Peter Ritchie's MVP Blog : Visual Studio 2005

DevTeach 2009 Vancouver

PeterRitchie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:33:00 GMT

The schedule for DevTeach 2009 Vancouver has been announced (http://www.devteach.com/). There’s lots of great software development sessions from some of the leaders in our industry.

If you’re planning on improving yourself, this is the conference to go to. Not only can you attend excellent sessions; but you can hob-knob with the presenters and pick their brains.

If you have a friend or co-worker who’s interested, there’s a limited-time two-for-one offer for an even better price: http://www.devteach.com/Register.aspx

Drag and drop of control selections onto forms designer toolbox

PeterRitchie — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:43:39 GMT

A while back I blogged about the ability we have in Visual Studio to select text in a text editor and drag it onto the toolbox. Once on the toolbox you could drag those items back into the text editor to effectively “paste” frequently needed snippets of code into other text files.

Imagine my surprise when we didn’t have this ability in the forms designer. When writing code, it’s a bit specious to want to have multiple copies of hard-coded snippets of code (DRY should come to mind). But, for forms, the only alternative is to create user controls to contain commonly-used control groups. User controls is very heavy weight and basically becomes unusable when talking about simple groups of buttons. For example, “OK” and “Cancel” buttons.

So, as a result, I’ve logged a suggestion on Microsoft Connect suggesting this ability be added to Visual Studio.

If you want to see the potential of a feature like this, see http://machine.nukeation.com/preview.html

Trace to output window without adding code.

PeterRitchie — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:08:00 GMT

Want to trace some run-time data to the output window while debugging without changing and recompiling your code? Use Tracepoints: http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2008/06/13/did-you-know-you-can-use-tracepoints-to-log-printf-or-console-writeline-info-without-editing-your-code-237.aspx

No "Add Method Stub" When Passing or Assigning Delegates

PeterRitchie — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:45:00 GMT

I finally noticed the other day the "Add method stub" SmartTag wasn't appearing for a new method name I type in. I decided I'd have a closer look...

When you're practicing Test-Driven Development (TDD) you want to write a test for methods before you write the methods. This means you write a test method that calls several other methods that don't exist yet. The Visual Studio IDE, in an effort to promote TDD, recognizes this and when you have your caret over a call to one of these methods a SmartTag shows up and you can select Generate method stub for 'SomeMethod' in 'SomeNamespace.SomeClass'. For example, if you have the following:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        SomeMethod();
    }

...if you place the caret (e.g. click on "SomeMethod") somewhere on "SomeMethod" (and it doesn't exist in the current class) the SmartTag rectangle under the 'S' in SometMethod appears and you can hover your mouse over the word "SomeMethod" and the options icon appears that you can click and select Generate method stub for 'SomeMethod' in 'SomeNamespace.SomeClass', and it will generate a method like the following:

    private static void SomeMethod()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

Well, I figured this would also happen when I tried to assign a non-existent method to a delegate. For example, if I had the following:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Action action = SomeOtherMethod;
    }

...I would expect that placing the caret over "SomeOtherMethod" that the SmartTag would show up and I would be able to select 'SomeOtherMethod' in 'SomeNamespace.SomeClass' and it would generate a method like the following:

    private static void SomeOtherMethod()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

Alas, the IDE doesn't recognize use of an undeclared method when used with delegates. i.e. it doesn't appear in these circumstances either:

    static void ProcessDelegate(Action action)
    {
        //...
    }
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ProcessDelegate(SomeOtherMethod);
        ProcessDelegate(new Action(SomeOtherMethod));
    }

I thought "Add method stub" would be more useful in these circumstances because you're not explicitly passing arguments to the method so it's more likely that you don't know what signature you need to declare. So, I logged a suggestion for it: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=328782

By the way, the non-generic Action delegate (System.Core.Delegate) is new to .NET 3.5.

Who's Referencing Whom?

PeterRitchie — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:15:00 GMT

When developing any sort of application, debugging in inevitable. Sometimes, part of that debugging means trying to figure out why objects haven't been collected and therefore figuring out what object is referencing the object that has yet to be collected.

