Entries for OrigamiCar

Windows 7 64 bit - wireless N USB Network card - anyone got one working? [Windows 7 64 bit - wireless N USB Network card - anyone got one working?]

OrigamiCar — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:22:27 GMT

Hi everyone,

I realise this is more a question for the Windows 7 forums, but I thought I'd throw it out here to the niners first.
Has anyone managed to get Windows 7 64 bit version working with a wireless 'N' USB adaptor yet? If so, which adapter?

I've tried two different adapters here- a Dlink DWA130 and a Netgear WNDA1300, but neither of them work.
Inserting either into the PC, instead of the usual USB connected sound, I get three dings instead and in device manager I'm seeing 'USB2.0 WLan' in Other Devices Tab.
I've tried using the Microsoft Generic USB 802.11a/b/g/n driver that comes with Windows 7, but the thing just hangs when trying to install the driver. Microsoft also provide a driver for the D-Link DWA130 adaptor, but it's for the B revision not the A revision that I have and it doesn't work.

Darned annoying! So can anyone confirm any other USB N adapters that they have managed to get working?

I really hope Microsoft does more to get 64 bit supported in hardware drivers for Windows 7 - requiring a 64 bit driver in order to qualify for Windows Certification would be a good step if they haven't already thought of that...

in reply to Windows 7 64 bit - wireless N USB Network card - anyone got one working?

Windows 7 SKU's announced - MS learned nothing from Vista mess... [Windows 7 SKU's announced - MS learned nothing from Vista mess...]

OrigamiCar — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:09:41 GMT

Seems Microsoft have announced which different SKU's Windows 7 will have:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/windows-7-skus-announced-yes-your-worst-nightmare-has-come-to/

Looks like home basic is going to be only for emerging markets (good), but for crying out loud, STILL no remote desktop with the home skus??
So, once again, one of the main compelling reasons to have a Windows Home server in the house (the ability to remote into any desktop on the home network from outside) still falters because the home SKU's don't have the very thing that WHS needs to perform this function.. Most 'normal' users don't run the pro or ultimate SKU's of Vista/Win 7, they stick with the home OS that Dell puts on the machine.

Do MS's teams not talk to each other or something? Or is the WHS team going to address this?

in reply to Windows 7 SKU's announced - MS learned nothing from Vista mess...

Any hints yet on VS 2010/.net 4 CTP or BETA release date? [Any hints yet on VS 2010/.net 4 CTP or BETA release date?]

OrigamiCar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:15:07 GMT

Hi all,

Just wondering if there's been any information or hints yet about potential release dates for either a CTP or BETA release of Visual studio 2010 and .net framework 4.0?
Now that Windows 7 Beta 1 is out, I'm chomping at the bit to do some multitouch development experiments on my HP Touchsmart computer (have already installed win 7 and the multitouch driver for it).
As I'm a managed coding type of guy, that means WPF and the System.Windows.Input.Touchpoint/TouchPointCollection namespaces in .net 4.0.
I know there's a VPC image of early CTP available here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=922B4655-93D0-4476-BDA4-94CF5F8D4814&displaylang=en which is the same VPC image we got at PDC but it doesn't come on a Win 7 OS so it's not much use to me.

Not really bothered about specific dates, just want to know if we are weeks or months away from an installable CTP/BETA.
We're seeing quite a few new videos on Channel 9 for vs.net 2010, so I'm guessing there may be something coming soon, but I've not seen any information confirming/denying this.

Thanks all!

in reply to Any hints yet on VS 2010/.net 4 CTP or BETA release date?

Any TFS gurus? Need help with 'Completed Work'. [Any TFS gurus? Need help with 'Completed Work'.]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:59:44 GMT

I've posted this over on the TFS MSDN forums, but I thought I'd ask here as well as some devs frequent this forum more than the MSDN ones.

We're using a customized version of MSF for Agile on our TFS server.
There's something I'm obviously missing though...

When setting up a task, we give it an estimated number of hours, which is mapped to 'Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.BaselineWork'.
When a developer has worked on that task, he increases the 'Completed Work (hours)' field which is mapped to 'Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.CompletedWork'. However, he/she must manually remember to decrease the 'Remaining work (hours)' field.

I don't get it, why isn't the remaining work hours field simply a calculation of Baseline - Completed?
Does anyone know a way to acheive this - ie, whenever the 'completed hours' field is changed, calculate and enter the value of Remaining hours? If that's possible to do, then I can mark that field as read only.
I'm thinking it may be possible to do by using the Work Item Editor and modifying the 'workflow' steps? Unfortunately, this is the one area of the WIT editor that I'm still shaky on.

