Visual Studio 2005. Missing Attach To Process Option

We found some machines that do not show the "Attach To Process" option.

This is very important for us, specially if you are testing the migration of an VB6 ActiveX EXE or ActiveX DLL to C#.

There is a bug reported by Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929664

Just follow the Tool/Import Settings wizard to the end. Close and restart VS and the options will reapper.

 Also you might find that the Configuration Manager is not available to switch between Release and Build for example.

To fix this problem just go to Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> General... make sure the option "Show advanced build configurations" is checked.

TLBIMP SourceCode

Have you ever wished to modify the way Visual Studio imported a COM Class. Well finally you can.

The Managed, Native, and COM Interop Team (wow what a name). It looks like the name of that goverment office in the Ironman movie.

Well this fine group of men, have release the source code of the TLBIMP tool. I'm more that happy for this.

I can know finally get why are some things imported the way they are.

http://www.codeplex.com/clrinterop

You can dowload also the P/Invoke assistant. This assistant has a library of signatures so you can invoke any Windows API.

Extended WebBrowser Control Series:NewWindow2 Events in the C# WebBrowserControl

The WebBrowser control for .NET is just a wrapper for the IE ActiveX control. However this wrapper does not expose all the events that the IE ActiveX control exposes.

For example the ActiveX control has a NewWindow2 that you can use to intercept when a new window is gonna be created and you can even use the ppDisp variable to give a pointer to an IE ActiveX instance where you want the new window to be displayed.

So, our solution was to extend the WebBrowser control to make some of those events public.

In general the solution is the following:

1. Create a new Class for your Event that extend any of the basic EventArgs classes.
2. Add constructors and property accessor to the class
3. Look at the IE Activex info and add the  DWebBrowserEvents2 and IWebBrowser2 COM interfaces. We need them to make our hooks.
4. Create a WebBrowserExtendedEvents extending System.Runtime.InteropServices.StandardOleMarshalObject and DWebBrowserEvents2. We need this class to intercept the ActiveX events. Add methos for all the events that you want to intercept.
5. Extend the WebBrowser control overriding the CreateSink and DetachSink methods, here is where the WebBrowserExtendedEvents class is used to make the conneciton.
6. Add EventHandler for all the events.

And thats all.Here is the code. Just add it to a file like ExtendedWebBrowser.cs

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

    //First define a new EventArgs class to contain the newly exposed data
    public class NewWindow2EventArgs : CancelEventArgs
    {

        object ppDisp;

        public object PPDisp
        {
            get { return ppDisp; }
            set { ppDisp = value; }
        }


        public NewWindow2EventArgs(ref object ppDisp, ref bool cancel)
            : base()
        {
            this.ppDisp = ppDisp;
            this.Cancel = cancel;
        }
    }

    public class DocumentCompleteEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        private object ppDisp;
        private object url;

        public object PPDisp
        {
            get { return ppDisp; }
            set { ppDisp = value; }
        }

        public object Url
        {
            get { return url; }
            set { url = value; }
        }

       public DocumentCompleteEventArgs(object ppDisp,object url)
        {
           this.ppDisp = ppDisp;
           this.url = url;

        }
    }

    public class CommandStateChangeEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        private long command;
        private bool enable;
        public CommandStateChangeEventArgs(long command, ref bool enable)
        {
            this.command = command;
            this.enable = enable;
        }

        public long Command
        {
            get { return command; }
            set { command = value; }
        }

        public bool Enable
        {
            get { return enable; }
            set { enable = value; }
        }
    }


    //Extend the WebBrowser control
    public class ExtendedWebBrowser : WebBrowser
    {
        AxHost.ConnectionPointCookie cookie;
        WebBrowserExtendedEvents events;


        //This method will be called to give you a chance to create your own event sink
        protected override void CreateSink()
        {
            //MAKE SURE TO CALL THE BASE or the normal events won't fire
            base.CreateSink();
            events = new WebBrowserExtendedEvents(this);
            cookie = new AxHost.ConnectionPointCookie(this.ActiveXInstance, events, typeof(DWebBrowserEvents2));

