.NET 1.x

TabPageCollection (And Collection ) Woes

Shandy — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 17:00:00 GMT

Sometimes I really despair. I am currently trying (note not succeeding) to produce a wrapper for the .NET 1.x Tab Control, which IMHO is woefully short of functionality. I was making some headway until I discovered a couple of interesting points

If you add a TabPage taken from one TabPageCollection into another TabPageCollection it is removed from the first TabPageCollection. I can live with that. A nuisance but I can live with it.
TabPageCollections are 0 based. Collections are 1 based. This makes utilising a Collection class instead of a TabPageCollection difficult because you have to remember to convert the indexes between the two all the time.

So a rather simple problem of producing one collection to keep track of visible and invisible PageTabs (by default the visible property is ignored but that's another story) suddenly starts to get a bit more complicated. I can't use a single TabPageCollection because adding any TabPages from the actual control's TabPages into my own TabPageCollection removes the TabPage from the tab control's TabPages. And using a standard collection also holds perils (which a 30 minute debugging session has revealed) as I have to remember to keep changing the index when referencing between TabPageCollections and standard collections.

My real gripe is why aren't ALL collections 1 based (or 0 based for that matter - I don't care which). Personally I think it is better to be illogical but consistant rather logical but inconsistant.

So now I am researching how to create a 0 based class.

The thing that annoys me is that all this takes time. Yes, I'll figure out how to create a 0 based collection class, probably learning some useful points along the way but as with the great majority of my .NET projects I am in danger of losing interest in it because it is taking way too long to create something useful.

OK, I'll tuck my soapbox away, pour myself a beer and start looking into creating a 0 based collection class. If anyone has already created a 0 based collection class or knows where the code for one is please let me know. I have little interest in re-inventing the wheel in this particular instance. I'm more interested in getting my TabControlExtensions class up and running :)

CodeIt.Once For VS 2005 Beta Now Available!

Shandy — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 12:49:00 GMT

Having caught up yesterday on my blog reading I noticed CodeIt.Once for VS 2005 Beta 2. I have downloaded both 2003 & 2005 versions and although I can't get the 2005 version to load correctly I'm having a play around with the 2003 version. I'd hoped to have had more of a look at CodeIt.Once than I've been able to but hopefully today I can investigate it a bit more as for a relatively inexperienced .NET programmer like myself I can see it could help me out quite a bit.

CodeSMART 2005 for VS.NET FixPack 4 Released

Shandy — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 23:51:00 GMT

I just received an email to inform me that fixpack 4 has been released by AxTools.

Free Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET

Shandy — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:53:00 GMT

Whilst wandering the internet I came across the following annoucement, Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET. It looks like Oracle have made some goodies available free of charge for VS.NET.

How To Get The Forms Closing And Closed Events To Execute When Exiting An Application

Shandy — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 10:54:00 GMT

I have just published an article, How To Get The Forms Closing And Closed Events To Execute When Exiting An Application. Note that in VB 2005 Beta 2 this ~~bug~~ ~~feature~~ bug has been corrected and no workaround is required.

How To Enumerate Through All Controls On A Form

Shandy — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 16:30:00 GMT

I have just published an article, How To Enumerate Through All Controls On A Form. Its one I created back in April using CSS to format the article. Although there are still one or two issues (at least on my PC) with screen updates after toggling between scroll and full code views I've decided to release the article.

Lastest devCity .NET Newsletter Is Now Available

Shandy — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 09:45:00 GMT

The latest edition of the devCity .NET newsletter (News You Can Compile) was published last week. This newsletter is published at least once a month and contains articles on .NET, links to the latest .NET FAQs at vbCity, links to the latest vbCity blogs. You can subscribe to the newsletter and get it delivered to your email inbox or view the newsletters online.

First Windows Mobile .NET Application Idea

Shandy — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 17:51:00 GMT

I got this idea at 06:30 on Saturday morning when my i-mate alarm went off. I need a decent alarm application on my i-mate. One that differentiates between weekends and weekdays! So my first application will be a small, simple alarm that can handle different alarms on different days and has a snooze facility.

Watch this space!

How To Find Out What Version Of Windows Mobile .NET Framework Is Running On An i-mate SP3

Shandy — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 17:25:00 GMT

Nice and easy this one. Select Start, Settings, About and all the information you require is displayed :)

.NET Survey

Shandy — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 10:38:00 GMT

I came across this survey, 2005 .NET Survey. I did notice that develop was spelled develp right at the top of the page but hey, my blog is full of spelling/typing errors too ;-) This survey is done by the same people who are doing the Visual Basic 2005 World Wide Survey