The Schickster

Okay so I'm sitting here wondering, after having watched the video and having read most of the comments, why doesn't Microsoft rewrite all of those OS libraries that were written in managed code in C++? Why not write the .NET framework in C++ while keeping the APIs as they are? Then the only meta data that is needed is for the .NET app itself, not the entire framework.

If you have developer productivity managed apps that are running as a thin layer on top highly optimized C++ doesn't everybody win? What am I missing?

@Justin:I can't help with your vertically aligned divs but here is the combobox

HTML:

<div>
    <asp:TextBox safari:style="position:absolute; margin-top:0px;" style="position:absolute;" ID="txtDisplay" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
    <asp:DropDownList ID="ddSelect" runat="server">
        <asp:ListItem Value="test1" >test1</asp:ListItem>
        <asp:ListItem Value="test2">test2</asp:ListItem>
    </asp:DropDownList>
</div> 

VB.NET

Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Collections.Generic

Partial Class Controls_EditableDropdown
    Inherits System.Web.UI.UserControl

    Private _autoSort As Boolean = False

    Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        If Page.IsPostBack OrElse Page.IsCallback Then
            If txtDisplay.Text.Length > 0 Then
                SyncItems()
            End If
        End If

        RegisterScripts()
        ddSelect.Attributes.Add("onChange", "try{" & Me.ClientID & "_DisplayText();}catch(ex){}")

    End Sub

    Public Overloads Sub DataBind(ByVal items As String())
        ddSelect.DataSource = items
        ddSelect.DataBind()
        If AutoSort Then
            SortDropDownList(ddSelect)
        End If
        If Not Page.IsPostBack AndAlso Not Page.IsCallback Then
            If ddSelect.Items.Count > 0 Then
                ddSelect.SelectedIndex = 0
                txtDisplay.Text = ddSelect.SelectedItem.Text
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

    Public Overloads Sub DataBind(ByVal dataTextField As String, ByVal dataValueField As String, ByVal dt As System.Data.DataTable)
        ddSelect.DataTextField = dataTextField
        ddSelect.DataValueField = dataValueField
        ddSelect.DataSource = dt
        ddSelect.DataBind()
        If AutoSort Then
            SortDropDownList(ddSelect)
        End If
        If Not Page.IsPostBack AndAlso Not Page.IsCallback Then
            If ddSelect.Items.Count > 0 Then
                ddSelect.SelectedIndex = 0
                txtDisplay.Text = ddSelect.SelectedItem.Text
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

    Public Property Width() As Unit
        Get
            Return ddSelect.Width
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Unit)
            ddSelect.Width = value
            ddSelect.Height = Unit.Pixel(22)

            If value.Value >= 24 Then
                If Request.UserAgent.ToLower().Contains("webkit") Or Request.UserAgent.ToLower().Contains("firefox") Then
                    txtDisplay.Width = Unit.Pixel(value.Value - 22)
                Else
                    txtDisplay.Width = Unit.Pixel(value.Value - 24)
                End If
            End If
        End Set
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property Items() As ListItemCollection
        Get
            SyncItems()
            Return ddSelect.Items
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Property Text() As String
        Get
            Dim textValue As String = String.Empty
            If txtDisplay.Text.Length = 0 Then
                If ddSelect.SelectedItem IsNot Nothing Then
                    textValue = ddSelect.SelectedItem.Text
                End If
            Else
                textValue = txtDisplay.Text
            End If
            Return textValue
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            txtDisplay.Text = value
            SyncItems()
        End Set
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property Value() As String
        Get
            Dim ddValue As String = String.Empty
            If ddSelect.SelectedItem IsNot Nothing Then
                ddValue = ddSelect.SelectedItem.Value
            Else
                Dim item As ListItem = ddSelect.Items.FindByText(Text)
                If item IsNot Nothing Then
                    ddValue = item.Value
                End If
            End If
            Return ddValue
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property TextControl() As TextBox
        Get
            Return txtDisplay
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DropDownControl() As DropDownList
        Get
            Return ddSelect
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Property AutoSort() As Boolean
        Get
            Return _autoSort
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
            _autoSort = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property DataSource() As Object
        Get
            Return ddSelect.DataSource
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Object)
            ddSelect.DataSource = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Sub Clear()
        ddSelect.Items.Clear()
        txtDisplay.Text = String.Empty
    End Sub