        }

        public object Application
        {
            get
            {
                IWebBrowser2 axWebBrowser = this.ActiveXInstance as IWebBrowser2;
                if (axWebBrowser != null)
                {
                    return axWebBrowser.Application;
                }
                else
                    return null;
            }
        }

        protected override void DetachSink()
        {
            if (null != cookie)
            {
                cookie.Disconnect();
                cookie = null;
            }
            base.DetachSink();
        }

        //This new event will fire for the NewWindow2
        public event EventHandler<NewWindow2EventArgs> NewWindow2;

        protected void OnNewWindow2(ref object ppDisp, ref bool cancel)
        {
            EventHandler<NewWindow2EventArgs> h = NewWindow2;
            NewWindow2EventArgs args = new NewWindow2EventArgs(ref ppDisp, ref cancel);
            if (null != h)
            {
                h(this, args);
            }
            //Pass the cancellation chosen back out to the events
            //Pass the ppDisp chosen back out to the events
            cancel = args.Cancel;
            ppDisp = args.PPDisp;
        }


        //This new event will fire for the DocumentComplete
        public event EventHandler<DocumentCompleteEventArgs> DocumentComplete;

        protected void OnDocumentComplete(object ppDisp, object url)
        {
            EventHandler<DocumentCompleteEventArgs> h = DocumentComplete;
            DocumentCompleteEventArgs args = new DocumentCompleteEventArgs( ppDisp, url);
            if (null != h)
            {
                h(this, args);
            }
            //Pass the ppDisp chosen back out to the events
            ppDisp = args.PPDisp;
            //I think url is readonly
        }

        //This new event will fire for the DocumentComplete
        public event EventHandler<CommandStateChangeEventArgs> CommandStateChange;

        protected void OnCommandStateChange(long command, ref bool enable)
        {
            EventHandler<CommandStateChangeEventArgs> h = CommandStateChange;
            CommandStateChangeEventArgs args = new CommandStateChangeEventArgs(command, ref enable);
            if (null != h)
            {
                h(this, args);
            }
        }


        //This class will capture events from the WebBrowser
        public class WebBrowserExtendedEvents : System.Runtime.InteropServices.StandardOleMarshalObject, DWebBrowserEvents2
        {
            ExtendedWebBrowser _Browser;
            public WebBrowserExtendedEvents(ExtendedWebBrowser browser)
            { _Browser = browser; }

            //Implement whichever events you wish
            public void NewWindow2(ref object pDisp, ref bool cancel)
            {
                _Browser.OnNewWindow2(ref pDisp, ref cancel);
            }

            //Implement whichever events you wish
            public void DocumentComplete(object pDisp,ref object url)
            {
                _Browser.OnDocumentComplete( pDisp, url);
            }

            //Implement whichever events you wish
            public void CommandStateChange(long command, bool enable)
            {
                _Browser.OnCommandStateChange( command,  ref enable);
            }


        }
        [ComImport, Guid("34A715A0-6587-11D0-924A-0020AFC7AC4D"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIDispatch), TypeLibType(TypeLibTypeFlags.FHidden)]
        public interface DWebBrowserEvents2
        {
            [DispId(0x69)]
            void CommandStateChange([In] long command, [In] bool enable);
            [DispId(0x103)]
            void DocumentComplete([In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] object pDisp, [In] ref object URL);
            [DispId(0xfb)]
            void NewWindow2([In, Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] ref object pDisp, [In, Out] ref bool cancel);
        }

