DotNetIdeas

Get LINQ to SQL Connection String from config file

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:15:00 +0000

When using Visual Studio 2008 to create LINQ to SQL DBML file, it automatically generates database connection information for us. However most of the time, we want to get the connection string from a config file. Here is how to do that:

Add ConnectionString to config file

<configuration>
    <configSections>
    </configSections>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="DotNetIdeasConnectionString"
      connectionString="Data Source=MyServer;Initial Catalog=DotNetIdeas;Integrated Security=True"
      providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

Open the DBML file in designer mode. Clear the “Connection String” in properties

Add partial class, for example:

using System.Configuration;
namespace DotNetIdeasData
{
    partial class DotNetIdeasDataContext
    {
        public DotNetIdeasDataContext()
            : base(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["DotNetIdeasConnectionString"].ToString(), mappingSource)
        {
            OnCreated();
        }
    }
}

One thing need to be pointed out here is that every time you modify the DBML file, you have to clear that “Connection String” in properties again. Because when you drag/drop tables to the designer, it re-generate everything!

Updating User Interface during long running process in .NET

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:14:00 +0000

When an application has long running process, you may need to notify the user interface by updating a text box or a progress bar, etc. I created the following application to demonstrate. This is a simple demo. When you click on "Test" button. The text box will be updated with progress information.

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1000); // do something
        this.textBox1.Text += @"
line " + Convert.ToString(i);
    }
}

The code above will update the text box, but only after the whole loop, i.e 5 seconds. That was because this is a single thread application. The update to the text box will be executed after the click event.

If you want real time update, you will need to create a thread.

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Thread thread = new Thread(DoSomeWork);
    thread.Start();
}

private void DoSomeWork()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1000); // do something
        this.textBox1.Text += @"
line " + Convert.ToString(i);
    }
}

But when you run the code above, you will get "Cross-thread operation not valid: Control 'textBox1' accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on." exception

That was because the text box was created by the main thread. You can not access it directly from a new thread. There are a lot of articles talking about this issue. You may check this one. Basically what they are saying is you need a way to call back from the new thread. Here is quote talking about the Control.InvokeRequired property from MSDN:

Controls in Windows Forms are bound to a specific thread and are not thread safe. Therefore, if you are calling a control's method from a different thread, you must use one of the control's invoke methods to marshal the call to the proper thread. This property can be used to determine if you must call an invoke method, which can be useful if you do not know what thread owns a control.

Below is the sample code. When you run it, you will see that the text box will be updated every second.

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    private delegate void UICallerDelegate(int i);

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        Thread thread = new Thread(DoSomeWork);
        thread.Start();
    }

    private void DoSomeWork()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000); // do something
            UpdateTextbox(i);
        }
    }

    private void UpdateTextbox(int i)
    {
        if (this.InvokeRequired)
        {
            UICallerDelegate dlg = new UICallerDelegate(UpdateTextbox);
            BeginInvoke(dlg, i);
        }
        else
        {
            this.textBox1.Text += @"
 " + Convert.ToString(i);
        }
    }
}

How to work around the issue with “No Printers are installed” exception when using ComponentOne C1PrintDocument?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:52:00 +0000

When using the ComponentOne C1.C1PrintDocument.C1PrintDocument to generate and print PDF file, if you received “No printers are installed” exception. It has something to do with the way you set the PrinterSettings. You would think the following codes are the same. But the first one would throw "No printers are installed" exception.

System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings settings = new System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings();
settings.PrinterName = printerIdentifier;
settings.Copies = numberOfCopies;
c1PrintDocument1.Print(settings, false);

So use the following instead.

c1PrintDocument1.PageSettings.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printerIdentifier;
c1PrintDocument1.PageSettings.PrinterSettings.Copies = numberOfCopies;
c1PrintDocument1.Print(false);

It also happens when trying to set the margins.

