Handling errors in @DbColumn/@DbLookup
Last Modified: Sun, Dec 27 1998 
Description
Entry not found in index or view index not built (or) Server Error: Entry not 
found in index! - Sounds familiar?
Details
Obviously you don't want this message displayed to a user of your database! 
Here is a way to avoid this message... 
If your code for the @DbColumn or @DbLookup reads like this:
@DbColumn("":"";"";"view";1);
Change it to read it like this:
retValues:=@DbColumn("":"";"";"view";1);
@If(  @IsError( retValues );
        "<>";
        retValues
);
Remarks
·	The above code makes use of the @IsError function to find out if the 
result returned is infact an error. This helps you trap the error, before its 
throw out as a message by the system. 

Title: @DbLookup and @DbColumn Error Messages in Notes 
Product Area: Domino Server, Notes 
Product: Domino Server 5.x, Domino Server 4.6x, Domino Server 4.5x, Notes 
Client 5.x, Notes 4.x, Notes 3.x 
Topic: Workstation/Desktop \\ Application Development \\ @Functions/Formulas 
Number: 112151 
Date: 08/29/2001 



Problem:

Below is a listing of the common error messages reported when using @DbLookup 
and @DbColumn in formulas. These errors come from a number of sources, ranging 
from incorrect syntax to a value not being found. The order is roughly that in 
which the errors would occur, were you to commit more than one mistake in 
writing your formula. You may capture any of these errors with the @Iserror 
function.

Solution:

1. Unknown @Function. You will get this error message if you attempt to save a 
formula with an incorrectly spelled function, (e.g., @DbLooku [the 'p' at the 
end is missing]).

2. Insufficient Arguments for @Function. This message appears when the formula 
executes, if the @Db function is part of an another @Function, such as an 
@Prompt, and you have not included all of the parameters required by the other 
@Function.

3. @If Must Have an Odd Number of Arguments. Same as #2, but specifically for 
@If.

4. Insufficient Arguments for Database Function. Same as #2, but specifically 
for the @Db function itself.

5. The necessary external database driver cannot be located. 'Notes' is 
misspelled in the class argument or the specified datalens driver cannot be 
found. For example, @DbLookup("Nortes"; etc ... )

6. The database was not found, please select servers to search. If the Server 
Name was left out of the formula, you will get this error message.

7. Server not responding. The Server is either not responding or it is 
incorrectly specified in the formula. To test: Manually try to open the server. 
If it can be opened, the name is probably specified incorrectly.

8. ERROR: You are not authorized to perform that operation. This error will  ... (cont.)

Showing progress bar with class

Jose Cruz 
09 Oct 2001, Rating --- (out of 5)

With this code, you can show the progress of a long lasting work.

Declare Public Function NEMProgressBegin Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval 
wFlags As Integer) As Long
Declare Public Sub NEMProgressSetBarRange Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval 
hWnd As Long,Byval dwMax As Long)
Declare Public Sub NEMProgressDeltaPos Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval 
hWnd As Long,Byval dwIncrement As Long)
Declare Public Sub NEMProgressSetBarPos Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval 
hWnd As Long,Byval dwPos As Long)
Declare Public Sub NEMProgressSetText Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval 
hWnd As Long,Byval pcszLine1 As String)
Declare Public Sub NEMProgressEnd Lib "nnotesws.dll" (Byval hWnd As
 Long)

Public Class CProgressBar
	
	Private hWnd As Long
	
	Property Set Range As Long
		NEMProgressSetBarRange hWnd,Range
	End Property
	
	Property Set Delta As Long
		NEMProgressDeltaPos hWnd, Delta
	End Property
	
	Property Set Pos As Long
		NEMProgressDeltaPos hWnd, Me.Pos	
	End Property
	
	Property Set Text As String
		NEMProgressSetText hWnd,Text
	End Property
	
	Property Set Progress (Pos As Long) As String
		Me.Pos = Pos
		Text = Progress
	End Property
	
	Property Set ProgressBy (Delta As Long) As String
		Me.Delta = Delta
		Text = ProgressBy
	End Property
	
	Private Sub Init
		Range = 100
		Delta = 1
		Text = ""
		Pos = 0
	End Sub
	
	Sub New (Range As Long)
		hWnd = NEMProgressBegin (2)
		Init
		If Range <> 0 Then Me.Range = Range
	End Sub
	
	Sub Delay (Seconds As Integer)
		Dim Started
		Started = Now
		While (Now - Started) * 24 * 60 * 60 < Seconds
			'Do nothing	
		Wend
	End Sub
	
	Sub Delete
		NEMProgressEnd hWnd
	End Sub
	
End Class

'******************************
'Calling function**************
	'Variable de barra de 
progreso******************************************************
	Dim oBarraProgreso As CProgressBar
	lNoDocsRespaldo = colDocsAMover.count
	Set oBarraProgreso = New CProgressBar( colDocsAMov ... (cont.)

Export any view to Excel
Art Yates 
30 Sep 2001, Rating 4.43 (out of 5)
Exports all records of any view to Excel
Sub Initialize
      'Create an Excel Spreadsheet from any view
     '11/3/2000 Art Yates
	Dim Session As New NotesSession ,db As NotesDatabase
	Dim sourceview As NotesView,sourcedoc As NotesDocument
	Dim dataview As NotesView, dc As NotesDocumentCollection
	Dim datadoc As NotesDocument, maxcols As Integer
	Dim WS As New Notesuiworkspace
	Dim ViewString As String, Scope As String, GetField As Variant
	Dim C As NotesViewColumn, FieldName As String, K As Integer,N As Integer
	Dim xlApp As Variant, xlsheet As Variant, rows As Integer, cols As 
Integer
	Dim nitem As NotesItem	, entry As NotesViewEntry, vwNav As 
NotesViewNavigator
	Dim ShowView()  As Variant, i As Integer, VList As Variant, ColVals As 
Variant
		
	Set db = session.CurrentDatabase   'link to current database
	
	'fetch then display a list of views in the database
	Vlist= db.views
	K=Ubound(Vlist)  'get size of list
	Redim Preserve ShowView(K)
	N=-1
	For i = 0 To K
		If Len(Vlist(i).Name) >0 Then	
			FieldName=Trim(Vlist(i).Name)
			If Mid(Fieldname,1,1) <>"(" Then  'do not show hidden 
views
				N=N+1				
				ShowView(N) = FieldName
			End If
		End If	
	Next i	
	Redim Preserve ShowView(N)
     'now sort the list - by default views are listing in the order that they 
were created
	For i=0 To N
		For K=i To N
			If  ShowView(i) > ShowView(k) Then
				FieldName=ShowView(i)	
				ShowView(i) = ShowView(k)
				ShowView(k)=FieldName
			End If
		Next k
	Next i	
	
	viewstring= ws.Prompt(PROMPT_OKCANCELLIST,"List of Views","Choose a 
View","",ShowView )
	If Len(viewstring)=0 Then Exit Sub
	'ViewString ="Dan's View"
	
	Set dataview = db.getview(ViewString)  'get selected view
	
	Set vwnav= dataview.createViewnav()
	
	rows = 1
	cols = 1
	maxcols=dataview.ColumnCount  'how many columns?
	
	Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")  'start Excel with OLE 
Automation
	xlApp.StatusBar = " ... (cont.)

Programmatically Save HTML to File
--------------------------------------------------------- 
You can use the Internet Explorer Document Object Model 
to capture all of the HTML sources into a string variable 
which you can then write out to a text file and save to 
disk.

Dim hElm As IHTMLElement
Dim htmltext As String
Dim fso As Object
Dim file As Object
Set hElm = WebBrowser1.Document.all.tags("html").Item(0)
htmltext = hElm.outerHTML
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set file = fso.OpenTextFile("c:\test.htm", 2, True)
file.write htmltext
file.Close
Set file = Nothing
Set fso = Nothing

For a VC++ example, see Q292485 at 
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q292/4/85.asp. 

Visual C++ Solution
Accomplishing this task from a Visual C++ host is very straightforward. You can 
use an IWebBrowser2 interface to call the QueryInterface method for the 
IHTMLDocument2 interface. After you obtain a pointer to the document, then call 
QueryInterface for the IPersistFile interface. After you obtain this interface 
pointer, you can call the save method to save the file to disk. 
    HRESULT          hr    = E_FAIL;
    IDispatch*       pDisp = NULL;
    IHTMLDocument2*  pDoc  = NULL;
	
    pDisp                  = m_webOC.GetDocument();

   if(SUCCEEDED(hr = pDisp->QueryInterface(IID_IHTMLDocument2,(void**)&pDoc)))
   {
       IPersistFile*	pFile	=	NULL;
       if(SUCCEEDED(pDoc->QueryInterface(IID_IPersistFile,(void**)&pFile)))
       {
	LPCOLESTR	file = L"c:\\test1.htm";
	pFile->Save(file,TRUE);
       }
   } 

These are the exceptions that you often either hit in the debugger or when an 
app crashes. If it is not your application, and you lack the source, there is 
nothing you can do except complain to the software vendor, who will no doubt 
claim it works for them and the fault is the display driver or some change you 
made to your registry. They may even be right.
If it's your own app that goes belly up, this list can be used as a starting 
point to tracking the bug down, as the nature of the exception provides some 
hint as to what went wrong. Also, with Visual Studio 6.0, you can add the error 
register to your watch window (enter "err, hr" as the variable) to make the 
result of the last API call visible. Finally, use the code walkthrough 
checklist to see if you've made a common mistake.
All these exceptions and their meaning are listed in WINNT.H, where they are 
prefixed with the name "STATUS_" rather then "EXCEPTION_", winbase.h, and 
winerror.h. What they mean can be gleaned from various bits of documentation, 
and experience. Common exceptions are in bold.
Floating point exceptions are (seemingly) off by default. Look up _controlfp() 
in the manuals to see how to turn these on, and then _fpieee_flt() to see how 
to make practical use of them. 
Warnings

0x80000001
EXCEPTION_GUARD_PAGE 
Memory Allocated as PAGE_GUARD by VirtualAlloc() has been accessed.
0x80000002
EXCEPTION_DATATYPE_MISALIGNMENT 
The thread tried to read or write data that is misaligned on hardware that 
doesn't provide alignment. . SetErrorMode() may be used to modify the system's 
behaviour and auto-correct such misalignment, albeit at significantly imparied 
performance.
Not found on x86 boxes, but may appear on Merced or on on CE units.
0x80000003
EXCEPTION_BREAKPOINT 
A breakpoint was encountered. You can actually skip to the next instruction now 
if you're devious with Exception filters.
The OS jumps to a breakpoint when HeapFree() shows guard byte corruption or 
other trouble.
0x80000004
EXCEPTION_S ... (cont.)

2. 
	How do I recurse through a Directory tree ?
	 
	This code is taken from a utility for counting lines in all files 
matching a given spec, in or below a certain folder. It illustrates the 
technique for recursing into folders quite well.
	 
 UINT CCountlinesDlg::GetLineCountForFiles (CString& csStartFolder,
                                            CString& csFileSpec,
                                            BOOL bRecurse)
 {
    UINT uRetVal = 0;
    HANDLE hFF = 0;
    WIN32_FIND_DATA wfd;
    int iDotIndex=0;
    CString csPath ;
    CString csFile ;
    CString csSubPath ;
    CString csTgt;
    CString csExtension;
    CString csUpperFileSpec = csFileSpec;
 
    csUpperFileSpec.MakeUpper();
    m_csOutputDir = csStartFolder ;
    UpdateData (FALSE);
 
    csTgt = csStartFolder + "\\*.*";
 
    hFF = FindFirstFile (csTgt,&wfd);
 
    if (hFF != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
    {
       if (wfd.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
       {
          if (strcmp (wfd.cFileName, ".") &&
              strcmp (wfd.cFileName, "..") &&
              bRecurse)
          {
             // recurse into the subdir:
 
             csSubPath = csStartFolder + "\\" + wfd.cFileName;
             uRetVal += GetLineCountForFiles (csSubPath,csFileSpec,bRecurse);
          }
       }
       else
       {
          // Is this one of the target files ?
 
          csFile = wfd.cFileName;
          iDotIndex = csFile.ReverseFind ('.');
          csExtension = csFile.Right (csFile.GetLength() - (iDotIndex+1));
          csExtension.MakeUpper ();
 
          if (csExtension == csUpperFileSpec)
          {
             csFile = csStartFolder + "\\" + wfd.cFileName;
             uRetVal += CountLinesIn (csFile);
 
             m_csOutputFile.Format ("%s : %u", wfd.cFileName, uRetVal);
             UpdateData (FALSE);
          }
       }
 
       while (FindNextFile (hFF, &wfd))
       {
          if (wfd.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
           ... (cont.)

3. 
	How do I extract the Version of an EXE, DLL etc ?
	 
	I make no promises as to quality, but it _does_ work. All error 
handling and parameter validation has been removed for brevity.
	 
 void GetVersionOfFile (char * pszAppName, // file
                        char * pszVerBuff, // receives version
                        int     iVerBuffLen, // size of buffer
                        char * pszLangBuff, // receives language
                        int iLangBuffLen) // size of buffer
 {
    DWORD dwScratch;
    DWORD * pdwLangChar;
    DWORD dwInfSize ;
    UINT uSize;
    BYTE * pbyInfBuff;
    char szVersion [32];
    char szResource [80];
    char * pszVersion = szVersion;
 
    dwInfSize = GetFileVersionInfoSize (pszAppName, &dwScratch);
 
    if (dwInfSize)
    {
       pbyInfBuff = new BYTE [dwInfSize];
       memset (pbyInfBuff, 0, dwInfSize);
       if (pbyInfBuff)
       {
          if (GetFileVersionInfo (pszAppName, 0, dwInfSize, pbyInfBuff))
          {
             if (VerQueryValue (pbyInfBuff,
                                "\\VarFileInfo\\Translation",
                                (void**)(&pdwLangChar),
                                &uSize))
             {
                if (VerLanguageName (LOWORD (*pdwLangChar),
                                     szResource,
                                     sizeof(szResource)))
                {
                   strncpy (pszLangBuff, szResource, iLangBuffLen);
                }
                wsprintf (szResource, "\\StringFileInfo\\%04X%04X\\FileVersion",
                          LOWORD (*pdwLangChar), HIWORD (*pdwLangChar));
 
                if (VerQueryValue (pbyInfBuff,
                                   szResource,
                                   (void**)(&pszVersion),
                                   &uSize))
                {
                   strncpy (pszVerBuff, pszVersion, iVerBuffLen-1);
                }
             }
          }
          delete [] pbyInfBuff;
      ... (cont.)

7. 
	How do I ensure that only one instance of my program runs ?
	 
	Take a look at this code. The first piece of code would be called very 
early in your program, typically inside InitInstance for an MFC program.
	 
 if (WeAreAlone ("Some_Unique_Name_Or_Other"))
 {
    // Proceed
 }
 else
    DebugMessage ("Error: app already running!");
 
 
 BOOL CMyApp::WeAreAlone (LPSTR szName)
 {
    HANDLE hMutex = CreateMutex (NULL, TRUE, szName);
    if (GetLastError() == ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS)
    {
       CloseHandle(hMutex);
       return FALSE;
    }
    return TRUE;
 }
  
	Why go to this complexity ? You may well ask. Some people just check 
for a fixed window class, indeed Microsofts own sample code does exactly this. 
The problem is that if your application is started up programmatically, the 
second instance may be running before the first instance has managed to create 
its window, and the window-class-based method will not work under those 
circumstances.

9. 
	What are the pros and cons of the different IPC methods ?
	 
	Named Pipes (or anonymous)
	  
	Use file APIs, so relatively simple to implement if you're at all 
file-savvy. Not queued. Connection-oriented, i.e. point to point, and therefore 
can't broadcast. Win9x can act as a named pipe client, but not as a named pipe 
server. NT can do both.
	 
	Mailslots
	  
	Queued, connectionless and can therefore broadcast. Simple to use, but 
have some drawbacks :
	 
	Because the sender doesn't know what protocols are installed on the 
receiver, mailslot messages are duplicated on every installed protocol, and 
it's your responsibility to sort out the resulting mess (usually with some sort 
of tagging system). A length limit of 400 bytes or so. Don't have guaranteed 
delivery, though I've yet to see one fail to arrive (on a LAN : see point 4). 
Broadcasting to a group (e.g. a domain) works fine... until you want to do it 
outwards over a RAS link. Then it just plain breaks. You won't find this fact 
documented anywhere, as far as I can find. But it bit me, it bit Intel, and it 
will bite you as well. Microsoft explained this blocking behaviour to me as 
their desire not to flood another network with broadcast UDP, which is fair 
enough... if they'd actually got it right. In actuality, about one message in 6 
gets through.
	 
	WM_COPYDATA
	  
	Very simple to use. Obviously message based, so you have to pump 
messages. If you need something quick and dirty for occasional-use messaging, 
both apps (or at a minimum the receiver app) have a message pump and you can 
get a window handle, this is hard to beat.
	 
	Memory Mapped Files
	  
	MMFs don't necessarily need to be associated with a disk file, so you 
can use them for IPC. Since MMFs are the underlying implementation technique 
for most of the other IPC methods, you won't get much better performance if a 
shared memory technique fits your requirement.
	 
	DLL Shared Sections
	  
	These require you to write a DLL of course, w ... (cont.)

13. 
	Given a PID, how do I find the name of the process executable ?
	 
	The key here is to use OpenProcess(), EnumProcessModules() and 
GetModuleBaseName(). Assume that the Process ID is in the value DWORD dwPid.
	 
    HANDLE  hProc;
    char    szProcessName [80];
    HMODULE ahMod [10];
    DWORD   dwNeeded;
 
    hProc = OpenProcess (PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION|PROCESS_VM_READ,
                         FALSE,
                         dwPid);
    if (hProc)
    {
       if (EnumProcessModules (hProc,
                               ahMod,
                               sizeof(ahMod),
                               &dwNeeded))
       {
          if (GetModuleBaseName (hProc,
                                 ahMod[0],
                                 szProcessName,
                                 sizeof(szProcessName)))
          {
             
          }
          else
          {
             
          }
       }
       CloseHandle (hProc);
    }
 }
 

28. 
	How do I delete a Directory tree that isn't empty ?
	 
	You can't use RemoveDirectory, because it only works on empty 
directories/folders. But you CAN use a Shell function for this, the ubiquitous 
SHFileOperation() :
	 
 SHFILEOPSTRUCT sh;
 
 sh.hwnd   = GetSafeHwnd();
 sh.wFunc  = FO_DELETE;
 sh.pFrom  = "c:\\test\0";
 sh.pTo    = NULL;
 sh.fFlags = FOF_NOCONFIRMATION | FOF_SILENT;
 sh.hNameMappings = 0;
 sh.lpszProgressTitle = NULL;
 
 SHFileOperation (&sh);
  
	That code will softly and silently remove an entire tree, starting from 
(and including) c:\test.
	 
	NOTE : under NT, this may fail because a process has a folder or 
subfolder as its current directory. This problem does not arise in Win9x.
	 
	~ Extra Wrinkle ~
	  
	This comes courtesy of Ed Eichman, who wrote to tell me about a problem 
he had with removing a folder tree:
	 
	>> I had a "remove dir" function that removed all files in the dir, and 
then deleted the dir itself. I used CFileFind to get and delete the files, and 
then called _rmdir WITHOUT FIRST CALLING CFileFind.Close ()! Adding the Close 
fixed my problem.

31. 
	How do I get started working with Threads ?
	 
	Threads are really not that difficult, and worker threads in particular 
are quite easy (worker threads don't have a user interface, they just do work 
in the background). MFC isn't really threadsafe, and rather than spend time 
remembering what I can and can't do with MFC and threads, I just avoid the use 
of MFC within threads: my apps tend to have an MFC core with pure C/SDK worker 
threads.
	 
	Essentially a Worker Thread consists of a function, which is specified 
when the thread is created (using CreateThread() for an SDK program, or 
AfxBeginThread() for an MFC program). When the function exits, the thread is 
done. CreateThread looks complex, but most of its parameters can be left at the 
defaults.
	 
	The only mildly tricky part is ensuring that the threads get killed off 
if your app is closed down: this usually requires that your main thread set an 
"event" (see CreateEvent/SetEvent) which the worker(s) can check - if it/they 
see the event set they drop out of their processing loop, exit and therefore 
cease.
	 
	Of course if you want multiple threads accessing a single resource 
(such as a data structure), you'll need to read up on synchronisation using 
Critical Section objects. Actually getting to the shared object is trivial, as 
threads share the same address space. Think of it like this : processes are the 
unit of addressability ; threads are the unit of executability.
	 
	Check out these fragments of code, which are from a multithreaded 
application I wrote recently. The application creates a closure event thus :
	 
 m_hCloseEvent = CreateEvent (NULL, TRUE, FALSE, "AG61_BN9_RMM_CLOSE");
  
	and this event is used when closing down the threads, as we'll see 
below.
	 
	This is the part that starts the threads :
	 
 CWinThread * pNewThread;
 
    ...This code then appears inside a loop which sets up the threads...
 
 m_ateThreadTable [m_iThreadCount].iPortNum = iComNum;
 m_ateThreadTable [m_iThreadCo ... (cont.)

34. 
	I start another app and try and wait synchronously on its Process 
Handle, but both processes hang. Why?
	 
	This situation arises when you use ShellExecuteEx() or CreateProcess() 
to start another application from your GUI application, then try to wait 
synchronously using WaitForSingleObject on its process handle.
	 
	The problem arises because your application has a window but isn't 
pumping messages. If the spawned application invokes SendMessage with one of 
the broadcast targets (HWND_BROADCAST or HWND_TOPMOST), then the SendMessage 
won't return to the new application until all applications have handled the 
message - but your app can't handle the message because it isn't pumping 
messages.... so the new app locks up, so your wait never succeeds.... DEADLOCK.
	 
	If you have absolute control over the spawned application, then there 
are measures you can take, such as using SendMessageTimeout() rather than 
SendMessage (e.g. for DDE initiations, if anybody is still using that). But 
there are situations which cause implicit SendMessage() broadcasts over which 
you have no control, such as using the SetSysColors API for instance.
	 
	The only safe ways round this are (a) split off the Wait into a 
separate thread, or (b) use a timeout on the Wait and use PeekMessage in your 
Wait loop to ensure that you pump messages. You could also try using the 
MsgWaitForMultipleObjects API, but that's not the easiest function in the world 
to get your head around....

38. 
	How do I get the name of the EXE associated with a given window ?
	 
	Once upon a 16-bit time this was trivial, but now it's harder. The code 
below is a (bug-corrected) version of an MS sample:
	 
 BOOL MyGetWindowExeFilename (HWND hWnd,
                              char * pszFilename,
                              int iSizeofBuff)
 {
    DWORD dwActiveProcessId;
    DWORD CurrentProcessId;
    BOOL bFound = FALSE;
    char szIndex[512] = "";
    DWORD dwBytes = 12000;
    DWORD dwProcessIdOffset;
    DWORD dwIndex;
    int i;
 
    PPERF_DATA_BLOCK pdb;
    PPERF_OBJECT_TYPE pot;
    PPERF_INSTANCE_DEFINITION pid;
    PPERF_COUNTER_BLOCK pcb;
    PPERF_COUNTER_DEFINITION pcd;
 
    // Get PID corresponding to this window handle.
    GetWindowThreadProcessId (hWnd, &dwActiveProcessId);
 
    // Get the index for the PROCESS object.
    if (GetIndex ("Process", szIndex) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
       
       return FALSE;
    }
    // Get memory for PPERF_DATA_BLOCK.
    pdb = (PPERF_DATA_BLOCK) HeapAlloc (GetProcessHeap(),
                                        HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY,
                                        dwBytes);
    // Get performance data.
    while (RegQueryValueEx (HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA,
                            (LPTSTR)szIndex,
                            NULL,
                            NULL,
                            (LPBYTE)pdb,
                            &dwBytes) == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
    {
       // Increase memory.
       dwBytes += 1000;
 
       // Allocated memory is too small; reallocate new memory.
       pdb = (PPERF_DATA_BLOCK) HeapReAlloc (GetProcessHeap(),
                                             HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY,
                                             (LPVOID)pdb,
                                             dwBytes);
    }
 
    // Get PERF_OBJECT_TYPE.
    pot = (PPERF_OBJECT_TYPE)((PBYTE)pdb + pdb->HeaderLength);
 
    // Get the first counter definition.
    pcd = (PPERF_COUNTER_DEFINITION) ... (cont.)

43. 
	How do I run another program from my program ?
	 
	This question comes up at least once a week in the Microsoft public 
newsgroups. It seems simple, but there are many options for running another 
program, and the differences between them can be subtle. Basically, the 
available methods are as follows :
	 
	system()
	  
	Passes a command to the command interpreter (CMD.EXE on Windows NT). 
The simplest way of getting something done, but you might not like the "DOS" 
box that pops up when you invoke it.
	 
	_spawn()
	  
	Part of the C runtime, _spawn is actually a family of functions - see 
the runtime library help for details. Because it's part of the CRT, it is at 
least portable.
	 
	WinExec()
	  
	Obsolete in the 32-bit world, included only for compatibility with 16 
bit code.
	 
	ShellExecute()
	  
	Part of the Win32 API, ShellExecute is the simple launching API of 
choice for the foreseeable future, because it will check against operator 
execute privileges under Windows 2000.
	 
	ShellExecuteEx()
	  
	Essentially the same as ShellExecute, but takes a structure for a 
little more flexibility. One notable extra feature is that the Ex version 
allows you to get a handle to the created process.
	 
	CreateProcess()
	  
	This is how real men launch their processes. CreateProcess is the 
underlying API for starting another process, and give maximum power at the 
expense of being a little more troublesome to drive. .
	 
	The last two functions have the advantage that you can get a process 
handle back from them and then wait on that handle, allowing you to invoke 
another process synchronously : so you can invoke another process, have that 
process run to completion, and then your original process resumes, knowing that 
the child process at least ran (you have to invent your own mechanism for 
finding out whether the child did what it was supposed to, of course).

46. 
	I can't make CreateProcess() launch my process or handle its 
parameters. Why ?
	 
	There are two main things that can go wrong when using CreateProcess.
	 
	A. Unqualified App Names
	 
	The first problem is a failure to realise how CreateProcess behaves 
when you give an application name. Let's say I call CreateProcess like this :
	 
 BOOL bRet ;
 STARTUPINFO sui ;
 PROCESS_INFORMATION pi ;
 
 sui.cb = sizeof (STARTUPINFO);
 GetStartupInfo (&sui);
 sui.dwFlags = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW ;
 sui.wShowWindow = SW_SHOW ;
 
 bRet = CreateProcess ("myapp.exe",
                       NULL,
                       NULL, NULL, FALSE,
                       0, NULL, NULL,
                       &sui,
                       &pi);
  
	Chances are that will fail. Why ? Because the application name is not 
fully qualified. If you simply use the EXE name, in the first parameter, 
CreateProcess requires that the EXE be fully qualified, i.e. it contain the 
full path to the EXE file. If, on the other hand, you called it like this :
	 
 bRet = CreateProcess (NULL,
                       "myapp.exe",
                       NULL, NULL, FALSE,
                       0, NULL, NULL,
                       &sui,
                       &pi);
  
	That would probably work, because if the EXE name is given as part of 
the command line Windows will apply the same searching rules as if you had 
simply typed the name at the command prompt, i.e. it will search in the 
following places :
	 
	- The directory from which the application loaded.
	 
	- The current directory for the parent process.
	 
	- Windows 95/98: The Windows system directory.
	 
	- Windows NT/2000: The 32-bit Windows system directory (usual name 
System32).
	 
	- Windows NT/2000: The 16-bit Windows system directory (usual name 
System).
	 
	- The Windows directory.
	 
	- The directories that are listed in the PATH environment variable
	 
	If you give a command line which contains spaces, you'll need to use 
quotes to ... (cont.)

48. 
	How do I determine the full path to my own executable file at run-time ?
	 
	Easy peasy. Just call GetModuleFileName() using NULL for the HMODULE 
parameter.
	 
	NB : Windows 95 developers - read the help, there are some 
long-filename problems that affect only you.

58. 
	How do I start another Process and wait for it to complete before 
continuing ?
	 
	The trick here is to realize that you can wait on the handle to a 
process. You need to use CreateProcess() or ShellExecuteEx(), because you need 
some way to get that handle to the newly-started process. Then you can use 
WaitForSingleObject to wait on the handle. The example code below uses 
ShellExecuteEx:
	 
 SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = {0};
 
 sei.cbSize = sizeof (SHELLEXECUTEINFO);
 sei.fMask  = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS;
 sei.lpVerb = "open";
 sei.lpFile = "notepad.exe";
 sei.nShow  = SW_SHOWNORMAL;
 
 if (ShellExecuteEx (&sei))
 {
    WaitForSingleObject (sei.hProcess, INFINITE);
 }
  
	Some problems can arise with this technique. The most serious one is 
described in Tip 34, but you can also run into problems with processes which 
themselves start other processes, The commonest example being InstallShield (I 
hate InstallShield with such venom it's difficult to maintain my composure, so 
I'll just go have a beer instead...).

1. 
	How do I put an Icon in the System Tray ?
	 
	This loads the systray icon, giving it an ID because I have more than 
one tray icon. The private message is also specified.
	 
 void CMainFrame::AddMyIcon (void)
 {
    NOTIFYICONDATA tnid;
    CString csTip ;
 
    tnid.cbSize = sizeof(NOTIFYICONDATA);
    tnid.hWnd = GetSafeHwnd();
    tnid.uID = SYSTRAY_QUICK_ID; // personal ID
    tnid.uFlags = NIF_MESSAGE | NIF_ICON | NIF_TIP;
    tnid.uCallbackMessage = PRIV_SYSTRAY_ICON;
    tnid.hIcon = m_hIconPhone ;
 
    if (csTip.LoadString (IDS_QUICKMENU))
       strncpy (tnid.szTip, csTip, sizeof(tnid.szTip));
    else
       tnid.szTip[0] = '\0';
 
    Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, &tnid);
 }
  
	This appears in the mainframe message map, and specifies a message sent 
when the user interacts with the icon. Note that the message ID matches that 
specified in the uCallbackMessage structure member.
	 
 ON_MESSAGE (PRIV_SYSTRAY_ICON, OnSysTrayIconClick)
  
	This handles the click message declared above.
	 
 afx_msg LONG CMainFrame::OnSysTrayIconClick (WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
 {
    switch (wParam)
    {
       // bunch of other code omitted here. Note that the
       // ID here matches that specified when the icon
       // was inserted, in the uID structure member.
 
       case SYSTRAY_QUICK_ID:
 
            switch (lParam)
            {
               case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:
               case WM_RBUTTONDOWN:
                    ShowQuickMenu ();
                    break ;
            }
            break ;
 
       default:
            DebugMessage ("......");
            break ;
    }
 
    return TRUE ;
 }
  
	This shows the menu for the systray icon. The popup menu is loaded 
elsewhere (and it MUST be a popup, or you'll get a bizarre minimal-width empty 
menu appearing). You can create a single bar menu with several popups, and use 
GetSubMenu to choose the one you want for any particular circumstance.
	 
 void CMainFrame::ShowQuickMenu ()
 {
 ... (cont.)

18. 
	How do I find the default Web Browser application name ?
	 
	Create a temporary .HTM file and use the API call FindExecutable() to 
find the program associated with it. This trick works for all associated file 
types.

20. 
	How do I stop my application appearing on the Taskbar ?
	 
	There is more than one way to skin a cat (never understood that 
proverb...perhaps it depends on whether you boil the cat first? I dunno, 
anyway, we're digressing), and there is more than one way to stop a window 
appearing on the taskbar.
	 
	Rather than WS_EX_APPWINDOW, give your window the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW 
extended style. Since toolbars don't appear on the taskbar, this will prevent 
it appearing there. Unfortunately, this has some rather negative repercussions 
on the appearance of your window : it gets a thin caption with smaller title, 
and loses its system menu. This is not acceptable to many people.
	 
	Windows owned by an invisible window won't appear on the taskbar. 
"Great", say you, "but my app is dialog based, so what now Mr Smarty ?". Well, 
you can either recast your dialog app as an SDI with a hidden main window, and 
have that main window shown at startup, or you can create your own hidden 
window and set that as your dialogs owner, or you could just go look at tip # 
26, which explains the best way....

21. 
	Why doesn't my Context Menu dismiss properly when I click elsewhere ?
	 
	This is a known problem with TrackPopupMenu(). The cure is simple, 
though somewhat obscure. Immediately before you call TrackPopupMenu, make a 
call to SetForegroundWindow for your menu's owner window. Then immediately 
after the call to TrackPopupMenu, post the same window a WM_NULL message. 
Bizarre, but it works. Look at this sample code:
	 
    HMENU hQuick = ::GetSubMenu (m_hUtility, IDM_QUICK);
    POINT CurPos ;
    GetCursorPos (&CurPos);
 
    SetForegroundWindow (); // Bodge
 
    TrackPopupMenu (hQuick,
                    TPM_LEFTBUTTON,
                    CurPos.x,
                    CurPos.y,
                    0,
                    GetSafeHwnd(),
                    NULL);
 
    PostMessage (WM_NULL, 0, 0); // Bodge
 

22. 
	How do I start, detect and stop Screen Savers ?
	 
	Starting
	  
	The method for starting a screen saver is simple, but surprising. You 
post your own window a message ! Post yourself the WM_SYSCOMMAND message with 
the SC_SCREENSAVE parameter :
	 
 // Uses MFC CWnd::PostMessage
 PostMessage (WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_SCREENSAVE);
  
	Detecting and Stopping
	  
	Stopping a screen saver is somewhat more complex. The 
Microsoft-documented way of doing this is to look for the special screen-saver 
desktop, enumerate all windows on that desktop, and close them, as follows:
	 
 hdesk = OpenDesktop(TEXT("Screen-saver"),
                     0,
                     FALSE,
                     DESKTOP_READOBJECTS | DESKTOP_WRITEOBJECTS);
 if (hdesk)
 {
    EnumDesktopWindows (hdesk, (WNDENUMPROC)KillScreenSaverFunc, 0);
    CloseDesktop (hdesk);
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 BOOL CALLBACK KillScreenSaverFunc (HWND hwnd, LPARAM lParam)
 {
    PostMessage(hwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
    return TRUE;
 }
  
	However, I can't recommend this approach. I have found when using this 
code, NT4 very occasionally seems to get confused and pass you back the normal 
desktop handle, in which case you end up trying to close all the normal 
application windows. Note : this bug has now FINALLY been acknowledged by 
Microsoft - see Knowledgebase article Q230117
	 
	You can avoid this problem by taking advantage of the fact that all 
screen savers built using the MS standard lib file will have the same window 
class name. So if you change the above callback function code to read as 
follows :
	 
 BOOL CALLBACK KillScreenSaverFunc (HWND hwnd, LPARAM lParam)
 {
    char szClass [32];
    GetClassName (hwnd, szClass, sizeof(szClass)-1);
    if (strcmpi (szClass, "WindowsScreenSaverClass") == 0)
       PostMessage (hwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
    return TRUE;
 }
  
	Then the code will only close the correct window when the OS returns 
the correct deskto ... (cont.)

30. 
	How do I get the Handle of the Taskbar ?
	 
	Easy-peasy. Like this:
	 
 HWND hSysTray = ::FindWindow ("Shell_TrayWnd", NULL) ;
  
	Additional wrinkle : call FindWindowEx() with the above window handle 
as the parent window to find a class named "Button". That will give you the 
Start button handle. Don't think you can mess around with the Start menu 
directly from there though - the Start menu is actually a custom control, not a 
menu.

33. 
	How do I get back the OLD SetForegroundWindow() behaviour ?
	 
	NOTE : These solutions don't work with the Windows 2000 gold code. They 
USED to work on the betas, but we publicised those methods and Microsoft closed 
the loopholes as fast as we told people about them, until now you have to get 
really down and dirty. I can't discuss the methods we use, because I need them 
to work and can't afford to have Microsoft shut that door... doesn't this make 
you sick ?
	 
	Method 1
	  
	For Windows 98/IE5, Microsoft changed the behaviour of 
SetForegroundWindow so as to stop you grabbing the focus. Normally, this would 
be entirely laudable (most applications don't REALLY need to grab focus, they 
just do it anyway), but there are some special kinds of applications which 
really need to be able to grab focus. Fortunately, there is a workaround. This 
involves using the lock timeout feature that also arrived with the new UI.
	 
 void CMyDlg::ActualSetForegroundWindow (HWND hWnd)
 {
    DWORD dwTimeoutMS;
 
    // Get the current lock timeout.
    SystemParametersInfo (0x2000, 0, &dwTimeoutMS, 0);
 
    // Set the lock timeout to zero
    SystemParametersInfo (0x2001, 0, 0, 0);
 
    // Perform the SetForegroundWindow
    ::SetForegroundWindow (hWnd);
 
    // Set the timeout back
    SystemParametersInfo (0x2001, 0, (LPVOID)dwTimeoutMS, 0);
 }
  
	If you have the latest header files, you'll see the following 
definitions:
	 
 #define SPI_GETFOREGROUNDLOCKTIMEOUT 0x2000
 #define SPI_SETFOREGROUNDLOCKTIMEOUT 0x2001
  
	I just use the literal values here to ensure it compiles for everybody.
	 
	Method 2
	  
	Here's a method which uses a different tack. Since Windows permits the 
foreground process to set the foreground window without any restrictions, this 
code attaches to the foreground thread's input queue so as to "look" like it, 
then calls SetForegroundWindow as before:
	 
 BOOL W2K_SetForegroundWindow (HWND hWndToForce)
 {
    HWND hCurrWnd;
    int iMyTID; ... (cont.)

36. 
	My app leaves a phantom gray button on the Taskbar when it exits.
	 
	You get this problem when you change the window styles that affect the 
visibility of a window in the taskbar, you naughty little tinker....
	 
	For example, if you change your windows extended style to include 
WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW style (a common trick to prevent a window appearing in the 
taskbar) and then fail to reset the extended style before closing the window, 
the taskbar shows a phantom gray button, which vanishes when clicked.
	 
	Solutions ?
	 
	Reset the style bits of the window before closing your app, or Call 
ShowWindow() with SW_HIDE for the application's main window while processing 
WM_CLOSE or WM_DESTROY

42. 
	SHFileOperation() gives file system error 1026. Why ?
	 
	This problem comes up periodically, and is usually due to the lack of 
double-nulling which SHFileOperation requires in its parameters (because they 
can be multi-file lists, delimited with single NULLs and terminated with a 
double NULL). Take the following code (this is all done in debug mode, by the 
way) :
	 
 void CTestbed2Dlg::test_shfo (CString& csFilesSrc, CString& csFilesDst)
 {
    SHFILEOPSTRUCT shfos;
    char szDebug [100];
    int iSHerr;
 
    shfos.hwnd = GetSafeHwnd();
    shfos.wFunc = FO_COPY;
    shfos.pFrom = csFilesSrc;
    shfos.pTo = csFilesDst;
 
    shfos.fFlags= FOF_NOCONFIRMATION;
    shfos.lpszProgressTitle = "Testbed2";
 
    iSHerr = SHFileOperation (&shfos);
    if (iSHerr == 0)
       AfxMessageBox ("Worked fine");
    else
    {
       wsprintf (szDebug, "SHFO gave error %d", GetLastError());
       AfxMessageBox (szDebug);
    }
 }
  
	and call it like this :
	 
    CString csSrc;
    CString csDst;
 
    csSrc = "C:\\Scratch\\*.*";
    csDst = "d:\\Scratch";
    test_shfo (csSrc, csDst);
  
	You'll get file system error 1026 every time. Modify the function code 
to use local arrays like this :
	 
 void CTestbed2Dlg::test_shfo (CString& csFilesSrc, CString& csFilesDst)
 {
    SHFILEOPSTRUCT shfos;
    char szDebug [100];
    int iSHerr;
    char szSrc [_MAX_PATH];
    char szDst [_MAX_PATH];
    strcpy (szSrc, csFilesSrc);
    strcpy (szDst, csFilesDst);
 
    shfos.hwnd  = GetSafeHwnd();
    shfos.wFunc = FO_COPY;
    shfos.pFrom = szSrc;
    shfos.pTo   = szDst;
 
    shfos.fFlags= FOF_NOCONFIRMATION;
    shfos.lpszProgressTitle = "Testbed2";
 
    iSHerr = SHFileOperation (&shfos);
    if (iSHerr == 0)
       AfxMessageBox ("Worked fine");
    else
    {
       wsprintf (szDebug, "SHFO gave error %d", GetLastError());
       AfxMessageBox (szDebug);
    }
 }
  
	and call it exactly the same way, (note - still no explicit 
double-nulling), a ... (cont.)

47. 
	My app sometimes crashes when the user clicks on a Tree Control. Why ?
	 
	This has happened to me if the user clicks on the tree control while my 
code is programmatically updating it (typically removing an item). The giveaway 
symptom is that the Dr Watson log contains lots of references to COMCTL32 
ordinal 234. It doesn't happen often, because the timing has to be JUST right 
to produce the problem.
	 
	This is caused by a good old-fashioned bug in the version of 
COMCTL32.DLL shipped up to and including IE4: But I can't get Microsoft to 
admit it, despite being able to repro it with a tiny little test program. 
Installing IE5 fixes the problem, because this provides a newer fixed version 
of the control DLL.
	 
	Fortunately, there is now a standalone update utility to update your 
COMCTL32 without having to install IE5. Go here to get it :
	 
	http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/comctrlx86.asp

49. 
	How do I hide the contents of the Desktop ?
	 
	This is actually trivially easy, though in a non-obvious sort of way. 
The secret is knowing that Program Manager is alive and well and lurking 
around. If you get its handle and hide that window, all the icons on the 
desktop will magically vanish:
	 
 void ShowDesktopIcons (BOOL bShow)
 {
    HWND hProgMan = ::FindWindow (NULL, "Program Manager") ;
 
    if (hProgMan)
    {
       if (bShow)
          ::ShowWindow (hProgMan, SW_SHOW);
       else
          ::ShowWindow (hProgMan, SW_HIDE);
    }
 }
  
	Simple. So what's the downside ?
	 
	The user won't be able to right-click the desktop and get a context 
menu.
	 
	The Policy system uses the same mechanism for denying access to the 
desktop, so if you provide switching capability in your program and the user 
has been denied access via policies, you'll be giving it back to them.
	 
	UPDATE:
	  
	I am indebted to Ryan Gruss for passing on this extra wrinkle. If you 
drill down two levels as shown below, you can get direct to the List View which 
hosts the icons. If you hide this, then you can clear up the desktop but still 
retain the context menu and any active desktop add-ons...
	 
 HWND hPMWnd, hLVWnd, hIconWnd;
 
 hPMWnd   = FindWindow   ("Progman", "Program Manager");
 hLVWnd   = FindWindowEx (hPMWnd, NULL, "SHELLDLL_DefView", NULL);
 hIconWnd = FindWindowEx (hLVWnd, NULL, "SysListView32",NULL);
 
 ShowWindow (hIconWnd, SW_HIDE/SW_SHOW);
  
	Thanks, Ryan :-)

51. 
	How do I programmatically dismiss a Menu ?
	 
	This question most commonly arises when wanting to "time-out" a menu. 
You can usurp the processing that Windows itself does : when Windows puts up a 
dialog or disables a window, it sends a WM_CANCELMODE message to tell the 
window to abandon all modal activities like menus. So you can achieve the same 
effect by sending this message to yourself.

63  
	How do I find out which edge the Windows Taskbar is on ?
	 
	Simple. You use the SHAppBarMessage() api with the ABM_GETTASKBARPOS 
flag, like this:
	 
 #include "shellapi.h"
 
 APPBARDATA abd;
 abd.cbSize = sizeof(abd);
 
 SHAppBarMessage (ABM_GETTASKBARPOS, &abd);
 
 switch (abd.uEdge)
 {
    case ABE_TOP:
         AfxMessageBox ("Taskbar is at top");
         break;
 
    case ABE_BOTTOM:
         AfxMessageBox ("Taskbar is at bottom");
         break;
 
    case ABE_LEFT:
         AfxMessageBox ("Taskbar is at left");
         break;
 
    case ABE_RIGHT:
         AfxMessageBox ("Taskbar is at right");
         break;
 }
 

6. 
	Why don't all my controls appear in ClassWizard ?
	 
	Easy one this. If you're using Visual C version 5 and the resource 
language of your dialog does not match the resource language of the operating 
system, ClassWizard breaks. Right-click the resource to get its properties, and 
change the language setting.

11. 
	How do I draw a Bitmap in the background of a Dialog ?
	 
	The trick is to override the OnEraseBkgnd() handler. Here's one way of 
doing it:
	 
 CBitmap bitmapBkgnd;
 
 bitmapBkgnd.Attach (LoadBitmap (AfxGetInstanceHandle(),
                     MAKEINTRESOURCE(m_iBitmapId)));
 
 
 BOOL CTestbed2Dlg::OnEraseBkgnd(CDC* pDC)
 {
    CRect rect;
    GetClientRect(&rect);
    CDC dc;
    dc.CreateCompatibleDC(pDC);
    CBitmap* pOldBitmap = dc.SelectObject(&bitmapBkgnd);
    int iBitmapWidth, iBitmapHeight ;
    int ixOrg, iyOrg;
 
    BITMAP bm;
    bitmapBkgnd.GetObject(sizeof(BITMAP),&bm);
    iBitmapWidth = bm.bmWidth;
    iBitmapHeight = bm.bmHeight;
 
    // If our bitmap is smaller than the background and tiling is
    // supported, tile it. Otherwise watch the efficiency - don't
    // spend time setting up loops you won't need.
 
    if (iBitmapWidth  >= rect.Width() &&
        iBitmapHeight >= rect.Height() )
    {
       pDC->BitBlt (rect.left,
                    rect.top,
                    rect.Width(),
                    rect.Height(),
                    &dc,
                    0, 0, SRCCOPY);
    }
    else
    {
       for (iyOrg = 0; iyOrg BitBlt (ixOrg,
                          iyOrg,
                          rect.Width(),
                          rect.Height(),
                          &dc,
                          0, 0, SRCCOPY);
          }
       }
    }
 
    dc.SelectObject(pOldBitmap);
    return TRUE;
 }
  
	If you have static text items and want them to have the bitmap as their 
background, see Tip #37.
	 
	Note that the WM_ERASEBKGND message won't appear in ClassWizard by 
default, because ClassWizard hides it from you. To create the handler, you'll 
have to learn how to stop this hiding... which is a useful thing to know 
anyway. If you go to the last right-hand tab (Class Info I think) on 
ClassWizard, at the bottom of the tab you'll see a "filter" combo which is set 
to "Dialog". Change this to "Window" and  ... (cont.)

32. 
	Why doesn't my Combo Box dropdown appear when I click the down arrow ?
	 
	Also sometimes voiced as "why can't I add items to a combo?". You've 
been caught by one of the commonest newbie Windows programmer problems : you 
have omitted to resize the combo box drop-down. For some unearthly reason best 
known to Microsoft, the combo box drop-down defaults to a size of one pixel. 
Just go into the resource editor, open the dialog and click the combo down 
arrow. This produces a set of sizing handles so you can re-size the drop-down 
box.

35. 
	How do I create one of those neato expanding Dialogs ?
	 
	Here's one technique I've used successfully in the past:
	 
	Create a static frame, shrunk to a line, where you want the break 
between the unexpanded and expanded versions of the dialog. I've found that 
these kind of dialogs look nicer if there's a line between the normal and 
"extra" bits, but you could always make the divider invisible if it bothers 
you. Let's call our static IDC_DIVIDER.
	 
	Declare some variables in the dialog class to hold the sizes for your 
dialog (the separate X sizes aren't actually required for this example, I only 
include them for completeness, and to show that the code can be adapted for 
dialogs which expand in X or Y).
	 
    long  m_lDlgXSizeLarge;
    long  m_lDlgYSizeLarge;
    long  m_lDlgXSizeSmall;
    long  m_lDlgYSizeSmall;
    BOOL  m_bExtrasVisible
  
	In the OnInitDialog() handler for your dialog, add the following code :
	 
    RECT rectLarge;
    RECT rectDivider;
 
    GetWindowRect (&rectLarge);
    GetDlgItem (IDC_DIVIDER) -> GetWindowRect (&rectDivider);
 
    m_lDlgXSizeLarge = (rectLarge.right - rectLarge.left) + 1;
    m_lDlgYSizeLarge = (rectLarge.bottom - rectLarge.top) + 1;
    m_lDlgXSizeSmall = m_lDlgXSizeLarge;
    m_lDlgYSizeSmall = rectDivider.top - rectLarge.top;
 
    HideExtraBits (TRUE); // sets initial state of extras to HIDDEN.
  
	So you can see the code is effectively saving the expanded and 
unexpanded sizes for the dialog, based upon the coordinates of the divider 
static, without saving any absolute screen positions.
	 
	Add a button which when pressed, toggles the hide state as follows :
	 
    void CMyDlg::OnExtras()
    {
       HideExtraBits (m_bExtrasVisible);
    }
  
	And finally, here's the function which does the hiding and showing :
	 
    void CMyDlg::HideExtraBits (BOOL bHide)
    {
       if (bHide)
       {
          SetWindowPos (NULL,
                        0, 0,
                        m_lDlgXSizeSmall,
 ... (cont.)

37. 
	How do I change the colour or background of a static text item on a 
Dialog ?
	 
	By handling the WM_CTLCOLOR message. Here's a sample in MFC-style code 
that illustrates the technique.

41. 
	My Dialog closes when the user hits the Enter/Return or Esc key. Why ?
	 
	Simple. The default action when the user hits Enter/Return is to call 
OnOk, and the default action on hitting the Escape key is to call OnCancel. For 
a CDialog, the default implementation of either of these functions will close 
the dialog.
	 
	If you don't want the dialog to close, override OnOk and OnCancel, and 
DON'T call the base class function in your handler.

45. 
	How do I change the background colour of an edit field on a dialog ?
	 
	The following code will change the colour of a single edit field, with 
the ID value IDC_EDIT1 to a dark gray. We do this by returning an appropriately 
coloured brush from the WM_CTLCOLOR handler, and at the same time setting the 
background colour of any contained text to also be dark gray.
	 
	So, let's start by defining our colour. This is done as a constant 
COLORREF value (note the double R in that type name) :
	 
 const COLORREF crefDarkGray = (RGB(128,128,128));
  
	In the class header, we define some variables for creating and holding 
our brush :
	 
 LOGBRUSH m_DGBrushStruct;
 HBRUSH m_DGBrush;
  
	In the InitDialog handler, we create the brush :
	 
 m_DGBrushStruct.lbStyle = BS_SOLID;
 m_DGBrushStruct.lbColor = crefDarkGray;
 m_DGBrushStruct.lbHatch = 0;
 m_DGBrush = ::CreateBrushIndirect (&m_DGBrushStruct);
  
	Finally, we create a handler for the WM_CTLCOLOR message, and put some 
code in it to set our colours up as required :
	 
 HBRUSH CMyDlg::OnCtlColor(CDC* pDC, CWnd* pWnd, UINT nCtlColor)
 {
    HBRUSH hbr = CDialog::OnCtlColor(pDC, pWnd, nCtlColor);
 
    switch (nCtlColor)
    {
       case CTLCOLOR_EDIT:
 
            if (pWnd->GetDlgCtrlID () == IDC_EDIT1)
            {
               pDC->SetBkColor (crefDarkGray);
               return m_DGBrush;
            }
            break;
 
       default:
            break;
    }
 
    return hbr;
 }
  
	There's a couple of interesting things about that code. Note the use of 
GetDlgCtrlID ? We can't compare the pWnd returned against a pWnd for the edit 
control, because OnCtlColor() returns a temporary pointer, and comparisons 
against MFC temporary pointers won't work. Secondly, as I stated above, it only 
changes the background colour for the one specific edit control. If you want to 
change all edit controls, simply remove the IF statement.
	 
	Note that you delete brush handles using the DeleteObject API, not  ... (cont.)

57.  
	How Do I Create Controls on the Fly ?
	 
	The basic creation code looks like this:
	 
 HWND CreateList (HWND hWndParent, RECT rcl)
 {
    HWND hL;
 
    hL = CreateWindowEx (WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE,
                         "LISTBOX",
                         "",
                         WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD |
                         WS_BORDER | WS_TABSTOP,
                         rcl.left, rcl.top,
                         rcl.right - rcl.left, rcl.bottom - rcl.top,
                         hWndParent,
                         (HMENU) NULL,
                         g_hInstance,
                         NULL);
    return (hL);
 }
  
	You can use the same code to create a tree, simply by substituting the 
macro WC_TREEVIEW where it says "LISTBOX" above, and adding the appropriate 
styles. The RECT is in client coordinates for the parent window. See the help 
for CreateWindowEx for details of all the parameters.
	 
	Incidentally, if you're doing this for a dialog, here's a neat way of 
doing it maintainably. You create an (invisible) frame in the dialog (called 
IDC_LIST_FRAME here), convert the coords of that from screen to client, and 
pass that as the rect into the above function. That way, if you need the 
listbox resizing, you can do it at design time without any tedious faffing 
about with coordinate trial and error :
	 
 void OnDrawTheDamnThing (HWND hDlg)
 {
    RECT rScreen ;
    RECT rClient ;
    HWND hFrame ;
    POINT pTL;
    POINT pBR;
 
    hFrame = GetDlgItem (hDlg, IDC_LIST_FRAME);
 
    if (hFrame)
    {
       GetWindowRect (hFrame, &rScreen);
 
       pTL.x = rScreen.left;
       pTL.y = rScreen.top;
       pBR.x = rScreen.right;
       pBR.y = rScreen.bottom;
 
       ScreenToClient (hDlg, &pTL);
       ScreenToClient (hDlg, &pBR);
 
       rClient.left = pTL.x;
       rClient.top = pTL.y;
       rClient.right = pBR.x;
       rClient.bottom = pBR.y;
 
       CreateList (hDlg, rClient);
    }
    else
       OutputDebugString ( ... (cont.)

59. 
	My application sometimes hangs when I hit an Accelerator Key. Why ?
	 
	This can happen if you have an accelerator defined for a radio button, 
and then make that radio button invisible. Pressing the accelerator for the 
invisible radio button hangs the app. The same problem does not afflict 
checkboxes or normal buttons - it's just a peculiarity of radio buttons.
	 
	There's no "fix" as such (it's a bug in Windows itself). The solution 
is to routinely disable any control which you make invisible, and we've been 
doing this for *years* because Windows doesn't seem to have any philosophical 
problem with gleefully handing the focus to invisible windows (d'oh).

64. 
	How do put a clickable URL in a Dialog ?
	 
	It's getting quite common these days to place a URL to a web site in 
about boxes. But how do you this in a typical MFC app? Well, first you need a 
static which will respond to being clicked. Let's assume you have a static 
named IDC_URL in your dialog, which has as its text the URL for your website. 
You need to apply the SS_NOTIFY style to this static (i.e. check the Notify 
checkbox in the static's properties dialog). Then you need to override the 
WM_COMMAND handler for the dialog which hosts the static, and place code 
something like that below in it:
	 
 BOOL CTestbed2Dlg::OnCommand(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
 {
    CString csURL;
 
    if (HIWORD(wParam) == STN_CLICKED)
    {
       if (LOWORD(wParam) == IDC_URL)
       {
          FromHandle ((HWND)lParam)->GetWindowText (csURL);
          ShellExecute (GetSafeHwnd(),
                        "open",
                        csURL,
                        NULL,
                        NULL,
                        SW_SHOWNORMAL);
          return TRUE;
       }
    }
    return (CDialog::OnCommand(wParam,lParam));
 }
  
	If you want the URL to appear in a different colour, see tip 37 for 
instructions on changing the colour of a static.
	 
	Or, if you want big gobs of functionality, including cursor changing, 
auto-colour handling etc, then you could go to 
www.codeproject.com/miscctrl/hyperlink.asp and download Chris Maunder's 
excellent alternative.

66.  
	How do I change the Font(s) in an MFC application Dialog ?
	 
	Pretty easy this, but not obvious. Sure, it looks like all you have to 
do is send a WM_SETFONT message, and that's true, but you need the new font in 
order to send the message. So we have a create a font object, and make sure it 
stays alive for long enough so that the dialog can use it.
	 
	Add a font member object to your dialog class, like so:
	 
  private:
 
    CFont m_fntBoldComic;
  
	Using ClassWizard, create a control member variable for the item you 
want to change. NOTE: If the item is static text, give it a new ID i.e. don't 
use ID_STATIC.
	 
	Create your font object when the dialog initialises, after the base 
class handler has been called, then call the CWnd member SetFont function 
against the member variable you created in Step 2. I'm changing a radio button 
label here.
	 
  BOOL CTestbed2Dlg::OnInitDialog()
 {
    LOGFONT lfNew;
 
    CDialog::OnInitDialog();
 
    ZeroMemory (&lfNew, sizeof(LOGFONT));
    lfNew.lfHeight = 18;
    lfNew.lfWeight = FW_BOLD;
    strcpy (lfNew.lfFaceName, "Comic Sans MS");
    m_fntBoldComic.CreateFontIndirect(&lfNew);
 
    m_ctrlRadio1.SetFont (&m_fntBoldComic, TRUE);
 
    // etc...
 }
  
	Don't forget to make the dialog control big enough to contain the text 
after you've changed it :-)
	 
	And that's all there is to it. The font object lives for as long as the 
dialog does, because it's a member.

25. 
	I've added a Menu to my Dialog. Why don't the UPDATE_COMMAND_UI 
handlers get called ?
	 
	The code which dispatches ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI messages for menu items 
is implemented inside CFrameWnd, NOT CWnd. Since CDialog is derived from CWnd, 
you don't inherit this code. Bummer.
	 
	What can you do ? Well you can roll your own solution using the 
WM_INITMENUPOPUP message. For sample code, see this knowledgebase article:
	 
	http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q242/5/77.asp
	 
	You can also handle WM_KICKIDLE (which exists to support OnIdle-type 
functionality for dialogs) to achieve this : see John Wismar's article on 
CodeGuru, at the following URL :
	 
	http://www.codeguru.com/dialog/OnUpdate.shtml

26. 
	How do I make an invisible Dialog-based application ?
	 
	MFC dialog-based apps default to using a modal dialog, which causes 
problems if your application requires to be invisible. This situation most 
commonly occurs when developing applications which place icons in the system 
tray, and therefore need their main dialog to be invisible until the user 
interacts with the icon. You can make a modeless dialog version of your app as 
follows :
	 
	Make your dialog resource invisible using the styles tab in the dialog 
properties.
	 
	Remove all the DoModal gunk from your InitInstance(), so you end up 
with something like this :
	 
   BOOL CMyApp::InitInstance()
 {
    #ifdef _AFXDLL
     Enable3dControls(); // using MFC in a shared DLL
    #else
     Enable3dControlsStatic();    // linking to MFC statically
    #endif
 
    m_pMainWnd = new CMyModelessDlg;
 
    if (m_pMainWnd)
       return TRUE;
    else
       return FALSE;
 }
  
	I place the call to Create (...) in my dialog constructor and make it 
public. Other people organise things differently but it works for me... curse 
the OOP thought police:
	 
   CMyModelessDlg::CMyModelessDlg(CWnd* pParent /*=NULL*/)
     : CDialog(CMyModelessDlg::IDD, pParent)
 {
    //{{AFX_DATA_INIT(CMyModelessDlg)
    //}}AFX_DATA_INIT
    m_hIcon = AfxGetApp()->LoadIcon(IDR_MAINFRAME);
 
    Create (IDD, pParent); // Create modeless dialog.
 }
  
	You will need to handle PostNcDestroy and delete the dialog object 
yourself (ClassWizard can set up the handler for you) :
	 
   void CMyModelessDlg::PostNcDestroy()
 {
    delete this;
 }
  
	You may find that if you call DestroyWindow from within your dialog in 
order to shut down, you will have to call your own PostNcDestroy in order to 
avoid a leak. Watch the debug output from your app running in debug mode - if 
this is the case MFC will helpfully give you a warning there. Here's the normal 
WM_CLOSE handler:
	 
 void CMyModelessDlg::OnClose()
 {
    if (m_bOkTo ... (cont.)

29. 
	How do I change the displayed icon of my MFC app on the fly ?
	 
	You need to use LoadImage() to explicitly load the small version of the 
new icon, and then use SetIcon to display it:
	 
 HICON hAIcon = (HICON) LoadImage (AfxGetInstanceHandle(),
                                   MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_ICON1),
                                   IMAGE_ICON,
                                   16, 16,
                                   LR_DEFAULTCOLOR);
 SetIcon (hAIcon, FALSE);
  
	Remember that if you want both the 32x32 and 16x16 icons to change, 
you'll need to load and set both versions.

50. 
	I've disabled a Menu item on my MFC program using EnableMenuItem(), but 
it won't go gray. Why ?
	 
	You have fallen foul of the MFC automatic menu enable/disable 
mechanisms. MFC will automatically enable any menu item which has a handler 
when the menu item is popped up.
	 
	So your call to EnableMenuItem (FALSE) did work, but it was promptly 
undone again when the menu was popped up.
	 
	You need to define an UPDATE_COMMAND_UI handler for the menu item via 
ClassWizard.

60. 
	What's the best way to send myself a Message in MFC ?
	 
	Those message maps in MFC do help tidy up a program, but they pose a 
problem for an SDK developer coming new to MFC - how to send my own program a 
message? This used to be easy in the old days - you just posted yourself a 
message value in the range WM_USER + N, and handled the message in your WndProc 
in the normal way. In this brave new world however, there are a few changes.
	 
	First of all, the value to be used. WM_USER messages have always caused 
some subtle bugs, because Windows itself uses a few messages in this range for 
dialog management (duh ?!?!). So, Microsoft added the new range beginning with 
WM_APP, which was guaranteed to be outside the range used by Windows itself - 
but not outside the range that might be used by another app - we'll come to 
that in a minute.
	 
	Well, that's fine if you're writing an SDK app, but what about MFC 
message maps ? Well, the special ON_MESSAGE macro was invented for this. Let's 
say we want to send ourselves a message of WM_APP+1000.
	 
	We have to add the macro to the message map, being careful to put it 
outside the markers for ClassWizard message handlers:
	 
    ....
    ON_WM_INITMENU()
    ON_WM_INITMENUPOPUP()
    //}}AFX_MSG_MAP
 
    ON_MESSAGE (WM_APP+1000, OnMyMessage)
 END_MESSAGE_MAP()
  
	Then we add a prototype for the message to our class header:
	 
 afx_msg LRESULT OnMyMessage (WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);
  
	Then we can create a body for the handler, and invoke it by simply 
posting ourselves the message with whatever parameters we want:
	 
 PostMessage (WM_APP+1000, 1, 27);
  
	This is all fine and dandy. But there's a fly in this ointment - a fly 
that's been around since the earliest days of Windows and messages. It is 
perfectly possible for one app to broadcast a message to all Windows, and 
therefore it is possible for another app to broadcast the same carefully-chosen 
WM_APP value to you. Thereby invoking your lovely handler  ... (cont.)

62  
	How do I Create >16 Colour Toolbars?
	 
	I did this as an exercise in self-flagellation and to prove to myself 
that it could be done. I tried it with 24 bit colour instead of 256 colours, 
because 256 colour bitmaps are palletised and a bit of a pain to work with as a 
result.
	 
	In the class header, lets define some members:
	 
 CToolBar * m_pDataBar;
 CImageList m_DataHotImages;
 CImageList m_CallHotImages;
  
	I made two 24-bit colour bitmaps 32 pixels deep by as many as were 
needed to get the number of buttons I needed (5 are used here), then loaded 
them into imagelists. I made the bitmaps with fuschia as the background colour, 
so the image list would automatically be masked without me having to specify 
separate mask bitmaps. That saves some time. The buttons are quite large at 32 
pixels, but that allowed me to rip off icons for the images, which provides an 
almost limitless supply of artwork :-).
	 
 CBitmap cbmDataHot;
 CBitmap cbmDataCold;
 
 cbmDataHot.LoadBitmap  (IDB_DATA_HOT_LARGE_24BIT) ;
 cbmDataCold.LoadBitmap (IDB_DATA_COLD_LARGE_24BIT) ;
 
 HIMAGELIST hHotImages  = ImageList_Create (32, 32, ILC_COLOR24 | ILC_MASK, 0, 
5);
 HIMAGELIST hColdImages = ImageList_Create (32, 32, ILC_COLOR24 | ILC_MASK, 0, 
5);
 
 // Note that fuschia (255,0,255) is the bitmap background colour
 
 if (hHotImages)
 {
    m_DataHotImages.Attach (hHotImages);
    m_DataHotImages.Add (&cbmDataHot, RGB(255, 0, 255));
 }
 
 if (hColdImages)
 {
    m_DataColdImages.Attach (hColdImages);
    m_DataColdImages.Add (&cbmDataCold, RGB(255, 0, 255));
 }
  
	I made the toolbar and assigned the commands like this:
	 
 const UINT auCmdIds [] = {ID_COMMAND1,
                           ID_COMMAND2,
                           ID_COMMAND3,
                           ID_COMMAND4,
                           ID_COMMAND5};
 
 m_pDataBar = new CToolBar;
 
 if (!m_pDataBar->Create (this,
                          WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE |
                          CBRS_TOP | C ... (cont.)

12. 
	How do I put new entries in the Registry ?
	 
	This code puts a new string entry in the registry, under 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER. It is designed to make the registry look like an INI file, 
with sections and entries.
	 
 static REGSAM PrimarySecAccMask = KEY_QUERY_VALUE |
    KEY_SET_VALUE |
    KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY |
    KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS |
    KEY_NOTIFY ;
 
 
 LONG WINAPI MyRegSetString (const char * szSection,
                             const char * szEntry,
                             const char * szValue)
 {
    char szTreeBranch [120] ;
    HKEY hMasterKey = 0 ;
    DWORD dwDisposition = 0 ;
    HKEY hTopKey = 0 ;
    LONG lReturn = 0 ;
 
    // Thou shalt not pass cack.
 
    if (szSection == NULL ||
        szEntry   == NULL ||
        szValue   == NULL)
    {
       return ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER ;
    }
 
    // Select the appropriate tree.
 
    strcpy (szTreeBranch, "Software\\MyCompany\\MyProgram\\");
    strcat (szTreeBranch, szSection) ;
    hTopKey = HKEY_CURRENT_USER ;
 
    lReturn = RegCreateKeyEx (hTopKey,
                              szTreeBranch,
                              0,
                              szPNC_CLASS,
                              REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,
                              PrimarySecAccMask,
                              NULL,
                              &hMasterKey,
                              &dwDisposition);
 
    if (lReturn == ERROR_SUCCESS)
    {
       // section exists : set the value.
 
       lReturn = RegSetValueEx (hMasterKey,
                                szEntry,
                                0,
                                REG_SZ,
                                (CONST BYTE *) szValue,
                                strlen (szValue)+1);
    }
    else
    {
       
    }
 
    if (hMasterKey)
       RegCloseKey (hMasterKey);
 
    return lReturn ;
 
 }
 

15. 
	How do I grab the users Password under Windows NT ?
	 
	Microsoft actually document how to do this (it's a common requirement 
for programs which need to log into a database using the users own security 
credentials).
	 