        [ComImport, Guid("D30C1661-CDAF-11d0-8A3E-00C04FC9E26E"), TypeLibType(TypeLibTypeFlags.FOleAutomation | TypeLibTypeFlags.FDual | TypeLibTypeFlags.FHidden)]
        public interface IWebBrowser2
        {
            [DispId(100)]
            void GoBack();
            [DispId(0x65)]
            void GoForward();
            [DispId(0x66)]
            void GoHome();
            [DispId(0x67)]
            void GoSearch();
            [DispId(0x68)]
            void Navigate([In] string Url, [In] ref object flags, [In] ref object targetFrameName, [In] ref object postData, [In] ref object headers);
            [DispId(-550)]
            void Refresh();
            [DispId(0x69)]
            void Refresh2([In] ref object level);
            [DispId(0x6a)]
            void Stop();
            [DispId(200)]
            object Application { [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] get; }
            [DispId(0xc9)]
            object Parent { [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] get; }
            [DispId(0xca)]
            object Container { [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] get; }
            [DispId(0xcb)]
            object Document { [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IDispatch)] get; }
            [DispId(0xcc)]
            bool TopLevelContainer { get; }
            [DispId(0xcd)]
            string Type { get; }
            [DispId(0xce)]
            int Left { get; set; }
            [DispId(0xcf)]
            int Top { get; set; }
            [DispId(0xd0)]
            int Width { get; set; }
            [DispId(0xd1)]
            int Height { get; set; }
            [DispId(210)]
            string LocationName { get; }
            [DispId(0xd3)]
            string LocationURL { get; }
            [DispId(0xd4)]
            bool Busy { get; }
            [DispId(300)]
            void Quit();
            [DispId(0x12d)]
            void ClientToWindow(out int pcx, out int pcy);
            [DispId(0x12e)]
            void PutProperty([In] string property, [In] object vtValue);
            [DispId(0x12f)]
            object GetProperty([In] string property);
            [DispId(0)]
            string Name { get; }
            [DispId(-515)]
            int HWND { get; }
            [DispId(400)]
            string FullName { get; }
            [DispId(0x191)]
            string Path { get; }
            [DispId(0x192)]
            bool Visible { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x193)]
            bool StatusBar { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x194)]
            string StatusText { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x195)]
            int ToolBar { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x196)]
            bool MenuBar { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x197)]
            bool FullScreen { get; set; }
            [DispId(500)]
            void Navigate2([In] ref object URL, [In] ref object flags, [In] ref object targetFrameName, [In] ref object postData, [In] ref object headers);
            [DispId(0x1f7)]
            void ShowBrowserBar([In] ref object pvaClsid, [In] ref object pvarShow, [In] ref object pvarSize);
            [DispId(-525)]
            WebBrowserReadyState ReadyState { get; }
            [DispId(550)]
            bool Offline { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x227)]
            bool Silent { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x228)]
            bool RegisterAsBrowser { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x229)]
            bool RegisterAsDropTarget { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x22a)]
            bool TheaterMode { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x22b)]
            bool AddressBar { get; set; }
            [DispId(0x22c)]
            bool Resizable { get; set; }
        }
   }

Using C# or VB.NET collection in your VB6 Applications

If you have some .NET code that you want to share with VB6, COM has always been a nice option. You just add couple of ComVisible tags and that's all.
But...
Collections can be a little tricky. 
This is a simple example of how to expose your Collections To VB6. 
Here I create an ArrayList descendant that you can use to expose your collections. 
Just create a new C# class library project and add the code below. 
Remember to check the Register for ComInterop setting.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace CollectionsInterop
{
    
    [Guid("0490E147-F2D2-4909-A4B8-3533D2F264D0")]
    [ComVisible(true)]
    public interface IMyCollectionInterface 
    {

        int Add(object value);
        void Clear();
        bool Contains(object value);
        int IndexOf(object value);
        void Insert(int index, object value);
        void Remove(object value);
        void RemoveAt(int index);

        [DispId(-4)]
        System.Collections.IEnumerator GetEnumerator();
      
        [DispId(0)]
        [System.Runtime.CompilerServices.IndexerName("_Default")]
        object this[int index]
        {
            get;
        }
    }

    
    [ComVisible(true)]
    [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.None)]
    [ComDefaultInterface(typeof(IMyCollectionInterface))]
    [ProgId("CollectionsInterop.VB6InteropArrayList")]
    public class VB6InteropArrayList : System.Collections.ArrayList, IMyCollectionInterface
    {