Many thanks.
Richard.

in reply to Any TFS gurus? Need help with 'Completed Work'.

PDC Attendees - can win7 be installed/activated on two pc's? [PDC Attendees - can win7 be installed/activated on two pc's?]

OrigamiCar — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:40:36 GMT

Just back from PDC and I'm about to install some of the goods.
I wanted to ask if it's possible to install and activate Windows 7 on two pc's or do we just get one activation?
I want to install on my touchsmart to try out the multitouch stuff, but I'd also like to install it on my spare laptop as well.
Has anyone tried this yet? or are we limited to one activation? If so, is there a way to request another install code?

I realise I could install on a second pc and not activate, but I'd prefer it if I can activate both.

in reply to PDC Attendees - can win7 be installed/activated on two pc's?

Install updates then shut down - why? [Install updates then shut down - why?]

OrigamiCar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:39:57 GMT

Afternoon all,

I'm here, trying to get a new TFS server setup properly and I've come across a wierdness in Windows that I don't understand. I'm using remote desktop to administer the server from my own desktop.
My server has some updates applied to it and wants a reboot. If I go to the shutdown menu, I can see (among the other choices) 'Install Updates and then shut down'.
Instead I chosse 'restart', but guess what, when the server comes up, it doesn't install the updates! Instead the shutdown menu still shows 'Install the updates and then shutdown'.

My question is why the flip isn't there a 'Install the updates and then reboot' option??!
This is a server in my company datacenter, which fortunately for me is in the same building, but it does mean I have to physically walk upstairs to hit the power button to turn it back on again. What would people do if they didn't have physical access to the machine easily??

Now I think about it, I'm pretty sure I have seen similar behaviour with vista client desktops, where updates are applied, but you have to install updates then shut down - instead of just being able to reboot.

What am I missing here? Why is it done this way?

in reply to Install updates then shut down - why?

Stuff we'd love to see in the next version of Visual Studio [Stuff we'd love to see in the next version of Visual Studio]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:18:50 GMT

This post on a new feature coming in the next version of vs.net got me thinking...

What other stuff would you love to see in the next version?

Here's my top few things that would make my development process and code maintainance easier:

1. Sort methods alphabetically
I'd love to be able to select classes/forms code etc in the solution explorer and choose 'sort alphabetically'. Bonus points if you could configure it to sort be access type (public, protected/friend, private then alphabetically.

2. Remove unused references

3. Find unused imports/usings within classes

3. Find unused public/protected methods so they can be removed easily

4. Find unused usercontrols (winforms and webusercontrols), find unused classes within the solution.
We have a large asp.net site and some controls get retired but we forget which ones don't get instanced in the site. Would love to get a list of unused controls generated so we can pull them out.

I realise that most of this stuff can be done with third party addins, but it would be nice if vs.net itself were able to do this.

What would you like to see?

in reply to Stuff we'd love to see in the next version of Visual Studio

Your Windows License will expire in 0 hours... :-O [Your Windows License will expire in 0 hours... :-O]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:51:58 GMT

Hey all,

Firstly - some background, I am not a Vista hater. Infact, I have used Vista since the RTM hit MSDN over a year ago and have had zero problems with it....

...until just now.
There I was, merrily playing Battlefield 2 (I rarely play games but had an hour to spare or so) when all of a sudden, BF2 minimized and I got a system popup from Vista saying something along the lines of:

"Your Windows license will expire in 0 hours.
Make sure you backup your files ... blah blah"

This scared me somewhat as I have had Vista ultimate installed on this PC for over 12 months and it has definately been activated. First thing I do is check to make sure that it is still activated and it is, so I guess I'm okay.

My question is, where did that message come from and why??! I'm pretty much of the opinion that it's a false positive, but imagine if someone who is just a user were to get something similar - they'd be panicing. I haven't changed any hardware recently and as I said, Windows is definately activated.

Yowza.

in reply to Your Windows License will expire in 0 hours... :-O

PDC 2008 - who's going? [PDC 2008 - who's going?]

OrigamiCar — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:36:36 GMT

I've just got approval for myself and two of my guys to attend PDC in LA. Can't wait - haven't been to one for quite a few years.

Who else is going?

in reply to PDC 2008 - who's going?

Something broke my TFS explorer last night. [Something broke my TFS explorer last night.]

OrigamiCar — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:54:40 GMT

Hi all,

When I finished work last night, I had three instances of Visual Studio open - everything saved, but just didn't close down.

This morning I come in to find that there were Vista updates overnight and my machine has rebooted (slightly annoying, but my bad for leaving apps open and nothing lost because everything was saved).