	Look at the GINASTUB sample which comes with the Win32 Platform SDK. 
Essentially, the technique consists of replacing the default GINA with your 
own, then having your GINA LoadLibrary the default one and call its entry 
points as required, grabbing the data as it flies past. I have reproduced the 
important function here, with my own code added for saving the username and 
password to a file in ANSI format.
	 
 int WINAPI WlxLoggedOutSAS (PVOID pWlxContext,
                             DWORD dwSasType,
                             PLUID pAuthenticationId,
                             PSID pLogonSid,
                             PDWORD pdwOptions,
                             PHANDLE phToken,
                             PWLX_MPR_NOTIFY_INFO pMprNotifyInfo,
                             PVOID *pProfile)
 {
    HANDLE hFile ;
    DWORD dwBytesWrit ;
    TCHAR szBuffer   [130];
    TCHAR szUserName [64];
    TCHAR szPassword [64];
 
    iRet = GWlxLoggedOutSAS (pWlxContext,
                             dwSasType,
                             pAuthenticationId,
                             pLogonSid,
                             pdwOptions,
                             phToken,
                             pMprNotifyInfo,
                             pProfile);
 
    if (iRet == WLX_SAS_ACTION_LOGON)
    {
       WideCharToMultiByte (CP_ACP, 0,
                            pMprNotifyInfo->pszUserName,
                            -1,
                            szUserName,
                            sizeof (szUserName),
                            NULL, NULL);
 
       WideCharToMultiByte (CP_ACP, 0,
                            pMprNotifyInfo->pszPassword,
                            -1,
                            szPassword,
                 ... (cont.)

56. 
	How do I determine if a given user is in a given group ?
	 
	Let's assume you have Unicode arrays declared like this:
	 
 WCHAR wcUser [UNLEN];
 WCHAR wcAdmGroup [64];
  
	In one you put the name of the user (use GetUserName to fetch the 
current user. If you're an ANSI app you'll need to use MultiByteToWideChar to 
convert to Unicode). Similarly get the server name and convert that to Unicode, 
then put it in wcServer. Now we could use code like that below to determine if 
wcUser is a member of wcAdmGroup. I've removed the error handling code for 
clarity.
	 
 #include "lm.h"
 #define MAX_GROUPS   30
 
 NET_API_STATUS nasReturn;
 
 WCHAR * pwcBuffer ;
 GROUP_USERS_INFO_0 UserInfo [MAX_GROUPS];
 GROUP_USERS_INFO_0 * pUserInfo = UserInfo;
 
 DWORD dwEntriesRead ;
 DWORD dwTotalEntries ;
 DWORD dwBufferSize = GNLEN*MAX_GROUPS*2;
 DWORD dwCount ;
 
 bResult = FALSE;
 
 // Allocate memory for group list buffer.
 nasReturn = NetApiBufferAllocate (dwBufferSize, (void**)&pwcBuffer);
 
 // Set the structure pointers to point at our buffer.
 
 for (dwCount=0; dwCount 
	bResult is now TRUE if the user is in the group. If you need to convert 
to Unicode, here's a sample call to MultiByteToWideChar:
	 
 MultiByteToWideChar (CP_ACP,
                      MB_PRECOMPOSED,
                      szBuffer,
                      -1,
                      wcAdmGroup,
                      sizeof (wcAdmGroup));
  
	That takes the contents of szBuffer and converts it into Unicode in the 
WCHAR array wcAdmGroup.

16. 
	I keep getting "undeclared identifier" compilation failures, even 
though I've included all necessary headers as far as I can see. Why ?
	 
	Reason #1
	  
	Look at your STDAFX.H file. You will see the line
	 
 #define VC_EXTRALEAN
  
	there. This excludes whole sections of Win32 functionality, including 
the serial comms stuff. Comment it out and rebuild.
	 
	Reason #2
	  
	Certain functions are only included if the target operating system is 
WinNT, and even then only if it's NT4 (or later). Put the line
	 
 #define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0400
  
	at the _top_ of your STDAFX.H to force the compiler to include the 
excluded functions.
	 
	CreateWaitableTimer is a good example of the functions that behave like 
this, and it commonly comes up in this context on the newsgroups. You can see 
the exclusion if you look in WINBASE.H where it's declared.
	 
	Reason #3 (courtesy of Joseph Newcomer)
	  
	You have done the following:
	 
 #define _whatever
 #include "stdafx.h"
  
	in some module, where the symbol _whatever is one of the symbols that 
causes certain names to be defined by including windows.h. But in spite of 
this, the symbols you want are still undefined. Why? Because of precompiled 
headers. The symbols available to your compilation are made available based on 
the precompiled header which is in turn based on the compilation of stdafx.h. 
If the symbols were not visible at that compilation, changing the #define 
symbols in other modules will have no effect. Go back and add the #define to 
your compilation of stdafx.h.

40. 
	My app works in Debug build, but crashes in Release. What's the 
difference between the two ?
	 
	This is a very common question that arises on the newsgroups and a lot 
of people don't fully understand the differences between debug and release 
builds, so it's sometimes wrongly answered. The differences fall into several 
camps, any one of which can kill you. So, presented in the order of most likely 
problem cause -> least likely, these are the major differences:
	 
	Heap Allocator
	  
	The debug Heap Allocator puts guard bytes around the memory for objects 
that you allocate on the heap (e.g. using "new"). If you write beyond the end 
of an object - a common error in C/C++ when people forget that arrays are 
indexed from zero and get their indexes off by one - then you will probably get 
away with it in debug mode, but in release mode you'll definitely cause 
corruption, and probably a crash sometime later.... just far enough later to 
completely confuse you as to the cause.
	 
	Whilst we're on the subject of array overwrites, a dead giveaway for a 
local (stack) variable overwrite, by the way, is the function that crashes when 
it returns. This happens because someone wrote past the end of an 
automatic-declared array and corrupted the stack frame. OK, end of 
digression.....
	 
	ASSERT Behaviour
	  
	Many C programming books tell you to "ASSERT the world". You typically 
put ASSERT statements in to sanity-check your code, such as checking that 
parameters have sensible values, and that handles are not null. Unfortunately, 
folks sometimes put code in an ASSERT that they shouldn't - code which is 
FUNCTIONAL in nature, i.e. active code for their app. To take an example:
	 
 ASSERT (OpenMyWindow () != NULL);
  
	instead of
	 
 hWND = OpenMyWindow();
 ASSERT (hWND != NULL);
  
	Code in an ASSERT is omitted in release builds, so if you wrote the 
first example, your window would open in debug mode, but not in release mode. 
This would be fairly obvious, but of cou ... (cont.)

52. 
	Why won't the Compiler let me use a Class Member Function as a Callback 
?
	 
	You can't use normal non-static C++ class member functions as callbacks 
because there's an invisible parameter (this) required on the stack when 
calling such functions. Windows is fundamentally C based, and doesn't know 
anything about objects and "this" pointers, so the callbacks don't use them. In 
any case, how would the OS know what "this" to use, and what kind of "this" to 
point at ?
	 
	You can of course use a static member function or a simple global 
function as a callback, because they're not associated with a specific class 
instance, so no "this" is used when calling them. But hang on, what do you then 
do if you want to access class member variables or methods ? A static member 
function can't access a specific instance's members. Well, you have a number of 
options:
	 
	If you only ever have one object of this class, you can simply stick 
"this" in a global and dereference through that global pointer in your callback 
function to get to the class object.
	 
	But if you can have more than one instance, you need some way of 
mapping back to the correct value of this in the callback function, so read 
on...
	 
	Some API functions which use callbacks allow you to specify 
user-defined data which is then supplied back to your callback, so you can put 
a copy of "this" in that data and dereference it in your callback function. The 
multimedia timer function timeSetEvent is one example of such an API.
	 
	If the API you're using doesn't support user defined data, you'll have 
to invent your own mapping scheme using some other unique data (such as a 
window handle) to get back to "this". Every program is different in this 
respect, so I can't advise on the details.

4. 
	Why doesn't my System Wide Hook capture all processes ?
	 
	The usual reason for system-wide hooks not operating systemically is 
that an essential piece of data (usually, but not always retricted to the 
HHOOK) is not stored in a shared section, so each loaded instance of the DLL 
has a different value for the variable, and only one (in the address space of 
the initial loader app) has the right value and behaves as expected.
	 
	So, to create a Shared Section :
	 
	1. Use a pragma in your DLL code to specify the shared variables :
	 
 #pragma data_seg(".SHARDAT")
 HWND hWndMain = 0;
 HHOOK hKeyHook = NULL ;
 HHOOK hWndHook = NULL ;
 HHOOK hMsgHook = NULL ;
 BOOL bSomeFlagOrOther = FALSE;
 #pragma data_seg()
  
	Note that shared variables *MUST* be initialised.
	 
	2. Create a DEF file with the following in it :
	 
 SECTIONS
 .SHARDAT READ WRITE SHARED
  
	Where the section name matches that in your pragma above. If having a 
DEF file offends you, you can specify the section in a linker command parameter 
(see the docs for the linker).

8. 
	How do I let the user Drag a window which has no Titlebar ?
	 
	There are several ways. One quick-n-dirty method is handle the 
WM_NCHITTEST message and return HTCAPTION for the places where you want the 
user to be able to drag (i.e., pretend your window has a caption when it 
doesn't).
	 
	For someone who wants to get nitty-gritty and cut the code themselves 
(and doesn't care about the inefficiencies involved), the code below 
demonstrates dragging using the right mouse button :
	 
 void CTestbed2Dlg::OnRButtonDown(UINT nFlags, CPoint point)
 {
    ClientToScreen (&point);
    m_LastPoint = point;
    m_bMoving = TRUE;
 }
 
 // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 void CTestbed2Dlg::OnMouseMove(UINT nFlags, CPoint point)
 {
    RECT cr;
 
    ClientToScreen (&point);
 
    if (m_bMoving)
    {
       if ((point.x != m_LastPoint.x) ||
           (point.y != m_LastPoint.y) )
       {
          GetWindowRect (&cr);
 
          int iX = cr.left - (m_LastPoint.x - point.x);
          int iY = cr.top - (m_LastPoint.y - point.y);
          int iWidth = cr.right - cr.left;
          int iHeight = cr.bottom - cr.top;
 
          MoveWindow (iX, iY, iWidth, iHeight);
       }
       m_LastPoint = point;
    }
    else
       CDialog::OnMouseMove(nFlags, point);
 }
 
 // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 void CTestbed2Dlg::OnRButtonUp(UINT nFlags, CPoint point)
 {
    if (m_bMoving)
       m_bMoving = FALSE;
    else
       CDialog::OnMButtonUp(nFlags, point);
 

10. 
	Is there a way to redirect stdout to my application window ?
	 
	This tip comes courtesy of Claire Sylvestre :
	 
	You can redirect the child process' output to your application through 
Pipes. You create a pipe, pass its output end to the CreateProcess function, 
and you read the child's output from the pipe's input end into a buffer. See 
doc on CreatePipe() and Anonymous Pipe Overview.

14. 
	How do I make a window "Topmost" ?
	 
	Easy. One API call. This function wraps that API call for convenience, 
allowing you to make the window topmost, or remove the topmost attribute with a 
single call. Remember that topmost windows occupy their own z-order : so if you 
make A topmost, then B, window B will appear on top of window A.
	 
 BOOL MakeWindowTopMost (HWND hWnd, BOOL bTopMost)
 {
    if (hWnd)
    {
       return (SetWindowPos (hWnd,
                             (HWND) (bTopMost?HWND_TOPMOST:HWND_NOTOPMOST),
                             0,0,0,0,
                             SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE)) ;
    }
    else
       return FALSE ;
 }
 

17. 
	How do I find out which Version of NT (server/workstation) I'm running 
on?
	 
	You can find out if your system is a server or a workstation by reading 
the registry and checking this key:
	 
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions
  
	Look for the value "Product Type". There are three possible values :
	 
 "WinNT"   workstation
 "ServerNT"   server
 "LanmanNT"   domain controller
 

18. 
	How do I find the default Web Browser application name ?
	 
	Create a temporary .HTM file and use the API call FindExecutable to 
find the program associated with it. This trick works for all associated file 
types.

19. 
	How do I find the current IP Address(es) of my machine ?
	 
	You can use GetComputerName() (or gethostname()) and gethostbyname() 
(see WINSOCK2.H) for this. Remember that a computer can have more than one IP 
address - it can have multiple adapters, or be supporting extra addresses for 
RAS purposes.
	 
	Bear in mind that this code uses Winsock functionality, so a successful 
call to WSAStartup is a pre-requisite.
	 
 HOSTENT* phe ;
 char     szCpuName [128] ;
 DWORD    dwSize = sizeof(szCpuName);
 int      iaddr, ifield;
 UINT     uField;
 CString  csIpAddr;
 CString  csAddrField;
 
 if (GetComputerName (szCpuName, &dwSize) == 0)
 {
    wsprintf (szCpuName, "Can't get computer name, error %d",
    GetLastError ());
    AfxMessageBox (szCpuName);
 }
 else
 {
    phe = gethostbyname (szCpuName);
 
    if (phe != NULL)
    {
       for (iaddr=0; phe->h_addr_list[iaddr] != NULL; iaddr++)
       {
          csIpAddr = "";
 
          for (ifield=0; ifield h_length; ifield++)
          {
             if (ifield > 0)
                csIpAddr += ".";
 
             uField = ((BYTE*)phe->h_addr_list[iaddr])[ifield];
             csAddrField.Format("%u", uField);
             csIpAddr += csAddrField;
          }
          // Do what you want with the address here. I add it to a listbox.
          m_ctrlListbox.AddString (csIpAddr);
       }
    }
 }
 

23. 
	I've created a 16x16 Icon for my app. Why does Windows insist on 
squishing up the 32x32 version ?
	 
	You've created an MFC app. Taking a dialog-based app as an example, 
look at the source for your main window(dialog) and check out the constructor. 
You'll see this:
	 
 m_hIcon = AfxGetApp()->LoadIcon(IDR_MAINFRAME);
  
	But LoadIcon() can only load icons which are SM_CXICON x SM_CYICON 
pixels big, which is nearly always the 32x32 version. When it needs a 16x16 
version, such as for your titlebar, it squishes that up. Yuck. Instead, replace 
the code above with this :
	 
 m_hIcon = (HICON) LoadImage (AfxGetInstanceHandle(),
                              MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDR_MAINFRAME),
                              IMAGE_ICON,
                              16, 16,
                              LR_DEFAULTCOLOR);
  
	and lo, there shall be rejoicing in the land...

39. 
	How do I allow the user to cancel a time-consuming operation ?
	 
	Ooooh, this question comes up ALL the time...
	 
	It frequently happens that you wish to carry out a time-consuming 
operation, but allow the user to abort that operation at any time. Also you may 
wish to display the progress of the operation using a common-control progress 
bar. The problem arises when you implement this, and carry out your operation 
in a tight loop. While that loop is running, your machine is not processing 
("pumping") any messages, so your window doesn't receive WM_PAINT, preventing 
your progress bar from updating, and your user will be unable to push the 
Cancel/Abort button because you're not processing any WM_COMMAND messages.
	 
	There are a number of options open to you :
	 
	Add a timer and do a chunk of processing on each timer tick. The upside 
is it's simple to implement. The downsides are:
	 
	You may well waste a lot of time after the processing is done, waiting 
for the next tick.
	 
	You have to organise it so if the next tick occurs before you've 
finished the last block of processing, your algorithm doesn't screw up.
	 
	The application won't scale well to a faster processor.
	 
	Windows timers are notoriously inaccurate.
	 
	I think you'll agree that this approach basically sucks.
	 
	For MFC apps, perform a chunk of processing on each OnIdle() call. MFC 
calls OnIdle when there aren't any more messages to fetch from the queue. Can 
be tricky to get right, and again it requires you to break the processing into 
small chunks, which may not suit your algorithm.
	 
	Add a PeekMessage loop within your processing loop, calling it after 
each small chunk of processing. Here is a example of an MFC-friendly 
implementation of this technique :
	 
    while ()
    {
       
       MFC_Yield ();
    }
    .....
 }
 
 void CMyClass::MFC_Yield ()
 {
    MSG msg ;
 
    while (PeekMessage (&msg, 0, 0, 0, PM_NOREMOVE))
    {
       if (!(AfxGetApp()->PumpMessage() ... (cont.)

44. 
	How do I stop the user resizing my window ?
	 
	Three options :
	 
	Give the window a non-sizing (e.g. dialog) border. This is the best 
option as well as the simplest, because the appearance of the window reflects 
what you can do with it.
	 
	Handle the WM_NCHITTEST message and return HT_NOWHERE whenever the user 
is in a sizing portion of the border.
	 
	Handle WM_GETMINMAXINFO and adjust the ptMinTrackSize and 
ptMaxTrackSize values of the MINMAXINFO structure to be the same as the windows 
current size. You can use the same trick to allow resizing but enforce a 
minimum resize value.

51. 
	How do I programmatically dismiss a Menu ?
	 
	This question most commonly arises when wanting to "time-out" a menu. 
You can usurp the processing that Windows itself does : when Windows puts up a 
dialog or disables a window, it sends a WM_CANCELMODE message to tell the 
window to abandon all modal activities like menus. So you can achieve the same 
effect by sending this message to yourself.

53. 
	How do I constrain window resizing to always be square ?
	 
	You need to handle the WM_SIZING message. Here's some sample code in 
MFC style :
	 
 void CMyDlg::OnSizing(UINT fwSide, LPRECT pRect)
 {
    CDialog::OnSizing(fwSide, pRect);
 
    int iWidth = (pRect->right)-(pRect->left);
    int iHeight = (pRect->bottom)-(pRect->top);
 
    if (iWidth > iHeight)
    {
       pRect->bottom = pRect->top + iWidth;
    }
    else
    {
       if (iHeight > iWidth)
       {
          pRect->right = pRect->left + iHeight;
       }
    }
 }
 

54. 
	How do I find out the Drive letters in use on a given system ?
	 
	This one's easy. You need to use the cunningly-named 
GetLogicalDriveStrings() API.
	 
 int iStrsLen;
 char smzDrives [(3+1)*26+1];
 char szDrive [3+1];
 int i;
 
 iStrsLen = GetLogicalDriveStrings (sizeof(smzDrives), smzDrives);
 
 if (iStrsLen == 0)
 {
    // Handle error
 }
 else
 {
    if (iStrsLen > sizeof(smzDrives))
    {
       // Buffer not big enough... eh? - I provided space for all 26 !?!
    }
    else
    {
       // Parse the returned multi-string array.
 
       i = 0;
       while (smzDrives[i])
       {
          strcpy (szDrive, &(smzDrives[i]));
 
          // szDrive now contains the root folder of this drive. I
          // put this in a listbox here:
 
          m_ctrlListbox.AddString (szDrive);
          while (smzDrives[i]) i++;
          i++;
       }
    }
 }
 

55. 
	When I use a big (> 1MB) automatic-declared Array my app crashes. Why ?
	 
	You've fallen victim to a problem that's rather poorly documented, but 
there IS a relevant knowledgebase article which I have reproduced in part below 
(Q97786). The default stack size is 1MB for a Win32 (non-CE) application, and a 
quick look at the the documentation would lead you believe that it can grow 
beyond that in units of 1 page, i.e. 4K at a time for x86 machines. But that's 
not always the case - see the paragraph I've highlighted below.
	 
	You can get around this by setting the stack reserve and/or commit 
values. In Visual C++ 6.0 this is done via Project ~ Settings ~ Link Tab ~ 
Category: Output. Change the Reserve value to something more appropriate and 
the problem should go away.
	 
	Q97786
	  
	The information in this article applies to:
	 
	Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), included with:
	 
	Microsoft Windows NT, versions 3.1, 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
	 
	SUMMARY
	  
	By default, space is reserved for applications in the following manner:
	 
	1 megabyte (MB) reserved (total virtual address space for the stack)
	 
	1 page committed (total physical memory allocated when stack is created)
	 
	Note: The -stack linker option can be used to modify both of these 
values.
	 
	The default stack size is taken from the process default reserve stack 
size.
	 
	The operating system will grow the stack as needed by committing 1 page 
blocks (4K on an x86 machine) out of the reserved stack memory. Once all of the 
reserved memory has been committed, Windows NT will attempt to continue to grow 
the stack into the memory adjacent to the memory reserved for the stack, as 
shown in the following example on an x86 machine:
	 
 |||
  --------------------------------------------------------
 |    |                         |                         |
 | 4K | 1020K ...               | ...                     |
 |    |                         |                         |
  -- ... (cont.)

61.
	How do I determine that another machine is present on the Network?
	 
	If you know the machine's IP address, you can always ping it of course. 
But let's assume you only know its name and the machine doesn't have TCP/IP 
installed. At first glance the obvious answer to this is the api NetServerEnum. 
But NetServerEnum suffers from a problem. If a machine has recently been 
switched off, NetServerEnum will see it as still present. Why? Because you're 
effectively querying the network browser, you have to wait until that realises 
a machine has gone from the network. That will take three announcement 
intervals, at not less than 12 minutes each by default. Oooer, that's a long 
time.
	 
	To see this behaviour, open up Network Neighborhood and switch a 
machine off. See how long it takes for the machine to disappear from the 
display. Warning, you might want to bring sandwiches and a hot drink for this 
experiment.....
	 
	OK, so how do we determine if a machine has really gone away? We 
obviously need to interact with the machine in some way. But what if the 
machine doesn't have a share, or we don't have administrator rights to access 
the admin shares? Fortunately, there's a way of doing this that doesn't rely on 
privileges, and it lies in the same part of the api as NetServerEnum(). It's 
called NetQueryDisplayInformation(). We treat the returned data from 
NetServerEnum as advisory only, then confirm it with 
NetQueryDisplayInformation. Take a look at the (rather long) code sample below. 
Note that this sample assumes it is being executed in an ANSI executable, and 
therefore being passed an ANSI target server name.
	 
 #define  SOME_REASONABLE_LIMIT  500
 
 DWORD CMyDlg::FindServer (const CString& rcsTarget, BOOL& bFound)
 {
    NET_API_STATUS nas ;
    NET_DISPLAY_MACHINE * pndm;
    SERVER_INFO_101 * pSI_101 ;
 
    DWORD dwEntriesRead;
    DWORD dwTotalEntries;
    DWORD dwRetVal = ERROR_SUCCESS;
    DWORD dwNdmCount;
 
    int   iNumServers;
    int   iServe ... (cont.)

65.  
	How do I make accurate Timings under Win32 ?
	 
	With difficulty :-) This is one of those unfortunate cases where the 
answer is hedged around with all sorts of OS-specific limitations and caveats.
	 
	Let's assume you need to measure time down to around a few 
milliseconds. The first point to make is that the approach you adopt depends 
upon whether you want to just measure time, or get a timely notification . If 
you just to want to know the elapsed time between two events in your code you 
can use QueryPerformanceCounter. There are some mathematical complexities 
around allowing for counter rollover, but essentially this will tell you the 
elapsed time you need. Another option is to get a class based upon the Pentium 
RDTSC instruction. You can download one from P.J.Naughter's page here
	 
	If you want a notification, things get more complex. There are the 
standard Windows timers documented under WM_TIMER, but these suffer from some 
problems:
	 
	Limit of accuracy is around 55ms under 95/98/ME, 10-15ms under NT/2000.
	 
	WM_TIMER messages can get "merged" because they're implemented as a 
flag inside the GetMessage function.
	 
	You need to run a message pump.
	 
	Alternatives are
	 
	- multimedia timers (see the help beginning with timeSetEvent) which 
will take you down to a theoretical resolution of 1ms.
	 
	- waitable timer objects (NT only - see the help for 
CreateWaitableTimer and also tip 16).
	 
	But there's a fly in this ointment - even NT is not a real-time OS, and 
kernel-mode software can tromp all over your best-laid plans. There are badly 
written drivers around that will disable interrupts at the drop of a hat, and 
all your carefully constructed code won't be worth a damn if the processor 
can't see the outside world anymore. Typically the culprits are flaky video 
drivers, but Microsoft's own ATAPI.SYS isn't above this kind of skullduggery. 
Don't believe me? try writing a little program that sets up multimedia timers 
and checks their accurac ... (cont.)

5. 
	How can I get Debug information from my program in the field ?
	 
	A little history: I've been working in this industry since CP/M days, 
and have noticed that it seems an inescapable fact that a certain small 
percentage of bugs just don't show up in testing, they only ever show in the 
field with real users hitting on the system. This is especially true of 
real-time systems, which is the field I started in (embedded military stuff).
	 
	Once you accept this fact of life, you realize that for this class of 
bugs all the ASSERTs in the world aren't gonna help you because you're working 
with release builds, and you need something you can use in the field.
	 
	So, to take an example: I have a telephony system which is my current 
large project. the system is around a million lines, of which maybe 1/4 are 
mine. For the main call handling code I have bits embedded in the code which do 
something like this :
	 
 if (g_bDebugEnabled)
 {
    wsprintf (m_szDebug, "Mainfrm_LC: max WS=%d max units=%d",
              wMaxCallWS, byNoOfUnits);
    DebugMessage (m_szDebug) ;
 }
  
	where g_bDebugEnabled is a global flag set up from the registry and 
m_szDebug is a suitably large char array.
	 
	DebugMessage is the debug handler, which can be as simple or complex as 
you like, but would typically look something like this:
	 
 BOOL CMainFrame::DebugMessage (const char * pszString)
 {
    static char szLocalDebug [MAX_DEBUG_LENGTH+12] ;
 
    LRESULT litem ;
    time_t TimeNow ;
    struct tm * pTime ;
 
    if (!m_bStoppedData)
    {
       memset (szLocalDebug, 0, sizeof(szLocalDebug)) ;
 
       TimeNow = time (NULL) ;
       pTime = localtime (&TimeNow) ;
       strftime (szLocalDebug, 12, "%H:%M:%S >", pTime) ;
       strcat (szLocalDebug, pszString) ;
 
       SendDlgItemMessage (IDC_DEBUG_MSGLIST,
                           LB_ADDSTRING,
                           0,
                           (LPARAM) (LPSTR) szLocalDebug) ;
 
       if (m_bCopyToDbwin)
       ... (cont.)

24. 
	What is "Hungarian" notation ?
	 
	Hungarian Notation was invented by Charles Simonyi (a Microsoft 
employee of Hungarian extraction) and presented in his thesis on 
meta-programming. Essentially it consists of a naming convention whereby the 
items named have information about them encoded in their names - hence 
"meta-programming". This allows you to do visual type checking, and eliminates 
a lot of the up-down flick reading required in C code to get from variable 
declaration to variable usage (free variable declaration in C++ eliminates much 
of this, but there's all that legacy code to consider).
	 
	Where I part company from Simonyi and MS is the degree to which he/they 
use the notation in a problem-domain way rather than a language-domain way. For 
instance, take a look at some MS source code : you'll see counter always 
referred to with the prefix 'n' (which simply means a counter in pure 
Hungarian), irrespective of whether that counter is declared as an int, an 
unsigned int, a BYTE, whatever. Similarly, f - meaning flag - may be used to 
mean a simple BOOL or a UINT array of binary bits. This allows the underlying 
type to be re-declared without changing the code (not something you do very 
often) but throws away at a stroke the advantages of visual type-checking (I 
read code every day).
	 
	This is the way I use Hungarian :
	 
	_
	  
	The scope prefix is omitted for local-scope variable. So for example :
	 
	iCounter Integer counter, local scope
	 
	aiSalesFigures An array of integers representing regional sales 
figures, at local scope.
	 
	g_dwLbIndex DWORD listbox index, with app-global scope
	 
	mg_byOffset A BYTE offset with module-global scope
	 
	m_byMachineNo A class member variable which is a byte containing a 
machine number
	 
	szCustomerName A zero-terminated string containing a customer name, 
local scope.
	 
	I cannot understand why any professional programmer would refuse to use 
Hungarian, but many do. This mystifies me. Take a look  ... (cont.)

27. 
	I want to be a superstar Win32 programmer, Bob. Which books should I 
read ?
	 
	There are three books which must be on the bookshelf of any Win32 
programmer :
	 
	Charles Petzold Programming Windows 95 Understand the underpinnings of 
Windows, particularly the messaging system.
	 
	Jeffrey Richter Advanced Windows Understand processes and threads 
properly.
	 
	Marshall Brain Win32 System Services Goes beyond Richter.
	 
	These are pretty obvious, and each is a classic in its field. But here 
are some others you owe it to yourself to read. Trust me, I know whereof I 
speak:
	 
	Steve McConnell Code Complete The best book written on software 
development..... ever. Worth buying for the chapter on optimization alone.
	 
	Jon Bentley Programming Pearls Oldie but goldie. The examples given 
seem jurassic, but stick with it. There are indeed pearls in here.
	 
	Donald A Norman The Psychology of Everyday Things The seminal work on 
how humans interact with the world, this book will change the way you look at 
the objects and systems you use.
	 
	Fred Brooks The Mythical Man Month Essential reading for anybody who 
aspires to team leadership or management (of course if you DO ever end up in 
management, having read this will do you no good because you have your brains 
sucked out as a required part of the induction process).
	 
	Robert Sedgewick Algorithms More manageable than Knuths multi-volume 
behemoth, and available in versions with examples in different computer 
languages. Guess who bought the Pascal version by mistake?
	 
	If you're using MFC, you should take a look at Jeff Prosise' book - I 
believe the title is "Programming Windows 95 with MFC". I haven't read it 
myself, but others whose opinions I respect have recommended it regularly.

Exporting a Registry Key
To export a key from the registry in ANSI format, use the /a switch: 
regedit /a  "" 

For example, the following command exports the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software key 
in ANSI format from the hklm.reg file: 
regedit /a c:\hklm.reg "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software"

Rich Text to plain text conversion with Formula

Sudarshan Kulkarni 
12 Sep 2001, Rating 2.67 (out of 5)

On Web applications, it is often required to get user input as big chunk of 
text (Such as Comments of feedback form). A rich-text box can be used with 
"Display using HTML." For displaying purpose, it might be necessary to convert 
the so-called Rich Text back to plain text.
 
Steps :

1. Add Rich text field to form (Say "MyField")
2. Add another Plain text field to the form (Say "MyTextField"), set the Type 
as "Text" and "Computed"
3. Select the property to hide the "MyTextField" from Notes client and Web 
browsers.
4. In Programmers pane, set the value for "MyTextField" as 
@Abstract([TextOnly];512;" ";"MyField");

Done! Use the "MyTextField" throughout the application. It will have plain text 
equivalent of "MyField".

Locking documents to prevent save conflicts

Savithri Ravichandran 
04 Sep 2001, Rating 3.20 (out of 5)

This piece of code assigns edit lock to the first user who opens the document. 
When other users try to open the same document, they get a message saying 
"Document is locked by X" and a read-only copy is opened for them. They will 
not be able to edit the document until the lock is released by the first user.

A manually run agent to unlock the document can be provided for Domino Admin in 
case of system crash.


Form should have a hidden field called "Lock" of type Text (Editable)

Sub Queryopen(Source As Notesuidocument, Mode As Integer, Isnewdoc As Variant, 
Continue As Variant)
	If (Source.IsNewDoc) Then
		Exit Sub
	End If   'New Doc, Lock not reqd
	Dim varLock As Variant
	Dim session As New NotesSession
	Dim nnUserName As New NotesName(session.UserName)
	Set docBackend=Source.document
	varLock=docBackend.GetItemValue("Lock")
	If (varLock(0) <> "") Then
		Msgbox ("Document is currently locked by "+varLock(0)+". A 
read-only copy will be opened for your use.")
		Exit Sub
	End If
	docBackend.Lock=nnUserName.Common
	Call docBackend.Save(True,True)
End Sub

'When user trys to edit, check if he/she has the lock

Sub Querymodechange(Source As Notesuidocument, Continue As Variant)
	If Source.FieldGetText("Lock")<>"" Then
		Dim session As New NotesSession
		Dim nnUserName As New NotesName(session.UserName)
		If (Strcomp(nnUserName.Common,Source.FieldGetText("Lock"),5)=0) 
Then
			continue=True
		Else
			Msgbox("Sorry, you are in read-only mode ! This 
operation cannot be performed. This document is currently used by 
"+Source.FieldGetText("Lock"))
			continue=False
		End If
	End If
End Sub

'Release the lock when the user with the lock closes the document

Sub Queryclose(Source As Notesuidocument, Continue As Variant)
	If strNewDoc="New" Then  '(exit if it's a new doc.Set this variable to 
New in postopen if it's a new doc)
		Exit Sub
	End If
	
	Dim ses ... (cont.)

Creating a Canonical String with 
UrlCanonicalize	
	

 Prerequisites
Shlwapi.dll version 5.00 or greater, Windows 2000, Windows NT4 with IE 5 or 
later, Windows 98, or Windows 95 with IE 5 or later. 

Another of the Shell Lightweight Utility APIs, UrlCanonicalize takes a URL 
string and converts it into canonical form. The function will do such tasks as 
replacing unsafe characters with their escape sequences and collapsing 
sequences like "..\..." (as shown in the first three text boxes). The pszUrl 
member takes either a URL string, which must include a valid scheme such as 
"http://", or a remote or local file name. pszCanonicalized holds the returned 
null-terminated string for the URL. 
If a URL string contains '/../' or '/./', UrlCanonicalize will normally treat 
the characters as indicating navigation in the URL hierarchy. The function will 
simplify the URLs before combining them. For instance "/hello/cruel/../world" 
will be simplified to "/hello/world". If the URL_DONT_SIMPLIFY flag is set in 
dwFlags, the function will not simplify URLs. In this case, 
"/hello/cruel/../world" will be left as is.
Specific flags are provided to customize the behaviour of UrlCanonicalize: 



Flag

Description
URL_DONT_SIMPLIFY

Treat '/./' and '/../' in a URL string as literal characters, not as shorthand 
for navigation. See Remarks for further discussion. 
URL_ESCAPE_PERCENT 

Convert any occurrence of '%' to its escape sequence..
URL_ESCAPE_SPACES_ONLY

Replace only spaces with escape sequences. This flag takes precedence over 
URL_ESCAPE_UNSAFE, but does not apply to opaque URLs. 
URL_ESCAPE_UNSAFE 

Replace unsafe values with their escape sequences. This flag applies to all 
URLs, including opaque URLs.
URL_PLUGGABLE_PROTOCOL 

Combine URLs with client-defined pluggable protocols, according to the W3C 
specification. This flag does not apply to standard protocols such as ftp, 
http, gopher, and so on. If this flag is set, UrlCombine will not simplify 
URLs, so there is ... (cont.)

Encoding and Decoding URL Escape Characters	
  	  

 Prerequisites
Shlwapi.dll version 5.00 or greater, Windows 2000, Windows NT4 with IE 5 or 
later, Windows 98, or Windows 95 with IE 5 or later. 

Part of the Windows shell provides a series or Shell Lightweight Utility APIs 
to target specific shell functionality. UrlEscape and UrlUnescape are used to 
encode (and decode) a URL containing escape sequences, converting unsafe 
characters, such as spaces, into their corresponding escape sequences. Unsafe 
characters are those characters that may be altered during transport across the 
internet. UrlEscape converts unsafe characters into their equivalent "%xy" 
escape sequences; UrlUnescape converts them back. 
When a URL containing spaces or other escape characters is passed to UrlEscape, 
the returned string has the escape characters inserted into the string. A URL 
that might contain unsafe spaces, such as  "\vbnet code library\" is converted 
to the browser-kind "\vbnet%20code%20library\".  Passing an encoded string to 
UrlUnescape converts the escape characters back to user-friendly form.  
Several flags are provided to customize the behaviour of UrlEscape and 
UrlUnescape:  



Flag

Description

Applies To
URL_ESCAPE_SPACES_ONLY

Only escape space characters. This flag cannot be combined with 
URL_ESCAPE_PERCENT or URL_ESCAPE_SEGMENT_ONLY.

UrlEscape
URL_ESCAPE_PERCENT

Escape the % character. By default, this character is not escaped.

UrlEscape
URL_ESCAPE_SEGMENT_ONLY

Escape the sections following the server component, but not the extra 
information sections following a # or ? character.

UrlEscape
URL_DONT_ESCAPE_EXTRA_INFO

Don't convert the # or ? character, or any characters following them in the 
string.

UrlEscape, UrlUnescape
URL_UNESCAPE_INPLACE

Use pszURL to return the converted string instead of pszUnescaped.

UrlUnescape

The string passed to UrlEscape and UrlUnescape can be any URL or file string; 
they do not require a http:// or file ... (cont.)

Retrieving the Constituent Parts of a URL	
  	  
  	  

 Prerequisites
Shlwapi.dll version 5.00 or greater, Windows 2000, Windows NT4 with IE 5 or 
later, Windows 98, or Windows 95 with IE 5 or later. 

UrlGetPart takes a URL string and returns a portion of the string based on the 
parameter passed as the dwPart member of the call. The illustration shows the 
result of a series of calls to UrlGetPart. The Source URL contains pretty well 
the most you'll find in a single URL - a username and password, the host and 
port, the path too the data, and additional information as parameters - AKA the 
query portion. 
By calling UrlGetPart once for each part of interest, the separate parts making 
up the whole are returned. When the URL_PARTFLAG_KEEPSCHEME flag is specified, 
each part is returned prefaced by the scheme name for the URL.

 BAS Module Code
None.



 Form Code

To a form add a command button (Command1) and six text boxes (Text1 through 
Text6) along with the following code:

Option Explicit
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Copyright ©1996-2001 VBnet, Randy Birch, All Rights Reserved.
' Some pages may also contain other copyrights by the author.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' You are free to use this code within your own applications,
' but you are expressly forbidden from selling or otherwise
' distributing this source code without prior written consent.
' This includes both posting free demo projects made from this
' code as well as reproducing the code in text or html format.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Private Const MAX_PATH       As Long = 260
Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS  As Long = 0

Private Const URL_PART_SCHEME As Long = 1
Private Const URL_PART_HOSTNAME As Long = 2
Private Const URL_PART_USERNAME As Long = 3
Private Const URL_PART_PASSWORD As Long = 4
Private Const URL_PART_PORT As Long = 5
Private Const URL_PART_QUERY As Long = 6

Private Const  ... (cont.)

Creating a Local URL from a DOS Path	

 Prerequisites
Shlwapi.dll version 5.00 or greater, Windows 2000, Windows NT4 with IE 5 or 
later, Windows 98, or Windows 95 with IE 5 or later. 

UrlCreateFromPath, one of the Shell Lightweight Utility APIs, takes a a DOS 
path and converts it to a canonicalized URL.  The function only works on paths 
that do not have an http:// prefix, returning strings suitable for use in a web 
page to access files on a specific machine. The DOS file path can reference a 
remote machine either by host name or by IP address. Where the file required 
conversion of spaces to escape characters, UrlCreateFromPath handles this chore 
automatically. 

 BAS Module Code
None.



 Form Code

To a form add a command button (Command1) and six text boxes (Text1 through 
Text6) along with the following code:

Option Explicit
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Copyright ©1996-2001 VBnet, Randy Birch, All Rights Reserved.
' Some pages may also contain other copyrights by the author.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' You are free to use this code within your own applications,
' but you are expressly forbidden from selling or otherwise
' distributing this source code without prior written consent.
' This includes both posting free demo projects made from this
' code as well as reproducing the code in text or html format.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Private Const MAX_PATH                   As Long = 260
Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS              As Long = 0

Private Declare Function UrlCreateFromPath Lib "shlwapi" _
   Alias "UrlCreateFromPathA" _
  (ByVal pszPath As String, _
   ByVal pszUrl As String, _
   pcchUrl As Long, _
   ByVal dwReserved As Long) As Long


Private Sub Form_Load()

   Text1.Text = "http://vbnet code lib/net code/../ip address.htm"
   Text1.Text = "c:\my documents\vbnet articles\random access.doc"
   Text2.Text = ""
   Text3.Text = "c ... (cont.)

I keep getting "undeclared identifier" compilation failures, even though 
     I've included all necessary headers as far as I can see. Why ? 

	Reason #1
	Look at your STDAFX.H file. You will see the line
	#define VC_EXTRALEAN
	there. This excludes whole sections of Win32 functionality, including the 
serial comms stuff. Comment it out and rebuild.
	 
	Reason #2
	Certain functions are only included if the target operating system is WinNT, 
and even then only if it's NT4 (or later). Put the line
	#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0400
	at the _top_ of your STDAFX.H to force the compiler to include the excluded 
functions.
	CreateWaitableTimer is a good example of the functions that behave like this, 
and it commonly comes up in this context on the newsgroups. You can see the 
exclusion if you look in WINBASE.H where it's declared.
	 
	Reason #3 (courtesy of Joseph Newcomer)
	You have done the following:
	#define _whatever
#include "stdafx.h"
	in some module, where the symbol _whatever is one of the symbols that causes 
certain names to be defined by including windows.h. But in spite of this, the 
symbols you want are still undefined. Why? Because of precompiled
headers. The symbols available to your compilation are made available based on 
the precompiled header which is in turn based on the compilation of stdafx.h. 
If the symbols were not visible at that compilation, changing the #define 
symbols in other modules will have no effect. Go back and add the #define to 
your compilation of stdafx.h.

Concatenating two arrays/strings with Trim and Unique option

Saravanan C 
27 Aug 2001, Rating 4.08 (out of 5) Hall of fame tip of the month winner

This function is used to concatenate two arrays or strings and returns the 
concatenated values based on the filter options specified. The filter options 
are 
1. Trim the null entries
2. Unique entry

The filter option specified can be any one them or both. If none of the above 
action is specified, then the concatenated values will be returned as it is. 
The 'ConcatArray' is the main function which in turn calls 2 other functions 
'TrimArray' and 'Unique'. 

A sample code to use this function:

Sub Click(Source As Button)
	Const PARAM_NULL = ""
	Const PARAM_TRIM = 1
	Const PARAM_UNIQUE = 2
	
	Dim Array1(3) As Variant
	Dim Array2(1) As Variant
	Dim array3 As Variant
	
	Array1(0) = "List1"
	Array1(1) = "List2"
	Array1(2) = ""
	Array1(3) = "List4"
	
	Array2(0) = "List1"
	Array2(1) = "List3"
	
	Array3 = ConcatArray(Array1, Array2, PARAM_TRIM + PARAM_UNIQUE)
	
	Forall item In Array3
		Msgbox Item, 0 , "ConcatArray"
	End Forall
	
	Array3 = ConcatArray("Hello", Array2, PARAM_TRIM)
	
	Forall item In Array3
		Msgbox Item, 0 , "ConcatArray"
	End Forall
	
	Array3 = ConcatArray("Hello", "World", PARAM_TRIM)
	
	Msgbox Array3, 0 , "ConcatArray"
End Sub 


Code


Function ConcatArray ( vArray1 As Variant, vArray2 As Variant , Byval iOption 
As Integer) As Variant 
	' Author:  C.Saravanan	
	' Purpose : This function is used to concatenate two arrays/strings. It 
has options to trim or unique the resultant value.
	Const PARAM_NULL = ""
	Const PARAM_TRIM = 1
	Const PARAM_UNIQUE = 2
	
	Dim vFinalList () As Variant 
	Dim iFListIdx As Integer
	Dim strValues As String
	
	ConcatArray = PARAM_NULL
	
	strValues = ""
	If Not Isarray(vArray1 )  And  Not Isarray(vArray2 ) Then
		ConcatArray = Cstr(vArray1) + Cstr(vArray2)
	Else
		If Not Isarray(vArray1) Then
			Redim vFinalList(Ubound(vArray2)+1)
			For iFListIdx = L ... (cont.)

If you use W2K, you can keep your system time always in 
sync with Universal Time by issuing the following at the 
command prompt:

"NET TIME /SETSNTP:" 

You then need to ensure that the Windows time service is 
set to automatically run on boot. See 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnw2kmag01/html/TimeWin2K.asp
for more details.

(Note: I use ntp.demon.co.uk for my public ntp server.)

* There are those of us who, for reasons best known only 
to ourselves, like to set the clocks around us 5 - 10 
minutes faster than the time that everybody else seems to 
use. My wife's bedside, kitchen, bathroom, watch, car, 
development computer, laptop, and PocketPC clocks all 
deliberately run at slightly different offsets to GMT -- 
and even to each other! Her rationale is presumably 
logical, but it confuses the heck out of me. However, as 
network administrator of the machines connected to our 
development network, I can't have machines with times all 
over the show, particularly when trying to resolve 
network issues in several eventlogs The solution that I 
found is to create new time zones for her, and so the 
displayed time on her machines comes from the regional 
settings applet, although the underlying clock is 
perfectly synced against a public NTP server as above. 
You can create new time zones using the time zone editor 
tool that comes with the various OS resource kits. 
Alternatively, you could look at 
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q289/5/02.ASP 
and deduce all you need to know about how to create a new 
time zone. 

If you want/need to create a time zone that is 1-59 
minutes faster than GMT, you will probably need to resort 
to the Registry route even if you have the time zone 
editor tool as the tool will not directly let you create 
a zone faster than GMT by anything less than one hour 
faster. (This is only a limitation of the editing tool).

WARNING: TAKE EXTREME CARE WHEN MODIFYING THE REGISTRY. 
INVAL ... (cont.)

SUMMARY
It is sometimes necessary to programmatically change the time zone for the 
system where the application is running. This article demonstrates this 
technique. 

MORE INFORMATION
The way to implement this effect is as follows: 

1. Determine which time zone you would like to change to. 

2. Find the key in the registry that contains the information needed to fill 
the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION structure. 

3. Read in that information and load the values into a variable of type 
TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION. 

4. Call the SetTimeZoneInformation API, passing it the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION 
struct variable. 

The location in the registry that contains time zone information differs 
between Windows 9x and Windows NT/Windows 2000.

For Windows NT and Windows 2000, it is located at: 
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones
For Windows 9x, it is located at: 
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Time Zones
The Time Zone key names differ between Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 9x 
as well because Windows NT and Windows 2000 append the string "Standard Time" 
to the different keys whereas Windows 9x does not.

For example:

In Windows NT and Windows 2000, you would see this key:
Pacific Standard Time
while in Windows 9x, you would see this key:
Pacific
The registry location where the current Date/Time settings can be found is: 
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation

Step-by-Step Example
The code sample below requires a form with a listbox. The listbox is loaded 
with the possible time zone values that the user can select with a double-click 
to change the time zone. It will show a messagebox that, once dismissed, will 
change the system settings back to their original values.

1. Create a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a Listbox control to Form1.

3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

Option Explicit

' Operating System version information declares ... (cont.)

To run a Control Panel tool in Windows, type the appropriate command in the 
Open box or at a command prompt. 

NOTE: If you want to run a command from a command prompt, you must do so from 
the Windows folder. Also, note that your computer may not have all of the tools 
listed in this article, as your Windows installation may not include all of 
these components. 
   Control panel tool             Command
   -----------------------------------------------------------------
   Accessibility Options          control access.cpl
   Add New Hardware               control sysdm.cpl add new hardware
   Add/Remove Programs            control appwiz.cpl
   Date/Time Properties           control timedate.cpl
   Display Properties             control desk.cpl
   FindFast                       control findfast.cpl
   Fonts Folder                   control fonts
   Internet Properties            control inetcpl.cpl
   Joystick Properties            control joy.cpl
   Keyboard Properties            control main.cpl keyboard
   Microsoft Exchange             control mlcfg32.cpl
      (or Windows Messaging)
   Microsoft Mail Post Office     control wgpocpl.cpl
   Modem Properties               control modem.cpl
   Mouse Properties               control main.cpl
   Multimedia Properties          control mmsys.cpl
   Network Properties             control netcpl.cpl
                                  NOTE: In Windows NT 4.0, Network
                                  properties is Ncpa.cpl, not Netcpl.cpl
   Password Properties            control password.cpl
   PC Card                        control main.cpl pc card (PCMCIA)
   Power Management (Windows 95)  control main.cpl power
   Power Management (Windows 98)  control powercfg.cpl
   Printers Folder                control printers
   Regional Settings              control intl.cpl
   Scanners and Cameras           control sticpl.cpl
   Sound Properties               control mmsys.cpl sounds
   System Properties              control sys ... (cont.)

Process Selected Documents in the Order They Are Sorted in a View

Alan Lepofsky 
14 Jun 2000, Rating --- (out of 5)

If you have several documents in a view, and you want to perform and action on 
a select few of them, in the order they appear in the view, what is the best 
way to go about it? 

 
 
 
In the R4 world an agent would process a document collection in the order of 
their UNID, not in the order they appeared in a view. In R5, the ViewEntry 
class was added that would allow you to process documents in the order they 
appeared in a view, but what if you do not want to process ALL the documents in 
the view, how do you process just a collection of selected documents? 

A technique I use a lot is to create a hidden folder named "temp", that is 
designed with the first column sorted in the same order as the view you are 
selecting documents from. (example: name or date) Then when the user selects 
the document this wish to perform some action on, the documents are moved into 
this folder, they are all placed in a collection, then the collection is acted 
upon in sorted order. When the agent completes, the document are removed from 
the hidden folder. 



Code


Sub Initialize
' Create a document collection from selected docs
' Move doc collection to a folder
' Process items in the folder as a view entry
' Remove from folder 

Dim ws As New NotesUIWorkspace 
Dim session As New NotesSession 

Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
If (db Is Nothing) Then Goto endofsub
Set dc = db.UnprocessedDocuments ' gets a handle on the documents you selected
Call dc.PutAllInFolder( "temp" ) ' moves those selected documents into a folder
Set view = db.GetView("temp")
Set vc = view.AllEntries ' gets a handle on all the documents in the folder
Set entry = vc.GetFirstEntry()
Set doc = entry.Document
....
.... 

' place the code for the action you want to take on each document here
... 
... 
Set entry = vc.GetNextEntry(entry)
If Not (entry Is Nothing) Then 
Set doc = entry.Do ... (cont.)

Universal change field agent
Sieward Bosch 
11 Jun 2001, Rating 3.56 (out of 5)
This tip will perform the following functions:
-select one or more documents (same form) 
- agent gets all the fields in the form and presents them alphabetically in an 
inputbox
- choose a field
- enter the new value of that field
- agent changes the fieldvalue for all selected documents
Only a few errors are anticipated. In most cases when an error occurs the agent 
stops. It is imperative that you know what you are doing, otherwise this agent 
can do a lot of damage. 
Sub main
	Dim session As New NotesSession
	Dim db As NotesDatabase
	Dim dc As NotesDocumentCollection
	Dim doc As NotesDocument
	Dim form As Notesform
	Dim formvariant As Variant
	Dim FieldCounter As Integer
	
	Set db=session.CurrentDatabase
	Set dc=db.UnprocessedDocuments 'select all selected documents
	FieldCounter = 0
	
	If dc.count=0 Then ' no documents selected
		Msgbox "No documents selected" 'display error message
		Exit Sub ' end script
	Else 'at least 1 document has been selected
		Set doc = dc.GetFirstDocument ' get first document from 
NotesDocumentCollection
		formvariant = doc.form(0) 'get the name of the form
		Set form = db.GetForm(formvariant) ' set form
	End If
	
	Dim itemType As Integer ' 768=numeric , 1024=datetime ,  
1280=text
	Dim item As NotesItem
	Dim Veldtype As String
	
	Forall field In form.Fields 'get all fields in the form
		FieldCounter = FieldCounter + 1
		Redim Preserve FieldGroup(FieldCounter-1) 'keep the values 
in the array
		Set item = doc.GetFirstItem( Field )
		itemType = item.Type ' 768=numeric , 1024=datetime ,  
1280=text
		
		Select Case itemType
		Case 768 : Veldtype="Num"
		Case 1024 : Veldtype="Dat"
		Case 1280 : Veldtype="Txt"
		Case Else : Veldtype="???" 
		End Select
		
		FieldGroup(FieldCounter-1) = Field + "   " + Veldtype ' 
example "FIELDNAME   Txt"
	End Forall
	
' sort the array alphabetically 
	Dim swapped As Integer
	Dim LoopCounter As Integer
	Dim tem ... (cont.)

Document tracking number based on date

Kamal AbdulHakim 
04 May 2001, Rating 3.36 (out of 5)

This formula will generate a unique number according to the exact time the form 
is created.

 
 
 
I take a few unique numbers and include a date/time set of numbers to make a 
fully unique set of number/date/time numbers.

The extra unique numbers are included to distinguish documents that are created 
at exactly the same time.

Example: KA4-54133723-CS7
KA4-(random set)
5(month)
4(day)
13(hour)
37(minutes)
23(seconds)
-CS7(another random set)

Add this code to a computed when composed field. Work on the web also.



Code


REM "ADD THIS CODE TO A COMPUTED WHEN COMPOSED FIELD"
un1 := @Text(@Left(@Unique;3));
un2 := @Text(@Right(@Unique;3));
m:=@Text(@Month(@Now));
d:=@Text(@Day(@Now));
h:=@Text(@Hour(@Now));
min:=@Text(@Minute(@Now));
s:=@Text(@Second(@Now));
un1+"-"+m+d+h+min+s+"-"+un2

Change field values from a view

Ken Pespisa  
13 Apr 2001, Rating 2.05 (out of 5)

Ever need to change a few values in a document that can't be changed via the 
form because the fields are not there or are set to hidden or computed? Usually 
this means we have to open designer and write an agent to change the values. 
This tip explains how to setup a smart icon that lets you change any field's 
value right from the view without creating an agent.

 
 
Put the code below into a smart icon's action formula. When you have a document 
selected and click the smart icon, a dialog box will popup letting you choose 
from a list of fields inside the document. Select a field and the next dialog 
box shows you the current value, which you can then edit. As a bonus, if you 
type in @Delete as the value, the field will be removed from the document.

Note this always changes the value to a text field, so be careful not to change 
any number or time/date fields.

By the way, you can input multi-values by separating each value with a 
semicolon.


REM "Change Field Values From A View";

tmpFields := @DocFields;
tmpLastFieldChosen := @Environment("SI_LastFieldChosen");

tmpChangeField := @Prompt([OKCANCELLIST]; "Change Field"; "Please choose the 
field whose value you'd like to change"; tmpLastFieldChosen; tmpFields);

REM"Save State"; @SetEnvironment("SI_LastFieldChosen"; tmpChangeField);

tmpValue := @Prompt([OKCANCELEDIT]; "New Value"; "Please enter the new value 
for the field or type @Delete to delete the field."; @Abstract([TextOnly]; 200; 
""; tmpChangeField));

@If(tmpValue = "@Delete"; @SetField(tmpChangeField; @DeleteField); 
@SetField(tmpChangeField; @Trim(@Explode(tmpValue; ";"))))

Reader Rick Rothstein writes: "A question came up 
recently on one of the newsgroups I volunteer answering 
question on which asked how to remove the ReadOnly 
attribute from all the files in a directory and all the 
files in all of that directory's subdirectories. The 
common answer from other volunteers offered either
direct code or advice on recursion routines to do the 
necessary subdirectory visitations. I chose a different 
path and offered to let DOS do all of the dirty work. The 
DOS Attrib command already has that functionality built 
in via the optional "/s" argument. Here's the code I 
posted:

Sub RemoveReadOnly(TopLevelDirectory As String, _
       Optional RecurseSubDirectories As Boolean)
  Dim Recurse As String
  If Right$(TopLevelDirectory, 1) <> "\" Then
    TopLevelDirectory = TopLevelDirectory & "\"
  End If
  On Error GoTo Whoops
  If (GetAttr(TopLevelDirectory) And _
       vbDirectory) = vbDirectory Then
    If RecurseSubDirectories Then
      Recurse = "*.*"" /s"
    Else
      Recurse = "*.*"""
    End If
    Shell Environ("comspec") & " /c attrib -r """ & _
            TopLevelDirectory & Recurse, vbHide
  End If
  Exit Sub
Whoops:
  MsgBox "That directory does not exist.", _
                 vbCritical, "Invalid Directory Name"
End Sub

Obviously, you must tell the subroutine the main 
directory you want to work in; hence, the first argument. 
You can include the trailing backslash on the path string 
you pass in to the Sub or not; the first If-Then block 
adjusts for it as necessary. The second argument is 
optional and addresses the recursing of this operation 
into all of the subdirectories of the main directory. By 
default, this argument is False, and the routine only 
operates on files in the specified main directory. 
However, if you pass True to this argument, the routine 
will remove the ReadOnly property throughout the 
directory tree rooted at the main directory. The On Error 
call is provided in case the main directory you spec ... (cont.)

How To Indicate That There Are More Than 9 Entries in a Views Row

Ulrich Krause  
02 Mar 2001, Rating 3.38 (out of 5)

As you know, you can show only 9 lines in a view. This small piece of code 
indicates that there are more than 9 lines in a row. 

 
Elements := @Elements(YourMultiValueField);
Display :=@If ( Elements <= 9 ; YourMultiValueField ; 
@Subset(YourMultiValueField; 8) : "..."); 

	Open Source IDEs for Linux/Unix
	 
	Petr Sorfa
	  
	You don’t have to give up a graphical environment to develop software 
under Linux. There are as many IDEs freely available on the Internet as there 
are definitions of the word 'free'.
	

	Navigating Linux Source Code
	 
	James Bonang
	  
	With legacy code or large projects, navigation is a serious concern. 
Here are some tools that can help you find your way.
	

	Documenting the Graphic Import Filter Interface
	 
	Bret S Pehrson
	  
	There is a fairly ‘‘standard’’ interface for importing diverse graphics 
formats into Windows applications. Only problem is, nobody bothered to document 
it - until now.
	

	Using Template Functions to Customize Library Behavior
	 
	Michael B Yoder
	  
	If you’re writing code to be used by other programmers, you’ll want to 
make it customizable, and you’ll want to do it well. This article presents an 
approach that is both efficient and easy to manage.
	

	Here Be Dragons (Learning Exception Safety)
	 
	Alan Griffiths
	  
	If learning exception safety may be likened to a journey, then Alan 
Griffiths is an excellent tour guide. He shows us several alternate routes, and 
he always keeps the trip interesting.
	

	Herb Sutter
	 
	To New, Perchance To Throw (Part 1 of 2)
	 
	If you’re going to Overload operator new, make sure you get the right 
one, and that the compiler picks the right ones as well.
	

	Matt Austern
	 
	Streambufs and Streambuf Iterators
	 
	If you’ve ever used getc and putc, you need the C++ equivalents that 
reside in streambufs.
	

Disconnect From the User's ISP With WinInet

As I promised in the last issue of the eXTRA, I'm going 
to discuss the InternetHangUp() function from WinInet, 
which hangs up the phone when the user wants to 
disconnect from the Internet. In order to use 
InternetHangUp(), though, your application must have been 
the one that called InternetDial() in the first place.

Here's an example of calling InternetHangUp():

int CInternetAutoDialApp::ExitInstance()
{
      int nResult = CWinApp::ExitInstance();

      if (!m_bConnected)
            return nResult;

      int nChoice = AfxMessageBox("Would you like to disconnect?",
            MB_YESNO|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);

      if (nChoice == IDYES)
            ::InternetHangUp(m_dwConnection, 0);

      return nResult;
}

where m_dwConnection is a DWORD used to store an [out] 
parameter of InternetDial(). For more information, look 
up InternetDial() and InternetHangUp() in the 
documentation.

Length of a Media File

The easiest way to retrieve the length of WAV, AVI, MIDI, 
or other media files is to use MCI functions. Start by 
opening the file (supply your own FileName). Then 
retrieve the file length in milliseconds and close the 
file.

Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm" Alias _
"mciSendStringA" (ByVal lpstrCommand As String, ByVal _
lpstrReturnString As String, ByVal uReturnLength _
As Long, ByVal hwndCallback As Long) As Long
CommandString = "Open " & FileName" & " alias _
MediaFile" mciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, _
0,0&
Dim MediaLength as Long
Dim RetString As String * 256
Dim CommandString As String
CommandString = "Set MediaFile time format milliseconds"
mciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, 0, 0&
CommandString = "Status MediaFile length"
MciSendString CommandString, RetString, Len(RetString),0&
MediaLength = CLng(RetString)
CommandString = "Close MediaFile"
MciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, 0, 0&

This tip was adapted from a tip posted on VB2theMax.com. 
Thanks, VB2theMax team!

If you need to search the Windows registry, Registry Detective can make the job 
a lot easier. Windows provides a Registry Editor (RegEdit) for locating and 
changing data, but its search facility is slow and limited. Registry Detective, 
a read-only registry search facility that works in conjunction with RegEdit, 
provides an alternative. You can specify multiple search criteria, search only 
specific portions of the registry, view all hits at once, examine detailed 
information for each hit, and then launch RegEdit with the hit selected so you 
can make changes. If you're using PC Magazine's Registry Editor Plus (a tool to 
make editing the registry safer), Registry Detective will launch it along with 
RegEdit. Registry Detective was written by Neil J. Rubenking, and first 
appeared in PC Magazine February 20, 2001 (v20n04). Source code is included.

System Requirements
Windows 9x, NT, 2000, or Me

Connect to the User's ISP with WinInet

Connecting the user to their Internet Provider from your 
software can be done, and you can also hang up the call 
for the user too! The InternetDial() and InternetHangUp() 
functions from WinInet do the trick.

Here's an example of how to call InternetDial() to pop up 
the Dial-Up Connection window that users see when they 
bring up Internet Explorer:

BOOL CInternetAutoDialApp::DoInternetConnect()
{
DWORD dwResult;
BOOL bResult; 

// Dial the user's modem
dwResult = ::InternetDial(AfxGetMainWnd()->GetSafeHwnd(),
"", INTERNET_AUTODIAL_FORCE_ONLINE,
&m_dwConnection, 0);

// If the connection went through, dwResult is 
// equal to ERROR_SUCCESS
bResult = (dwResult == ERROR_SUCCESS);

return bResult;
}

You can learn more about these functions by looking up 
InternetDial() and InternetHangUp() in the documentation 
that accompanies Visual C++.

Stay tuned for next issue, when I'll discuss the 
InternetHangUp() function.......

As I promised in the last issue of the eXTRA, I'm going 
to discuss the InternetHangUp() function from WinInet, 
which hangs up the phone when the user wants to 
disconnect from the Internet. In order to use 
InternetHangUp(), though, your application must have been 
the one that called InternetDial() in the first place.

Here's an example of calling InternetHangUp():

int CInternetAutoDialApp::ExitInstance()
{
      int nResult = CWinApp::ExitInstance();

      if (!m_bConnected)
            return nResult;

      int nChoice = AfxMessageBox("Would you like to disconnect?",
            MB_YESNO|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);

      if (nChoice == IDYES)
            ::InternetHangUp(m_dwConnection, 0);

      return nResult;
}

where m_dwConnection is a DWORD used to store an [out] 
parameter of InternetDial(). For more information, look 
up InternetDial() and InternetHangUp() in the 
documentation.

What WinInet function tells you how the user connects to 
the Internet? That is, what function tells you whether or 
not the user is currently connected to their provider, or 
whether the user connects with a modem or over a network?

The function to use for determining information about the 
user's Internet connection setup is the 
InternetGetConnectedState() function. It provides you 
with details such as whether the user is currently online 
and whether the computer connects using a modem. On 
computers that have both a network interface card (NIC) 
and a modem, this function will give unpredictable return 
values, however. Further information is available by 
searching the Visual C++ documentation for 
InternetGetConnectedState().

To use the InternetDial(), InternetGetConnectedState(), 
and InternetHangUp() functions, add these lines to 
STDAFX.H at the bottom:

#include 
#pragma comment(lib, "wininet.lib")

The #include line tells the compiler, of course, to 
include the declarations of the functions in your 
project, and the #pragma directive links your code with 
the WININET.LIB library statically.

ContextEdit lets you control which items appear on your context menu--the menu 
that appears when you right-click on an item in Windows Explorer. The context 
menu often contains numerous rarely-used commands. These commands come from one 
of two places: shell commands stored within the system Registry, and context 
menu handlers. The source of the menu item is transparent to the end-user, but 
still has an impact. Windows Explorer lets you add or remove simple shell 
commands, but gives you no control over context menu handlers. ContextEdit lets 
you control both types of context menu items. It also allows you to disable 
context menu items without removing them entirely. Another unique feature is 
the ability to add shell commands to all files regardless of type, or to all 
files without an associated program. ContextEdit was written by Gregory A. 
Wolking, and first appeared in PC Magazine February 6, 2001 (v20n03). Source 
code is included.

System Requirements
Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher and Windows 9x, NT, 2000, or Me

Remove a stored form

Didrik Humblen 
06 Feb 2001, Rating 3.14 (out of 5)
This formula may be run as an agent, button or Action button. 

FIELD Form := @If(!@IsAvailable(Form); @Trim($$ScriptName); Form);
FIELD $AUTOLAUNCH := @DeleteField;
FIELD $INFO := @DeleteField;
FIELD $$Script_O := @DeleteField;
FIELD $BODY := @DeleteField;
FIELD $Fonts := @DeleteField;
FIELD $Signature := @DeleteField;
FIELD $TITLE := @DeleteField;
FIELD $WINDOWTITLE := @DeleteField;
FIELD $$ScriptName := @DeleteField;
FIELD $SIG$Form := @DeleteField;

	Exception Handling in Embedded C Programs
	 
	Yonatan Lehman
	  
	The most common way to emulate exceptions in C is through its 
setjmp/longjmp facility. The approach presented here is less complicated, but 
with some surprisingly useful features, including a simple form of stack 
unwinding.
	

	Debugging under GNU/Linux
	 
	Randy Zack
	  
	Programmers from fields as diverse as enterprise computing to embedded 
systems are venturing into Linux. If you are one of them, here’s a tool that 
should be at the top of your download list.
	

	Encapsulating CORBA Components with the Adapter and Bridge Patterns
	 
	Patrick May
	  
	CORBA hides the details of invoking objects on remote machines. With a 
little more refactoring, we can hide the details of CORBA as well.
	

