|
We have an application that writes xml files when certain things happen.
We have an ESB that picks these files up, converts them to JMS and sticks them in a queue.
We have a Windows service written in VB.net that reads the messages from the queue, writes them into a SQL DB table, then processes the messages into other table(s).
All fairly simple stuff, but the powers that be have decided they want to remove the ESB, the woman who wrote the Windows service has just started maternity leave, no-one else in the team has any knowledge of what it does, nor the time to look at it.
So I volunteered.
I have never written, read, or looked at VB before, I have done plenty of C#, and even worked on a Windows service 6 or so years ago.
So I had a look at the existing code, quickly worked out which bit needed replacing and had a good idea what it needed replacing with. Hacked together something that looked like it should work in under half an hour, then tried to install the service on my Windows 7 box to test.
2 hours of googling, registry hacking, and swearing later I managed to install it. Started it up, dropped a file into the directory, and an error because it was in use by another process. To be fair, I had read a warning about such problems using FileSystemWatcher when I first started so began searching for a solution.
I found loads, some looked nice, some looked nasty, some just looked stupid.
But nearly all of them were in C#.
How do you VBers cope?
I'm sure that if you know C# and VB then it is simple enough to convert one to the other.
And if you do know both C# and VB, why the bloody hell not just do it in C# in the first place?
Anyway, it works now, taken me nearly 3 hours. Apparently when they had a meeting to decide what to do about the problem they thought it might take a few weeks so no-one wants the solution yet.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
|
|
|
|
|
"And if you do know both C# and VB, why the bloody hell not just do it in C# in the first place?"
I was one that came to the Windows programming world from Electronics/Embedded back ground, had VB6 dumped on me and went from there. Being a C programmer I am happier in C#, VB.Net (& VB6) seem to be a kludge for object oriented programming
|
|
|
|
|
chriselst wrote: And if you do know both C# and VB, why the bloody hell not just do it in C# in the first place?
Interoperability with other developers who don't know C(anything).
|
|
|
|
|
|
In my environment, there is a mix of PERL, VBA, VB.NET and engineers. Of the 11 team members (including the manager), I think 2 or 3 of us actually came from a computer science type background.
So.. although I COULD write code in C#, it wouldn't be maintainable by the others on the team.
|
|
|
|
|
I come from a company that has used VB since the beginning for about 15 years.
We recently moved to C# for new projects because, indeed, all internet articles and examples are in C#.
Also, third party vendors seem to be happier using C#.
So I'm now fluent in both and both languages have their pros and cons.
When I have a choice I code in C# though 
It's an OO world.
public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}
|
|
|
|
|
chriselst wrote: Anyway, it works now, taken me nearly 3 hours. Apparently when they had a meeting to decide what to do about the problem they thought it might take a few weeks so no-one wants the solution yet.
The pessimist in me can't help but think these people know about some piece of functionality you haven't seen at all, and this is what they had in mind for the remaining weeks that you've not accounted for.
|
|
|
|
|
chriselst wrote: But nearly all of them were in C#.
This is one of the primary reasons why I moved the teams to c# about 6 years ago. Dramatically more resources on the interweb for c#.
chriselst wrote: problems using FileSystemWatcher
This was so flaky in .net 1.0 I refused to use it and have never looked at it since, sounds like it is still a little rugged to use  .
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
|
|
|
|
|
This VBer just deals with it as a form of politics. Coming from a BASIC background since I was a kid, VB is just more natural. The majority of my projects either were already written and maintained in VB or someone higher up the foodchain required it. I've become much more fluent in C# but I would never consider myself simple. I basically find myself writing code in VB style but with C# syntax. If that makes any sense. Though I will admit as I've honed my skills I do find myself little by little start to follow C# samples and practices put to VB syntax. When I am tinkering with something new on my own I make an effort to write in C#.. But if the need requires me to put something together quickly there is no language requirement, VB is my first language.