        #region IMyCollectionInterface Members


        // COM friendly strong typed GetEnumerator

        [DispId(-4)]
        public System.Collections.IEnumerator GetEnumerator()
        {
            return base.GetEnumerator();
        }



        #endregion
    }



    /// <summary>
    /// Simple object for example 
    /// </summary>
    [ComVisible(true)]
    [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.AutoDual)]
    [ProgId("CollectionsInterop.MyObject")]
    public class MyObject
    {
        String value1 = "nulo";

        public String Value1
        {
            get { return value1; }
            set { value1 = value; }
        }
        String value2 = "nulo";

        public String Value2
        {
            get { return value2; }
            set { value2 = value; }
        }
    }


}

To test this code you can use this VB6 code. Remember to add a reference to this class library.

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim simpleCollection As New CollectionsInterop.VB6InteropArrayList
    Dim value As New CollectionsInterop.MyObject
    value.Value1 = "Mi valor1"
    value.Value2 = "Autre valeur"
    simpleCollection.Add value
    
    For Each c In simpleCollection
      MsgBox value.Value1
    Next
End Sub

Natural Languages and Programming Languages

I am a firm believer in program understanding and in that our computer skills will allow us to develop programs that will understand programs and maybe in the future even write some of them :).

 I also belive that natural languages ans programming languages are two things with a lot in common.

These are just some ideas about this subject. 

"A language convertion translates one languate to another language, while a language-level upgrade moves an application from an older version of a language to a modern or more standardized version of that same language. In both cases, the goal is to improve portability and understanbility of an application and position that application for subsequent transformation", Legacy Systems, Transformation Strategies by  William M. Ulrich.

An natural language convertion is exactly that. Translating one language to another language.

Natural language processing and transformation have a lot in common with automated source code migration. There is a lot of grammar studies on both areas, and a lot of common algorithms.

I keep quoting:

"Comparing artificial language and natural language it is very helpful to our understanding of semantics of programming languages since programming languages are artificial. We can see much similarity between these two kinds of languages:

Both of them must explain "given'" languages.
The goal of research on semantics of programming languages is the same as that of natural language: explanation of the meanings of given language. This is unavoidable for natural language but undesirable for programming language. The latter one has often led to post-design analysis of the semantics of programming languages wherein the syntax and informal meaning of the language is treated as given( such as PL/I, Fortran and C ). Then the research on the semantics is to understand the semantics of the language in another way or to sort out anomalies, ommisions, or defects in the given semantics-which hasn't had much impact on the language design. We have another kind of programming languages that have formal definitions, such as Pascal, Ada, SML. The given semantics allow this kind of programming language to be more robust than the previous ones.

Both of them separate "syntax'" and "semantics'".
Despite these similarities, the difference between the studies of natural and artificial language is profound. First of all, natural language existed for thousands of years, nobody knows who designed the language; but artificial languages are synthesized by logicians and computer scientists to meet some specific design criteria. Thus, `` the most basic characteritic of the distinction is the fact that an artificial language can be fully circumscribed and studied in its entirety.''

We already have developed a mature system for SYNTAX. In 1950's, linguist Chomsky first proposed formal language theory for English, thus came up with Formal Language Theory, Grammar, Regular Grammar, CFG etc. The ``first'' application of this theory was to define syntax for Algol and to build parser for it. The landmarks in the development of formal language theory are: Knuth's  parser, and YACC-which is a successful and ``final''application of formal language theory.
"

from Cornell university http://www.cs.cornell.edu/info/projects/nuprl/cs611/fall94notes/cn2/cn2.html
Jing Huang

I also will like to add a reference from an interesting work related to pattern recognition a technique used both in natural language processing (see for example http://prhlt.iti.es/) and reverse engineering.
This work is from Francesca Arcelli and Claudia Raibulet from Italy and they are working with the NASA Automated Software EngineeringResearch Center
http://smallwiki.unibe.ch/woor2006/woor2006paper3/?action=MimeView

Vb Migration (not for the weak of mind) Post 2

When people decide to migrate their VB6 applications they eventually end up questioning where they should go. Is VB.NET or C# a good choice?