Use reflection to load an assembly in GAC

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Last week, when trying to convert an application from .NET 1.1 to .NET 2.0, I ran into an issue with loading an assembly in GAC using reflection. We used to be able to call Assembly.Load(“assemblyName”) to load it. Now we received an exception saying "File or assembly name ... or one of its dependencies, was not found". It turned out that in .NET 2.0, if the assembly is in GAC, you have to specify the full name of the assembly in above method. That includes version number, public key and culture. You may use LoadWithPartialName() method. But it is obsolete in 2.0 and later.

Fail to add an assembly to GAC on Vista machine

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:43:00 +0000

Got the following error when trying to add assembly using a batch file the other day:

Failure adding assembly to the cache: Access denied. You might not have administrative credentials to perform this task.
Contact your system administrator for assistance

That was because the UAC(User Access Control) in Vista. You either need to turn it off, or run cmd as Administrator so you can run the batch file.

How to convert image between different format?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:43:00 +0000

/// <summary>
/// Convert image file to certain format
/// </summary>
/// <param name="fromImageFullPath">The original image file</param>
/// <param name="toImageFullPath">The new image file</param>
/// <param name="mimeType">The format of the new image file, i.e. "image/bmp", "image/jpeg"</param>
public static void ConvertImage(string fromImageFullPath, string toImageFullPath, string mimeType)
{
    try
    {
        // Read the content of the image file into a bitmap variable
        Stream fromFile = File.OpenRead(fromImageFullPath);
        Image image = Image.FromStream( fromFile, true ) ;
        Bitmap bitmap = (Bitmap) image;
        // Instantiate the encoder
        EncoderParameters encoderParams = new EncoderParameters();
        encoderParams.Param[0] = new EncoderParameter( Encoder.Quality, 50L );
        ImageCodecInfo codecInfo = GetEncoderInfo( mimeType );
        // Covert the image to the new format
        MemoryStream newImage = new MemoryStream();
        bitmap.Save( newImage, codecInfo, encoderParams );
        // Write the new image into a file
        byte[] data = newImage.ToArray();
        Stream toFile = File.OpenWrite( toImageFullPath );
        toFile.Write(data,0,data.GetLength(0));
        fromFile.Close();
        toFile.Close();
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        ...
    } 
}



/// <summary>
/// Get encoder infor
/// </summary>
/// <param name="mimeType">the codec's Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type</param>
/// <returns>All pertinent information about the installed image codecs</returns>
private static ImageCodecInfo GetEncoderInfo(String mimeType)
{
    int j;
    ImageCodecInfo[] encoders;
    encoders = ImageCodecInfo.GetImageEncoders();
    for(j = 0; j < encoders.Length; ++j)
    {
        if(encoders[j].MimeType == mimeType)
            return encoders[j];
    }
    return null;
}

How to print a TIF file?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:40:00 +0000

The following code is in C#.

// Print TIF file
PrintDocument printDocument = new PrintDocument();
printDocument.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printerIdentifier;
printDocument.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(printDocument_PrintPage);
printDocument.Print();

/// <summary>
/// This event occurs when the output to print for the current page is needed
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender">sender</param>
/// <param name="e">an argument of type PrintPageEventArgs containing data related to this event</param>
private static void printDocument_PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        Graphics g = e.Graphics;
        Stream fs = File.OpenRead(_fileName);
        Image image = Image.FromStream( fs, true ) ;
        g.DrawImage(image,0,0);
        fs.Close();
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        ...
    }
}

How to read the content of a file into Byte and write Byte to a file?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:36:00 +0000

public static byte[] ReadFileToByte(string fileName)
{
    byte[] data = null; 