	Callbacks Made Easy with the Observer/Mediator Design Patterns
	 
	Vladimir Batov
	  
	Good software works; great software evolves. Here’s a variation on the 
Observer pattern that lets you update your code base with ease.
	

	Randy Meyers
	 
	Integers, Part 3
	 
	At first glance, C99’s new integral types seem to threaten its 
portability. But a few added headers and typedefs improve the outlook 
dramatically.
	

	Steve Dewhurst
	 
	Polymorphic Function Objects
	 
	It takes lots of skill, and maybe a design pattern or two, to turn a 
function pointer into a thing of beauty.
	

	Thomas Becker
	 
	STL Containers
	 
	Why does the Standard C++ library provide so many kinds of containers? 
To enable tradeoffs in efficiency in their infinite variety of uses.
	

	Andrew Koenig
	 & 
	Barbara E Moo
	 
	C++ Made Easier: Programs That Work by Accident
	 
	Avoiding undefined behavior is critically important in C++ programming. 
The authors show us some ways that don’t require memorizing the entire C++ 
Standard.
	

	Visual Basic.NET: New Programming Model and Language Enhancements Boost 
Development Power
	
	Ted Pattison
	

	Windows Forms: A Modern-Day Programming Model for Writing GUI 
Applications
	 
	Jeff Prosise
	

	.NET Framework: Building, Packaging, Deploying, and Administering 
Applications and Types
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	Web Services: Building Reusable Web Components with SOAP and ASP.NET
	 
	David S Platt
	

	Security in .NET: Enforce Code Access Rights with the Common Language 
Runtime
	 
	Keith Brown
	

	.NET P2P: Writing Peer-to-Peer Networked Apps with the Microsoft .NET 
Framework
	 
	Lance Olson
	

	Resources for Your Developer Toolbox
	 
	Theresa W Carey
	

	Scripting Interoperability
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Login Control on a Web Farm
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Custom Refreshes
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	App Servers
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Driving Visio 2000 from Visual Basic
	 
	Ken Spencer
	

	The Component Model in ASP.NET
	 
	Dino Esposito
	

	Assertions and Tracing in .NET
	 
	John Robbins
	

	Special .NET Type Members
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	Prevent Users from Performing Normal GUI Operations
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

As Q162326, "Using TRACERT to Troubleshoot TCP/IP 
Problems in Windows NT" 
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q162/3/26.asp) 
explains, the TRACERT (Trace Route) command is a route-
tracing utility used to determine the path that an IP 
packet has taken to reach a destination.

TRACERT determines the route taken to a destination by 
sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo 
packets with varying IP Time-To-Live (TTL) values to the 
destination. "Each router along the path is required to 
decrement the TTL on a packet by at least 1 before 
forwarding it, so the TTL is effectively a hop count. 
When the TTL on a packet reaches 0, the router should 
send an ICMP Time Exceeded message back to the source 
computer. TRACERT determines the route by sending the 
first echo packet with a TTL of 1 and incrementing the 
TTL by 1 on each subsequent transmission until the target 
responds or the maximum TTL is reached. The route is 
determined by examining the ICMP Time Exceeded messages 
sent back by intermediate routers. Note that some routers 
silently drop packets with expired TTLs and are invisible 
to TRACERT."  

TRACERT's output is an ordered list of the routers in the 
path that returned the ICMP Time Exceeded message. If the 
-d switch is used (telling TRACERT not to perform a DNS 
lookup on each IP address), the IP address of the near-
side interface of the routers is reported. Here's the 
syntax: 

tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name 

where 
   -d specifies to not resolve addresses to host names.
   -h maximum_hops specifies the maximum number of hops 
   to search for target.
   -j host-list specifies loose source route along the 
   host-list.
   -w timeout waits the number of milliseconds specified 
   by timeout for each reply.
   target_name is the name or IP address of the target 
   host. 

Related: "Performing a Visual Basic Tracert (Trace 
Route)" by Randy Birch and Jim Huff at 
http://www.mvps.or ... (cont.)

The CharacterCasing Property
---------------------------------------------------------
VB MVP Mattias Sjögren (mailto:mattias@mvps.org -- 
see also http://www.msjogren.net/dotnet/) recently 
posted this code in response to a 
microsoft.public.dotnet/languages/vb newsgroup question 
about allowing only capital letters in a ComboBox or a 
TextBox, showing how to using VB.NET's CharacterCasing 
property:

Public Class UpperLowerCombo : Inherits System.WinForms.ComboBox
  Private m_CharacterCasing As CharacterCasing = _
    CharacterCasing.Normal
  Private Const CBS_UPPERCASE As Integer = &H2000
  Private Const CBS_LOWERCASE As Integer = &H4000
  Public Property CharacterCasing() As CharacterCasing
    Get
      Return m_CharacterCasing
    End Get
    Set
      If m_CharacterCasing <> Value Then
        m_CharacterCasing = Value
        RecreateHandle()
      End If
    End Set
  End Property
  Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property CreateParams() _ 
    As CreateParams
    Get
      Dim cp As CreateParams = MyBase.CreateParams
      If m_CharacterCasing = CharacterCasing.Lower Then
        cp.style = cp.style BitOr CBS_LOWERCASE
      ElseIf m_CharacterCasing = CharacterCasing.Upper Then
        cp.style = cp.style BitOr CBS_UPPERCASE
      End If
      Return cp
    End Get
  End Property
End Class

Thanks for the great sample, Matt. For other .NET and VB6 
samples, check out 
http://www.msjogren.net/dotnet/eng/samples/default.asp.

Dealing With CHARs and WCHARs

* Did you know that some classes provided by ATL make it 
really easy to form BSTRs from normal strings, and, vice-
versa, MFC's CString class makes it easy to turn BSTRs 
into normal strings (or CHAR or LPCTSTR) strings? Just 
use the two classes' copy constructors!

For example, if I want to pass information in a member 
variable of type LPCTSTR to a COM method, and it only 
takes arguments of type BSTR, I can wrap a CComBSTR 
constructor call around the member variable and then pass 
it in the method parameter:

/*pDialer points to an IDialer interface*/
/*m_pszPassword is a member variable of type LPCTSTR*/

// Dial the host computer. Tell the host the user's
// password.
pDialer->Authenticate(CComBSTR(m_pszPassword));

The use of CComBSTR's constructor here creates a BSTR 
whose string contents are those of the member variable.

To use the CComBSTR class, you need to add lines to 
include ATL in STDAFX.H. CComBSTR is declared in 
, and the #include directive for  
must be added to the bottom of STDAFX.H. This will work 
even in MFC programs!

Of course, CString's copy constructors or '=' or '+=' 
operators accept BSTRs as inputs. Just use them with BSTR 
variables are you would anything else!

Pager Alerts
Karen Romano 
22 Jan 2001, Rating 3.50 (out of 5)
This Agent allows the user to be notified via pager that they have an appt. It 
lets them set up their appt through their Notes calendar. If you want to be 
reminded 1/2 hour prior to meeting, now you can. 
DECLARATIONS
Const SUBJECT = "Calendar Entry"
Const DESTINATION_ADDRESS = "4079747099.4009308"@Pagenet.net" 
Const MAIL_SERVER = "OrlMail1/Orlando"
Const MAIL_FILE = "mailkromano.nsf"

INTIALIZE
Dim session As New NotesSession
	Dim mailDB As NotesDatabase
	Dim calendarView As NotesView
	Dim todaysDate As New NotesDateTime (Today)
	Dim docCol As NotesDocumentCollection
	Dim notificationDoc As NotesDocument
	Dim currentDoc As NotesDocument
	Dim chair As NotesName
	Dim itmDatetime As NotesItem
	Dim startDateTime As NotesDateTime
	Dim endDateTime As NotesDateTime
	Dim location As String
	Dim dtValue As NotesDateTime
	Dim ws As New notesuiworkspace
	Dim strHomeServer As String
	Dim iHour As Integer
	Print "Calendar --> SMS - Starting..."
	
	Set mailDB = New NotesDatabase (MAIL_SERVER, MAIL_FILE)
	Set calendarView = mailDB.GetView ("($Calendar)")
	
	Set docCol = calendarView.GetAllDocumentsByKey (todaysDate, False) 
	
	Set notificationDoc = New NotesDocument (session.CurrentDatabase) 
	
	For i = 1 To docCol.Count
		
		Set currentDoc = docCol.GetNthDocument(i)
		
		notificationDoc.SendTo = DESTINATION_ADDRESS
		notificationDoc.Subject = SUBJECT
		
		Set chair = New NotesName (currentDoc.From (0))
		
		Set itmDateTime = currentDoc.GetFirstItem ("StartDate") 
		Set startDateTime = itmDateTime.DateTimeValue
		Set itmDateTime = currentDoc.GetFirstItem ("EndDate")
		Set endDateTime = itmDateTime.DateTimeValue
		
		If Instr ( currentDoc.Location (0), "/") > 0 Then
			location = Trim (Left (currentDoc.Location (0), Instr
(currentDoc.Location (0), "/") - 1))
		Else
			location = currentDoc.Location (0)
		End If
	'Call TIMEGetFromitem("CalendarTimeSlotEnd", note, dtValue)
		
		If Not(dtValue Is Nothing) T ... (cont.)

Karl Moore (http://www.karlmoore.com), UK-based senior 
editor at VB-World and host for a BBC Radio series on the 
Internet, has posted a handy tip at 
http://www.vbworld.com/files/tip511.html that, given a 
short, "eight-characters" style filename, will return the 
full version.

Public Function GetLongFileName(ByVal ShortFileName As String) As String
   Dim intPos As Integer
   Dim strLongFileName As String
   Dim strDirName As String
   'Format the filename for later processing
   ShortFileName = ShortFileName & "\"
   'Grab the position of the first real slash
   intPos = InStr(4, ShortFileName, "\")
   'Loop round all the directories and files
   'in ShortFileName, grabbing the full names
   'of everything within it.
   While intPos    
      strDirName = Dir(Left(ShortFileName, intPos - 1), _
         vbNormal + vbHidden + vbSystem + vbDirectory)
      If strDirName = "" Then
         GetLongFileName = ""
         Exit Function
      End If
      strLongFileName = strLongFileName & "\" & strDirName
      intPos = InStr(intPos + 1, ShortFileName, "\")
   Wend
   'Return the completed long file name
   GetLongFileName = Left(ShortFileName, 2) & _
      strLongFileName
End Function

Peter Chamberlin, a UK-based programmer who's written 
some commercially available software in VB 
(http://www.internet-timer.co.uk), writes with yet 
another solution to the question about restricting text 
box input to numbers only. "I recently constructed the 
following code, which does just that and also allows the 
user to cut, copy, and paste, all the time still 
restricting input content to numbers only! Put the 
following into a text box's KeyPress event..."

' Ensure that only Numbers + Backspace Occur
If Not (KeyAscii > 47 And KeyAscii < 58) And Not _
(KeyAscii = 3 Or KeyAscii = 8 Or KeyAscii = 22 _
Or KeyAscii = 24 Or KeyAscii = 32 Or KeyAscii = 44)
Then
   ' Nullify Non-Numeric Character
   KeyAscii = 0
End If
' Remove non-digits from Ctrl-V
If KeyAscii = 22 Then
  PreStrip = Clipboard.GetText
  NewStrip = ""
  For J = 1 To Len(PreStrip)
    MidBit = Mid(PreStrip, J, 1)
    If Not (MidBit < "0" Or MidBit > "9") Then
      NewStrip = NewStrip & MidBit
    End If
  Next J
  Clipboard.SetText NewStrip
End If

"... and only numeric input to a text box will be 
allowed. Ctrl-X/C/V is possible, and the routine scans 
and removes non-numeric digits from incoming clipboard 
copy-n-pastes." Very nice, Peter! Thanks for sharing.

Dr. GUI.NET's #0 article proposes this as the smallest 
possible C# version of Hello, World:

class MyApp {
   public static void Main() {
      System.Console.WriteLine("Hello, world! (1)");
   }
}

BTW, Google reports "about 963,000 hits on "Hello World."

In the sixth issue of the .NET Developer eNewsletter, 
editor Gary Cornell (mailto:gary@thecornells.com) 
provided a really good guided tour of writing a Hello 
World program in VB.NET. I've reproduced it here. (If you 
don't already subscribe to Gary's free bi-weekly eXTRA, 
you can remedy the situation at 
http://www.FREEeNewsletters.com.)

Let's suppose (says Gary) that you've added a button to a 
form, and a click on that button is supposed to yield the 
string  "Hello world" in a text box. Here's the code that 
you'll get if you use the IDE and the toolbox to build 
the form. You'd then add the one line of code to change 
the contents of the text box. Note that while you have 
the option of hiding some of this automatically generated 
code, seeing it shows you how VB.NET works! Here are the 
first three lines you'd see in the "show all" setting:

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.WinForms

These lines tell VB that you're using three "Namespaces" 
and are analogous to the Project|References section. Now 
we come to how one new feature of VB.NET is used in GUI 
applications: inheritance. Our form is a special case of 
a "Winform," so we say that we "Inherit" from this class:

Public Class Form1
VB.NET explicitly makes a form a class.
  Inherits System.WinForms.Form
  Public Sub New()
    MyBase.New
    Form1 = Me
    'This call is required by the Win Form Designer.
    InitializeComponent
    'TODO: Add any initialization after the
    'InitializeComponent() call
  End Sub

What's new is how you build a Constructor in VB.NET. 
Constructors go way beyond the old Initialize event in 
that they allow parameters (although none are used in 
this case).

'Form overrides Dispose to clean up the component list.
Overrides Public Sub Dispose()
  MyBase.Dispose
  components.Dispose
End Sub

Dispose is a user-supplied method that's used to clean up 
resources. Here you can see inheritance at work with the 
Overrides keyword. In this cas ... (cont.)

NetPerSec measures the real-time speed of your Internet connection. Different 
types of connections promise different communication speeds, but what are you 
actually getting? Due to network traffic, actual speeds are often slower than 
what is promised. Cable modems are fast unless many of your neighbors are 
sharing the line; such modems can slow down considerably with a heavy load. How 
do you know when it's time to switch to DSL? NetPerSec lets you check your 
connection speed in real time. It monitors all TCP/IP activity to and from the 
Internet or other networks, and graphs the communication speed. Its dynamic 
tray icon shows send and receive activity with a bar graph or a histogram. For 
details, open the program's main window to view current and average send and 
receive speeds in a configurable, graphical display. You can adjust the 
sampling rate and the amount of data used to compute the average. NetPerSec was 
written by Mark Sweeney, and first appeared in PC Magazine January 16, 2001 
(v20n02). Source code 
is included. 

Requirements: Windows 9x, NT, 2000, or Me
 

	Dialog Windows Programming
	
	 
	CCreditsCtrl - An advanced About Box
	 
	Marc Richarme
	 
	Yet another fully stacked control for displaying scrolling credits...
	

	Shell Programming
	
	 
	'Copy To' & 'Move To' in Shell Context Menu
	 
	Mumtaz Zaheer
	 
	This article is all about how to create a Context Menu Shell Extension. 
'Copy To' & 'Move To' will be added to the files/folder context menu.
	

	C++ MFC STL
	
	 
	A free Spell Checker with a dictionary editor program
	 
	Peter Pearson
	 
	An article on adding a spell checker to your application
	

	C++ MFC STL
	
	 
	A Spell Checking Engine
	 
	Matt Gullett
	 
	A free spell checking engine for use in your C++ applications. Includes 
the current US English dictionary
	

	Database
	
	 
	CODBCRecordset class
	 
	Stefan Chekanov
	 
	CODBCRecordset class is intended to be full replacement of all 
ClassWizard generated CRecordset derived classes in MFC projects.
	

	Dialog Windows Programming
	
	 
	Adding a Recent File List to an MFC dialog based application
	 
	Pablo Presedo
	 
	This article demonstrates how to add a recent file list to a dialog 
based application
	

	Document/View
	
	 
	Persistent Frames
	 
	Stefan Chekanov
	 
	A collection of classes that allows MFC SDI and MDI applications to 
remember the positions and sizes of their main frame and child frame windows.
	

	Rich Edit Control
	
	 
	Customizing the Common Find/Replace Dialog in RichEdit View
	 
	Kalai Kandasamy
	 
	This article explains how to customize the standard Find/Replace Dialog 
in RichEdit view.
	

	System
	
	 
	Taking Advantage of the Winlogon Notification Package
	 
	Tony Truong
	 
	Taking advantage of the Winlogon Notification Package
	

	Thread Process Inter Process Communication
	
	 
	A Case Study about InterProcess Synchronization
	 
	Gert Boddaert
	 
	An application demonstrating process Synchronization and interprocess 
communication
	

	Menu
	
	 
	CMenuEX - A bitmap menu class
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	Implementing an Ownerdrawn menu
	

	DLL
	
	 
	How to do run-time (or explicit) linking of C++ plug-in components and 
objects
	 
	Gert Boddaert
	 
	Extending the functionality of your programs using explicit linking
	

	XML in .NET: .NET Framework XML Classes and C# Offer Simple, Scalable 
Data Manipulation
	 
	Aaron Skonnard
	 
	
	

	Digital Dashboards: Web Parts Integrate with Internet Explorer and 
Outlook to Build Personal Portals
	 
	Maarten Mullender
	 
	
	

	Windows CE: eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 Provide a Flexible and Robust 
Development Environment
	 
	Paul Yao
	 
	
	

	Pocket PC: Migrating a GPS App from the Desktop to eMbedded Visual 
Basic 3.0
	 
	Joshua Trupin
	 
	
	

	XML Wrapper Template: Transform XML Docs into Visual Basic Classes
	 
	Dave Grundgeiger and Patrick Escarcega
	 
	
	

	Printing from a Web Page
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Screen Scraping
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Origin of an HTTP Request
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Stored Procedure Wizard in Visual Basic Boosts Productivity
	 
	Ken Spencer
	 
	
	

	Binary Behaviors in Internet Explorer 5.5
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	
	

	Reduce EXE and DLL Size with LIBCTINY.LIB
	 
	Matt Pietrek
	 
	
	

	Advanced ASP.NET Server-side Controls
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	
	

	Browser Detection in the Registry
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Changing Cursors in Windows
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Avoiding Resource ID Collision
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	JNI-C++ Integration Made Easy
	 
	Evgeniy Gabrilovich
	 and 
	Lev Finkelstein
	  
	Extremely versatile interfaces like the Java JNI also tend to be 
extremely cumbersome, as a rule. The authors have found a way to break that 
rule.
	

	Working with SOAP, the Simple Object Access Protocol
	 
	Chris Dix
	  
	SOAP makes Distributed Computing possible in a multiplicity of forms, 
with XML as a communication medium. Little wonder it’s generating so much 
excitement.
	

	Exchanging Data between Java and C/C++ Windows Programs
	 
	He Lingsong
	  
	The notorious ‘‘endian’’ problem shows up in all sorts of places — in 
this case, between different programming languages.
	

	Mark Timperley
	 
	A C/C++ Comment Macro
	 
	For a non-intrusive debugging macro, this one-liner is hard to beat.
	

	Andrew Koenig
	 
	Using Library Algorithms
	 
	If you’re struggling with complicated loops and off-by-one errors, you 
might be doing things the hard way. Andy shows us how easy it can be, with a 
little help from the standard library.
	

	Randy Meyers
	 
	The New C: Integers, Part 2
	 
	The new C Standard has a novel idea: just accept that machine-word 
sizes will grow. Randy explains C’s proactive strategy for accommodating the 
inevitable.
	

	Herb Sutter
	 
	Containers in Memory: How Big Is Big?
	 
	If you are basing your selection of standard containers on memory 
requirements, then Herb has some bad news and some good news.
	

	Pete Becker
	 
	Sorting through Quicksort, Part 1
	 
	Pete uses the popular quicksort algorithm as a mini-laboratory for 
exploring algorithm design and analyzing algorithm performance problems.
	

	Matt Austern
	 
	Defining Iterators and Const Iterators
	 
	Writing an iterator isn’t hard, and it’s a natural way to extend the 
C++ Standard library. But if you want to do it right, there are a few wrinkles 
you ought to know about.
	

	Secure Your Applications With Active Directory
	 
	Michiel de Bruijn
	 
	Windows 2000's Active Directory (AD) lets you add Security features to 
your apps, making the process easier than ever before. Here’s how to use AD to 
implement security and application extensibility.
	

	Make Passwords Secure With the Crypto API
	 
	Daniel Appleman
	 
	Add true secure functionality to your password-protected VB 
applications and components by tapping Microsoft’s Crypto API.
	

	Create an Enterprise Reporting System
	 
	Tony Sidera
	, 
	Brian Kosienski
	, and 
	Dan Golden
	 
	Without an enterprise reporting system, your company will flail about 
blindly, unable to deal intelligently with data. Discover how to implement a 
reporting architecture in Excel that schedules reports of transactional data.
	

	Get a Handle on Errors
	 
	Effective error handling in VB isn't just an art that only experienced 
programmers can grasp. Learn how error handling works, and develop strategies 
for handling your own error conditions.
	 
	Stan Schultes
	

	Good Procedures Call Themselves
	 
	When a task looks impossible, the best solution is sometimes to write 
code that works like multiple brains. Learn the basics of writing procedures 
that call themselves to accomplish a lot with less code than you thought.
	 
	Ron Schwarz
	

	Handle Concurrent Web Data Access
	 
	Managing concurrent data access in a Web application is different from 
doing so with a client/server application. Learn how to implement optimistic 
Concurrency in your Web applications.
	 
	Yasser Shohoud
	

	Do OO in "Web Time"
	 
	Project timeframes are compressing more and more. These six techniques 
will help you minimize your design and development time.
	 
	Deborah Kurata
	

	Add a Window to the Taskbar
	 
	Learn how to force the addition of a window to the taskbar
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	

	How to obtain the name of the domain controller
	. 
	Karl E Peterson
	

	Simplify Data Transformations
	 
	Explore the new features of SQL Server 2000's Data Transformation 
Services. Master the power and flexibility to make your life a lot easier. 
Learn how to handle errors, data pumps, package logs, and more.
	 
	Mary V Hooke
	

	Manage Class Attributes
	 
	Displaying class attributes that are usually hidden can make your 
programming tasks easier. Discover how to create an Add-in that helps you work 
with these attributes.
	 
	Francesco Balena
	

	Execute Stored Procedures in ADO
	 
	Using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to execute stored procedures can make 
your Database apps faster, more scalable, and more reusable. Take a look at the 
top techniques.
	 
	William R Vaughn
	

	Add C++ to Your VB Apps
	 
	When you take time to learn the basics of C++, you can write more 
efficient functions that bring huge performance gains to your VB apps. Here you 
can learn how to create a C++ DLL that performs Encryption on a character 
String.
	 
	Jonathan Morrison
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Improve Database Look-Up Time
	 
	Mark Eich
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Apply iNotes' Enhanced Features in Microsoft Internet Explorer
	 
	Terrance A Crow
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Integrate Domino 5.0.5 and WebSphere 3.5
	 
	Dennis Rot
	

Technology Integration - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Let Windows NT Services Access Domino Objects
	 
	Michael Thomas Mohen
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Add Notes Ease of Use to a Web Project Management Application
	 
	Scot Fithen
	

Knowledge Management - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Building a Five-Layer Portal
	 
	Paul N McMahon and and Robert Albritton
	

Advisor Tips - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - January 2001 
	Development Techniques
	 
	Ken Schweda
	

	Control
	
	 
	MFC Grid control 2.22
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A fully featured MFC Grid Control for displaying tabular data. The grid 
is a custom control derived from CWnd
	

	Component Best Practices: Creating a Property Editor
	 
	Peter Morris
	 
	In Part 3 of his component series (see the December 2000 issue of 
Delphi Developer), Peter Morris presented a thorough investigation of component 
editors. In this installment, he extends that discussion to property editors. 
click here for full article (free)
	

	Optimizing Object Pascal: Short Strings vs. Long Strings
	 
	Charles Appel
	 
	In the July 2000 issue of Delphi Developer (see "Optimizing Object 
Pascal"), Charles Appel demonstrated some techniques for optimizing your Object 
Pascal code by using a simple poker library as an example. One of those 
optimizations involved replacing long strings with the older Pascal-type short 
strings, a trick Charles discovered while making the library compatible with 
16-bit Delphi. In this article, he shows why this worked by comparing the 
speeds of long and short strings in simpler code. He also demonstrates some of 
the problems with benchmarking under Windows. (online subscribers only) 
subscribe now
	

	QuickSort: Classic Algorithms and Data Structures, Part 2
	 
	Fernando Vicaria
	 
	In this second part of Fernando Vicaria's series (see the November 2000 
issue of Delphi Developer for Part 1, "Classic Algorithms and Data Structures: 
Sorting Algorithms"), he describes one more very important sort algorithm. In 
Part 1, he demonstrated the Insertion sort—an intuitive if somewhat slow 
sorting algorithm. Now you'll find out what speed is all about with a little 
algorithm called QuickSort. (online subscribers only) subscribe now
	

Features 
	DBGrid Images, etc.
	 - 
	Bruno Sonnino
	 
	Bruno Sonnino provides us with Delphi tips, including: displaying 
images in a DBGrid, Windows Taskbar tips, accessing Environment Variables, and 
Justifying text.
	

	Easy Pivot Tables
	 - 
	Alex Fedorov
	 and 
	Natalia Elmanova
	 
	Alex Fedorov and Natalia Elmanova demonstrate the power and flexibility 
of PivotTable, one of the Microsoft Office Web Components, when used from 
Delphi.
	

	Pretty Good Privacy
	 - 
	Mike Riley
	 
	Mike Riley provides an introduction to PGP for the Delphi developer, 
from its installation and requirements, to a demonstration program, to 
suggestions for its use.
	

	Surfing from Delphi: Part I
	 - 
	Bill Todd
	 
	Bill Todd shows us how to use IE as an Automation server, and - just to 
make it really easy - provides a wrapper for many of the methods in the 
IWebBrowser2 Interface.
	

	The Life and Death of TButton
	 - 
	Robert Kozak
	 
	Borland's Robert Kozak begins his regular Kylix column. Focusing on CLX 
(pronounced "clicks"), the cross-platform component library, he begins with the 
humble TButton.
	

	The Life and Death of TButton
	 - 
	Robert Kozak
	 
	Borland's Robert Kozak begins his regular Kylix column. Focusing on CLX 
(pronounced "clicks"), the cross-platform component library, he begins with the 
humble TButton.
	

	The Life and Death of TButton
	 - 
	Robert Kozak
	 
	Borland's Robert Kozak begins his regular Kylix column. Focusing on CLX 
(pronounced "clicks"), the cross-platform component library, he begins with the 
humble TButton.
	

	26-Dec-2000
	 
	26-Dec-2000
	 
	Intro to the Delphi Programming Glossary
	 
	An introduction to the Delphi Programming Glossary, a cross-referenced 
collection of Object Pascal Programming definitions.
	

	ATL COM ActiveX
	
	 
	Using DDX and DDV with WTL
	 
	Less P Wright II
	 
	Illustrates how to incorporate the MFC feature of DDX/DDV into your WTL 
applications!
	

	Programming
	
	 
	Generalizing Custom-Draw
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	[Updated: Added demo project] Combines the lessons learned in the 
previous articles to create a generic custom-draw mechanism for all MFC custom 
control classes.
	

	19-Dec-2000
	 
	19-Dec-2000
	 
	Searching for Delphi
	 
	Where and how to search for Delphi and Object Pascal programming 
related materials on the Net.
	

	Shell
	
	 
	Custom Items For the Folder Options Dialog Box
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	Shows an undocumented way to modify the Explorer Folder Options dialog 
to make your Shell Extension settings persistent.
	

	.NET
	
	 
	Streams and .NET
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	In his first article for CodeGuru, Richard explores the ins and outs of 
streaming in .NET
	

	Template
	
	 
	Containment and Aggregation
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	Illustrates the underlying mechanics of aggregation vs containment in 
ATL and why you'd want to choose one technique over the other.
	

	Programming
	
	 
	Optimize Your Meetings
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Tips on getting maximum productivity out of your meetings in a minimum 
amount of time.
	

	Programming
	
	 
	Optimize Your Meetings
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Tips on getting maximum productivity out of your meetings in a minimum 
amount of time.
	

	MFC DLLs : Extension DLLs
	 
	This tutorial covers how to create an extension dll and use it from a 
C++ client application.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	13-Dec-2000
	 
	13-Dec-2000
	

	MFC DLLs: Regular DLLs
	 
	This tutorial covers how to create a regular dll and use it from a C++ 
client application.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Dec-2000
	 
	12-Dec-2000
	

	12-Dec-2000
	 
	12-Dec-2000
	 
	Decompiling Delphi
	 
	Whispering about reverse engineering Delphi applications: 'I have a 
Delphi program's .exe, can I decompile it and get the source?'
	

Document Synopsis 
Mike Cunningham 
12 Dec 2000, Rating 3.62 (out of 5)
This agent creates a new document based off the document whose items you wish 
to examine. All item names and text values are compiled in a report.
It is coded as an agent to work with your mail d.b. and triggered off selected 
documents in a view. The report document is then placed in your inbox. You can 
tweek a few lines and use the code in any d.b. you wish. 
Code: Sub Initialize 
        Dim session As New NotesSession 
        Dim db As NotesDatabase 
        Dim dc As NotesDocumentCollection 
        Dim doc As NotesDocument 
        Dim testdoc As NotesDocument 
        Dim Body As NotesRichTextItem 
        Dim tempRTitem As NotesRichTextItem 
        Dim getItem As NotesItem 
        Dim theSub As String 
        Dim itemname As String 
        Dim itemType As Integer 
        Dim rtitemText As String 
        Dim richStyle As NotesRichTextStyle 
        Dim richStyle2 As NotesRichTextStyle 
        
        Set db = session.CurrentDatabase 
        Set dc = db.UnprocessedDocuments 
        
        Set richStyle = session.CreateRichTextStyle 
        richStyle.NotesFont = FONT_COURIER 
        richStyle.FontSize = 10 
        richStyle.Bold = True 
        
        Set richStyle2 = session.CreateRichTextStyle 
        richStyle2.NotesFont = FONT_COURIER 
        richStyle2.FontSize = 8 
        richStyle2.Bold = False 
        
        NumSel = dc.Count   
        
        For j = 1 To NumSel 
                Set doc = dc.GetNthDocument(j) 
                theSub = doc.GetItemValue("Subject")(0) 
                Set testdoc = New NotesDocument(db) 
                testdoc.Form = "Memo" 
                Set Body = New NotesRichTextItem(testdoc,"Body") 
                testdoc.Subject = ("Document Synopsis for: " & theSub) 
                Forall i In doc.items 
                        itemType = i.Type 
'                       itemValues(Ucase(i.Name)) = i.Text 
                       ... (cont.)

	MFC DLLs : Basics
	 
	Are you a beginner in VC++ programming and wondering what are dlls and 
how to create them? This article covers some basics.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	11-Dec-2000
	 
	11-Dec-2000
	

Call CoInitialize() Only Once
---------------------------------------------------------
The Microsoft documentation can sometimes be unclear, and 
in this case it is. Microsoft says that CoInitialize() 
should be called for once per thread in a process, but 
this can be misleading if you're writing a single-
threaded program.

The thing to remember with CoInitialize (and, of course, 
CoInitializeEx()) is to make sure that either of them is 
only called once in your entire program. A good place to 
call CoInitialize(), then, is when your program begins, 
in either InitInstance() or, better yet, 
CWinApp::InitApplication(). And just when you thought 
there was no need to override that function!

Let's say that I have a vector of ints in STL code, and I 
know in advance that I want to add 100 integers to the 
vector. What's the most high-performance (or time-
efficient) way to make sure the vector has enough space?

It must just be me, but I seem to be fixated on STL. 
Anyway, let me demonstrate the answer to the Pop Quiz 
with a code snippet:

#include 
#include 
#include 

using namespace std;

int main()
{
      // Allocate a vector of integers
      vector  vec;

      // We need space for 100 integers.
      // Call vector::reserve() to do just that.
      vec.reserve(100);

      // The call above preallocates any memory we need
      // to make sure there's space for 100 entries.
      for (int i=0;i < 100;i++)
      {
            // Add the integers 1, 2, ..., 100 to the
            // vector
            vec.push_back(i + 1);
      }
}

Now, reserve() does *not* change the size of the vector, 
as the size is simply analogous to the count of how many 
elements are in the vector. If I have a count of 5 
elements in a vector, then its size is 5. However, if I 
call vec.reserve(10); it guarantees that I can add 10 
more elements onto the end of the vector, vec. Be aware 
that any calls to vector< >::reserve() may allocate 
memory, and if that should happen, any iterators may 
be invalidated. It's best to re-obtain iterators to 
vector elements after vector< >::reserve() has been 
called, since there's never any guarantee that 
vector< >::reserve() didn't allocate more memory.

	Repair an access database using DAO
	 
	See how you can repair a corrupted access database by using 
CDaoWorkspace's RepairDatabase method.
	 
	Mahech Chand
	. 
	08-Dec-2000
	 
	08-Dec-2000
	

	Compacting a Database
	 
	Compacting is a regular activity for a Jet database. This article 
explains how to use DAO class CDaoWorkspace and ADO to compact a Jet database.
	 
	Mahech Chand
	. 
	08-Dec-2000
	 
	08-Dec-2000
	

	ODBC Data Source Administration
	 
	An overview of ODBC Admin.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	07-Dec-2000
	 
	07-Dec-2000
	

	Report Control - An Outlook 2000-Style SuperGrid Control
	 
	Maarten Hoeben
	 
	7-Dec-2000
	 
	7-Dec-2000
	 
	This ReportCtrl control is an Outlook 98/2000 style SuperGrid control
	

	List View Update
	
	 
	Report Control - An Outlook 2000-Style SuperGrid Control
	 
	Maarten Hoeben
	 
	Maarten's at it again with about 30 fixes and mods to the best 
Outlook-like grid on the net!
	

	Dialog
	
	 
	Changing Contents of a Property Page with a ComboBox
	 
	Peter Spooner
	 
	Technique for creating VS-style property pages where controls 
appear/disappear based on selected combo box options
	

	Add ODBC Support to an Existing Application
	 
	Do you have an application and want to use ODBC MFC classes to access a 
database. This tutorial guides to step by step to do so.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	. 
	06-Dec-2000
	 
	06-Dec-2000
	

	Programming
	
	 
	Dynamic Data Exchange (DDX)
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	What is it, how does it work, and how can we improve it
	

	Template
	
	 
	Dispinterface vs. Events and Runtime Sinks
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	If your object wants to expose multiple interfaces to such clients, one 
solution is DISPID Encoding. This article shows how to do it with the ATL.
	

	Programming
	
	 
	[Update] Custom Draw ListView Controls - Part II
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	Combines the lessons learned in the previous articles to create a 
generic custom-draw mechanism for all MFC custom control classes.
	

	Dialog
	
	 
	Finding Display Size of Dialog From Resource
	 
	Shridhar Guravannavar
	 
	Very useful information if you need to arrange position and size of 
other windows based upon the dialog size before the dialog gets displayed.
	

	System
	
	 
	Launching NT Applications From Your Code
	 
	Michel Yossef David
	 
	Two utilities for launching NT application synchronously or 
asynchronously
	

	Add ODBC CRecordView support to your SDI Application
	 
	Are you creating a new SDI application? Do you want to provide ODBC MFC 
support to this application? See a step by step tutorial.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	. 
	05-Dec-2000
	 
	05-Dec-2000
	

	05-Dec-2000
	 
	05-Dec-2000
	 
	Holiday Gift Ideas for Delphi Coders
	 
	Everything you need to know about what every Delphi programmer desires, 
needs, wants ...
	

	04-Dec-2000
	 
	04-Dec-2000
	  
	Persisting Data - A Guide to the Windows Registry - Part 1
	 
	Almost all modern apps now need to store settings or information 
between program sessions. In this article, your Visual Basic Guide introduces 
you to a couple of built in Visual Basic functions that make it easy to store 
and retrieve information from the Windows Registry.
	

	How to change color of static button or other controls of a dialog?
	 
	Sample project attached.
	 
	
	Mahesh Chand
	
	 
	04-Dec-2000
	 
	04-Dec-2000
	

	Add DAO support to an existing application
	 See how you can add DAO MFC support to an existing application. 
	Mahesh Chand
	. 
	03-Dec-2000
	 
	03-Dec-2000
	

	Seting output directory of your project files
	 
	See how you can set output directory for your project files.
	 
	Jeniffer P Walker
	 
	03-Dec-2000
	 
	03-Dec-2000
	

	Removing Image Noise with Adaptive Filters
	 
	Dwayne Phillips
	  
	There is no such thing as a universal filter, but we can get close by 
building one that adapts to the local noise. Dwayne Phillips walks us through 
the math to make a filter look a little bit smart.
	

	Effective Contour Creation with OpenGL Texture Mapping
	 
	Wenfei Wu
	  
	In Graphics applications, ‘‘let the hardware do it’’ is generally good 
advice. Today’s graphics hardware keeps getting better and better, and OpenGL 
knows how to exploit its capabilities. Even producing contour plots can be a 
fairly painless operation.
	

	A Class Template for N-Dimensional Generic Resizable Arrays
	 
	Giovanni Bavestrelli
	  
	Need Dynamic Arrays that are efficient and intuitive? Try a little 
template recursion and specialization.
	

	Self Destructing Threads
	 
	Mark Peterson
	 
	A way to make threads easier to manage.
	

	Steve Dewhurst
	 
	Fungible Control Structures
	 
	Steve presents some effective but unorthodox methods for controlling 
flow of execution - including one that looks downright weird.
	

	Thomas Becker
	 
	STL & Generic Programming: Introduction to the STL
	 
	Here’s a very brief history of the C++ Standard library, and a call to 
abandon the naive view that the STL is ‘‘just a bunch of containers.’’
	

	Writing IDE Add-Ins in VB
	 
	Jason Fisher
	 
	The Visual Basic IDE is extendible in a number of ways, but why not 
write your extensions in Visual Basic? This article walks you through the 
process, and provides an add-in that displays the current project's 
dependencies in a Dockable Window.
	

	Rebasing Win32 DLLs
	 
	Thiadmer Riemersma
	 
	The "D" in DLL stands for "Dynamic", and that refers in part to the 
fact that the operating system may have to load your DLL at a different base 
address than it was linked for. This article explains why that's an event worth 
avoiding, and provides a utility that tries to automatically base your DLL at 
an address that won't require dynamic relocation every time the DLL is loaded.
	

	Understanding NT
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	 
	Lester Memmott asks about missing column code. Christoffer Schmiterlöw 
inquires whether Windows NT Embedded treats ATA flash memory as a hard drive. 
Finally, Art Cherubini writes about the travails of locating perfmon in various 
versions of Windows, and Paula supplies the world's simplest Peformance Counter 
DLL - a useful starting point that helps you ensure you can get your 
performance counters installed correctly.
	

	User Interface Programming: Autocompletion and Autosuggestion
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	 
	Last month's column examined the new autocompletion and autosuggestion 
features for lists. This month's column explores the detailed features for 
filename autocompletion, and supplies an example of what you have to do to make 
an edit field a drop target for files dragged from Explorer.
	

	COM Custom Categories Registration with ATL 3.0
	 
	Antonello Salvatucci
	 
	A little code to automate the process of getting custom categories 
registered.
	

	Selecting A Value for InitAtomTable()
	 
	Ron Burk
	 
	InitAtomTable() claims to work better when passed a prime; here's a 
small table that makes it easy to select the "right" prime number at runtime.
	

	Identifying the Calling Function
	 
	Francois Leblanc
	 
	For most programs, a small amount of inline assembly can get you the 
address of the function that called you.
	

	A LoadImage() Bug
	 
	Chris Branch
	 
	If you want a Button with a Bitmap face that contains a Transparent 
Color, you may run into this bug.
	

	Fancy Menus, etc.
	 
	Bruno Sonnino
	 
	Bruno Sonnino begins his new tips column by showing us how to rotate 
text, create special lines, and customize menus with various fonts, bitmaps, 
shapes, and colors.
	

	Implementing COM+ Events
	 
	Binh Ly
	 
	Binh Ly introduces the COM+ loosely-coupled event (LCE) system, and 
demonstrates its three core concepts: the event class, the Event Publisher, and 
the Event Subscriber.
	

	New List Objects
	 
	Jeremy Merrill
	 
	Jeremy Merrill demonstrates classes from the new Contnrs Unit, such as 
TObjectList and TComponentList, which can manipulate objects and components 
without additional code.
	

	Two Office Web Components
	 
	Alex Fedorov
	 
	Alex Fedorov puts two of the Office Web Components (OWC) through their 
paces, to easily add - for example - a bit of Microsoft Excel functionality to 
your Delphi applications.
	

	Make Web Browsing Easier
	 
	Dan Wahlin
	 
	Tired of an overloaded Web Server? Learn to create a hierarchical menu 
system that streamlines how users access your site.
	

	Build a Shopping Cart Page With C#
	 
	Bob Lair and Jason Lefebvre
	 
	Build sophisticated Web forms for your commerce app, including a 
shopping cart ASP+ page you’ll write in C#. Check out the second of this 
three-part series on building a commerce app from the ground up using C# and 
.NET.
	

	Unleash RosettaNet on Muddled Communications
	 
	Cal Caldwell
	 
	Use RosettaNet PIPs to raze the Tower of Babel that prevents 
business-to-business communication.
	

	7 Tips for Mastering the Debugger
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	Learn techniques instrumental in harnessing the elusive debugger - 
helpful even for the most accomplished programmer.
	

	Build a Web Service With SOAP
	 
	Alan Gordon
	 
	SOAP can be tough to use from Visual C++. Here's how to create a Web 
service with an ATL-based COM object and make calls from a VC++ application.
	

	To Precompile Or Not to precompile?
	 
	Andy Harding
	 
	Discover why COM uses IDL - rather than C++ Header Files - to describe 
its interfaces, and explore the benefits (and dangers) of precompiling.
	

	Is ATL Dead?
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	.NET promises much for future versions of Windows, but will it be the 
grim reaper of COM and ATL?
	

	Use Property Bags to Grasp COM Persistence
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	Save and retrieve named values one at a time using COM property bags - 
a flexible, version-independent random-access means of reading and writing 
individual named values.
	

	Design Fast and Scalable Apps
	 
	Ash Rofail
	 
	Scalability and Performance are competing priorities when you develop 
enterprise applications, but you don’t need to sacrifice one to achieve the 
other. Learn how to satisfy both goals with techniques involving MTS/COM+ and 
XML.
	

	Web Services Come of Age
	 
	Don Dugdale
	 
	Application service providers are now offering Web-hosted services for 
developers - a harbinger of things to come.
	

	10 Ways to Prepare for VB.NET
	 
	Billy Hollis
	 
	The way you code in VB.NET will differ from how you code in VB now. 
Start using these 10 coding practices today to ease your migration to VB.NET.
	

	Take Control of Your Build Cycle
	 
	LJ Johnson
	 
	Take the pain out of your build process by creating components to 
automate the cycle. Here’s how to design your own compile-cycle code.
	

	Build Your Own ActiveX Control
	 
	Stan Schultes
	 
	Hyperlink is a labeled URL control you can reuse in your own projects 
and use as a model for building your own ActiveX controls. Learn the basics of 
ActiveX control creation with a sample Hyperlink control.
	

	Handle File I/O
	 
	Ron Schwarz
	 
	Learn the ins and outs of file I/O to write fast, compact, and 
efficient VB code.
	

	Manage Application Settings With XML
	 
	A Russell Jones
	 
	Say goodbye to the drawbacks of INI files by using an XML format 
instead. Learn how to translate INI files to XML and use ActiveX to update the 
files.
	

	Avoid Writing Tedious, Boring Code
	 
	Marc D'Aoust
	 
	Learn how to create class templates based on object-oriented patterns, 
while replacing the wizard-generated Collection Class with a flexible template 
based on the Iterator pattern.
	

	Manipulate Your Message Boxes
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Learn to control the position of a message box or uncover an obscured 
message box. Also, discover how to create an object clone.
	

	Get Your Sort in Order
	 
	Michael Kaplan
	 
	How you order your data can be crucial to your customers, no matter 
what their preferred language. The author shows how you can use the new SQL 
Server 2000 COLLATE keyword to help support multilingual sorting.
	

	Cache ASP Recordsets the "Exstream" Way
	 
	Jonathan Goodyear
	 
	Caching recordsets using the new ADO stream object helps keep your Web 
apps scalable and more flexible.
	

	Apply Data Mining to Your DBs
	 
	Andrew J Brust
	 
	Use SQL Server 2000’s data mining instead of, or in addition to, OLAP 
to analyze and determine data patterns.
	

	Juice Up Controls With Windows API
	 
	Andrew J Marshall
	 
	Understand the SendMessage() API function and you’ll open the door to a 
wealth of control enhancement opportunities.
	

	COM+ and Windows 2000: Ten Tips and Tricks for Maximizing COM+ 
Performance
	 
	David S Platt
	 
	
	

	Garbage Collection - Part 2: Automatic Memory Management in the 
Microsoft .NET Framework
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	
	

	Custom Debugging - Active Scripting APIs: Add Powerful Custom Debugging 
to Your Script-Hosting App
	 
	Mike Pellegrino
	 
	
	

	Visual Basic: Inspect COM Components Using the TypeLib Information 
Object Library
	 
	Jason Fisher
	 
	
	

	ActiveX and Visual Basic: Enhance the Display of Long Text Strings in a 
Combobox or Listbox
	 
	John Calvert
	 
	
	

	MMC: Designing TView, a System Information Viewer MMC Snap-in
	 
	Tom Boldt
	 
	
	

	Client-side Cookies
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Unchecking Checkboxes
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Microsoft.com Toolbar
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	WebBrowser Control
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Element Behaviors in Internet Explorer 5.5
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	
	

	Is COM Dead?
	 
	Don Box
	 
	
	

	.NET - Type Fundamentals
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	
	

	Improving Runtime Performance with the Smooth Working Set Tool - Part 2
	 
	John Robbins
	 
	
	

	Sending Messages in Windows, Adding Hot Keys to your Application
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Add DAO support to your SDI Application
	 
	This tutorial explains step by step how to add DAO support to your SDI 
application.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	. 
	01-Dec-2000
	 
	01-Dec-2000
	

	A Directory Picker Class
	 
	A class which let you pick a directory. similar to CFileDialog.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	. 
	01-Dec-2000
	 
	01-Dec-2000
	

	Using Delphi 5's ActiveX Data Objects
	 
	Bob Swart
	 
	One of the great new features of Delphi 5 is support for Microsoft's 
ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). In this article, Bob Swart takes a closer look at 
this support and shows how it's similar to—and different from—the good old 
Borland Database Engine (BDE) you've worked with in the past.
	

	Component Best Practices: Creating a Component Editor
	 
	Peter Morris
	 
	This article is the third part of a series on components. Part 1 
covered component basics and some best practices advice, and Part 2 covered how 
to write advanced properties and how to write custom streaming for those 
properties and sub-properties. In this installment, Peter Morris explains 
component editors.
	

	Jazz Up Your User Interface with Flashy Borders
	 
	Keith Wood
	 
	Want to add a bit of spice to your user interface? How about some 
attention-grabbing borders around certain areas? In this article, Keith Wood 
shows you not only how to do it, but also how to make a component out of it so 
it's easy to use!
	

	Creating a TMemo That Saves its Text with Unique Filenames
	 
	Mark Meyer
	 
	Mark Meyer presents a nice little tool that allows your users to write 
all of the text of a TMemo, or just the selected text, to a file. It also gives 
users the ability to derive a series of unique filenames by setting an initial 
sequence number to the specified base Filename property, and more.
	

EDITOR'S VIEW - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Why Choose Lotus Notes Domino Over Microsoft Exchange 2000?
	 
	Terrance A Crow
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Import E-Mail into any Notes Application
	 
	Michael Sobczak
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Open Your Applications
	 
	Shahir A Daya
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Use Lists in Your LotusScript
	 
	Martin Leon
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Take Advantage of the C++ API
	 
	Colin Judge and Brad Balassaitis
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Use Frames to Control Content and Navigation
	 
	Graham Kerswell
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - December 2000 
	Use Notes URLs as a Navigation Solution
	 
	Hans van der Burg
	

	C#
	
	 
	How To Get IP Address Of A Machine
	 
	Naveen K Kohli
	 
	Tip on how to use DNS class and get IP address of a machine
	

	Control
	
	 
	Resizing Controls at run time
	 
	Amit Nabarro
	 
	A method to allow the user to visually resize and position any control 
at run time
	

	Control
	
	 
	Time to Complete Progress Control
	 
	Craig Henderson
	 
	A progress control that tells the user how long an operation has left 
to complete
	

	Article
	
	 
	Redmond Again - Part 4
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	CodeProject, again, Does Redmond.
	

	Tool
	
	 
	Smart Translator
	 
	Mike Walter
	 
	Application to aid in the language translation of another application's 
resources.
	

	Windows Template Library
	
	 
	Custom Drawn Controls using WTL
	 
	Billy Leverington
	 
	How to use WTL to create custom controls
	

	CINI Class
	 
	A class for reading/writing data from/to an ini file.
	 
	Mike Shoemaker
	. 
	30-Nov-2000
	 
	30-Nov-2000
	

	Java
	
	 
	Embed OpenGL inside Java AWT Canvas
	 
	Davanum Srinivas
	 
	This article shows how to use OpenGL calls inside Java AWT Canvas using 
JDK1.3's JAWT interface
	

	Article
	
	 
	Redmond Again - Part 3
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	CodeProject, again, Does Redmond.
	

	Windows 2000
	
	 
	Transparency without Source Code
	 
	Bernhard Hammer
	 
	Adding transparency to any window, even if you don't have its source
	

	Transferring data using MFC DAO classes
	... 
	This article explains how to transfer data from one database to another 
by using MFC ADO classes.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	29-Nov-2000
	 
	29-Nov-2000
	

	C++ MFC STL
	
	 
	Quick and Dirty Collection Class Notes
	 
	Joe Harleman
	 
	An article describing MFC Collection Classes
	

	C#
	
	 
	Writing Customizable AboutBox Component
	 
	Naveen K Kohli
	 
	Shows how to write a component using C#.
	

	Article
	
	 
	Redmond Again - Part 2
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	CodeProject, again, Does Redmond.
	

	28-Nov-2000
	 
	28-Nov-2000
	 
	Your first MP3 Delphi player
	 
	See how to build a full-blown mp3 player with Delphi in just a few 
seconds. Even more: get the ID3 tag information from a mp3 file and change it!
	

	Network
	
	 
	Asynchronous Windows Socket Class
	 
	Roman Ukhov
	 
	Great class that is much more flexible than CAsyncSocket since it uses 
overlapped I/O instead of a message queue
	

	Dialog
	
	 
	Internet Explorer-Style Options Panel
	 
	Andy Brown
	 
	This class implements a control that is designed to have the look and 
feel of the Internet Explorer 'Advanced Options' Property Page.
	

	Button Control
	
	 
	CButtonST v2.6 (MFC Flat buttons)
	 
	Davide Calabro
	 
	A fully featured owner-draw button class - it's got the lot!
	

	HTML CSS
	
	 
	CSS For Beginners
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	Add CSS to your HTML files.
	

	HTML CSS
	
	 
	Customising your website's Icon in IE5
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Replace the boring IE logo in your readers browser with an icon 
customised for your site.
	

	HTML CSS
	
	 
	HTML For Beginners
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	A tutorial for those who want to learn HTML in a quick and easy way.
	

	HTML CSS
	
	 
	Set a fixed text size in your HTML
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	A very useful tip. How to keep your fonts a fixed size so your readers 
cannot can change it in their browser, ensuring your page always has the same 
look.
	

	JavaScript
	
	 
	Create Dynamic Banners By Using JavaScript
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	This article show how to use JavaScript to dynamically display banners, 
very usful!
	

	Javascript
	
	 
	Create Templates using JavaScript
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	There are many ways to create a web page templete. Using JavaScript is 
one of easiest ways
	

	Article
	
	 
	Redmond Again - Part 1
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	CodeProject, again, Does Redmond.
	

	Windows Template Library
	
	 
	WTL bugs
	 
	Paul Bludov
	 
	Known WTL & ATL bugs
	

	Context Menu Shell Extension AppWizard
	 
	Maxime Labelle
	 
	A wizard to ease implementing a context menu shell extension
	

	The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	An index of all the articles in the Idiot's Guide
	

	The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions, Part IX
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	A tutorial on writing an extension to customize the Icons displayed for 
a File type.
	

	Getting Started Reverse Engineering
	 
	John Robbins,
	 
	John discusses how to get started thinking about reverse engineering so 
you can figure out how things work.
	

	Generalizing Custom-Draw to other MFC Custom Control Classes
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	Combines the lessons learned in the previous articles to create a 
generic custom-draw mechanism for all MFC custom control classes.
	

	Pocket Scribble, Part II
	 
	Christian Skovdal Andersen
	 
	Second part of great tutorial on porting MFC Scribble sample to Windows 
CE
	

	Writing Windows Form Application For .NET Framework Using C#
	 
	Naveen K Kohli
	 
	A tutorial on writing Windows Forms application using C#
	

	How to Implement Drag and Drop Between Your Program and Explorer
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	A step-by-step description of how to drag and drop Files between your 
application and Explorer windows.
	

	AutoText Class Module
	  
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	Jaroslaw Zwierz
	 
	This class can help in simplifying most of the Validation chores in 
your UI-intensive apps. The class "wraps" around a Textbox Control and traps 
most of its Events, to automatically handle the most common cases: numeric 
fields, all uppercase fields, fields that should be highlighted on entry, or 
formatted on exit. A little, nice addition to your programming toolbox.
	

	MFC Client for ATL Server: explains how to use an ATL server from your 
MRC client
	 
	Pat Watten
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	This article explains how to use ATL Server in MFC client.
	 
	MyServer is an ATL COM server object DLL called MyServr. It implements 
a custom interface, IMyServer, which exposes a method called MyMethod.
	 
	There are four steps to use an ATL server from an MFC client.
	 
	1. Initializing the COM Libraries
	 
	Calling AfxOleInit function, which initializes the COM libraries is in 
the InitInstance function of the application class is the best way to 
initialize COM.
	 
 //Init OLE libraries and support
 if (!AfxOleInit())
 {
 AfxMessageBox("COM initialization failed");
 return FALSE;
 }
  
	OR you call
	 
 InitializeCOM(NULL);
  
	2. Obtaining the CLSID of a COM Object
	 
	If you know the Program ID of the object, CLSIDFromProgID function can 
be used to convert ProgID to CLSID.
	 
 CLSID clsID;
 HRESULT hr;
 
 hr= CLSIDFromProgID(OLESTR("MyServr.Object1"), &clsID);
 if(FAILED(hr))
 {
 AfxMessageBox("CLSID Conversion From ProgID failed");
 return FALSE;
 }
  
	MyServr.Object1 is the program ID of the server.
	 
	3. Creating the COM Object
	 
	Using import directive is the simplest method to create an object.
	 
 #import"D:\VS\MyProjects\MySvr\MyServr.tlb" no_namespace
  
	Now call CreateInstance to create an instance of the object.
	 
 CLSID clsID;
 HRESULT hr;
 //declare smart pointer
 IMyServerPtr m_pMyObj;
 
 hr= CLSIDFromProgID(OLESTR("MyServr.Object1"), &clsID);
 if(FAILED(hr))
 {
 AfxMessageBox("CLSID Conversion From ProgID failed");
 return FALSE;
 }
 m_pMyObj.CreateInstance(clsID); //does the work of CoCreateInstance
  
	4. Using the COM Object
	 
	Now call interface's method MyMethod.
	 
 m_pMyObj->MyMethod();
  
	5. Uninitializing the COM Libraries
	 
	In the case of the smart pointer implementation, the cleanup is handled 
automatically.
	 
	OR
	 
 Call UnInitialize(); if you have call ... (cont.)

	Searching for a string in a multi line edit box
	 
	Attached sample code explains how to search for a string in a multi 
line edit box and more
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	

	Limit of a text box
	 
	An article which tells you about limit of number of characters for an 
edit box
	 
	Jeniffer P Walker
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	

	COM+ Tutorial From Scratch: Part 1
	 
	Part 1 of COM+ tutorial tells you about COM+ and its components and how 
these components fit in real world applications.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	

	Default Printing Support for MDI/SDI using AppWizard
	 
	MFC AppWizard provides default printing supports to an MDI/SDI MFC 
application.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	 
	25-Nov-2000
	

	Sex At Noon Taxes
	 
	Colin Davies
	 
	Very basic implementation of Microphone to record sound using mmsystem
	

	FTP Client for Pocket PC
	 
	Waseem Anis
	 
	Single-threaded, CSocket-based class that illustrates the functionality 
offered by the PocketPC device for socket data transfer
	

	File Searcher Edit Control with Browse Button
	 
	Pete Arends
	 
	Single control that contains both an edit control to type in a file 
name and an "ellipses" button to browse
	

	CDR.EXE, Open/Close CD Drive(s) Programmatically
	 
	Chris Morse Sebrell
	 
	Tool (and source code) that uses MCI commands to control the opening 
and closing of the CD-ROM drive door
	

	Completely Customizable Properties Window
	 
	Brett R Mitchell
	 
	Properties window with combo boxes that communicates with owner when 
properties are changed
	

	A Gradient Title Bar for modal and modeless dialog
	 
	Amit Dey
	 
	This article shows you how to give your Win95/NT4 modeless dialogs a 
Win98/W2K like gradient title bar.
	

	CResizableDialog
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	A CDialog derived class to implement resizable dialogs with MFC
	

	Active Comments 1.2
	 
	Andrei Levin
	 
	This addin allows your source code to have references to external 
files, MSDN articles, voice comments etc.
	

	Adding a custom search feature to CHtmlViews
	 
	Marc Richarme
	 
	Could be used to create a Visual C++ like search combo for 
CHtmlViews...Update: Now you can highlight all matching words!
	

	Report control - an Outlook 2000 style
	 
	Maarten Hoeben
	 
	An Outlook 98/2000 Style SuperGrid Report Control
	

	Smart Translator
	 
	Mike Walter
	 
	Application to aid in the language translation of another application's 
resources.
	

	Pocket Scribble
	 
	Christian Skovdal Andersen
	 
	Complete tutorial porting the famous MFC Scribble example to Windows CE
	

	Compression and decompression using the Crypto++ library
	 
	Shaun Wilde
	 
	Using the Crypto++ library to compress and decompress data
	

	Hex Encoder and Decoder using Crypto++
	 
	Shaun Wilde
	 
	Encode binary data to and from hexadecimal format using the Crypto++ 
library
	

	Your first C# Control
	 
	Troy Marchand
	 
	A very simple introduction to writing your first .NET control
	

	Completely Customizable Properties Window
	 
	Brett R Mitchell
	 
	Properties window with combo boxes that communicates with owner when 
properties are changed
	

	Ping Utility for Windows CE
	 
	Arkady Frankel
	 
	Uses the HPC PRO SDK in order to prove basic "ping" abilities on 
HPC/PPC devices
	

	21-Nov-2000
	 
	21-Nov-2000
	 
	Mysterious Delphi
	 
	Uncovering hidden Delphi features. See how to set up some secret 
registry settings that change the standard behavior of the Delphi IDE.
	

	Delegates And Events - The Uncensored Story, Part 1
	 
	A Abdul Azeez
	 
	This is a part of a series of articles that aims at fully understanding 
delegates and events
	

	Auto html help generator
	 
	Jack zhang
	 
	Create your flex html help by a few clicks within a few minutes!
	

	20-Nov-2000
	 
	20-Nov-2000
	  
	Variables in C++
	 
	A tutorial on variables in C++
	

	Cascading Menus
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	Dino demonstrates a context menu shell extension which mimics the 
SendTo menu in order to illustrate how to create cascading child menus with 
images
	

	Browse IIS Directory Structures
	 
	Christian Haindl
	 
	ISAPI Extension that displays (in an HTML Web page) the directory 
structure of an IIS Web Server
	

	HexConvertor
	 
	COM object that converts binary/text data to hex format.
	 
	Mukesh Gupta
	 
	20-Nov-2000
	 
	20-Nov-2000
	

	ADONowCombo Control
	  
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	Maurizio Baldi
	 
	The NowCombo control is a multi-columns Combobox that expands on the 
DBCombo control. You can use it to select and copy an item from another table 
in the Database. For example, it allows to select an employee choosing it from 
an Employees table and to memorize his name in the Products Sales table. The 
ComboBox allows searches among the available names. The demo program comes with 
a sample MDB database.
	

	Accessing database at runtime using DAO MFC Classes
	 
	This article explains how to get data from an access database at 
runtime using MFC DAO classes. Useful for beginners.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	

	Circular Linked List Simulation
	
	Available code shows Circular Linked List Simulation with CList class.
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	

	Accessing database at runtime using ODBC MFC Classes
	 
	This article explains how to get data from an access database at 
runtime using MFC ODBC classes. Useful for beginners.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	

	Application Launcher
	 
	An article explains how to launch an application using CreateProcess. 
Sample code attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	 
	18-Nov-2000
	

	Using the CComboBox control
	 
	Wolfram Steinke
	 
	An entry level tutorial on using the CComboBox control
	

	Using the CListBox control
	 
	Wolfram Steinke
	 
	An entry level tutorial on using the CListBox control
	

	Using the CEdit control
	 
	Wolfram Steinke
	 
	An entry level tutorial on using the CEdit control
	

	Adding controls to a Dialog
	 
	Wolfram Steinke
	 
	An entry level tutorial on using one of the Windows Common Controls in 
a dialog
	

	Feature Creature
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Christopher illustrates some tips and techniques to help you avoid your 
application becoming yet another victim of the Feature Creature.
	

	Using WinInet functions Asynchronously
	 
	Benjamin Mayrargue
	 
	Using WinInet functions Asynchronously is a nightmare since no Sample 
exists. Here's one !
	

	Tutorial 3
	 
	Amin Patel
	 
	This tutorial has been made to give an introduction to new c++ 
programmers. Unfortunately their are many great minds out there but they don't 
have access to free and quality c++ tutorials. So this is the third lesson
	

	Tutorial 1
	 
	Amin Patel
	 
	This tutorial has been made to give an introduction to new c++ 
programmers. Unfortunately their are many great minds out there but they don't 
have access to free and quality c++ tutorials. So this is the first lesson.
	

	Tutorial 2
	 
	Amin Patel
	 
	This tutorial has been made to give an introduction to new c++ 
programmers. Unfortunately their are many great minds out there but they don't 
have access to free and quality c++ tutorials. So this is the second lesson
	

	Grid Control Showing Association
	 
	Daniel Larocque
	 
	Grid control with vertical column headers.
	

	ATL DISPID Encoding
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	A simple technique to allow scripting clients to transparently access 
multiple interfaces on an object
	

	Hex Converter
	 
	Mukesh Gupta
	 
	Converts a lump of binary/text data to hex format.
	

	A Thread-safe timed message box
	 
	Markus Loibl
	 
	The system Message Box that is closed atuomatically after some time
	

	Set A Fixed Text Size
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	A very useful tip. How to keep your fonts a fixed size , so none one 
can change it in his browser. No more to worry how to always keep your page the 
same look.
	

	Circular File
	 
	Ibrar Ahmad
	 
	Generic C++ circular file implementation
	

	Deleting Locked Files
	 
	Zoltan Csizmadia
	 
	Command line utility (with source code) for closing and deleting locked 
files
	

	CWaitableTimer
	 
	Jay Wheeler
	 
	64-bit waitable timer class with 100 nSec resolution
	

	Examine Information on Windows NT System Level Primitives
	 
	Zoltan Csizmadia
	 
	Two low level utilities to examine Windows NT information such as 
processes, threads, windows, modules and objects.
	

	Help RTF files from Resource RC Files
	 
	William Heitler
	 
	Topic generator that read RC files and generates skeleton RTF files for 
the menus and dialogs
	

	MyZoomIn (MFC ZoomIn w/Additional Features)
	 
	Corey Cason
	 
	Great new extensions (absolute x/y coordinates displayed, RGB of pixel 
under mouse, etc.) added to ZoomIn application
	

	Association Grid Control
	 
	Daniel Larocque
	 
	Very cool grid control with vertical labels! Great for representing any 
two-dimensional data.
	

	14-Nov-2000
	 
	14-Nov-2000
	 
	Size and Speed: Top Tricks
	 
	Useful tips to make your Delphi programs run faster.
	

	Using Templates for initialization
	 
	Paul Westcott
	 
	Use templates to initialize structures or simple member variables
	

	13-Nov-2000
	 
	13-Nov-2000
	  
	Inheritance
	 
	A tutorial on this core concept.
	

	13-Nov-2000
	 
	13-Nov-2000
	  
	WinHelp Uncovered
	 
	Even if your amazing application is designed to be incredibly 
intuitive, there will be times when your users will require a helping hand. In 
this article, your Visual Basic Guide explains how to integrate help files with 
your VB application.
	

	NowCombo Control
	  
	11-Nov-2000
	 
	11-Nov-2000
	 
	Maurizio Baldi
	 
	The NowCombo control is a multi-columns Combobox that expands on the 
DBCombo control. You can use it to select and copy an item from another table 
in the database. For example, it allows to select an employee choosing it from 
an Employees table and to memorize his name in the Products Sales table. The 
ComboBox allows searches among the available names. The demo program comes with 
a sample MDB database.
	

	A generic IDropTarget COM class for dropped text
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	Simple step by step article explaining how to implement a drop target 
using OLE.
	

	Implementing a Drag Source
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	Simple step by step article explaining how to implement a drag source.
	

	Implementing a Drop Target
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	Simple step by step article explaining how to implement a drop target.
	

	The Drag and Drop interface Sample
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	A series of articles that resulted from experimenting with adding Drag 
and Drop features to my existing application.
	

	Create a Modeless Dialog box as child window
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	Simple step by step article explaining how to create a modeless dialog 
box as child window.
	

	Create a Modeless Dialog box as sibling of the app's main window
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	Simple step by step article explaining how to create a modeless dialog 
box as sibling of the app's main window.
	

	Office 2000 style File Dialogs for Win 95/98/NT/Me
	 
	David Wulff
	 
	Ever wanted to use the new Office 2000 file dialogs on Win 95/98/NT/Me, 
including the File previewing? Well now you can.
	

	VC6 flat toolbar support
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	When you are porting your MFC application to MSVC 6.0 you'd probably 
like to use the build-in support for the flat toolbar and kick that third-party 
solution out of you project to reduce size.
	

	GraphFX: A graph framework
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A Doc/View framework for displaying graphical data
	

	Serializing Data to / from an ASCII-File
	 
	Thomas Blenkers
	 
	A series of articles that resulted from experimenting with adding Drag 
and Drop features to my existing application.
	