There's many reasons why you'd want to find out what object is referencing, like suspected memory "leaks".

With Visual Studio (and MDbg) you can use a tool called SOS (or Son Of Strike). This is included in the .NET installation. To use SOS you first need to enable unmanaged debugging in your project (Project\Properties, Debug tab, check "Enable unmanaged code debugging" in the "Enable Debuggers" section). Once unmanaged debugging is enabled you can then debug your application. To use SOS once debugging, you need to load the extension (every time a new debugging session is started). Once a breakpoint has been hit, open the Immediate Window and type .load sos which should result in the following:

.load sos
extension C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\sos.dll loaded

With SOS loaded, you can find out if any objects of a particular type are currently in memory with the "dumpheap -type" command, for example:

!dumpheap -type NamespaceName.TypeName
Address       MT     Size
012b2db8 009159c4      328
total 1 objects
Statistics:
      MT    Count    TotalSize Class Name
009159c4        1          328 NamespaceName.TypeName
Total 1 objects

This lists all objects of the requested type, their address, their MethodTable (MT), and the count of each object per MethodTable.

Once you have the object's address you can then find out what objects are referencing that particular instance. This is done with the gcroot command:

!gcroot 012b2db8
Note: Roots found on stacks may be false positives. Run "!help gcroot" for
more info.
Error during command: warning! Extension is using a feature which Visual Studio does not implement.

Scan Thread 4756 OSTHread 1294
ESP:12f0dc:Root:012b2db8(WindowsApplication1.Form1)->
012bb104(WindowsApplication1.Form2)->
012bb254(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[[NamespaceName.TypeName, WindowsApplication1]])->
012bc178(System.Object[])->
012bc16c(NamespaceName.TypeName)
Scan Thread 3496 OSTHread da8

In this particular example, the above tells us that our object (012bc16c(NamespaceName.TypeName)) is referenced by an Object array (012bc178(System.Object[])), which is referenced by a List<T> object (012bb254(System.Collections.Generic.List`1[[NamespaceName.TypeName, WindowsApplication1]])), which is referenced by Form2 (012bb104(WindowsApplication1.Form2)), which is referenced by a Form1 object(ESP:12f0dc:Root:012b2db8(WindowsApplication1.Form1)).

.NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

PeterRitchie — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:45:00 GMT

I noticed mention of .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 on a Microsoft site today.

The BCL Team's latest blog entry http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2007/05/21/the-regexoptions-compiled-flag-and-slow-performance-on-64-bit-net-framework-2-0-josh-free.aspx mentions a fix that will make it into the .NET Framework 2.0 SP 1. Seems an inevitable release of SP1 for .NET Framework 2.0 is pretty official.

Contribution to Microsoft Visual C# Develper Center

PeterRitchie — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:26:00 GMT

My first contribution (of many) to the Microsoft Visual C# Developer Center has been published

Much needed feedback on Connect feedback.

PeterRitchie — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:14:00 GMT

S. Somasegar recently blogged that Visual Studio 2005 bugs logged via Connect that were fixed in SP1 are now listed. (listed here: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/content/content.aspx?ContentID=4324).

Attributing Connect feedback to fixes is a huge step in the right direction. It allows users to follow their feedback through fruition. This is wonderful because--at least some--feedback won't fall into a black hole and give user's the impression that providing feedback via Connect is pointless.

Let's face it, logging bugs can be a thankless and frustrating process. The unlimited potential combinations of hardware and software installations sometimes makes reproducing bugs very difficult. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing "can't reproduce" for a bug that you encounter daily. This list provides the feedback to users that Connect is indeed a useful tool.

Visual Studio 2005 Clean doesn't clean everything

PeterRitchie — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:33:00 GMT

I noticed a while ago that when I clean a project in Visual Studio 2005 that has XML documentation file enabled the XML file isn't removed. There's an issue logged about files that don't get deleted on Clean on Microsoft Connect Clean does not remove all files from the build directory. Unfortunately this issue also mentions the vshost files that usually appear in the project build directory for projects that output an EXE. This has caused this issue to be resolved By Design because of this, with a note that the XML file not being deleted is a bug.

