Calvin Hsia's WebLog
thoughts from a professional developer
Use the DispatcherTimer, Popup and even a movie to enhance your data presentation
We can subclass the prior Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) class called Browse that displays...
Author: CalvinH Date: 11/21/2007
Use DataTemplates and WPF in code to create a general purpose LINQ Query results display
In my last post, Use LINQ with WPF : Styles and DataTemplates in code, I showed how to use...
Author: CalvinH Date: 11/15/2007
Use LINQ with WPF : Styles and DataTemplates in code
Using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and LINQ is easy in code. We'll create a query and...
Author: CalvinH Date: 11/12/2007
Customer site visit: 3-D printer company
I spent a few hours at a local company called 2Bot (https://www.2bot.com/) which makes a 3-D printer...
Author: CalvinH Date: 11/11/2007
Extract TreeView or ListView ImageList icons from a DLL
An ImageList can be used for a ListView or TreeView control to contain many images in a single file,...
Author: CalvinH Date: 11/06/2007
Create a WPF Form to choose a text color
I wanted to choose some nice colors for various kinds of text, so I wrote a simple text color picker...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/26/2007
Resize your pictures for your phone or pocket pc
I have many digital pictures, and I'd like to put some of my favorites on my SmartPhone. However the...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/12/2007
Generate and run PowerShell scripts dynamically
In my prior post Use new XML Features of VB to generate dynamic scripts and text files , we...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/08/2007
Use new XML Features of VB to generate dynamic scripts and text files
There's a very useful feature that FoxPro users have had for over 2 decades: being able to output...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/04/2007
Customize the display of types in the Debugger using Extension Methods and DebuggerDisplay Attribute
I was writing some code using System.Text.StringBuilder. : Dim sb As New StringBuilder("Init SB...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/03/2007
Create your own web browser on your SmartPhone
Windows Mobile 5.0 comes with a Web Browser (v6 is due out any day now). It runs on Pocket PCs and...
Author: CalvinH Date: 10/01/2007
Customize your Windows Mobile SmartPhone home screen and Start Menu
My Smartphone (Cingular 2125) died the other day: actually the phone was fine: the SIM card needed...
Author: CalvinH Date: 09/28/2007
How to generate dynamic images for your web application
Typically, a web site might show some pictures. These could be pictures of items for sale from a...
Author: CalvinH Date: 09/11/2007
Querying Northwind with Group By bug fixed
In this post:...
Author: CalvinH Date: 09/05/2007
Use Stored Procedures when you can for efficiency
In this post (Install Northwind for SQL Express and use Visual Studio and DLINQ to query it ) I...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/21/2007
Install Northwind for SQL Express and use Visual Studio and DLINQ to query it
SQLExpress is free and comes with Visual Studio, but the sample Northwind database isn’t included....
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/17/2007
Linq Queries for .Net Framework members
How many members in the .Net framework contain the string ‘file” ? Make a query like this: Dim q As...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/16/2007
C# and Fox versions of Cool Linq Query
In my prior post (Cool Linq Query) I promised a C# and Fox versions of a query to sort all the...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/13/2007
Cool Linq Query
Now that Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 is out the door, I can write about some cool Linq Queries, and...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/12/2007
It's easy to resize your disk volumes on Vista
On one of my Vista machines, I have a 140G hard drive partitioned into C (20g), D (80G) and E (40g)....
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/10/2007
Add an interactive map to your web page
It’s pretty cool to play with the maps at https://Local.Live.com You can zoom in to various...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/08/2007
Why the order of shutdown events is important
Try running this code: PUBLIC xx xx=CREATEOBJECT("MyClass") quit && quit Foxpro DEFINE CLASS...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/07/2007
Find which DLLs in your system are rebased
You can use CreateToolhelp32Snapshot and its family of functions to enumerate the running processes...
Author: CalvinH Date: 08/06/2007
DLL Image base addresses are the same in XP, different on Vista
When you start a program on your Windows XP computer, a process is created and several DLLs (Dynamic...