	Colorz
	 
	The RGB Assistant: Aids developers with color intensities
	 
	Jeremy Falcon
	

	Create, Position, Show and Hide Controls at Runtime using the RollOut 
Window
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	A neat way to show/hide groups of related controls
	

	Adding Behavior, Resizing Dialogs and Property Pages
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	Roger adds resizing to dialogs and property pages, using the techniques 
discussed in his previous article. Not only is this an example of these 
techniques but it is a useful class as well.
	

	List Control with OLE Drag and Drop
	 
	Jean Claude Dauphin
	 
	This extended list control allow OLE drag and drop between multiple 
list controls
	

The routine determines the number of words in a text 
string (the text string could of course be loaded in from 
a text file, so think of it as the core code for a text 
file word counter). Is it perfect? No, I'll make no such 
claim. As a matter of fact, I haven't even tested it 
extensively (read that as "not at all"). Rather, the 
person whose question I answered wrote back to tell me it 
matched the word count that Microsoft Word gave for six 
of his own text files... exactly. But I repeat, it hasn't 
been tested, so consider it a core piece of code that you 
can improve upon as needed. 

Function WordCount(ByVal TextString As String) As Long
  'Collapse multiple newlines down into single newlines
  Do While TextString Like "*" & vbNewLine & vbNewLine _
    & "*"
    TextString = Replace$(TextString, vbNewLine & _
      vbNewLine, vbNewLine)
  Loop
  'Assume a hyphen at end of line is signals a hyphenated
  'word and combine the two parts back into a whole word
  TextString = Trim$(Replace$(TextString, "-" & _
    vbNewLine, ""))
  'Replace newline sequences with a single blank space
  TextString = Trim$(Replace$(TextString, vbNewLine, _
    " "))
  'Collapse multiple spaces down into single spaces
  Do While TextString Like "*  *"
    TextString = Replace$(TextString, "  ", " ")
  Loop
  'Split the string at the blank spaces and count them
  WordCount = 1 + UBound(Split(TextString, " "))
End Function

Make Form Views Fit Their Forms!

I have a CFormView, and I display it in a window, 
either in my SDI or MDI program, people ask. How do I 
resize the window that the form is in so that the size of 
the window matches (or at least resembles) the size of 
the dialog template?

The answer lies in executing some code in the 
OnInitialUpdate() override. Follow these steps to 
override your form view's OnInitialUpdate() function, if 
there isn't one there already:

1. Open ClassWizard and select the class for your form 
view.

2. Select OnInitialUpdate in the Messages List, and 
double-click it. Then, click the function when it's added 
to the Member Functions list, and then click Edit Code.

3. You're ready to rumba! Once you've added an 
OnInitialUpdate() override to your code and jumped to 
where the function is located, add the code marked with 
an '>' on the left below:

void CMyView::OnInitialUpdate()
{
      CFormView::OnInitialUpdate();

>     GetParentFrame()->RecalcLayout();
>     ResizeParentToFit(FALSE);
}

And voila! Mission accomplished. This should work for 
views in both SDI and MDI programs.

How do you change a window's styles at runtime?

The ModifyStyle() and ModifyStyleEx() functions are great 
for hot-swapping window styles on the fly, should you 
need to.

The first argument is the style(s) you want to remove 
from the window, and the second is the style(s) you want 
to add to the window. If an argument doesn't apply, pass 
0. The third argument is a code to be passed to 
SetWindowPos(). I usually pass SWP_DRAWFRAME in this 
argument, which refreshes the window's appearance. 

ModifyStyle() changes normal styles, and ModifyStyleEx() 
changes extended styles. They're available either as CWnd 
member functions or as API functions---the Windows API 
versions take an HWND as the first argument, and the 
other arguments are the same as their CWnd cousins.

	The Ultimate (DLL) Header File
	 
	Joseph M Newcomer
	 
	Here is the ultimate header file that makes multiple declaration 
compiler errors a thing of the past.
	

FavOrg scans the Web sites in your Favorites list for favicons--custom icons 
provided by the Web site. The icons are displayed on the Favorites bar, the 
Favorites menu, and the Address bar. Custom icons make the Favorites list 
easier to scan, letting you locate a given shortcut faster. Microsoft added the 
custom icon feature to IE5; FavOrg brings this functionality to IE4 as well. 
Favicons are usually lost when you delete your Temporary Internet Files, but 
FavOrg preserves them. The program also lets you associate any icon you choose 
with a given shortcut, even if no favicon is provided. Since FavOrg must check 
the validity of an Internet shortcut before attempting to download the favicon, 
it automatically flags dead links as it goes through your Favorites list. If 
you like, it can update redirected links or reset dead links to the site’s 
root. FavOrg was written by Patrick Phillipot, and first appeared in PC 
Magazine November 7, 2000 (v19n19). Source code is included. 

Automatic Wallpaper Changer  

Over the last few weeks I've been examining a few handy API functions designed 
to retrieve technical information about the underlying operating system and 
hardware. This week, let's take a break from all the boring techy stuff to 
create a mini application designed to change the desktop wallpaper 
automatically every time Windows is started.

Firstly, let's examine the API call that allows you to change the wallpaper 
with one line of code!

SystemParametersInfo 

To change the desktop wallpaper, we're going to be harnessing the 
SystemParametersInfo function that's buried within the User32 DLL. Add the 
following code to your form's declarations section:

Private Declare Function SystemParametersInfo _
Lib "user32" Alias "SystemParametersInfoA" (ByVal _
uAction As Long, ByVal uParam As Long, ByRef lpvParam _
As Any, ByVal fuWinIni As Long) As Long

Now, add the following code to the Click event of a command button:

Call SystemParametersInfo(ByVal 20, vbNull, ByVal _
"c:\windows\clouds.bmp", &H1)

Run the program, and click the button. Your desktop wallpaper should change to 
the standard "clouds.bmp" image that's included in the Windows distribution.

Next, let's take a look at the code required to select a random image from the 
Windows directory to assign to the desktop every time the program is launched.

FileList 

In order for the application to select an image from the Windows directory for 
display on the desktop, add a FileListBox control to your form. Change the name 
of this control to "filWallpaper", and add the following code to the Form_Load 
event:

Dim intRand As Integer

filWallpaper.Path = "c:\windows\"
filWallpaper.Pattern = "*.bmp"

intRand = Int(filWallpaper.ListCount * Rnd) - 1

Call SystemParametersInfo(ByVal 20, vbNull, ByVal _
"c:\windows\" & filWallpaper.List(intRand), &H1)

Let's take a quick look at this code... the first couple of filWallpaper lines 
sets the FileListBox control up to contain all bmp  ... (cont.)

	System Tray Icons: Minimize Your Application To Tray
	 
	Daniel Zilcsak
	 
	Minimize your application to system tray instead of normal Taskbar
	

	Zip and Unzip, the MFC Way
	 
	Tadeusz Dracz
	 
	MFC-based library that enables the creation, modification and 
extraction of PKZIP and WinZip archives
	

	Locking the Keyboard and Mouse at Scheduled Times
	 
	Arthur Boynagryan
	 
	Code that enables you to schedule down-time for both keyboard and mouse 
input
	

	File Searcher Edit Control with Browse Button
	 
	Pete Arends
	 
	Single control that contains both an edit control to type in a file 
name and an "ellipses" button to browse
	

	CommandUI Message Handling with Popup Menus
	 
	Santhosh Cheeran
	 
	Illustrates how to overcome message handling Issues with popup menus 
that are owned by a non-CFrameWnd derived classes
	

	Wrapper for AVICap Window
	 
	Vadim Gorbatenko
	 
	Wrapper and extension for AVICap windows which enables it to work with 
real-time videoprocessing applications
	

	Class Wrapper for Video Compression Manager (VCM)
	 
	Vadim Gorbatenko
	 
	Wraps the library (VCM) that provides access to the interface used by 
installable compressors to handle real-time data
	

	07-Nov-2000
	 
	07-Nov-2000
	 
	Listening to the Clipboard
	 
	Extending the clipboard's flexibility and functionality from Delphi. 
Taking control over the Clipboard with custom formats. Coding Delphi to receive 
clipboard change notifications.
	

	Perl Script for uploading modified Files to a FTP-Server
	 
	Uwe Keim
	 
	Simple Perl Script that uses a local MS-Access Database to store 
modification dates of files and uploads modified files to a FTP-Server
	

	06-Nov-2000
	 
	06-Nov-2000
	  
	Tech Workshop - Automatic Wallpaper Changer
	 
	This week your Visual Basic Guide takes a break from all things boring 
and techy to create a fun utility that will change your desktop wallpaper 
automatically every time Windows is started.
	

	Overview of the BCL Collection Types
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	Jeffrey illustrates how the .NET Framework builds on the concepts 
presented last month to offer a consistent programming paradigm for working 
with collections, lists, and dictionaries.
	

	Using MS Office in an MFC Application
	 
	Igor Tkachev
	 
	Integrating MS Office in your MFC Application using ActiveX Document 
mode.
	

	EZOptionsDlg
	 
	Netscape Preferences like dialog
	 
	
	

	V.Lakshmi Narasimhan
	 
	A Modified Property Sheet with the Tree Control replacing the Tabs
	 
	
	

	Class to check Strings for invalid characters
	 
	Thomas Hauth
	 
	An MFC Class which offers you the abbility to check Strings for invalid 
characters
	

	A Validating Edit Control
	 
	Joseph M Newcomer
	 
	A very informative, user-oriented Validation edit control
	

	Using the CStatic control
	 
	Wolfram Steinke
	 
	An entry level tutorial on using the CStatic control
	

	LogNTEvent Class
	  
	4-Nov-2000
	 
	4-Nov-2000
	 
	Edward Mason
	 
	LogNTEvent is a class that lets a VB app write directly to the NT Event 
Log. The zip file includes a demo project and a sample DLL that contains the 
messages to be logged.
	

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 32-bit or higher.

Microsoft Rich Text Box Control.

This issue introduces a routine to calculate the word that the
mouse is hovering over in a rich text box control.

If you have any questions about using this module, let us know at
questions@codeoftheweek.com


basRichTextFunctions

This module is useful for a variety of reasons.  One great use is
to allow a right-click to perform some particular action on that
particular word (such as a spell check or deletion).  It can also
be used to change the formatting of the highlighted word.

There is also a bonus routine in this issue which determines if a
character is AlphaNumeric.  Our definition of alphanumeric is any
letter from A to Z, any number from 0 to 9 or an underscore.

Functions

Public Function IsAlphaNumeric(sChar As String) As Boolean

Returns True if sChar is alpha numeric.  Our definition is A-Z,
0-9 and _ (underscore).

Public Function MouseOverWord(oRichTextBox As RichTextBox, X As Single, Y As 
Single) As String

This routine does all the work.  oRichTextBox is the rich text
box control that is on the form.  X and Y are the current mouse
positions (such as what is returned in the MouseMove event of the
RichTextBox.  The MouseOverWord routine will return the
alphanumeric word that the mouse is currently located over.

If there is no word the mouse is over it will return a blank
string.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the MouseOverWord routine.  It
assumes you have a form with a RichTextBox control on it.

Private Sub RTControl_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As 
Single, Y As Single)
    Dim sWord As String
    
    sWord = MouseOverWord(RTControl, X, Y)
    ' sWord will contain the "highlighted" word.
End Sub

	Dynamic toolbar has fixed size when docked
	 
	Darren S Gonzales
	 
	How to ensure that your docking toolbars are of a particular size when 
docked
	

	Project Line Counter Add-In
	 
	Oz Solomonovich
	 
	Get statistics about your source code with a click of a button
	

	Issues with popup menu owned by a non CFrameWnd derived class
	 
	Santhosh Cheeran
	 
	How to handle UpdateCommandUI messages for menus not owned by CFrameWnd 
windows
	

	SoftwarePROTECTOR protects your VC++ Apps from Piracy
	 
	Rolando E Cruz-Marshall
	 
	Implement software License Control within your VC++ apps
	

	Farther, Faster, Higher
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Great story that for all of you reaching for the brass ring and trying 
to push technology to its limits in the face of petty politics and shortsighted 
people.
	

Programmatically Retrieves the Members of a DLL Class 

SUMMARY

This article shows you how to programmatically retrieve the class names and 
members of a dll or ActiveX file that contains a type library. You can get this 
information by using the Object Browser in Visual Basic or you can 
programmatically retrieve this information. The sample program uses an 
unsupported file Tlbinf32.dll to retrieve some of the type library information, 
but is not a complete substitute for the Object Browser. 

NOTE: The file Tlbinf32.dll is not supported by Microsoft Technical Support 
either electronically or via telephone. This file is subject to change without 
notice. 

A Visual Basic project that demonstrates how to use this file to get the class 
names and members from a dll or ActiveX controls is available for download from 
the Microsoft Download Center: The following file is available for download 
from the Microsoft Download Center. Click the file name below to download the 
file:

Clsnmmbr.exe

For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click 
the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
Q119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services 
Microsoft used the most current virus detection software available on the date 
of posting to scan this file for viruses. Once posted, the file is housed on 
secure servers that prevent any unauthorized changes to the file. 

MORE INFORMATION

The Object Browser in Visual Basic shows you the collections and member names 
of a dll class. You may want to develop an add-in for use in other development 
environments that has the same functionality as the object browser and to add 
some automation capabilities. This sample shows you how to retrieve this 
information programmatically by using the file tlbinf32.dll. This file is 
stored in the OS\System directory of your installation disk and is copied to 
your computer's system folder during the Visual Basic installatio ... (cont.)

	Class to Auto-Position Controls on Window Resize
	 
	Paul Wendt
	 
	Add auto-sizing to your dialogs (and views) in four steps
	

	std::ostream Implementation for Text Output with CWnd-derived Controls
	 
	G Makulik
	 
	Enables you to do text output to MFC CWnd controls in a portable 
fashion!
	

	Extracting Data from X-Y Plots
	 
	Rainer Thierauf
	 
	Scanners now input text with reasonable accuracy - why not graphical 
data as well?
	

	Creating Truly Maintainable Class Factories
	 
	Early Ehlinger
	  
	It is usually best to recycle code already written, particularly if 
it’s easy to get wrong.
	

	A Portable ‘typeof’ Operator
	 
	Bill Gibbons
	  
	Here’s a not-so-stupid Template trick that mostly meets the need for a 
typeof operator.
	

	Secure Web-Based Licensing
	 
	Mike Scanlon
	  
	If you want to protect your software from misuse, you have to outsmart 
potential thieves and still not annoy your legitimate customers. This is not as 
easy as you might at first think.
	

	Creating an Index Table in STL, Take 2
	 
	Sol Foster
	 
	Pointers seldom sort the way you intend, but STL offers a handy way to 
say what you really mean.
	

	Matt Austern
	 
	IOStreams and Stdio
	 
	You can mix C and C++ I/O operations, but you have to be careful if you 
don’t want garbled streams.
	

	Chuck Allison
	 
	Basic Stream I/O
	 
	Java supports input/output of streams with a gazillion combinations of 
options.
	

	Herb Sutter
	 
	Constructor Failures (or, The Objects That Never Were)
	 
	Exceptions thrown during object construction must be handled with 
extreme care.
	

	Multiple domains on a single IP
	 
	Alex Marbus
	 
	How to set multiple domains one a single IP-address with ASP.
	

	Component Best Practices: Advanced Properties and Custom Streaming
	 
	Peter Morris
	 
	Quite often it's necessary to write components that perform more 
advanced functions. These components often need to either reference other 
components, have custom property data formats, or have a property that owns a 
list of values rather than a single value. In this article, Peter Morris will 
guide you through various examples that demonstrate these techniques.
	

	Enhancing the To-Do Item List
	 
	Bob Swart
	 
	In this article, Bob Swart examines To-Do items and notices a minor 
problem with them. Of course, he solves the problem by implementing his own 
version of the Add To-Do Item Wizard.
	

	Classic Algorithms and Data Structures: Sorting Algorithms
	 
	Fernando Vicaria
	 
	Fernando Vicaria introduces a new series on practical uses of 
algorithms and data structures by discussing sorting algorithms.
	

	Use a Simple Component to Make Database Connections Easier
	 
	Mark Meyer
	 
	One of the great things about Delphi is that it allows you to quickly 
create utility components that save time and cut down on errors. Mark Meyer 
presents a component that allows you to connect any number of tables and 
queries on a form with just one Connect method.
	

	Persistent Field Name Troubles
	 
	Goran Milenkovic
	 
	
	

	Using the Pocket Outlook Object Model
	 
	Tapani J Otala
	 
	If you want to alter or integrate with Microsoft’s Windows CE version 
of Outlook, you need to dig in to the Pocket Outlook Object Model (POOM) SDK. 
This article demonstrates just such an expedition, by constructing a tiny 
utility that lets you conveniently move appointments from the current city to 
another city in the Pocket Outlook Calendar.
	

	Easier Popup Menus in VB
	 
	William R Epp
	 
	The visual method of creating and handling popup menus in VB is a lot 
of work if you just have a menu with a few simple selections on it. Here’s a 
component that lets you just type a few lines of code to define, invoke, and 
handle a popup menu.
	

	A Multi-Page, Single-Document UI for MFC
	 
	Zuoliu Ding
	 
	Excel is part of Microsoft’s move back to SDI (Single Document 
Interface). However, Excel still lets you open more than one file in more than 
one child window, so it’s really sort of an amalgam. This article provides a 
framework you can use to build Excel-style, multiple-page, single document user 
interfaces in MFC.
	

	User Interface Programming: Autosuggest and Autocomplete
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	 
	The latest SHELL32.DLL gives you some new features for saving users 
some typing: autosuggest and autocomplete features. This column demonstrates 
both features, pointing up some warts in the documentation and implementation 
along the way.
	

	Launching Explorer from Visual C++
	 
	Bret Pehrson
	 
	When you spawn Explorer from the IDE, why not have it know what 
directory and file you’re currently using?
	

	IDC_STATIC Problems in Dialog Resources
	 
	Brad Litterell
	 
	-1 may equal 65535 if you’re calling GetDlgItemID().
	

	VB Object Initialization Error Handling
	 
	Darin Higgins
	 
	Microsoft’s recommendation for trapping errors during class 
initialization doesn’t quite cut it.
	

	Optimizing DLLs with DisableThreadLibraryCalls()
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	 
	A cheap potential speedup for DLLs is to turn off some DllMain() 
notifications.
	

	Validating C++ Objects
	 
	Steve Hanov
	 
	A little C++ wrapper can help catch references to deleted objects.
	

	Understanding NT: Connect to a Share
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	 
	This month’s column revisits the topic of figuring out that a path is 
inaccessible because the user isn’t connected to the right share, and then 
giving the user a chance to connect to that share. The additional case that 
needs handling is caused by the subst command.
	

	A Practical Guide to ADO Extensions: Part II
	 
	Alex Fedorov and Natalia Elmanova
	 
	Mr Fedorov and Ms Elmanova discuss OLAP, Data Warehousing, and 
Multidimensional Data Storage, then demonstrate ADO Multidimensional 
programming with Delphi.
	

	Children of Threadmare
	 
	Nikolai Sklobovsky
	 
	Having demystified Multi-Threading at the abstract level, Mr Sklobovsky 
shares a multi-purpose Progress dialog box component, and some other concrete 
tools and techniques.
	

	Moving Data via COM
	 
	Bill Todd
	 
	What do you do when you need to move data between a COM server and a 
COM client? Mr Todd demonstrates how to simply stuff it in a variant, and pass 
it as a parameter.
	

	Polymorphic Programming
	 
	Jeremy Merrill
	 
	Unfortunately, we often run into barriers that prevent us from using 
common forms of polymorphism. Mr Merrill shows us three ways to break the VCL's 
"protected barrier."
	

	XSL Transformations
	 
	Keith Wood
	 
	Mr Wood introduces the XSLT language, its syntax, and semantics, then 
shares an example program that combines an XML document and XSL stylesheet to 
produce HTML.
	

	Advanced COM: Understanding COM Persistence
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	Like any other pieces of software, COM objects need to persist their 
states to a persistent medium from time to time. Here, you'll look closely at 
how COM handles object persistence and how to make COM objects save their state 
out to client-provided media.
	

	Use AutoCompletion In MFC Apps
	 
	Cassio Goldschmidt
	 
	Wondering how to make controls in your apps guess what the user is 
trying to type? Use CAutoComplete to enable AutoCompletion in your applications 
with as little as three lines of code.
	

	Debugging With ATL 7.0
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	ATL 7.0 is a big improvement over ATL 3.0, especially in its debugging 
facilities. Learn the ins and outs of handling tracing and asserts.
	

	Build Web Commerce Apps With C#
	 
	Bob Lair and Jason Lefebvre
	 
	Use C# and other .NET technologies to develop a commerce Web app from 
the ground up. In part one of this three-part series, you learn to plan the 
application design and database, create the business logic and data access 
component, and create Web forms.
	

	Develop a Client/Server Application on Windows and Linux
	 
	Jeff Looman
	 
	Construct a single-port, TCP/IP client/server app, and uncover and 
avoid several pitfalls that lurk between your application and the wire used to 
transfer your data.
	

	Utilize ATL's Flexibility
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	Learn how to create a COM component with ATL and a Windows application 
using WTL. This will help you look at your projects and decide what will best 
suit your needs: ATL and WTL, or just plain ol' MFC.
	

	Generation 1.X: A New Era for COM+
	 
	Alan Gordon
	 
	Individually, each new feature is insignificant, but taken together, 
they will go a long way toward making COM+ 1.X a better - and easier-to-use - 
platform to build enterprise-class distributed applications. Learn what this 
new version of COM will mean to your programming efforts.
	

	Middle Tier: Get Into a Log Rhythm
	 
	Juval Lowy
	 
	The COM+ logbook is a simple - but powerful - utility that enables you 
to log Method Calls, Events, Errors, and various COM+ information. It's your 
product flight recorder, and in a distributed COM+ environment, it's worth its 
weight in gold.
	

	Get Your Designs in Gear for VB.NET
	 
	Paul R Reed Jr
	 
	Microsoft will deliver full-featured, object-oriented capabilities with 
the release of VB.NET - finally! Producing sound design strategies will be 
crucial to you when taking advantage of all of VB.NET's features, including 
inheritance.
	

	Create a Scheduling Component
	 
	Jonny Anderson
	 
	Keeping to project schedules just got easier. Apply your own critical 
path analysis algorithm to schedules that you can optimize to fit your needs.
	

	Manipulate CAB Files Programmatically
	 
	Ken Getz
	 
	Use the Windows API to create and work with CAB files from inside your 
VB applications.
	

	Create Web Reports With VB
	 
	Stan Schultes
	 
	VB makes a great vehicle for creating and publishing formatted HTML 
reports. Learn how to build data query and HTML formatting classes you can 
reuse in your own reporting applications.
	

	Find Data Faster
	 
	Ron Schwarz
	 
	Perform binary searches with greater speed when your data is already 
sorted.
	

	Prototype Components in ASP
	 
	Jonathan Goodyear
	 
	ASP component prototyping allows you to get a Web application up and 
running quickly using pure ASP, while not sacrificing your app's future 
scalability.
	

	Build Components for the Web
	 
	Deborah Kurata
	 
	Learn to improve performance and leverage reusability by building 
components with VB that your Web applications can use.
	

	Toggle the Titlebar (and Other Form Tricks)
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Learn how to give users the choice of captionless and normal forms, and 
related form options.
	

	Use New SQL Server Datatypes
	 
	Dianne Siebold
	 
	Try out SQL Server 2000's new bigint, sql_variant, and table datatypes 
to transcend some of SQL Server's limitations.
	

	Make Your Apps Scriptable
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	Making your application scriptable lets you release different versions 
of the same program. Here's how to use the Microsoft Script Control to extend 
your applications.
	

	Scale Your IIS App Using Oracle or SQL Server
	 
	Kirk Allen Evans
	 
	Using a Session object can kill your Web site's chances of a long life 
once traffic grows. Here's a solution.
	

	Customize Your User Interface With VBScript
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	Use VBScript to modify your forms' appearance, react to events raised 
by your controls, and even create new controls on the fly.
	

	Windows CE 3.0: Enhanced Real-Time Features Provide Sophisticated 
Thread Handling
	 
	Paul Yao
	 
	
	

	Introducing ADO+: Data Access Services for the Microsoft .NET Framework
	 
	Omri Gazitt
	 
	
	

	Garbage Collection: Automatic Memory Management in the Microsoft .NET 
Framework
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	
	

	Windows 2000 Registry: Latest Features and API's Provide the Power to 
Customize and Extend Your Apps
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	
	

	RPC and C++: Build a Template Library for Distributed Objects 
Containing Multiple Interfaces
	 
	Ajai Shankar
	 
	
	

	Beyond ASP: XML and XSL-based Solutions Simplify Your Data Presentation 
Layer
	 
	Scott Howlett and Jeff Dunmall
	 
	
	

	Onstop
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Connecting to SQL with ASP
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Hiding Images
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Passing Values from a Control
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Extend the WSH Object Model with Custom Objects
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	
	

	SAX, the Simple API for XML
	 
	Aaron Skonnard
	 
	
	

	Programming for 64-Bit Windows
	 
	Matt Pietrek
	 
	
	

	To Cache or not to Cache
	 
	Ted Pattison
	 
	
	

	Eight Lessons from the COM School of Hard Knocks
	 
	Jeff Prosise
	 
	
	

	FileType Icon Detector App
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Custom Context Menus
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Unreferenced Variables
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	String Conversions
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Reading Hard Drive Manufacturing Information
	 
	Lynn McGuire
	 
	Console utility for retrieving information about attached IDE drives
	

	Allowing the TAB key in Edit Controls
	 
	Hilmi Jauffer
	 
	Overrides PreTranslateMessage to replace default Edit Control behavior 
with more expected behavior of an editor
	

	Visual Component Framework: Libraries and Projects
	 
	Jim Crafton
	 
	Full-featured visual framework (based on NextStep and Borland IDE UIs) 
for creating C++ applications
	

Data Management - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Simplify Development and Maintenance of Navigators
	 
	David Kochan
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Add Microsoft Office Spreadsheets, Charts, and Data to Domino and Notes 
Applications
	 
	Hans van der Burg
	

Design Application - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Make the R5 Welcome Page Work For You
	 
	Matt Holthe
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Launch Notes Applications from a Web Browser
	 
	Christopher Pepin
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Beyond the Cutting Edge: Flash and Domino
	 
	Daron Lawing
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Track Invalid Web-based Login Attempts
	 
	Terrance A Crow
	

E-Business - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - November 2000 
	Use Domino as an E-Business Platform
	 
	Brad Cunningham
	

	Message Table (.mc) Dump Utility
	 
	Sardaukar
	 
	More description(s) about Event log messages.
	

	Undocumented AFX function : AfxGetClassIDFromString
	 
	G De Leeuw
	 
	Function that enables you to compare a classid to a progid for things 
such as determining if a given component has been installed.
	

	Code to Dynamically Redock a Toolbar at Runtime
	 
	Hiral Oza
	 
	Snippet that allows you to do such things as giving the end-user a 
"Reset all Toolbars" function
	

	Win32 C Function for High-Quality Bitmap Shrinking
	 
	Petr Spácil
	 
	Replacement function for StretchBlt that enables you to produce Adobe 
Photoshop-quality images when shrinking bitmaps
	

	General Flicker Free Resizable Control
	 
	Torben B Haagh
	 
	Fantastic generic solution that can be used for any type of window 
(dialogs, form views, property sheets, etc.)
	

	A Safer STL Container Class
	 
	Alex Kravchenko
	 
	Technique to allow STL containers to verify object's state to ensure 
object has not been deleted
	

	SQL Server 2000 Licensing Changes--What You Need to Know
	 
	Brian Moran
	 
	31-Oct-2000
	 
	31-Oct-2000
	 
	SQL Server 2000 Licensing Changes--What You Need to Know
	

	31-Oct-2000
	 
	31-Oct-2000
	 
	My IP with Delphi
	 
	How to obtain a computer's IP address by using the Socket API and 
Delphi's Pascal.
	

Operating System Integration - Part 2  
 
In part one of this series (see -> ) in retrieving information about the 
underlying software and hardware platform that your Visual Basic application is 
running on, we discovered a few handy API calls designed to make it easy to 
retrieve info about the Windows operating system - including the version 
(95/98/NT) and running mode (normal/safe). This week, we're going to be 
investigating a few API call to get info about that computer hardware setup.

Memory Management 

First off, let's take a look at some handy code designed to retrieve the number 
of total and free bytes of memory.

Copy this code into the declarations section of your form:

Private Type MEMORYSTATUS
        dwLength As Long
        dwMemoryLoad As Long
        dwTotalPhys As Long
        dwAvailPhys As Long
        dwTotalPageFile As Long
        dwAvailPageFile As Long
        dwTotalVirtual As Long
        dwAvailVirtual As Long
End Type


Private Declare Sub GlobalMemoryStatus Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "GlobalMemoryStatus" (lpBuffer As MEMORYSTATUS)
Code 

Now, add the following code to the click event of a buttons added to your form:

Dim memoryInfo As MEMORYSTATUS
GlobalMemoryStatus memoryInfo

MsgBox "Total memory (in bytes): " & _
memoryInfo.dwTotalPhys

MsgBox "Available memory (in bytes): " & _
memoryInfo.dwAvailPhys

Run the program and click the button. Two message boxes will appear, one after 
another. The first will detail the amount of memory (RAM) installed in the 
computer, and the second will detail the amount of physical memory that is 
currently unused.

An extension of this code is to use the "dwMemoryLoad" variable from the 
MEMORYSTATUS structure to determine as approximate percentage of the system's 
load, where "0" would be no memory in use, and "100" would be all memory used.

Counting CPUs 

Let's now take a look at another handy API call - GetSystemInfo. This function 
allows VB developers to retrieve information about the ... (cont.)

Copying Files With Explorer  

Today I'm going to explain how to integrate Explorer's funky Copy dialog boxes 
into your own application, with help from a useful API call buried deep within 
the Shell32.dll API dll. We last took a look at this handy function in the 
article 'Using The Recycle Bin' where I explained how to use the API to move 
files from the hard disk into the Windows Recycle Bin, a much better way of 
removing files from the system compared with using the 'Kill' command. Right, 
without further chit chat, let's take a look at the code!

Declarations 

Copy this code into the declarations section of your form:

Private Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT
        hwnd As Long
        wFunc As Long
        pFrom As String
        pTo As String
        fFlags As Integer
        fAnyOperationsAborted As Long
        hNameMappings As Long
        lpszProgressTitle As Long
End Type

Private Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib _
"shell32.dll" Alias "SHFileOperationA" _
(lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Long

Private Const FO_MOVE = &H1
Private Const FO_COPY = &H2
Private Const FOF_SILENT = &H4
Private Const FOF_RENAMEONCOLLISION = &H8

Code 

Now, if you would like to copy the file "autoexec.bat" from your C:\ drive into 
the "A:\" floppy drive, you would use this code:

Dim ShellCall As SHFILEOPSTRUCT

ShellCall.hwnd = hwnd
ShellCall.wFunc = FO_COPY
ShellCall.pFrom = "c:\autoexec.bat"
ShellCall.pTo = "a:\autoexec.bat"
ShellCall.hNameMappings = 0

Call SHFileOperation(ShellCall)

It's as easy as that! Run the code, and you should see a box pop up that is 
similar this this:



The Next Step... 

We've now learned how to use the Shell API to copy a file from one directory to 
another with only a few lines of code. Time to take a look at a few of the 
changes we can make to this code to improve it.

Rename On Collision

If the A: drive already contains a file named "autoexec.bat", the following 
dialog box will appear:



Now, if the use clicks "yes" the ex ... (cont.)

	Fast Regular Expressions
	 
	Martin Holzherr
	 
	Compiles a regular expression into a fast automaton
	

	XML Parser Demo
	 
	Ray Hayes
	 
	Using the Microsoft XML (MSXML) parser.
	

	30-Oct-2000
	 
	30-Oct-2000
	  
	Operating System Integration - Part 2
	 
	In this week's epic operating system integration article, your Visual 
Basic Guide uncovers a few API calls to retrieve information about the 
underlying hardware architecture - from memory available to the number of CPUs 
installed.
	

CUSTOMWZ: A Custom AppWizard


CUSTOMWZ is an example of a custom AppWizard, which contains features that the 
standard AppWizard does not provide.

When creating a new application, you can use AppWizard to quickly generate the 
starter files you need for the most common application types. But for special 
applications that are unique to your work, you can create custom AppWizards.

Custom AppWizards are useful for creating generic application project types 
that can repetitively generate common functionality — application types that 
can be used multiple times. Custom AppWizards are not useful for creating 
one-off project types.

Like AppWizard, a custom AppWizard presents the user with choices, tracks their 
decisions, and uses those decisions to generate the code, resources, and 
project files that the Visual C++ build tools require to build a skeletal, 
working application.

For example, if you work for a company whose employees commonly need special 
views of database information, you can create a custom AppWizard to generate 
generic dialog-based front ends to a database. You can even ensure that the 
dialog box is always embellished with a company logo.

Possibilities for custom AppWizards include: 

Creating a custom AppWizard that is based on the code and resources in an 
existing project
Modifying code in existing AppWizard templates
Adding one or more steps to the existing AppWizard’s steps
Creating a custom set of steps 

For more information on creating a custom AppWizard, see Overview of Creating a 
Custom AppWizard.

This sample demonstrates the following keywords:

AfxFormatString1; AfxMessageBox; AfxThrowUserException; CBitmap::LoadBitmap; 
CDC::BitBlt; CDC::CreateCompatibleDC; CDC::DPtoLP; CDC::FillRect; 
CDC::SelectObject; CDialog::MapDialogRect; CFileDialog::DoModal; 
CFileDialog::GetPathName; CGdiObject::GetObject; CListBox::AddString; 
CListBox::GetItemData; CListBox::GetSelCount; CListBox::GetSelItems; 
CListBox::SelItemRange; CListBox::SetItemDat ... (cont.)

	MB ColorPicker Control
	  
	28-Oct-2000
	 
	28-Oct-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	This control reproduces and extends the Color picker provided by Office 
2000. It has a drop down palette that shows any color combination you want and 
(optionally) a custom button to open the Windows Common Dialog Control for 
color selection. In addition each color box can have a different tooltip. Every 
aspect of the control is customizable. It can look like a combo box, a simple 
button, a checkbox button, a dropdown button, etc. You can choose the color and 
width of the 3D border that highlight the color box under the mouse cursor, the 
height and width of the color boxes, the custom button's text, the number of 
colors per row, and much more. The control's events let you to customize its 
behaviour even more. There is also a property page that allows you to easily 
add the colors you want to display and add some standard palettes that cover 
the red/green/blue/gray scale, 16, 48 or system colors.
	

Before 10% discount

Nothing is more distracting when you’re trying to narrow down a problem in the 
debugger than to accidentally step into some common library code when you meant 
to step over it. Fortunately, the Visual C++ debugger offers an undocumented 
means of telling the debugger to never step into certain code. The feature is 
referred to "No Step Into." If you have a debugging function called 
"CheckMyMem," here's how you would ensure the debugger will never step into 
that function.

1. Open AUTOEXP.DAT which in in the \MSDev98\Bin directory.

2. At the bottom of the file, add the following line: "[Execution Control]". As 
you can tell from looking at AUTOEXP.DAT, it's just a standard INI file.

3. The format of the entries is "functionname=NoStepInto" so to add CheckMyMem, 
the entry is "CheckMyMem=NoStepInto."

4. The whole section would look like the following:

[Execution Control]

CheckMyMem=NoStepInto

Adding individual class members is just the same. If you don't want to step 
into MFC CString constructors, just add the line "CString::CString=NoStepInto." 
However, what is even more interesting is that you can have whole classes 
marked as No Step Into! For example, if you don't want to step into any of the 
methods in the _bstr_t class, the entry is "_bstr_t::*=NoStepInto."

If you are having trouble getting the No Step Into to work with your classes, 
ensure that you are using the correct type name. Run your program under the 
debugger and put an instance of the class in the Watch window. Right click on 
the item in the Watch window and select Properties from the context menu. The 
type listed is the type that the VC debugger is using for you class.

Here's a complete section so you can cut and paste it into your own AUTOEXP.DAT:

[Execution Control]

CString::CString=NoStepInto

_bstr_t::*=NoStepInto

_variant_t::*=NoStepInto

Unfortunately, No Step Into doesn't work with template classes, which is why 
the feature is probably undocumented. A work around is ... (cont.)

	Century Date Tables
	 
	John Bevilaqua
	 
	SQL DDLs for creating table structures and inserting the data for a set 
of tables suitable for producing pick lists for Validation of the Month Names, 
Month Numbers, Days in each Month and Years in the 20th Century
	

	Database info tool
	 
	Massimo Colurcio
	 
	Explore the structure of Tables (and views)
	

	Toolbars with Spinners & Sliders
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	How to create toolbars with spinners and/or sliders
	

	JavaScript For Beginners
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	A very easy tutorial for JavaScript beginners
	

	CResizableSheet and CResizablePage
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	Two CPropertySheet/CPropertyPage derived classes to implement resizable 
property sheets or wizard Dialogs with MFC
	

After 20% discount

After 20% discount

After 20% discount

BRING UP THE WINDOWS HELP SYSTEM

Private Declare Sub keybd_event Lib "user32" (ByVal bVk As Byte, ByVal bScan As 
Byte, ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Long)
Private Const VK_LWIN = &H5B
Private Const KEYEVENTF_KEYUP = &H2

' Open the Windows Help
'
' You can use the same technique to programmatically "press" any other
' key, including Shift, Ctrl, Alt and keys combinations that can't be
' simulated through SendKeys

Sub OpenWindowsHelp()
    ' programmatically press the Windows key
    keybd_event VK_LWIN, 0, 0, 0
    ' then press and then release the F1 key
    keybd_event vbKeyF1, 0, 0, 0
    keybd_event vbKeyF1, 0, KEYEVENTF_KEYUP, 0
    ' and finally release the Windows Key
    keybd_event VK_LWIN, 0, KEYEVENTF_KEYUP, 0
End Sub

AutoBld: Builds One or More Workspaces at Specified Times and Dates

This sample builds a Visual C++ project at a specified time. When the build is 
done, AutoBld emails the user with the name of the configuration and the number 
of build warnings and errors. The code demonstrates working with various parts 
of the Developer Studio object model, placing multiple commands into an add-in, 
and invoking commands from a command line.

For the Send Email function to work, you either need a non-password email 
account, or you need to be logged into the email account at the time AutoBld 
runs.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files.
In Visual C++, open the project file AutoBld.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in).
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu.
Place AutoBld.dll in \Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\AddIns so it can 
be located by Visual C++ when it launches. 

To run the sample on Windows NT 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab. 
Select the AutoBld.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins.
Once the AutoBld add-in has been loaded, clicking the button on the add-in 
toolbar opens a dialog box that lets you specify where build time information 
is to be logged. The file is persistent; any changes to it will be used next 
time.
Click the Configure button on the newly created toolbar, and set your 
preferences in the AutoBuild Configuration dialog box.
Exit Visual C++ to save this configuration.
From Control Panel, open the Services dialog box. Find Scheduling Agent in the 
list box, and make sure its Status column indicates Started and its Startup 
column indicates Automatic. If the Scheduling Agent's Status is not set to 
Started, highlight the Scheduling Agent and click the Start button. If its 
Startup is not set to Automatic, click the Startup button and select Automatic 
in the Startup Type field  ... (cont.)

BldRec: Uses Automation to Record Time and Length of a Build

BldRec records the following build information in a text file: 

Length of time
Number of errors
Number of warnings 

The sample also shows using the registry to persist a setting. BldRec was 
created with the ATL COM AppWizard. Support MFC was checked in the wizard, and 
then an Add-in object was added to the project with the ATL Object Wizard.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files.
In Visual C++, open the project file BldRec.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in).
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab.
Select the BldRec.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins.
Once the BldRec add-in has been loaded, clicking the button on its toolbar 
displays a dialog box that lets you specify a location to log build time 
information. The file is persistent; any changes to it will be used next time. 

Output of BldRec is similar to:

09:48:11 PM 02/19/98 :             Build Started  -- bldrec - Win32 Debug
09:48:25 PM 02/19/98 : 00:00:14    Build Finished! Errors=0, Warnings=0 -- 
bldrec - Win32 Debug

This sample demonstrates the following keywords:

CTimeSpan; CTime::GetCurrentTime; CTime::Format; CRegKey::QueryValue; 
CRegKey::Create; CRegKey::SetValue; addin; customize; IApplication; 
IConfiguration; IApplicationEvents

BrkPntMgr: Uses Automation to List and Control Breakpoints

BrkPntMgr is a breakpoint manager. It will save and load breakpoints from 
files. You can add comments to make your breakpoints more understandable. This 
is useful in working on many bugs at one time, or over time.

BrkPntMgr was created with the ATL COM AppWizard. Support MFC was checked in 
the wizard and then an Add-in object was added to the project with the ATL 
Object Wizard. The code that was added is mostly in BrkPnts.cpp. There is code 
for loading, saving, and closing, and a function that will get a pointer to an 
IGenericDocument interface for a given file.

To build the sample 

In Visual C++, open the project file BrkPntMgr.dsp. 
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in). 
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab.
Select the BrkPntMgr.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins.
Visual C++ will load the add-in. When you close the Customize dialog box, 
BrkPntMgr’s toolbar will appear.
Run the BrkPntMgr add-in by clicking the toolbar button. BrkPntMgr puts up a 
single button in a toolbar. Clicking this button opens a dialog box. This 
dialog box has a check box for Save Only Enabled, an edit box File:, a Browse 
button, another edit box labeled Comment, and four more buttons labeled Clear, 
Save, Load, and To Output Wnd. The text at the top of the dialog box reports 
how many breakpoints are set and enabled. 
If you put a file name in the File: edit box (or browse for one), you can 
either load or save breakpoints. If the Save Only Enabled check box is enabled, 
you will not save any disabled breakpoints. When you save, you can add a 
comment, such as "This set of breakpoints are for finding a memory leak in the 
bipartite graph program."

When you load a file, all files with breakpoints set will be opened and then 
all the breakpoints will be set.  ... (cont.)

CmdWnd: Issue IDE Command in a Command Window

The CmdWnd add-in sample creates a command window into which you can enter 
three types of commands:

1. CmdWnd commands

You can display a list of the CmdWnd commands by typing a question mark (?) in 
the command window. Note that several CmdWnd commands start the debugger.

2. IDE commands

Any command issued in the command window that is not a CmdWnd command will next 
be evaluated as an IDE command. Any command that you see in the Commands list 
in the Keyboard tab of the Customize dialog box, which is accessed from the 
Tools menu, can be issued in the command window to access the functionality of 
the menu option. An example of such a command is NewText. Another useful one is 
DebugBreak. Note that case is sensitive here.

3. MS-DOS commands

Any command issued in the command window that is neither a CmdWnd command nor 
an IDE command will next be evaluated as a command issued from an MS-DOS prompt.

The CmdWnd add-in sample shows how to create a modeless dialog box add-in. 
Add-ins are normally required to be modal dialog boxes. One problem encountered 
in making a modeless add-in is that some keystrokes get translated and sent to 
msdev.exe and the add-in’s dialog box does not receive them. This is 
particularly dangerous since keys like DEL are in this list. This sample shows 
how to create an add-in in two basic pieces: a stub add-in, and an exe that 
opens a dialog box. This results in a modeless dialog box for msdev.exe.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files.
In Visual C++, open the project file cmdwnd.dsw.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in). 
Make the All project the active project.
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

This project builds a proxy stub, called devcmd.dll, and is built in the 
msdevcmdstubs subproject. There is one other subproject called the _interface 
project; this project fa ... (cont.)

API2Help: Creates an HTML or RTF File to Include in a Help System

This add-in creates documentation for a function prototype. Simply open a 
source code file in Visual C++ and highlight a function prototype. Then click 
the add-in. You will be prompted to create either a .rtf file or a .htm file. 
You can use the resulting file to create help for the function.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files.
In Visual C++, open the project file API2Help.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in).
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab. 
Select the API2Help.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins. 
API2Help creates a small toolbar that is visible when you close the Customize 
dialog box.
Highlight a function prototype in a source file.
Click the API2Help button on the newly created toolbar, follow the prompts, and 
fill in the appropriate information in the File Generation Options dialog box.
Modify your help system to include the newly generated files. 


This sample demonstrates the following keywords:

CComModule.Init; CWinApp::ExitInstance; CComModule.GetClassObject; 
CComModule.RegisterServer; CRegKey.Open; CString.LoadString; 
CRegKey.SetKeyValue; CComModule.UnregisterServer; CFile.Write; 
CString.LoadString; WriteString; CString.TrimLeft; CString.TrimRight; 
CString.Find; CString.SetAt; Iapplication; CCommandsObj::CreateInstance; 
EnableWindow; SetWindowText; CString::GetLength; DoModal

Pipe: Uses Automation to Filter or Pipe Output from the Text Editor

Pipe (or Filter as it is called in the Customize dialog box) lets you process 
text by selecting it in the Visual C++ Text editor, pressing a button, choosing 
or setting a command, and applying the command to your selection. It is useful 
in sorting.

Pipe was created with the ATL COM AppWizard. Support MFC was checked in the 
wizard, and then an Add-in object was added to the project with the ATL Object 
Wizard. Most of the code added is in MarkIt.cpp. 

If you modify the sample, precede each function that could be called from an 
external interface with the following code:

AFX_MANAGE_STATE(AfxGetStaticModuleState());

This allows you to access your resources and is necessary because of the MFC 
support.

The CMRUStrings class is used to do the persistence for a drop-down combo box. 
You can use this class and other classes from the add-ins in other projects. 
See Reusing Code Topics and Adding Classes to the Gallery for information on 
how to reuse code.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files. 
In Visual C++, open the project file Pipe.dsp. 
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in). 
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab. 
Select the Pipe.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins. Visual 
C++ will load the add-in. When you close the Customize dialog box, Pipe’s 
toolbar will appear.
Run the Pipe add-in by clicking the toolbar button, which will display a dialog 
box where you can set the command line. For example, you can sort the selection 
by setting the command to c:\winnt\system32\sort.exe. Or you could issue a dir 
command with the output inserted into your current file. 

Pipe will work on a selection size of 0, on a column selection (SHIFT+ALT and 
select), whole lines, or  ... (cont.)

ReplAll: Uses Automation to Implement Replace Across Open Text Files

ReplAll resembles the Find and Replace dialog box but will find and replace 
text in all open text files.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files.
In Visual C++, open the project file ReplAll.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in). 
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab. 
Select the ReplAll.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins. 
Visual C++ will load the add-in. When you close the Customize dialog box, 
ReplAll’s toolbar will appear.
Run the ReplAll add-in by clicking the toolbar button. Clicking this button 
opens a dialog box that resembles the Find and Replace dialog box in Visual C++:

It has check boxes for Match whole word only, Match case, and Regular 
Expression as well as buttons for Replace All and Cancel.
It has two edit boxes: Find what and Replace with. 

ReplAll deals with the various emulation modes, such as the Brief and Epsilon 
editors.

This sample demonstrates the following keywords:

IApplication, CComPtr, CComQIPtr; CComBSTR; CComVariant; 
IDocuments::get__NewEnum; IEnumVARIANT::Next; CComVariant; 
IDocuments::get_Count; Item; ITextDocument::ReplaceText; 
ITextEditor::get_Emulation ; IApplication::get_ActiveDocument ; addin; 
customize; ItextDocument; ITextSelection

 

Wins: Uses Automation to List and Control Windows


Wins is a window manager that you can use to find, minimize, make visible, 
activate, and close windows, and also close any windows opened in a debug 
session. It will create files that, when loaded, will open selected windows.

Wins was built using the ATL COM AppWizard with the Support MFC option. The 
code that does the work with Automation objects is in WindowsList.cpp. It has 
some functions you may be able to reuse. For example, FindDoc, given a path to 
a document, returns a pointer to an IGenericDocument interface, opening it if 
requested. 

Wins also demonstrates how to add sorting to a list control and handling 
various messages from the list control that are mirrored. MyListCtrl.cpp has 
some useful functions for using list controls.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files. 
In Visual C++, open the project file Wins.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in).
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab. 
Select the Wins.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins. Visual 
C++ will load the add-in. When you close the Customize dialog box, the Wins 
toolbar will appear.
Run the Wins add-in by clicking the toolbar button. Clicking this button opens 
a dialog box. Wins is a window manager with controls that represent various 
window management functions:

The Windows Manager button opens a dialog box that lets you look at all your 
windows, sort them according to file name, file extension, directory, time 
activated, rectangle coordinates (top, left, bottom, right), and rectangle 
coordinates in debug mode. It will let you do selections on this, invert 
selections, and select all. It will save selected files out to a .nfl (named 
file list) file, and let you reload .nfl files, opening windows as it does ... (cont.)

	Embed OpenGL inside Java AWT Canvas
	 
	Davanum Srinivas
	 
	This article shows how to use OpenGL calls inside Java AWT Canvas using 
JDK1.3's JAWT interface
	

	Visual Component Framework
	 
	Jim Crafton
	 
	An Article describing working with the Visual Component Framework
	

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 6
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	To WTL or Not to WTL. That Is the Question
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	In his latest contribution, Andrew ponders the question posed by many 
of you brave enough to dive into the undocumented waters of WTL.
	

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 32-bit or higher.

This issue introduces a class to monitor any file changes made in
a particular folder.

cFileNotify

This class is very useful when any monitoring of folders is
necessary.  It will automatically notify the calling program when
a file changes in a folder.  It is most useful for applications
which require folders to be updated when external changes are made
to them.  It is also very useful for batch file processing where
an application needs to process a file once it appears in a
particular folder.

This class can not tell what kind of change has occurred, but
only that some change occurred in the folder specified by the
FolderToWatch property.  Additional code would have to be written
to determine this information.  It does not seem to be available
from the Windows API.


Properties

Public Enum FileNotifyFlags

This enumerator specifies which events can be monitored.  Most of
the constants are pretty obvious.  For full details on each one of
these properties see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/winbase/filesio_9hgu.htm at
Microsoft's web site.  Each constant can be OR'd together to watch
several events.

Public FolderToWatch As String

This is the folder name to watch, such as e:\temp or
c:\windows\system

Public Event FolderChanged(sFolder As String, eFlags As FileNotifyFlags)

This event will be raised everytime a change in detected in the
FolderToWatch.  Which changes are monitored is determined by the
eFlags option on the Monitor method.

Methods

Public Sub Monitor(Optional eFlags As FileNotifyFlags = FileNotifyDefault)

Starts the monitoring process.  The Monitor routine will not
return until the Abort method is called or some error occurs.
Typically this call will be put behind a button on a form or a
timer on a form to keep the main application from hanging up.  A
future version of this class will have an asynchronous version of
this routine.

Public Sub Abort()

Cancels the monitoring proces ... (cont.)

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 or higher.  Will probably work in VB3 too.

This issue presents one method to format a United States phone
number.  It will also work in locations where the phone numbers
are 7 digits or 10 digits long.  It can easily be modified to fit
your local phone number requirements.

basPhoneNumbers

This module shows a good model for formatting phone numbers (or
other numeric values).  It will format a 7 digit or 10 digit phone
number in the format 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.


Functions

Public Function FormatUSPhoneNumber(ByVal sPhone As String) As String

Call this routine with a phone number as the specified parameter.
It will raise an error if the phone number is not 7 or 10 digits
after all non-numerics are removed.  It will return a string in
the format of 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.  If you want to modify
the formatted output update the Format$ line in the routine.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the FormatUSPhoneNumber function.



    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("2125047945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("212-504-7945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 or higher.  Will probably work in VB3 too.

This issue presents one method to format a United States phone
number.  It will also work in locations where the phone numbers
are 7 digits or 10 digits long.  It can easily be modified to fit
your local phone number requirements.

basPhoneNumbers

This module shows a good model for formatting phone numbers (or
other numeric values).  It will format a 7 digit or 10 digit phone
number in the format 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.


Functions

Public Function FormatUSPhoneNumber(ByVal sPhone As String) As String

Call this routine with a phone number as the specified parameter.
It will raise an error if the phone number is not 7 or 10 digits
after all non-numerics are removed.  It will return a string in
the format of 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.  If you want to modify
the formatted output update the Format$ line in the routine.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the FormatUSPhoneNumber function.



    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("2125047945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("212-504-7945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 or higher.  Will probably work in VB3 too.

This issue presents one method to format a United States phone
number.  It will also work in locations where the phone numbers
are 7 digits or 10 digits long.  It can easily be modified to fit
your local phone number requirements.

basPhoneNumbers

This module shows a good model for formatting phone numbers (or
other numeric values).  It will format a 7 digit or 10 digit phone
number in the format 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.


Functions

Public Function FormatUSPhoneNumber(ByVal sPhone As String) As String

Call this routine with a phone number as the specified parameter.
It will raise an error if the phone number is not 7 or 10 digits
after all non-numerics are removed.  It will return a string in
the format of 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.  If you want to modify
the formatted output update the Format$ line in the routine.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the FormatUSPhoneNumber function.



    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("2125047945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("212-504-7945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 or higher.  Will probably work in VB3 too.

This issue presents one method to format a United States phone
number.  It will also work in locations where the phone numbers
are 7 digits or 10 digits long.  It can easily be modified to fit
your local phone number requirements.

basPhoneNumbers

This module shows a good model for formatting phone numbers (or
other numeric values).  It will format a 7 digit or 10 digit phone
number in the format 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.


Functions

Public Function FormatUSPhoneNumber(ByVal sPhone As String) As String

Call this routine with a phone number as the specified parameter.
It will raise an error if the phone number is not 7 or 10 digits
after all non-numerics are removed.  It will return a string in
the format of 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.  If you want to modify
the formatted output update the Format$ line in the routine.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the FormatUSPhoneNumber function.



    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("2125047945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("212-504-7945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 or higher.  Will probably work in VB3 too.

This issue presents one method to format a United States phone
number.  It will also work in locations where the phone numbers
are 7 digits or 10 digits long.  It can easily be modified to fit
your local phone number requirements.

basPhoneNumbers

This module shows a good model for formatting phone numbers (or
other numeric values).  It will format a 7 digit or 10 digit phone
number in the format 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.


Functions

Public Function FormatUSPhoneNumber(ByVal sPhone As String) As String

Call this routine with a phone number as the specified parameter.
It will raise an error if the phone number is not 7 or 10 digits
after all non-numerics are removed.  It will return a string in
the format of 999-9999 or (999)999-9999.  If you want to modify
the formatted output update the Format$ line in the routine.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the FormatUSPhoneNumber function.



    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("2125047945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

    Debug.Print FormatUSPhoneNumber("212-504-7945")
    ' the output will be: (212)504-7945

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 5
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	User-Level Spin Locks
	 
	Gert Boddaert
	 
	An introduction to using spin locks for Synchronisation
	

	24-Oct-2000
	 
	24-Oct-2000
	 
	Coding for the World
	 
	Have you considered writing Delphi applications for the whole World? 
The Integrated Translation Environment is what you need to quickly 
internationalize or localize your applications for new languages and cultures.
	

	Navigate your TRACE outputs
	 
	Wolfgang Busch
	 
	Extended TRACE macros with easy source navigation
	

	23-Oct-2000
	 
	23-Oct-2000
	  
	Copying Files With Explorer
	 
	Do you need to copy files from one location to another direct from 
Visual Basic? If so, take advantage of the built in Windows move/copy dialog 
boxes! Your VB Guide shows you how.
	

	Understanding COM Apartments, Part II
	 
	Jeff Prosise
	 
	Jeff illustrates why a complete understanding of COM apartments is so 
important to developing better and more efficient COM applications.
	

	C# XML Directory Lister
	 
	Greg Hack
	 
	Generates a directory list as XML
	

	SQLLog Wizard
	  
	21-Oct-2000
	 
	21-Oct-2000
	 
	Ron Puckett
	 
	The SQLLog Wizard is used to specify which tables are to be audited. 
The output of the wizard is a SQL Script that that can be run in the Query 
Analyzer. This script will generate the triggers required to implement the 
audit log (stored in XML format in the Database). The SQLLogViewer is used to 
display the audit log. Log records can be filtered based on a number of 
criteria including transaction dates, table name, transaction type, 
application, machine that made the changes, or by the user who made the change. 
Goto http://www.rlpsoftware.com for more information and to register for 
receiving info on future updates.
	

	Create a modeless dialog as topmost window
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	21-Oct-2000
	 
	21-Oct-2000
	

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 4
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	Create Dynamic Banners By Using JavaScript
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	This article show how to use JavaScript to dynamically display banners, 
very usful!
	

	The Art of Estimating, Part II
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Christopher completes his two part series on the art of estimating by 
getting into the details of exactly what it takes to deliver detailed, timely 
and accurate estimates.
	

	How to change font's type and size of a control
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	20-Oct-2000
	 
	20-Oct-2000
	

	How to print contents of an edit box
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	20-Oct-2000
	 
	20-Oct-2000
	

	Color Picker Combo Box
	 
	James R Twine and Mark Jackson
	 
	A combobox derived class that provides a simple color picker
	

	Implementing an autocompleting Combobox
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A combobox that autocompletes as you type
	

	Callback based, Quicksort enabled CArray Template class
	 
	Attila Hajdrik
	 
	This article presents a callback based, QuickSort enabled CArray 
template class
	

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 3
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	Minimizing windows to the System Tray
	 
	Matthew Ellis
	 
	A set of routines that show how easy it is to minimise your windows to 
the system tray
	

	Create Templets by Using JavaScript
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	There are many ways to create a web page templete. Using JavaScript is 
one of easiest ways
	

	A better front end to WinDiff
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A GUI front end to a handy utility
	

	A class on exception handling
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	19-Oct-2000
	 
	19-Oct-2000
	

	CFileDialog Tutorial
	 : Step by step 
	A tutorial which tells you how to use CFileDialog step by step.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	19-Oct-2000
	 
	19-Oct-2000
	

	ASP Guestbook Application
	 
	Uwe Keim
	 
	A simple guestbook application using ASP and an Access Database
	

	Creating a Control with the .NET SDK using C#
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A quickstart guide to creating your first control in C#
	

	QuickWin: Turn a console application into a Windows program
	 
	Lanz Jean-Claude
	 
	Redirect stdin, stdout and stderr into a window
	

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 2
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	ProcessStudio: Monitor Tasks visually
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	An application to monitor tasks visually
	

	HTML For Beginners
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	A tutorial for those who want to learn HTML in an easy way.
	

	Adding behaviour to classes
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	This issue, Roger looks at adding behaviour to classes and examines 
vbarious techniques. Along the way he encounters a strange compiler bug and has 
to work around it. Funny things certainly happen on the way to a deadline!
	

	Drawing Image RGB Color Distribution Using OpenGL
	 
	Pierre Alliez and Magali Mazière
	 
	Incredible set of methods for such tasks as antialiasing, mouse support 
for rotating images, storing and loading images from resources
	

To create dialogs, just follow the steps below, and 
voila! You'll have a new dialog in your program, all set 
and ready to go:

1. Design your dialog box using the Resource Editor.

2. While holding down the Ctrl key, double-click on a 
blank area of the dialog box. ClassWizard will pop up, 
asking if you want to make a new class for the dialog 
box. Click OK.

3. Fill out the next dialog box from ClassWizard, and 
then click OK twice---once to create your class, and then 
again to save and close ClassWizard.

4. Next, in your message-handler, write:

void CMyApp::OnMyCommand()
{
       CMyDialog dlg;
       
       if (dlg.DoModal() == IDOK)
       {
            // The user pressed OK. Gather dialog 
            // settings.
       }

       // If we're here, then the user clicked Cancel.
}

QuickWin is a window application that spawn a Win32 console application 
redirecting his stdin, stdout and stderr handles to a window. The console 
application is hidden and all I/O operations are made through QuickWin

	A Visit to Redmond, Part 1
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	For those who are curious as to what a hastily scheduled trip to 
Redmond is like.
	

	CSS For Beginners
	 
	Nongjian Zhou
	 
	Add CSS to your HTML Files.
	

	Use Regular Expression in your C++ program
	 
	Sherwood Hu
	 
	how to use the Microsoft regular expression object in your C++ program
	

	CNetworkTreeCtrl
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	A CWaitingTreeCtrl-derived class to display Network resources
	

	CProgressFX and CHourglassFX
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	Two animation provider classes to add animation effects to any 
CWaitingTreeCtrl-derived class
	

	CShellTreeCtrl
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	A CWaitingTreeCtrl-derived class to display Shell's resources
	

	CWaitingTreeCtrl
	 
	Paolo Messina
	 
	A CTreeCtrl derived class that populates the branches of a tree only 
when necessary, with optional visual effects.
	

	WTL bugs
	 
	Paul Bludov
	 
	Known WTL & ATL bugs
	

	QuickWin: Console Application Into a Window
	 
	Jean-Claude Lanz
	 
	Extremely useful tool that enables you to redirect the output of 
applications to a window. Also includes CRedirect class for inclusion in your 
own applications.
	

	RAS Detection Routine
	 
	Jeroen-Bart Engelen
	 
	Updated to recognize RAS installed on Windows ME
	

	Examine Information on Windows NT System Level Primitives
	 
	Zoltan Csizmadia
	 
	Two low level utilities to examine Windows NT information such as 
processes, threads, windows, modules and objects.
	

	17-Oct-2000
	 
	17-Oct-2000
	 
	Graphical Combos
	 
	Creating owner drawn Combo Boxes in Delphi. See how to code a graphical 
drop-down list - a combo box of colors; and a true true-type font picker.
	

Owner Drawing - an excellent way to improve the look and feel of your Delphi 
application by changing the control's standard appearance. Creating a graphical 
(popup) menu. 

Dateline: 10/03/2000 

I guess we all like the idea of graphics displayed in the "Start" menu of 
Windows XX. Have you ever wondered is it possible to do custom control drawing 
with Delphi? 

   Owner Drawing

Often it would be nice to modify the behavior or appearance of Delphi's many 
controls (visual components). When we want to draw a decorative piece of art on 
a screen (component), Delphi allows us to "create" Owner Drawn controls which 
let us customize intrinsic controls to look however we want. 

In Windows, the system is usually responsible for painting menu items, list 
boxes, edit boxes, buttons and similar elements of your application GUI. 
For some controls the system allows an application to create an owner-drawn 
control, let's say a PopUp Menu, to take responsibility for painting menu 
items. 

When we set a control's OwnerDraw property to True, Windows no longer draws the 
control on the screen. This feature permits an application to alter the 
appearance of a control. Windows generates events for each visible item in the 
control, and your application handles the events to draw the items. The parent 
window (a form) of an owner-drawn control receives WM_DRAWITEM messages when a 
portion of the control needs to be painted. When the message is received it is 
up to the parent to draw the control however it wants. 

   OwnerDraw PopUp Menu

Delphi makes the development of graphical menus (items) quite simple by 
providing a way to use an ImageList component to add glyphs to menu items. 
However, if we want even more control of the graphical representation of menu 
items we'll have to deal with owner drawing techniques. 

Let's see how to create an Owner-Drawn PopuUp Menu, that behaves like normal 
menu but has customized appearance by modifying how it is drawn on screen. 

Typically ... (cont.)

DETERMINING IF YOUR HARD DISK IS FAST ENOUGH
Windows NT's Performance Monitor Counter lets you know if your hard drive is 
too slow. Before you can run the disk counter, you must activate the physical 
and logical disk counters. To do this, you must be logged on as a member of the 
Administrators group.
At the command prompt, type diskperf to view a Help document about how to turn 
diskperf on and off. (Type diskperf -y to set the system to start disk 
performance counters.) This will also show you whether the disk performance 
counters have already been activated. Restart the computer to activate the disk 
performance counters.

1. Open Performance Monitor (Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | 
Performance Monitor).
2. Choose Physical Disk from the Object drop-down menu.
3. Choose Avg Disk Bytes/Transfer from the Counter.

Let this counter run for several days. A value greater than 20 KB indicates 
that the disk drive is generally performing well; low values result if an 
application is accessing a disk inefficiently, and you should consider 
replacing it with a faster drive.

CREATE ELLIPTICAL OR ROUNDED FORMS

Private Type POINTAPI
    X As Long
    Y As Long
End Type
Private Type RECT
    Left As Long
    Top As Long
    Right As Long
    Bottom As Long
End Type

' Region API functions
Private Declare Function CreateEllipticRgn Lib "gdi32" (ByVal X1 As Long, ByVal 
Y1 As Long, ByVal X2 As Long, ByVal Y2 As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreatePolygonRgn Lib "gdi32" (lpPoint As POINTAPI, 
ByVal nCount As Long, ByVal nPolyFillMode As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateRoundRectRgn Lib "gdi32" (ByVal X1 As Long, 
ByVal Y1 As Long, ByVal X2 As Long, ByVal Y2 As Long, ByVal X3 As Long, ByVal 
Y3 As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpRect 
As RECT) As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowRgn Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal 
hRgn As Long, ByVal bRedraw As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As 
Long

' modify the shape of a window
'
' This routine supports three values for SHAPE
'    0 = circle/ellipse, 1=rounded rect, 2=rhomb
'
' Example:    
'    Private Sub Form_Load()
'       SetWindowShape Me.hWnd, 1
'    End Sub
'
' NOTES: You get best effects using borderless forms
'        Remember to provide alternative commands for
'        closing and moving the form

Sub SetWindowShape(ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal Shape As Long)
    Dim lpRect As RECT
    Dim wi As Long, he As Long
    Dim hRgn As Long
    
    ' get the bounding rectangle's size
    GetWindowRect hWnd, lpRect
    wi = lpRect.Right - lpRect.Left
    he = lpRect.Bottom - lpRect.Top
    
    ' create a region
    Select Case Shape
        Case 0          ' circle/ellipse
            hRgn = CreateEllipticRgn(0, 0, wi, he)
        Case 1          ' rounded rectangle
            hRgn = CreateRoundRectRgn(0, 0, wi, he, 20, 20)
        Case 2          ' rhomb
            Dim lpPoints(3) As POINTAPI
            lpPoints(0).X = wi \ 2
            ... (cont.)

	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	  
	C++ Interview Questions
	 
	Be prepared and land that job!
	

	Custom Folders with Active Desktop Templates
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	Illustrates how to modify the way in which Explorer displays the 
content of a folder.
	

