C# Discussion Boards - CodeProject

Re: Vista and access to Common Application Data folders

21-Mar-09 2:03

If it's just during the program run rather than the application install, you need to add an Application Manifest File and edit it to request the permissions in there. The user will be greeted with the UAC prompt each time, but that's life with Vista Mad | :mad:

The recommendation is to make the program not require elevation, but as you know, that's not always possible/practical.

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)

Glen Harvy21-Mar-09 11:13

Glen Harvy

21-Mar-09 11:13

Thanks for your comments.

I have made some progress:

DaveyM69 wrote:
you need to add an Application Manifest File

Actually, VS2008 adds it for you automatically and it defaults to 'asInvoker'. That's why my application runs OK when launched by the installer (by default the installer has elevated privileges) but not when the user (without elevated privileges) launches my application.

DaveyM69 wrote:
The recommendation is to make the program not require elevation, but as you know, that's not always possible/practical.

My application pops up it's own messagebox saying it can't access it's database. I included this ages ago well before Vista. I have determined that with Vista, it is because the UAC prevents access to the Common Application Data folder. The name of that folder is to me incongruous and lead me away from the fact that it cannot be read or accessed unless you have sufficient privileges. It's 'common' to all users accessing my application but not 'common' to all user privileges.

Having discovered that fact, I later discovered that my Installer (InstallAware) fails to set privileges even if I do tell it to. Apparently you need to write additional scripts to get InstallAware to do it in Vista but InstallAware's help file and support generally lacks any specific information on how to do this.

Earlier in this thread, you will read how I have discovered some code which I have now included in a program that runs at install time and therefor inherits InstallAware's elevated privileges. This code apparently sets the permissions successfully.

Unfortunately I don't even own a copy of Vista so I can't personally test this. I am waiting for a tech savvy person I know who owns Vista to test it for me. If it works, I will post a small article because frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about in regards to the UAC and Vista.

Glen Harvy

How to draw onto a WebBrowser form

jeanbern20-Mar-09 13:36

jeanbern

20-Mar-09 13:36

Here is what I'm trying:

System.Drawing.SolidBrush myPen = new System.Drawing.SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.Red);
Graphics h = webBrowser1.CreateGraphics();
h.FillRectangle(myPen, new Rectangle(5, 5, 10, 10));
myPen.Dispose();
h.Dispose();

It doesn't draw anything onto it, I've tried drawing onto buttons and other things just to make sure I'm doing it right and it works in the other cases.

Re: How to draw onto a WebBrowser form [modified]

Adrian Cole20-Mar-09 14:25

Adrian Cole

20-Mar-09 14:25

I would think you need to derive from WebBrowser and override the OnPaint method.

modified on Friday, March 20, 2009 8:33 PM

Re: How to draw onto a WebBrowser form

Adrian Cole20-Mar-09 14:35

Adrian Cole

20-Mar-09 14:35

Just tried this and it didn't work. Sorry.

Re: How to draw onto a WebBrowser form

jeanbern22-Mar-09 6:21

jeanbern

22-Mar-09 6:21

ya, I donno
google hasn't yielded any results either

Re: How to draw onto a WebBrowser form

sfdsaadaadadad26-Jun-09 5:41

sfdsaadaadadad

26-Jun-09 5:41

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr GetWindow(IntPtr hWnd, uint uCmd);

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int GetClassName(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpClassName, int nMaxCount);

wbHandle = webBrowser.Handle;
StringBuilder className = new StringBuilder(100);
while (className.ToString() != "Internet Explorer_Server") // The class control for the browser
{
wbHandle = GetWindow(wbHandle, 5); // Get a wbHandle to the child window
GetClassName(wbHandle, className, className.Capacity);
}

//Show Click
System.Drawing.Graphics g;
g = Graphics.FromHwnd(wbHandle);
g.DrawEllipse(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.Red),15), yourX, yourY, 15, 15);
//g.DrawImageDrawString("X", this.Font, new SolidBrush(Color.Red), yourX, yourY)
g.Dispose();

Way to monitor API calls of programs?

bbranded20-Mar-09 12:42

bbranded

20-Mar-09 12:42

Hello,

Beyond monitoring registry, file system, etc access with process monitor, and window messages with the likes of something like Winspector, is there a piece of software that can watch API calls of processes?

