New Stuff

Resources for Your Developer Toolbox

Theresa W. Carey

Contents

Mobile Device Development Suite
Customize GUI Apps
Compare and Edit Binary Files
Copyright Watermarking Tool for .NET-based Code
Protect Sensitive App Settings
Migrate Unix Apps to Windows
Live Customer Support in .NET-based Applications
Visual Basic Code Review and Doc Tool
The Bookshelf

Mobile Device Development Suite

ComponentOne LLC has announced the availability of ComponentOne Studio for Mobile Devices, the company's latest subscription for the Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework. It includes ComponentOne FlexGrid for Mobile Devices, ComponentOne Chart for Mobile Devices, and ComponentOne Zip for Mobile Devices.

ComponentOne Studio for Mobile Devices allows you to create Microsoft .NET Compact Framework-based applications for mobile devices. It will be available as part of ComponentOne Studio Enterprise, a complete solution for any Microsoft development environment. ComponentOne Studio Enterprise will include the latest versions of .NET, ASP.NET, Mobile Devices, and ActiveX®.

https://www.componentone.com

Customize GUI Apps

The Xtreme Toolkit Professional Edition, recently launched by Codejock Software, combines two existing products—Xtreme Suite and Xtreme Toolkit. Features include Office XP and Office 2003-style menus and toolbars, true Office colorization technology, enhanced WYSIWYG docking technology, Visio® and .NET auto-hide dockable windows, detachable tabs from dockable windows, and a hierarchical properties grid.

Codejock added customization features for dialogs, toolbars, and menus, plus hundreds of MFC components to the new product. Developers can give their application a user interface that resembles Office or Visual Studio® .NET or create their own theme.

https://www.codejock.com

Compare and Edit Binary Files

HexCmp 1.2, which combines the features of a binary file comparison application with a hex editor, has been released by Fairdell. The program will help you compare files in binary format, simultaneously serving as a hex editor that will edit and modify your files. Comparisons can be made on the fly while scrolling through the files. Features include color highlighting, synchronous scrolling, and an Info panel, which shows the file information in different formats. You can compare full or partial files.

HexCmp 1.2 supports files up to 2GB and allows navigation among different blocks or files, set custom color schemes, and use the Undo, Redo, and Search functions. Besides the hex format, the program can also compare files in text format. You can perform string searching in both formats as well. Since all commands are assigned to hotkeys, you can compare and edit files with HexCmp 1.2 without reaching for a mouse.

https://www.hexcmp.com

Copyright Watermarking Tool for .NET-based Code

RIIS LLC has launched ThatsMyCode, a free online service allowing programmers working in the Microsoft .NET environment to embed a copyright notice into their source code. This copyright notice or watermark allows you to search for and identify instances where others have used your code in violation of applicable copyrights.

This online tool currently works for C# code, with a Visual Basic® .NET version in final testing. Decompiler software that can reduce executables to source code is widely available, and the ongoing arms race between obfuscators and decompilers means that you can never be sure that your code is safe from anonymous theft and reuse.

https://www.riis.com

Protect Sensitive App Settings

Obviex has announced the release of CipherSafe.NET 1.1, a software solution for managing sensitive .NET Framework-based application settings. CipherSafe.NET can be used to protect such application data as database connection strings, passwords, and encryption keys. When you define a profile value, CipherSafe.NET will encrypt and store it so that only the application for which this value was defined will be able to get its plain text.

The product supports a wide range of .NET Framework-based apps including executable files, DLLs, Web Forms, Web Services, and others. It comes with a GUI-based administrative tool, class library, and documentation. The CipherSafe.NET API can be called from any application written in managed code, including C# and Visual Basic .NET.

https://www.obviex.com/ciphersafe

Migrate Unix Apps to Windows

MKS Inc. has launched MKS Toolkit 8.6, which provides scripting and porting tools to automate tasks and help migrate Unix applications to Windows®. MKS Toolkit 8.6 promotes enhanced productivity, platform interoperability, and application portability allowing users to operate Unix and environments that mix Windows.

New features in the version include MKS KornShell performance improvements, addition of Bourne Again Shell (BASH), and a suite that allows better connectivity between Windows and Unix. Along with new features listed in the ksh93 specification and the ability to save and restore the KornShell environment, the new MKS KornShell loads faster at startup and when running scripts and script-based applications.