	Using the Document/View Architecture with a DLL
	 
	Roger Allen
	 
	Illustrates with demo code how to use Documents and Views that have 
been exported from a DLL
	

	Pie Progress Control
	 
	Mukesh Gupta
	 
	ActiveX control to show the progress control in the format of a pie
	

	CmcCombo Class
	 
	A class provides functionality of edit and list boxes with adding, 
deleting items and more ...
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	Subclass List and Edit boxes in a Combo Box
	 
	This article explains how to subclass edit and list boxes in a combo 
box. Ref: MSDN.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	How to change mouse cursor?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	How to restrict your application to one instance only?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	How to add tooltips to a dialog box? Sample code attached
	. 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	How to create a list box with check boxes?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	 
	16-Oct-2000
	

	Donut, a WTL sample: Hosting WebBrowser Control
	 
	-N/A
	 
	MDI and Tab WebBrowser
	

	CGBitArray : A Packed Array of Flags
	 
	Gary Whitehead
	 
	Class that stores huge arrays of flags in as efficient a manner as 
possible (packed into array of BYTEs)
	

	Improved Seed/srand
	 
	John Gryme
	 
	Better performing version of seeding for srand function
	

	Find and Change Properties Add-in
	  
	14-Oct-2000
	 
	14-Oct-2000
	 
	Dean J Giovanelli
	 
	This Add-in lets developers quickly find & replace properties in their 
active VB6 project without exiting the VBIDE or editing any source code and 
with minimal usage of the vb properties window. The results are displayed in a 
grid that can be sorted multiple ways by column and can also be exported to a 
text file or HTML. Options include Find Whole Word Only, Match Case & more. 
Instructions/Help and a setup.exe program are provided. This Add-in is the 
answer to that tedious task of having to look through all the files and 
associated controls just to find a certain value or to make sure all similar 
controls have identical values where needed. You can double-click a row to 
select that control in the VB Properties window and can easily change multiple 
properties with a single button press.
	 
	Updated: 11/14/00
	 
	Updated Version: The new version includes a bunch of features that 
users have requested, such as: (1) the ability to export data into Access 97 
tables & Excel 97 spreadsheets, (2) the VB common Font, Color, and Open File 
dialog boxes used for changing these Properties, (3) The Pattern-Matching 
option, (4) the ability to edit and change properties that are longer than 255 
characters in a better way than the VB Properties window does, (5) an improved 
UI, and more.
	

	CList Iterator
	 
	Craig Henderson
	 
	A simple iteration class for MFC's CList linked list
	

	Generic Lookaside List Class
	 
	Jim Johnson
	 
	A simple way to keep items such as COM instances 'warm' and available 
for reuse
	

	An Advanced Preview within Document/View architecture
	 
	Yasuhiko Yoshimura
	 
	A simple class that helps provide faster Print Preview within MFC 
Document/View applications
	

	Persistent Frames
	 
	Stefan Chekanov
	 
	A collection of classes that allows MFC SDI and MDI applications to 
remember the positions and sizes of their main frame and child frame windows.
	

	Agent Ransack: File searching utility that supports Regular Expressions
	 
	Dave Vest
	 
	File, searching, regular expression, GREP, tool, utility
	

	ATL Windows, Part I
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	Think ATL is only for components? In Andrew's first installment of his 
new ATL/WTL column, he presents a full tutorial (including two demos) on using 
the ATL windowing classes to write full-fledged Windows applications.
	

	Project Line Counter Add-In v1.11
	 
	Oz Solomonovich
	 
	Latest version of very useful add-in that enables you to quickly 
ascertain source code statistics for your entire project
	

	Dynamically Adding and Removing Menu Items
	 
	Prasad Daflapurkar
	 
	Function and example code illustrating how to dynamically add or remove 
menu items
	

	How to add Context-Help button (?) to title bar of a Dialog
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Oct-2000
	 
	12-Oct-2000
	

	Project Line Counter Add-In
	 
	Oz Solomonovich
	 
	12-Oct-2000
	 
	12-Oct-2000
	 
	The Project Line Counter add-in reports statistics about files in your 
Visual C++ projects. Line Counter was created in order to demonstrate various 
programming tools and techniques.
	

	Dialog Resource to C# Form Converter
	 
	Nev Delap
	 
	Visual Studio Add-In that converts dialog template resources to C#
	

	Radial Control
	 
	David M Flores
	 
	Very cool control that can be used to simulate hardware dial controls 
(e.g., volume controls, channel selectors, etc.)
	

	Zip and Unzip the MFC Way
	 
	Tadeusz Dracz
	 
	MFC-based library that enables the creation, modification and 
extraction of PKZIP and WinZip archives
	

	Zip and Unzip the MFC Way
	 
	Tadeusz Dracz
	 
	11-Oct-2000
	 
	11-Oct-2000
	 
	Very nice set of C++ MFC classes that allows for zipping/unzipping of 
files
	

Have you ever needed to track the row and column position 
of the cursor (actually, caret) within a TextBox control? 
The following, originally written for a normal TextBox, 
will also work with a RichTextBox if the references are 
changed appropriately. Paste this code into your Form's 
code window:

Private Declare Function SendMessageLong Lib _
           "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _
           (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
            ByVal wMsg As Long, _
            ByVal wParam As Long, _
            ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Function CursorLine(TextBoxIn As TextBox) As Long
  CursorLine = SendMessageLong(TextBoxIn.hwnd, _
  &HC9, -1&, 0&) + 1
End Function

Function CursorColumn(TextBoxIn As TextBox) As Integer
  CursorColumn = TextBoxIn.SelStart - _
  SendMessageLong(TextBoxIn.hwnd, &HBB, -1, 0)
End Function

To see it work, put a Label on your form, put a large 
TextBox (with MultiLine set to True and ScrollBars set to 
2-Vertical) on the form, load it up with a fair amount of 
text, and put the following in the Click event for the 
TextBox:

Label1 = "Row: " & CStr(CursorLine(Text1)) & vbNewLine _
  & "Column: " & CStr(CursorColumn(Text1))

Run the project and Click away---inside the TextBox, of 
course.

ENCRYPT A STRING WITH A PASSWORD

Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As 
Any, source As Any, ByVal bytes As Long)

' encrypt a string using a password
'
' you must reapply the same function (and same password) on
' the encrypted string to obtain the original, non-encrypted string
'
' you get better, more secure results if you use a long password
' (e.g. 16 chars or longer). This routine works well only with ANSI strings.

Function EncryptString(ByVal Text As String, ByVal Password As String) As String
    Dim passLen As Long
    Dim i As Long
    Dim passChr As Integer
    Dim passNdx As Long
    
    passLen = Len(Password)
    ' null passwords are invalid
    If passLen = 0 Then Err.Raise 5
    
    ' move password chars into an array of Integers to speed up code
    ReDim passChars(0 To passLen - 1) As Integer
    CopyMemory passChars(0), ByVal StrPtr(Password), passLen * 2
    
    ' this simple algorithm XORs each character of the string
    ' with a character of the password, but also modifies the
    ' password while it goes, to hide obvious patterns in the
    ' result string
    For i = 1 To Len(Text)
        ' get the next char in the password
        passChr = passChars(passNdx)
        ' encrypt one character in the string
        Mid$(Text, i, 1) = Chr$(Asc(Mid$(Text, i, 1)) Xor passChr)
        ' modify the character in the password (avoid overflow)
        passChars(passNdx) = (passChr + 17) And 255
        ' prepare to use next char in the password 
        passNdx = (passNdx + 1) Mod passLen
    Next

    EncryptString = Text
    
End Sub

	On The Fly Table Creator
	 
	Rajiv Ramachandran
	 
	An MS-Word like drop down window for creating tables
	

	Getting Started with SoftICE
	 
	John Robbins
	 
	Let John Robbins show you how he uses his award-winning low-level 
system debugging tool, SoftICE
	

	Active Comments Add-In
	 
	Andrei Levin
	 
	Enables you to point your code to URLs, MSDN links and even audio 
clips!!
	

	FileObjectInfo, Digging into the Windows NT Internals
	 
	Holger Erne
	 
	Tool (NT native API source code!!) that lets you take a look at Windows 
NT's file objects
	

	On the Fly Table Creater
	 
	A class which provides MS-Word like drop down window for creating 
tables.
	 
	Rajiv Ramachandran
	 
	10-Oct-2000
	 
	10-Oct-2000
	

	10-Oct-2000
	 
	10-Oct-2000
	 
	Touch Me - I'm Untouchable
	 
	Intercepting keyboard input for controls that cannot receive the input 
focus. Working with keyboard hooks from Delphi.
	

Operating System Integration - Part 1

At some time in your programming career you will need to find out some 
technical information about the underlying operating system and platform - be 
it the speed of the processor, amount of memory installed or the version of 
Microsoft Windows running. In this article, I'll be uncovering the API calls 
that you can use to find out everything you ever wanted to know about the 
operating system software.

Software Functions

In the first article, let's take a look at some code snippets that will allow 
you to retrieve information about the underlying operating system software.

What version of Windows is running?

This handy code accesses the kernel32 API function "GetVersionEx" to retrieve 
the flavour of Windows, as well as the version of the operating system 
installed.

Declarations

Add the following code into the declarations section of a form:

Private Type OSVERSIONINFO
  dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long
  dwMajorVersion As Long
  dwMinorVersion As Long
  dwBuildNumber As Long
  dwPlatformId As Long
  szCSDVersion As String * 128
End Type

Private Declare Function GetVersionEx Lib "kernel32" Alias _
"GetVersionExA" (lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long

Private Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT = 2
Private Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS = 1
Private Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s = 0

Function

Public Function GetWindowsVersion()

Dim infoStruct As OSVERSIONINFO
infoStruct.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(infoStruct)

GetVersionEx infoStruct

If infoStruct.dwPlatformId = VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS Then
    GetWindowsVersion = "Windows 95/98"
Else
    GetWindowsVersion = "Windows NT"
End If

End Function

Usage

MsgBox "This system has " & GetWindowsVersion & " installed."

What mode is Windows running in?

Windows can run in three different modes: Normal, Safe and Safe with Network. 
If the system is performing properly, Windows should be running in Normal mode. 
However, if your software relies on the system worki ... (cont.)

	Easy to use file finding Dialog
	 
	Smaller Animals Software Inc
	 
	An easy to use multi-Threaded dialog class that will search disks for 
files. Similar to Explorer's "Find Files of Folders" tool.
	

	Exporting a tree control to an Excel file
	 
	Sardaukar
	 
	This article is a light sample showing how to iterate and export a tree 
control content to an Excel file.
	

	09-Oct-2000
	 
	09-Oct-2000
	  
	C++ Operators
	 
	A tutorial on C++ operators
	

	09-Oct-2000
	 
	09-Oct-2000
	  
	Tech Workshop - Realtime News
	 
	Your Visual Basic Guide takes you step-by-step through creating a 
real-time news ticker that can display headlines on your desktop... with help 
from the handy Microsoft Internet Transfer Control!
	

	09-Oct-2000
	 
	09-Oct-2000
	  
	Operating System Integration - Part 1
	 
	Your Visual Basic Guide will be uncovering the API calls that you can 
use to find out everything you ever wanted to know about the operating system 
software - from Windows version to environment variables!
	

	Variant Streaming Code
	 
	Kenneth Kasajian
	 
	Several functions to read and write variants to streams and blobs
	

	CHoverButton, Nice Hover Button with One Bitmap and Tooltip.
	 
	Niek Albers
	 
	Extremely easy to use hovebutton class
	

	Comment Function Macro for C/C++
	 
	Yevgeniy Marchenko
	 
	One of the best, this macro solves several issues with other comment 
macros
	

	MB ShellSpy Control
	  
	7-Oct-2000
	 
	7-Oct-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	This control lets you know when the user performs any file system 
operation, such as file or folder creation, deletion, renaming, and so on. In 
additionm you can know when a network drive is added or removed, when a media 
support (e.g. a CD) is inserted or removed, when the user adds or removes a 
printer or an Internet connection, and when a file association is created or 
edited. You can decide to spy the entire system or only a specific drive or 
folder. For each event you know the new and the old path and PIDL of the 
File/Folder. A typical use of this control could be inside a file system log 
application.
	

	cout for MFC/Windows/Non Console applications
	 
	Dhananjay Gune
	 
	A TRACE macro which traces on a new console of the Windows' application.
	

	Custom Draw Listview Controls, Part II
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	Roger walks you through the creation of a class that eases the burden 
on the working class programmer when it comes to custom draw controls.
	

	Function to Capture OpenGL Images to JPG (uses free IJL Library)
	 
	Jonathan de Halleux
	 
	Takes the name of an output file and the desired image quality (1-100) 
and spits out a .JPG image of your OpenGL screen
	

	Creating controls such as edit box, button on your MDI application's 
main view window
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Oct-2000
	 
	06-Oct-2000
	

NT File Compression
By L.J. Johnson

Ever wish you could compress or decompress files and directories on NT's NTFS 
volumes from code? Well, this month's 10-minute solution shows you how to do 
just that. As is often the case, the full code is included in this ZIP file. 

This project started because of a personal need. It looked like it would be 
fairly simple—just call CreateFile() to open (and get a handle to) a file or 
directory, and then use DeviceIoControl() to do the compression or 
decompression. However, one of the "constants" (FSCTL_SET_COMPRESSION) turned 
out not to be a constant at all, but a macro. 


Private Function GetCtlCode(ByVal xi_lngDeviceType As Long, _
   ByVal xi_lngFunction As Long, _
   ByVal xi_lngMethod As Long, _
   ByVal xi_lngAccess As Long) As Long
   GetCtlCode = _
      (CLng(xi_lngDeviceType) * (2 ^ 16)) Or _
      (CLng(xi_lngAccess) * (2 ^ 14)) Or _
      (CLng(xi_lngFunction) * (2 ^ 2)) Or _
      xi_lngMethod
End Function

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
FSCTL_GET_COMPRESSION =   GetCtlCode(xi_lngDeviceType:=FILE_DEVICE_FILE_SYSTEM, 
_
   xi_lngFunction:=15, _
   xi_lngMethod:=METHOD_BUFFERED, _
   xi_lngAccess:=FILE_ANY_ACCESS)

FSCTL_SET_COMPRESSION = GetCtlCode(xi_lngDeviceType:=FILE_DEVICE_FILE_SYSTEM, _
   xi_lngFunction:=16, _
   xi_lngMethod:=METHOD_BUFFERED, _
   xi_lngAccess:=FILE_READ_DATA Or _
   FILE_WRITE_DATA)
End Sub

In case you are wondering where the "15" and "16" above come from, they are 
straight from the macro definition in the Platform SDK. 

Once I got past that hurdle, the rest was straightforward. First you open the 
file 


p_lngFileHwnd = CreateFile(lpFileName:=xi_strFileName, _
   dwDesiredAccess:=GENERIC_ALL, _
   dwShareMode:=FILE_SHARE_WRITE And FILE_SHARE_READ, _
   lpSecurityAttributes:=0&, _
   dwCreationDisposition:=OPEN_EXISTING, _
   dwFlagsAndAttributes:=FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS, _
   hTemplateFile:=0&)

If you are doing only files, not directories, the dwFlagsAndAttributes can be ... (cont.)

Trapping SQL-DMO Error Messages

If you need to trap SQL Server's (6.5 or above) SQL-DMO 
errors in VB using VB's On Error Goto statement, you may 
want to try this procedure as a starting point:

Sub ConnectToServer
On Error Goto MyErrorHandler
Dim ServerObject as New SQLOLE.SQLServer
ServerObject.Connect "ServerName". "sa", "password"
Exit Sub
MyErrorHandler:
MsgBox "The connection failed w/error number " + 
str(Err.Number)
End Sub

Peter Chamberlin 
(mailto:peter@chamberlin1.freeserve.co.uk), a UK-based 
programmer, writes, "Continuing the restriction of 
textbox input to numbers only, I recently constructed the 
following code, which does just that and also allows the 
user to cut, copy, and paste, all the time still 
restricting input content to numbers only! Put the 
following into a textbox's KeyPress event...

' Ensure that only Numbers + Backspace Occur
If Not (KeyAscii > 47 And KeyAscii < 58) And Not 
(KeyAscii = 3 Or KeyAscii =
8 Or KeyAscii = 22 Or KeyAscii = 24 Or KeyAscii = 32 Or 
KeyAscii = 44) Then
    ' Nullify Non-Numeric Character
    KeyAscii = 0
End If

' Remove non-digits from Ctrl-V
If KeyAscii = 22 Then
    PreStrip = Clipboard.GetText
    NewStrip = ""
    For J = 1 To Len(PreStrip)
        MidBit = Mid(PreStrip, J, 1)
        If Not (MidBit < "0" Or MidBit > "9") Then
            NewStrip = NewStrip & MidBit
        End If
    Next J
    Clipboard.SetText NewStrip
End If

"... and only numeric input to a text box will be 
allowed. Ctrl-X/C/V is possible, and the routine scans 
and removes non-numeric digits from incoming clipboard 
copy-n-pastes." Well done, Peter! It's all too easy to 
forget the humble KeyAscii. 

	A comprehensive CE class library to replace ATL and MFC
	 
	Kenny Goers
	 
	A collection of classes for CE that do not use ATL or MFC, plus an FTP 
client, Database viewer, and sample application that solves beam deflection 
equations.
	

	Catching Memory leaks
	 
	Audrius Vasiliauskas
	 
	How catch memory leaks with very little effort
	

	Simple Trace format tips
	 
	Audrius Vasiliauskas
	 
	A simple way to format your TRACE statements so double clicking takes 
you directly to the source code.
	

	Dll Tips
	 
	xicoloko
	 
	Tips for writting Dynamic Link Libraries
	

	Property Sheet View
	 
	Leo Moll
	 
	A "Property Sheet"-like view class for MFC
	

	Number, Currency, Percentage Edit Control
	 
	Ian J Hart
	 
	Edit Control that provide masking, formatting and validating for 
number, currency, percentage values.
	

	WizGen Add-in for Visual Studio 6.0
	 
	Philip Oldaker
	 
	This Add-in is similar to Class Wizard but can be used for MFC 
extension libraries
	

	The Art of Estimating, Part I
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Delivering an accurate estimate is the hardest part of the job. In the 
first of two parts, Christopher covers the early stages of the development 
process that must be handled properly in order to have a firm foundation for a 
realistic estimate.
	

	Function to Capture OpenGL Images to JPG (uses free IJL Library)
	 
	Jonathan de Halleux
	 
	Takes the name of an output file and the desired image quality (1-100) 
and spits out a .JPG image of your OpenGL screen
	

	Read Only ComboBox
	 
	Tim McColl
	 
	Show a disabled dropdown style combobox like a read only edit box.
	

	Zip and Unzip in the MFC way
	 
	Tadeusz Dracz
	 
	The library to create, modify and extract zip archives
	

	A Better CenterWindow() Function
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	This is a good replacement for CWnd::CenterWindow() that works.
	

	Auto-Completion Edit Control
	 
	James R Twine
	 
	An edit control that provides auto-completion functionality for small 
data sets.
	

	Dim Edit Control
	 
	James R Twine
	 
	An edit control that can provide visual cues in it's text area
	

	Enhanced Focus Edit Control with Input Filtering
	 
	James R Twine
	 
	An edit control that provides strong visual feedback when it has the 
input focus, and allows filtering of input and/or displayed characters.
	

	A sample class to get the favorites of Internet Explorer
	 
	Ray Yang
	 
	This is a class to get the folders and urls of the IE.
	

	SeaShell: More Explorer Controls
	 
	Philip Oldaker
	 
	A set of shell controls and other useful classes
	

	Enumerating Objects with .NET
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	Illustrates how to use the .NET Base Class Library collection classes 
to enumerate over a set of objects.
	

	Hot Redundancy Agent for Dynamic Switching of Servers
	 
	Arkady Frankel
	 
	Uses IPHLPAPI to enable you to "hot switch" from one server to another 
when one goes down or is unavailable
	

	Microsoft Development Environment-Like Options Dialog Class
	 
	Waqas Ahmed Saeed
	 
	Great little class that supports new Visual Studio.NET style option 
dialogs
	

	Better Method of Creating/Deleting Linked Lists Nodes
	 
	Ralph Varjabedian
	 
	Presents alternative to traditional methods of adding and removing 
nodes from linked lists
	

	Cautions about ATL String Conversion macro and _alloca()
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	04-Oct-2000
	 
	04-Oct-2000
	 
	Don't use the macros in a tight loop. For example, you do NOT want to 
write the following kind of code:
	 
 void BadIterateCode(LPCTSTR lpsz)
 {
 USES_CONVERSION;
 for (int ii = 0; ii SomeMethod(ii, T2COLE(lpsz));
 }
  
	The code above could result in allocating megabytes of memory on the 
stack depending on what the contents of the string lpsz is! It also takes time 
to convert the string for each iteration of the loop. Instead move such 
constant conversions out of the loop:
	 
 void MuchBetterIterateCode(LPCTSTR lpsz)
 {
 USES_CONVERSION;
 LPCOLESTR lpszT = T2COLE(lpsz);
 for (int ii = 0; ii SomeMethod(ii, lpszT);
 }
  
	If the string is not constant, then encapsulate the method call into a 
function. This will allow the conversion buffer to be freed each time. For 
example:
	 
 void CallSomeMethod(int ii, LPCTSTR lpsz)
 {
 USES_CONVERSION;
 pI->SomeMethod(ii, T2COLE(lpsz));
 }
 
 void MuchBetterIterateCode2(LPCTSTR* lpszArray)
 {
 for (int ii = 0; ii  
	Never return the result of one of the macros, unless the return value 
implies making a copy of the data before the return. For example, this code is 
bad:
	 
 LPTSTR BadConvert(ISomeInterface* pI)
 {
 USES_CONVERSION;
 LPOLESTR lpsz = NULL;
 pI->GetFileName(&lpsz);
 LPTSTR lpszT = OLE2T(lpsz);
 CoMemFree(lpsz);
 return lpszT; // bad! returning alloca memory
 }
  
	The code above could be fixed by changing the return value to something 
which copies the value:
	 
 CString BetterConvert(ISomeInterface* pI)
 {
 USES_CONVERSION;
 LPOLESTR lpsz = NULL;
 pI->GetFileName(&lpsz);
 LPTSTR lpszT = OLE2T(lpsz);
 CoMemFree(lpsz);
 return lpszT; // CString makes copy
 }
  
	The macros are easy to use and easy to insert into your code, but as 
you can tell from the caveats above, you need to be careful when using them.
	 
	The implementation of each macro uses the _alloca() function to 
allo ... (cont.)

	Renaming LAN group names utility
	 
	A utility which let you rename your local or global group name on your 
network.
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	04-Oct-2000
	 
	04-Oct-2000
	

Use MSWORD to check a word's spelling and provide suggestions

' this should be a module-level or global variable, so that
' Word is instantiated only once
Dim MSWord As New Word.Application

' check the spelling of a word
'
' returns True if the word is correct
' returns False if the word is not correct, and in this case it optionally
' returns a collection that contains all the suggested alternate words
'
' NOTE: requires a reference to the Microsoft Word Object Library

' USAGE:
'    Dim suggestions As Collection, w As Variant
'    List1.Clear
'    If Not CheckSpelling(Text1.Text, suggestions) Then
'        For Each w In suggestions
'            List1.AddItem w
'        Next
'    End If

Function CheckSpelling(ByVal Word As String, Optional suggestions As 
Collection) As Boolean
    Dim splSuggestion As Word.SpellingSuggestion
    Dim splSuggestions As Word.SpellingSuggestions
    
    ' Add a document, if there aren't any
    ' this is needed to get suggestions
    If MSWord.Documents.Count = 0 Then MSWord.Documents.Add
    
    ' ensure there are no extra spaces
    Word = Trim$(Word)
    ' initialize the returned collection
    Set suggestions = New Collection

    If MSWord.CheckSpelling(Word) Then
        ' the word is correct
        CheckSpelling = True
    Else
        ' the word is incorrect
        ' get the list of suggested words
        Set splSuggestions = MSWord.GetSpellingSuggestions(Word)
        For Each splSuggestion In splSuggestions
            suggestions.Add splSuggestion.Name, splSuggestion.Name
        Next
    End If

End Function

Launch a PC's default browser with ShellExecute API

Often, you may want a user to access a specific URI on the Web by 
launching his default browser and navigating to the Web site of your 
choice. Fortunately, a simple Windows API function ShellExecute() lets 
you do just that. When you pass this function a filename, it uses the 
Windows file associations to start the appropriate application. As a 
result, all you need do is pass this function a URI, and it automatically 
launches the default browser and navigates to the requested location. 

The ShellExecute() function conforms to the following syntax:

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib _
     "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" _
     (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation _
     As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal _
     lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory _
     As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

As you can see, it takes quite a few parameters, but don't worry, for our 
purposes only two concern us: lpFile and nShowCmd. The lpFile parameter 
holds the name of the file or application you want to launch, while the 
nShowCmd parameter contains directions indicating how you want the 
application to appear when it opens. Typically, you'll use the SW_SHOWNORMAL 
constant (1).

So for instance, to use this function to navigate to a Web page with the 
URI www.google.com, you'd write code along the lines of:

ShellExecute 0&, vbNullString, "www.google.com", vbNullString, _
      vbNullString, SW_SHOWNORMAL

If for any reason the ShellExecute() doesn't execute the application 
properly, the function returns a value less than or equal to 32. Otherwise, 
it returns a value that points to the launched application.

	Visual Studio Syntax Highlighting for C# Files
	 
	Tom Archer
	 
	Illustrates what you need to do in order to get syntax highlighting for 
C# keywords within Visual Studio
	

	RSA MD5 Message Digest
	 
	Nick Stone
	 
	C++ implementation of the RSA MD5 message digest algorithm.
	

	ActiveX using MFC: Inside Out
	 
	A tutorial that explains how to create an activeX using ControlWizard 
and how control wizard works under the hood.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Oct-2000
	 
	03-Oct-2000
	

	RSA MD5 Message Digest
	 
	Nick Stone of Langfine Ltd
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	C++ implementation of the RSA MD5 message digest algorithm
	

	Microsoft Development Environment-Like Options Dialog Class
	 
	Waqas Ahmed Saeed
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	Great little class that supports new Visual Studio.NET style option 
dialogs
	

	Better Method of Creating/Deleting Linked Lists Nodes
	 
	Ralph Varjabedian
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	Presents an alternative to traditional methods of adding and removing 
nodes from linked lists
	

	Hot Redundancy Agent for Dynamic Switching of Servers
	 
	Arkady Frankel
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	3-Oct-2000
	 
	Uses IPHLPAPI to enable you to "hot switch" from one server to another 
when one goes down or is unavailable
	

	03-Oct-2000
	 
	03-Oct-2000
	 
	Get Crazy - Draw Yourself
	 
	Owner Drawing - an excellent way to improve the look and feel of your 
Delphi application by changing the control's standard appearance. Creating a 
graphical (popup) menu.
	

	An RGB chooser Dialog
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	A simple Color chooser dialog that uses slifer controls to allow the 
user to combine different RGB values
	

	Enhanced Progress Bar Control
	 
	Yury Goltsman
	 
	An enhanced Progress Control that supports gradient shading, formatted 
text, 'snake' and reverse modes, and vertical modes
	

	Drawing Spline Types, Tension and Control Point using OpenGL and MFC
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	This sample teaches you how to create an OpenGL based Spline Drawing 
application
	

	The GLU functions and hit testing using OpenGL and MFC
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	This sample teaches you how to create an OpenGL based 3D Drawing 
application and demonstrates the GLU functions and hit testing using OpenGL and 
MFC
	

	02-Oct-2000
	 
	02-Oct-2000
	  
	Data Types in C++
	 
	A tutorial on C++ data types
	

	02-Oct-2000
	 
	02-Oct-2000
	  
	Top Mouse Tips
	 
	Check out a selection of the best code snippets to help you manipulate 
the mouse, from your Visual Basic Guide.
	

	Metadata in .NET
	 
	Avoiding DLL Hell: Introducing Application Metadata in the Microsoft 
.NET Framework
	 
	Matt Pietrek
	

	.NET Framework, Part 2
	 
	Microsoft .NET Framework Delivers the Platform for an Integrated, 
Service-Oriented Web
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	ATL Server and Visual Studio .NET
	 
	Developing High-Performance Web Applications Gets Easier
	 
	Shaun McAravey
	 and 
	Ben Hickman
	

	VTrace Tool: Building a System Tracer for Windows NT and Windows 2000
	 
	Jacob R Lorch
	 and 
	Alan Jay Smith
	

	Propagate Error Info: Use ATL and C++ to Implement Error-Handling COM 
Objects
	 
	Panos Kougiouris
	

	Windows Sockets 2.0: Write Scalable Winsock Apps Using Completion Ports
	 
	Anthony Jones
	 and 
	Amol Deshpande
	

	Taming the Stateless Beast: Session State and Web Farms
	 
	Johnny Papa
	

	Web-safe Palate
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	MSDN Tree Control
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Using WinInet for File Transfer
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Client-side Environment for ASP Pages, Part 2
	 
	Dino Esposito
	

	Server-side Controls in Active Server Pages+
	 
	George Shepherd
	

	Improving Runtime Performance with the Smooth Working Set Tool
	 
	John Robbins
	

	.NET:Programming for the New Platform
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	Sizing Windows for Text Strings
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Creating Nonrectangular Windows
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Activating an Open Document
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	An Improved Variant Type Based on Member Templates
	 
	Fernando Cacciola
	  
	C has generic pointers and varying length argument lists for 
flexibility. C++ has templates for even more flexibility, and better type 
safety in the bargain.
	

	Classes for Reading and Writing Parameter Blocks
	 
	Andrew Queisser
	  
	Fortran IV let you read and write variables by name since the 1960s. It 
still makes sense to do so in C++.
	

	Introduction to Function Try Blocks
	 
	Alan Nash
	  
	Exceptions can occur in the darndest places. Fortunately, try blocks 
can also be written in most of those places.
	

	Optimizing Substring Operations in String Classes
	 
	Todd Niec
	  
	If reference counting is good for operations on whole strings, it 
should be good for operations on substrings too.
	

	Pete Becker
	 
	When Bad Things Happen to Good Numbers
	 
	It takes a lot of preparation to write really robust Floating-point 
code.
	

	Thomas Becker
	 
	Template Compilation Model
	 
	Templates change the way Compilers and Linkers interact, often in ways 
that are hard to fathom.
	

	A programming model to use a thread pool
	 
	Sherwood Hu
	 
	A class to manage the thread pool
	

	Component Best Practices, Part 1
	 
	Peter Morris
	 
	
	

	Delphi .NET?
	 
	Bill Hatfield
	 
	
	

	A Crash Course in TClientDataSet
	 
	Jani Jarvinen
	 
	
	

	Capturing a Signature from a Palm Pilot
	 
	Isi Robayna
	 
	
	

	Packet Filtering with IPHLPAPI.DLL
	 
	Ton Plooy
	 
	Windows 2000 offers a finer degree of programmatic control over TCP/IP, 
including the ability to perform packet filtering. Unfortunately, the 
documentation for this new API doesn't make it easy to figure out. This article 
demonstrates how you can programmatically install filters to block packets 
going to or from specific IP Addresses, on some or all TCP Ports.
	

	An Event Publishing Class for MFC
	 
	Eric Grimm
	 
	The concept of Publishing and Subscribing to events is useful in a wide 
variety of situations, and can make code more flexible and decoupled. This 
article goes beyond the event publishing facilities supplied with MFC to create 
a more general framework than the default document/view classes offer.
	

	HTML Help for MFC Applications
	 
	Oz Solomonovich
	 
	HTML Help is Microsoft's replacement for WinHelp, but it's not highly 
integrated with MFC. This article provides a library that makes it much easier 
for MFC programmers to integrate HTML Help into their projects.
	

	User Interface Programming: Resizable Dialogs
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	 
	Resizable dialogs let the user change the default size to see more 
data, in a listbox or edit control, for example. A feature-rich layout manager 
requires a lot of code to do right, but here's a modest implementation that can 
easily handle automatic dialog resizing for most situations.
	

	A Simple Thumbnail Image Viewer
	 
	Srdjan Mijanovic
	 
	The trick is to combine Internet Explorer and the Windows Scripting 
Host, using a .hta file.
	

	Starting a Console Application with Redirected Output
	 
	Mario Contestabile
	 
	Of the many options for redirecting DOS output, which ones work?
	

	A Simple RTF Generator
	 
	Chris Yourch
	 
	This reusable class makes it easier to generate RTF that works in rich 
edit controls.
	

	The Hot Edit Control
	 
	Alan Kelly
	 
	Those flat controls that 'pop up' when the mouse moves over them look 
fancy, but it's not that hard to roll your own, as this example demonstrates.
	

	Checkbox Positioning within CCheckListBox
	 
	Agha Khan
	 
	Microsoft left out the ability to control checkbox position, but you 
can add it yourself.
	

	Loading a CBitmap Object from a BMP File
	 
	Ananth Viswanathan
	 
	Loading a CBitmap from a resource is easy; loading it directly from a 
.bmp file requires an extra step.
	

	A Practical Guide to ADO Extensions: Part I
	 
	Alex Fedorov and Natalia Elmanova
	 
	Mr Fedorov and Ms Elmanova demonstrate the use of two ADO extensions 
from Delphi: ADO Extensions for DDL and Security, and the Jet and Replication 
Objects Library.
	

	A Quick Way to Shortcuts
	 
	Bill Todd
	 
	Mr Todd examines Windows shortcuts in detail, then shows us how to 
build a custom component you can use to create and modify shortcuts in any 
Folder.
	

	Automating Word: Part II
	 
	Ron Gray
	 
	Mr Gray completes his two-part series. In this installment the focus 
turns to the Word components available in Delphi 5, and how to link and embed 
documents using OLE.
	

	Database Persistent Objects: Part II
	 
	Keith Wood
	 
	In Part I, he showed us classes that can automatically store their 
published properties in a relational database. In this installment, Mr Wood 
shares a form wizard for creating them easily.
	

	Internet Messaging Made Easy
	 
	Kristen Riley
	 
	Need to interact with Microsoft Exchange/Outlook? Ms Riley introduces 
the main CDO library with example applications that gather address lists, 
retrieve and send e-mail, and more.
	

	Simulate SOAP and Web Services
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	The future of XML-based communications is now: Use the MSXML 
XmlHttpRequest component to simulate next-generation Web Services SOAP 
functionality today.
	

	Implement SOAP Channel Using Libwww
	 
	Cal Caldwell
	 
	Get a hands-on understanding of the architecture - and the purpose of 
each "layer" - in a SOAP implementation, then implement a SOAP client and 
server tailored to your specific domain.
	

	Build Desktop Applications Using Browser Technology
	 
	Nelleke van der Voort and Eric Bergman-Terrell
	 
	Use a combination of standard Windows solutions and a few Internet 
technologies to build a customizable Win32 desktop app that includes functions 
such as e-mail, customizable displays, and the ability to write add-in scripts.
	

	Create Console Applications
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	VC++ is more than just MFC applications. Here, learn to leverage the 
C++ standard library to create a variety of non-GUI apps, including NT 
Services, COM EXE servers, and console apps.
	

	6 Tips for Debugging COM+ Components
	 
	Alan Gordon
	 
	Debugging configured COM+ components is easy if you master these simple 
- but often overlooked - tips.
	

	Develop Apps for a Custom Platform
	 
	Andy Harding
	 
	Get the lowdown on Windows CE 3.0, and banish rogue memory allocations.
	

	Add Traces and Asserts to Your ATL 3.0 Programs
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	Use asserts in debug builds to highlight cases when required conditions 
aren't met. Traces let you dump information you can check later.
	

	Writing Custom Surrogates
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	Windows' default surrogate is a good way to manage the implementation 
details of Out-of-proc activations - custom surrogates are even better. Learn 
how to write and use surrogates in your COM-based software development.
	

	Handler Marshaling in Windows 2000
	 
	Josh Lane
	 
	Handler Marshaling marries the best of the standard and custom 
marshaling architectures for transmitting remote data in COM.
	

	Create Firewall-Friendly Distributed Apps
	 
	Yasser Shohoud
	 
	The SOAP Toolkit lets you develop distributed VB apps with SOAP today.
	

	Write HTTP With WinSock
	 
	Sean Michael Murphy
	 
	Use the WinSock control to present a user interface through browsers 
and to exchange information using HTTP.
	

	A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
	 
	Stan Schultes
	 
	Take a plunge into the creative aspect of VB programming. Learn how to 
use VB's MSChart Control to display your data easily in graphical form.
	

	Use Numbers to Sort Themselves
	 
	Dave Doknjas
	 
	Sometimes the best way to sort data is to let it sort itself. 
Noncomparison sorting methods offer improved speed for certain types of data.
	

	MSXML 3 Gains Power
	 
	A Russell Jones
	 
	MSXML 3's new programming features include some significant 
enhancements. This column covers the most important new MSXML features.
	

	Measure Trends Effectively
	 
	Andy Clark
	 
	Learn how to use classes and collections to provide the basis for 
potent data-analysis capabilities. Also, learn creative ways to use collection 
properties and ADO disconnected recordsets.
	

	Produce Translucent Effects
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Learn to produce translucent effects with layered windows, and figure 
out how to handle fractional math.
	

	Pivot Your Data
	 
	Ben Taylor
	 
	Pivot Tables help you present organized data on a Web page quickly. Use 
SQL Server to create these powerful pivot tables.
	

	Extend the PropertyBag Object
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	You can use the PropertyBag object to create your own custom 
Persistence technique. Here's how.
	

	Use Views to Streamline Database Design
	 
	Barry Fridley
	 
	Views make it easier to use complex data; learn how to implement them 
effectively in your database applications.
	

	Do More With Language Support
	 
	Michael Kaplan
	 
	Do language guessing, font linking, and code-page conversion using 
MLang, the multilanguage support DLL.
	

Knowledge Management - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	Leverage Domino's KM Features
	 
	Chris Horne
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	Bread Crumbs Template
	 
	Keith Reichley
	

User Interface Design - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	You Are Here
	 
	Steven D Campbell
	

E-Commerce - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	Process Credit Card Transactions with Domino
	 
	Ray Pader
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	Create User-Defined Drop-Down Menus Using DHTML
	 
	Shakeel Kassam
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - October 2000 
	Bring Calendars to Web Users
	 
	Matt Holthe
	

	A Visual Framework (Views, Tabs and Splitters)
	 
	Zoran M Todorovic
	 
	Creating SDI/MDI applications with splitter and tab windows
	

	EZSkin: A Primitive Framework for building skinnable apps
	 
	VLakshmi Narasimhan
	 
	A mini library to build Bitmap based skinnable apps.
	

	MB BrowseForFolder Control
	  
	30-Sep-2000
	 
	30-Sep-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	If you want to show the "Browse for Folder" dialog in your own 
application, this is the tool for you. It enables you to change any dialog's 
property, such as its caption, foreground color, font, TreeView styles 
(HotTracking, SingleClickExpand, LinesAtRoot and so on), a textbox to manually 
type the folder name, and a label control to display the currently selected 
folder. You can also decide to display folders only, folders and file, printers 
or the Internet neighborhood. The control exposes a set of events that let you 
know when the dialog is about to be displayed (so that you can select an 
initial folder) and when a user selects a folder, and you can cancel the 
standard dialog action. You can also learn everything about the item that is 
currently selected: its path and display name, its small and large icons, its 
description, the type of exe (if it is an executable file), all its attributes. 
If the user selected a folder, you can determine whether it is shared or has 
any subfolders. The package contains both the control and a class module, so 
that you can use all the functionality even if you don't have a form to place 
the control on. There is also a FolderTree control, a special TreeView control 
that automatically shows the file system structure and all its item. You can 
use it to create an even more customized "Browse for folder" dialog or to add a 
file/folder browser into your own application.
	

	COM+: Beginner's definition
	. 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	30-Sep-2000
	 
	30-Sep-2000
	

FINDING ENUMERATION NAMES 
-by Jason Bock

Recently I came across a problem that I thought was going to be somewhat tricky 
to solve, until I researched my own brain and remembered a nice component that 
comes with VB's installation. By using this component, I was able to retrieve 
the enumeration names for any enumeration value. 

What's The Problem? When you make an enumeration in VB, you can easily find out 
what the name for a specific value is just by looking at the code. For example, 
if you had the following enumeration: 

Private Enum MyEnum
    FirstValue = 1
    SecondValue
End Enum

You can do a simple search for Private Enum MyEnum and find out what the name 
is for the value equal to 1, which is FirstValue. The problem becomes trickier 
with enumerations compiled into type libraries. Granted, VB's Object Library 
will display the names at design-time, but let's say that you were given the 
enumeration value at run-time. 

Just to show you that this does happen in the real world, here's the problem I 
ran into that motivates the whole discussion. I was recently playing around 
with the CDO Library to find out user information in Exchange. I knew that 
Exchange can store information like addresses, phone numbers, etc., but the way 
this is exposed is with a value called a property tag, which is stored in the 
ID property of each Field object that comes from the Fields collection of the 
AddressEntry object. Without getting into a long-winded discussion of CDO, the 
bottom line comes down to this: I'm given a property tag value that is a 
CdoPropTags enumeration value, and I'd like to be able to map that value to a 
descriptive string value. However, the CdoPropTags enumeration has 803 values. 
After futzing with OLEView and other tools, I couldn't find a easy way to get 
the name/value pairs to put them in a table format. Even if I could, that's a 
waste of time, because the type library has that information!
; why should I have to store it again? 

However, there' ... (cont.)

TEST WHETHER IE IS INSTALLED AND RETRIEVE ITS PATH

' get the IE installation path, or a null string if it isn't installed
'
' NOTE: requires the GetRegistryValue routine
'     that you can download from the site's Code Bank

Function InternetExplorerPath() As String
    Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002

    ' get the path from the registry, or return a null string
    InternetExplorerPath = GetRegistryValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 
"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\IEXPLORE.EXE", "Path")

    ' get rid of the trailing semi-colon, if there
    If Right$(InternetExplorerPath, 1) = ";" Then
        InternetExplorerPath = Left$(InternetExplorerPath, 
Len(InternetExplorerPath) - 1)
    End If
End Function

	Writing scalable server applications using IOCP
	 
	Oz Ben Eliezer
	 
	An article about using I/O Completion Ports and Winsock to write robust 
and scalable Windows server applications.
	

	W2K BUG: timeout of serial driver uses absolute time
	 
	Ben Kokx
	 
	The serial driver uses an absolute Date/Time instead of a relative time 
for its timeout, causing problems in situations like daylight savings.
	

	Removing HTML from the text in ASP
	 
	Konstantin Vasserman
	 
	Exploring the options of removing HTML tags from the text in ASP.
	

	Text Preview in ASP
	 
	Konstantin Vasserman
	 
	How to generate short preview of the text in ASP.
	

	CArray pitfall
	 
	Warren Stevens
	 
	This article describes how the CArray class can access deleted Memory 
in certain situations
	

	ADO Data Bound Class Wizard
	 
	Ly Nguyen
	 
	ADO Data Bound Class Wizard
	

	Rendering GIF, JPEG, Icon, or Bitmap Files with OleLoadPicture
	 
	Wes Rogers
	 
	Easy way to do basic rendering of image files into a view window
	

	Simple text rotation
	 
	Stefan Schwedt
	 
	A simple function to rotate text around its center point within a 
rectangle
	

	Understanding COM Apartments, Part 1
	 
	Jeff Prosise
	 
	In his inaugural article for CodeGuru, the first part of a two-part 
series on COM apartments, Jeff Prosise describes what apartments are, why they 
exist, and how to avoid the problems that they introduce.
	

	Custom Draw Listview Controls, Part 1
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	In this first part of a two-part series programming owner-drawn 
controls, Roger Onslow introduces the concepts and techniques behind writing 
your own controls.
	

	Number To English Translation
	 
	Jason E Neumeier
	 
	Useful class that enables you to display the textual representation of 
a number (for things such as check writing applications)
	

	Full-Featured 24-bit Color Toolbar
	 
	Peter Lee
	 
	Enable you to attach 24-bit images to the standard MFC Toolbar that 
handles both disabled and hot buttons as well as transparent button backgrounds.
	

	MRU Dialog
	 
	Ricardo Belfor
	 
	Dialog, that when your app is started without parameters, presents the 
user with a list of most recently opened file
	

	Raw TCP/IP library for Windows 2000
	 
	Barak Weichselbaum
	 
	Version 2 of this very impressive TCP/IP library released!!
	

	CSplitterWnd Extension that Allows Switching Views in Any Pane
	 
	Caroline Englebienne
	 
	Code to switch between multiple views in a splitter window pane 
*without* deleting and re-creating views
	

	Set your wallpaper as background of a dialog box
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to trap buttons of a dialog box without writing handler?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to set default button of a dialog box from your program?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to move focus from one control to other from your program?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to close a modal dialog box from from your program?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to change text's color of a dialog box?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	How to change background color of controls of a dialog box?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	

	CSplitterWnd Extension that Allows Switching Views in Any Pane
	 
	Caroline Englebienne
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	Code to switch between multiple views in a splitter window pane 
*without* deleting and re-creating views.
	

	Full-Featured 24-bit Color Toolbar
	 
	Peter Lee
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	Enable you to attach 24-bit images to the standard MFC toolbar that 
handles both disabled and hot buttons as well as transparent button backgrounds.
	

	27-Sep-2000
	 
	27-Sep-2000
	 
	Picture Motion - Double Buffering
	 
	Delphi Programming concepts of Double Buffering, technique that is used 
to prevent flicker when drawing onto the screen.
	

	MRU Dialog
	 
	Ricardo Belfor
	 
	26-Sep-2000
	 
	26-Sep-2000
	 
	Dialog that, when your app is started without parameters, presents the 
user with a list of most recently opened file.
	

Disabling Ctrl-Alt-Delete and Ctrl-Esc

It is often useful in Visual Basic programs to be able to disable the 
Ctrl-Alt-Delete key sequence. It is easily achieved by persuading Windows that 
a screen saver is running. This code also disables Ctrl-Esc, that is used to 
activate the Start Menu.

Declarations

Copy this code into the declarations section of a module.

Private Declare Function SystemParametersInfo Lib _
"user32" Alias "SystemParametersInfoA" (ByVal uAction _
As Long, ByVal uParam As Long, ByVal lpvParam As Any, _
ByVal fuWinIni As Long) As Long
Code 
Sub DisableCtrlAltDelete(bDisabled As Boolean)
    Dim X As Long
    X = SystemParametersInfo(97, bDisabled, CStr(1), 0)
End Sub
Use

To disable Ctrl-Alt-Delete:

Call DisableCtrlAltDelete(True)

To enable Ctrl-Alt-Delete:

Call DisableCtrlAltDelete(False)

Using the Browse Folder Dialog Box

If your program requires the user to type in a directory path, why not harness 
to the power of the API to display a delightful dialog box to let your users 
select a directory from the drive without typing?

You can implement this dialog bow into your applications very easily by using 
the following API calls.

 SHBrowseForFolder()
 SHGetPathFromIDList() 
 lstrcat()

Demo Project

Start a new Visual Basic standard-EXE project and add a command button.

Declarations

Copy this code into the declarations section of a module.

Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = 1
Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN = 2
Private Const MAX_PATH = 260

Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib _
"shell32" (lpbi As BrowseInfo) As Long

Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib _
"shell32" (ByVal pidList As Long, ByVal lpBuffer _
As String) As Long

Private Declare Function lstrcat Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "lstrcatA" (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal _
lpString2 As String) As Long

Private Type BrowseInfo
   hWndOwner As Long
   pIDLRoot As Long
   pszDisplayName As Long
   lpszTitle As Long
   ulFlags As Long
   lpfnCallback As Long
   lParam As Long
   iImage As Long
End Type

Command Button Code

Add this code into the click event of you command button:

'Opens a Browse Folders Dialog Box that displays the 
'directories in your computer
Dim lpIDList As Long ' Declare Varibles
Dim sBuffer As String
Dim szTitle As String
Dim tBrowseInfo As BrowseInfo

szTitle = "Hello World. Click on a directory and " & _
"it's path will be displayed in a message box"
' Text to appear in the the gray area under the 
' title bar telling you what to do
With tBrowseInfo
   .hWndOwner = Me.hWnd ' Owner Form
   .lpszTitle = lstrcat(szTitle, "")
   .ulFlags = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + _
   BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN
End With
lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(tBrowseInfo)
If (lpIDList) Then
   sBuffer = Space(MAX_PATH)
   SHGetPathFromIDList lpIDList, sBuf ... (cont.)

Showing the Properties dialog box

This tip demonstrates how to use the Win32 API to bring up the Explorer 
properties dialog box for a specified file. This API function has the same 
effect as right clicking on a file in Windows 95 and selecting properties.

Declarations

Copy this code into the declarations section of a module.

Type SHELLEXECUTEINFO
    cbSize As Long
    fMask As Long
    hwnd As Long
    lpVerb As String
    lpFile As String
    lpParameters As String
    lpDirectory As String
    nShow As Long
    hInstApp As Long
    lpIDList As Long
    lpClass As String
    hkeyClass As Long
    dwHotKey As Long
    hIcon As Long
    hProcess As Long
End Type

Public Const SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST = &HC
Public Const SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS = &H40
Public Const SEE_MASK_FLAG_NO_UI = &H400

Declare Function ShellExecuteEX Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
"ShellExecuteEx" (SEI As SHELLEXECUTEINFO) As Long
Code

Public Sub ShowProps(FileName As String, OwnerhWnd _
As Long)

Dim SEI As SHELLEXECUTEINFO
Dim r As Long
     
With SEI
  .cbSize = Len(SEI)
  .fMask = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS Or _
  SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST Or SEE_MASK_FLAG_NO_UI
  .hwnd = OwnerhWnd
  .lpVerb = "properties"
  .lpFile = FileName
  .lpParameters = vbNullChar
  .lpDirectory = vbNullChar
  .nShow = 0
  .hInstApp = 0
  .lpIDList = 0
End With
     
r = ShellExecuteEX(SEI) 
End Sub

Use

To show the properties dialog box of "c:\autoexec.bat", use the following code:

Call ShowProps("c:\autoexec.bat", Me.hwnd)

Creating a HotKey for your application

Here's an example of how to create a hotkey for an app!

Declarations

Copy this code into the declarations section of a module.

Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" _
Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
lParam As Long) As Long

Declare Function DefWindowProc Lib "user32" _
Alias "DefWindowProcA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Public Const WM_SETHOTKEY = &H32
Public Const WM_SHOWWINDOW = &H18
Public Const HK_SHIFTA = &H141 'Shift + A
Public Const HK_SHIFTB = &H142 'Shift * B
Public Const HK_CONTROLA = &H241 'Control + A
Public Const HK_ALTZ = &H45A

'The value of the key-combination has to
'declared in lowbyte/highbyte-format
'That means as a hex-number: the last two
'characters specify the lowbyte (e.g.: 41 = a),
'the first the highbyte (e.g.: 01 = 1 = Shift)

Form Code

Add the following code into the Form Load event

Me.WindowState = vbMinimized
'Let windows know what hotkey you want for
'your app, setting of lParam has no effect
erg& = SendMessage(Me.hwnd, WM_SETHOTKEY, _
HK_ALTZ, 0)
'Check if succesfull
If erg& <> 1 Then
MsgBox "You need another hotkey", vbOKOnly, _
"Error"
End If
'Tell windows what it should do, when the hotkey
'is pressed -> show the window!
'The setting of wParam and lParam has no effect
erg& = DefWindowProc(Me.hwnd, WM_SHOWWINDOW, _
0, 0)

When the user presses ALT+Z Form1 is shown.

Shutting down Windows

With one call the the API, you can persuade Windows to shutdown or restart. 
This code is perfect for installation routines that change system files, and so 
require a complete reboot to be correctly changed.

Declarations

Copy this code into the declarations section of a module.

Public Const EWX_LOGOFF = 0 
Public Const EWX_SHUTDOWN = 1 
Public Const EWX_REBOOT = 2 
Public Const EWX_FORCE = 4
Declare Function ExitWindowsEx Lib "user32" Alias _
"ExitWindowsEx" (ByVal uFlags As Long, ByVal dwReserved _
As Long) As Long

If you want to reboot the computer use the following code:

t& = ExitWindowsEx(EWX_REBOOT, 0)

	25-Sep-2000
	 
	25-Sep-2000
	  
	Database Workshop Part 2 - DB Coding
	 
	In this week's instalment of the Database Workshop, your Guide explains 
how to access your information without the built in Data Control.
	

Requirements

Visual Basic 5.0 or higher.

You will need to create a Reference to Microsoft Outlook 98
Object Model.  To create this reference for Visual Basic 4 goto
Tools / References.  To create this reference for Visual Basic 5
or 6 goto Project / References. Then select Microsoft Outlook 98
Model.  Outlook 2000 should work the same way.

Outlook 98 or higher installed on your machine.

In this Issue

In this issue we discuss how access the Outlook calendar
appointments using the Outlook Object Model.

cOutlookCalendar

This class allows you to access the Outlook appointments which
appear in the default calendar.  The full object model for the
AppointmentItem object is available at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/cdo/_olemsg_appointmentitem_object.htm

The basic usage of this class is to set the StartDate and EndDate
properties to control which appointments are returned and then
call the GetAppointments method.  This method will retrieve a
collection with the appointments that start between StartDate and
EndDate.


Properties

Public Property Let StartDate(dStart As Date)
Public Property Get StartDate() As Date

The beginning of the date range used to determine with
appointments will be returned by the GetAppointments method.


Public Property Let EndDate(dEnd As Date)
Public Property Get EndDate() As Date

The end of the date range used to determine with appointments
will be returned by the GetAppointments method.


Methods

Public Sub GetAppointments(colAppt As Collection)

This is the method that does most of the work.  A collection
object needs to be passed to hold all the appointments between the
date range StartDate and EndDate.  The objects which will be
stored in the collection colAppt are AppointmentItem objects.  You
can refer to the Outlook Object Model documentation for complete
details at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/cdo/_olemsg_appointmentitem_object.htm

The Count property of the collection can be used to determine how
 ... (cont.)

	Method of Handling Factorials of Any Size
	 
	Hai Yi
	 
	Method uses linked list to capture each digit of factorial result 
thereby not limiting you to C/C++ types
	

	Print Preview Enhancements
	 
	Roger Allen
	 
	Very nice enhancements to Robin Leatherbarrow's print preview extension
	

	Method of Handling Factorials of Any Size
	 
	Hai Yi
	 
	24-Sep-2000
	 
	24-Sep-2000
	 
	Method uses linked list to capture each digit of factorial result 
thereby not limiting you to C/C++ types.
	

	Print Preview Enhancements
	 
	Roger Allen
	 
	24-Sep-2000
	 
	24-Sep-2000
	 
	Very nice enhancements to Robin Leatherbarrow's print preview extension.
	

	MB Scroller Control
	  
	23-Sep-2000
	 
	23-Sep-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	Have you ever spent your time trying to arrange too many controls on a 
form that was too small for all of them? Now you can relax, at last. Just drop 
the MB Scroller Control on a form and all your other control on the Scroller. 
if the form resizes and not all the controls are not visible, the Scroller 
control shows a vertical/horizontal scrollbar, thus making your form a 
scrollable form. The scrollbars hide and show automatically, and if you have 
the ActiveDesktop installed you can also change their style into 3D, Flat or 
Track3D, the same styles of the VB FlatScrollbar) and their background color. 
The control exposes all the standard scrollbar's events, as well as two methods 
to programmatically scroll the form's contents.
	

	Create Child Windows using Win32 API
	 
	This sample code creates child windows such as a button, listbox and 
edit box. Sample code attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	23-Sep-2000
	 
	23-Sep-2000
	

	Extended Use of .NET RichControl Class
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A fully stocked owner drawn RichControl class
	

	Adding Icons to the System Tray
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A class for adding Icons to the system tray
	

	Finding the position and dimensions of the Windows System Tray
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A simple method to get the coordinates of the system tray
	

	How to Avoid an MFC Active Document Container from Hanging
	 
	Carsten Breum
	 
	Fixes problem with Visual Studio wizard-generated Active Document 
Containers hanging upon execution
	

	Injecting a DLL into Another Process's Address Space
	 
	Zoltan Csizmadia
	 
	Code to perform one standard method (DLL Injection) of API Hooking, or 
Interception
	

	How to change color of Status bar?
	 
	Sample code available.
	 
	Ksheeraj Kumud
	 
	21-Sep-2000
	 
	21-Sep-2000
	

	How to get version of a dll or an exe file using Win API?
	 
	Sample code available.
	 
	KSheeraj Kumud
	 
	21-Sep-2000
	 
	21-Sep-2000
	

Make the My Computer icon show current user name and machine name 

Each Windows desktop has a My Computer icon. Clicking the icon opens the My 
Computer folder, displaying available resources such as hard disks, printers, 
DUN, scheduled tasks and mobile device connections. 

Did you know that you can change the folder name to display the locally 
logged-in user's name? To do so, open regedt32.exe and navigate to 
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ subtree, locate the key named 
20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D, and follow one of the two instruction 
sets below, depending on whether you have Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0. 

For Windows 2000 systems, select and edit LocalizedString. Copy its text 
contents to a safe location such as Notepad. The contents should be similar to 
"@D:\WINNT\system32\shell32.dll,-9216@1033, My Computer," without the quotes. 
Next, delete the LocalizedString value. Create a new value with the same name 
(LocalizedString) whose type is REG_EXPAND_SZ. Paste the saved text into the 
text field of the newly created value, but edit the prefix before saving it. 
Replace the text "My Computer" in the string with "%username% on 
%computername%," without the quotes. For example, a modified string might read 
@D:\WINNT\system32\shell32.dll,-9216@1033,%username% on %computername%. 

For Windows NT 4.0 systems, select the  item in the right pane and 
delete it. On the Edit menu, click Add Value and leave the Value Name blank. 
Select a Data Type of REG_EXPAND_SZ, and in the string box enter "%userName% on 
%computername%," without the quotes. Now close Regedt32 and refresh the desktop 
to see the new display caption. 

Restrict TextBox entries to Digits

On Visual Basic Developer columnist Rod Stephens' site: a 
new advanced HowTo, "Use a new WindowProc to make a 
TextBox accept only digits." The trick? Use SetWindowLong 
to add the ES_NUMBER style to the TextBox's Window style. 
To prevent the user from pasting text into the TextBox or 
invoking its context menu, subclass and ignore the 
WM_PASTE and WM_CONTEXTMENU messages. 

Download it from 
http://www.vb-helper.com/HowTo/numonly2.zip.

Restricting Textbox to Digits 

  I have another solution for restricting a textbox to 
  digits only.

  Create the following function in a module:
 
  '------------------------------------------------------
  'echo only 0-9 and backspace
  '------------------------------------------------------
  Public Function EchoDigits(keyin As Integer) As Integer
      Select Case keyin
          Case 8, 48 To 57
              EchoDigits = keyin
          Case Else
              EchoDigits = 0
              Beep
      End Select
  End Function
 
  Then, in the KeyPress event of any textbox you want to 
  control, call the above function like this:
 
  Private Sub txtPort_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
      KeyAscii = EchoDigits(KeyAscii)
  End Sub

So how do you handle the initialization of a dialog box? 
Simply override and implement OnInitDialog(). You can do 
this by opening ClassWizard, selecting your dialog 
class's name from the Class Name drop-down, scrolling 
down in the Messages list box until you see 
WM_INITDIALOG, double-clicking on WM_INITDIALOG, and then 
clicking Edit Code.

Add code to the function to perform your initialization. 
Since a call to the base class is made, any DDX_Control 
data members are ready to use in your override; any of 
their member functions will act on the controls to which 
they correspond.

How can I detect if there is an active internet connection?

For programs that rely on connecting to the internet, it is very useful to know 
whether or not the computer has an active connection. Whenever Windows logs on 
to a dial-up connection, it changes a value in the registry. The following code 
demonstrates how to read this values to determine whether the computer is 
connected or not.

Declarations

You must put the following code into the declarations section of your project.

Public Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&
Public Const APINULL = 0&
Public Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Public ReturnCode As Long

Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal _
hKey As Long) As Long

Declare Function RegOpenKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
"RegOpenKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As _
String, phkResult As Long) As Long

Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
"RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName _
As String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, _
lpData As Any, lpcbData As Long) As Long

Code

Public Function ActiveConnection() As Boolean
Dim hKey As Long
Dim lpSubKey As String
Dim phkResult As Long
Dim lpValueName As String
Dim lpReserved As Long
Dim lpType As Long
Dim lpData As Long
Dim lpcbData As Long
ActiveConnection = False
lpSubKey = "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RemoteAccess"
ReturnCode = RegOpenKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, lpSubKey, _
phkResult)

If ReturnCode = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
    hKey = phkResult
    lpValueName = "Remote Connection"
    lpReserved = APINULL
    lpType = APINULL
    lpData = APINULL
    lpcbData = APINULL
    ReturnCode = RegQueryValueEx(hKey, lpValueName, _
    lpReserved, lpType, ByVal lpData, lpcbData)
    lpcbData = Len(lpData)
    ReturnCode = RegQueryValueEx(hKey, lpValueName, _
    lpReserved, lpType, lpData, lpcbData)
    
    If ReturnCode = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
        If lpData = 0 Then
            ActiveConnection = False
        Else
            Activ ... (cont.)

How can I disconnect from the internet using VB?

If you want to terminate all connections to the internet using Visual Basic, 
you can use the Remote Access Services Hangup function. You first need to 
declare the following code in the declaration section of a form or module.

Declarations

Public Const RAS_MAXENTRYNAME As Integer = 256
Public Const RAS_MAXDEVICETYPE As Integer = 16
Public Const RAS_MAXDEVICENAME As Integer = 128
Public Const RAS_RASCONNSIZE As Integer = 412
Public Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&

Public Type RasEntryName
    dwSize As Long
    szEntryName(RAS_MAXENTRYNAME) As Byte
End Type

Public Type RasConn
    dwSize As Long
    hRasConn As Long
    szEntryName(RAS_MAXENTRYNAME) As Byte
    szDeviceType(RAS_MAXDEVICETYPE) As Byte
    szDeviceName(RAS_MAXDEVICENAME) As Byte
End Type

Public Declare Function RasEnumConnections Lib _
"rasapi32.dll" Alias "RasEnumConnectionsA" (lpRasConn As _
Any, lpcb As Long, lpcConnections As Long) As Long

Public Declare Function RasHangUp Lib "rasapi32.dll" Alias _
"RasHangUpA" (ByVal hRasConn As Long) As LongPublic _
gstrISPName As String

Public ReturnCode As Long

Procedure

Public Sub HangUp()
Dim i As Long
Dim lpRasConn(255) As RasConn
Dim lpcb As Long
Dim lpcConnections As Long
Dim hRasConn As Long
lpRasConn(0).dwSize = RAS_RASCONNSIZE
lpcb = RAS_MAXENTRYNAME * lpRasConn(0).dwSize
lpcConnections = 0
ReturnCode = RasEnumConnections(lpRasConn(0), lpcb, _
lpcConnections)

If ReturnCode = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
    For i = 0 To lpcConnections - 1
        If Trim(ByteToString(lpRasConn(i).szEntryName)) _
            = Trim(gstrISPName) Then
            hRasConn = lpRasConn(i).hRasConn
            ReturnCode = RasHangUp(ByVal hRasConn)
        End If
    Next i
End If

End Sub

Public Function ByteToString(bytString() As Byte) As String
Dim i As Integer
ByteToString = ""
i = 0
While bytString(i) = 0&
ByteToString = ByteToString & Chr(bytString(i))
i = i + 1
Wend
End Function

Using the HangUp Pr ... (cont.)

Downloading Web Pages with the Winsock Control

The Professional and Enterprise Editions of Visual Basic are shipped with the 
Winsock control. This control allows you to use the low level Windows Sockets 
to connect to remote servers and execute commands or download Web pages. This 
tip shows how to connect to a server and download a Web page.

Code

You must have a Winsock control loaded into the project. This code assumes the 
control is called Winsock1. There also must be a text box on the form which is 
called txtWebPage.

First, connect to the remote computer using the following code:

Winsock1.RemoteHost = "visualbasic.about.com"
Winsock1.RemotePort = 80
Winsock1.Connect
In the Winsock1.Connect event, place the following code to download the web 
page.

Dim strCommand as String
Dim strWebPage as String
strWebPage = _
"http://visualbasic.about.com/compute/visualbasic/index.htm"
strCommand = "GET " + strWebPage + " HTTP/1.0" + vbCrLf 
strCommand = strCommand + "Accept: */*" + vbCrLf 
strCommand = strCommand + "Accept: text/html" + vbCrLf 
strCommand = strCommand + vbCrLf 
Winsock1.SendData strCommand

The Winsock control will attempt to download the page. When is receives some 
data from the server, it will trigger the DataArrival event.

Dim webData As String 
Winsock1.GetData webData, vbString
TxtWebPage.Text = TxtWebPage.Text + webData

How many times have you had to go through the same gyrations to create a 
message box? Is it the first argument or the second that's the title as opposed 
to the text. What are the exact constants again for an OK button and a Cancel 
button? What are the valid return values? Well no more! This very useful add-in 
saves you from having to remember that from now on! Using this add-in, you can 
visually set any of the following: 

Icon type
Buttons 
Caption (notice the built-in values provided for you!) 
Text message 
Modality 
Default button 

You can even specify the conditional expression! 
When you're finished selecting your settings, simply click the "Copy to 
Clipboard and Close" button. You'll be returned to your previous source window. 
Just paste the code from the clipboard and you're done! 

Example

Using the settings shown in the figure above, the add-in produced the 
following! 

if(MessageBox(_T("This is an Error Message !!!\nReturn ?"), 
              _T("Error"),
               MB_ICONHAND|MB_YESNO|MB_DEFBUTTON1)
               == IDNO)
{
}

Installing the Add-In

To install the add-in, follow these steps: 
Download the DLL (remember to unzip the file) or download the source and build 
the DLL 
Copy the DLL to the Visual Studio AddIn folder (the default location is the 
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\Common\MSDev98\AddIns' folder). 
Click the Tools->Customize menu option 
Click the Add-ins and Macro Files tab 
Check the "MsgBox Developer Studio Add-In" add-in 
Now you can assign it to a key or place it on a toolbar as you like 

	A DIBSection wrapper for Win32 and WinCE
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A class that makes using DIBSections as simple as using a CBitmap
	

	Floating Point utilites
	 
	Simon Hughes
	 
	A set of floating point utilities
	

	Extended Use of CStatic Class: CLabel 1.5
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A fully stocked owner drawn CStatic class
	

	ADO Data Bound Class Wizard
	 
	Ly Nguyen
	 
	ADO-based class that binds member variables to database columns
	

	MessageBox Visual Studio Add-In
	 
	Thomas Aust
	 
	Very cool (you need to see this!) add-in for adding Message Box code to 
your application. Doesn't sound like much, but give it a try. Extremely useful!
	

