The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘VB.NET’ Category

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Clearing the CodeRush SolutionCache directory from your roaming profile @CodeRush (via: The Curly Brace: How to Clear DevExpress CodeRush Assembly and Solution Cache)

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/08/02

Your CodeRush SolutionCache folder (which is in your roaming profile, how bad!) can grow to multi-gigabyte proportions as it is not auto-cleaned.

This can lead to very long times for doing logon/logoff in a corporate network.

Mike Christian describes how to clean it.

Note that as of a few versions ago, the AssemblyCache is now a subfolder inside the SolutionCache folder.

Another reason to clean it is when CodeRush starts acting weird.

–jeroen

via: The Curly Brace: How to Clear DevExpress CodeRush Assembly and Solution Cache.

Posted in .NET, C#, Development, Software Development, VB.NET, Visual Studio 11, Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio and tools | Leave a Comment »

.NET/C# InternalsVisibleTo Attribute via: Salvo(z)

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/07/12

Didn’t need it until now, as now I wrote my first unit test on an internal class, with the unit test in a separate assembly.

Visual Studio 2010 suggested adding the InternalsVisibleTo Attribute to the assembly containing the internal class specifying that the unit test assembly would have access to it.

For me that felt up-side-down, but thinking again it is logical, but still doesn’t feel well.

This is what it does:

The InternalVisibleToAttribute was added in .Net 2.0 and most people seem to be using it in order expose internal methods to external unit test classes. However, there is nothing to prevent you from using it in non-testing situations., although I have not seen a good reason other then unit testing to use it.

–jeroen

via: C# InternalVisibleTo Attribute | Salvo(z).

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, Development, Prism, Software Development, VB.NET | Leave a Comment »

which kind of IsHex() function do you like most, and why?

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/07/10

Though the sample question is in C#, it applies to almost any language and framework: for relatively simple checks like IsHex(), you can go the RegEx way, or the compound if-statement way.

Which kind of function do you like most?

I’m not only interested in the percentages, so let me know in the comments why.

–jeroen

PS: if you want to use RegEx in .NET, you can compile them to IL, but be very cautious for the compilation overhead.

Posted in .NET, C#, COBOL, Delphi, Development, JavaScript/ECMAScript, PHP, RegEx, Scripting, Software Development, VB.NET | 8 Comments »

Dear fellow programmer. If you aren’t experienced doing multi-threading, please don’t!

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/07/05

Recently I was asked to investigate a performance problem with a certain .NET application.

The first error I got when getting the app to build in Visual Studio 2010, and then run it was like this:

System.ComponentModel.InvalidAsynchronousStateException was caught
  Message=An error occurred invoking the method.  The destination thread no longer exists.
  Source=System.Windows.Forms
  StackTrace:
       at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WaitForWaitHandle(WaitHandle waitHandle)
       at System.Windows.Forms.Control.MarshaledInvoke(Control caller, Delegate method, Object[] args, Boolean synchronous)
       at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method, Object[] args)
       at UI.Splash.SetStatus(String status) in C:\...\Splash.cs:line 395
       at UI.Menu.Main() in C:\...\Menu.cs:line 4275
  InnerException:

Someone built their own splash logic with multi-threading.

Funny that today, this got answered on StackOverflow by [WayBack] mgie: [WayBack] multithreading – TMonitor synchronization / Application.ProcessMessages – Stack Overflow.

Though that is a Delphi link (and points to the nice libraries [Archive.is] AsynCalls and [WayBack] OmniThreadLibrary), the most important link it contains is to  [WayBack] Borland Newsgroup Archive :: borland.public.delphi.internet.winsock :: Re: Disconnect TIdHttp in thread.

That sounds like a Delphi link too, but the subtitle “‘Ways to get into avoidable trouble with threads, V1.2′” hints the essence: it is a post that describes in an environment-agnostic way how to avoid multi-threading problems.

Recommended reading!

