Brett Robinson's Blog https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/feed.xml Brett Robinson's Technical blog at Microsoft Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:18:52 GMT en-US hourly 1 ATI driver and windows 10 https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/ati-driver-and-windows-10 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 10:28:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2015/11/24/ati-driver-and-windows-10/ This is kind of a reminder for me as well as maybe something that can help others also.

My computer was recently upgraded to Windows 10 and when that happened it decided to use the Microsoft Basic Display adapter instead of my legacy ATI radeon 4800 driver.  It had the incorrect resolution and did not detect my dual monitor.

When looking at my display adapter settings in device manager, it did show the display adapter correctly, so that wasn't the issue.  If your adapter is not showing, I heard you can do an uninstall to let the plug in play manager detect it again.  Or update the driver and chose your drivers inf file.  But that wasn't my problem, so here's what I did:

  1. right click the display adapter and choose properties
  2. Click update driver
  3. Choose browse my computer for driver software
  4. choose let me pick of device drivers on my computer
  5. From there I was presented with a list and I went to the previous version of the driver and clicked it

That worked for me, the correct resolution was now on my monitor and my dual monitor was detected.

]]> Basic application with Silverlight for Windows Embedded 6.0 R3 https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/basic-application-with-silverlight-for-windows-embedded-6-0-r3 Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:46:17 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2010/07/28/basic-application-with-silverlight-for-windows-embedded-6-0-r3/ I installed CE 6.0 R3 on my laptop when it was initially released and had created an application that uses the new SWE for 6.0 R3 API.  I have seen a few questions about creating applications, so I figured I would post a small application that I created.

This is not a shipping application and was created to show some basic fundamentals of SWE.  I have created a custom user control within an application, so very basic.

Download here: BrettTestApp

Use of included code sample is subject to the terms specified at https://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm

]]> Silverlight for Windows Embedded Team Blog is live https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/silverlight-for-windows-embedded-team-blog-is-live Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:45:04 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2010/07/14/silverlight-for-windows-embedded-team-blog-is-live/ We have just released Windows Compact 7 CTP which includes the latest release of Silverlight for Windows Embedded.  Because of this, we have decided to also create a new blog that will focus on Silverlight for Windows Embedded topics, tips and tricks and how-tos.  There should be some great posts on the way so please subscribe to the feed and feel free to comment and ask questions, that's what the blog is there for.  Blog is located here: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/silverlightforwindowsembedded/

 

]]> Windows Embedded CE6 R3 released including Silverlight for Windows Embedded https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/windows-embedded-ce6-r3-released-including-silverlight-for-windows-embedded Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:41:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2009/09/23/windows-embedded-ce6-r3-released-including-silverlight-for-windows-embedded/ The project I've been working on since my last blog posts has finally been released!  There is some fantastic documentation out on MSDN that can get you familiar with the new Silverlight for Windows Embedded API and how to create applications: Silverlight for Windows Embedded on MSDN

The first thing you might wonder is how to create an application that uses this new api.  There's an MSDN page for that: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee503558.aspx, but I thought I would start out by showing some code that I've used when creating applications.  This uses all the functions detailed on MSDN.

INT WINAPI WinMain(
    HINSTANCE hInstance, 
    HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, 
    LPWSTR lpCmdLine, 
    int nCmdShow
    )
{
    int             exitCode = -1;
    HRESULT         hr = S_OK;
 
    XamlRuntimeManager xr;
 
    if(xr.IsInitialized())
    {
        if(SUCCEEDED(DoSomethingHere(lpCmdLine)))
        {
            exitCode = 0;
        }
    }
 
    return exitCode;
}
 

The main thing to notice here is the XamlRuntimeManager, this does all the initilization for you.  Lets take a look at what that class does.

//this class will initialize and uninitialize XamlRuntime
//
class XamlRuntimeManager
{
private:
    BOOL m_IsInitialized;
 
public:
    XamlRuntimeManager()
    {
        m_IsInitialized = XamlRuntimeInitialize();
    }
 
    ~XamlRuntimeManager()
    {
        if(m_IsInitialized)
        {
            XamlRuntimeUninitialize();
        }
    }
 
    BOOL IsInitialized() { return m_IsInitialized; }
 
};
 
If you want to see this code in action it is in one of the sample applications that has shipped with R3, XamlPerf.]]> Sharepoint : page level permissions https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/sharepoint-page-level-permissions Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:52:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2009/04/24/sharepoint-page-level-permissions/ Thought I would share out this quick tip on how to define page level permissions on a sharepoint wiki site.  If you go to the Pages view where you see all the pages, you can click on the drop down and click "Manage Permissions".  Then you can add/remove users and groups as needed.

]]> Microsoft Social Bookmarking https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/microsoft-social-bookmarking Wed, 28 May 2008 00:55:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2008/05/28/microsoft-social-bookmarking/ The team I used to work on (and my last contributions there) just launched today.  It is Microsoft's social bookmarking application. 