	How to Avoid an MFC Active Document Container from Hanging
	 
	Carsten Breum
	 
	20-Sep-2000
	 
	20-Sep-2000
	 
	The Active Document Container container technology implementation used 
by MFC has a serious bug that in some cases prevents an Active Document 
Container from shutting down. The bug can easily be reproduced with an Active 
Document Server that contains a RichEdit Control.
	

Associate a file extension to an executable program
_____________________________________________________
Private Declare Sub SHChangeNotify Lib "shell32.dll" (ByVal wEventId As Long,
ByVal uFlags As Long, ByVal dwItem1 As Long, ByVal dwItem2 As Long)
Const SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED = &H8000000
Const SHCNF_IDLIST = 0

' Create the new file association
'
' Extension is the extension to be registered (eg ".cad"
' ClassName is the name of the associated class (eg "caddoc")
' Description is the textual description (eg "CAD Document"
' ExeProgram is the app that manages that extension (eg "c:\Cad\MyCad.exe")
'
' NOTE: requires CreateRegistryKey ->  and SetRegistryValue ->  functions
'  (these routines can be downloaded from vb2themax's Code Bank

Sub CreateFileAssociation(ByVal Extension As String, ByVal ClassName As String,
ByVal Description As String, ByVal ExeProgram As String)
    Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = &H80000000

    ' ensure that there is a leading dot
    If Left(Extension, 1) <> "." Then
        Extension = "." & Extension
    End If

    ' create a new registry key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
    CreateRegistryKey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, Extension
    ' create a value for this key that contains the classname
    SetRegistryValue HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, Extension, "", ClassName
    ' create a new key for the Class name
    CreateRegistryKey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, ClassName & "\Shell\Open\Command"
    ' set its value to the command line
    SetRegistryValue HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, _
        ClassName & "\Shell\Open\Command", "", ExeProgram & " ""%1"""

    ' notify Windows that file associations have changed
    SHChangeNotify SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED, SHCNF_IDLIST, 0, 0
End Sub

CreateRegistryKey - Create a key in the Registry 
Date: 4/8/2000
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function RegCreateKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
    "RegCreateKeyExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, _
    ByVal Reserved As Long, ByVal lpClass As Long, ByVal dwOptions As Long, _
    ByVal samDesired As Long, ByVal lpSecurityAttributes As Long, _
    phkResult As Long, lpdwDisposition As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As 
_
    Long

Const KEY_READ = &H20019  ' ((READ_CONTROL Or KEY_QUERY_VALUE Or 
                          ' KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS Or KEY_NOTIFY) And (Not 
                          ' SYNCHRONIZE))
Const REG_OPENED_EXISTING_KEY = &H2

' Create a registry key, then close it
' Returns True if the key already existed, False if it was created

Function CreateRegistryKey(ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal KeyName As String) As _
    Boolean
    Dim handle As Long, disposition As Long
    
    If RegCreateKeyEx(hKey, KeyName, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, handle, disposition) Then
        Err.Raise 1001, , "Unable to create the registry key"
    Else
        ' Return True if the key already existed.
        CreateRegistryKey = (disposition = REG_OPENED_EXISTING_KEY)
        ' Close the key.
        RegCloseKey handle
    End If
End Function

SetRegistryValue - Write a value in the Registry 
Date: 4/8/2000
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" _
    (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As Long, _
    ByVal samDesired As Long, phkResult As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As 
_
    Long
Private Declare Function RegSetValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
    "RegSetValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, _
    ByVal Reserved As Long, ByVal dwType As Long, lpData As Any, _
    ByVal cbData As Long) As Long

Const KEY_WRITE = &H20006  '((STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE Or KEY_SET_VALUE Or 
                           ' KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY) And (Not SYNCHRONIZE))
Const REG_SZ = 1
Const REG_BINARY = 3
Const REG_DWORD = 4

' Write or Create a Registry value
' returns True if successful
'
' Use KeyName = "" for the default value
'
' Value can be an integer value (REG_DWORD), a string (REG_SZ)
' or an array of binary (REG_BINARY). Raises an error otherwise.

Function SetRegistryValue(ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal KeyName As String, _
    ByVal ValueName As String, value As Variant) As Boolean
    Dim handle As Long
    Dim lngValue As Long
    Dim strValue As String
    Dim binValue() As Byte
    Dim length As Long
    Dim retVal As Long
    
    ' Open the key, exit if not found
    If RegOpenKeyEx(hKey, KeyName, 0, KEY_WRITE, handle) Then
        Exit Function
    End If

    ' three cases, according to the data type in Value    
    Select Case VarType(value)
        Case vbInteger, vbLong
            lngValue = value
            retVal = RegSetValueEx(handle, ValueName, 0, REG_DWORD, lngValue, 4)
        Case vbString
            strValue = value
            retVal = RegSetValueEx(handle, ValueName, 0, REG_SZ, ByVal 
strValue, _
                Len(strValue))
        Case vbArray + vbByte
            binVa ... (cont.)

	Dynamic DC
	 
	Craig Henderson
	 
	A Device Context class to draw on a window outside of a WM_PAINT 
handler.
	

	Logging the Shell Activity
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	In Dino's first article for us, he illustrates why and how you can hook 
the Windows shell in order to log user activity.
	

	Making a Difference
	 
	Christopher Duncan
	 
	Christopher extolls on why it's so important (and gives some tips on 
how) to do everything you can to avoid being sucked into one of those "headed 
for disaster" projects.
	

	19-Sep-2000
	 
	19-Sep-2000
	 
	RTL Unleashed
	 
	Help yourself, increase your productivity and simplify coding using 
functions and procedures built into Delphi.
	

	Undocumented Visual C++
	 
	Nick Hodapp
	 
	Spelunking in the Badlands of MSDEV
	

	18-Sep-2000
	 
	18-Sep-2000
	  
	Database Workshop Part 1 - Contact Management
	 
	In the first in a three part series, your Visual Basic guide explains 
how to use the Data Control to create a handy contact management program!
	

	APIHijack: A Library for easy DLL function hooking.
	 
	Wade Brainerd
	 
	This library allows you to replace functions in other DLL with 
functions from your own DLL.
	

	MB ActiveLink Control
	  
	16-Sep-2000
	 
	16-Sep-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	The MB ActiveLink Control is a label-type control that the end user can 
click to jump to the specified web URL, Email address or document, or open the 
associated application. When sending an E-Mail you can specify the Subject, CC 
and BCC fields. But the ActiveLink control can do much more, and you can assign 
two different values for the caption, font, foreground and backgRound color, 
and picture properties, depending on whether the mouse is over the control or 
not. There is also the MouseEnter and MouseLeave event, to let you decide 
exactly what happens when the mouse hovers on the control. With this control 
you can create nice Web style buttons and active pictures.
	

	Protecting pages with include files
	 
	Xicoloko
	 
	An article on how to easily password protect a site using include files
	

	Multithreading using MFC in Plain English: Part I
	 
	An tutorial explains basic concepts of multithreading with basic simple 
example. A good article for beginners.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	15-Sep-2000
	 
	15-Sep-2000
	

	Bubbles for Pocket PC
	 
	Ramon de Klein
	 
	An addictive game for PocketPCs with full source code included.
	

	Thread-safe logger with automatic removing log messages from release 
version.
	 
	Vlad Kirienko
	 
	A log file class for multi-Threaded applications.
	

	Save/Restore main window size with a single function call
	 
	Martin Holzherr
	 
	Save/restore the main window size at application exit/startup with a 
single function call in MDI, SDI and dialog based applications.
	

	Calling a VB ActiveX DLL from a MFC Client
	 
	Amit Dey
	 
	A simple way to call a VB ActiveX DLL from a VC/MFC Client
	

	The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions, Part VII
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	A tutorial on using Owner-drawn Menus in a Context Menu shell 
extensions, and on making a context menu extension that responds to a 
right-click in a directory background.
	

	The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions, Part VIII
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	A tutorial on adding columns to Explorer's details view via a column 
handler shell extension.
	

	Speeding up the tree control
	 
	Tibor Blazko
	 
	Some notes on speed issues with the MS Tree control
	

Change or remove the desktop wallpaper

Private Declare Function SystemParametersInfo Lib "user32" Alias 
"SystemParametersInfoA" (ByVal uAction As Long, ByVal uParam As Long, ByRef 
lpvParam As Any, ByVal fuWinIni As Long) As Long

Const SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER = 20
Const SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE = &H2
Const SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE = &H1

' change the desktop wallpaper
' returns True if successful
'
' omit the argument or pass a null string to
' remove the current wallpaper

Function SetWallpaper(Optional ByVal FileName As String) As Boolean
    If SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, ByVal FileName,  _
        SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE Or SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE)Then
        SetWallpaper = True
    End If
End Function

Maximize Your Main Window

A common question on the message boards and mailing lists 
is how to make an application's main window appear 
maximized on startup. It's actually quite simple.

In its override of CWinApp::InitInstance(), AppWizard 
adds some lines of code near the bottom, which show the 
main window of the application to the user:

BOOL CMyApp::InitInstance()
{
     //...


     pMainFrame->ShowWindow(m_nCmdShow);
     pMainFrame->UpdateWindow();
}

The m_nCmdShow variable is a UINT that holds a "show 
command;" that is, a code beginning with SW_ that 
specifies to ShowWindow how it is to display the main 
window. Here are some of the common values -- their 
descriptions are quoted from the documentation for 
::ShowWindow(), which CWnd::ShowWindow() calls:

SW_SHOW: Activates the window and displays it in its 
current size and position.

SW_HIDE: Hides the window and activates another window.

SW_SHOWNORMAL: Activates and displays a window. If the 
window is minimized or maximized, the system restores it 
to its original size and position. An application should 
specify this flag when displaying the window for the 
first time.

SW_SHOWMINIMIZED: Activates the window and displays it as 
a minimized window.

SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED: Activates the window and displays it as 
a maximized window.

You'll want to replace the m_nCmdShow text with 
SW_SHOWMAXMIZED so that the main window is maximized 
every time, as in the following example:

BOOL CMyApp::InitInstance()
{
     //...

     pMainFrame->ShowWindow(
          /*m_nCmdShow*/ SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
     pMainFrame->UpdateWindow();

     return TRUE;
}

I put the reference to the m_nCmdShow variable in a C-
style comment because when I replace text, sometimes I 
like to leave the old text there in a comment to remind 
myself of what I replaced.

Maximize Your Main Window

A common question on the message boards and mailing lists 
is how to make an application's main window appear 
maximized on startup. It's actually quite simple.

In its override of CWinApp::InitInstance(), AppWizard 
adds some lines of code near the bottom, which show the 
main window of the application to the user:

BOOL CMyApp::InitInstance()
{
     //...


     pMainFrame->ShowWindow(m_nCmdShow);
     pMainFrame->UpdateWindow();
}

The m_nCmdShow variable is a UINT that holds a "show 
command;" that is, a code beginning with SW_ that 
specifies to ShowWindow how it is to display the main 
window. Here are some of the common values -- their 
descriptions are quoted from the documentation for 
::ShowWindow(), which CWnd::ShowWindow() calls:

SW_SHOW: Activates the window and displays it in its 
current size and position.

SW_HIDE: Hides the window and activates another window.

SW_SHOWNORMAL: Activates and displays a window. If the 
window is minimized or maximized, the system restores it 
to its original size and position. An application should 
specify this flag when displaying the window for the 
first time.

SW_SHOWMINIMIZED: Activates the window and displays it as 
a minimized window.

SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED: Activates the window and displays it as 
a maximized window.

You'll want to replace the m_nCmdShow text with 
SW_SHOWMAXMIZED so that the main window is maximized 
every time, as in the following example:

BOOL CMyApp::InitInstance()
{
     //...

     pMainFrame->ShowWindow(
          /*m_nCmdShow*/ SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
     pMainFrame->UpdateWindow();

     return TRUE;
}

I put the reference to the m_nCmdShow variable in a C-
style comment because when I replace text, sometimes I 
like to leave the old text there in a comment to remind 
myself of what I replaced.

What message should you send to the main window of an MFC 
application to exit the program as if the user chose Exit 
from the File menu?

Here's the code of CWinApp::OnAppExit, the function that 
handles the Exit command from the File menu of your MFC 
program:

void CWinApp::OnAppExit()
{
     // same as double-clicking on main window close box
     ASSERT(m_pMainWnd != NULL);
     m_pMainWnd->SendMessage(WM_CLOSE);
}

Did you know that you can use AfxGetMainWnd() to get a 
pointer to the main window from anywhere in your MFC 
program? All you do is use the pointer, send the message, 
and your program will exit, like this:

if (AfxGetMainWnd() != NULL)
     AfxGetMainWnd()->SendMessage(WM_CLOSE);

List all the file extensions that are registered in the
system

' this is a VB6-only routine
'
' return a bi-dimension string array, where
'    arr(0, i) is the file extension
'    arr(1, i) is the coresponding ProgID
'    arr(2, i) is the associated description
'    arr(3, i) is the location of the executable file
'
' Example:
'   ' fill a listbox with descriptions associated to each registered file
extension
'   Dim a() As String, i As Long
'   a() = ListFileExtensions()
'   For i = 1 To UBound(a, 2)
'       List1.AddItem a(0, i) & vbTab & a(2, i)
'   Next
'
' NOTE: requires the EnumRegistryKeys and GetRegistryValue ->  functions
' available on VB-2-The-Max's Code Bank

Function ListFileExtensions() As String()
    Dim regKeys As Collection
    Dim regKey As Variant
    Dim extsNdx As Long
    Dim progID As String
    Dim clsid As String

    Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = &H80000000

    ' retrieve all the subkeys under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
    Set regKeys = EnumRegistryKeys(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, "")

    ' prepare the array of results
    ReDim exts(3, regKeys.Count) As String

    ' ignore errors
    On Error Resume Next

    For Each regKey In regKeys
        ' check whether this is a File extension
        If Left$(regKey, 1) = "." Then
            ' store the extension in the result array
            extsNdx = extsNdx + 1
            exts(0, extsNdx) = regKey
            ' the default value for this key is the ProgID
            ' or another string that can be searched in the Registry
            progID = GetRegistryValue(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, regKey, "")
            exts(1, extsNdx) = progID
            ' the default value of the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProgID is
            ' the textual description of this entry
            exts(2, extsNdx) = GetRegistryValue(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, progID, "")
            If exts(2, extsNdx) = "" Then
                ' if this key doesn't exist, delete this entry
                extsNdx = extsNdx - 1
            Else
               ... (cont.)

Don't use VB Registry functions in Webclasses and ASP Components

Here's a scenario that might be familiar to you:

- You create a WebClass or a regular COM component that will be invoked from
within an ASP application.
- The application uses VB's built-in Registry functions, such as DeleteSetting,
SaveSetting, GetSetting, or GetAllSettings.
- Everything works when you debug the application inside the IDE.
- However, the application raises a runtime error when you compile it and use in
the production system.

Because the compiled application doesn't run in the interactive Windows desktop,
you must go to the system Event Viewer to see the error message, which is
Run-time error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument.

This isn't a bug but, rather, a consequence of how those Registry functions use
the Registry. Visual Basic 6.0 WebClasses and ASP components run under the
Internet Information Server service. SaveSetting, GetSetting, DeleteSetting, and
GetAllSettings use Registry keys in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Registry subtree, but
the IIS service can't access the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Registry subtree--and any
attempt to do so will raise an error.

You can work around this problem by reading and writing to another area of the
Registry, such as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_USERS. You can use other functions
in the Code Bank to do so.

Silent Install with VB6 Deployment and Packaging Wizard by Bruce Kellerman

VB6 Deployment and Packaging Wizard's resulting setup.exe has a command line
switch that allows for a silent install.  This feature is virtually undocumented
except in the source code for Setup1.exe. The default path for the project file
of Setup1 is:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\Wizards\PDWizard\Setup1\Setup1.vbp

To do a silent install, the following syntax is required:

setup.exe /s c:\anylogfilename.log

The filename that follows the /s parameter must include the full path name.
The silent install is only interrupted (that I could see) when the install
encounters the "Setup is attempting to copy a file that is older than the one
currently..." dialog. This interruption doesn't occur if the setup contains the
latest versions of the files being installed.

Get Local Cookies for a Given URL

Private Declare Function InternetGetCookie Lib "wininet.dll" Alias
"InternetGetCookieA" (ByVal lpszUrlName As String, ByVal lpszCookieName As
String, ByVal lpszCookieData As String, lpdwSize As Long) As Boolean

' Get locally-stored cookies for a specified URL
'
' If CookieName is omitted, returns all the cookies as
' as semicolon-delimited list of NAME=VALUE pairs

Function GetCookies(ByVal URL As String, Optional CookieName As String) As
String
    Dim buffer As String
    Dim length As Long

    ' prepare the receiving buffer
    length = 10240
    buffer = Space$(length)
    ' query WinInet for cookies from this URL
    ' a zero value means failure
    If InternetGetCookie(URL, vbNullString, buffer, length) = 0 Then Exit
Function

    ' LENGHT has received the size of returned data
    buffer = Left$(buffer, length)

    If Len(CookieName) = 0 Then
        ' the entire cookie string was requested
        GetCookies = buffer
    Else
        ' extract one single cookie
        Dim cookies() As String
        Dim i As Long, tmp As String

        ' get the individual cookies
        cookies = Split(buffer, ";")

        ' search for the right one
        For i = 0 To UBound(cookies)
            ' trim the leading space, if any
            tmp = LTrim$(cookies(i))
            If InStr(1, tmp, CookieName & "=", vbTextCompare) = 1 Then
                ' we've got it
                GetCookies = Mid$(tmp, Len(CookieName) + 2)
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
    End If

End Function

Create Temporary or Regular Table with SELECT INTO
________________________________________________________

The SELECT INTO statement is a combination of the SELECT and INSERT T-SQL
commands, that lets you create a new table from a subset of the rows and/or the
columns of another table. The target table of this command is often a temporary
table:

SELECT au_fname, au_lname INTO #authors_CA FROM authors WHERE State='CA'

You can also use SELECT INTO to create a new, non-temporary table, but in this
case you must explicitly enable it, using the sp_dboption stored procedure:

EXEC sp_dboptions pubs, 'select into/bulkcopy', True
SELECT au_fname, au_lname INTO Authors_CA FROM authors WHERE State='CA'

The SELECT INTO statement is very fast, for one reason--the command isn't logged
for backup purposes. More precisely, the command can be inside a transaction and
any rollback command will correctly undo its effects. However, the new values
aren't permanently stored in the log file, therefore after this command you can
only perform a complete database backup (incremental backup raise errors). This
explains why you have to explicitly enable this functionality for non-temporary
tables (temporary tables are never included in backup, so you don't need to use
the sp_dboption command before using SELECT INTO with a temporary table).

Did you know that a COM object can find out who called it, even if the method 
call came from another machine? Say Bob logs into machine A using a domain 
account (user name = Bob), and then launches an app that makes a call to a COM 
object on machine B. If the object executes the following code upon receiving 
the method call, pwszName will point to a Unicode character string of the form 
domain_name\Bob: 

  IServerSecurity* pss; 
  HRESULT hr = CoGetCallContext (IID_IServerSecurity,
      (void**) &pss);
  if (SUCCEEDED (hr)) {
      LPOLESTR pwszName;
      hr = pss->QueryBlanket (NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,
          (void**) &pwszName, NULL);
      if (SUCCEEDED (hr)) {
          // pwszName identifies the caller.
            .
            .
            .
          CoTaskMemFree (pwszName); // Prevent memory leaks!
     }
      pss->Release ();
  }

This is great to know if you want to build a logging feature into your objects. 
Now you can not only log the date and time that a method call was received, but 
who it was received from, too. Note: You can prevent an object from identifying 
a remote caller by disabling authentication. To disable authentication, set the 
authentication level to None in both the client and server processes.

The following code, which paints a bitmap on the screen each time the window is 
asked to repaint, suffers a debilitating resource leak - so debilitating that 
the system slows to a crawl after less than 100 repaints. Can you spot the bug? 

  HDC hMemDC = CreateCompatibleDC (hDC);
  HBITMAP hBitmap = CreateDIBitmap (hDC, &bitmapinfoheader,
        CBM_INIT, &image, &bitmapinfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS);
  SelectObject (hMemDC,hBitmap);
  BitBlt (hDC, x, y, cx, cy, hMemDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);
  DeleteObject (hBitmap);
  DeleteDC (hMemoryDC);

The problematic code attempts to delete the bitmap by calling DeleteObject. 
However, DeleteObject fails because the bitmap hasn't been selected out of the 
memory device context. Here's the corrected code, with changes shown in red: 

HDC hMemDC = CreateCompatibleDC (hDC);
HBITMAP hBitmap = CreateDIBitmap (hDC, &bitmapinfoheader,
      CBM_INIT, &image, &bitmapinfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS);
HGDIOBJ hOldBitmap = SelectObject (hMemDC, hBitmap);
BitBlt (hDC, x, y, cx, cy, hMemDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);
SelectObject (hMemDC, hOldBitmap);
DeleteObject (hBitmap);
DeleteDC (hMemoryDC); 

Read a file using the FileSystemObject object
          
Previous tips have mentioned the use of the FileSystemObject 
component. However, we haven't discussed a simple version of opening a 
file and putting it into a control. Here's how you do it: 

   Dim objFSO As New Scripting.FileSystemObject 
   Dim objStream As Scripting.TextStream 
   Set objStream = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\TextFile.txt", _ 
      ForReading, False) 
   txtData.Text = objStream.ReadAll 
   objStream.Close 

This opens the text file named C:\TextFile.txt and puts it into a box 
called txtData. It's that simple...

Displaying the File Properties Dialog

This code shows how to display the file properties dialog through VB5/6 Code. 

Paste the following code into a module in your project : 

option Explicit
'
private Const SW_SHOW = 5
private Const SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST = &HC
private Type SHELLEXECUTEINFO
    cbSize as Long
    fMask as Long
    hwnd as Long
    lpVerb as string
    lpFile as string
    lpParameters as string
    lpDirectory as string
    nShow as Long
    hInstApp as Long
    ' optional fields
    lpIDList as Long
    lpClass as string
    hkeyClass as Long
    dwHotKey as Long
    hIcon as Long
    hProcess as Long
End Type

private Declare Function ShellExecuteEx Lib "shell32.dll" (byref s as 
SHELLEXECUTEINFO) as Long

public Sub DisplayFileProperties(byval sFullFileAndPathName as string)
    Dim shInfo as SHELLEXECUTEINFO
    
    With shInfo
        .cbSize = LenB(shInfo)
        .lpFile = sFullFileAndPathName
        .nShow = SW_SHOW
        .fMask = SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST
        .lpVerb = "properties"
    End With
    
    ShellExecuteEx shInfo
End Sub

Now simply call the DisplayFileProperties routine with the full 
file and path name of the required file to display the properties. 

Four different methods of displaying the 'Find Files' dialog from within a 
Visual Basic Program. 

If you want to use 'Find Files' standard dialog, in your programs you
can choose between the following four methods.


Using DDE: it's needed an label control, even invisible.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    With Label1
    .LinkTopic = "Folders|AppProperties"
    .LinkMode = vbLinkManual
    .LinkExecute "[OpenFindFile(,)]"
  End With
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
  Label1.Visible = False
  Command1.Caption = "Find File (1)..."
  Me.Caption = "Find File (1)"
End Sub


Using keybd_event API function to simulate Win + 'F':

Private Declare Sub keybd_event Lib "user32" _
    (ByVal bVk As Byte, _
    ByVal bScan As Byte, _
    ByVal dwFlags As Long, _
    ByVal dwExtraInfo As Long)
'
Private Const VK_LWIN = &H5B
Private Const KEYEVENTF_KEYUP = &H2
Private Const VK_APPS = &H5D
'
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Call keybd_event(VK_LWIN, 0, 0, 0)
    Call keybd_event(&H46, 0, 0, 0)       'F
    Call keybd_event(VK_LWIN, 0, KEYEVENTF_KEYUP, 0)
End Sub
'
Private Sub Form_Load()
  Command1.Caption = "Find File (2)..."
  Me.Caption = "Find File (2)"
End Sub


Using ShellExecute: MS Q183903 
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q183/9/03.asp)

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" _
    Alias "ShellExecuteA" _
    (ByVal hwnd As Long, _ 
     ByVal lpOperation As String, _
     ByVal lpFile As String, _
     ByVal lpParameters As String, _
     ByVal lpDirectory As String, _
     ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

Private Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Private Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Private Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
Private Const SW_SHOW = 5
Private Const SW_MINIMIZE = 6
Private Const SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7
Private Const SW_SHOWNA = 8
Private Const SW_RESTORE = 9
Private Const SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10

Private Sub Command1_Click()
   Call ShellExecute(Me.hwnd, _
      "find", _
      Dir1.Path, _
      vbNullString, _
      ... (cont.)

Associate a File Extension with Your Application (Win32) 

SUMMARY
If your application makes use of data files and processes command-line 
arguments, you may want to associate the extension of your application's data 
file with your executable program name by modifying the Registry. 



MORE INFORMATION
You can make modifications to the Reg.dat file by calling the RegCreateKey& and 
RegSetValue& application programming interface (API) functions. 


Step-by-Step Example
Start Visual Basic for Windows. If Visual Basic is already running, from the 
File menu (ALT+F, N) choose New Project and create a Standard EXE project. 
Form1 is created by default. 


Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

      Option Explicit

      Private Declare Function RegCreateKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
      "RegCreateKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, _
                        ByVal lpSubKey As String, _
                        phkResult As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function RegSetValue Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
      "RegSetValueA" (ByVal hKey As Long, _
                 ByVal lpSubKey As String, _
                 ByVal dwType As Long, _
                 ByVal lpData As String, _
                 ByVal cbData As Long) As Long

      ' Return codes from Registration functions.
      Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&
      Const ERROR_BADDB = 1&
      Const ERROR_BADKEY = 2&
      Const ERROR_CANTOPEN = 3&
      Const ERROR_CANTREAD = 4&
      Const ERROR_CANTWRITE = 5&
      Const ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY = 6&
      Const ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER = 7&
      Const ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED = 8&

      Private Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = &H80000000
      Private Const MAX_PATH = 260&
      Private Const REG_SZ = 1

      Private Sub Form_Click()

          Dim sKeyName As String   'Holds Key Name in registry.
          Dim sKeyValue As String  'Holds Key Value in registry.
          Dim ret&           'Holds error status if any from API calls.
          Dim lphKey&       ... (cont.)

Copy, Move, Delete Files and Folders Using SHFileOperation

Still using Kill, Name, ... to delete, rename, ... files and folders?  Why?  Do 
it like Windows does.  Its simple to copy, move, rename, delete or send to the 
Recycle Bin both files and folders.  Your applications can display the same 
dialog boxes, status and confirmation messages and progress indicators (flying 
files avi) as Windows.  You can even use the standard wildcard characters.

Description
 
The SHFileOperation API lets you perform all of the above mentioned 
operations.  All you need to do is populate a SHFILEOPSTRUCT structure, which 
is shown in the table below, and call SHFileOperation.  

The wFunc element of SHFILEOPSTRUCT gets set to the operation you want to 
perform.  Typical values are FO_COPY (Copy),  FO_DELETE (Delete),  FO_MOVE 
(Move) and FO_RENAME (Rename).  pFrom is a vbNull delimited string of files or 
folders to perform the operation on.  When copying, moving or renaming, pTo is 
a vbNull delimited string of destination files or folders.  Both pFrom and pTo 
must end with a double null.

The fFlags element serves to customize the operation being performed.  Common 
values are: 

FOF_SILENT   (Show progress indicator) 
FOF_ALLOWUNDO   (Lets you undo the operation) 
FOF_NOCONFIRMATION   (Answer Yes to all questions such as "replace existing 
file?") 
FOF_RENAMEONCOLLISION    (Renames files to Copy x of x if the file exists) 
FOF_NOCONFIRMMKDIR   (Don't confirm creating a new folder if the operation 
requires one) 
FOF_FILESONLY   (Perform the operation only on files is wildcards are used) 
By combining FO_DELETE and FOF_ALLOWUNDO you can send a file or folder to the 
Recycle Bin instead of deleting it.

Public Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT 
     hwnd As Long Handle of dialog box to display status info. 
     wFunc As Long Operation to perform. 
     pFrom As String A string specifying one or more source file names.  
Multiple names must be null-separated.   The list of names must be double 
null ... (cont.)

GetRegistryValue - Read the value of a Registry key 
Date: 4/8/2000
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" _
    (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As Long, _
    ByVal samDesired As Long, phkResult As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As 
_
    Long
Private Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
    "RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, _
    ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, lpData As Any, _
    lpcbData As Long) As Long
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As _
    Any, source As Any, ByVal numBytes As Long)

Const KEY_READ = &H20019  ' ((READ_CONTROL Or KEY_QUERY_VALUE Or 
                          ' KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS Or KEY_NOTIFY) And (Not 
                          ' SYNCHRONIZE))

Const REG_SZ = 1
Const REG_EXPAND_SZ = 2
Const REG_BINARY = 3
Const REG_DWORD = 4
Const REG_MULTI_SZ = 7
Const ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234

' Read a Registry value
'
' Use KeyName = "" for the default value
' If the value isn't there, it returns the DefaultValue
' argument, or Empty if the argument has been omitted
'
' Supports DWORD, REG_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ, REG_BINARY and REG_MULTI_SZ
' REG_MULTI_SZ values are returned as a null-delimited stream of strings
' (VB6 users can use SPlit to convert to an array of string)

Function GetRegistryValue(ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal KeyName As String, _
    ByVal ValueName As String, Optional DefaultValue As Variant) As Variant
    Dim handle As Long
    Dim resLong As Long
    Dim resString As String
    Dim resBinary() As Byte
    Dim length As Long
    Dim retVal As Long
    Dim valueType As Long
    
    ' Prepare the default result
    GetRegistryValue = IIf(IsMissing(DefaultValue), Empty, DefaultValue)
    
    ' Open the key, exit if not found.
  ... (cont.)

EnumRegistryKeys - Retrieve all the subkeys of a Registry key 
Date: 4/8/2000
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" _
    (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As Long, _
    ByVal samDesired As Long, phkResult As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As 
_
    Long
Private Declare Function RegEnumKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegEnumKeyA" _
    (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal dwIndex As Long, ByVal lpName As String, _
    ByVal cbName As Long) As Long

Const KEY_READ = &H20019  ' ((READ_CONTROL Or KEY_QUERY_VALUE Or 
                          ' KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS Or KEY_NOTIFY) And (Not 
                          ' SYNCHRONIZE))

' Enumerate registry keys under a given key
'
' returns a collection of strings

Function EnumRegistryKeys(ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal KeyName As String) As _
    Collection
    Dim handle As Long
    Dim length As Long
    Dim index As Long
    Dim subkeyName As String
    
    ' initialize the result collection
    Set EnumRegistryKeys = New Collection
    
    ' Open the key, exit if not found
    If Len(KeyName) Then
        If RegOpenKeyEx(hKey, KeyName, 0, KEY_READ, handle) Then Exit Function
        ' in all case the subsequent functions use hKey
        hKey = handle
    End If
    
    Do
        ' this is the max length for a key name
        length = 260
        subkeyName = Space$(length)
        ' get the N-th key, exit the loop if not found
        If RegEnumKey(hKey, index, subkeyName, length) Then Exit Do
        
        ' add to the result collection
        subkeyName = Left$(subkeyName, InStr(subkeyName, vbNullChar) - 1)
        EnumRegistryKeys.Add subkeyName, subkeyName
        ' prepare to query for next key
        index = index + 1
    Loop
   
    ' Close the key, if it was actually opened
    If handle Then RegCloseKey h ... (cont.)

	Interview with Matt Pietrek
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Matt Pietrek gives us his view on the world.
	

	WTL: Button Menu 2
	 
	Paul Bludov
	 
	Use of a Push button with a drop down menu
	

	How I Use BoundsChecker
	 
	John Robbins
	 
	John Robbins, the famous "BugSlayer", shows us how he personally uses 
the award-winning bug-finding product, BoundsChecker, that he helped to make 
famous while at NuMega.
	

	How to create a worker thread?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Sep-2000
	 
	12-Sep-2000
	

	Display a progress bar using secondary thread
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Sep-2000
	 
	12-Sep-2000
	

	12-Sep-2000
	 
	12-Sep-2000
	 
	Books to Learn From
	 
	What should we look for when picking a Delphi book to learn from - 
recommended selection of the top books on Delphi Programming.
	

Requirements

Visual Basic 5.0 or higher.

You will need to create a Reference to Microsoft ActiveX Data
Objects Library.  To create this reference for Visual Basic 4 goto
Tools / References.  To create this reference for Visual Basic 5
or 6 goto Project / References. Then select Microsoft ActiveX Data
Objects Library.  This issue should work with any version of the
library.

cADOtoHTML

In this issue we discuss how generate HTML for any database table
or query.

This class module is the start of a full-featured class to
convert any ADO recordset into an HTML table which can be viewed
in any browser.  One of the best uses of this is to generate an
ActiveX component with this class so you can call it from your
Active Server Page scripts.  Using this kind of technique allows
you to provide your web site users with dynamic content.  We are
planning on using this to build a better search tool for all our
back issues on the web.

To use this class you need to at least set the Recordset property
and then call the HTML method to return the HTML..


Properties

Public TableBorderWidth As Integer  

This allows you to specify the width of the table border as it
appears in the browser.  This value defaults to 1.


Public BackgroundGraphic As String  

Allows you to specify a background graphic to enhance the looks
of your page.


Public Property Set Recordset(RS As ADODB.Recordset)

Specifies the recordset to use to generate the HTML page.


Public Property Let PageTitle(sTitle As String)
Public Property Get PageTitle() As String

Title that will appear in the browser.


Public Property Get HTML() As String

Returns all the HTML text that is required to display the
recordset specified by the Recordset property.  If you call this
from an ASP page you would typical just use the Reponse.Write
command to send the text to the browser.  You can also store it
into a file for later use (as the sample shows).


Sample Usage

This sample shows one way to use the cADOto ... (cont.)

	Creating your first MFC Document/View application
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A brief step-by-step tutorial that demonstrates creating an SDI and MDI 
based applications using the MFC Doc/View architecture.
	

	Enumerating Internet Explorer's Favorites
	 
	Naveen K Kohli
	 
	An article on enumerating a users favorites list from Internet Explorer
	

	10-Sep-2000
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	  
	Using the Memory Heap in C++
	 
	Allocating and deallocating memory on the heap
	

	CRegistry : Serialize Data In/Out of the Registry
	 
	Amir Israeli
	 
	Very sophisticated class for serializing your date to the Registry
	

	Text Output Screen
	 
	Roger Lindström
	 
	Functions to output text to a console window
	

	Connecting to Running Instances of Internet Explorer
	 
	Venu Vemula and Robert Walker
	 
	Uses shell interface to connect to and listen to events of running 
instances of IE
	

	MFC Printing: Nut and Bolts
	 
	An article on how MFC framework under the hood to provide Print and 
Print Preview support to your SDI or MDI application.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	

	CDPlayer Pre
	 
	A simple program plays your CD. Its a pre version.
	 
	KSheeraj Kumud
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	

	How to get CPU speed?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	

	Connecting to Running Instances of Internet Explorer
	 
	Venu Vemula, Robert Walker
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	 
	10-Sep-2000
	 
	A simpler (and bug free) way of connecting to running instances of 
Internet Explorer.
	

	Non-MFC Date Routines in ATL
	 
	Paul E Bible
	 
	Non-MFC Date Routines in an ATL Component.
	

	Ping for Windows
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A simple Windows based ping program
	

	Advanced Find/Replace Add-In
	  
	9-Sep-2000
	 
	9-Sep-2000
	 
	Brian Barnett
	 
	This great add-in improves the standard Find and Replace Dialog with 
all the functionality we've been looking for in all these years. First, when 
you perform a search you see all the matches in a grid, where you can see the 
name of the procedure and the actual line of text where the match is. You can 
then goto that line by double-clicking the grid entry, and you can select that 
match for the replace operation (yes, you don't have to Replace All if you 
don't want to). Of course, all the usual options are supported (Whole Word, 
Match Case, Use Regular Expressions) and you can also exclude components from 
search. On top of that, this add-in comes with source code!
	

	Strip'em Add-in for Visual Studio 6.0
	 
	Itay Szekely
	 
	This Add-in converts the text format (DOS or UNIX) of a file when it is 
saved in Visual Studio.
	

	Start Your Windows Programs From An NT Service
	 
	Xiangyang Liu
	 
	Make your MFC, VB, and other Windows programs behave like NT services.
	

	A Perl script to update your WTL installation
	 
	Milan Gardian
	 
	Notes on updating your WTL installation
	

	How to get IP Address of your machine?
	 
	A dialog based application. Sample project attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	07-Sep-2000
	 
	07-Sep-2000
	

	File downloading with COM and ASP
	 
	Xicoloko and Curt Robinson
	 
	A COM object you can use to transfer files in ASP
	

	Directory and Network browsing using a tree control
	 
	John McTainsh
	 
	An article on Browsing my computer and the network using a TreeCtrl
	

If you communicate with people in other parts of the world, you often need to
know what time it is where they are. You can calculate the time difference in
your head, but this is tedious -- especially if the people you deal with are in
many different places. The traditional solution to this problem is an array of
clocks on the wall, as you'd see in a War Room, each showing the time in a
different location. ClockRack is a virtual array of clocks that is displayed on
your computer's desktop. It can be configured as an auto-hide appbar, so it's
there when you need it, and not taking up space otherwise. You can display
dozens of clocks and select between analog and digital representations. The
program includes a large database of world locations to which you can add. A
time-setting function lets you set your system clock using Internet servers that
support the NIST Time Service. ClockRack was written by Charles Petzold and
first appeared in PC Magazine September 5, 2000 (v19n15). Source code is
included.

	Connection Points And Asynchronous calls, Part II
	 
	Ashish Dhar
	 
	A tutorial on connections points and Aynchronous calls
	

	A Color picker button
	 
	James White
	 
	A simple modification to Chris Maunder's "Office 97 style Colour 
Picker" control
	

	05-Sep-2000
	 
	05-Sep-2000
	 
	Keyboard Symphony
	 
	Delphi For Beginners: Get familiar with the OnKeyDown, OnKeyUp, and 
onKeyPress event procedures to respond to various key actions or handle and 
process ASCII characters along with other special purpose keys.
	

	A Ticker control
	 
	Ranjeet Chakraborty
	 
	A class that provides a news/stock ticker for your MFC applications
	

	How to do pointers in Visual Basic
	 
	Stefan Savev
	 
	Show how to use pointers in a C like manner
	

	Introduction (The Microsoft.NET Initiative)
	 
	Jeff Richter
	 
	
	

	APIHijack: A Library for Easy DLL Function Hooking.
	 
	Wade Brainerd
	 
	
	

	APIHijack - A Library for Easy DLL Function Hooking
	 
	Wade Brainerd
	 
	4-Sep-2000
	 
	4-Sep-2000
	 
	Based on DelayLoadProfileDLL.CPP, by Matt Pietrek for MSJ February 2000.
	

	Direct Input 7 Mouse Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	DirectInput is essential for responsive games, therefore to help ease 
the transition of DOS games programmers, you can use this class to read mouse 
input directly
	

	CBitmapCtrl: Control for Displaying Bitmaps
	 
	John Melas
	 
	A class representing a dialog control that loads bitmaps from files
	

	mcFirst: Your first VC++ application
	 
	SDI application which draws circles on right mouse click.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Sep-2000
	 
	03-Sep-2000
	

	CBitmapCtrl: Control for Displaying Bitmaps
	 
	John Melas
	 
	3-Sep-2000
	 
	3-Sep-2000
	 
	A class representing a dialog control that loads bitmaps from files.
	

	Direct Input 7 Mouse Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	3-Sep-2000
	 
	3-Sep-2000
	 
	DirectInput is essential for responsive games, therefore to help ease 
the transition of DOS games programmers, you can use this class to read mouse 
input directly
	

	MB Interprocess CommunicationControl
	  
	2-Sep-2000
	 
	2-Sep-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	This control lets you have two applications that communicate with each 
other. Just select the target application by its handle or partial/whole 
caption, set the string or the Long data to send, and then call the Send 
method. The target application - that must host an instance of the InterProcess 
control - receives a DataReceived event and can therefore retrieve the data 
sent and the sender's handle and caption, and even reply to the message.
	

	Extending the W2K Shell with COM
	 
	Tapani J Otala
	  
	If you want to add capabilities to the Win32 shell, you'll almost 
certainly have to use COM. This example demonstrates a Shell Extension that 
lets you turn any Folder (or even set of folders) into an "image preview" 
folder, a handy tool if you deal with lots of image files.
	

	A Build Incrementing Utility
	 
	Jim Gentilin
	  
	Automatic build incrementing for all build situations (IDE, batch file, 
master makefile, etc.) requires a standalone utility that can operate on source 
code. This article shows how using memory-mapped files can simplify the job.
	

	Global Subclassing to fix Combobox problems
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	  
	A combobox is supposed to let you either select from a listbox, or 
enter a new item in an edit control. Unfortunately, under some circumstances, 
text that you type into the edit control disappears when you hit Enter. Here's 
a neat fix that uses global subclassing to remedy the problem without requiring 
any changes to your existing dialog procedures.
	

	Understanding NT: How to add custom Performance Counters to your own 
applications
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	  
	Performance counters let users use standard NT Monitoring applications 
to examine and track statistical information from executing programs. This 
three-part series on performance counters wraps up this month by explaining how 
to add custom performance counters to your own applications. A complete example 
is supplied, including the files required to get a performance counter DLL 
properly installed.
	

	HTML Document Templates for CGI Applications
	 
	Carlos Moreno
	  
	Get the power of C/C++ programming with the flexibility of HTML by 
keeping the two at arms length.
	

	Network Programming with Linux
	 
	Erik Nelson
	  
	TCP isn’t the only Protocol for swapping Data Packets, nor is it always 
the most effective.
	

	A TCP/IP Socket Location Server
	 
	Richard Smereka
	  
	You can write remarkably portable network-aware code, if you are 
careful how you isolate the dependencies.
	

	The Simplest Automated Unit Test Framework That Could Possibly Work
	 
	Chuck Allison
	  
	Testing is a necessary evil to many programmers, but it doesn’t have to 
be all that evil.
	

	Tracing an Application in Release Configuration
	 
	Boris Bromberg
	  
	A lightweight trace facility is less likely to distort performance in 
the final stress of Debugging.
	

	Generic Constants for Generic Programming
	 
	Fernando Cacciola
	  
	If you’re going to write generic code, make sure it’s completely 
generic.
	

	Chuck Allison
	 
	Collections and Algorithms
	 
	Java lacks both a standard and templates, but it nevertheless offers 
something resembling the C++ Standard Template Library.
	

	Using Microsoft Agents in Delphi
	 
	Clay Shannon
	 
	Microsoft's Agent technology is one of the most entertaining 
technologies to come out of Redmond in a long time. Agents allow you to give 
your software some personality and provide a new way of interacting with your 
users. Clay Shannon gives your computer some personality.
	

	Making Password Validation a Snap
	 
	Mark Meyer
	 
	Mark Meyer offers guidelines on how to make your own password 
component, complete with error checking and user feedback.
	

	Using Item Lists
	 
	Anthony Walter
	 
	Anthony Walter explores item lists - from what they are to how they 
work and why you would want to use them.
	

	Will the Real Timer Please Execute?
	 
	Steve Zimmelman
	 
	Ever added a TTimer to your application only to find that its event 
isn't being executed because the main VCL thread is busy? While the TTimer 
component executes in a "Thread Safe" manner, there are times when you need a 
timer event to execute, even when the main thread is busy. Steve Zimmelman 
offers a new timer component that uses its own thread!
	

	Word Control: Part I
	 
	Ron Gray
	 
	Mr Gray presents the Microsoft Word object model, demonstrates how to 
control it using run-time and compile-time Automation, and provides sample 
source code for Delphi 4/5 and Word 97/2000.
	

	Database Persistent Objects: Part I
	 
	Keith Wood
	 
	Mr Wood shows how classes can be set up to automatically store 
themselves to, and retrieve themselves from, a standard relational database, 
with minimal effort using RTTI.
	

	InterBase 6
	 
	Bill Todd
	 
	Famous for being open source, Mr Todd explains there's much more that's 
new with IB6, including large exact numerics, new administrative tools, 
replication, and much more.
	

	Raw API Programming
	 
	Andrew J Wozniewicz
	 
	Mr Wozniewicz demonstrates how to code without the VCL, when an 
executable's size and speed are critical considerations, e.g. real-time data 
acquisition, restricted memory/CPU, etc.
	

	The Gold Standard, MIDAS & COM: Part II
	 
	Bill Todd
	 
	Completing his two-part series, Mr Todd presents two additional ways 
for a COM server to call a COM client's methods: via Automation, and through a 
Callback interface.
	

	Advanced COM: Hide Activation Policies
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	It makes sense to abstract away differences behind a uniform mechanism. 
In COM, that means using Monikers and Display Names.
	

	The Incredible Shrinking Executable
	 
	Andy Harding
	 
	Learn how to shrink apps and uncover missing DLLs.
	

	ATL Advantage
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	If you want to give ATL a good workout, you've got to know how to use 
IDispatch. Learn the basics of using ATL to implement this interface.
	

	Speed Up Interprocess Communication
	 
	Tom Creighton
	 
	Need a fast mechanism for posting data? Check out Memory Mapped Files - 
the fastest, most efficient way in Win32 to share information between processes.
	

	Build Web Apps With C#
	 
	Bob Lair and Jason Lefebvre
	 
	Wondering what it's like to work in C#? The primary developers of 
ibuyspy.com show how they developed this demo site with C# - and how you can 
use it as a starting point to develop your own applications.
	

	Create and Destroy Objects Properly
	 
	David Steinhoff
	 
	Poor execution of your classes means your code might not work, or 
(gasp!) can't be reused. Use C++ special class functions to make your Object 
Oriented Programming a success.
	

	Develop Web Applications With ATL Server
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	The new ATL Server technology means a bright future for Visual C++ 
development. Learn how to use ATL Server classes, and find out how to build a 
high-performance Internet Server API extension without writing much code.
	

	Navigate Skillfully Through MFC
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	Get to know how MFC is organized and learn to find the classes you need 
to solve your programming problems.
	

	Form Dynamic Queries on the Fly
	 
	Ghanshyam Naik
	 
	Discover how you can easily reuse queries built with CDynamicAccessor 
in other applications, and get functionality and flexibility you can't get from 
using static accessors.
	

	Is That App Hung? Find Out
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Determine when tasks are hung
	

	Hijack System Dialogs
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Hijack System Dialogs
	

	Intrinsic 16-Bit Limitations
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	 
	Defy intrinsic 16-bit limitations.
	

	Speed Up ActiveX Control References
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	Get rid of the performance hit you incur when you employ the Extender 
Object that's wrapped around real ActiveX controls.
	

	Customize Your Controls
	 
	Dan Fergus
	 
	Use events inside the VB Extensibility Model to build a control resizer 
add-in. This way, you can set defaults for controls dropped onto forms.
	

	Use the Application Object
	 
	Ron Schwarz
	 
	When you have to handle application/OS communication, the Application 
object provides some useful functions.
	

	Manage Database Transactions
	 
	Eric Litwin
	 
	Create Data Components that handle Transactions and enable Connection 
Pooling whether the components are deployed remotely or locally.
	

	Make Application Settings Easy
	 
	Stan Schultes
	 
	Learn how to store and load program settings with the CSettings class 
by using either the Windows Registry or an INI file.
	

	Improve MTS and COM+ Performance
	 
	Yasser Shohoud
	 
	Discover how to avoid performance problems with Microsoft Transaction 
Server (MTS), and learn five tips on building high-performance apps with COM+ 
and MTS.
	

	Connect Objects
	 
	Stephen Hopkins
	 
	The Observer Pattern lets your objects broadcast any changes happening 
to them. You can easily connect objects that pass information between them by 
combining the Observer pattern with the Mediater Pattern.
	

	Replace API Calls Using WMI
	 
	Ken Getz
	 
	Avoid those complex API calls by using the Windows Management Interface 
(WMI) to access computer information. Learn how to investigate the WMI classes 
and objects and use WMI to get useful System Information.
	

	Extend SQL Server
	 
	Dianne Siebold
	 
	Find out how to extend the functionality of SQL Server by creating and 
calling extended stored procedures. Or use SQL Server's OLE Automation Stored 
Procedures to call functions in existing DLLs.
	

	Synchronize Your Apps
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	There's a way to provide communication and synchronization among 
multiple executables when you break up large and complex Windows apps. Turn to 
Windows messages for the solution.
	

	Web Developer
	 
	Francesco Balena
	 
	Use these 10 techniques to create robust and efficient Active Server 
Pages apps.
	

	Microsoft .NET Framework Delivers the Platform for an Integrated, 
Service-Oriented Web
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	 
	
	

	The Programmable Web: Web Services Provides Building Blocks for the 
Microsoft .NET Framework
	 
	Mary Kirtland
	 
	
	

	Visual Studio .NET: Build Web Apps Faster and Easier Using Web Services 
and XML
	 
	Dave Mendlen
	 
	
	

	Sharp New Language: C# Offers the Power of C++ and Simplicity of Visual 
Basic
	 
	Joshua Trupin
	 
	
	

	Active Server Pages+: ASP+ Improves Web App Deployment, Scalability, 
Security, and Reliability
	 
	Dave Sussman
	 
	
	

	Marshaling Your Data: Efficient Data Transfer Techniques Using COM and 
Windows 2000
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	
	

	Targeting Frames
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Hidden Fields
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Dropdown Menu Positioning
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Distilling Other Web Sites
	 
	Robert Hess
	 
	
	

	Client-side Environment for ASP Pages
	 
	Dino Esposito
	 
	
	

	MSXML 3.0 Supports XPath 1.0, XSLT 1.0, XDR, and SAX2
	 
	Aaron Skonnard
	 
	
	

	Using Visio 2000 Enterprise Edition to Model Applications
	 
	Ken Spencer
	 
	
	

	Automating COM+ Administration
	 
	Ted Pattison
	 
	
	

	A Tale of Real-world Debugging
	 
	Matt Pietrek
	 
	
	

	CPopupText for Home-grown Tooltips
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

	Controlling Application Instantiation
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	 
	
	

Project Management - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	Effective Project Mangement
	 
	Larry Palm
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	Inside the R5 Outline
	 
	Hans van der Burg
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	Code for Better Performance
	 
	Matt Holthe
	

Data Integration - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	Notes to Access Data Integration without ODBC
	 
	David Kochan
	

Notes Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	FTP from LotusScript
	 
	Scot Haberman
	

Handheld Computing - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - September 2000 
	Take Domino Applications to the Palm Pilot
	 
	Bonnie Jo Schneider
	

	Using the XML DOM with Visual C++ and COM
	 
	Tom Archer
	 
	1-Sep-2000
	 
	1-Sep-2000
	 
	Learn how to use the XML Document Object Model (DOM) to load an XML 
document and iterate through its nodes using Visual C++ and COM.
	

	Connection Points And Asynchronous calls, Part I
	 
	Ashish Dhar
	 
	A tutorial on connections points and Aynchronous calls
	

	A simple XML Parser
	 
	Michael A Barnhart
	 
	A class to read and write non validated XML files
	

	31-Aug-2000
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	  
	3D Text FX
	 
	In the second part of our 'spice up your apps' series, I'll be taking a 
look at some quick'n'dirty code that makes it easy to print 3D text on your 
form without resorting to any third-party controls.
	

	Direct Input 7 Joystick Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	Class that utilizes DirectX7 to control multiple Joystick Controls.
	

	Direct Input 7 Keyboard Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	DirectInput is essential for responsive games. This article presents a 
class to read the keyboard.
	

	Code to Calculate Time Left on Timer
	 
	Dustin Fast
	 
	Enables you to display to the end-user how much time is left on a timer
	

	Limiting Applications to a Single Instance
	 
	Jean-Claude Garreau
	 
	Standard concept with a twist ; in this version if the app is running 
it is brought to the foreground and passed any command-line arguments
	

	Non-Modal File Dialog Class
	 
	John McManus
	 
	Nicely done class that allows for non-modal display of the common file 
dialog
	

	Printing in OpenGL
	 
	Jongwhan Lee
	 
	Illustrates how to render images using OpenGL
	

	Non-Modal File Dialog Class
	 
	John McManus
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	Nicely done class that allows for non-modal display of the common file 
dialog
	

	Direct Input 7 Keyboard Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	DirectInput is essential for responsive games. This article will help 
ease the transition of DOS games programmers.
	

	Direct Input 7 Joystick Class
	 
	Jason Brooks
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	31-Aug-2000
	 
	DirectX isn't the most friendly of API's available, so here's a simple 
class that you can use to utilise DirectX7 for multiple Joystick Control.
	

	A Network Chat Program using Windows Sockets
	 
	Shanker Chandrabose
	 
	A program that allows users across a homogeneous network to communicate 
with each other using the TCP/IP protocol
	

	Level Add-in
	 
	Red Pilgrim
	 
	An add-in that helps you hide 'inactive' pieces of your code in include 
files
	

	MFC Grid Control 2.21
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A fully featured MFC grid control for displaying tabular data. The grid 
is a custom control derived from CWnd
	

	Using the Grid Control in a Document/View framework
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A simple tutorial that demonstrates how to use the grid control in a 
doc/view application.
	

	30-Aug-2000
	 
	30-Aug-2000
	  
	Shell Secrets
	 
	In this article, your Visual Basic Guide let's you into a little secret 
buried within Internet Explorer. As well as giving VB developers the chance to 
embed a complete browser in their own applications, IE also allows coders to 
interface with the Windows shell to a degree only previously possible by 
delving into subclassing and callbacks.
	

	ProTracker 1.0
	 
	A dialog based simple application which displays all running processes 
of your machine. It's a sub module of SysUtil Advanced.
	 
	KSheeraj Kumud
	 
	30-Aug-2000
	 
	30-Aug-2000
	

	Simple ODBC classes without MFC
	 
	Justin Kirby
	 
	A collection of simple classes to connect to ODBC capable DBMS and 
share those connections
	

	29-Aug-2000
	 
	29-Aug-2000
	  
	Getting Your First Visual Basic Job
	 
	Do you want to convert your Visual Basic coding knowledge into wads of 
cash? If so, check out this insightful article from Vickie McCullough, who 
offers tips to help you find a high paid tech job in minutes!
	

	29-Aug-2000
	 
	29-Aug-2000
	 
	Hey Windows, Call me!
	 
	Let Windows work for you: implementing function callbacks with Delphi.
	

	ATL Collection Wizard
	 
	David Peterson
	 
	ATL Object Wizard that creates a collection of other COM objects
	

	CWebImageDC
	 
	Randy More
	 
	Provides a Memory based DC into which an image may be drawn using 
standard GDI calls
	

	Download a URL using UrlDownloadToFile
	 
	Download a file as bits and save as a local file.
	 
	Jeniffer P Walker
	 
	28-Aug-2000
	 
	28-Aug-2000
	

	SysUtil 1.0
	 
	A dialog based simple application which gives you information about 
your system such as user, memory, OS etc. Update is coming soon.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	28-Aug-2000
	 
	28-Aug-2000
	

	New version of Antechinus C# Programmers' Editor
	 
	Alex Davidovic
	 
	C Point has announced the version 2.2 of Antechinus C# Editor, the 
first professional developers' editor for the exciting new Microsoft's C# (C 
Sharp) programming language.
	

	Launching an Application on Windows Startup
	 
	Partha Sarathi Dhar
	 
	Great little application (with source) that illustrates how to specify 
an application to launch upon Windows startup
	

	Office 2000-like Dockable Menu Bar and Intelligent Menus
	 
	Piero Viano
	 
	Create your own "intelligent menus" like Windows 2000 and Office 2000 !!
	

	Office 2000-like Dockable Menu Bar and Intelligent Menus
	 
	Piero Viano
	 
	27-Aug-2000
	 
	27-Aug-2000
	 
	Create your own "intelligent menus" like Windows 2000 and Office 2000!!
	

	MB MouseHelper Control
	  
	26-Aug-2000
	 
	26-Aug-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	This ActiveX gives you the complete control over the mouse. The 
MouseEnter and MouseLeave events tell you when the mouse cursor enters or 
leaves any control on the form, which lets you create cool hot-tracking 
effects. The MouseWheel event fires when the mouse wheel is rotated, so you can 
use this event to let the end user scroll a horizontal scroll or zoom in/out, 
as in Internet Explorer. There are also several methods that let you move, snap 
or clip the cursor where you want, to load an animated cursor, to simulate the 
Click, DblClick, MouseDown, MouseUp events, as well as to retrieve all the 
information related to the mouse, such as the cursor position, the button 
state, the swapped buttons state, and the window or the control under the 
cursor.
	

	Using the Visual Studio 6.0 Driver Build Environment
	 
	Christiaan Ghijselinck
	 
	Explores how to use the standard Visual Studio environment while 
developing device drivers
	

	SmartHelp 2.0
	 
	Goran Mitrovic
	 
	Update to version 2.0
	

	SmartHelp 1.01
	 
	Gorin Mitrovic
	 
	26-Aug-2000
	 
	26-Aug-2000
	 
	You probably discovered how complex MSDN Library is - there are 
thousands of articles nicely sorted in its Contents Tree. However, have you 
noticed how hard is it to find articles you used, every time you resume work on 
your project? If you had, I believe you'll find SmartHelp (very) useful
	

	Drawing Transparent Bitmap with ease with on the fly masks in MFC
	 
	Raja Segar
	 
	A few routines that makes implementing the ideas in Chris Becke's GDI 
tutorial a snap
	

	Select Folder dialog with a difference
	 
	Sridhar Rao
	 
	The windows 'Select Folder' dialog with some extra functionality
	

	CreateRegionFromFile
	 
	Yuriy Zaporozhets
	 
	Very primitive function that creates region from *.bmp files
	

	KanjiFont
	 
	Eric Crahen
	 
	Display Chinese & Japanse characters on unicode & non-unicode systems
	

	Replace in Files AddIn
	 
	Daniel Zilcsak
	 
	Search and Replace in multiple files Add-in for Visual C++ 6.0
	

	Colored/Blinking Controls and Dialogs with any Font
	 
	Yury Goltsman
	 
	The simplest way to change color, font or set blinking mode for any 
standard control
	

	25-Aug-2000
	 
	25-Aug-2000
	  
	Fancy Forms
	 
	Are you tired of the dull default grey forms in Visual Basic? Do you 
want to spice up your application interface with only a few lines of VB code? 
In this article, your VB Guide uncovers a handy code tip to beautify your 
dreary apps.
	

	SCSI Information DLL
	 
	Michael Becker
	 
	Exported GetDriveNumber function, returning 0-based driver number for 
specified SCSI parameter
	

	Color Listbox
	 
	Rick Jones
	 
	Listbox where you can use a color strip in a colomn as a kind of legend 
for the text's meaning
	

	Color Listbox
	 
	Rick Jones
	 
	25-Aug-2000
	 
	25-Aug-2000
	 
	Listbox where you can use a color strip in a column as a kind of legend 
for the text's meaning
	

	Tool Group Manager
	 
	Craig Henderson
	 
	A reusable Template class for managing multiple toolbars, only one of 
which is displayed at a time.
	

	A WTL-based Font preview combo box
	 
	Ramon Smits
	 
	A font combo box that previews the fonts in the dropdown view
	

	A Java Class Browser written in C++ using WTL
	 
	Franky Braem
	 
	A Java Class Browser written in C++ using WTL
	

	Antechinus C# Editor
	 
	Alex Davidovic
	 
	The very first professional C# editor, supporting projects, color-coded 
syntax and compilation/execution from a fully integrated IDE.
	

	Implementing Band Objects using ATL HTML Contol
	 
	Sample code attached.
	 
	Neeraj Srivastava
	 
	24-Aug-2000
	 
	24-Aug-2000
	

	Using button controls in an application
	 
	Chris Smith
	 
	How to get a button control wired-in and working
	

	Using the CFindReplaceDialog class
	 
	Tibor Blazko
	 
	How to use the CFindReplaceDialog dialog for text searching
	

	Changing toolbars dynamically at runtime
	 
	Masoud Samimi
	 
	A simple tutorial that shows how to dynamically replace toolbars at 
runtime
	

	Lon Fisher on .NET 23 August 2000
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Lon Fisher answers your questions on .NET
	

	Command Routing for Popup Menu
	 
	Noel Dillabough
	 
	Handle grayed/disabled/checked menu items using the familiar OnUpdate 
interface
	

	Pie Progress Control
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	A progress control with a difference
	

	Enhanced ProgressBar Control v1.1
	 
	Yury Goltsman
	 
	Incredible progress control class with full-featured testing 
application!
	

	Color Chooser
	 
	Corel PhotoHouse-like Color Chooser
	 
	Rajiv Ramachandran
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	

	File Preview dialog class
	 
	Rajiv Ramachandran
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	

	Using ADSI to Mirror Exchange Users
	 
	Doyle Vann
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	 
	Coordinating data between applications can be tricky, even with 
facilities like Microsoft's Active Directory Services Interface. Here's a way 
around some of the pitfalls using a SQL Server table that's periodically 
updated with a background process.
	

	22-Aug-2000
	 
	22-Aug-2000
	 
	Who Wants to be a Delphi Guru - The trivia game.
	 
	Ever wonder what 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' might look like if 
there were only Delphi programming questions? Take my quiz and find out how you 
would do...
	

	21-Aug-2000
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	  
	Comparing C and C++
	 
	A look at the similarities and differences in C and C++
	

	CSelf XResource
	 
	Michael Becker
	 
	Class for self extracting binary resources
	

	PocketWine
	 
	Christian Skovdal Andersen
	 
	A wine database application sample for Pocket Windows
	

	A C++ wrapper for TWAIN
	 
	Add scanner support to your VC++ application
	 
	Rajiv Ramachandran
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	

	PocketWine
	 
	Christian Skovdal
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	 
	A wine database application sample for Pocket Windows.
	

	CSelf XResource
	 
	Michael Becker
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	 
	21-Aug-2000
	 
	A look at CSelf XResource
	

	Transparency without Source Code
	 
	Bernhard Hammer
	 
	Adding transparency to any window, even if you don't have its source
	

	SmartHelp 2.0
	 
	Goran Mitrovic
	 
	Fantastic Add-In that interfaces with MSDN Library
	

	CGraph: Graph Class for Plotting Groups of Data
	 
	Brian Convery
	 
	Extremely useful graph and chart class for plotting groups of data
	

	CGraph - Graph Class for Plotting Groups of Data
	 
	Brian Convery
	 
	20-Aug-2000
	 
	20-Aug-2000
	 
	Have you ever tried to find a usable graph and chart class for plotting 
groups of data? I have. And when trying to find some cheap or free classes for 
plotting graph data, I found very few.
	

	URLLabel Control
	  
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	Francesco Duranti
	 
	This control is a label/picture with hyperlink functionality. All 
you've to do is to place URLLabel on a form, choose the style (Underline, 
NoUnderline, GotFocus, Graphic), the color or picture for non-visited, visited, 
mouseover status and the URL/Caption. You can also link the URL/caption text or 
display the URL as the ToolTipText of the control, and use the Execute method 
to manually launch the URL. The BeforeExecute event let you change the URL on 
the fly as well as cancel the operation. The AfterExecute event will be 
launched upon completion of the Execute event, if you didn't cancel it.
	

	Dialog Resize Helper
	 
	Stephan Keil
	 
	Easiest way yet to have a "resizable dialog" where controls more and 
resize according to your specs
	

	Code to View/Hide Status Bar in SDI and MDI Applications
	 
	Volker Bartheld
	 
	OnViewStatusBar message handler that overrides the standard View/Hide 
functionality so that the application window changes it's height accordingly 
and preserves the size of the visible client area.
	

	Code to View/Hide Status Bar in SDI and MDI Applications
	 
	Volker Bartheld
	 
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	Here's a little handler for the OnViewStatusBar message handler to 
change the "View/Hide Status Bar" menu option so that the application (main) 
window changes its height according to the size of the visible client area.
	

	Dialog Resize Helper
	 
	Stephan Keil
	 
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	19-Aug-2000
	 
	Easiest way yet to have a "resizable dialog" that controls resize 
according to your specs
	

	PocketWine
	 
	Christian Skovdal Andersen
	 
	A wine Database for Pocket Windows
	

	Timed Update Edit Control
	 
	Craig Henderson
	 
	An edit control to periodically validate and reformat it's contents
	

	Report Control: An Outlook 2000-Style SuperGrid Control
	 
	Maarten Hoeben
	 
	Incredible array of updates and fixes (see version history in article)
	

	Tips for using Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) with MFC
	 
	xicoloko
	 
	Tips on using DLLs from MFC applications
	

	Tips for using Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) with MFC
	 
	-N/A
	 
	18-Aug-2000
	 
	18-Aug-2000
	 
	This documents intends to give a beginner some knowledge that can be 
helpfull when designing a project to the Windows plataform.
	

Requirements

Visual Basic 5.0 or higher.

In this Issue

In this issue we discuss how enhance the calendar control we
created last week.

ucCalendar

See issue number 126 for the basic description of this control.

This week we have enhanced this control to have built-in methods
for moving forward and backward within the calendar.  It now
supports move forward and backward one month and one year.  It
also supports a quick month change feature.  If you click on the
month of the calendar you will get a drop down list of all
available months.  This allows a very fast way to switch months.

The mechanism used to implement these features is very
extensible.  The source code is commented heavily in order to
explain some of the processes as you view the source code.

The place to start is to look at the CalendarCommand enumerator.
This is where all the commands are added in order to implement new
features.  Let's say you want to add a feature to highlight a
column when you click on the day of the week.  You can add a
command called ccHighlightColumn to the CalendarCommand enum.  In
the RedrawCalendar routine you would need to add a call to
AddRangeCheck with the dimensions of the day of the week cell and
the command ccHighlightColumn.  This would add the range to the
range array (maClickRanges) which is used in CheckMouseClick.  In
CheckMouseClick you would add your command to the select case
statement with the logic that highlights the column.  Take a look
at the source code.  It really is fairly simple.  The hardest part
is figuring out the dimensions of the range you want to define for
a command.