However, there's something wrong. In my Pending Changes window for TFS, I can no longer filter files by solution - the button is totally greyed out....
This applies to VS.net 2005 and 2008 and it was all working before I left.

I've tried all the usual stuff - rebooting, closing and reopening projects/solutions, but nothing is bringing it back, the button consistently remains disabled.

My next step is to try reinstalling the TFS explorer tools which I'm going to try now.

Has anyone else noticed something similar recently? I'm wondering if the windows update stuff is just a coincidence or not.

My specs are Vista x32 ultimate, vs.net 2005 and 2008 with each editions TFS explorer, all service packed. TFS Server is 2005.

in reply to Something broke my TFS explorer last night.

Ignore (sorry!) [Ignore (sorry!)]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:31:28 GMT

oops - sorry, please ignore (posting problem!)

in reply to Ignore (sorry!)

Recommendations for .msi creation tool? [Recommendations for .msi creation tool?]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:49:55 GMT

Hi all,

It's been a few years since I've had to use any tools to create .msi installations for projects I've worked on, but I now have an upcoming project where I'm going to have to dive back in to this.

What are your recommendations for .msi installer creation tools these days?
I used to use Wise (never got on with Installshield from 3 or 4 years ago - too many bugs), but I'm wondering if there are newer/better kids on the block now?
My project needs something a little more powerful than vs.nets install tool provides, and clickonce isn't suitable for this particualar app.

Basically, I'm looking at creating an installer that has 2 or 3 applications in it, offer up custom install options etc. Nothing too horrendous, but not default easy either. Oh, the apps are .net apps if that matters.

Just interested in what people are using these days, before I go and dig out my really old copy of wise!

Thanks!
Richard.

in reply to Recommendations for .msi creation tool?

.NET Question: Problem with databinding in own custom generic objects. [.NET Question: Problem with databinding in own custom generic objects.]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:12:47 GMT

Hi All,

I've run into a problem and I thought I'd throw it open to some people more clever than I!

Basically I have created my own 'ConfigKeys' object that under the hood uses a Generic List(of ConfigKey) to do the datastore.
I have a vb.net UI, with a datagridview that uses my object as a datasource.

My problem is that if I add a new ConfigKey to the ConfigKeys list using my object model, the datagridview doesn't show the newly added item, even if I call datagridview.refresh.

Here's some pseudo VB.net code:

private function doAdd()
   oUser.ConfigKeys.add(new ConfigKey("name","value")
   datagridView1.refresh()
end function

The wierd thing is that if I put a breakpoint on the line after the refresh() and query the oUserConfig keys count, it's correct, but the datagridgridview.rows count is 1 less.
The only way I've gotten the grid to update is to disconnect the datasource and reconnect it...

private function doAdd()
   oUser.ConfigKeys.add(new ConfigKey("test","key", "etc")
   datagridView1.datasource = nothing
   datagridView1.datasource = oUser.ConfigKeys()
end function

The grid is still definately connected to the datasource - if I change one of the config keys through the configKeys model, then the grid will show the changes.
I'm guessing there's something I need to do in my object model to tell any databound items that the size of the items has changed??

Any ideas? It's been a while since I've worked on something like this.

Thanks in anticipation.
Richard.

in reply to .NET Question: Problem with databinding in own custom generic objects.

My first non positive Vista experience (not MS' fault though) [My first non positive Vista experience (not MS' fault though)]

OrigamiCar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:51:22 GMT

Hi all,

Let me preface this posting by saying so far I've had no major problems with Vista (run it on all my PC's and have since RTM hit MSDN) and much prefer Vista over XP.

However, I've just gone through my first non positive moment with Vista and it goes like this...

It was time for a reinstall of my main home PC. It's had release version of Vista on it for over a year now and you know what development machines get like - constant installation of reinstallation of programs and tools eventually make for a slower and messy experience.

So - I do a base of Vista Ultimate x86 on my machine. All is well until I notice that the wireless connection keeps getting dropped and then reconnected - every 30 seconds or so.
I saw this a lot in the early betas, but haven't experienced it with RTM before.
My wireless card is a D-link DWA-130 Wireless N USB device, so I go to the D-Link site for the latest driver and see to my horror that I'm using the latest version, which was released in FEB 2007 and is marked as BETA!! :|

A few reboots, uninstalling and reinstalling of the drivers don't help, but as luck would have it, the connection stays up just long enough so I can get to Windows update and I notice there's an update over there for my D-Link card (not written by D-link themselves of course).
But, the connection keeps getting dropped before Windows update finishes, so by this stage it's starting to get annoying. Of course, I can't just download this update on my laptop and stick it on a USB drive and then onto the desktop, because Windows Update only works on the PC you're updating itself.