    // Check whether the image file exists or not
    if (fileName == null || fileName.Length <= 0 || !File.Exists(fileName)) 
    {
        return data;
    } 

    try
    {
        // Open the image file
        FileStream fs = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
        BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(fs);
        // Read the image into the byte variable
        data = br.ReadBytes((int)fs.Length);

        br.Close();
        fs.Close();
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        ...
    } 

    return data;
} 

/// <summary>
/// Write the content of a byte variable into a file
/// </summary>
/// <param name="data">The byte variable</param>
/// <param name="fileName">The name of the target file</param>
public static void WriteByteToFile(byte[] data, string fileName)
{
    // Check whether there is data in the byte variable
    if ((data==null) || (data.Length<=0)) 
    {
        return;
    } 

    if (fileName==null||fileName.Trim()==String.Empty)
    {
        return;
    }
    try
    {
        // Open the target file. If it doesn't exist, create it.
        FileStream fs = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write);
        BinaryWriter bw = new BinaryWriter(fs);
        // Write the content of the byte variable into the file
        bw.Write(data);

        bw.Flush();
        bw.Close();
        fs.Close(); 

    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        ...
    } 
}

How to print PDF using GhostScript?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:29:00 +0000

// Print PDF file using GhostScript
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.Arguments = " -dPrinted -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOSAFER -q -dNumCopies=" + Convert.ToString(numberOfCopies) + " -sDEVICE=ljet4 -sOutputFile=\"\\\\spool\\" + 
printerIdentifier + "\" \"" + _fileName + "\"";
startInfo.FileName = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["GhostScriptPath"].ToString();
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
System.Diagnostics.Process process = Process.Start(startInfo);

How to generate PDF using ComponentOne?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:14:00 +0000

In earlier project, I used PowerBuilder to generate PDF. I ran into a lot of issues. But once I had all those figured out, it was not too bad.

Later we bought ComponentOne components for .NET. They have variety features including generate PDF files. So we decided to use it in future projects.

Using it is straight forward, but there are some tricks. In this project, we have some RTF templates. We need to load them, replace the text in those placeholders, merge them together and output to a PDF file.

Instantiation

First I instantiate the c1PrintDocument1

C1PrintDocument c1PrintDocument1 = new C1.C1PrintDocument.C1PrintDocument();

Set header and footer

The following code shows how to set header in c1PrintDocument1. This one has table layout. On the left there is a logo bitmap image. The second column is a spacer. The third column displays the title of the document. The forth column shows the page numbers. Set footer is similar to header.

public void SetHeaderWithLogo(string header)
{
    // Prepare a style template for the page header and footer
    RenderTable headerTable = new RenderTable(c1PrintDocument1);
    headerTable.Style.Borders.AllEmpty = true;
    headerTable.StyleTableCell.BorderTableHorz.Empty = true;
    headerTable.StyleTableCell.BorderTableVert.Empty = true;

    headerTable.Columns.AddSome(4);
    headerTable.Body.Rows.AddSome(1);
 
    // set columns' widths and alignments
    headerTable.Columns[0].WidthStr = "25%";
    headerTable.Columns[0].StyleTableCell.ImageAlign.AlignHorz = ImageAlignHorzEnum.Left;
    string assemblyName = this.GetType().Namespace;
    System.Reflection.Assembly a = System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(assemblyName);
    string logoImage = "logo.gif";
    Image image = Image.FromStream(a.GetManifestResourceStream(assemblyName + "." + logoImage));
    RenderImage renderImage = new RenderImage(headerTable.Document);
    renderImage.Image = image;
    headerTable.Body.Cell(0, 0).RenderObject = renderImage;
 
    headerTable.Columns[1].WidthStr = "10%";
    headerTable.Columns[2].WidthStr = "35%";
    headerTable.Columns[2].StyleTableCell.TextAlignHorz = AlignHorzEnum.Center;
    headerTable.Columns[2].StyleTableCell.AlignChildrenVert = AlignVertEnum.Bottom;
    headerTable.Columns[2].StyleTableCell.Font = new Font("Arial", 14, FontStyle.Bold);
    headerTable.Body.Cell(0, 2).RenderText.Text = header;
 
    headerTable.Columns[3].WidthStr = "30%";
    headerTable.Columns[3].StyleTableCell.TextAlignHorz = AlignHorzEnum.Right;
    headerTable.Columns[3].StyleTableCell.Font = new Font("Arial", 10, FontStyle.Bold);
 
    headerTable.Body.Cell(0, 3).RenderText.Text = "Page [@@PageNo@@] of [@@PageCount@@]";
 
    c1PrintDocument1.PageHeader.RenderObject = headerTable;
}

Here is how to set the height

c1PrintDocument1.PageHeader.Height = height;