There are many additional ways this control can be enhanced.  If
an enhanced version of this control would be useful to you, please
email us at calendar@codeoftheweek.com


Properties

All of these properties were discussed last week.  We have left
them out in order to save space since the source code in this
issue is pretty long.  The issue can be read at
http://www.codeoft ... (cont.)

	Jeff Prosise on .NET
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Jeff Prosise answers your questions on .NET
	

	Converting the CONNECT Sample to a Local Server
	 
	Paul Shaffer
	 
	Major update of article and demo code to fix bugs when running NT or 
Win2K
	

	Window Handle Picker Sample
	 
	Mike Marquet
	 
	"Spy"-like tool that displays a window's styles when you drag the mouse 
over any window
	

	Converting the CONNECT Sample to a Local Server
	 
	Paul Shaffer
	 
	17-Aug-2000
	 
	17-Aug-2000
	 
	Learn how to use connection points between different processes with ATL.
	

	CSizingControlBar: a resizable Control bar
	 
	Cristi Posea
	 
	DevStudio-like docking window
	

	Network Development Kit
	 
	S?bastien Lachance and Yannick L?tourneau
	 
	Network Development Kit is a set of simple classes for a client-server 
architecture.
	

	Macro For Stepping Into #import Wrapped COM Methods
	 
	Graham Jest
	 
	Very useful macro that by passes the wrapper class' implementation and 
directly into the method you want to view
	

	WTL: Button Menu
	 
	David Peterson
	 
	Fixed a bug that resulted in two different CButtonMenu controls on the 
same dialog always painting the same caption
	

	Macro For Stepping Into #import Wrapped COM Methods
	 
	Graham Jest
	 
	16-Aug-2000
	 
	16-Aug-2000
	 
	Very useful macro that bypasses the wrapper class' implementation and 
directly into the method you want to view
	

	CWindowImpl ATL Object Wizard
	 
	Erik Thompson
	 
	This is an ATL Object Wizard that eases window development using 
CWindowImpl. It removes the redundant copy-n-paste of code between class 
implementations
	

	Windows like Menus on web pages
	 
	Shoaib Ali
	 
	How to create menus using Javascript and HTML.
	

	Download a URL contents ( using HTTP WinInet API)
	 
	Sample code available.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	15-Aug-2000
	 
	15-Aug-2000
	

	WinInet for Beginners
	 
	A simple tutorial for beginners with introduction to WinInet and sample 
code
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	15-Aug-2000
	 
	15-Aug-2000
	

	15-Aug-2000
	 
	15-Aug-2000
	 
	Learn to Earn
	 
	Skills pay. If you have the right ones, you will get the career you 
want - superior job, more money, and mastery of what you do. See how to become 
a certified Delphi developer.
	

	Debugging & Testing Tips for Win9x
	 
	Keith Rule
	 
	Debugging & Testing Tips from the Trenches
	

	File Stream Encryption (using a Context Menu)
	 
	Daniel Madden
	 
	An article on file stream encryption (using Crypt++ v3.2) from an 
Explorer Context Menu
	

	WTL: Button Menu
	 
	David Peterson
	 
	Use WTL to create simple button that implements drop-down menu
	

	14-Aug-2000
	 
	14-Aug-2000
	  
	Defining and Declaring Functions in C++
	 
	How to create and use functions in C++
	

	Converting the CONNECT Sample to a Local Server
	 
	Paul Shaffer
	 
	An article on ATL COM Event connection point Threading issues
	

	Using Worker Threads
	 
	Joseph M Newcomer
	 
	Learn how to create and use worker threads in your applications.
	

	Optimization: Your Worst Enemy
	 
	Joseph M Newcomer
	 
	Learn about the potential pitfalls of code optimization.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 1
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	This tutorial shows you how to write DCOM software, with all the latest 
features, in a simple, straightforward manner.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 2
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	We modify starter files, provided by the ATL COM AppWizard, to improve 
the user-friendliness of our server.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 3
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	In this step we add a simple COM object to our server using the New ATL 
Object Wizard.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 4
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	Here we add a method to our DCOM-remoted object, and start on 
implementing its functionality.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 5
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	We look at connection points and set up the server's end of one. We'll 
also finish implementing our SayHello() method.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 6
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	We build our new server and install it on the server machine.
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: A DCOM Tutorial, Step 7
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	At last! We finish our tutorial by writing a client with MFC, 
AppWizard, and ClassWizard, like back in the good ol' days (sighhh...)
	

	DCOM D-Mystified: Questions and Answers
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	Brian's detailed answers to your most frequently asked questions about 
his DCOM tutorial.
	

	Generic Serializer: Serializing arbitrary data structures
	 
	Martin Holzherr
	 
	Template functions for serializing arbitrary linked nodes.
	

	CODBCRecordset class
	 
	Stefan Chekanov
	 
	CODBCRecordset class is intended to be full replacement of all 
ClassWizard generated CRecordset derived classes in MFC projects.
	

	A Beginners Guide to Dialog Based Applications, Part One
	 
	Dr Asad Altimeemy
	 
	A step by step tutorial showing how to create your first windows 
program using MFC
	

	CString Management
	 
	Joseph M Newcomer
	 
	Learn how to effectively use CStrings.
	

	Non-MFC String Class for ATL
	 
	Paul E Bible
	 
	A Non-MFC String Class for use in ATL Components
	

	AVEPopup ActiveX Control
	  
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	Jaroslaw Zwierz
	 
	This Combobox-like ActiveX control lets you host nearly every 
coincevable control inside it, so that you can save precious screen estate. For 
example, you can host a TreeView or a ListView control inside the drop-down 
area of the AVEPopup control, and you can do the same with any control that 
exposes the hWnd property. The demo program shows how you can use it in an MDI 
environment, in modeless and modal forms. The best news is that the AVEPopup 
control is provided with its source code!
	 
	Visit the author's web site at www.ave.com.pl
	

	Combo box and SetItemDataPtr
	. 
	Add data to combobox using SetItemDataPtr
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	

	How to transfer data from one dialog to another
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	

	How to use CBitmap in your application
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	

	Open/Read a text file with Print/Print preview
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	

	Search for files
	 
	This example upon launching searches all drives for any MP3 files and 
lists them .....
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	 
	12-Aug-2000
	

	Find in CWebBrowser Control
	 
	Jeremy Davis
	 
	How to display the "Find" window in a CWebBrowser control.
	

	Using ATL to Automate an MFC Application
	 
	Bart De Lathouwer
	 
	Article that illustrates MS Office-like automation with remotely 
creatable documents.
	

	SCSI Information DLL
	 
	Michael Becker
	 
	DLL that identifies and retrieves parameters from local SCSI devices
	

	How to save list box contents between sessions
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	How to save list box contents between sessions
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	How to insert, delete, grayed out, enable/disable menus on runtime?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	Add your own controls to CFileDialog Rail
	 
	Jon Rogut
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	MRU Folders Rail
	 
	Jon Rogut
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	Directory Chooser
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	

	Using ATL to Automate an MFC application
	 
	Bart De Lathouwer
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	11-Aug-2000
	 
	MS Office-like automation with remotely creatable documents.
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial: Lesson 7: Data Viewer
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	In the final installment of Brian's tutorial, you put to use what 
you've learned the past week by coding a sample data viewer application
	

	Extended Time Format Functions (with Milliseconds)
	 
	Roland J Graf
	 
	Very useful set of time formatting routines that can easily be inserted 
into your C++ code
	

	Interactive SQL Tool (using ADO)
	 
	A tool that allows you to query OLE DB sources, author SQL Scripts, 
return query results to a grid and more ...
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	In-process Servers and DCOMCNFG Utility
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	How to subclass a CEdit control
	. 
	This shows how to subclass the CEdit control when user left clicks. 
Sample project attached.
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	Interactive SQL Tool (using ODBC)
	 
	A tool that allows you to query ODBC sources
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	Interactive SQL Tool (using ADO)
	 
	A tool that allows you to query OLE DB sources, author SQL scripts, 
return query results to a grid and more ...
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	How to subclass a CEdit control
	. 
	This shows how to subclass the CEdit control when user left clicks. 
Sample project attached.
	 
	Rail Jon Rogut
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 7: Data Viewer
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	10-Aug-2000
	 
	In the final installment of Brian's tutorial, you put to use what 
you've learned the past week by coding a sample data viewer application
	

	ComboTree
	 
	Dennis Howard
	 
	ComboBox with a tree control drop down
	

	The Next Generation Internet: Visual Studio.NET screen shots
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Some Visual Studio.NET screen shots to tease
	

	Load a CString from DLL within that DLL
	 
	Jim Koornneef
	 
	CString::LoadString(), resource will not load under certain conditions.
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial: Lesson 6: SDI and MDI Applications
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	In this penultimate part of the series, Brian teaches you the basic of 
creating Document/View applications
	

	Making a Window "Always On Top"
	 
	Christopher Tan
	 
	Shows how to set a windows properties such that it is always shown on 
top of other windows
	

	Stored Procedure Class Wizard (SPCW)
	 
	A tool to generate class files to implement stored procedures
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	09-Aug-2000
	 
	09-Aug-2000
	

	Stored Procedure Class Wizard (SPCW)
	 
	A tool to generate class files to implement stored procedures
	 
	George Poulose
	 
	09-Aug-2000
	 
	09-Aug-2000
	

	Solving Complex SQL Problems with Full-Text Indexing
	 
	Tom Archer
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	Real-world problems can turn an ordinary SQL statement into a Cartesian 
product-producing, index-ignoring, performance nightmare. In such cases, SQL 
Server's Full-Text Index may offer the perfect mix of flexibility and 
performance.
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 6: SDI and MDI Applications
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	In this penultimate part of the series, Brian teaches you the basic of 
creating doc/view applications
	

	Making a Window "Always On Top"
	 
	Christopher Tan
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	9-Aug-2000
	 
	Shows how to set a windows properties such that it is always shown on 
top of other windows
	

	Universal Table Editor
	 
	Tom Wellige
	 
	Viewer and Editor for any table in any Database you can reach from your 
IIS/PWS.
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial: Lesson 5: Dialog-Based Applications
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	In this installment of the series, Brian covers the basics of dialogs 
and dialog-based applications
	

	"Toggle Header" Add-In for Visual Studio
	 
	-N/A
	 
	Add-In that solves problem of macros crashing when they can't open the 
current file's associated header file
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 5: Dialog-Based Applications
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	8-Aug-2000
	 
	8-Aug-2000
	 
	In this installment of the series, Brian covers the basics of dialogs 
and dialog-based applications
	

	"Toggle Header" Add-In for Visual Studio
	 
	Power Station
	 
	8-Aug-2000
	 
	8-Aug-2000
	 
	Add-In that solves problem of macros crashing when they can't open the 
current file's associated header file
	

	08-Aug-2000
	 
	08-Aug-2000
	 
	Files With NO Structure
	 
	Using Delphi's Pascal to manage operations on untyped files - direct 
access to disk files regardless of type and structuring.
	

	File uploading with COM and ASP
	 
	Xicoloko
	 
	A simple COM Component with source that provides file upload 
capabilities for your ASP pages.
	

	Address Book
	 
	Xavier John
	 
	
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial: Lesson 4: MFC Basics
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	Start dipping your toes in the MFC waters in preperation for the really 
cool stuff
	

	Tool for Globally Changing Class Names
	 
	Manuel Lucas Viñas Livschitz
	 
	Very useful application for handling mass class changes across large 
projects
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 4: MFC Basics
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	7-Aug-2000
	 
	7-Aug-2000
	 
	Start dipping your toes in the MFC waters in preperation for the really 
cool stuff
	

	Setting Properties with OLE Automation
	 
	Konstantin Boukreev
	 
	Describes an ActiveX Control to use OLE Automation to set an object's 
properties.
	

	kPad: A lightweight WTL based text editor
	 
	Konstantin Boukreev
	 
	An example of using the WTL library and RichEdit control
	

	WBEM Class Wrapper for Local and Remote Process Creation
	 
	Brandon Clark
	 
	Wraps the Microsoft Windows 2000 implementation of the industry 
standard WBEM
	

	kPad: Lightweight Text Editor
	 
	Konstantin Boukreev
	 
	Great example of the types of things you can do with WTL !!
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial:Lesson 3: Visual C++ IDE and Workspaces
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	Third installment of the seven-part Visual C++ tutorial series
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 3: Visual C++ IDE and Workspaces
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	6-Aug-2000
	 
	6-Aug-2000
	 
	Third installment of the seven-part Visual C++ tutorial series
	

	WBEM Class Wrapper for Local and Remote Process Creation
	 
	Brandon Clark
	 
	6-Aug-2000
	 
	6-Aug-2000
	 
	This class will allow the creation of any specified process on a remote 
or local Windows machine.
	

	Layout Manager for Dialogs, Formviews, DialogBars and PropertyPages
	 
	Erwin Tratar
	 
	A framework to provide automatic layout control for dialogs and forms
	

	CopyProc Add-in
	  
	5-Aug-2000
	 
	5-Aug-2000
	 
	Roshan Dawrani
	 
	This add-in breaks up the selected VB component's code and prepares a 
list of all the procedures(Subroutines, Functions, Property Procedures and the 
Declaration section). You can select the methods and the add-in gets the 
definition of the selected methods for you. No need to browse through all the 
code to see the definition of various functions. You can also print the code 
using the add-in. It is especially useful if you want to copy code in all the 
events of a particular object like a command button, a listbox, etc.
	

	05-Aug-2000
	 
	05-Aug-2000
	  
	How To Get Certified in C++
	 
	Understand the types of certification and how to get certified.
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial:Lesson 2: C++ Essentials
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	Before jumping into MFC specifics, Brian now leads you through a quick 
C++ class to get you prepared for the next step
	

	SetColor: A Console-Window Color-Changing Tool
	 
	Simon Cooke
	 
	Win32 console-mode application (written in C) that allows the user to 
set the color of following output text
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 2: C++ Essentials
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	5-Aug-2000
	 
	5-Aug-2000
	 
	Before jumping into MFC specifics, Brian now leads you through a quick 
C++ class to get you prepared for the next step
	

How to start the screen saver in code 


Start up Visual Basic and add a form to the project. 
Copy this code into the declarations section of the form: 

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" _
Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal _
wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Private Const WM_SYSCOMMAND As Long = &H112&
Private Const SC_SCREENSAVE As Long = &HF140&

Create a new procedure to the form, called "StartScreenSaver". 
Add the following code to this procedure: 

Dim hWnd&
On Error Resume Next
hWnd& = GetDesktopWindow()
Call SendMessage(hWnd&, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_SCREENSAVE, 0&)

To activate the screen saver, simply add this code to call the procedure: 

Call StartScreenSaver

	A very simple COM server without ATL or MFC
	 
	Shoaib Ali
	 
	A step by step guide to writing a COM server using C++ without MFC or 
ATL
	

	SkDCOMbridge: COM/DCOM Handler Object
	 
	Shai Korianski
	 
	
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial: Lesson 1: Behind the Scenes with Handles and 
Messages
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	This is the first in an installment of great Visual C++ / MFC tutorials 
from Brian Martin
	

	How to use deque container to add and delete items?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	

	Merging contents of two vectrors
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	

	How to use map container?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	

	A beginner's tutorial on STL
	 
	A tutorial teaches you how to use STL in your program with various 
sample examples.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	 
	04-Aug-2000
	

	Visual C++/MFC Tutorial - Lesson 1: Behind the Scenes with Handles and 
Messages
	 
	Brian Martin
	 
	4-Aug-2000
	 
	4-Aug-2000
	 
	This is the first in an installment of great Visual C++/MFC tutorials 
from Brian Martin
	

	SkDCOMbridge : COM/DCOM Handler Object
	 
	Shai Korianski
	 
	4-Aug-2000
	 
	4-Aug-2000
	 
	Use Windows API for handling COM/DCOM objects and create a wrapper for 
a given interface.
	

	Changing the Color of Edit and Combobox Controls in ATL
	 
	Anita Rodriquez
	 
	Simple step-by-step instructions on changing control colors when using 
ATL
	

	Empty Directory Utility Under NT
	 
	Michel Yossef David
	 
	Useful Win32 API-based function that deletes all folders and files 
within a specified folder
	

	Sorting contents of a list using sort algorithm
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Aug-2000
	 
	03-Aug-2000
	

	Empty Directory Utility Under NT
	 
	Michel Yossef David
	 
	3-Aug-2000
	 
	3-Aug-2000
	 
	Description and explanation of Empty Directory Utility
	

	Changing the Color of Edit and Combobox Controls in ATL
	 
	Anita Rodriquez
	 
	3-Aug-2000
	 
	3-Aug-2000
	 
	Simple step-by-step instructions on changing control colors when using 
ATL.
	

BookNote: Uses Automation to Make Persistent Bookmarks and Add Notes About Code

BookNote lets you record notes (like permanent bookmarks), associating them 
with code. The sample also shows using the registry to persist a number of 
items in an MRU list. BookNote was created with the ATL COM AppWizard. Support 
MFC was checked in the wizard, and then an Add-in object was added to the 
project with the ATL Object Wizard. Most of the code added is in MarkIt.cpp. 

If you modify the sample, precede each function that could be called from an 
external interface with the following code:

AFX_MANAGE_STATE(AfxGetStaticModuleState());

This allows you to access your resources and is necessary because of the MFC 
support.

The CMRUStrings class is used to do the persistence for a drop-down combo box. 
You can use this class and other classes from the add-ins in other projects. 
See Reusing Code Topics and Adding Classes to the Gallery for information on 
how to reuse code.

To build the sample 

Click the link at the beginning of this topic to download the sample files. 
In Visual C++, open the project file BookNote.dsp.
Choose an appropriate configuration (Win32 Release is best if you plan to use 
this add-in). 
Click Rebuild All from the Build menu. 

To run the add-in 

From the Tools menu, click Customize.
Select the BookNote.dll file or browse for it. See Tips for Using Add-ins.
Visual C++ will load the add-in. When you close the Customize dialog box, 
BookNote’s toolbar will appear.
Run the BookNote add-in by clicking the toolbar button. Once the add-in has 
been loaded, it will open a dialog box. It will record the current selection 
(file, line, end of selection if applicable). You can type a note into the main 
edit box. When you click OK, the current selection will be copied into a file, 
which you can specify in this dialog box via a combo box that holds up to 10 
file names. You can also immediately dump the current note to the output 
window. You can then use this wit ... (cont.)

	Specifying multiple actions from a single Form
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A simple way to send the data from a single form to different pages, 
depending on which 'submit' button the user chooses
	

	RichEdit Overlay (non-MFC)
	 
	Matt Slot
	 
	Code that enables you to make a RichEdit transparent so that the text 
draws over top of the contents of the parent window (or even a memory DC)!
	

	Placing Logo on the Top DockBar of the Frame Window
	 
	Andrey Abelyashev
	 
	Great class that enables you to place your logo on the main dockbar of 
your SDI/MDI applications!
	

	Placing Logo on the Top DockBar of the Frame Window
	 
	Andrey Abelyashev
	 
	2-Aug-2000
	 
	2-Aug-2000
	 
	Great class that enables you to place your logo on the main dockbar of 
your SDI/MDI applications!
	

	RichEdit Overlay (non-MFC)
	 
	Matt Slot
	 
	2-Aug-2000
	 
	2-Aug-2000
	 
	This snippet demonstrates how to make a RichEdit control transparent, 
so that the text draws over top of the contents of the parent window (or even a 
memory DC).
	

	Use Transactions Efficiently
	 
	Barry Fridley
	 
	Take advantage of SQL Server transactions to create dependable apps and 
preserve Data Integrity in your SQL Server Database.
	

	Build Scalable WebClass Applications
	 
	Keith Franklin
	 
	Use VB WebClasses to build highly scalable and flexible Web-based 
applications.
	

	Use UML for Object Modeling
	 
	Rockford Lhotka
	 
	Using UML with Visual Modeler, you can create diagrams that help you 
map out your object model.
	

	Create an Expense Report
	 
	Using VBA hosted by Excel 2000, you can develop a simple application 
creating a corporate expense report. Find out how the report pulls data files 
from your PalmPilot.
	 
	Chris Barlow
	

	Use Linked Lists to Structure Data
	 
	Use linked lists to store data when you want a more flexible structure 
than stacks or queues.
	 
	Nick Snowdon
	

	Implement Advanced COM+ Transactions
	 
	Designing COM+ transactions for complex ASP applications poses a few 
challenges. The author takes you through the intricacies of Database Locking 
and transactional COM+ components.
	 
	Yasser Shohoud
	

	Create a Clipboard Object
	 
	Learn how to use Windows Explorer to store filenames during copy and 
paste. Also discover how to access the filenames from your applications.
	 
	Martin America
	

	Listen to Objects With Interface
	 
	A Notification Interface opens your clients to notifications from many 
objects when you can't use arrays.
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	

	First Look at Visual Studio 7.0
	 
	Brian Noyes
	 
	VS7 has something for everyone. Get the skinny on the new C# language 
and the Common Language Runtime, Web services and other enterprise development 
technologies, and IDE enhancements that increase your productivity.
	

	Online Only!
	 
	Shared Settings Basics
	 
	Tom Creighton
	 
	Intrigued by this month's Black Belt column, but feel a little out of 
your depth? Read this online companion piece to "Share Settings Across 
Programs" for a quick overview of the Registry and a simple demonstration of 
the tool's functionality.
	

	Make the Most of the IDE
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	You know how to start applications using the AppWizard. Now learn to 
work with Visual C++’s productivity tools to program more effectively.
	

	Integrate Message Queuing
	 
	Yasser Shohoud
	 
	Queued Components aren't magic - they simply provide a nice wrapper 
around MSMQ and integrate tightly with the COM+ programming model. Use them to 
integrate message queuing into your COM+ applications.
	

	Port Combobox Data From MFC
	 
	Andy Harding
	 
	Get your MFC app's combo box data to show up in your ported Win32 app,
	

	String Conversion Macros
	 
	Andy Harding
	 
	Experience the joys of string conversion macros.
	

	Use Type Libraries With ATL
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	ATL recognizes type libraries' importance to COM and COM+ by ensuring 
every ATL Server has a bound type library. Learn how to use this fact to your 
advantage, and when to break the rules safely and effectively.
	

	Speed Up Your EXE Server
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	ATL's Thread Pooling abilities give you the same throughput advantage 
as MTA, even when interacting with STA objects. This means a fast EXE server.
	

	Share Settings Across Programs
	 
	Tom Creighton
	 
	Do you need a facility for sharing program settings across multiple, 
concurrent and distributed programs? Use a simple database whose schema you can 
implement on a variety of DBMS platforms.
	

	Detecting Vertical Retrace
	 
	Thiadmer Riemersma
	  
	For Animation with no annoying "tearing", you really need to avoid 
drawing to the graphics adaptor when the CRT is also reading from the graphics 
adaptor. You can’t just read VGA registers directly to sync up with the 
vertical retrace, though - you need a Device Driver, as this article shows.
	

	A Generic Property Window for MFC
	 
	Chris Dix
	  
	The VB paradigm of presenting a list of properties and their editable 
values can be useful for ordinary applications as well. Here’s an MFC class to 
automate much of the work.
	

	A Simple HTML Display Class
	 
	Jonathan Potter
	  
	The rich edit control is your main tool for displaying editable, 
formatted text - but RTF is painful to use. The C++ class presented here lets 
you use standard HTML constructs to get styles (boldface, italic, etc.), color, 
and even hypertext links in a standard Rich Edit Control.
	

	Understanding NT: Performance Counters
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	  
	Performance counters allow running programs to provide arbitrary 
statistics that monitor programs (such as PerfMon) can display. The discussion 
of performance counters continues this month with a small System Tray utility 
that monitors a couple of operating system parameters.
	

	A VxD for Emulating the Windows Key
	 
	Manfred Keul
	 
	The most efficient way to do some keyboard remapping under Win9x is 
with a VxD, as this example demonstrates.
	

	Obtaining the Code Page of Keyboard Input
	 
	Steve Hanov
	 
	Some users can switch input locales on the fly, and that means the most 
obvious way of obtaining the current code page won’t work.
	

	Custom Folder Icons
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	 
	The right settings in a hidden DESKTOP.INI file can give any folder a 
special icon when viewed from Explorer.
	

	Invoking the Default E-mail Program
	 
	Simon Liu
	 
	HTML pages can use their "mailto:" feature to let you automatically pop 
up your email client with the correct target address; here’s how your Windows 
application can do the same.
	

	The Gold Standard, MIDAS & COM: Part I
	 
	Bill Todd
	 
	Mr Todd demonstrates that a combination of MIDAS and COM servers is the 
ideal system architecture for easily sharing a single Database connection among 
multiple EXEs and DLLs.
	

	Hierarchy of Forms
	 
	Ron Nibbelink
	 
	It's been around since version 2, but many Delphi developers still 
aren't reaping the benefits of Form Inheritance. Mr Nibbelink shares his 
time-honored techniques for building a reusable form hierarchy.
	

	Open Dialog
	 
	Deepak Shenoy
	 
	With its new Places Bar and other changes, the Windows 2000 Open dialog 
box definitely has a new look. Using a bit of inheritance, Mr Shenoy 
demonstrates how to share that look with your users.
	

	Cross-platform Controls
	 
	Robert Kozak
	 
	So many "firsts"! Robert Kozak gives us our first look at some Kylix 
source code. And guess what? It looks awfully familiar - which is, of course, 
the point. It's also the very first custom control written in Kylix.
	

	Dependency Tracking
	 
	Michael L Perry
	 
	Mr Perry explains dependency tracking, a powerful mechanism for keeping 
a system up-to-date, contrasts it with other approaches (e.g. the Observer 
Pattern), then provides a Delphi implementation.
	

	Is Linux Ready for Delphi?
	 
	Danny Thorpe
	 
	Our favorite IDE is about to be launched on an entirely different 
platform, so it's only natural there are many questions and concerns. Borland 
R&D Engineer Danny Thorpe allays fears, cuts through the religious and 
political haze, and puts Kylix - and its place on Linux - into perspective.
	

	Recursion Excursion
	 
	Alexander Gofen
	 
	Mr Gofen offers a new Component: an advanced calculator that allows 
users to deal with sets of formulas and series that uses elegant recursion 
techniques for Parsing arithmetic expressions.
	

	WAP Apps
	 
	Mike Riley
	 
	With wireless connections to portable, hand-held displays, Internet 
connectivity has evolved to the next level. Mr Riley takes us to that next 
level as well, with Delphi and Wireless Markup Language (WML).
	

	Converting VCL Components to Windows Resources
	 
	Luigi Bianchi
	  
	Borland C++Builder has its own version of resource files, but they can 
be translated to more conventional .RC files.
	

	A Lightweight Window Wrapper
	 
	Steve Hanov
	  
	Even the simplest aspects of window management can benefit from a bit 
of Encapsulation.
	

	A Reusable Nonlinear System Solver, Part 2
	 
	Michael L Perry
	  
	It’s not enough to have a general Equation Solver - you have to know 
how to talk to it.
	

	A Simple Persistence Framework
	 
	Gary Hsiao
	  
	Think of a persistent Object Broker as a poor man’s database. Then 
think of all the ways you might use it.
	

	A Simple Linear Regression Class
	 
	David C Swaim
	 
	Even an operation as simple as linear least squares can benefit from 
Encapsulation in a class.
	

	Creating an Index Table in STL
	 
	Craig Hicks
	  
	STL doesn’t do everything, but often a missing bit of functionality can 
be assembled from available parts.
	

	Pete Becker
	 
	Unraveling Multithreading
	 
	Sometimes you have to spend a lot of time on just a little bit of code, 
to avoid spending much more time not knowing where to begin debugging.
	

	Flinging C++ Objects Across the Network
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	A different approach than byte-stuffing BSTRs.
	

	A Beginner's Guide to the Linked List
	 
	Andrew Peace
	 
	An article showing the basics of the linked list, and how the CList 
class operates
	

	Getting to Know MIDAS
	 
	Jani Jarvinen
	 
	
	

	Delphi 5 Frames
	 
	Bob Swart
	 
	
	

	Writing a Delphi Application Without the VCL
	 
	Fernando Vicaria and Robert Ehteshamzadeh
	 
	
	

	SQL Server 2000: New Features Provide Unmatched Ease of Use and 
Scalability to Admins and Users
	 
	Carl Nolan
	

	SOAP Toolkit: Develop a Web Service: Up and Running with the SOAP 
Toolkit for Visual Studio
	 
	Rob Caron
	

	Intro to XSLT: XSL Transformations Alleviate XML Schema Incompatibility 
Headaches
	 
	Don Box
	, 
	Aaron Skonnard
	, 
	John Lam
	

	Migrating Your ASP Apps from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000
	 
	Shelley Powers
	

	Sending E-mail from Forms, Database Solutions, Web Site Planning
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	SQL Server 7.0 and OLE DB Heterogeneous Queries
	 
	Dino Esposito
	

	XML Data Manipulation with ADO 2.5
	 
	Ken Spencer
	

	Writing ActiveX Controls in Visual Basic versus Visual C++
	 
	George Shepherd
	

	A COM Symbol Engine Aids Debugging
	 
	John Robbins
	

	Explore the Security Support Provider Interface Using the SSPI 
Workbench Utility
	 
	Keith Brown
	

	Implementing Handler Marshaling Under Windows 2000: DeviceClient Sample 
App
	 
	Jeff Prosise
	

	Windows 2000 File Dialog Revisited; Autocompletion and the ACTest Demo 
App
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Custom Comment-Out Macro
	 
	Ilic Ferretti
	 
	Aside from Visual Basic and C++ comments, this macro also supports 
Python script, scripts inside HTML pages, VBScript and Javascript
	

	CRegistry : Serialize Data In/Out of the Registry
	 
	Amir Israeli
	 
	Very sophisticated class for serializing your date to the Registry
	

	How to use STL's reverse algorithm to reverse an array?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	01-Aug-2000
	 
	01-Aug-2000
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Offline -- But Not Disconnected From Your Data
	 
	Rocky Oliver
	

DOMINO OFF-LINE SERVICES - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	DOLS 101 for Administrators
	 
	Henry Newberry
	

DOMINO OFFLINE SERVICES - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Take Your Web Applications Offline
	 
	Henry Newberry
	

Mixed-Client Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Reuse Code for Mixed-Client Development
	 
	Jennifer Bisk
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Let Developers Be Developers
	 
	David Leedy
	

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Mimic Pages and Resources in 4.6x
	 
	James Ray
	

Workflow - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - August 2000 
	Send Notes Links Outside of Domino
	 
	W Colin Judge
	

	CRegistry : Serialize Data In/Out of the Registry
	 
	Amir Israeli
	 
	1-Aug-2000
	 
	1-Aug-2000
	 
	This is a very sophisticated class for serializing your date to the 
Registry.
	

	Custom Comment-Out Macro
	 
	Ilic Ferretti
	 
	1-Aug-2000
	 
	1-Aug-2000
	 
	Aside from Visual Basic and C++ comments, this macro also supports 
Python script, scripts inside HTML pages, VBScript and Javascript
	

	01-Aug-2000
	 
	01-Aug-2000
	 
	My Own Database
	 
	Working with binary files from Delphi. Use Object Pascal to manage 
writing, reading and updating your own types of files.
	

	Applying an update UI notification interface to user-defined controls
	 
	Bernd Giesen
	 
	A C++/MFC sample how to implement UI notifications for user-defined 
controls
	

	31-Jul-2000
	 
	31-Jul-2000
	  
	Mining The Web
	 
	With the introduction of the Microsoft Internet Transfer control it has 
never been easier to build a simple utility to gather information from remote 
servers or web sites. In this article, we'll be coding an application that can 
retrieve stock quotes from an online financial service.
	

	The Next Generation Internet: Postcards from PDC
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Some pics from PDC 2000.
	

	Align your code
	 
	Scott Kirkwood
	 
	Align multiple lines of assignments after the equal sign, for example
	

	Tree control and Buttons for MFC Grid Control
	 
	Ken Bertelson
	 
	A set of classes derived from CGridCtrl that embed a tree control, 
button controls, and virtual cells within the grid
	

	Using comboboxes in the MFC Grid Control
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	Explains how to use comboboxes to edit cells in the MFC Grid Control
	

	Performance Monitor: Get System Counter Values (CPU, Memory, etc.)
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	Great Windows 2000 resource meter application
	

	Getting the Module (exe) Filename from an HWND
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	Windows 9x and the NTVDM 16-bit processes
	

	Alpha Blending (Transparent) Windows
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	Article that illustrates how to enable the new Alpha Blending features 
of Microsoft Windows 2000
	

	ComboBox with Tree Dropdown
	 
	Dennis Howard
	 
	Corrects a slight painting bug as well as issues related to emulating 
the droplist style ComboBox
	

	Getting the Module (exe) Filename from an HWND
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	Very useful class that also includes the ability to filter out specific 
module names and types
	

	Performance Monitor - Get System Counter Values (CPU, Memory, etc.)
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	Great Windows 2000 resource meter application
	

	Alpha Blending (Transparent) Windows
	 
	Mike Ryan
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	30-Jul-2000
	 
	Learn how to enable the new Alpha Blending features of Microsoft 
Windows 2000.
	

BTree - A class for managing binary trees 
Date: 7/29/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: John Holfelder
 

Requirements

Visual Basic 5.0 or higher.

In this issue we discuss how to create your own calendar control.


ucCalendar

There are many calendar controls on the market these days.  Most
of those controls do not include source code to modify if the
control does not quite perform the function you want it to.  This
calendar control is also pretty lightweight.  Most of the work
occurs in a single routine called RedrawCalendar.  It does not
depend on anything other than the Visual Basic run time libraries
(ie no third party controls).

This control contains the basic logic to create a language
independent calendar with the ability to view a month at a time.
It can easily be used in a control array to view multiple months
at a time.

One limitation we took was with the Font properties.  Instead of
using the full font object we just allowed setting the FontSize
and FontName.  Of course you can enhance this to include
additional properties.

There are many ways this control can be enhanced.  If an enhanced
version of this control would be useful to you, please email us at
calendar@codeoftheweek.com


Properties
----------

Public Property Let BackColor(lBackColor As Long)

Allows the setting of the background color for the calendar.  The
standard colors such as vbWhite, vbRed, etc can be used.  Thr RGB
function can also be used here.


Public Property Get FontName() As String
Public Property Let FontName(sFontName As String)

The name of the font to use when drawing the numbers and text in
the calendar.


Public Property Let FontSize(lFontSize As Long)
Public Property Get FontSize() As Long

The size of the font to use when drawing the numbers and the text
in the calendar.


Public Property Let Month(lMonth As Long)
Public Property Get Month() As Long

The number of the month to show.  It should be in the range of 1
for January and 12 for December.


Public Property Let Year(lYear As Long)
Public Property Get Year() As Long

The number of the year to sho ... (cont.)

GetArrayInfo - Retreive number of dimensions and the SAFEARRAY memory structure 
Date: 7/29/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Advanced
Author: Monte Hansen

Type SAFEARRAYBOUND
    cElements   As Long      ' # of elements in the array dimension
    lLbound     As Long      ' lower bounds of the array dimension
End Type

Type SAFEARRAY
    cDims       As Integer   ' Count of dimensions in this array.
    fFeatures   As Integer   ' Flags used by the SAFEARRAY routines documented 
                             ' below.
    cbElements  As Long      ' Size of an element of the array.
    cLocks      As Long      ' Number of times the array has been
                             ' locked without corresponding unlock.
    pvData      As Long      ' Pointer to the data.
    rgsabound(1 To 60) As SAFEARRAYBOUND   ' One bound for each dimension.
    ' An array can have max 60 dimensions, only the first cDims items will be 
    ' used
    ' note that rgsabound elements are in reverse order,
    '  e.g. for a 2-dimensional
    ' array, rgsabound(1) holds info about columns, and rgsabound(2) about rows
End Type

Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As _
    Any, source As Any, ByVal bytes As Long)
Private Const VT_BYREF = &H4000&

' Fills a SAFEARRAY structure for the supplied array.
'
' The information contained in the SAFEARRAY structure allows
' the caller to identify the number of dimensions and the
' number of elements for each dimension (among other things).
' Element information for each dimension is stored in a
' one-based sub-array of SAFEARRAYBOUND structures (rgsabound).
'
'   TheArray        The array to get information on.
'   ArrayInfo       The output SAFEARRAY structure.
'
'   RETURNS         The number of dimensions of the array
'                   or zero if the array isn't dimensioned

Function GetArrayInfo(TheArray As Variant, ArrayInfo As SAFEARRAY) As Boolean
    Dim lp As Long         ' work pointer variable
    Dim VType As I ... (cont.)

Creating help string for Enum constants 
Date: 7/29/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Advanced

Author: Carl-Johan Lindgren
I've been trying to find a way to assign helpstrings for Enums in Visual Basic. 
The Class builder utility does that only for methods, events, and properties, 
but not for Enums.

The IDL source code that corresponds to an Enum in a type library looks 
something like follws, and you can run the MIDL compiler on this IDL to make a 
typelib that include help strings for Enums and thus has a more professional 
look. 

typedef [uuid(742F2A4D-8B13-4DF0-905E-91D03769A49C), version(1.0),
helpstring("Enums for ASPMtnSms")]
    enum {
           [helpstring("Auto login")] <<<--- INSERT this helpstring
           amsAutoLogin = 0
         } AspMtnSMSEnum;

Run the following command to generate aspmtnsms.tlb 

MIDL aspmtnsms.dll /mktyplib203 

Unfortunately, there is no way - or at least I can't devise it - to incorporate 
this into a VB component (dll) instead of a stand-alone type library.  

Non-obvious uses for the Like operator
________________________________________________________
LIKE is probably the most underutilized VB operator when compared to its
potential. The most immediate use for this operator is to check that a string
begins or ends with a given pattern. For example, it is simple to check that a
Product ID is made up of an alphabetic character followed by three digits:

If ProductID Like "[A-Za-z][0-9][0-9][0-9]" Then Print "OK"
' this is equivalent, because "#" stands for a digit
If ProductID Like "[A-Za-z]###" Then Print "OK"

But there are other cases when LIKE can be very useful. For example, you can
check that a string contains only uppercase alphabetical characters by
transforming the condition into "check that the string doesn't contain any
non-alphabetical character", as follows:

If Not ProductID Like "*[!A-Z]*" Then Print "OK"

Similarly, you can check that a string contains only digits with:

If Not ProductID Like "*[!0-9]*" Then Print "OK"

The following statement checks that a string doesn't contain any symbol (which
means it contains only alpha-numeric characters):

If Not ProductID Like "*[!A-Za-z0-9]*" Then Print "OK"

The following statement checks that a string follows the rules for a valid VB
variable name, that is, it's an alphabetic character followed by zero or more
alphanumeric characters:

' VarName contains the string to test
If VarName like "[A-Za-z]*" And Not Mid$(VarName, 2) Like "*[!A-Z_a-z0-9]*" Then
Print "OK"

The following statement checks that a string contains exactly two spaces
(consecutive or not):

If TestString Like "* * *" Then Print "OK"

while the following test ensures that the two spaces are not consecutive:

If TestString Like "* ?* *" Then Print "OK"

Checking a signed integer is more complicated, because you must account for the
leading sign and must provide the correct number of "#" symbols:

' NumValue contains the string to test
If NumValue Like "#" Or (Len(NumValue) > 1 And NumValue Like ... (cont.)

How to Kill an Orphaned Process 

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

SUMMARY
When a service terminates abnormally, it sometimes leaves "orphaned" child 
processes behind. This article describes several ways to remove such a process. 

MORE INFORMATION

The easiest method to use is the KILL command from the Windows NT Server 4.0 
Resource Kit: 

KILL  

-or- 

KILL -F  

The list of processes and process IDs can be obtained from the Task Manager or 
with the TLIST utility from the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit. 

If neither of these commands work, and the Schedule service is running on that 
computer in the Local System context, you might be able to successfully 
terminate the process by scheduling one of the above commands with the AT 
utility: 


AT  /INTERACTIVE CMD /C KILL -F  

If this is also unsuccessful, as a last resort, you might be able to use the 
PVIEW utility from the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit, Supplement 3, to 
adjust the permissions on the process and then kill it. You must be an 
administrator to perform this task. 

To do this, follow these steps: 

Start Pview.exe. 
Select the target process from the drop-down list of processes. 
Click Process in the Security frame. Adjust the permissions of the process to 
give Administrators (or the currently-logged-on user) all accesses to the 
process. Repeat this for Thread security and Process Token security. 
Use Kill App to terminate the process. 

If none of these procedures work, you must restart the system to terminate the 
process. 

	Cool Push Menu Button
	 
	Norm Almond
	 
	This article shows the use of a Push button with a drop down menu, 
similar to the one found in the Office 2000 suite.
	

	Exposing tabular data from your COM object, Part 1
	 
	Len Holgate
	 
	ADO seems to be the ideal way to expose tabular data from your own COM 
objects and the ATL OLE DB Provider Templates can help!
	

	Exposing tabular data from your COM object, Part 2
	 
	Len Holgate
	 
	The ATL OLE DB Provider Templates appear to rely on the fact that your 
data is kept in a simple array, but that's not really the case at all!
	

	Exposing tabular data from your COM object, Part 3
	 
	Len Holgate
	 
	Adding bookmark functionality is relatively easy and it enables our ADO 
recordset to be used with a greater number of data bound controls.
	

	Using JavaScript to handle drop-down list selections
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A simple method of making dropdown lists automatically navigate to a 
new page when a new selection is made.
	

	Raw TCP/IP library for Windows 2000
	 
	Barak Weichselbaum
	 
	
	

	CNewLabel : Advanced CStatic-Derived Class
	 
	Mike Marquet
	 
	Includes very cool features such as multi-line support, text flashing, 
bevelled lines and complete color control
	

	Raw TCP/IP Library for Win2000
	 
	Barak Weichselbaum
	 
	29-Jul-2000
	 
	29-Jul-2000
	 
	This library enumarates the TCP/IP protocol, and allows the user to 
create custom TCP/IP headers; this allows IP spoofing and other kinds of 
attacks.
	

	CNewLabel : Advanced CStatic-Derived Class
	 
	Mike Marquet
	 
	29-Jul-2000
	 
	29-Jul-2000
	 
	This class (CNewLabel) is derived from CStatic and performs a lot of 
things that the CStatic class can not do.
	

Self-Aware Data Wrapper Objects with VB 

by Syd Egan

If you’re one of the thousands of programmers out there writing server-side 
business components, then
you’ve probably used data wrappers: light-weight objects designed to access 
streamed data. The
following article builds on the traditional wrapper concept to create 
self-aware objects, which offer the
added benefits of simplicity and re-use.

As any good component programmer will tell you, it is always important to 
minimize the number of calls
between objects; and one of the ways we achieve this is to pack all of our data 
up into "streams" to
pass it from one object to another. Instead of passing, say CustomerID, Name, 
and Email as separate
properties, we wrap them up into a single string; perhaps an XML stream, like 
so:


   1234
   John Doe
   john@doe.com


Often the easiest way to manage these strings in our code, is by writing a 
data-wrapper – a custom
class, which gives access to all the pieces of data through COM properties: 
objCustomer.CustomerID,
objCustomer.Email, and so on. 

However, we also know that data wrappers can be a pain to write – stream and 
un-stream methods are
fiddly (do this property, so that property, do the other property….), and you 
have to re-write them from
scratch every time, often by cutting and hacking code from similar objects 
elsewhere in the system.
What a drag. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could write a data wrapper once, and 
then re-use it in a variety of
scenarios, with only minimal "two-minute" modifications? This article shows you 
how.

The solution is to write an object that discovers its own properties. That way, 
your stream and un-stream
methods only have to be written once, and then you just add or remove 
properties to create exactly the
wrapper you need. The solution uses a little-documented Win32 object - the Type 
Library Information
component: TLBINF32.dll. 

The Type Librar ... (cont.)

	Introduction to COM: What It Is and How to Use It.
	 
	Michael Dunn
	 
	A tutorial for programmers new to COM that explains how to reuse 
existing COM Components, for example, Components in the Windows Shell.
	

	A picture based skin system and MPEG decoder
	 
	Cuneyt Elibol
	 
	A picture based skin system for MFC that allows the user to customise 
their dialogs. The system is demonstrated by presenting a fully functioning 
MPEG decoder application.
	

	CXWndAnimate: an alternative to CAnimateCtrl
	 
	Xicoloko
	 
	An animation control that uses a Bitmap imagelist instead of an AVI file
	

	An Image (GIF, JPEG, BMP, ICO, WMF and EMF) Viewer
	 
	Chensu
	 
	MFC application that can load, display and print almost any standard 
graphics image
	

	ComboBox with Tree Dropdown
	 
	Dennis Howard
	 
	This is a hybrid ComboBox with a Tree View replacing the drop down 
Listbox
	

	How to detect memory leaks in your program?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	

	ComboBox with Tree Dropdown
	 
	Dennis Howard
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	 
	This is a hybrid ComboBox with a tree control replacing the drop down 
ListBox.
	

	An Image Viewer
	 
	-N/A
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	 
	28-Jul-2000
	 
	This is an MFC application using the document/view architecture that 
can load, display and print graphics files.
	

	Generate Help Macro File Tool
	 
	Blake V Miller
	 
	A tool to generate help macro files for your VC++ project.
	

	WTL Tool Bar Drop-Down Extension
	 
	Ben Burnett
	 
	An article on extending the tool bar control using the Window Template 
Library
	

	WTL: Button Menu
	 
	David Peterson
	 
	Very cool button with arrow image that when pressed drops down a menu
	

	Passing an Array of Values to the Visual C++ MSChart OCX
	 
	JL Colson
	 
	Great step-by-step instructions to passing data to the VC++ MSChart 
component
	

	Passing an Array of Values to the Visual C++ MSChart OCX
	 
	J L Colson
	 
	27-Jul-2000
	 
	27-Jul-2000
	 
	Great step-by-step instructions to passing data to the VC++ MSChart 
component
	

	26-Jul-2000
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	  
	Speech Enable Your App
	 
	Have you ever wanted to operate your applications hands free? Imagine 
simply speaking to your PC to launch a web browser, check your email or edit a 
document in your favourite word processor. Your Guide shows you how to speech 
enable your VB application!
	

	Simple Real-time Class for Advanced Charts and Plotting
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	Great for real-time applications plotting charts using dynamic 
engineering data
	

	Creating Skins with SkinSys Ver 1.0
	 
	Cuneyt Elibol
	 
	MFC-based application for creating and editing skins for your 
applications
	

	Download a URL contents (using InternetOpenUrl)
	 
	Sample project attached
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	

	Extending CPictureHolder for loading BMP, JPG, etc.
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	 
	This class extends the MFC CPictureHolder class to include better 
support for enhanced metafiles, access to picture handles, loading from files, 
and other capabilities.
	

	Creating Skins with SkinSys Ver 1.0
	 
	Cuneyt Elibol
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	 
	26-Jul-2000
	 
	Learn to create skins with a picture-based skin system written in 
Visual C++/MFC.
	

	Extending CPictureHolder for loading BMP, JPG, etc.
	 
	Roger Onslow
	 
	Adds several ehancements to the standard MFC CPictureHolder class
	

	Simple String Class
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	Includes methods for formatting, searching (using wild cards) and 
numeric conversion to different data types
	

	Simple Real-time Class for Advanced Charts and Plotting
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	25-Jul-2000
	 
	25-Jul-2000
	 
	Great for real-time applications plotting charts using dynamic 
engineering data
	

	25-Jul-2000
	 
	25-Jul-2000
	 
	About XML and Delphi
	 
	Everything you need to know about Delphi and the Extensible Markup 
Language. Find out about creating and parsing XML documents, look for parser 
components and more.
	

	2D Chart and 3D Waterfall Chart Control
	 
	Kris Jearakul
	 
	CWnd-derived class that provides the functionality of Windows plotting 
chart control
	

	IPC Using Connection Points and EventSinks.
	 
	Yaniv Karta
	 
	Step-by-step instructions on building an IPC mechanism using ATL 
Connection Points and EventSinks
	

	2D Chart and 3D Waterfall Chart Control
	 
	Kris Jearakul
	 
	24-Jul-2000
	 
	24-Jul-2000
	 
	CWnd-derived class that provides the functionality of Windows plotting 
chart control
	

	IPC Using Connection Points and EventSinks
	 
	Yaniv Karta
	 
	24-Jul-2000
	 
	24-Jul-2000
	 
	Step-by-step instructions on building an IPC mechanism using ATL 
Connection Points and EventSinks.
	

	Simple to Use, Yet Powerful Graphics Classes
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	Create some very cool charts very easily with these simple to use 
graphics classes
	

	Detecting the Display Font Size
	 
	Chensu
	 
	Simple function to enable you to programmatically detect the 
user-selected font at runtime
	

	The WNDCTRL Reusable Class
	 
	Noman Nadeem
	 
	Easy to use class that enables the showing and hiding of groups of 
controls on a dialog or view
	

	Simple to Use, Yet Powerful Graphics Classes
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	Create some very cool charts very easily with these simple to use 
graphics classes
	

	The WNDCTRL Reusable Class
	 
	Noman Nadeem
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	This re-usable class basically accomodates the existance of some hidden 
controls/windows.
	

	Detecting the Display Font Size
	 
	-N/A
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	23-Jul-2000
	 
	This handly little function will assist you in programmatically 
determining the selected font size.
	

MSExcel - A class for writing Excel spreadsheets 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: Stevel Miller

'***********************************************************
'* Module Name: MSExcel
'* Author:      Steve Miller
'* Date:        11/22/98
'* Description: Encapsulates and eases the chore of writing to an Excel 
' spreadsheet.
'*
'* IMPORTANT: requires that you have a reference to Excel type library
'*
'* Example:     Here is an example of how to use this class:
'*   Dim objXL As New ttExcel.Application                   'Instantiate the 
' object
'*   Call objXL.OpenExcelFile(FileName:="c:\SMTest.xls",
'  '*        WorkSheetName:="MyWorksheet", '*        AppendDayofWk:=True)       
'                        'Open the Excel file
'*   Call objXL.StoreExcelRow(A:="Hello", B:="World")       'Write a row to the 
' Excel file
'*   Call objXL.StoreExcelBlankRows(NbrRows:=10)            'Skip blank rows in 
' the Excel file
'*   Call objXL.StoreExcelRow(A:="Skipped 10 rows")
'*   Call objXL.SetExcelCellWidthAutoFit                    'Auto size the 
' column widths
'*   Call objXL.SetExcelCellWidth(Cell:="A", Width:=25)     'Manually set a 
' column width
'*   Call objXL.CloseExcelFile                              'Close the Excel 
' file
'*   Set objXL = Nothing                                    'Cleanup (release 
' memory)
'***********************************************************

Option Compare Text
Option Base 1                    'Start arrays at element 1 instead of 0

'Constants
Private Const m_constPgm As String = "MSExcel."
Private Const m_lngExcelLabelNotFound = 1004

'Objects
Private m_objWorkbook             As Workbook
Private m_objWorksheet            As Worksheet
Private m_objXL                   As Excel.Application
Private m_objPageSetup            As Excel.PageSetup
Private m_lxPageOrientation       As XlPageOrientation

'Strings
Private m_strExcelFileName          As String

'Longs
Private m_lngExcelRow               As  ... (cont.)

The beginning or end of previous week 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller
For reporting, many times you need to figure out what date last week began and 
ended. Use the code below to figure that out: 

Dim vntBegin As variant
Dim vntEnd As variant
Const constSunday As Integer = 1
GetPriorWorkWeek BeginDayOfWeek:=constSunday, WeekBegin:=vntBegin, _
    WeekEnd:=vntEnd
Print "Begin of Week: " & vtnBegin & ", End of Week: " & vtnEnd

This is the complete code of the GetPriorWorkWeek routine. You can easily 
modify it to work with any date passed as an argument, not just the current 
system date: 
' Determine the date of the beginning and end of a week based on today
' and the day the week begins on
'
' Input        : BeginDayOfWeek: 1 = Sunday thru 7 = Saturday
' Input/Output : WeekBegin: It sets this to the first day of prior work week
'                WeekEnd: It sets this to the last day of the prior work week

Sub GetPriorWorkWeek(ByVal BeginDayOfWeek As Integer, Optional ByVal WeekBegin _
    As Variant, Optional ByVal WeekEnd As Variant)

   Dim dteDate As Date
   Dim blnFound As Boolean

   If BeginDayOfWeek < 1 Or BeginDayOfWeek > 7 Then
      Err.Raise Number:=1000, Source:="GetLastDayOfMonth", _
          Description:="Invalid BeginDayOfWeek, must be between 1 and 7"
   End If

   'Subtract 7 days ago to arrive at beginning date
   dteDate = DateAdd("d", -7, Now)

   Do Until blnFound
      'If on the beginning of the week, stop;
      'otherwise go back until the first day of the week is found
      If Weekday(dteDate) = BeginDayOfWeek Then
         WeekBegin = dteDate
         blnFound = True
      Else
         dteDate = DateAdd("d", -1, dteDate)
      End If
   Loop

   WeekEnd = DateAdd("d", 6, WeekBegin)

End Sub

 

Sending Email Using CDO and MAPI 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller
Sending emails via code used to be cool, but now it is a necessity. Below is 
code to send email via CDO. If the CDO call fails, it will send using MAPI. 
NOTE: You must have CDO for NT referenced in your project for this to work. 

' Sends an email to the appropriate person(s)
'
' SendTo = List of email addresses separated by a semicolon.  Example:
'                          sm@xyz.com; steve@work.com; jane@home.com
' Subject = Text that summarizes what the email is about
' EmailText = Body of text that is the email
' AttachmentPath = Directory in which the attachment resides
' Attachment = File to send with the email

Sub SendEmail(From As String, SendTo As String, Subject As String, _
    EmailText As String, Optional AttachmentPath As String, _
    Optional Attachment As String, Optional CC As String)
    Const constRoutine As String = "SendEmail"

    Dim strSendTo As String
    Dim objSendMail As CDONTS.NewMail
    Dim i As Integer

    On Error GoTo TryMAPI
    
    'Do not cause the user a major error, just log the error and keep going
    If SendTo = "" Then Exit Sub

    Set objSendMail = New CDONTS.NewMail

    With objSendMail
        On Error Resume Next
        .From = From
        If CC <> "" Then
            .CC = CC
        End If

        On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
        .To = SendTo
        .Subject = Subject
        .Body = EmailText
        AttachmentPath = Trim$(AttachmentPath)
        
        If AttachmentPath <> "" Then
            If Right$(AttachmentPath, 1) <> "\" Then
                AttachmentPath = AttachmentPath & "\"
            End If
            .AttachFile (AttachmentPath & Attachment)
        End If
        .Send
    End With

    GoTo ExitMe

TryMAPI:
    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    'If CDO fails, try MAPI
    If CC <> "" Then
        strSendTo = SendTo & "; " & CC
    Else
        strSendTo = SendT ... (cont.)

Send HTML Email via CDO 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller
Ever wonder how to send email that looks like a web page? Here is how you do 
it. Note: You must have CDO for NT referenced for this to work. 

'Sends an email to the appropriate person(s).
'
'From = Email address being sent from
'SendTo = List of email addresses separated by a semicolon.  Example:
'       sm@xyz.com; steve@work.com; jane@home.com
'Subject = Text that summarizes what the email is about
'HTMLText = Body of text that is the email
'AttachmentPath = Directory in which the attachment resides
'Attachment = File to send with the email

Sub SendEmailHTML(From As String, SendTo As String, Subject As String, _
    HTMLText As String, Optional AttachmentPath As String, _
    Optional Attachment As String, Optional CC As String)
    Const constRoutine As String = "SendEmailHTML"

    Dim strSendTo As String
    Dim objSendMail As CDONTS.NewMail
    Dim i As Integer

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    'Do not cause the user a major error, just log the error and keep going
    
    If SendTo = "" Then Exit Sub

    Set objSendMail = New CDONTS.NewMail

    With objSendMail
        On Error Resume Next
        .From = From
        If CC <> "" Then
            .CC = CC
        End If

        On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
        .To = SendTo
        .Subject = Subject
        .Body = HTMLText
        .MailFormat = CdoMailFormats.CdoMailFormatMime
        .BodyFormat = CdoBodyFormats.CdoBodyFormatHTML
    
        AttachmentPath = Trim$(AttachmentPath)
        If AttachmentPath <> "" Then
            If Right$(AttachmentPath, 1) <> "\" Then
                AttachmentPath = AttachmentPath & "\"
            End If
            .AttachFile (AttachmentPath & Attachment)
        End If
        .Send
    End With
    
ExitMe:
    Set objSendMail = Nothing
    Exit Sub

ErrorHandler:
    'Send error back
    Err.Raise Err.Number, Err.Source, Err.Description

E ... (cont.)

IsValidSSN - Check a Social Security Number value 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 VBS Level: Beginner
Author: Steve Miller

' Validates attributes of the SSN
' Returns True if valid, False if invalid
'
'Example:
'   If IsValidSSN(Value:="333-44-3333", IsRequired:=True) then ...

Function IsValidSSN(ByRef Value As String, Optional ByVal IsRequired As Boolean 
_
    = True) As Boolean

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    Dim strTemp As String
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim intMax As Integer

    IsValidSSN = True
    Value = Trim$(Value)

    If Value = "" Then
        If IsRequired Then
            IsValidSSN = False
        Else
            Exit Function
        End If
    End If

    intMax = Len(Value)
    For i = 1 To intMax
        Select Case Mid$(Value, i, 1)
            Case "0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9"
                strTemp = strTemp & Mid$(Value, i, 1)
        End Select
    Next i

    Value = strTemp

    If Len(Value) <> 9 Then
        IsValidSSN = False
    Else
        Value = Left$(strTemp, 3) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 4, _
            2) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 6, 4)
    End If

ExitMe:
    Exit Function

ErrorHandler:
    Err.Raise Err.Number, "IsValidSSN", Err.Description

End Function

'###########################################################
'#
'#   This rountime has been brought to you by 
'#   Pragmatic Software Co. Inc, the creators of Defect Tracker, 
'#   the tool of choice for tracking functional specifications, 
'#   test cases and software bugs.
'#   Learn more at http://www.DefectTracker.com.
'#   Affiliate program also available at 
'#   http://www.PragmaticSW.com/AffiliateSignup.
'#
'###########################################################

 

IsValidEmail - Validate an email address 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 VBS Level: Beginner
Author: Steve Miller

' Validates an email address
' Returns True if valid, False if invalid
'
' Example:
' If IsValidEmail(Value:="x@y.com", MaxLength:=255, IsRequired:=True) then ...

Function IsValidEmail(ByRef Value As String, Optional ByVal MaxLength As Long = 
_
    255, Optional ByVal IsRequired As Boolean = True) As Boolean

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    IsValidEmail = True
    
    Value = Trim$(Value)
    If IsRequired And Len(Value) = 0 Then
        IsValidEmail = False
    End If

    If Len(Value) > MaxLength Then
        IsValidEmail = False
    End If

    If Len(Value) > 0 Then
        If InStr(1, Value, "@") = 0 Then
            IsValidEmail = False
        End If
    End If

ExitMe:
    Exit Function

ErrorHandler:
    Err.Raise Err.Number, "IsValidEmail", Err.Description

End Function

'###########################################################
'#
'#   This rountime has been brought to you by 
'#   Pragmatic Software Co. Inc, the creators of Defect Tracker, 
'#   the tool of choice for tracking functional specifications, 
'#   test cases and software bugs.
'#   Learn more at http://www.DefectTracker.com.
'#   Affiliate program also available at 
'#   http://www.PragmaticSW.com/AffiliateSignup.
'#
'###########################################################

 

IsValidCreditCardNumber - Check whether a credit card number is valid 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 VBS Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller

' Validate a credit card numbers
' Returns True if valid, False if invalid
'
' Example:
'  If IsValidCreditCardNumber(Value:="1234-123456-12345", IsRequired:=True)

Function IsValidCreditCardNumber(Value As Variant, Optional ByVal IsRequired As 
_
    Boolean = True) As Boolean
    Dim strTemp As String
    Dim intCheckSum As Integer
    Dim blnDoubleFlag As Boolean
    Dim intDigit As Integer
    Dim i As Integer

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    IsValidCreditCardNumber = True
    Value = Trim$(Value)

    If IsRequired And Len(Value) = 0 Then
        IsValidCreditCardNumber = False
    End If

    ' If after stripping out non-numerics, there is nothing left,
    '  they entered junk
    For i = 1 To Len(Value)
        If IsNumeric(Mid$(Value, i, 1)) Then strTemp = strTemp & Mid$(Value, i, 
_
            1)
    Next
    If IsRequired And Len(strTemp) = 0 Then
        IsValidCreditCardNumber = False
    End If

    'Handle different lengths for different credit card types
    Select Case Mid$(strTemp, 1, 1)
        Case "3"    'Amex
            If Len(strTemp) <> 15 Then
                IsValidCreditCardNumber = False
            Else
                Value = Mid$(strTemp, 1, 4) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 5, _
                    6) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 11, 5)
            End If
        Case "4"    'Visa
            If Len(strTemp) <> 16 Then
                IsValidCreditCardNumber = False
            Else
                Value = Mid$(strTemp, 1, 4) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 5, _
                    4) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 9, 4) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 13, 4)
            End If
        Case "5"    'Mastercard
            If Len(strTemp) <> 16 Then
                IsValidCreditCardNumber = False
            Else
                Value = Mid$(strTemp, 1, 4) & "-" & Mid$(strTemp, 5, _
                    4) & " ... (cont.)

IsValidPhoneField - Check whether a phone number is valid 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 VBS Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller

' Validate attributes of Phone data
' Returns True if valid, False if invalid
'
' Also returns the phone in formatted fashion (USA format).
' Will convert alphabetics to numeric
'
'Example:
'   If IsValidPhoneField(Value:="3034414444", ReformattedPhone:=strNewPhone,
'  '       IsRequired:=True, IsUSAPhone:=True) then ...

Function IsValidPhoneField(ByVal Caption As String, Value As Variant, _
    ReformattedPhone As String, Optional ByVal IsRequired As Boolean = True, _
    Optional ByVal IsUSAPhone As Boolean = True) As Boolean
    Dim intNbrDigits As Integer
    Dim strTemp As String
    Dim blnHasExtension As Boolean
    Dim strExtension As String
    Dim i As Integer

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    IsValidPhoneField = True
    Value = Trim$(Value)

    If Value = "" Then
        If IsRequired Then
            IsValidPhoneField = False
        Else
            Exit Function
        End If
    End If

    If Len(Value) > 25 Then
        IsValidPhoneField = False
    End If

    If IsUSAPhone Then
        intNbrDigits = 0
        strTemp = ""
        blnHasExtension = False

        'Extract the extension if there is one.
        If Len(Value) <= 7 Then
            For i = 1 To Len(Value)
                If UCase$(Mid(Value, i, 1)) <> "X" Then
                    strTemp = Trim(strTemp) + Mid(Value, i, 1)
                End If
            Next
            If Len(strTemp) = 7 Then
                strTemp = ""
            Else
                blnHasExtension = True
                strExtension = Trim(strTemp)
                strTemp = ""
                Value = ""
            End If
        End If

        For i = Len(Value) To 1 Step -1
            If UCase$(Mid(Value, i, 2)) = " X" Then
                blnHasExtension = True
                strExtension = Mid(Value, i + 2, Len(Value) - (i + 1))
 ... (cont.)

IsValidDateField - Check whether a date is valid 
Date: 7/22/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 VBS Level: Intermediate
Author: Steve Miller

Enum psDateTypes
    AnyValidDate    'Allows any valid date to be entered
    PastDate        'Only allows past dates (before today) to be entered
    FutureDate      'Only allows future dates (after today) to be entered
    TodayOrFuture   'Only allows today or future date to be entered
    TodayOrPast     'Only allows today or a previous day to be entered
End Enum

' Validate attributes of date data
' Returns True if valid, False if invalid
'
' Example:
'  If IsValidDateField(Value:="01/30/2001",
'  '       DateType:=psDateTypes.FutureDate, IsRequired:=True)

Function IsValidDateField(Value As Variant, Optional ByVal DateType As _
    psDateTypes = AnyValidDate, Optional ByVal IsRequired As Boolean = True) As 
_
    Boolean

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    Dim lngDate As Long
    Dim lngToday As Long

    IsValidDateField = True

    If IsRequired = True Then
        If IsNull(Value) Or Value = vbNullString Then
            IsValidDateField = False
        End If
    ElseIf IsNull(Value) Or Value = "" Then
        Value = Null
        Exit Function
    End If

    If IsDate(Value) Then
        lngDate = Format$(Value, "yyyymmdd")
        Select Case DateType
            Case psDateTypes.FutureDate
                If lngDate <= lngToday Then
                    IsValidDateField = False
                End If
            Case psDateTypes.PastDate
                If lngDate >= lngToday Then
                    IsValidDateField = False
                End If
            Case psDateTypes.TodayOrFuture
               If lngDate < lngToday Then
                    IsValidDateField = False
                End If
            Case psDateTypes.TodayOrPast
               If lngDate > lngToday Then
                    IsValidDateField = False
                End If
        End Select
    Else
        IsValidDateField = Fal ... (cont.)

CLSIDToProgID - Convert a CLSID into a ProgID 
Date: 5/5/1999
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Advanced
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function ProgIDFromCLSID Lib "ole32.dll" (pCLSID As Any, _
    lpszProgID As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CLSIDFromString Lib "ole32.dll" (ByVal lpszProgID As _
    Long, pCLSID As Any) As Long
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As _
    Any, source As Any, ByVal bytes As Long)

' Convert a string representation of a CLSID, including the
' surrounding brace brackets, into the corresponding ProgID.