I have my personal preference, but my emphasis is in developing the technology to take where YOU want to go.

VB.NET is a VB dialect very similar to VB6. It supports several constructs and it makes the changes easier.
C# has several differences from VB6, but it has it a growing language with lots of enthusiasts in its community.
Obviously migrating VB6 to VB dialect is a task far more easier than migrating to a different language.
However we are a research company with years of work in this area and challenges is just what we love.

Let's use a methaphor here.

My beautiful wife, was born in Moscow, Russia. Like her, I really enjoy reading a good book. Some of my favorite authors are
russian authors like Dostoievsky, Tolstoi and Chejov. However I still do not speak russian. I have tried, and I will keep trying but
I still don't know russian. I have read only translations of their books, and I really enjoy them.
As a native speaker my wife always tells me, that it is not the same to read those books in another language besides russian.
And they are phrases (specially in Chejov books that I might not completely understand) but I really got the author
message and enjoyed it.
Translating a book from russian to a more similar language like Ucranian is easier than translating it to English or Spanish.
But I think everybody agrees that is a task than can be done.

You can use terrible works case scenarios, but these scenarios must be analized.
Let see (I took these example from the link in that Francesco put in my previous post http://blogs.artinsoft.net/mrojas/archive/2008/08/07/vb-migration-not-for-the-weak-of-mind.aspx)

If you have code like this:

Sub CopyFiles(ByVal throwIfError As Boolean)
    If Not throwIfError Then On Error Resume Next
    Dim fso As New FileSystemObject
    fso.CopyFile "sourcefile1", "destfile1"
    fso.CopyFile "sourcefile2", "destfile2"
    fso.CopyFile "sourcefile3", "destfile3"
    ' seven more CopyFile method calls …
End Sub

and you translate it to:

void CopyFiles(bool throwIfError)
{
    Scripting.FileSystemObject fso = new Scripting.FileSystemObjectClass();
    try
    {
        fso.CopyFile("sourcefile1", "destfile1", true);
    }
    catch
    {
        if (throwIfError)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
    try
    {
        fso.CopyFile("sourcefile1", "destfile1", true);
    }
    catch
    {
        if (throwIfError)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
    try
    {
        fso.CopyFile("sourcefile1", "destfile1", true);
    }
    catch
    {
        if (throwIfError)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }
    // seven more try-catch blocks
}

I think that the russian is really keep in this translation.

First of all. When you do a translation, you should try to make it as native as possible. So why will you keep using a COM function when there is an
equivalent in .NET. So why not use System.IO.File.CopyFile("sourcefile1", "destfile1", true); instead?

Second of all. The On Error Resume Next, I agree is a not a natural statement in C#. I really think that using it could provide results that are less predictable.
Why? Becuase after executing it, are you sure that all the CopyFile occurred successfully? I would prefer wrapping the whole code inside a try-catch instead of trying
to provide an implementation that is not natural in C#, will Aspect Oriented programming provide a clean solution for this cases. Maybe?

RPG and COBOL to Object Oriented Programming, PowerBuilder to C#, Hierarquical Databases to Relational Databases are just the kind of challenges we have faced in our research project.
Not everything is easy, and we might not be able to automate all the tasks (commonly due to the cost of implementing the automation not becuase of feasability).

But at the end Could you understand the whole novel?, even if you didn't understand the joke in the one of the paragraphs in the page?

My years of reading make be belive that you can.

