New Stuff

Resources for Your Developer Toolbox

Theresa W. Carey

Contents

Compare Internal Data for Debugging
Document Your .NET-based Apps
Reengineer and Migrate Apps to .NET
Test Distributed Applications
Tab Control for C and C++
.NET Database Enterprise Server
Windows Forms Style Sheets
Emulate Hardware Devices in .NET
Include Autocomplete in Your .NET-based App
BASIC Game Development
The Bookshelf

Compare Internal Data for Debugging

Guardsoft has announced the availability of VSGuard, which allows you to compare internal data between two executing programs. This technique can reduce time spent on debugging and testing. It is useful whenever a program is modified during the development process or ported to a different environment, such as when moving the program to a new platform or during system upgrades.

VSGuard is fully integrated with Visual Studio® .NET. One of its best features is migrating apps from Visual Studio 6.0 to the Microsoft® .NET Framework. VSGuard runs Visual Basic® 6.0 and Visual Basic .NET projects concurrently, automatically comparing data and reporting the differences it identifies.

VSGuard links seamlessly with industry standard visualization packages such as OpenDX, which can display the differences between the internal data of programs. You can test whether the program performs the same task as a previous version and take advantage of tools to isolate any differences you may find.

VSGuard is able to identify errors down to an individual line in the source code. It does not require large trace files, which saves both space and time. VSGuard can be used with Visual Studio .NET and versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the .NET Framework, on Windows® 2000, and Windows XP.

https://www.guardsoft.com

Document Your .NET-based Apps

Innovasys announced Document! X 4.0, which automatically produces technical documentation and online help for Microsoft .NET Framework assemblies, COM components, Visual Basic for Applications source code, and XSD schemas. Document! X 4.0 includes full-page edit and visual comment designers for Visual C#® .NET and Visual Basic .NET source code that allow you to edit source comments in a preview of the generated documentation.

Also new is documentation of XSD schemas, including full graphical schema diagrams. With Document! X 4.0, documentation can be produced throughout the design and development phases, allowing development teams to work with an up-to-date reference.

https://www.innovasys.com

Reengineer and Migrate Apps to .NET

Simplex has released Transport Suite 2.0, which is comprised of two products: Visual Expert and Architect. Visual Expert is a source code analyzer for legacy apps built with Visual Basic and PowerBuilder. It enables development teams to acquire and transfer application knowledge by referencing application components, identifying business rules, creating system documentation, and exporting the application code structure to XML for analysis and integration using Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Architect streamlines design and development cycles by providing a decompiled view of Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, C/C++, Java application baselines and other code and database structures using UML. Architect automatically generates foundation code for database schema, table maintenance stored procedures, data access class wrappers, inter-application workflow, and class structures directly from the UML designs.

Architect is an extensible and customizable environment, supporting a diverse range of analysis, documentation, and generation requirements.

https://www.simplexng.com

Test Distributed Applications

Shunra Software Ltd. recently announced Shunra\Storm Solution Suite 3.1 designed to emulate any enterprise environment, including the global network and remote user load in the lab. It enables testing, networking, and performance professionals to evaluate the functionality, robustness, performance, and scalability of any distributed n-tier application from the remote user perspective well before global deployment takes place.

Shunra/Storm 3.1 can be used for testing any distributed application such as ERP/CRM, eBusiness, VoIP, Citrix, offshore outsourcing, .NET, and Web services. It features integration with automated load testing tools, scripting tools, shell and control processes, Tcl, SQL tools, VBScripts, and many console applications such as FTP and Telnet.

Shunra\Storm 3.1 includes the ability to save the lab configuration in a single file, including instructions for all third-party tools. Using these stored files, users can test different application versions under the same parameters each time to baseline the application and ensure accurate testing. Shunra\Storm 3.1 provides detailed reports that combine and correlate results from all test lab equipment. Through the central console, stored test scenarios can be rerun automatically whenever required.

https://www.shunra.com

Tab Control for C and C++

Softel vdm has released SftTabs/DLL 4.5, its latest tab control version for C, C++, and C++/MFC. SftTabs/DLL 4.5 includes 60 basic tab control styles that can be further customized to suit your needs with multiple tab rows, scroll buttons, bitmaps, and colors.

This new version introduces hidden tabs, which can be convenient when an application wants to suppress certain tabs to simplify the user interface. Hidden tabs are best used in situations where certain groups of users should not have access to all tabs of a tab control without being aware that any additional tabs may exist. Tabs can also be disabled so they are still visible but not accessible to the user.