Anyway: Building multi-threaded code is hard. Even harder fleshing out all the corner cases and potential error conditions.

No matter what kind of programming environment: If you have not done lots of multi-threaded programming, then please don’t do it yourself: go ask someone that does know how to do it. Or better, try to avoid it.

I try to let libraries to the handling of multi-threading for me, if I use multi-threading at all, as others are far better at this than I am.

–jeroen

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 1.0, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, C# 5.0, Conference Topics, Conferences, Delphi, Development, Event, Java, Software Development, VB.NET, VBS, Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio and tools, WinForms | 6 Comments »

Strong name for Interop.Scripting – .NET Framework

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/06/20

So I won’t forget:

I was trying to generate from the interop.scripting.dll which I guess was the automatically generated dll without strong naming. A wrapperof a wrapper apperently doesnt work.
The following did work:

tlbimp.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\scrrun.dll /keyfile:..\nameHere.snk /out:Interop.Scripting.StrongNamed.dll

The suite of .NET projects I’m refactoring relies in part on scripting in the Microsoft Script Runtime because the original was build by people bringing their COM love from the VB6 world into the .NET world.

I don’t see COM as the first class citizen it was in the VB6 era. On the other hand, COM and ActiveX play an important role in the .NET world. Sometimes I regret that, as dealing with COM is hard.

Some consider COM a first class citizen in .NET as it was in VB6, especially after the dynamic keyword was added in C# 4.0. The variant type available since Delphi 2 since 1996 does more or less the same as dynamic keyword in C#. I know how Anders Heijlsberg disliked the Delphi Variant support of COM. But COM is what the market wanted in 1996, and that seems true until today.

But I digress.

At least parts of the .NET code needs to become strongly named, so I’m hesitating:

  1. kick out the COM stuff – and verify through unit tests that the encompassing code still works – or
  2. generate a strongly named COM Interop Wrapper as described above.

Not sure yet.

Opinions anyone?

Anyway, I’m expecting a few problems here and there, so I’ll be using the CLR Interop Tools like the P/Invoke Interop Assistant and Type Library Importer in Managed Code where needed.

–jeroen

via: Strong name for Interop.Scripting – .NET Framework.

Posted in .NET, C#, Delphi, Development, Software Development, VB.NET | 1 Comment »

.NET Enums enumerated: System.ArgumentException was unhandled by user code Message=An item with the same key has already been added.

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/06/13

All .NET languages have a cool feature: enumerated types, for instance enum in C#, Enum in VB.NET, or the enum in the  Oxygene language of Delphi Prism. You can even specify the underlying integral type.

It allows you to name values, which can make your code very readable.

It also allows you to assign an integer to each of those values, which allows you to map them to existing integers in the ‘real’ world. This is both a powerful and potentially uncool feature of enums (the other uncool feature is that though you can have bitflags in Enums, most .NET languages don’t have a Set type. You need Set Extensions to do things like Set operations on Card Suit bitflags using C# extension methods).

Because of my background in the 80s in MuSimp and Turbo Pascal, I’ve done quite a bit of enums and sets in the past, hence the mentioned C# enum extension methods mentioned above. While writing this article I also found out Extending’ the Enum Class to Validate the Enum Values with the Flags Attribute that mentions quite a bit of stuff that is complementary to my code and what you will see below.

The risk of assigning integer values on C# enum is that you can assign the same integer value to multiple enum elements.

For instance, this code will fail: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, Development, Prism, Software Development, VB.NET | Leave a Comment »

Eric Lippert’s comment and answer explaining nullable operator lifting (c# – Why does the == operator work for Nullable when == is not defined? – Stack Overflow)

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/03/07

It seems I’m not the ony one who watches what Eric Lippert writes closely.

Eric works at the C# team at Microsoft (since 1996, which is about the time Anders Hejlsberg joined Microsoft).