Page settings

You can set the page settings the following way. However, there is something need to be mentioned. If the printer the application output to is a network printer, you will receive “No printers installed” exception when execute the following line. You will need to setup a local printer using IP address of the network printer.

        public void SetPageSettings(System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings pageSettings)
        {
            c1PrintDocument1.PageSettings = pageSettings;
        }

Render content

You can render plain text or RTF text using following code.

c1PrintDocument1.StartDoc();
c1PrintDocument1.RenderBlockText(contextText);
 
RenderRichText obj = new RenderRichText(c1PrintDocument1);
obj.Rtf = contentRTFText;
c1PrintDocument1.RenderBlockRichText(obj.Rtf);

c1PrintDocument1.EndDoc();

Sometimes you may want the whole block of text to be printed on one page, you need to check the available height and start a new page if necessary.

if (c1PrintDocument1.AvailableBlockFlowHeight < c1PrintDocument1.MeasureBlock(obj).Height) c1PrintDocument1.NewPage()

Print different header between pages

If you want to print different header on the first page and the rest of pages, you will need to write code in NewPageSetup event

c1PrintDocument1.NewPageSetup += new NewPageSetupEventHandler(c1PrintDocument1_NewPageSetup);

private void c1PrintDocument1_NewPageSetup(C1PrintDocument sender, NewPageSetupEventArgs e)
        {
            // We will need only change the setting for the first two pages. The rest of pages will be as same as the second page
            if (Header != null && Header != string.Empty)
            {
                if (HeaderOnPageOneOnly != null && HeaderOnPageOneOnly != string.Empty)
                {
                    if (sender.PageCount == 1) SetHeader(true);
                    else if (sender.PageCount == 2) SetHeader(false);
                }
                else if (sender.PageCount == 1) SetHeader();
            }
        }

Print PDF document

public void PrintDocument(string printerIdentifier, short numberOfCopies)
        {
            System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings settings = new System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings();
            settings.PrinterName = printerIdentifier;
            settings.Copies = numberOfCopies;
            
            c1PrintDocument1.Print(settings, false);
        }

Code snippet

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:21:00 +0000

Code snippet is a nice feature Microsoft provided in Visual Studio 2005. But surprisingly there is still not a lot people know how to take advantage of it. Many people think it is no different from copying and pasting existing code. Well, there is difference. The code snippet is right at your mouse click while you have to search the code to find the one you want to copy over. Also don’t you have had those moments when you know .NET can do something, but you don’t know exact name of the class or method. Code snippet also can help you with that. This is just one of the many features Visual Studio has to help developers to become more efficient. You may find more information at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165392(VS.80).aspx

How to use existing code snippet

1. In the code editor, place cursor at the place you want to put the code snippet and right click. Then click on “Insert Snippet” on the pop-up menu.

2. A pop-up menu with code snippet category will show up. You may choose a category, then choose the code snippet from the list. Here I select one of my favorite – the property

3. It will automatically insert the following code. I can then tab through the green highlighted fields to make any change. For example, when I change “myVar” to “customerName”, VS will automatically change all of them for me.

How to create your own code snippet and share with others

1. Create an xml file in the following format. Here I use a code snippet I created for my project. It is very straightforward. You name it with the .snippet file name extension. Save it to a folder you want to put all your code snippets.