SftTabs/DLL 4.5 supports development using Visual Studio 6.0 and Visual Studio .NET and with C and unmanaged C++ applications. The included controls can be used on all versions of Windows 95 through Windows Server™ 2003, allowing migration of applications across the supported platforms. SftTabs/DLL 4.5 is available for 32-bit/Pentium-class and for Itanium (2) 64-bit systems.

https://www.windowscontrols.com

.NET Database Enterprise Server

Ong-Tech has launched its Enterprise Server, which helps developers implement enterprise applications by providing services that handle all database transactions. In addition, Enterprise Server provides a service brokerage functionality allowing custom services to be hosted inside the server to take advantage of its built-in features.

Enterprise Server is implemented with .NET Framework technology and is designed for extensibility, scalability, and interoperability. By exposing the server as XML-based Web services, code can be written to consume these services on virtually any platform using any programming language.

Enterprise Server currently supports SQL Server™, MySQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC, OLE, and Oracle-compatible databases. Additional database vendors are supported through the extension API.

https://www.ongtech.com

Windows Forms Style Sheets

.net PowerTools has released PerfectForm, a component for Visual Studio .NET that creates consistent and stylish Windows Forms applications. PerfectForm allows you to change the properties of all controls from a single style document without the need to recompile.

Support is built in for custom controls and third-party controls. A Visual Studio wizard is included for creating new Windows Forms, or your existing application can be modified with a few code changes. With PerfectForm, you can centralize your style definitions across an application or across the enterprise.

https://www.dotnetpowertools.com

Emulate Hardware Devices in .NET

Instrumentation Widgets, published by 9Rays.Net, is a library of meters, indicators, scales, sliders, gauges, knobs, buttons, dials, tanks, thermometers, switches, matrixes, LEDs, and other .NET-based components that emulate hardware devices.

They are all Microsoft .NET Framework managed components written in C#. All controls use double buffering to produce smooth animation and avoid flicking. There are currently more than 30 components in the library, with more on the way. The collection of components also includes compasses, oscilloscopes, odometers, toggles, multimedia buttons, and buttons with skin support. All the device emulators are customizable and scalable, and users can change size, color, font types, value range, and other properties of each component. All the components include a data binding feature as well. The program comes in Standard and Professional editions.

https://www.9rays.net

Include Autocomplete in Your .NET-based App

Dinky AutoComplete Tool (DACT), published by LaMarvin, s.r.o. is a small component that provides an autocomplete feature to any Windows Forms application. Once the component is integrated into an application by placing it onto a Form, the DACT tool automatically adds autocomplete to all System.Windows.Forms.TextBox and combobox controls (and all of their descendants) on the form.

The built-in designer support provides for design-time customization of the autocomplete-related properties. DACT supports autocompletion of user-entered strings (saved in the registry), file system paths, user's history lists, and the user's most recently used files as well as URLs.

https://www.lamarvin.com/dact_default.asp

BASIC Game Development

ethosBasic.com has released an updated version of ethosBASIC, a modular development system designed for the creation of video games and animations that runs on Windows.

ethosBASIC is based on the BASIC computer language platform with enhanced functionality (based on DirectX® technology) that can handle animations, graphics, sounds, and music flexibly.

The user interface is based on the familiar Windows editor, and consists of special function windows for handling the databanks of special effects, debugging, or editing the code and the animations.

https://www.ethosbasic.com

The Bookshelf

C# Cookbook, by Stephen Teilhet and Jay Hilyard (O'Reilly, 2003) is a collection of solutions and practical examples for the C# language. Teilhet and Hilyard teach by example, modeling good programming practice. The 200-plus recipes in the book, which cover performance, versioning, readability, maintainability, logic, reliability, and other topics, are in accordance with best practices. Most "recipes" contain a complete, documented code sample showing readers how to solve a specific problem, including a discussion of how and why the underlying technology works, and offering alternatives, limitations, and other considerations where appropriate.

Topics include performing numeric and data type con-versions, using and comparing strings and characters, creating and maintaining structures and classes, throwing and handling exceptions, and implementing diagnostic code in applications. You'll also find information regarding the use of delegates and events, working with regular expressions, using and extending .NET collection classes, managing files and directories, creating data structures and algorithms, maximizing security, and working with XML documents.

Organized by the types of problems likely to be encountered as developers improve their expertise in C#, the coding solutions in the C# Cookbook can be used, adapted, and modified to accommodate your application goals.

https://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csharpckbk

Send your New Stuff to Theresa at  newstuff@microsoft.com.

Theresa W. Carey is a freelance writer who lives in California. Her byline has appeared in Barron's and PC World.