Function CLSIDToProgID(ByVal CLSID As String) As String
    Dim pResult As Long, pChar As Long
    Dim char As Integer, length As Long
    ' No need to use a special UDT
    Dim guid(15) As Byte

    ' convert from string to a binary CLSID
    CLSIDFromString StrPtr(CLSID), guid(0)
    ' convert to a string, get pointer to result
    ProgIDFromCLSID guid(0), pResult
    ' find the terminating null char
    pChar = pResult - 2
    Do
        pChar = pChar + 2
        CopyMemory char, ByVal pChar, 2
    Loop While char
    ' now get the entire string in one operation
    length = pChar - pResult
    ' no need for a temporary string
    CLSIDToProgID = Space$(length \ 2)
    CopyMemory ByVal StrPtr(CLSIDToProgID), ByVal pResult, length
End Function

 

ProgIDToCLSID - Convert a ProgID into a CLSID 
Date: 5/5/1999 Updated: 7/31/99
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Advanced
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function CLSIDFromProgID Lib "ole32.dll" (ByVal lpszProgID As _
    Long, pCLSID As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function StringFromCLSID Lib "ole32.dll" (pCLSID As Any, _
    lpszProgID As Long) As Long
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As _
    Any, source As Any, ByVal bytes As Long)
Private Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib "ole32.dll" (ByVal pv As Long)

' Convert a ProgID (such as "Word.Application") into the
' string representation of its CLSID

Function ProgIdToCLSID(ByVal ProgID As String) As String
    Dim pResult As Long, pChar As Long
    Dim char As Integer, length As Long
    ' No need to use a special UDT
    Dim guid(15) As Byte
    
    ' get the CLSID in binary form
    CLSIDFromProgID StrPtr(ProgID), guid(0)
    ' convert to a string, get pointer to result
    StringFromCLSID guid(0), pResult
    ' find the terminating null char
    pChar = pResult - 2
    Do
        pChar = pChar + 2
        CopyMemory char, ByVal pChar, 2
    Loop While char
    ' now get the entire string in one operation
    length = pChar - pResult
    ' no need for a temporary string
    ProgIdToCLSID = Space$(length \ 2)
    CopyMemory ByVal StrPtr(ProgIdToCLSID), ByVal pResult, length
    ' release the memory allocated to the string
    CoTaskMemFree pResult
End Function

 

	An Image (GIF, JPEG, BMP, ICO, WMF and EMF) Viewer
	 
	Chensu
	 
	MFC application that can load, display and print almost any standard 
graphics image
	

	ColorSpace ATL Control
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	ATL version of the popular Corel PhotoHouse-like Color Chooser
	

	ColorSpace ATL Control
	 
	Andrew Whitechapel
	 
	22-Jul-2000
	 
	22-Jul-2000
	 
	ATL version of the popular Corel PhotoHouse-like Color Chooser
	

	Fake Frames
	 
	xicoloko
	 
	An article about faking frames to have pages with the same layout by 
using server side includes
	

	Structured Storage Class for ATL & MFC
	 
	Ales Krajnc
	 
	A Wrapper Class for most common IStorage methods and API calls.
	

	Full-Screen Dialog
	 
	Andrey Abelyashev
	 
	Enables you to have a dialog application occupy the entire screen 
(including taskbar area)
	

	An Automatic Build Incrementer for VC6
	 
	Curt Blackmon
	 
	Macros that enables Visual C++ developers to automatically increment 
their application revision numbers on each build
	

	An Automatic Build Incrementer for VC6
	 
	Curt Blackmon
	 
	21-Jul-2000
	 
	21-Jul-2000
	 
	Macros that enables Visual C++ developers to automatically increment 
their application revision numbers on each build
	

	QuickSplit Version 1.0
	 
	Dmitriy Okunev
	 
	Complete documented source code for popular utility that enables you to 
split large files for easier transfer is now multithreaded!
	

	CBattery Non-MFC Class
	 
	Daniel Chirca
	 
	C++ class wrapper for the battery related Windows Power Management API 
functions
	

	Full-Screen Dialog
	 
	Andrey Abelyashev
	 
	20-Jul-2000
	 
	20-Jul-2000
	 
	Enables you to have a dialog application occupy the entire screen 
(including taskbar area)
	

	Sunrise/Sunset Calculations
	 
	Brian Heilman
	 
	Code to help calculate sunrise and sunset times
	

	Function to Set Default Printer
	 
	Ivan Cerrato
	 
	COM component with method to allow for easy programmatic setting of 
default printer
	

	Beginner-Level COM Tutorial
	 
	Naveed Ahmed
	 
	Very quick and easy tutorial for someone looking to "get their feet 
wet" with COM
	

	Beginner-Level COM Tutorial
	 
	Naveed Ahmed
	 
	19-Jul-2000
	 
	19-Jul-2000
	 
	A very quick and easy tutorial for someone looking to "get their feet 
wet" with COM.
	

	Simple OpenGL Classes
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	Class for 3D graphics functions which can make visualization using 
engineering data
	

	Memory Allocation for High-Dimensional Data Structures
	 
	Yuantu Huang
	 
	
	

	18-Jul-2000
	 
	18-Jul-2000
	 
	String Types in Delphi
	 
	Delphi For Beginners: Understanding and managing string data types in 
Delphi's Object Pascal. Learn about differences between Short, Long, Wide and 
null-terminated strings.
	

Resize ListView's Columns to Account for their Contents

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal 
hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

Const LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH = &H1000 + 30
Const LVSCW_AUTOSIZE = 65535
Const LVSCW_AUTOSIZE_USEHEADER = 65534

' adjust the width of a ListView control so that each item is fully visible
' if second argument is True, column headers' width is also taken into account

Sub ListViewAdjustColumnWidth(LV As ListView, Optional AccountForHeaders As 
Boolean)
    Dim col As Integer, lParam As Long
    
    If AccountForHeaders Then
        lParam = LVSCW_AUTOSIZE_USEHEADER
    Else
        lParam = LVSCW_AUTOSIZE
    End If
    
    For col = 1 To LV.ColumnHeaders.Count
        SendMessage LV.hwnd, LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH, col, lParam
    Next
End Sub

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 32-bit or higher.

In this issue we discuss how to run your application as a Windows
Service (not an NT service).


basService
----------
This module shows how to make your application run as a service.
The main portion of these routines use the RegisterServiceProcess
function to tell Windows that your application should stay active
across Windows logins.  It will also keep your application from
showing up in the Ctrl-Alt-Del task listing. To use this module
just call ServiceInstall at the start up of your application and
ServiceUninstall at the end.

Microsoft describes this function as follows:

The RegisterServiceProcess Function

Applications started by the system using the RunServices and
RunServicesOnce keys will close when the user selects Close all
programs and log on as a different user from the Shutdown dialog
box. By calling the RegisterServiceProcess function, a Win32-based
application can prevent itself or any other Win32-based
application from being closed when the user logs off. Win32-based
applications registered in this manner close only when the system
is shut down.

The application should provide for different users logging on at
different times during its execution. The application can
distinguish between a user logging off and the system shutting
down by examining the lParam parameter of the WM_QUERYENDSESSION
and WM_ENDSESSION messages. If the user shuts down the system,
lParam is NULL. If the user logs off, lParam is set to
ENDSESSION_LOGOFF.


Methods

Public Sub ServiceInstall()

Install the running application as a service. An error will be
raised if this is unsuccessful.


Public Sub ServiceUninstall()

Uninstall the running application as a service.  An error will be
raised if this is unsuccessful.


Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the ServiceInstall and
ServiceUninstall routine.



Public Sub Main()
    ServiceInstall
    frm.Show
End Sub

Public frm_Unload(Cancel as Integer)
  ... (cont.)

	Encrypting Log Files
	 
	Daniel Madden
	 
	Demonstrates using encryption to protect sensitive application log file 
data.
	

	Custom Captions (including multi-line captions)
	 
	Dave Lorde
	 
	Simple customised Window captions, including multi-line captions
	

	Processing HTML Forms From a CHtmlView
	 
	Ted Crow
	 
	A simple method to processing HTML forms From a CHtmlView
	

	The WTL Documentation Project
	 
	Ben Burnett and Tim Deveaux
	 
	A framework in which to build a complete set of documentation for WTL. 
This is not complete, and will probably always be a work in progress.
	

	Framework for Creating Custom Window Captions
	 
	Dave Lorde
	 
	Fantastic set of classes to develop window content-sensitive captions 
(including colors and fonts)
	

	ATL: Firing Events from Worker Threads
	 
	Michael Lindig
	 
	Very cool solution to common problem of firing events from the worker 
thread of an ATL component
	

	Framework for Creating Custom Window Caption
	 
	Dave Lorde
	 
	16-Jul-2000
	 
	16-Jul-2000
	 
	This article presents some classes that make customising window 
captions really quick and easy.
	

	ATL: Firing Events from Worker Threads
	 
	Michael Lindig
	 
	16-Jul-2000
	 
	16-Jul-2000
	 
	A very cool solution to common problem of firing events from the worker 
thread of an ATL component.
	

MinimizeAllWindows - Minimize and restore all windows 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal _
    lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long 
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal _
    hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
    lParam As Any) As Long 

Const WM_COMMAND = &H111 
Const MIN_ALL = 419 
Const MIN_ALL_UNDO = 416 

' Minimize all the windows on the desktop (and optionally restore them)
' This has the same effect as pressing the Windows+M key combination

Sub MinimizeAllWindows(Optional Restore As Boolean)
    Dim hWnd As Long
    ' get the handle of the taskbar
    hWnd = FindWindow("Shell_TrayWnd", vbNullString) 
    ' Minimize or restore all windows
    If Restore Then
        SendMessage hWnd, WM_COMMAND, MIN_ALL_UNDO, ByVal 0&
    Else
        SendMessage hWnd, WM_COMMAND, MIN_ALL, ByVal 0&
    End If
End Sub 


 

ArrayAny - Return an initialized array of any type 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

' Returns an array and initializes it with passed data.
'
' It is similar to the Array function, but it works with
' array of any type. The type of the returned array is
' assumed to be the type of the first element in the
' parameter list, so you might need to force a given
' data type using one of the VB's data conversion functions
'
' Example: return the array of the first 8 prime numbers, as Longs
'     primes() = ArrayAny(2&, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19)
'  or
'     primes() = ArrayAny(CLng(2), 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19)

Function ArrayAny(ParamArray values() As Variant) As Variant
    Dim i As Long
    Dim maxEl As Long
    Dim res As Variant
    
    maxEl = UBound(values)
    
    ' we can't use the vbObject constant for objects
    ' because the VarType() function might return
    ' the type of the object's default property
    If IsObject(values(0)) Then
        ReDim arrObj(0 To maxEl) As Object
        ' we need a separate loop, too
        For i = 0 To maxEl
            Set arrObj(i) = values(i)
        Next
        ArrayAny = arrObj()
        Exit Function
    End If
    
    ' create different arrays, depending on the
    ' type of the first argument
    Select Case VarType(values(0))
        Case vbInteger
            ReDim arrInt(0 To maxEl) As Integer
            res = arrInt()
        Case vbLong
            ReDim arrLng(0 To maxEl) As Long
            res = arrLng()
        Case vbSingle
            ReDim arrSng(0 To maxEl) As Single
            res = arrSng()
        Case vbDouble
            ReDim arrDbl(0 To maxEl) As Double
            res = arrDbl()
        Case vbCurrency
            ReDim arrCur(0 To maxEl) As Currency
            res = arrCur()
        Case vbString
            ReDim arrStr(0 To maxEl) As String
            res = arrStr()
        Case vbDate
            ReDim arrDat(0 To maxEl) As Date
 ... (cont.)

MaxSystemColors - The number of screen colors 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Private Declare Function GetDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function ReleaseDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
    ByVal hDC As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDC As Long, _
    ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
Private Const BITSPIXEL = 12
Private Const PLANES = 14

' returns the max number of colors supported by the video card

Function MaxSystemColors() As Long
    Dim hWnd As Long
    Dim hDC As Long
    Dim bitsPerPixel As Long
    Dim colorPlanes As Long
    Dim bits As Integer
    
    ' get the device context of the desktop window
    hWnd = GetDesktopWindow()
    hDC = GetDC(hWnd)
    ' the number of bits per pixels
    bitsPerPixel = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, BITSPIXEL)
    ' the number of color planes
    colorPlanes = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, PLANES)
    ' number of bits for each pixel
    bits = bitsPerPixel * colorPlanes
    ' no video card has more than 1.6 million colors
    If bits > 24 Then bits = 24
    ' evaluate the result
    MaxSystemColors = 2 ^ bits
    ' release the device context
    ReleaseDC hWnd, hDC
End Function

 

Beware of hidden circular references between a form and an object 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Many VB developers use a class module to augment the capabilities of a control 
on a form. For example, consider this simple example, that formats a currency 
value in a TextBox control when the focus leaves the control: 

' ------ the FORM1 module
Dim Formatter As New CFormatter

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ' bind the object to a textbox
    Set Formatter.TextBox = Text1
End Sub

' -------- the CFORMATTER class module
Public WithEvents TextBox As TextBox

Private Sub TextBox_LostFocus()
    ' format the value when the focus leaves the control
    TextBox.Text = Format(TextBox.Text, "###,##0.00")
End Sub


The above code contains an hidden circular reference between the form and the 
instance of the CFormatter class. The circular reference isn't apparent at 
first, because the CFormatter object references the Text1 control, not the form 
itself. However, because the Text1 control - or any other control for that 
matter - can exist without its parent form, this creates the circular reference.

This hidden circular reference can cause a memory leak in your application. In 
fact, when the VB attempts to unloadsì the form, the reference to Text1 in the 
Formatter object prevents the form from completely unloading. On the other 
hand, the Formatter object will never go out of scope, and therefore will never 
set its TextBox reference to Nothing. This will keep both the form and the 
class alive forever, keeping memory until your app terminates. 

The simplest way to resolve this circular reference is to explicitly set the 
Formatter variable to Nothing in the Unload event: 

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    ' this breaks the circular reference
    Set Formatter = Nothing
End Sub
 

Let the user copy floppy disks 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

The simplest way to help user copy a floppy disk is display the Copy Disk 
system dialog. You can do this with a one-line statement: 

Shell "rundll32.exe diskcopy.dll,DiskCopyRunDll 0,0"

 

Retrieve the length of a media file (WAV, AVI, MIDI) 
Date: 7/15/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

You can retrieve the length of a standard windows media file (WAV, AVI or MIDI) 
using simple MCI functions. First, you must open the file with: 

Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm" Alias "mciSendStringA" (ByVal _
    lpstrCommand As String, ByVal lpstrReturnString As String, _
    ByVal uReturnLength As Long, ByVal hwndCallback As Long) As Long

CommandString = "Open " & FileName" & " alias MediaFile"
mciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, 0, 0&

where MediaFile is an arbitrary name (an alias) that you then use in subsequent 
command strings. FileName is the full path of the media file and must be in the 
short format 8+3 characters. Now you can get file length in milliseconds: 

Dim MediaLength as Long
Dim RetString As String * 256
Dim CommandString As String

CommandString = "Set MediaFile time format milliseconds"
mciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, 0, 0&
CommandString = "Status MediaFile length"
MciSendString CommandString, RetString, Len(RetString), 0&
MediaLength = CLng(RetString)

Now, the MediaLength variable containes the length of the media file. You only 
have to close the MCI device, with 
CommandString = "Close MediaFile"
MciSendString CommandString, vbNullString, 0, 0&

 

	An Automatic Build Incrementer for VC6
	 
	Curt Blackmon
	 
	An article on how to add an automatic build incrementer to VC6
	

	Maximizing or minimizing a view window from your program
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

	Stop your application to open an empty document at start-up
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

	Create a new document from your program or open an existing program 
without using MFC New or Open menu options
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

	Doc-View Architecture - Part 1
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

	How to display running text in a list box?
	 
	A dialog base application which displays running text in a list control
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

	How to get sub menu on runtime?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	 
	12-Jul-2000
	

Download A Page From The Internet Without Any Controls

You can easily download an HTML page using the Internet Transfer Control that 
comes with VB. However, achieving the same result with plain VB code and some 
API functions is so easy that you might want to give it a try. The following 
function takes the URL of a page in its first argument, and saves the content 
of that page in the local file specified as its second argument.

Const INTERNET_OPEN_TYPE_PRECONFIG = 0
Const INTERNET_FLAG_EXISTING_CONNECT = &H20000000

Private Declare Function InternetOpen Lib "wininet.dll" _
        Alias "InternetOpenA" (ByVal lpszAgent As String, _
        ByVal dwAccessType As Long, ByVal lpszProxyName As String, _
        ByVal lpszProxyBypass As String, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function InternetOpenUrl Lib "wininet.dll" Alias 
"InternetOpenUrlA" _
        (ByVal hInternetSession As Long, ByVal lpszUrl As String, _
        ByVal lpszHeaders As String, ByVal dwHeadersLength As Long, _
        ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwContext As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function InternetCloseHandle Lib "wininet.dll" _
        (ByVal hInet As Long) As Integer
Private Declare Function InternetReadFile Lib "wininet.dll" _
        (ByVal hFile As Long, ByVal lpBuffer As String, _
        ByVal dwNumberOfBytesToRead As Long, lNumberOfBytesRead As Long) As 
Integer

' Download a file from the Internet and save it to a local file
'
' it works with HTTP and FTP, but you must explicitly include
' the protocol name in the URL, as in
'    CopyURLToFile "http://mailer.devx.com/cgi-bin3/flo?y=eC4z01V8M0lQ0dH6w", 
"C:\vb2themax.htm"

Sub CopyURLToFile(ByVal URL As String, ByVal FileName As String)
    Dim hInternetSession As Long
    Dim hUrl As Long
    Dim FileNum As Integer
    Dim ok As Boolean
    Dim NumberOfBytesRead As Long
    Dim Buffer As String
    Dim fileIsOpen As Boolean

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

    ' check obvious syntax errors
    If Len(URL) = 0 Or Len ... (cont.)

	CEditLog: fast logging into an edit control with cout
	 
	Daniel Lohmann
	 
	Use an edit control for logging messages and redirect cout
	

	11-Jul-2000
	 
	11-Jul-2000
	  
	How to format drives from Visual Basic
	 
	Your About VB guide uncovers an undocumented API function that makes it 
easy to format drives from within Visual Basic. Check it out!
	

	11-Jul-2000
	 
	11-Jul-2000
	 
	Traveling Label
	 
	Spice up your user interface with a marquee style text. Use marquee 
style text to display scrolling text that you want to catch your Delphi program 
users' attention.
	

	Simple Row Insert for CListCtrl
	 
	Daniel Zuppinger
	 
	This simple CListCtrl extension allows easy row insertion when in 
Report mode.
	

	Band Objects: A beginners tutorial from scratch
	 
	A simple tutorial with examples and sample code attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	How to get total and free space of a drive?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	How to get all available drive on a system?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	How to delete a directory and its contents?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	How to get full path of an application?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	How to place an integer value in MessageBox() API function?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	

	Using MS Office in an MFC Application
	 
	Igor Tkachev
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	Illustrated how to intergrate MFC applications with MS Office
	

	Outlook Express (OE) Reader Class
	 
	Mladen Bonev
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	10-Jul-2000
	 
	This article presents a Outlook Express (IE4) class reader that can 
read through your OE files and retrieve such things as folder names, message 
subjects and message bodies
	

	Creating a window using ATL Windowing
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	09-Jul-2000
	 
	09-Jul-2000
	 
	Step 1: Start new Win32 Application project.
	 
	Step 2: Include these lines in your stdafx.h file.
	 
 #include 
 extern CComModule _Module;
 #include 
  
	The atlbase.h class is basic ATL support. ATL Windowing classes are 
defined in atlwin.h. CComModule is a global class similar to CWinApp in MFC. 
The _comModule is a global variable represents the application.
	 
	Step 3: Now write this code into your WinMain function. You WinMain 
should look like this:
	 
 int APIENTRY WinMain( HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int )
 {
 _Module.Init( NULL, hInstance );
 
 // Create an instance of CMcbWindow
 CMcbWindow atlWnd;
 atlWnd.Create( NULL, CWindow::rcDefault, _T("Mahesh's ATL Window"),
 WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW|WS_VISIBLE );
 
 MSG msg;
 while( GetMessage( &msg, NULL, 0, 0 ) )
 {
 TranslateMessage( &msg );
 DispatchMessage( &msg );
 }
 
 _Module.Term();
 return msg.wParam;
 }
  
	Step 4: Derive CMcbWindow class from CWindowImpl and write OnPaint and 
OnDestroy functions.
	 
 // NOTE: See the template parameter. Its CMcbWindow
 class CMcbWindow : public CWindowImpl
 {
 // START MESSAGE_MAP
 BEGIN_MSG_MAP( CMcbWindow )
 MESSAGE_HANDLER( WM_PAINT, OnPaint )
 MESSAGE_HANDLER( WM_DESTROY, OnDestroy )
 END_MSG_MAP()
 // END MESSAGE_MAP
 
 // This function will paint a Hello mindcracker string
 LRESULT OnPaint( UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM, BOOL& )
 {
 PAINTSTRUCT ps;
 HDC hDC = GetDC();
 BeginPaint( &ps );
 TextOut( hDC, 0, 0, _T("Hello mindcracker"), 17 );
 EndPaint( &ps );
 return 0;
 }
 
 LRESULT OnDestroy( UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM, BOOL& ){
 PostQuitMessage( 0 );
 return 0;
 }
 };
  
	Step 5: Define CComModule _Module extern variable.
	 
 // ATLWnd.cpp : Defines the entry point for the application.
 #include "stdafx.h"
 CComModule _Module;
  
	Step 6: Compile and Run your program.
	

	Making dialup connection using WinInet
	 
	A tool to generate class files to implement stored procedures
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	09-Jul-2000
	 
	09-Jul-2000
	

	Dynamic Dialog Class
	 
	Marcel Scherpenisse
	 
	9-Jul-2000
	 
	9-Jul-2000
	 
	These classes are being used for displaying a modal dialog, on which 
the controls are dynamically added, without the need of having a dialog 
template as resource.
	

	Print Bitmaps Without Document/View Framework
	 
	Weimin Chen
	 
	Software Developer
	

	Deleting a file or folder with its contents
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	Moving a file or a folder from one place to other
	. 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	Search for a file on your system
	. 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	Get size of a file in number of bytes?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	Copy a directory and its sub directories to other directory
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	Create a file and write data to this new file
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	 
	06-Jul-2000
	

	The Code Project Discussion boards
	 
	Uwe Keim and Chris Maunder
	 
	The Discussion board ASP scripts as used in The Code Project. This is 
an open source project for the Code Project community.
	

	An introduction to TCP/IP
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	

	Customizing your web browser - Part 1
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	

	History, definition, and owner of the Internet
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	

	Web definition and working theory
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	 
	05-Jul-2000
	

	User-settings class for ATL/WTL projects
	 
	Peter Kenyon
	 
	A helper class for storing user settings in the Registry, similar to 
MFC's CWinApp
	

	04-Jul-2000
	 
	04-Jul-2000
	 
	Browse for Computers, Folders, Files and Printers
	 
	Use Delphi (and API) to display the directory structure of a computer 
and allow a user to select a folder without using the Common Dialog control. 
Plus: select a printer or network computer.
	

	Add Mouse Wheel support to Swing Widgets
	 
	Davanum Srinivas
	 
	This article shows how to add support for Mouse Wheel for Java Swing 
Widgets
	

	How to change fonts of static button or other controls?
	 
	Sample project attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	

	How to disable a control such as an Edit button?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	

	How to create a simple MTS component using ATL Object Wizard
	. 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	

	AVI Viewer
	 
	A dialog base MFC application which let you browse and view AVI files.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	 
	03-Jul-2000
	

	CResizeCtrl: A resize control to implement resizable dialogs with MFC
	 
	Herbert Menke
	 
	
	

	Center CMDIChildWnds and Other Tips
	 
	Brian Hart
	 
	Center CMDIChildWnds in the client area of the main frame window
	

	Drag and Drop between JList and Windows Explorer
	 
	Davanum Srinivas
	 
	Pure Java Sample for Drag and Drop between Swing based JList and 
Windows Explorer
	

	Creating a Dialog box using ATL Object Wizard
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	02-Jul-2000
	 
	02-Jul-2000
	 
	There are two ways to add a dialog box. If you are developing an 
ATL/COM dll then you can use ATL Object Wizard to add a dialog. Here are the 
steps:
	 
	Step 1: Go to Insert ATL Object, Select Category - Miscellaneous and 
double click on Dialog.
	 
	Step 2: Insert MyDlg as Short Name. And click Ok.
	 
	This wizard adds a class CMyDlg into your project. This class is 
derived from CAxDialogImpl.
	 
 class CMyDlg : public CAxDialogImpl
  
	This class has OnInitDialog and handlers for Ok and Cancel buttons. You 
can modify this dialog according to your needs.
	 
	Now you can create this dialog box modal or modeless. For modal dialog 
box :
	 
 #include "mydlg.h"
 
 CMyDlg dlg;
 Dlg.DoModal();
  
	for Modeless, call Create member function.
	 
 #include "mydlg.h"
 
 CMyDlg dlg;
 Dlg.Create( ::GetDestopWindow());
 
 dlg.ShowWindow( SW_SHOWNORMAL);
  
	For more details on ATL Windowing, see ATL Tutorial by example.
	

	Loading a Control specified at runtime
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	02-Jul-2000
	 
	02-Jul-2000
	 
	Call AtlAxWinInit();
	 
	Create a CAxWindow object CAxWindow wnd ;
	 
	Create a host window
	 
 RECT rect = { 0, 0, 100, 100 };
 wnd.Create(m_hWnd, rect, _T("MSCAL.Calendar"), WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE|IBLE |
 WS_CLIPSIBLINGS | WS_CLIPCHILDREN, WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE);
  
	For more details on ATL Windowing, see ATL Tutorial by example.
	

Add a Scripting Engine to Your Application 

  It's easy to add scripting functionality to your VB project, especially if 
you have been developing through classes all along. The more classes you 
program, the more objects you can expose to your script language. You can use 
both VBScript and JScript as the basis for your scripting engine. 

First, download the Microsoft Script Control from MSDN. Install the control 
according to the instructions provided. You might need to register the control 
manually (run regsvr32 on it). The footprint on this control is low; the whole 
download including help is only 243K. Next, create a script file with a text 
editor such as Notepad: 

Sub Main()
	MsgBox "Hello, world"
End Sub

Save it as c:\temp.txt and add this code to your application: 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
	Dim iFileNum As Long
	Dim sFileBuffer As String
	Dim sTemp As String
	iFileNum = FreeFile()
	Open "c:\temp.txt" For Input As #iFileNum
		Do While Not EOF(iFileNum)
			Line Input #iFileNum, sTemp
			sFileBuffer = sFileBuffer & sTemp & _
				vbCrLf
		Loop
	Close #iFileNum
	ScriptControl1.Reset
	ScriptControl1.AddCode (sFileBuffer)
	ScriptControl1.Run "Main"
End sub

You have now successfully implemented a scripting engine. You can expose 
objects in your application like this: 

Private Sub Command1_Click()
	Dim objMyClass As New MyClassNameHere
	With dlgCommon
		.ShowOpen
		sFileName = .FileName
	End With
	iFileNum = FreeFile()
	Open sFileName For Input As #iFileNum
		While Not EOF(iFileNum)
			Line Input #iFileNum, sTemp
			sFileBuffer = sFileBuffer & sTemp & vbCrLf
		Wend
	Close #iFileNum
	ScriptControl1.Reset
	ScriptControl1.AddObject "Database", objMyClass
	ScriptControl1.AddCode (sFileBuffer)
	ScriptControl1.Run "Main"
End sub

You can even try code such as this to give ad hoc capabilities to an 
application: 

ScriptControl1.ExecuteStatement "x = 100"
MsgBox ScriptControl1.Eval("x = 100")  ' True
MsgBox ScriptControl1.Eval("x = 100/2")  ' Fal ... (cont.)

Can you please tell me how we can specify the timeout interval after which the 
application will automatically terminate itself. The idea is to terminate the 
application when there is no activity in the application for a certain 
predefined time interval. 

Developer.com Expert Rod Stephen's Answer:

Create a variable to keep track of the timeout time like this: 

    Private m_TimeoutTime As Date

Write a routine that resets this time to some time in the future. 

    ' Set the timeout for 15 seconds from now.
    Private Sub SetTimeout()
        m_TimeoutTime = DateAdd("s", 15, Date + Time)
        lblTimeout.Caption = m_TimeoutTime
    End Sub

Invoke this routine whenever the user does something that should keep the 
program active. 

    Private Sub Text1_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
        SetTimeout
    End Sub

Finally, use a timer to see if it's time to quit the application. 

    ' See if it's time to quit.
    Private Sub tmrTimeout_Timer()
        If Date + Time > m_TimeoutTime Then Unload Me
    End Sub

For an example program, go to www.vb-helper.com/ and click the "Make a program 
close itself if it has been inactive for too long" link. 

Get the handle of the edit portion of a ComboBox 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

The ComboBox control contains an invisible Edit window, which is used for the 
edit area. In most cases you don't need to access this inner control directly, 
but occasionally a direct control of that window can be useful. The first thing 
to do is get the handle of such inner Edit control, which you do with the 
following code:


Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowExA" (ByVal 
_
    hWnd1 As Long, ByVal hWnd2 As Long, ByVal lpsz1 As String, _
    ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long

Dim editHWnd As Long
editHWnd = FindWindowEx(Combo1.hWnd, 0&, vbNullString, vbNullString)

Once you have the handle of the control, you can exploit all the usual 
low-level techniques, using API functions such as SendMessage, SetWindowLong, 
or subclassing. For example, you can force uppercase characters as follows: 

Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowExA" (ByVal 
_
    hWnd1 As Long, ByVal hWnd2 As Long, ByVal lpsz1 As String, _
    ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" _
    (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowLongA" _
    (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long

Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)
Const ES_UPPERCASE = &H8&

Dim editHWnd As Long, style As Long

' get the handle of the inner Edit control
editHWnd = FindWindowEx(Combo1.hwnd, 0&, vbNullString, vbNullString)
' get its current Style
style = GetWindowLong(editHWnd, GWL_STYLE)
' set the ES_UPPERCASE bit
SetWindowLong editHWnd, GWL_STYLE, style Or ES_UPPERCASE
 

Create arrowed buttons without icons 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB4 VB5 VB6 Level: Beginner
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

You don't need to use icons or bitmap to create buttons with arrows on them. In 
fact, you just have to select the "Windings" font, set a suitable font size 
(e.g. 12 or 14 points), and then enter one of these characters:

Line arrows
Chr$(223) Left Arrow
Chr$(224) Right Arrow
Chr$(225) Up Arrow
Chr$(226) Down Arrow
Chr$(227) Up-Left Arrow
Chr$(228) Up-Right Arrow
Chr$(229) Down-Left Arrow
Chr$(230) Down-Right Arrow

Solid arrows
Chr$(231) Left Arrow
Chr$(232) Right Arrow
Chr$(233) Up Arrow
Chr$(234) Down Arrow
Chr$(235) Up-Left Arrow
Chr$(236) Up-Right Arrow
Chr$(237) Down-Left Arrow
Chr$(238) Down-Right Arrow

Outlined arrows
Chr$(239) Left Arrow
Chr$(240) Right Arrow
Chr$(241) Up Arrow
Chr$(242) Down Arrow
Chr$(245) Up-Left Arrow [note the gap here]
Chr$(246) Up-Right Arrow
Chr$(247) Down-Left Arrow
Chr$(248) Down-Right Arrow

This font include many other useful symbols, such as hands, airplanes, 
mailboxes, astrological signs, smileys, circled digits, checkmarks, and more. 
 

Prevent dragging elements in a ListView control 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Advanced
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

The ListView control doesn't expose any property that lets you disable the 
dragging of its elements. To do so, you must trap the WM_NOTIFY message that 
the ListView control sends its parent form when the drag operation begins, and 
"eat" it. Using the MSGHOOK.DLL subclassing library it's easy to accomplish it: 

' REQUIRES THE MSGHOOK.DLL LIBRARY

Const WM_NOTIFY = &H4E
Const LVN_FIRST = -100&
Const LVN_BEGINDRAG = (LVN_FIRST - 9)

Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (dest As _
    Any, source As Any, ByVal bytes As Long)

Private Type NMHDR
   hwndFrom As Long
   idFrom As Long
   code As Long
End Type

Dim WithEvents FormHook As MsgHook

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ' start subclassing the current form
    Set FormHook = New MsgHook
    FormHook.StartSubclass Me

    ' fill the ListView1 control with data
    ' ... (omitted) ...
End Sub

' this event fires when the form is sent a message

Private Sub FormHook_BeforeMessage(uMsg As Long, wParam As Long, lParam As 
Long, _
    retValue As Long, Cancel As Boolean)
    
    ' the ListView might be notifying something to its parent form
    If uMsg = WM_NOTIFY Then
        ' copy the MNHDR structure pointed
        ' to by lParam to a local UDT
        Dim nmh As NMHDR
        CopyMemory nmh, ByVal lParam, Len(nmh)

        ' check whether the notification is from the ListView1 control
        ' and whether it's the beginning of a drag operation
        If nmh.hwndFrom = ListView1.hWnd And nmh.code = LVN_BEGINDRAG Then
            ' yes, cancel this operation
            retValue = 1
            Cancel = True
        End If
    End If
End Sub

 

Load items faster in the TreeView and ListView controls 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB4/32 VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

There is an easy, but under-utilized, technique for loading many nodes in a 
TreeView control (or ListItems in a ListView control) that is faster than the 
standard technique. Consider this loop: 

For i = 1 To 5000
    TreeView1.Nodes.Add , , , "Node " & i
Next

Instead of repeatedly query the TreeView1 object for its Nodes collection, you 
can store it in a temporary object variable: 

Dim nods As MSComctlLib.Nodes
Set nods = TreeView1.Nodes
    
For i = 1 To 5000
    nods.Add , , , "Node " & i
Next

You don't even need the temporary variable, if you use a With block: 
With TreeView1.Nodes
    For i = 1 To 5000
        .Add , , , "Node " & i
    Next
End With

On my system, these optimized loops run about 40% faster than the standard code 
showed above. This faster speed can be explained as follows: by storing the 
Nodes collection in a temporary variable (or using the hidden temporary 
variable that VB builds behind the With block), you avoid to bind the Nodes 
object to its parent TreeView1 object inside the loop. Because this latter 
binding is based on the inefficient dispid-binding, this step trims a lot of 
unnecessary overhead inside the loop.

The same reasoning applies to other ActiveX controls: 

- the ListItems, ListSubItems, and ColumnHeaders collections of the ListView 
control 
- the Buttons and ButtonMenus collection of the Toolbar control 
- the ListImages collection of the ImageList control 
- the Panels collection of the StatusBar control 
- the Tabs collection of the TabStrip control 
- the ComboItems collection of the ImageCombo control the Columns collection of 
the DataGrid control and more in general, whenever you have an ActiveX control 
that exposes a collection that you use inside a loop. 
 

Limit the length of an item in a ListView control 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

The ListView control doesn't expose any property that lets you limit the amount 
of text users can type when editing an item's label. However, you can do the 
trick with a couple of SendMessage API calls from within the BeforeLabelEdit 
event: with the LVM_GETEDITCONTROL message you retrieve the handle of the 
hidden Edit control that the ListView creates for let the user edit the node. 
If you then send the EM_LIMITTEXT message to this Edit control you can put a 
limit to the text that can be typed in this control: 

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal _
    hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
    lParam As Any) As Long
Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Const LVM_GETEDITCONTROL = (LVM_FIRST + 24)
Const EM_LIMITTEXT = &HC5

' limit the text that can be typed in ListView's item to 10 characters

Private Sub ListView1_BeforeLabelEdit(Cancel As Integer)
    Dim editHWnd As Long
    ' get the handle of the ListView's Edit control
    editHWnd = SendMessage(ListView1.hWnd, LVM_GETEDITCONTROL, 0, ByVal 0&)
    ' send it a EM_LIMITTEXT message to limit its length
    SendMessage editHWnd, EM_LIMITTEXT, 10, 0
End Sub

Once you now the method you can perform some other tricks with the Edit 
control. For example, you can automatically convert all text to uppercase: 

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal _
    hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
    lParam As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" _
    (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowLongA" _
    (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
Private Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)

Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Const LVM_GETEDITCONT ... (cont.)

Get full control on the text typed in a ListView's item
 
Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

The ListView control exposes the AfterLabelEdit event to let the programmer 
validate the text entered in a ListItem, but there is no way to trap keys as 
they are typed by the user. This prevents you from discarding unwanted 
characters while the user types them.

You can work around this problem by subclassing the Edit control that the 
ListView control creates when entering the node edit mode. The following code 
uses the MSGHOOK.DLL library, that you can download from the FileBank on this 
site, to discard digits and convert all text to uppercase: 

' REQUIRES THE MSGHOOK.DLL LIBRARY

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal _
    hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
    lParam As Any) As Long
Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Const LVM_GETEDITCONTROL = (LVM_FIRST + 24)

Dim WithEvents TVHook As MsgHook

' start subclassing of the Edit control used when in edit mode

Private Sub ListView1_BeforeLabelEdit(Cancel As Integer)
    Dim editHWnd As Long
    
    ' get the handle of the TreeView's Edit control
    editHWnd = SendMessage(ListView1.hWnd, LVM_GETEDITCONTROL, 0, ByVal 0&)
    ' subclass it
    LVHook.StartSubclass editHWnd
End Sub

' stop subclassing when exiting edit mode

Private Sub ListView1_AfterLabelEdit(Cancel As Integer, NewString As String)
    LVHook.StopSubclass
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Set LVHook = New MsgHook
End Sub

' discard digits as they are entered by the user
' and convert all text to uppercase

Private Sub LVHook_BeforeMessage(uMsg As Long, wParam As Long, lParam As Long, _
    retValue As Long, Cancel As Boolean)
    If uMsg = WM_CHAR Then
        ' wParam contains the character code
        If wParam >= 48 And wParam <= 57 Then
            ' discard digits
            Cancel = True
        ElseIf wParam >= Asc("a") And wParam < ... (cont.)

 
Determine the number of visible items in a ListView control 

Date: 7/1/2000 
Versions: VB5 VB6 Level: Intermediate
Author: The VB2TheMax Team

Microsoft "forgot" to provide the ListView control with the GetVisibleCount 
property, as it did, for example, with the TreeView control. However, getting 
this information is as easy as sending a message to the control: 

Private Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Private Const LVM_GETCOUNTPERPAGE = (LVM_FIRST + 40)
Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal _
    hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
    lParam As Any) As Long

' Return the number of visible items in a ListView control

Private Function ListViewGetVisibleCount(LV As ListView) As Long
   ListViewGetVisibleCount = SendMessage(LV.hwnd, LVM_GETCOUNTPERPAGE, 0&, _
       ByVal 0&)
End Function

 
 

	Palettes and 256 Colors
	 
	Moishe Halibard
	  
	Despite the advantages of 32-bit color, palettized displays are still 
with us. For most machines, Graphics is simply faster in good old 256-color 
mode. But that means sharing a single color palette among multiple 
applications. Here are some tips and explanations to make the job easier.
	

	NT Handle-to-Path Convertor
	 
	Jim Conyngham
	  
	Sometimes your code has to use a File Handle that it did not open 
itself. What if you want the associated Filename to display in an error 
message? Usually, you’re out of luck, but it turns out that under NT you can, 
in most cases, obtain the pathname associated with an open file handle.
	

	Understanding NT: How to use Performance Counters
	 
	Paula Tomlinson
	  
	Performance counters are a way for NT applications to publish or access 
internal process information. For example, your NT program can read a 
performance counter to find out how many TCP/IP connections are open, or how 
much memory is currently committed. This is the first of a three-part series 
that explains in detail how to use performance counters.
	

	Two AttachThreadInput() Tricks
	 
	Joe Fitzpatrick
	 
	Fun things you can do to other processes with AttachThreadInput().
	

	Creating ADO Connection Strings at Run Time
	 
	Arnaud Aubert
	 
	A function to construct the necessary string for connecting to a 
database via an ActiveX Data Object.
	

	Passing VARIANT_BOOL* via IDispatch
	 
	Shahar Prish
	 
	The ATL wizard can generate bad code for this case, so watch out.
	

	Using a Background Thread
	 
	Petter Hesselberg
	  
	Although no longer an absolute requirement, the Windows window 
messaging model still has a strong single-threaded orientation. This column 
looks at some of the issues you should think about when you decide to involve 
more than one thread in your user interface, and includes a dialog that uses a 
background thread to update information from the Internet.
	

	Extend Office With ATL Add-ins
	 
	Brian Noyes
	 
	Need additional or specialized capabilities in Office 2000? Use ATL to 
build a COM add-in component that extends the functionality of Office apps.
	

	Build Versatile 3-D Apps
	 
	Max Fomitchev
	 
	Create a versatile 3-D framework that handles common operations and 
ensures your application executes correctly on different configurations.
	

	Integrate COM Components
	 
	Brian Noyes
	 
	Most COM programming documentation focuses on developing components, 
not using them. Learn how to integrate COM components into your app quickly and 
easily.
	

	Get Started With the VC++ AppWizard
	 
	Bill Wagner
	 
	Learn to modify AppWizard auto-generated files in this first part of a 
series designed to help you use Visual C++ effectively.
	

	Incorporate XML-Based Services
	 
	Brian K Holman
	 
	XML is here to stay, so start using it! Get up to speed on this new 
standard, then find out how to traverse and manipulate XML document structures.
	

	Register COM+ Event Classes
	 
	Richard Grimes
	 
	Using ATL to register and install COM+ event classes, you can eliminate 
their implementation, reducing the size and increasing the load speed of your 
COM+ DLLs.
	

	Understanding the Free-Threaded Marshaler
	 
	George Shepherd
	 
	COM’s free-threaded marshaler lets you write in-process COM objects 
spanning all the execution contexts within a process.
	

	Reformat Extracted ODBC Data
	 
	Tom Creighton
	 
	Create a set of object classes that lets you retrieve data from ODBC 
Databases and reformat it to suit your needs.
	

	Detect Library Startup and Shutdown
	 
	Karl E Peterson
	  
	ActiveX DLLs don't offer a standard way to detect library termination, 
but our pro tells you how it's done.
	

	Audit Data Efficiently
	 
	R Mark Tucker
	  
	Add auditing to your apps by choosing from 12 methods that use Triggers 
or Stored Procedures.
	

	Modify a Variable’s Pointer
	 
	Bill McCarthy
	  
	Modify a variable's pointer to share data between your applications, to 
point to a Memory Mapped File, or to manipulate data using pointers.
	

	Code Faster With a String Parser
	 
	Francesco Balena
	  
	Your coding process gets easier and faster if you think of your source 
code as data. The author shows you how to create a utility that automates your 
code editing process.
	

	Create 3-D Graphics With DX7
	 
	Jonny Anderson
	  
	VB developers have long pined for the ability to implement DirectX 7 
(DX7) directly from VB. This article walks you through the process of 
installing DX7 and creating a simple 3-D application.
	

	Organize Data With Stacks and Queues
	 
	Nick Snowdon
	  
	Queues and stacks serve a similar purpose, but operate on quite 
different principles. Learn how to use these basic Data Structures to organize 
your data.
	

	Write Complex Queries With MDX
	 
	Andrew J Brust
	  
	If you think the MultiDimensional eXpression (MDX) Query language is 
hard to learn, you're not alone. However, MDX comes to the rescue with advanced 
functionality and properties to help you write useful and more powerful queries.
	

	Design for COM+
	 
	Dan Fox
	  
	Learn to design simple and robust distributed applications with COM+. 
You can make your life easier by taking advantage of COM+ design features to 
create powerful, more flexible systems that will save you time and prevent 
programming headaches.
	

	Use SQL With ADO
	 
	Stan Schultes
	  
	Using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) in your VB code to build and execute 
SQL statements is easier than you might think. Check out the advantages of 
using ADO.
	

	Manage Resources With WMI
	 
	L J Johnson
	  
	Tired of using the API and Registry entries if you manage the resources 
on one or more computers? Create a network computer management program with 
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and VB.
	

	Go Beyond OO With CBD
	 
	Deborah Kurata
	 
	Component-based Development is the way to go for today’’s desktop and 
Web development. Take advantage of the benefits it has to offer.
	

	Write Intelligent Transact-SQL
	 
	Mary V Hooke
	  
	Take advantage of Transact-SQL functionality to streamline data and 
process logic in your Stored Procedures.
	

	Improve Web Development With ASP 3
	 
	A Russell Jones
	  
	ASP 3 offers several new features that can make your Web development 
process easier. Here’s how to use these features to improve scalability and 
responsiveness.
	

	Exchange 2000: Web Storage System, Workflow Tools, and CDO Turbocharge 
Collaboration Apps
	 
	Sean McCormick
	

	Create Dynamic Digital Dashboards Using Microsoft Office 2000, OLAP, 
and DHTML
	 
	Todd Abel
	

	Introducing the Web Application Manager, Client Authentication Options, 
and Process Isolation
	 
	Keith Brown
	

	Automating the Creation of COM+ Components for a Database Schema
	 
	Aleksandr Mikunov
	

	Monitor Your Web Site's Activity with COM and Active Scripting
	 
	Panos Kougiouris
	

	Performing Ad Hoc Web Reporting with a VBScript 5.0 Class Object
	 
	Randall Kindig
	

	ASP-based Web Site Design to Support Globalization
	 
	Michael Kaplan
	

	Using a DTC to submit a Form
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Sending E-mail from Forms
	 
	Robert Hess
	

	Writing custom OLE DB Providers using ATL
	 
	Dino Esposito
	

	Addressing Infosets with XPath
	 
	Aaron Skonnard
	

	Migrating from MTS to COM+
	 
	Ken Spencer
	

	Interlocked Functions
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	Intercepting Ctrl+Esc, Alt+Tab and Alt+Esc
	 
	Jeffrey Richter
	

	Happy 10th anniversary, Windows: Looking back at 10 years of Windows 
Development
	 
	Matt Pietrek
	

	Using ADO to create XML-based Recordsets
	 
	Don Box
	

	Enable and Disable Menus in MFC
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Changing the behavior of Enter for a Dailog
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Modeles Dialog and Message Loops
	 
	Paul DiLascia
	

	Real-world Web Apps
	 
	Mark Brittingham
	 
	You know the basics; Dr Brittingham tells us what it takes to build a 
Web application to withstand the rigors of daily use, from WebBroker 
components, to ISAPI DLLs, to tracking state, and more.
	

	Delphi and ASP
	 
	Cary Jensen
	 
	Microsoft Active Server Pages are extremely popular. Dr Jensen shows 
you how to get in on the action by explaining the basics of ASP, and 
demonstrating how to create and use ASP objects with Delphi.
	

	Exploiting SQL Server 7 DMO: Part II
	 
	Jason Perry
	 
	Mr Perry ends his two-part series on Microsoft SQL Server 7 Distributed 
Management Objects by sharing an invaluable Database Information and 
Reconciliation Tool, as well as a simple Security object.
	

	Palm Conduits: Part II
	 
	Ron Loewy
	 
	Completing his two-part series, Mr Loewy builds a Conduit that moves 
information from the Palm device to a Paradox database, and a conduit that 
synchronizes the Paradox database and Palm device.
	

	Simple Unit Tests in C++
	 
	Marc Briand
	  
	Unit Testing is a tedious, but often necessary, adjunct to writing 
code. A few template classes can eliminate much of the tedium and improve 
encapsulation in the bargain.
	

	Data-Based Axis Determination
	 
	Michael Bramley
	  
	Labeling the axes of a Graph is not as easy as you might think.
	

	Copying Files from the Clipboard to a Command Prompt
	 
	Joey Rogers
	  
	You can make DOS more of a first-class Windows citizen with this handy 
little clipboard utility.
	

	Browser-Based Directory Access through LDAP and COM
	 
	Marco Morana
	  
	You can do a lot with LDAP - once you get all the glue right.
	

	Implementation of Observer Pattern
	 
	Paul Barnes
	  
	Many applications involve observers waiting for notification. Getting 
the logic right for both publishers and subscribers is something you don’t want 
to have to do repeatedly.
	

	Tree Traversal in C without Recursion
	 
	Valery Creux
	  
	If you can spare one bit of storage in each node, you can traverse a 
tree without recursive function calls.
	

	Chuck Allison
	 
	Formatted Text and Locales
	 
	Java offers more formatting power than C, but not necessarily in a more 
convenient package.
	

	Pete Becker
	 
	Error in Floating Point Calculations
	 
	And you thought error, accuracy, precision, and significance were 
pretty synonymous.
	

	An IP Telephone in 74 Lines of Perl
	 
	Lincoln D Stein
	

	Microperl
	 
	Simon Cozens
	

	Spreadsheet::WriteExcel
	 
	John McNamara
	

	Extending Perl with Inline.pm
	 
	Brian Ingerson
	

	Finance::Quote
	 
	Paul Fenwick
	

	Finance::QuoteHist and HTML::TableExtract
	 
	Matthew Sisk
	

	Scanning HTML
	 
	Sean M Burke
	

	Smart Matching for Human Names
	 
	Brian Lalonde
	

	Parsing Natural Language with Lingua::LinkParser
	 
	Dan Brian
	

	Integrating Perl into Microsoft Office Innards
	 
	Tim Meadowcroft
	

	Converting C to English with Perl
	 
	Omri Schwartz
	

	Optimizing Object Pascal
	 
	Charles Appel
	 
	In this piece, Charles Appel explores optimizing Delphi code based on 
standard techniques, fully understanding the subject matter of the program, and 
a case of sheer dumb luck. A poker library is used to illustrate these points. 
(Tip: Want to know what the single greatest optimization I made was? It'll 
surprise you! And it's one you can implement in your code today; see 
Optimization 5.)
	

	What is XML?
	 
	Peter Vogel
	 
	Peter Vogel, editor of XML Developer 
(http://www.xmldevelopernewsletter.com), Pinnacle Publishing's newest 
publication, offers an introduction to the capabilities of XML. He defines XML 
and introduces the fundamentals of the language including defining and using 
tags as well as creating and processing documents.
	

	Creating Custom TScrollBox Navigation
	 
	Keith Wood
	 
	TScrollBox provides a small viewport into a big area. Using the 
Scrollbars, you can position yourself over any portion of the display. But 
navigating around in such a scroll box isn't always easy or intuitive. To fix 
this problem, Keith Wood has built a custom navigation panel for scroll boxes 
that gives you the big picture.
	

	Creating a Crystal Reports User Function Library in Delphi
	 
	Elias Ongpoy
	 
	You don't have to go through numerous steps to massage your data and 
report it. You can accomplish the same thing in fewer steps by creating your 
own Crystal Reports UFL functions. In this article, Elias Ongpoy shows you how 
to write a UFL in Delphi that will work just like one of the built-in functions 
in Crystal Reports.
	

	Error Handler Add-in
	  
	1-Jul-2000
	 
	1-Jul-2000
	 
	Steven A Phillips
	 
	This addin greatly simplifies adding error handling to VB programs. 
Simply register the DLL using REGSVR32 and the addin will be added into the 
Visual Basic tools menu. Keep the two template files in the same directory as 
the DLL. Move the cursor within 10 lines after the procedure name line and 
activate the add-in by pressing Alt-T-E or by clicking on the menu: all the 
error handling code will be added automatically. The templates can be modified 
based on preference, as explained in the Readme.txt file.
	 
	Updated: 7/22/00
	

	ATL Windowing - A simpel tutorial by examples
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	01-Jul-2000
	 
	01-Jul-2000
	

	Connection Point and Asynchronous Calls, Part I
	 
	Ashish Dhar
	 
	01-Jul-2000
	 
	01-Jul-2000
	 
	Connection Points are a way of letting Server to notify you when 
something has happened in the server which you wanted to know of. I started 
using connection points when I was just learning how to code in COM.I came 
across a lot of issues including the performance .Eventually I learned the how 
and whys (not 100% :)) of connection points. This article is a kind of a 
tutorial for those who donot know what connection points are or those who know 
what they are but haven't ever tried to code them.This article tells you why do 
you need connection points and what are the alternatives.The article takes you 
slowly from the need of getting the events back from client to why you need 
Connection Points at all.Connection Points are implemented using IDispatch 
interface .This tutorial simulates connection point using Custom 
Interfaces(IUnknown).
	 
	Given the length of the article I have divided this into two parts 
.Part I, which is this, discusses Aynchronous calls and why are they useful. 
This part also tells you about the callbacks .Here we will implement a Server 
(called Server03) which will demonstrate the need of asynchronous calls .This 
server will simulate connection points with the IUnknown callback interface. We 
will also implement one MFC client for the server..
	 
	Part II of this article will demonstrate the connection points in ATL 
and we will implement a client in ATL.and will see what are the different 
things one need to take into consideration while implementing a sink in ATL.
	 
	Why do we need notifications from server?
	 
	All COM calls are synchronous meaning when you make a call to a method 
on an interface ,the thread blocks until the method returns. Well being 
synchronous is not bad always but sometimes it is painful.Lets say we have an 
CoMath object exposes the following method
	 
 Add([in]short nFirst t,[in] short nSecond,[out,retval] short* pR ... (cont.)

Web Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - July 2000 
	Profiles in Personalization
	 
	Keith Reichly
	

Webs Development - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - July 2000 
	JSPs: Another Great Tool for the Box
	 
	Rose M Kelleher
	

Enterprise Integration - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - July 2000 
	Build Transaction-Friendly Applications
	 
	Terrance Crow
	

Enterprise Integration - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - July 2000 
	Inside the COM Toolkit
	 
	Terrance Crow
	

Data Integration - Lotus Notes & Domino Advisor - July 2000 
	Powerful Web Reporting for Domino
	 
	Michael Mohen
	

	Browse IIS Directory Structures
	 
	Schellnast Bernd
	 
	1-Jul-2000
	 
	1-Jul-2000
	 
	This article contains the complete project for an ISAPI Extension for 
exploring Web Servers with Microsoft Internet Information Server running.
	

	Beginners Guide to Dialog Based Applications, Part Two
	 
	Dr Asad Altimeemy
	 
	A step by step tutorial showing how to create your first windows 
program using MFC
	

The base class for views that encapsulate Windows controls. So it can also be 
used to convert Windows control to MFC views (example, a listview that occupies 
the entire client region).

Some MFC classes based on CCtrlView:
CEditView - multiline edit view
CRichEditView - rich edit view
CListView - listview control
CTreeView - treeview control

To build on CCtrlView:
Base new class on CCtrlView.
Write a constructor that call CCtrlView's constructor with a Window Control 
WNDCLASS name.
Write an accessor fcuntion to get a reference to the underliying Window control.
Add member function to add functionality to the new class.

See CTabView ->  for an example of a class derived from CCtrlView.

	ItemDataCombo
	 
	Smaller Animals Software Inc
	 
	An extremely simple but useful CComboBox entension
	

	A Beginner's Guide to Pointers
	 
	Andrew Peace
	 
	An article showing the use of pointers in C and C++
	

	FaderWnd: a Window Fader for Windows 2000
	 
	Phil J Pearson
	 
	An MFC class to fade any window with only one line of code.
	

	An example of Using MSHTML with a webbrowser control
	 
	Colin Davies
	 
	A quick and simple example of using MSHTML to modify the DOM
	

	Whats my CPU Speed?
	 
	Colin Davies
	 
	Some simple functions for system stats
	

	CRichEditView/CRichEditDoc Bug Work-Around
	 
	John Czopowik
	 
	29-Jun-2000
	 
	29-Jun-2000
	 
	This article details a bug found with using a CRichEditDoc and a 
workaround to it.
	

	SAScript
	 
	Smaller Animals Software Inc
	 
	A simple stack-based language that you can easily add to your projects
	

	VBMake Script
	 
	Kinook Software
	 
	Script for automating and speeding Visual Basic builds
	

	COM object returning Recordset
	 
	Article explains how to create a COM object which returns recordsets 
and explains how to call its method from ASP.
	 
	Bulent Ozkir
	 
	28-Jun-2000
	 
	28-Jun-2000
	

	CXTabCtrl: an easier tab control for Dialogs and forms
	 
	xicoloko
	 
	An easier tab control
	

	How to disable a Cancel button on a property page?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	

	How to change Next button of a property page to Finish?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	

	How to change caption of a button on a property page?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	

	How to delete a property page from a Property Sheet Wizard?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	

	27-Jun-2000
	 
	27-Jun-2000
	 
	Records in Object Pascal
	 
	Delphi For Beginners: Learn about records, Delphi's Pascal data 
structure that can mix any of Delphi's built in types including any types you 
have created.
	

	Self-Extracting File Framework
	 
	Rui Godinho Lopes
	 
	An article about creating Self-Extracting files with integrated 
Compression
	

	zSmtp: Win32 SMTP Class
	 
	Christopher W Backen
	 
	Simple Win32 SMTP Class
	

	ADO Overview and advantages over other Database access methods
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to use ADO in VC++?
	 
	This article tells about different ways of using ADO in your VC++ 
applications. Mahesh Chand 06/26/2000 How to get data from a database using ADO 
recordset?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to add, update, delete data from a Database using ADO Recordset
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to execute an SQL query in ADO model?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to call Stored Procedures in ADO model?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to change background color of a View window?
	 
	Sample project attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to change background color of a dialog?
	 
	Sample project attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to change background color of an edit control?
	 
	Sample project attached.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to create an access database?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to connect to an existing access database?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Microsoft data access component (MDAC)
	 
	Microsoft database access methods and which one to use and when.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Database technologies for Windows platform
	 
	A general overview of various database technologies from Microsoft such 
as ODBC, ADO, and DAO.
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Error types and debug vz release build in Visual Studio?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Debugging MFC: Prevent and detect bugs using ASSERT, VALID and other 
macros
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Memory Management: How to detect memory leaks in your program?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	VC++ debugging tools - a must for VC++ developers
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Useful debugging tips
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to get availabe data sources from your machine?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to create a new ODBC data source?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to get number of columns and column attributes of a table?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to add, update, delete data from a database using ODBC API?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	How to get data from a database using ODBC API?
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	Read, write, delete to/from Windows Registry
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	 
	26-Jun-2000
	

	25-Jun-2000
	 
	25-Jun-2000
	  
	References in C++
	 
	What is a reference and how to use it
	

	MB MsgBoxEx Control
	  
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	Marco Bellinaso
	 
	This control is an extended and object-oriented version of the VB's 
MsgBox Function. You can center the message box on your form or place it 
everywhere you want, display any icon, and change the caption of every button. 
You can finally create a standard dialog with the Yes, Yes to All, No, No to 
All buttons, or any other combination you want.
	

	Emil Gustafsson
	 
	C++ class that enumerates the system's ODBC DSNs
	 
	
	

	Voice Communication via Network/Internet
	 
	Zhaohui Xing
	 
	Prototype to demonstrate how to realize basic voice communications via 
Internet/Network on PC platforms
	

	Browsing for ODBC Data Source Names (DSN)
	 
	Emil Gustafsson
	 
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	C++ class that enumerates the system's ODBC DSNs
	

	Voice Communication via Network/Internet
	 
	Zhaohui Xing
	 
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	24-Jun-2000
	 
	Prototype to demonstrate how to realize basic voice communications via 
Internet/Network on PC platforms
	

	Associate File Extension with Shell OPEN command and Application
	 
	Blake V Miller
	 
	Registry entries and MFC class that associates a file extension with a 
program.
	

	An Adaptable Property List Control
	 
	Stefan Belopotocan
	 
	Very nice list control for displaying VB-like properties dialog
	

	CHotButton: a "HotSpot" Button
	 
	Rick Shide
	 
	Button control that enables you to place images on a button and handle 
clicks on that part of the button (the hotspot)
	

	CHotButton - a "HotSpot" Button
	 
	Rick Shide
	 
	23-Jun-2000
	 
	23-Jun-2000
	 
	A Button control that enables you to place images on a button and 
handle clicks on that part of the button (the hotspot).
	

When There Has Been a Sharing Violation
By L.J. Johnson

Several questions have come in lately concerning the error message you 
sometimes get when trying to delete or move a file or a directory. The message 
is something like "Error renaming file: Cannot rename file myfile.dat. There 
has been a sharing violation. The source or destination files may be in use." 
This can be an annoying and frustrating message, because it sometimes comes 
when you are sure that the file isn't currently in use. The good news is that 
this message is usually correct and, in fact, can prevent file corruption that 
can happen on Win9x. The bad news is that tracking down the exact reason that 
the file is still in use can take a little investigation, and I'll admit that 
on a couple of occasions I've rebooted (or logged off, then on again) to solve 
the problem. NT is quite stringent in this area—it keeps track of pointers to 
all the open files and directories, and will not allow you to delete or move a 
file or directory if even a single pointer exists to it, for any reason. 

One of the possible reasons you can't delete a file (or directory) is that you 
don't have the rights to do so. It is possible to have Create and Modify rights 
without having Delete rights. Another possibility is that the file itself (or, 
more probably, the extended attributes of the file—its metadata) is corrupt. I 
once had a hard drive that did this on a regular basis. In fact, it was a bug 
with NT 3.51 with a really huge number of files. The only way to cure that 
particular problem was to run chkdsk /f on the drive and then reboot the 
computer. 

A real possibility with deleting a directory is that you have another program 
accessing that directory (or one of its subdirectories). Check for other copies 
of Windows Explorer (or My Computer or My Network Places or even the command 
prompt) running and check to see where their current directories are pointing. 
Also look at any application programs that are running and where ... (cont.)

	ADO Recordset Paging in ASP
	 
	Konstantin Vasserman
	 
	How to display multiple pages of records in ASP
	

	22-Jun-2000
	 
	22-Jun-2000
	  
	Top Tips: Internet Interfacing
	 
	Have you ever wanted to create an application that takes advantage of 
the power of the internet? Your Visual Basic Guide introduces you to three top 
tips that will make it easy to web enable your program.
	

This class internally uses a memory mapped file (MMF) into which the handle of 
the main window of your application is stuffed. When a second instance of your 
app is run, it detects that the memory mapped file exists, gets the window 
handle of the first instance from the MMF and reactivates it.

Requirements

Visual Basic 4.0 32-bit or higher.

In this Issue

In this issue we discuss how to register any ActiveX DLL or OCX
using only API calls and code.

basRegistration

This module makes it easy to register any 32-bit ActiveX
component on-the-fly from your Visual Basic program.  This is
useful for writing setup utilities and more reliable applications
that do not crash if a single file is not registered correctly.
See the sample for a good use of these routines.  All the fun work
is done with several API calls.

Properties

Public Enum eRegStatus

This is one of four possible values: statSuccess,
statCouldNotLoadInMemorySpace, statInvalidActiveXComponent,
statRegistrationFailed.  If the RegisterComponent or
UnregisterComponent returns statSuccess then everything worked
fine.  statCouldNotLoadInMemorySpace usually means the ActiveX
file you are trying to register can not be found.



Functions

Public Function RegisterComponent(sFilename As String) As eRegStatus

Call this with sFilename pointing to the fully-qualified path and
filename of an ActiveX control to register.  The return value will
be one of the values discussed in eRegStatus.


Public Function UnregisterComponent(sFilename As String) As eRegStatus

Call this with sFilename pointing to the fully-qualified path and
filename of an ActiveX control to unregister.  The return value
will be one of the values discussed in eRegStatus.



Sample Usage

This sample shows how to use the RegisterComponent routine in
order to more intelligently handle problems loading OCX and DLL
files.  The sample tries to load a form and if an error occurs it
first assumes there was a problem loading the control(s) that it
depends on.  You can add additional registrations and you might
need to be smarter about how you find the files to register.  This
is beyond the scope of this issue.

Public Sub Main()
    Dim frm As Object
    
    On Error Resume Next
    Set frm = New Form1
    frm.Show vbModal
    If E ... (cont.)

	OOP and UML
	 
	Alex Marbus
	 
	An introduction to modelling OOP design concepts with UML
	

	Using the List Control
	 
	Matt Weagle
	 
	Everything you need to know about using the standard list control in 
your applications
	

	Structure Storage: A COM way to read/write Persistent Data
	 
	Mahesh Chand
	 
	21-Jun-2000
	 
	21-Jun-2000
	 
	In persistent storage, normally files are stored in the form of bytes. 
A file is treated as a raw sequence of bytes. Entire file is stored in the 
blocks on the disk. These blocks are scattered on the disk. When you read this 
file, file system manages its pointers and return you a sequence of bytes.
	 
	COM follows a different approach to store a file and its data on the 
persistent storage, called structured storage. Structure storage provides a way 
by defining how to treat a file as a structured collection of objects. These 
objects are storages and streams. A storage object is kind of a directory and 
it can contain other storage objects and stream objects. You can think a stream 
object as a file. Like a file, a stream contains data stored as a consecutive 
sequence of bytes. A compound file is a combination of these two objects. COM 
provides two interface to access this compound file. IStorage and IStream.
	 
	Structured storage. Why?? Ok, suppose you have a compound file which 
has some text, some images and other data. Now you want to add one more object 
to a file. In traditional approach, when you save the file, file system rewrite 
the entire data. But structured storage approach eliminates this rewriting 
process and increases the read/write performance.. The new data is written to 
the next available location in permanent storage, and the storage object 
updates the table of pointers it maintains to track the locations of its 
storage objects and stream objects. Here are some other benefits:
	 
	Structured storage approach provides you control over separate objects. 
You can read/write separate objects instead of entire compound file.
	 
	More than one user can concurrently read/write same file.
	 
	Compound file: A compound file is file which contains different types 
of data saved in a structured format. A word file containing excel sheet and 
cha ... (cont.)

	Useful Reference Books
	 
	Chris Maunder
	 
	A list of popular reference books sent in by the readers of CodeProject
	

	An Adaptable Property List Control
	 
	Stefan Belopotocan
	 
	An object properties list control than can change based on the objects 
state.
	

	Easy Navigation Through an Editable List View
	 
	Lee Nowotny
	 
	This article shows you how you can navigate through a multi-column, 
editable list view
	

	An Improved Analog Meter Control
	 
	Mark C Malburg
	 
	An Analog Meter Control for displaying real-time data
	

	20-Jun-2000
	 
	20-Jun-2000
	 
	Are you Cool?
	 
	Make your application user interface cool with Delphi's TCoolBar 
component. It's like a toolbar, except that you can place *anything* you want 
on it.
	

Prevent Checkbox Changes 
  You'll often want to display a checkbox-style listbox to show users the 
values they have selected in an underlying database. However, you don't want to 
allow users to change the selections-that is, to change which boxes they 
checked. You can't disable the listbox because that stops the user from 
scrolling the list to see which items they checked. You can't use Locked, 
because the listbox doesn't have a Locked property. 
Here's one solution: Paint a Command button with the caption "Click to toggle 
enabled property" and a listbox on a form, then change the listbox style to 
1-Checkbox. Add this code: 

Option Explicit

Dim mbDisabled As Boolean

Private Sub Command1_Click()
	mbDisabled = Not mbDisabled
End Sub

Private Sub List1_ItemCheck(Item As Integer)
	If mbDisabled Then
		List1.Selected(Item) = Not List1.Selected(Item)
	End If
End Sub

When mbDisabled is set to True, the changes made by the user to the listbox 
selections are immediately reversed. It will appear as if the selections 
haven't changed at all, and the list is still scrollable.  

	19-Jun-2000
	 
	19-Jun-2000
	  
	Creating and Destroying C++ Objects
	 
	A tutorial on the basics of Object-Oriented Programming
	

	Creating a console for your MFC app's debug output
	 
	Matthias Steinbart
	 
	How to send debugging output to a console in a MFC application