So in the end I had to find an older Wireless G card, place it (along with the D-Link still connected) into the desktop, use that older card for the connection and get to Windows update to pull down the updated D-link driver. GAAAHH! :s

It's stuff like this that is leading to a lot of the (in my opinion) ridiculus press for Vista. Now, this isn't actually Microsoft's fault, but they're the ones in the firing line.
For D-Link to not update beta drivers in over a year for a product that is still shipping and available in stores is beyond idiotic. It's also the last time I'm buying anything from them (I've also had a bad router from them that reboot itself constantly).

Sorry for venting, but my simple reinstall turned into a multi hour event that shouldn't have been so hard! All is well now though...! :D

in reply to My first non positive Vista experience (not MS' fault though)

vs.net addin to sort methods/functions etc? [vs.net addin to sort methods/functions etc?]

OrigamiCar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:08:48 GMT

Does anyone know of any vs.net (2005 and/or 2008) addins that allow you to automatically sort sourcecode within classes alphabetically?

The best one I have found is codesmart at www.axtools.com but it does WAY more than I want it to (including remapping certain essential key commands to its own functionality - such as CTRL+Shift+F - grrr) and so I don't want to spend $245 on it.

Codesmart does do a good job of sorting - allowing you to customize how it sorts - such as method type>modifier (public/private)>alphabetical etc and it would be nice to be able to find another one that does this but more cheaply.

Also, seperately to this, has anyone ever come across an addin or app that scans an asp.net project and finds unused classes, user controls, methods etc. I've found a couple of addins that will do it for a traditional vs.net project, but not asp.net web project. I'm on the verge of writting my own, but I'd really rather not if I can help it!

Sigh - I wish Microsoft would put this stuff into vs.net itself....

Thanks,
Richard.

in reply to vs.net addin to sort methods/functions etc?

VS.net 2008 - Auto Increment Build/Version Numbers, how? [VS.net 2008 - Auto Increment Build/Version Numbers, how?]

OrigamiCar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:05:49 GMT

Hi there!

Quick question to all you experts out there on something that is quite simple I'm sure.

Is there a new way in VS.net 2008 to auto increment version numbers when you build the vb.net or C# project.

In vs.net 2005, you could view the project properties, click the 'Assembly information' button and you'd see 'Assembly version' and 'File Version' boxes - this is where you can manually place the version number. However, by putting an asterisk in either the third or forth text box, then the build or revision number would autoincrement.

All well and good, but when I try to do this in 2008, I get a message saying 'A wildcard is not allowed in this field'

Gah! I'm guessing there's some other super easy and more effient way to do it in 2008, but I've been searching Google all afternoon and can't find it.

Any ideas?
Richard.

in reply to VS.net 2008 - Auto Increment Build/Version Numbers, how?

VS.Net 2005/8 - Save Workspace (dock window locations)? [VS.Net 2005/8 - Save Workspace (dock window locations)?]

OrigamiCar — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:53:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know of an add-in (freeware/shareware or commercial) that allows me to save different workspace configurations for VS/net 2005 or 2008? By that I mean be able to save multiple configuration of which dockable windows are open and where they are on screen, similar to the workspace feature that Photoshop has.

On my main development machine in the office, I have a three monitor setup, so I have most of the popular VS.net dockable windows on the left monitor (such as properties, solution explorer, pending checkins etc), the main center monitor has the vs.net IDE - which consists of pretty much just the code window/ide designer and the right monitor has a few other dockable windows such as the immediate and output windows.

This works really well for me, and lets me be pretty productive.

The problem comes when I'm working from home, which I do quite a bit. I VPN into my company and use remote desktop to work on my main machine. However, RDP only allows access to a single remote desktop, so when I log into my machine, I get the main vs.net window, but none of the property windows show, because on the real machine they're not on the main monitor.
I have to go to window>reset window layout to get the property windows to appear on the main screen and of course the next day when I go into the office, then I have to manually repoistion all the windows again, which is really annoying.

Photoshop has a neat feature that it allows you to save different 'workspaces' where it remembers which property windows are open and where they are positioned and by having multiple workspaces saved, you can quickly switch them.

If I could do this with vs.net, then I could have two workspaces saved 'main workspace' with my 3 monitor config and 'remote logon' workspace with the property windows and ide all together on the single monitor.

I seem to remember that there was a powertoy for the vs.net 2003 version but I've not seen anything for 2005 or 2008. Does anyone know of anything? I'm frankly suprised that Microsoft haven't put this into the core product by now (unless it is there, but I'm not seeing it?)

Thanks everyone,
Richard.

in reply to VS.Net 2005/8 - Save Workspace (dock window locations)?