Thanks,

Matt

Garth J Lancaster20-Mar-09 13:40

Re: Way to monitor API calls of programs? [modified]

20-Mar-09 13:40

I was tempted to say .. 'look at Detours' qv http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/[^], but that doesnt help you in a C# environment AND I think you'd still have to know what API calls you were going to watch ahead of time ..

so Im sorry, this is a waste of a post - I hope someone else has useful info for you ..

'g'

bbranded20-Mar-09 14:11

bbranded

20-Mar-09 14:11

That's very interesting, and brings up the point that the senior dev at my work said... detour/redirect the APIs.

I think that process monitor actually attaches a debugger to each process, this isn't enough?

What about analyzing the call stack (like process explorer), but in an on going logging manner?

Thanks,

Matt

[ud]
eyyy yo[^]

modified on Friday, March 20, 2009 8:21 PM

Garth J Lancaster20-Mar-09 14:23

20-Mar-09 14:23

bbranded wrote:
What about analyzing the call stack (like process explorer), but in an on going logging manner?

ok, I could see this being used for exploratory purposes/during development, but, 'on going' ... surely it would be very expensive cpu-wise ?

Interesting issue though .. does tickle something in the reccesses of my deep/gutter like brain .. something about someone with an instrumentation API for C# - but it wasnt making him/them any money so I think it got canned .. lets see...

well, it wasnt this http://tracetool.sourceforge.net/[^] I was thinking of, but it may give you ideas ...

'g'

bbranded20-Mar-09 14:37

bbranded

20-Mar-09 14:37

I don't mean "on going," like on going, but more like how you'd use process monitor. Process explorer's call stack thing is very small, and simple.

I'm looking to passively observe, and am looking for a piece of software, although an API is cool too. I'm not particularly looking for a debugger, as I can't debug software I may need to monitor (I work at a hedge fund, and am a net and sys admin, but I do code in C#).

Are you speaking of fastice, or whatever that debugger is?

Thanks for the replies!

Matt

Garth J Lancaster20-Mar-09 14:40

20-Mar-09 14:40

bbranded wrote:
Are you speaking of fastice, or whatever that debugger is?

no, there was an instrumentation api/product out there - cant find it now Frown | :-(

'g'

HL7

M.Ambigai20-Mar-09 11:48

M.Ambigai

20-Mar-09 11:48

Sir,
can u state methods to extract data from hl7 message

Re: HL7

Garth J Lancaster20-Mar-09 12:36

ArrayList stored in Application Settings

20-Mar-09 12:36

you really need a specific parser for this - one that understands what the HL7 format is .. there's something here http://nhapi.sourceforge.net/home.php[^] - dont know how good/bad it is.....

there's also an article right here on CP that looks promising ... http://www.codeproject.com/KB/XML/HL7ToXMLConverter.aspx[^] (the comments for this article also contain a reference to nHAPI, the first link I pasted)

'g'

Re: HL7

#realJSOP21-Mar-09 3:35

#realJSOP

21-Mar-09 3:35

Man, it sucks to be you. HL7 is a pile of crap embedded in a pile of crap. The technical documentation for it is several THOUSAND pages. Buy a parser - it's your only hope.

"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

DaDennis1220-Mar-09 11:34

20-Mar-09 11:34

In my application I use the Application Settings to store user preferences (such as preferred colors, size of the window, which parts or my program to hide or show etc)

But I'd also like to store an ArrayList in the settings.

Now I already have an ArrayList stored containing some simple integers (column widths), which works perfectly.

However, when I try to store an ArrayList containing a custom class (Group) which contains a string (name) and a boolean (isVisible) and I start up my application again (it saves the settings on exiting) the setting is empty, as if the arraylist never contained any groups.

At first I thought it was the custom class I made which would cause the problem, but I also store some values which are a custom class in the settings, so I doubt that's it.

I guess my problem is obvious here, why won't the Application Setting remember my ArrayList containing Groups?

For those interested in the Group class code:

public class Group
{
    private string name;
    private bool visible;

    // Constructor
    public Group(string name)
    {
        this.name = name;
    }

    #region Getters and Setters
    public string Name
    {
        get { return name; }
        set { name = value; }
    }

    public bool IsVisible
    {
        get { return visible; }
        set { visible = value; }
    }
    #endregion
}

DaveyM6920-Mar-09 11:44

Re: ArrayList stored in Application Settings [modified]

20-Mar-09 11:44

I've not tried it, but I guess decorating your class with the Serializable attribute whould allow it to be serialized to the settings

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)

DaDennis1220-Mar-09 11:57

20-Mar-09 11:57

I am not really familiar with the whole Serializable attribute, but I read that adding [Serializable] above your class should do the trick.