I've been meaning to fiddle around with the Visual Studio 2005 events anyway, so I thought I'd simply write a build done event handler (as the Clean command actually raises this event with vsBuildAction.vsBuildActionClean. I gathered from the issue details this only occurs in CSharp, so the following macro does the trick for CSharp projects either in the root of a solution or within Solution folders:

Private ActiveProject As [Project]

' don't know why these don't exist in the Constants class...

Private Const vsProjectKindCSharp As String = "{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}"

Private Const vsProjectKindVisualBasic As String = "{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}"

Private Const vsProjectKindCPlusPlus As String = "{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}"

Private Const vsProjectKindJSharp As String = "{E6FDF86B-F3D1-11D4-8576-0002A516ECE8}"

Private Const vsProjectKindWeb As String = "{E24C65DC-7377-472b-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}"

' <revision name="Peter Ritchie" date="16-Nov-06">Created</>

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildBegin(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildBegin

ActiveProject = Nothing

If (Action = vsBuildAction.vsBuildActionClean) Then

If (Scope = vsBuildScope.vsBuildScopeProject) Then

' keep track of the currently selected item in the solution explorer

' we only support one selected project

Dim solutionExplorer As UIHierarchy

solutionExplorer = DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsext_wk_SProjectWindow).Object()

If Not solutionExplorer Is Nothing Then

Dim items As Array = solutionExplorer.SelectedItems

If (items.GetLength(0) > 0) Then

ActiveProject = TryCast(items.GetValue(0).Object(), Project) ' todo

End If

End Sub

' <revision name="Peter Ritchie" date="16-Nov-06">Created</>

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildDone(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildDone

Try

If (Action = vsBuildAction.vsBuildActionClean) Then

If (Scope = vsBuildScope.vsBuildScopeProject) Then

If (Not ActiveProject Is Nothing) Then

CleanProject(ActiveProject)

End If

ElseIf (Scope = vsBuildScope.vsBuildScopeSolution) Then

Dim project As Project

For Each project In DTE.Solution.Projects

CleanProject(project)

End If

Finally

ActiveProject = Nothing

End Try

End Sub

' <revision name="Peter Ritchie" date="16-Nov-06">Created</>

Private Sub CleanProject(ByRef project As Project)

If Not project Is Nothing Then

' we only support CSharp projects at this time.

If (project.Kind = vsProjectKindCSharp) Then

Dim projectPath As String = project.Properties.Item("FullPath").Value

Dim configuration As Configuration

configuration = project.ConfigurationManager.ActiveConfiguration

Dim fullOutputPath As String = projectPath & configuration.Properties.Item("OutputPath").Value

Dim documentationFilePath As String = configuration.Properties.Item("DocumentationFile").Value

'MsgWin("Checking xml file path for " & project.Name)

If (Not documentatinoFilePath Is Nothing) And Len(documentationFileName) > 0 Then

Dim fullDocumentationFilePath = projectPath & documentationFilePath

'MsgWin("xml path: """ & fullDocumentationFilePath & """")

Dim fs As New FileIO.FileSystem

If (fs.FileExists(fullDocumentationFilePath)) Then

fs.DeleteFile(fullDocumentationFilePath)

End If

ElseIf project.Kind = Constants.vsProjectKindSolutionItems Then

' each solution items project contains a collection

' of project item solutions items for which we want the SubProject

Dim projectItem As ProjectItem

For Each projectItem In project.ProjectItems

If projectItem.Kind = Constants.vsProjectItemKindSolutionItems Then

CleanProject(projectItem.SubProject)

End If

End Sub

To install:

open the Macro Explorer
expand MyMacros
double click Module1
In the Project Explorer for the macro project double click EnvironmentEvents
Paste the above at the end of this file

This macro supports solution clean and single project clean (not multi-select project clean). If you find there are other files you want wiped when you clean, simply add them in the CleanProject subroutine.