Customizing the command shell and executing Unix scripts without translation is easier with MKS Toolkit 8.6 as the BASH joins the existing Korn, C, and other shells within the product. The ability to connect to and from machines running Unix and Windows in an automated and secure way is enhanced by an up-to-date version of the Secure Shell service and other utilities. Also important is smartcard support for public key storage and a new rlogind service. MKS Toolkit 8.6 fully supports both Windows Server™ 2003 and the 64-bit Windows operating system on IA-64.

There's also large file support in all tool and APIs, sparse file support on NTFS, remote process control for ps and kill, new compression and Web content manipulation utilities, and enhanced build commands.

https://www.mkssoftware.com

Live Customer Support in .NET-based Applications

SupportChat.Net, published by Software Factory, allows companies to add live customer sales and support to their existing Web sites. You can use the SupportChat.Net smart button on any Web page, not just ASP.NET pages.

SupportChat.Net runs on your own domain and site. Chat text is saved as XML and formatted with XSLT. You can change the formatting and add your own XSLT elements. It uses HTML for the chat window, which means faster display time for your clients and multiple browser support. You can require visitors to identify themselves before engaging in a chat, or let them chat anonymously.

SupportChat.Net can be integrated with your site's shopping cart, e-mail announcements, and more. It also features automatic ranking, a color-coded warning system with visual or audible alarms, after-hours messages, chat invitations, and extensive reporting.

https://www.softwarefactoryinc.com/supportchatoverview.aspx

Visual Basic Code Review and Doc Tool

Aivosto has updated Project Analyzer to version 7, adding semi-dead code detection, duplicate code search, DLL analysis, class design rules, advanced metrics, and updated support for ASP.NET and Visual Basic .NET 2003 to their Visual Basic code review and documentation tool.

Project Analyzer helps to eliminate dead and repeated code. It also finds semi-dead code—which is in use but not required at run time, including uninstantiated classes and unimplemented interfaces. Removal of these unnecessary elements decreases application size and facilitates code maintenance.

The new class design rules enforce coding practices on object instantiation, destruction, inheritance, scopes, and naming. The advanced metrics features can be used to evaluate system complexity, coupling, depth of inheritance, method and attribute hiding, polymorphism, and call and decision density.

Project Analyzer also counts the number of lines and the amount of commenting and dead code and includes features to document a solution with source, comments, and graphs. It supports Visual Basic solutions up to millions of lines of code.

https://www.aivosto.com

The Bookshelf

Addison-Wesley Professional and Prentice Hall PTR have announced four new books for the Microsoft .NET community.

Windows Forms Programming in C#, by Chris Sells, was written to help experienced programmers who possess a basic understanding of Visual C#® .NET and the .NET Framework to master the Windows Forms toolkit. Content includes discussion of the core elements of Windows Forms (with concise examples and graphic depictions of user interface features in action), as well as pitfalls to avoid and solutions to common problems.

.NET—A Complete Development Cycle, by Gunther Lenz and Thomas Moeller, demonstrates how to use sound software development methodologies in developing an application using the .NET Framework. Its goal is to teach developers how to use state-of-the-art software engineering practices in the .NET environment. The book is structured like a real project, and the authors take the reader through the development of a working imaging application.

.NET Patterns: Architecture, Design, and Process by Christian Thilmany is a guidebook on how to apply proven solutions to recurring design problems when coding for the .NET Framework. It serves as both an introduction to patterns for software developers and architects working in or transitioning to the .NET Framework, as well as a library of patterns unique to .NET. Content also includes primers on XML and Web Services, as well as coverage of debugging, exceptions, error handling, and architecture.

In .NET Security and Cryptography, authors Peter Thorsteinson and G. Gnana Arun Ganesh offer an in-depth guide to the worlds of cryptography and security programming for C# and Visual Basic .NET. The book addresses ASP.NET and Web Services security and the new WS-Security Toolkit. It provides real code samples and explains how they work. The book also provides a mathematical and theoretical background on cryptographic concepts.

https://www.awprofessional.com, https://www.phptr.com

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.