 3rd party commercial application and I don't have the source code to it.

Anyway, I have the plugin working using a managed C++ helper DLL that handles all of the unmanaged to managed API calls. My plugin has a managed UI that is embedded into a native window that is supplied by the unmanaged application. I use NativeWindow to do this.

But now I have run into a problem where I can't get Drag & Drop to work. This has something to do with COM not being initialized or something, and I am looking at ways to solve this.

Anyway, that is not the main reason I'm here. I heard rumors that there could be an easier way to do something like this in C# 4.0. Is this true? Ideally, it would be something like:

[DllExport]

private static void MyMethod(...)

{

...

}

So what happens is that the method is exported so that it becomes visible as a C entry point using the same marshalling features that DllImport gives you. This way I can write my plugin as a single C# DLL that exposes C entry points. Hopefully it will also do proper COM initialization etc.

Does anyone know if something like this is forthcoming in C# 4.0?

in reply to DllExport as opposed to DllImport in C#

How to determine word breaks when rendering custom text in .Net 2.0? [How to determine word breaks when rendering custom text in .Net 2.0?]

BitFlipper — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:25:26 GMT

Hi,

I have a control that renders custom text, and I also implemented a word break algorithm. It works fine, but then of course I found that languages like Chinese and Japanese have more complex word break rules so I am looking for a way to make use of existing word break algorithms while still rendering my own text.

Basically, I have a long string of text, and a maximum pixel width that the text can occupy. I need to call into a method that returns the number of characters that would fit, given the font, etc.

Does anyone know of a way to do that using what is available in .Net 2.0?

in reply to How to determine word breaks when rendering custom text in .Net 2.0?

Silly question: Why is there no "binary" integer constant specifier? [Silly question: Why is there no "binary" integer constant specifier?]

BitFlipper — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:02:10 GMT

I have a situation where I need to create many enum values that have very specific, non sequential binary patterns. You have decimal, hex and octal notation, but why no plain old binary notation?

I can do this:

public enum MyCodes

{

x = 0x80FA,

...

}

But I can't do something like:

public enum MyCodes

{

x = 0b110110110,

...

}

It seems like an oversight to me. Yes this is not needed often, and I can manually convert to hex for each of my values, but it seems you'd need binary way before you would ever need octal, yet there is no binary notation.

Am I missing something?

in reply to Silly question: Why is there no "binary" integer constant specifier?

Why the slow tab opening in IE? [Why the slow tab opening in IE?]

BitFlipper — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:08:21 GMT

At work IE8 opens a new tab extremely slowly when middle-clicking on a link. I am talking anything from 7 seconds to 25 seconds. During this time, IE is completely frozen. I looked at proxy settings, etc, but can't find anything that causes this. I did disable all plugins but it made no difference. FF opens the same links very quickly.

At home I don't have this problem with IE8.

Any ideas?

in reply to Why the slow tab opening in IE?

Zune Pass + iPhone? [Zune Pass + iPhone?]

BitFlipper — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:41 GMT

I have no idea if this is possible at all, but is there any way to use songs from Zune on an iPhone? I am never going to pay per song ever again, and I am thinking of getting an iPhone (ugh) and was wondering if I could use both together.

Is this even possible?

in reply to Zune Pass + iPhone?

Why can't MS create a new browser based on .Net? [Why can't MS create a new browser based on .Net?]

BitFlipper — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:40:33 GMT

Just curious:

Why can't MS create a new browser from scratch based purely on .Net? The current browser is enough of an embarrassment that it would serve them well to release something new that is:

As standards compliant as possible (yes, even pass the stupid Acid tests 100%)
Secure. Using .Net will give them a lot of security out of the box. There is your sandbox right there. You need to try really hard to create an insecure app with .Net
Fast*
Have a good plug-in API. Using .Net will allow much easier plugin development, including being able to force plugins to be secure. No untrusted code. No memory leaks from badly written plugins. No invalid memory access, corrupted memory, etc.