Check it out: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/bookmarks/

]]> Goodbye managed, hello again native https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/goodbye-managed-hello-again-native Thu, 15 May 2008 18:26:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2008/05/15/goodbye-managed-hello-again-native/ Override javascript method in Microsoft Ajax Library https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/override-javascript-method-in-microsoft-ajax-library Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:40:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2008/02/28/override-javascript-method-in-microsoft-ajax-library/ If you would like to override a method in javascript that uses the Microsoft Ajax Library (such as the control toolkit), you can do the following (with the control toolkit as the base which we are overriding):

Type.registerNamespace('AjaxControlToolkit');

AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassName= function(element)
{
   AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassname.initializeBase(this,[element]);
  //initialize any variables here
}
AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassName.prototype =
{
_setText: function(item) //this is the function we're overriding
{
this._callMyNewFunction('hello there');  // we're sending an alert instead of the normal behavior
},
_callMyNewFunction: function(alertMessage) // my new method
{
alert(alertMessage);
}

AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassName.inheritsFrom(AjaxControlToolkit.AutoCompleteBehavior);

AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassName.registerClass('AjaxControlToolkit.YourClassName', AjaxControlToolkit.AutoCompleteBehavior);  // second parameter is the class you're "inheriting" from

This type of behavior can be applied to any class that uses the Microsoft Ajax Library and is very useful when you need some base behavior for a control and also specific behavior for a particular implemenation.

]]> New release of MSDN/TechNet Search, Profile and Forums https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/new-release-of-msdntechnet-search-profile-and-forums Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:23:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2008/02/15/new-release-of-msdntechnet-search-profile-and-forums/ The team I'm working on just released our latest version of MSDN/TechNet Search, Profile and Forums.

For Search this is the latest release and includes the following new features (https://search.msdn.microsoft.com/):

  • Auto-complete hit highlighting.  Now if you search for "writeline" you'll see all words that contain that phrase.  The terms are also now ordered by the number of times we see a certain term requested.
  • Stackable refinements: after you search and we identify which topic and/or source contain your search term you can now click on multiple topic and/or source refinements and stack them to narrow your search further.
  • We have increased the number of correct results for a search term with new algorithms, so hopefully you'll find your information even faster!

Profile (https://profile.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us):

  • This is a new application that will drive your profile for things like search, forums and other apps to come.  So, if you have a live ID go ahead and sign up here to reserve a display name and upload an avatar!

Forums (https://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/forums):

 

]]> Fill server cache with a large data object and have the browser be responsive by using threads https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/brettrobinson/fill-server-cache-with-a-large-data-object-and-have-the-browser-be-responsive-by-using-threads Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:09:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/brettrobinson/2007/11/27/fill-server-cache-with-a-large-data-object-and-have-the-browser-be-responsive-by-using-threads/ Recently I was working on a problem, and after testing the solution I thought it would make a good blog post.  Here is what I was trying to solve: 

  1. Fill the cache with a large set of data (approx. 1M items).
  2. Have the original request to the website fill the cache and not block the browers responsiveness.
  3. Any new requests to the website should also not wait for the cache to get filled, and also not make the request to fill the cache also.

The other thing that you should be aware of is that you should have your control be able to work without data being available that you are trying to cache.  So, lets take a look at a solution - I put the call inside of a webmethod, but you can use a normal event to accomplish the same thing.  Here is the web page class:

    1 using System.Web.Services;

    2 using System.Collections.Generic;

    3 using System.Threading;

    4 using System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging;

    5 using System.Web;

    6 

    7 public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page

    8 {

    9     private static int _isCacheLoaded = 0;

   10     private delegate List<string> DelegateToCallMethod(string MyParameter); //match the calling method

   11     private static string myCacheKey;

   12     private static HttpContext _requestContext;

   13 

   14     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

   15     {

   16 

   17     }

   18 

   19     private List<string> MyWorkerMethod(string Parameter1)

   20     {

   21         Thread.Sleep(120000); //sleep for 2 mins (REMOVE THIS IN REAL CODE - TEST ONLY)

   22         List<string> myList = new List<string>();

   23         myList.Add("Brett Robinson");

   24         return myList;

   25     }

   26 

   27     [WebMethod]

   28     public static List<string> DoSomething(string MyWebParameter)

   29     {

   30         myCacheKey = "myCacheKey";

   31         //need to save the state of httpcontext because it will get dereferenced in the callback

   32         _requestContext = HttpContext.Current;

   33         if (HttpContext.Current.Cache[myCacheKey] == null)

   34         {

   35             if (Interlocked.Exchange(ref _isCacheLoaded, 1) == 0)

   36             {

   37                 AsyncCallback callback = new AsyncCallback(CacheData);  //point to callback method

   38 

   39                 //custom delegate to invoke worker method

   40                 DelegateToCallMethod myCustomDelegate = new DelegateToCallMethod(MyWorkerMethod);

   41 

   42                 myCustomDelegate.BeginInvoke(MyWebParameter, callback, null); //call method

   43             }

   44         }

   45         return HttpContext.Current.Cache[myCacheKey] as List<string>;

   46     }

   47 

   48     public static void CacheData(IAsyncResult CallbackResult)

   49     {

   50         AsyncResult asyncResult = CallbackResult as AsyncResult;

   51         DelegateToCallMethod myCustomDelegateAgain = asyncResult.AsyncDelegate as DelegateToCallMethod;

   52         List<string> myValues = myCustomDelegateAgain.EndInvoke(CallbackResult);

   53         if (myValues != null && myValues.Count > 0)

   54         {

   55             double cacheDuration = 0;

   56             if (!double.TryParse(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SomeCacheValue"], out cacheDuration))

   57             {

   58                 cacheDuration = 10; //default to 10

   59             }

   60             _requestContext.Cache.Insert(myCacheKey, myValues, null

   61                 , DateTime.Now.AddHours(cacheDuration), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);

   62         }

   63          _isCacheLoaded = 0;

   64     }

   65 }

   66 

Remember that threads are overhead, and you should only use them when they are appropriate.  Also, blocking is bad, so make sure that you never block unless completely necessary.

Hope this helps!  Enjoy.

]]>