    Private Sub SyncItems()
        If txtDisplay.Text.Length > 0 Then
            AddItems()
            Dim item As ListItem = ddSelect.Items.FindByText(txtDisplay.Text.Trim())
            If ddSelect.SelectedItem IsNot Nothing Then
                ddSelect.SelectedItem.Selected = False
            End If
            If item IsNot Nothing Then
                item.Selected = True
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub AddItems()
        Dim existingItem As ListItem = ddSelect.Items.FindByText(txtDisplay.Text.Trim())

        If existingItem Is Nothing Then
            ddSelect.Items.Add(txtDisplay.Text.Trim())
        End If

        If AutoSort Then
            SortDropDownList(ddSelect)
        End If

    End Sub

    Private Sub RegisterScripts()

        Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

        If Not Page.ClientScript.IsStartupScriptRegistered("FindItem_function") Then
            With sb
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("function FindItem(opt){")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("for (var i=0;i<opt.length;i++){")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("if (opt[i].selected == true){")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("return opt[i];")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("break;")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("}}")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("}")
                .Append(vbCrLf)
            End With

            Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(Me.GetType(), "FindItem_function", sb.ToString(), True)
        End If

        If Not Page.ClientScript.IsStartupScriptRegistered(Me.ClientID & "_DisplayText") Then

            sb.Length = 0
            With sb
                .Append("function ").Append(Me.ClientID).Append("_DisplayText(){")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("document.getElementById('").Append(txtDisplay.ClientID).Append("').value = ")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("FindItem(document.getElementById('").Append(ddSelect.ClientID).Append("')).text;")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("document.getElementById('").Append(txtDisplay.ClientID).Append("').focus();")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("}")
                .Append(vbCrLf)

                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("function ").Append(Me.ClientID).Append("_getSelectedText(){")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("return document.getElementById('").Append(txtDisplay.ClientID).Append("').value;")
                .Append(vbCrLf).Append("}")
                .Append(vbCrLf)
            End With

            Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(Me.GetType(), Me.ClientID & "_DisplayText", sb.ToString(), True)

        End If

    End Sub

    Public Shared Sub SortDropDownList(ByVal ddl As DropDownList)

        Dim arl As ArrayList = Nothing
        Dim inited As Boolean = False
        If (ddl.Items.Count > 0) Then
            arl = New ArrayList(ddl.Items.Count)
            For Each li As ListItem In ddl.Items
                arl.Add(li)
                inited = True
            Next
        End If

        If inited Then
            arl.Sort(New ListItemComparer)
            ddl.Items.Clear()
            For Each l As ListItem In arl
                ddl.Items.Add(l)
            Next
        End If

    End Sub

    Private Class ListItemComparer
        Implements IComparer

        Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer Implements System.Collections.IComparer.Compare
            Dim li_x As ListItem = CType(x, ListItem)
            Dim li_y As ListItem = CType(y, ListItem)
            Dim c As CaseInsensitiveComparer = New CaseInsensitiveComparer

            Return c.Compare(li_x.Text, li_y.Text)

        End Function

    End Class

End Class

Cheer up everyone. I'm sure new tools will come out to make this new strange world easier and more powerful than you can currently imagine.

Very interesting to watch.  I recently watched another video about using Predictive Fetch with Ajax in web forms and watching this video brought it to mind.

I think Microsoft could go a long way into enhancing the intellisense with predictive fetch and it sure would have helped in this case.

Another observation I made was when the poor guy had to search through the documentation as we all have done, and there is just this overwhelming amount of data to parse.  Maybe MS can use the predictive fetch to draw an order of probability for what the user is looking for based upon the subjects he has highlighted in the search results pane!  Now that would be the next level of intelligent programming!