Author: CalvinH Date: 07/27/2007
SQL Select for most recent record
Suppose I have a table of test results with at least 4 columns: ID (unique integer) SuiteName (name...
Author: CalvinH Date: 07/16/2007
Enable people to run your programs without installing anything
Sometimes friends or relatives might hear that you’re an expert with using computers, and might ask...
Author: CalvinH Date: 06/19/2007
Help->About->System Info doesn't work on Vista
A customer (thanks Grady!) reported that choosing Help->About->System Info on Vista causes a...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/29/2007
SQL Select puzzle to count failures and totals for each item
Suppose I have a table of 2 columns. One is the name of an item, the other a value indicating...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/25/2007
The VB version of the Flip Task Bar for Vista Desktop Window Manager
In this post: Create your own Flip Task Bar with live thumbnails using Vista Desktop Window Manager...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/22/2007
Write Fox code in Visual Studio that interacts with your VB.Net code
Run the Fox code in Allowing Optional parameters in your COM objects (or the one in Blogs get 300...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/21/2007
Allowing Optional parameters in your COM objects
It’s simple to create a VFP object that can be used within other applications. I show how useful it...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/16/2007
How to schedule your computer to run tasks automatically
Our building will have a power failure at a particular time. You may want your computer to stay on...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/11/2007
What is Vista Aero?
I received a question regarding some of my recent posts on Vista: Forgive my ignorance, but where is...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/09/2007
Create your own Flip Task Bar with live thumbnails using Vista Desktop Window Manager DWM
The sample below uses Desktop Window Manager under Windows Vista with Aero to get dynamic live...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/06/2007
Vista Aero DWM seems to optimize out GDI paint calls
In this post: Foxpro Menu items, combo boxes not refreshing selected item under Aero in Vista I...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/03/2007
Fun with Vista Aero using the DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea
You can have a little fun with Vista Aero using the DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea function. This will...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/02/2007
Windows Vista Aero BorderStyle Paint problem as non Administrator
Above is an image of an inner form (from the C++ project below) before and after I dragged it a...
Author: CalvinH Date: 05/01/2007
Fix your forms to paint borders correctly under Vista Aero
Apparently, the borders of some forms don’t get painted correctly on Windows Vista. When executing a...
Author: CalvinH Date: 04/27/2007
Foxpro Menu items, combo boxes not refreshing selected item under Aero in Vista
If you’re running a Foxpro application under Vista when using Aero , you might encounter a problem...
Author: CalvinH Date: 04/26/2007
Why does the component gallery give an error "Error building key for index"?
We received a bug report: STEPS TO REPRODUCE: 1) At the command window, issue the following: Choose...
Author: CalvinH Date: 04/18/2007
Add a manifest to control your application Vista UAC behavior
Try this on Windows XP or Vista (I don’t remember if manifests are allowed on Win2000: can someone...
Author: CalvinH Date: 04/13/2007
Why doesn't Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet control work?
We received a bug report: Steps to Reproduce : Open the form designer by creating a new form. Insert...
Author: CalvinH Date: 04/05/2007
The MVPs are coming!
I was quoted in this Computerworld article about the MVP summit, which is happening this week in...
Author: CalvinH Date: 03/12/2007
New printers are far more capable: Canon iP4300
Our several year old ink jet printer died the other day. It was an Epson Stylus Pro 5000. I knew it...
Author: CalvinH Date: 03/06/2007
How to log application API calls using import module addresses
Let’s log all the calls that Excel makes to open or create a file. Start Visual Studio (any...
Author: CalvinH Date: 02/26/2007
Another way to get data into a web page: using OleDB or ODBC
Here’s a way to get data into a web page to be viewed by a web browser. The code first spits out...
Author: CalvinH Date: 02/21/2007
Word did not seem to be working
I wanted to create a document, so I went to Outlook, which I always have running, and type Ctrl-N to...
Author: CalvinH Date: 01/12/2007