Code Analysis: How to Correctly Resolve CA1300 - "Specify MessageBox Options"

PeterRitchie — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 14:18:00 GMT

This is the first installment of what I hope to be many short bits of guidance about correctly resolving some of the more complex warnings coming out of FxCop and Code Analysis.

The CA1300 warning is specifically about the right-to-left or left-to-right reading order of a message box. The documentation for the warning alludes that a message box doesn't automatically inherit the containing form's reading order or the reading order from the user's current culture. Although, I can't find any documentation that confirms either.

In any case, this is a rather complex warning to resolve, you possibly have to traverse the form's lineage (when reading order is inherited) to find the reading order setting. The example fix in the documentation basically puts this logic in the code that calls MessageBox.Show. This is very un-resuable and couples the logic not only to the containing class but to the method it's contained within. My solution attempts to allow resolution of CA1300 with as little coupling as possible and little or no changes to existing code.

My solution is obviously going to implement the extra logic in a new class; but I'll be implementing in a way where you don't have to change your existing calls to MessageBox.Show. My resolution extends the Form class and provides a MessageBox property that is implemented with a protected nested class that provides Show methods with all the same signatures as System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show. The only requirement to using this class is that you haven't explicitly used the full namespace when calling MessageBox.Show, like 'System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("text", "caption")'.

The following is an example of code that generates the warning:

namespace WinFormApplication
{
    internal sealed partial class MainForm : Form
    {
        public MainForm ( )
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Globalization",
            "CA1303:DoNotPassLiteralsAsLocalizedParameters",
            MessageId = "System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(System.String,System.String)")]
        private void button1_Click ( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            MessageBox.Show("text", "caption");
        }
    }
}

The following is the class that extends Form using a protected class to implement a MessageBox property to redirect calls to MessageBox.Show--which eventually creates the appopriate MessageBoxOptions value and delegates to System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show.

namespace PRI.Windows.Forms
{
    public class RtlAwareForm : Form
    {
        private MessageBoxProxy messageBoxProxy;
 
        protected MessageBoxProxy MessageBox
        {
            get
            {
                return messageBoxProxy;
            }
        }
 
        public RtlAwareForm ( )
        {
            messageBoxProxy = new MessageBoxProxy(this);
        }
 
        [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design",
            "CA1034:NestedTypesShouldNotBeVisible")]
        protected class MessageBoxProxy
        {
            private Control parent;
            public MessageBoxProxy (Control parent)
            {
                this.parent = parent;
            }
 
            private static Boolean IsRightToLeft ( Control control )
            {
                if (control.RightToLeft == RightToLeft.Inherit)
                {
                    Control parent = control.Parent;
                    while (parent != null)
                    {
                        if (parent.RightToLeft != RightToLeft.Inherit)
                        {
                            return parent.RightToLeft == RightToLeft.Yes;
                        }
                    }
                    return CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.TextInfo.IsRightToLeft;
                }
                else
                {
                    return control.RightToLeft == RightToLeft.Yes;
                }
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text )
            {
                return Show(text,
                    string.Empty,
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text, string caption )
            {
                return Show(text,
                    caption,
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons )
            {
                return Show(text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon )
            {
                return Show(text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( String text,
                String caption,
                MessageBoxButtons messageBoxButtons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton )
            {
                MessageBoxOptions options =
                    IsRightToLeft(parent) ?
                        MessageBoxOptions.RightAlign | MessageBoxOptions.RtlReading : 0;
 
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    messageBoxButtons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner, string text )
            {
                return Show(owner,
                    text,
                    string.Empty,
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner, string text, string caption )
            {
                return Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons )
            {
                return Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    MessageBoxIcon.None,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon )
            {
                return Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton )
            {
                MessageBoxOptions options = parent != owner ?
                    0 : (IsRightToLeft(parent) ?
                        MessageBoxOptions.RightAlign | MessageBoxOptions.RtlReading : 0);
 
