.NET (Core and Framework)

2-Aug-07 7:26

Sorry, but I got very basic noob question:
When I add a string to resources of a .NET win app on "Resources" tab in Properties of the project and I can use the string in code like so: "Properties.Resources.str" instead of hard coding the string in, right? Why can't I see the string in the executable itself (with a resource editor)? I need to be able to change the string in there without recompiling.
Thanks a lot!

Luc Pattyn2-Aug-07 7:45

Luc Pattyn

2-Aug-07 7:45

You are not supposed to modify the content of executable files such as EXE and DLL.
How do you expect to replace a string by a longer string in there and keep all
pointers/references correct ?

For your own safetym executable files are protected by checksums and/or signatures.
So if you manage to alter their content, the system will refuse to run them.

EXE and DLL files should be the unmodified result of running some tool, first
candidate is the linker that gets invoked when building with Visual Studio.

There is a concept of "Internationalization" that lets you put regional stuff
into separate DLLs (say one per language). In that sense, you can change a
language-specific DLL, without really changing the app itself.

If that is what you need, look it up!

There also is a concept of a "settings file" that lets you put some initial
values in a file.

If that is what you need, look it up!

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

try { [Search CP Articles] [Search CP Forums] [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] }
catch { [Google] }

CherezZaboro2-Aug-07 8:08

2-Aug-07 8:08

Well in regular Win Apps (non .NET) you can change resources just fine with a resource editor without having to recompile the exe. But so I guess in .NET you can't. What's the point of the resources then (besides reusability)? And why are there some resources in the exe that are visible in resource editor and others not?

Luc Pattyn2-Aug-07 8:32

Luc Pattyn

2-Aug-07 8:32

A resource editor has to preserve the correctness and consistency of an EXE or
DLL file. Why Microsoft has choosen to offer that as a separate tool in the past,
and not to do that anymore, I don't know.

I don't care much what the tool is called; you hit a button, and it happens.
Today it is the same button all the time...

Most if not all of the advantages of resources remain intact: you can store
non-code items in a DLL (rather than embed them in the middle of your code),
hence reuse it across several projects, and, thru internationalization,
replace it as you see fit. A variant is "personalization" where you would be
selling almost the same application to several big customers; if well organized
you just need to replace some images, icons, strings that may all reside in
a single DLL.

If unhappy, fire your complaints towards Microsoft...

Smile | :)

Luc Pattyn

try { [Search CP Articles] [Search CP Forums] [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles] }
catch { [Google] }

CherezZaboro2-Aug-07 9:35

2-Aug-07 9:35

Chill out, man! I'm not firing complains toward anybody, especially you since you don't know...
If unhappy, fire back your complaints through UN...

That was helpful. Sleepy | :zzz:

dekart_roo2-Aug-07 9:05

dekart_roo

2-Aug-07 9:05

If you need to read in the value of a string that's subject to configuration, why not store\read from the registry?

CherezZaboro2-Aug-07 9:37

2-Aug-07 9:37

Thanks for reply. Sure I can store things anywhere really. There's always a set of different approaches to anything. I just want to get the answer to this particular question. That's all.

mac os x

SomeGuyThatIsMe2-Aug-07 5:20

2-Aug-07 5:20

this is probably a stupid question but one of our clients runs macs, and all of our apps are done in .NET 1.1, i've been looking for a while, but i cant seem to find anything that says weather or not the framework will work on a mac, i thought the whole purpose of the framework and the CLR was to make the same program executable on most os's, if someone could pelase enlighten me i would appreciate, i would apprecieate it even more if they could send me a link to a mac version of the .net installer so i can send it to the client.

Kevin McFarlane2-Aug-07 5:46

2-Aug-07 5:46

Microsoft's .NET implementations will only run on Windows (apart from the upcoming Silverlight subset of .NET 3.x).

For .NET 1.1 you have these choices.

1. Port the application to Mono. http://www.mono-project.com[^]

2. Run Windows on the Mac using Bootcamp or virtual machine software like Parallells or VMWare (still in beta).

Kevin

SomeGuyThatIsMe2-Aug-07 5:53

2-Aug-07 5:53

i've never set up a vm on a mac will i have to install windows on that machine so the vm program will work or does the vm handle it for me? also does any of that come with OS X?

Re: mac os x [modified]

Kevin McFarlane2-Aug-07 6:20

2-Aug-07 6:20

Not sure what the status of BootCamp is. It may be a free add-on. I did read that it was going to be bundled with the next version of Mac OS X - http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/[^]

For the VM you would need to buy the software. The Parallels version is available, not that expensive - http://www.parallels.com/[^]. VMWare's is still in Beta.

You would also need to buy a Windows license and the bad news is that Microsoft only allow XP Pro or Vista Business or higher to run in a VM. You install the VM in Mac OS and then install Windows in the VM.

Longer term, it might be worth seeing how feasible it is to convert your app. to run on Mono. I remember reading about a customer in Germany that did this successfully.

Völcker Informatik AG[^]

Mono have an application compatibility tester on their site.

Last modified: 12mins after originally posted --

Kevin

SomeGuyThatIsMe2-Aug-07 6:36

2-Aug-07 6:36

I've never tried to use Mono, does it suport using Web Services? the primary function of this application is that it reads a file or files, and uploads their contents to our web service to update data stored on our system. I think i could probably do this with java, but for some reason we were under the impression that .NET was microsofts answer to java in that one executable would run on any machine with the framework, just like java runs on any machine with the jvm.

Kevin McFarlane2-Aug-07 7:03

2-Aug-07 7:03

I've never used Mono myself but it seems to be getting more and more capable. My impression is that it is easier for it to handle the web side of .NET than the Windows side. It will probably be easier for them once everything goes to WPF. I'd make some inquiries or ask in forums on the Mono site. There may also be one or two articles on codeproject. From your initial description it seems that Mono should be more than capable of handling that, especially if it has no complex Windows GUI.

.NET was designed so that it could be made cross-platform (hence Mono) but MS have only provided a Windows implementation (but the new Silverlight runs on Mac OS X). Otherwise, the main difference in MS's implementation compared to Java's is that .NET is multi-language, single platform while Java is single language, multi-platform.

Kevin

SomeGuyThatIsMe2-Aug-07 7:06

2-Aug-07 7:06

Alright, i'm running the compatibility tester right now, thanks for all your help, i'll look into it, and see which i any solution my boss prefers.

Kevin McFarlane2-Aug-07 7:22

2-Aug-07 7:22

I'd be interesting in knowing if this is successful.

Kevin

SomeGuyThatIsMe2-Aug-07 7:37

2-Aug-07 7:37

the compatibility tester said that there are no problems...I used the mono command line to start one of the applications and it seemed to work correctly even the web service calls worked. unfortunatly i dont have mac to test this on..i dont even have a pc w/out the .net framework, so i dont know if its actually using mono or if its still using .net, the site said that the monoframework could run exe's complied with visual studio with .net which seems true. Also, it said that some pieces of windows froms are not supported, but it seemslike the basic controls, buttons, textboxs, labels, etc... are in the current version 1.2.4 i think it is, there is also a c# compliier so if running the exe wont work on anoter machne i'm going to try to compile my source code with the mono compiler ad see what happens.

Kevin McFarlane2-Aug-07 7:47

2-Aug-07 7:47

Oh yes - another thing - many of the open source utilities, such as NUnit - also work with Mono.

Kevin