C# Console Applications and Ctrl-C

Console applications are still very useful for me.
I write like 125 console applications in the morning and like 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
In one of these applications that was running a long process I just started wandering:
what will happen with Lost? Will ABC ever finish this series?
And If someone presses Ctrl-C will I be able to catch it?
And indeed, the greate C# provides a very easi way to do it:

 static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            Console.CancelKeyPress += 

            delegate(object sender, ConsoleCancelEventArgs e)

            {

                Artinsoft.VBUMKernel.Implementations.UpgradeCommand.StopAllUpgradeProcess(true);

                Console.WriteLine("Process aborted by user!");

            };

            //Long running process

        }

VB Migration (not for the weak of mind)

Motivation: 

I hate to be disappointed. Specially if it is by a person you had respect for. And that's exactly what Francisco Balena from VB Migration Partner, has done. I have respected him for his books and all his VB6 experience. In terms of legacy VB6 code he is a monster. He is the man.

But in terms of code migration...

I'm not saying this because I work on code migration or maybe I'm biased a little by the fact that I work almost 10 years with a company that has done source code migration research on a big number of legacy languages such as COBOL, RPG, PL\1, Algol, Progress, PowerBuilder and also VB6.

I can tell the difference between a "compiler" and a system that rewrites a expression to the closest equivalent in the target language. We are aware of limitations. We are aware of paradigm differences and functional equivalence, but we talk from experience. We talk about our results. And we have proven those things we talk about.

 Let's says you create a Cobol Library with a "MOVE" function, and a COBOLPicture Type and add minus, divide, and add operators. And I write something like:

CobolPicture x = new CobolPicture("XXXX");

x.move(10);

x.add(10);

We have things like that, and it works. It's feasible and maybe there are cases where that is a solution. But we are also proud of have researchers that have been able to detect pattern to rewrite something like that like:

int x = 0;

x = 10;

x+=10;

And saying, that something is not possible just because you can't or you dont like it, just seem uneducated to me.

 All of this has motivated me to start a series of chapters I for a small blog book I will call VB Migration (not for the weak of mind).

For those of you, who really are tecnology savvy and are in the process of a VB Migration, this is YOUR book.

Log4NET for C++

Recently my friend Yoel had just a wonderful idea. We have an old Win32 C++ application, and we wanted to add a serious logging infraestructure so we can provide better support in case the application crashes.

So Yoel came with the idea of using an existing framework for logging: LOG4NET

The only problem was, how can we integrate these two together. One way was problably exporting a .NET object as COM. But Yoel had a better idea.

Create a C++ Managed application that will comunicate with the LOG4NET assemblies, and export functions so the native applications can use that. How great is that.

Well he finally made it, and this is the code of how he did it.

First he created a C++ CLR Empty project and set its output type to Library. In the references we add a refrence to the Log4Net Library. We add a .cpp code file and we call it Bridge.cpp. Here is the code for it:

#include <atlstr.h>

using namespace System;

/// <summary>

ref class LoggingExample
{
private:
// Create a logger for use in this class
static log4net::ILog^ log = log4net::LogManager::GetLogger("LoggingExample");static LoggingExample()
{
    log4net::Config::BasicConfigurator::Configure();
}

static void ReportMessageError(char* msg)
{
String^ data = gcnew String(msg);
log->Error(data);
}

extern "C"
{

_declspec(dllexport) void ReportMessageError(char* msg)
{
LoggingExample::ReportMessageError(msg);
}

_declspec(dllexport) void ReportMessageInfo(char* msg)
{
LoggingExample::ReportMessageInfo(msg);
}

Ok. That's all. Now we have a managed C++ DLL that exposes some functions as an standard C++ DLL and we can use it with native win32 applications.

Let's do a test.

Lets create a Win32 Console application. And add this code:

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
ReportMessageWarning("hello for Log4NET");
ReportMessageError("hello for Log4NET");
ReportMessageInfo("hello for Log4NET");
ReportMessageDebug("hello for Log4NET");
return 0;
}

Oh my god I screwed up my VS Menu

Ok Ok. I must admitted I have a weird taste to configure my gui. But recently I took it to a the extreme as I (don't know how) delete my File menu.

I managed to get around this thing for a few weeks but finally I fed up. So this gentleman gave me a solution (reset my settings) http://weblogs.asp.net/hosamkamel/archive/2007/10/03/reset-visual-studio-2005-settings.aspx