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                bool displayHelpButton )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    displayHelpButton);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                string keyword )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    keyword);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                HelpNavigator navigator )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    navigator);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath )
            {
                return Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath);
            }
 
            public DialogResult Show ( string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                HelpNavigator navigator,
                object param )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(parent,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    navigator,
                    param);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                string keyword )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    keyword);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                HelpNavigator navigator )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    navigator);
            }
 
            [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Performance",
                "CA1822:MarkMembersAsStatic")]
            public DialogResult Show ( IWin32Window owner,
                string text,
                string caption,
                MessageBoxButtons buttons,
                MessageBoxIcon icon,
                MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton,
                MessageBoxOptions options,
                string helpFilePath,
                HelpNavigator navigator,
                object param )
            {
                return System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner,
                    text,
                    caption,
                    buttons,
                    icon,
                    defaultButton,
                    options,
                    helpFilePath,
                    navigator,
                    param);
            }
        }
    }
}

I've attached a non-web-site friendly version of the class in the attachements, that includes more comments and less line breaks.

Now, the only change to the original code to resolve the warnings is the addition of a using namespace directive and a change to the form's base class (and in this example, a change to the CodeAnalysis suppression):

namespace WinFormApplication
{
    using PRI.Windows.Forms;
 
    internal sealed partial class MainForm : RtlAwareForm
    {
        public MainForm ( )
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        [System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Globalization",
                "CA1303:DoNotPassLiteralsAsLocalizedParameters",
                MessageId = "PRI.Windows.Forms.RtlAwareForm+MessageBoxProxy.Show(System.String,System.String)")]
        private void button1_Click ( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            MessageBox.Show("text", "caption");
        }
    }
}

Using Toolbox for Code Snippets in Visual Studio 2005

PeterRitchie — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 19:23:00 GMT

Just noticed today that you can drag text into the Toolbox then repeatedly drag it back out wherever you want, into a Visual Studio source window.

Simply select some text in a source window, drag it over to the Toolbox tab (assuming you have Toolbox set to Auto Hide), wait for Toolbox to expand and drop the text wherever you want it.

Now you can simply open up the Toolbox and drag-drop that text whenever you want, much like a code snippet; but much faster (and without literals).

Add Visual Studio 2005 Intermediate Files to Windows Disk Cleanup

PeterRitchie — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 18:52:00 GMT

A few years ago I remember a small little Code Project project about a Windows Disk Cleanup component that would cleanup VC6 files. I had always meant to look into that for VS2005 when I had the time.

Well, I had a look at the interfaces that the the Disk Cleanup applet uses and it turns out you can add cleanup items to Disk Cleanup without writing a single line of code. There is a "fallback" cleanup COM component (DataDrivenCleaner) that you can reuse for situations where cleanup can be defined by a directory and/or set of files/wild-cards. Visual Studio 2005 fits this criteria quite nicely; so I whipped together a few registry entries that adds an item to Disk Clean to cleanup select Visual Studio intermediate files older than 30 days. I exported the entries into the attached file (zipped). The contents are as follows:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Visual Studio 2005]
@="{C0E13E61-0CC6-11d1-BBB6-0060978B2AE6}"
"FileList"="*.obj|*.pch|*.ilk|vc80.pdb|vc80.idb|buildlog.htm"
"Display"="Visual Studio 2005 Intermediate Files."
"Priority"=dword:00000064
"Description"="Clean up Visual Studio project build files older than 30 days."
"IconPath"=hex(2):65,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,\
  78,00,65,00,2c,00,31,00,33,00,00,00
"Flags"=dword:00000001
"Folder"=hex(2):25,00,55,00,53,00,45,00,52,00,50,00,52,00,4f,00,46,00,49,00,4c,\
  00,45,00,25,00,5c,00,4d,00,79,00,20,00,44,00,6f,00,63,00,75,00,6d,00,65,00,\
  6e,00,74,00,73,00,5c,00,56,00,69,00,73,00,75,00,61,00,6c,00,20,00,53,00,74,\
  00,75,00,64,00,69,00,6f,00,20,00,32,00,30,00,30,00,35,00,5c,00,50,00,72,00,\
  6f,00,6a,00,65,00,63,00,74,00,73,00,5c,00,00,00
"LastAccess"=dword:0000001e

Most items are pretty self-explanatory. Both IconPath and Folder are REG_EXPAND_SZ value types, so the export shows them as hex bytes here. When merged with the registry you'll see IconPath: "explorer.exe,13", which just sets the item's icon to the folder icon; and Folder: "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\". Flags is set to 1 to recurse subdirectories. And LastAccess = 1e means only files older than 30 (hex 0x1e) days will be cleaned.