So I did that, and now the ArrayList isn't empty, now it's null >_<

EDIT: I've been playing around a bit, and if I convert the contents of the group to 1 string, and store an arraylist containing those strings, it stores it fine.

So I either need to find some great tutorial on how that serialization thingy works, or I need to find another way to store this data (originally I stored in in a file next to the exe, but this, of course, is very error sensitive since it can easily be edited).

modified on Friday, March 20, 2009 6:28 PM

DaveyM6920-Mar-09 12:33

20-Mar-09 12:33

If you edit the Settings.Designer.cs file and add this attribute sbove your setting it should work.

[System.Configuration.SettingsSerializeAs(System.Configuration.SettingsSerializeAs.Binary)]

This works for me.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            if (Properties.Settings.Default.GroupArray == null ||
                Properties.Settings.Default.GroupArray.Count == 0)
            {
                Group group1 = new Group("Test1");
                group1.IsVisible = true;
                Group group2 = new Group("Test2");
                group1.IsVisible = false;
                ArrayList list = new ArrayList();
                list.Add(group1);
                list.Add(group2);
                Properties.Settings.Default.GroupArray = list;
                Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
            }
            else
            {
                foreach (object o in Properties.Settings.Default.GroupArray)
                {
                    Group item = (Group)o;
                    Console.WriteLine(
                        String.Format(
                        "Name={0}, IsVisible={1}",
                        item.Name, item.IsVisible));
                }
            }
        }
    }
    [Serializable]
    public class Group
    {      
        public Group(string name)    
        {        
            Name = name;    
        }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public bool IsVisible { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1.Properties 
{
    [global::System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute()]
    [global::System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editors.SettingsDesigner.SettingsSingleFileGenerator", "9.0.0.0")]
    internal sealed partial class Settings : global::System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase
    {
        private static Settings defaultInstance = ((Settings)(global::System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.Synchronized(new Settings())));
        public static Settings Default {
            get {
                return defaultInstance;
            }
        }
        [global::System.Configuration.UserScopedSettingAttribute()]
        [global::System.Diagnostics.DebuggerNonUserCodeAttribute()]
        [System.Configuration.SettingsSerializeAs(System.Configuration.SettingsSerializeAs.Binary)]
        public global::System.Collections.ArrayList GroupArray {
            get {
                return ((global::System.Collections.ArrayList)(this["GroupArray"]));
            }
            set {
                this["GroupArray"] = value;
            }
        }
    }
}

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)

DaDennis1220-Mar-09 12:38

20-Mar-09 12:38

Ahh, yes, the SettingsSerializeAs.Binary did it Smile | :)

But won't that line get deleted everytime the Settings.Designer.cs is generated?

EDIT: Yep, everytime I add a new setting I have to add the line again. Of course having this working is awesome, and no, I won't be adding settings a lot, but this is something so easily overlooked, there has to be a better way to set that serializing to binary.

DaveyM6920-Mar-09 12:51

20-Mar-09 12:51

Yeah - I'll have a look into that.

By the way, ArrayList shouldn't really be used because of all the boxing/unboxing to and from object that's required. Unless you're stuck with 1.1 of the framework you should use a generic list i.e System.Collections.Generic.List<Group>

I don't know if you can serialize a generic list to the settings class. I've tried it by saving it as object and just casting the whole object to the list on load and that works OK.

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)

DaDennis1220-Mar-09 12:56

20-Mar-09 12:56

Yea, I've been using ArrayLists since like forever, only just found out about the List (actually while looking for ways to get this serializing to work).

So if I ever get around to optimizing my code, I'll definitely use that, and of course in future code Wink | ;)

Thanks for the help, and I hope to see a better way to set that serializing as binary, although you don't need to rush. This is just for a private little project I got here, experimenting new things while making my life easier (this is part of a tool that keeps track of all the tv shows I watch, displaying it in an organized way so I know which episodes or whichs shows I still have to watch, when they will air, etc).

DaveyM6920-Mar-09 13:10