*Note, I say "fast", because even though .Net apps will always be slightly slower than native apps, the overhead is not that much, and currently IE is roughly 20 times slower than the competition in some places, so creating something newer that is faster than what we have now should be possible with a well designed, well implemented .Net version.

And don't tell me they can't afford it. Yes, this would be a monumental task, but IE is one of MS' apps that are quite visible to the public , the press and end users. It is hurting their image. Putting resources into developing a better IE should be a high priority I believe.

Thoughts?

in reply to Why can't MS create a new browser based on .Net?

Question about VS 2005 Setup Project (MSI installer) [Question about VS 2005 Setup Project (MSI installer)]

BitFlipper — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:55:29 GMT

Hi,

I asked this question (which I thought was a pretty basic question) over at the MSDN forums but didn't get any response. Maybe someone over here can be more helpful...

I have a VS 2005 C# project that I install using a Setup Project in VS 2005 (MSI installer). I need to create a folder within my app's install folder that contains many hundreds of smaller files, organized in subfolders. These files are not part of any build process. I want to tell the installer project to deploy all of the contained files (including subfolders) during the install (and remove them during uninstall). So far the only way I found to do this is to manually add every single file to the installer project. This is very time consuming, and files can be added/removed at various times during the app developement cycle, so this is very error-prone as I might miss some files.

So how do I tell the installer to include the folder, and automatically include all contained files/subfolders? It would be OK to create one zipped file beforehand, and let the installer unzip it at install time into the correct folder, but my initial search on how to do this basically ended when I found that there are licensing issues with zipped files, and it is just something I don't want to get into. What about a cab file? Would that be possible? Sorry, I am rather new at using Setup Projects.

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

in reply to Question about VS 2005 Setup Project (MSI installer)

Stupid question: How do I format code in a post? [Stupid question: How do I format code in a post?]

BitFlipper — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:40:05 GMT

I know it must be simple but I can't figure out how to format code in a post.

Anyone?

in reply to Stupid question: How do I format code in a post?

A question for anyone that has used the latest IE 8 RC [A question for anyone that has used the latest IE 8 RC]

BitFlipper — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:17:10 GMT

I have a question about some IE7 functionality that has been removed in IE8 Beta, and I'd like to see if anyone can verify whether it has been restored in IE8 RC or not.

I am talking about the "Open new tabs next to current tab" option that was present in IE7, but not IE8. And I am not talking about tab grouping because it does not work the same way. Even with grouping enabled, new tabs will eventually be opened somewhere to the right, which annoys me so much that I'm finally dumping IE if that feature has been permanently removed. I tried to get used to the IE8 way of doing it but I can't.

Can anyone confirm whether this functinality has been restored?

Thanks in advance.

in reply to A question for anyone that has used the latest IE 8 RC

How do I uninstall IE 8 Beta 2? [How do I uninstall IE 8 Beta 2?]

BitFlipper — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:01:38 GMT

How do I uninstall IE 8 Beta 2?

I am tired of the crashing, hanging, inability to open new tabs right next to the current tab (no, grouping is not the same thing). IE 8 is not listed in the Add/Remove programs list. How do I revert back to IE 7?

in reply to How do I uninstall IE 8 Beta 2?

Is it just me... [Is it just me...]

BitFlipper — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:20:10 GMT

...or is this C9 website exceedingly buggy? Some things I have noticed:

1) I can only expand comments on the first page. On the second and later pages, they no longer expand when they are clicked.
2) It often doesn't want to refresh. Sometimes after I refresh a page, the page freezes and I need to end-task IE8 to get control back.
3) Sometimes when I want to comment, the editing control does not appear.
4) And a raft of other issues, too numerous to list.

What is up with that? My connection is fast and no other websites cause similar issues.

in reply to Is it just me...