So, basically, this will recurse the Visual Studio projects directory deleting files matching the FileList wild-cards (in this case *.obj, *.pch, *.ilk, vc80.pdb, vc80.idb, and buildlog.htm) and are older than 30 days. I purposely didn't add *.exe *.pdb because I often have files of these times that aren't with the Debug or Release directory of a project.

Handy if you have a scheduled cleanup (e.g. you run cleanup a hour before you disk defrag--no point in defragging a bunch of intermediate files...).

Schedule at Least a Three Hours When Installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta

PeterRitchie — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:40:00 GMT

Yesterday, I got Rob Caron's, the Visual C++ Team's, and various other emails about the just-released VS 2005 SP1 Beta.

After getting my approval to download it, I did just that. I then quickly proceeded to install it. It took well over 10 minutes to inform me that I have Web Application Project add-in (WAP) installed and it must be uninstalled before proceeding. 10 mins? I knew SP1 has Web Application Projects built-in, so I guess I understand. But, 10 mins? So, I pressed OK and waited a couple more minutes before the dialog went away. I then went to uninstall WAP, then the SP1 Beta install sparked up again! After about 10 mins the same message appeared. This occurred three times before it finally stopped. That was about 45 minutes blown and I haven't installed anything yet.

I proceeded to uninstall WAP, and started the SP1 install process again. As soon as the installation was started I noticed that despite the CPU not going much above 10% my whole system was not very responsive. "Preparing to install..." was all I saw for 11 minutes before that changed to "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition - ENU". Odd, I thought--I have Team Suite installed. 5 minutes later I was presented with "Do you want to install Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition - ENU Service Pack 1 (KB918525) on Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition - ENU". I just assumed it really mean Team Suite. So, I clicked Yes and was presented with the EULA then "Gathering required information...". This continued for a minute or so when I was presented with "Time remaining: 3 minutes". 6 minutes later, that changed to "time remaining: 37 minutes". Here is where I wonder why can't this application tell time, and time remaining for what? Was it expecting to take 3 minute to calculate that 37 minutes was required to install, or has it just given up and decided it was wrong with 3 minutes (which it seemed to be) and it should really take 37 minutes. This is what you do when your system is basically unusable and you've got about 37 minutes to do nothing (1hr and 14 minutes, if the program's accuracy with 3 minutes was any indication). 14 Minutes later that changed to "time remaining: 0 seconds" and the progress meter was at 100%. This his looking more promising then the actual 3 minutes time frame. Alas, that remained for another 5 minutes until I was presented with "Successfully installed". I was happy, but it took 45 minutes (not too far off 37+3). But, It was short lived because the "time remaining: 0 seconds" returned. This stuck around for about a minute before it was replaced with "Preparing to install...". That stuck around for 4 minutes before I was presented with "Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - ENU" and "Do you want to install Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - ENU Service Pack 1 (KB918525) on Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - ENU". Well, at this point I was thinking that it had already installed what it should; but I've had really bad luck when not continuing with Microsoft installs so, I just proceeded. Long story short, this repeated again for Visual Studio 2005 Team Explorer. I turns out I technically have three versions of Visual Studio 2005 installed and the service pack ran once for each. Yuck. That's 2 hours and 45 minutes. (not including the first 45 mins or so while it complained about WAP).

For those who haven't installed SP1 beta yet, be sure to uninstall WAP first. Might as well save yourself 15 minutes.

Visual Studio Revert-to-saved macros

PeterRitchie — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:28:00 GMT

A couple of Revert-to-saved macros for Visual Studio 2005...(read more)