Unlike Anders, Eric is much more visible. I regularly read his blog, and watch his StackOverflow.com contributions (RSS feed) on a regular base.

Recently, he posted a awesome comment “Nullable is nothing but magic” on a the question “C# – Why does the == operator work for Nullable when == is not defined?“, together with a very concise answer explaining that in C# most operators are ‘lifted to nullable’.

Note his tiny – but important – mention that for == VB.net behaves different than C#.

Note that Eric is very productive, he usually contributes to StackOverflow.com multiple times a day, sometimes with material that (at least for me <g>) need a while before I really get the point.

Recommended reading :)

–jeroen

via: c# – Why does the == operator work for Nullable when == is not defined? – Stack Overflow.

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, Development, Software Development, VB.NET | Leave a Comment »

Solution for Visual Studio 2010 VB.NET errors “Type ‘MyProject.My.MySettings’ is not defined.” and “MyProject’ is not a member of [Defalut]” #VS2010

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/02/29

(Note the WordPress bug: you cannot have <Default> in a topic title, but having it in the text is fine, hence the [Default] in the title).

When porting some projects from .NET 1.x to .NET 4.x, I got these two errors:

Error 17 Type 'MyProject.My.MySettings' is not defined.
Error 18 'MyProject' is not a member of '<Default>'.

Both errors in the file ...\My Project\Settings.Designer.vb relative to the MyProject.vbproj file.

This was not the result of something like this Visual Studio 2005 bug, but of how the designer generated files are not being regenerated when you change the root namespace only in the MyProject.vbproj file, not through the IDE.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Create a MyProject class library in VB.NET
  2. In the MyProject.vbproj, change the RootNameSpace into MyNameSpace.MyProject.vbproj
  3. Build

Lesson learned: when using text compare tools, some .vbproj changes should be propagated through the IDE, not through your favourite text compare tool.

When you change it in the IDE, it regenerates the *.Designer.vb files to reflect the changed namespace.

The solution is simple, in the IDE follow these steps:

  1. In the Project Options change the RootNameSpace to a dummy
  2. Build your project
  3. Chante the RootNameSpace to what you want
  4. Build your project

–jeroen

via: type “my.mysettings” “is not defined.” – Google Search.

Posted in .NET, Development, Software Development, VB.NET | Leave a Comment »

Free .NET Decompiler – JustDecompile from Telerik

Posted by jpluimers on 2012/02/17

Interesting:

JustDecompile is a new, free developer productivity tool for easy .NET assembly browsing and decompiling.

–jeroen

via: Free .NET Decompiler – JustDecompile.

Posted in .NET, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, Development, Software Development, VB.NET | Leave a Comment »

More vulnerabilities solved than just the ASP.NET hash collision DoS: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-100 – Critical : Vulnerabilities in .NET Framework Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2638420)

Posted by jpluimers on 2011/12/29

In addition to the ASP.NET hash collision Denial of Service attack, Microsoft patches 3 more vulnerabilities resulting in an Aggregate Severity Rating that is Critical.

This is a summary of the vulnerabilities. Please read the full MS11-100 bulletin for more details and how to download and install the patches.

Vulnerability Severity Rating Maximum Security Impact Affected Software CVE ID
Important Denial of Service Collisions in HashTable May Cause DoS Vulnerability CVE-2011-3414
N/A or Moderate N/A or Spoofing Insecure Redirect in .NET Form Authentication Vulnerability CVE-2011-3415
Critical Elevation of Privilege ASP.Net Forms Authentication Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2011-3416
Important Elevation of Privilege ASP.NET Forms Authentication Ticket Caching Vulnerability CVE-2011-3417

The CVE-2011-3415 is N/A in .NET 1.1, and Moderate in all other .NET versions.

–jeroen

via Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-100 – Critical : Vulnerabilities in .NET Framework Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2638420).

Posted in .NET, ASP.NET, C#, Development, Software Development, VB.NET, Visual Studio and tools | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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