Question about IE8 tabs [Question about IE8 tabs]

BitFlipper — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:16:40 GMT

I have a question about IE8 Beta 2 tabs:

In IE7, you had the option to open new tabs right next to the current tab. In IE8 that option has been removed and new tabs open all the way to the right (or within the same "group": useless in my case). Now some people have commented that they prefer it that way, but why take away the option to choose between the two modes? The way I browse, I open multiple new tabs from the same page by middle-clicking with the mouse. Lets say I do a search on Google. I scan down the page and middle-click on all interesting looking results. In IE7, all the new tabs were nicely grouped to the right of the current tab. Now, if I have many tabs open, the new tab gets lost all the way to the right, and I have to scroll to the new tab, view it, close it and then try to find my original starting tab again somewhere to the left. Really annoying.

And yes, I know about tab groups, but I found them to be useless for me because often times all the new tabs I open come from the same general site, which means they are all in the same group. I even turned grouping off and it still opens new tabs all the way to the right.

Is there maybe a plugin that will restore this functionality in IE8?

in reply to Question about IE8 tabs

Best subscription music service? [Best subscription music service?]

BitFlipper — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:48:09 GMT

Hi,

I used to use Urge subscription, but since they were converted to Rhapsody I absolutely hate it. Any suggestions for other good subscription services that would work with a 30GB Zen Vision:M?

BTW, I don't want this to turn into a flame fest. We all have our preferences. I used both pay-as-you-go and all-you-can-eat subscription services, and I would never use a non-subscription service again. If I did I would need to pay thousands of dollars for the amounts of songs I listen to. So no-one is going to convince me that subscription services are not a good idea. Plus, I can still "own" a song if I wanted to by paying the $0.99 if I really really wanted to.

Phew, now that that is out of the way, any suggestions?

in reply to Best subscription music service?

Vista marketshare increasing [Vista marketshare increasing]

BitFlipper — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:23:04 GMT

Looks like Vista's marketshare is steadily increasing (note the latest numbers are at the bottom). The interesting thing is though how OS X marketshare has been declining the last month. Odd.

Also interesting to note how Windows XP share dropped ever so slightly (-0.08%). You would think it would lose share to Vista, but instead it looks like OS X is losing share to Vista (when you combine both Intel and non-Intel Macs).

in reply to Vista marketshare increasing

Anyone know how to disable INDIVIDUAL balloon tips? [Anyone know how to disable INDIVIDUAL balloon tips?]

BitFlipper — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:51:39 GMT

I am so sick and tired of useless balloon tips. I know about the registry tweak to disable ALL balloon tips, but there are a few that I think are vital so I don't want to go that far.

Specifically, I am sick of the balloon tip telling me that not all of my Start Menu items fit on the Start menu, and helpfully suggests that I increase my (already maxed) screen resolution (duh!). I did not add any additional Start menu items myself, and I already increased the size of the Start menu to go all the way to the top. So what the hell else am I supposed to do about it?

Next, I hate being told repeatedly that "Live OneCare Update: Live OneCare is up to date". Gee thanks for telling me that bit of useless info. Over and over again.

This is especially annoying since I have the Start menu set to auto hide. When one of these useless notifications pop up, it unhides the task bar and keeps it displayed until I manually close the balloon tip. Arrggg!!!!

in reply to Anyone know how to disable INDIVIDUAL balloon tips?

Just for emet, corona_coder and ilk... [Just for emet, corona_coder and ilk...]

BitFlipper — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:33:52 GMT

It should be interesting to see how emet, corona_coder and ilk scratch their heads over this one and then explain to us what is really going on, seeing how they have been telling us that the opposite was really happening.

Oopsie poo...

Now what?

in reply to Just for emet, corona_coder and ilk...

Can you mix WinForms 1.1 and WinForms 2.0? [Can you mix WinForms 1.1 and WinForms 2.0?]