Ironically, I'm dealing with a FileSystemWatcher issue with a project I'm working on too. Battled with the file locked by another process issue and all is good there.. The new issue is catching and filtering out when the user saves a file from their browser to the Drop folder.. That Partial file that gets created upon download and then removed once download is complete makes for a nice mess in the processing queue.
|
|
|
|
|
Apologies if this is in the wrong place but I couldn't see that it fitted anywhere else either
My clients regularly transfer largish files via ftp and everything generally works happily
As they are in an expensive serviced office one client has transferred their internet connection over to a 4G solution to get much faster access without the corresponding bill and generally it works but....
as might be expected their ftp transfers now have many retries and failed transfers. Sometimes the transfer appears to be successful but the resulting file might be a small percentage of the correct file size
Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives to look at that might work better (more reliably) over the 4g network?
|
|
|
|
|
As you're trying to transfer files, I'd suggest looking at rsync instead. I believe that there are rsync versions available on the major mobile platforms now, so this should be an attractive option.
|
|
|
|
|
Agreed.
"Courtesy is the product of a mature, disciplined mind ... ridicule is lack of the same - DPM"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
this looks great, do you need a license to operate the pigeon service?
|
|
|
|
|
We switched for pigeons two years ago, but had to switch back to slower data transfer since our main concurrent trained eagles to catch our data. I doubt they managed to decrypt them, even that they tried, but we lost a dozen of well-trained poultry and some business because they never arrived at destination.
We contemplated training bats to frighten the eagles, but they would only fly at non-work hours, making the reception of the transfer complicated since we would have had to hire people working at (overpriced) night hours.
We also still have an ostrich : my management was convinced we needed something big and looking mighty, but they did not realize ostrich could not fly. The eggs are great, but the smell is terrible though - I hate when I am on ostrich week.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
|
|
|
|
|
I was told Ostrich was the green option to replace smart cars, mini's and other small vechicles. All of our execs use them now. I'm unsure about some of the paint jobs.
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer)
www.simonshugar.co.uk
"If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
|
|
|
|
|
Pigeon post is also less likely to crash than FTP/Broadband, because the pigeon knows that his life depends on not crashing. 
|
|
|
|
|
Torrents. Resumable on a 16kb block level, built-in integrity checks, clients are designed for sudden loss of connection. If things go really wrong, a "piece" will fail its hash-check and will be redownloaded.
They're meant for P2P, but they also work fine with 1 seed and 1 peer, essentially acting like 1 server and 1 client. If there are multiple clients, they can limit their upload capacity if they want to.
|
|
|
|
|
Gets my vote!
Normally I think of Torrents in the "Pirate Bay" sense - I'd never considered using them for a business system.
But you're right - this is exactly one of the problems they were created to solve.
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
|
|
|
|
|
Absolutely. They take seconds to set up, are actually less hassle than dropbox (where you've only got "public" and "not public"), and fly faster than either European or African swallows. I use 'em for just about everything.
I used to use MegaUpload, until the US government decided that it had the right to confiscate my subscription to the service and access all my confidential customer files. You have no idea how close I came to taking the US government to court (in NL) over that.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
|
|
|
|
|
I would have thought torrents would be a good way of getting your internet connections revoked by your ISP?
I haven't used torrents at all since anti-piracy three-strikes law came into effect here in NZ.
Sure there might be legit reasons for P2P file sharing, but it must raise a red flag on the ISP servers.
Have I been needlessly cautious?
|
|
|
|
|
Well I don't know, I'm not that familiar with how the system works in NZ. I'd hope they'd check the hash against a database of "files that are not supposed to be shared" (which would take quite some effort to maintain), but on the other hand I'd also expect a stupid automated system to be stupid.
|
|
|
|
|
I suppose for his case, he should his own (private) tracker and only give the .torrent file/magnet link to the customer or the other way around.
The listing should not be public, the connection should be encrypted (MSE), and usually the government wouldn't know unless they enable deep-packet inspection on for each packet.
|
|
|
|
|
I've had good luck with BitTorrent Sync[^]...it's peer to peer, works on all platforms and it's free.
Updated: Fixed link 
modified 12-Jul-14 11:00am.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