BitFlipper — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:30:53 GMT

I know that the answer is probably NO, but who knows, there might be a way. Let me explain why I need this to work:

Let's say I have a "plugin" architecture, where you have an app that can display various different views of different objects. It is a relatively simple architecture. It exposes a Control that the plugin uses as a parent container to display its own controls. This way, you can add DLLs that contain new functionality that is added to the main app later.

But, the main app is written using .Net 1.1, and the plugin DLL is written in .Net 2.0. So, when it comes time to display the plugin's controls, it gets a version 1.1 control to use as its parent container, and it needs to populate it with its own version 2.0 controls.

Is it possible to make this work?

BTW, the main app cannot be converted to 2.0 (I don't have any control over this part). That would be ideal, but it is not possible. And the plugin code has already been written in 2.0, and would be a pain to convert back to 1.1. This is a "mashup" of two different projects.

EDIT: I just want to clarify. The two projects will still be developed separately on VS 2003 and VS 2005. I am not trying to make VS 2005 compile both, just make the two separate projects work together at runtime.

BitFlipper

in reply to Can you mix WinForms 1.1 and WinForms 2.0?

Can I upgrade an OEM version of Vista? [Can I upgrade an OEM version of Vista?]

BitFlipper — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:50:11 GMT

Hi,

If I buy a laptop with an OEM version of Vista Business on it, can I do the online upgrade (or CD upgrade) to Vista Ultimate, or is that only for boxed versions?

Thanks in advance for any info on this!

BitFlipper

in reply to Can I upgrade an OEM version of Vista?

New C# feature suggestion: Named Parameters [New C# feature suggestion: Named Parameters]

BitFlipper — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:02:07 GMT

I have been thinking of a new way to implement method parameters that would make the life of a programmer much easier. I am not an expert in a lot of other languages and this might already exist in other languages, but either way, I think it could be helpful.

Pros:

No need for overloaded methods any more (one method to rule them all)
Any parameter can have a default value
When making method calls, parameters can be ordered in any way that makes sense
You can instantly see what each parameter does, instead of a nameless list of parameters
Add new parameters to an existing method without the need to update any previous calls to the same method
Backwards compatible with previous calling mechanism. No need to change any of your old code, even for methods that use the new mechanism (because you can still have a formal list of paramters just like before)

Cons:

Calls are more verbose

How does it work? Simple. Any local stack variable can have a modifier that makes that variable available within the parameter list.

EDIT: Note that the below declarations are in the body of the method, not the parameter list

Before:
int someValue;

After:
param int someValue;

By adding "param" in front of the variable, I indicate that I want to use the variable in the parameter list of the method. If I don't give the variable a default value, then I have to have the variable in the parameter list. If I do specify a default value, then I don't have to have the variable in the parameter list.

Here is an example of how a DrawString method might look:

public void DrawString(string text, Point point)
{
   param Color textColor = this.ForeColor;
   param Font font = this.Font;
   param string formatString = null;
   ...
   ...
}

Note that the first two parameters follow the previous mechanism where they are required paramters in the order specified. The "param" parameters inside the method body are optional parameters and can be used in any order.

I can now call the method like this:

   graphics.DrawString(“Hello World”, new Point(50, 100));

or

   graphics.DrawString(“Hello World”, new Point(50, 100), textColor = Color.Red);

or

   graphics.DrawString(“Hello World”, new Point(50, 100), textColor = Color.Red, font = new Font(this.Font.FontFamily, 12.0));

etc…

What do you guys think?

BitFlipper

PS: Sorry about the bad formatting

in reply to New C# feature suggestion: Named Parameters

Why didn't they call it Xune? [Why didn't they call it Xune?]

BitFlipper — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:04:32 GMT

Just having some random thoughts, but were wondering why MS didn't call the Zune, "Xune" instead. But still pronounced "Zune".

It fits in better with XBox, DirectX, etc logo branding. Kinda like "Tune", but with the X-branding...

BitFlipper

in reply to Why didn't they call it Xune?