<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>
        Create FindByXXX in Mapping layer
      </Title>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>ReturnType</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with return type.</ToolTip>
          <Default>DomainObjectBase</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>MethodName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with method name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>MethodName</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>ParameterType</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with parameter type.</ToolTip>
          <Default>string</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>ParameterName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with parameter name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>p</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>VariableName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with variable name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>var</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>TableWrapperName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with table wrapper name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>xxxDO</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>TableWrapperMethodName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with table wrapper method name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>GetListAsDataReaderXXX</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="CSharp">
        <![CDATA[
  public $ReturnType$ $MethodName$($ParameterType$ $ParameterName$)
  {
      $ReturnType$ $VariableName$ = null;
      $TableWrapperName$ tableWrapper = new $TableWrapperName$(base._connectionName);
      if (this.ActiveUnitOfWork != null)
      {
      tableWrapper.ActiveUnitOfWork = this.ActiveUnitOfWork;
      }
      System.Data.IDataReader dr = null;

      try
      {
      dr = tableWrapper.$TableWrapperMethodName$($ParameterName$);
      if (dr.Read())
      {
      $VariableName$ = new $ReturnType$();
      $VariableName$ = ($ReturnType$)base.Load($VariableName$, (IDataRecord)dr, dr.GetSchemaTable());
      }
      }
      finally
      {
      if (dr != null && !dr.IsClosed) dr.Close();
      }

      return $VariableName$;
      }
      ]]>
    </Code>
  </Snippet>
</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

2. Go to “Tool”->”Code Snippets Manager”. Click on “Add…” to add your folder. Now it is ready for you to use.

There are a lot of useful code snippets on the Internet, you can download and add to your collection.

By the way, I just learned a little trick about code copying. You can drag and drop any code block to the Toolbox, then drag and drop it back to anywhere you want. You can even give it a name. If you don’t know this trick, you may want to check it out.

How to communicate between .NET and Powerbuilder application?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:22:00 +0000

This is an article I wrote long time ago. The Powerbuilder version was 9.0, .NET was 1.1

Calling .NET class/method from Powerbuilder

Create .Net class and add a test method

Compile the solution.
Create a key pair for signing the assembly with a strong name. See Creating a key pair for detail.

For example, c:\yourpath>sn –k DotNetIdeas.snk

Add the key file to your project

Modify AssemblyInfo.cs

Add the assembly to GAC

You may go to control panel or use command line(gacutil /i DotNetIdeas.Interop.dll)

regasm DotNetIdeas.Interop.dll

The following message is copied from MSDN

The Assembly Registration tool reads the metadata within an assembly and adds the necessary entries to the registry, which allows COM clients to create .NET Framework classes transparently. Once a class is registered, any COM client can use it as though the class were a COM class. The class is registered only once, when the assembly is installed. Instances of classes within the assembly cannot be created from COM until they are actually registered.

To unregister, call regasm /u yourdll.dll

Create a Powerbuilder application with a simple window. The window has a static text control and a button.

Add following code in the click event of the button

Now compile and run the application. Click on the “Hello .NET” button, you will receive the response from the .NET class we created above.

Calling Powerbuilder object/method from .NET

Create a non-visual user object with a method uf_hello

Create a project object using the COM/MTS/COM+ Component Wizard. You may change the name and you will need to choose which user object to be deployed to the COM component server. You don’t have to change anything other than that. Just click Next all the way through.

Deploy the project. You will see something similar to the following screen. This will generate a COM dll. Here is testpb.dll

Use the Type Library Importer converts the type definitions found within a COM type library into equivalent definitions in a common language runtime assembly

>tlbimp testpb.dll /keyfile:DotNetIdeas.snk /out:NetTestPB.dll

>regsvr32 testpb.dll

>regasm NetTestPB.dll

Create a .NET windows application with a form looks like the form below. It has a label and a button. (Here I re-used the project I created in previous section.)

Add reference to the DLL we created above

Add the following code to the click event of the button. You may notice that the Powerbuilder class has weird long name. That was generated when you use the COM component wizard. You can give it more readable name.

Build and run the application. Click on the button. This is what you will see.

Caution: How to call Powerbuilder COM component from .NET web page/web services?

If you want to use the same code we showed above to call Powerbuilder COM component from .NET web application, you may receive “System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.” exception. That is because the Powerbuilder COM component we created above is single tread. To make .NET initialize an STA, you have to explicitly indicate that this is your intention. Here is how you would do it from a web service

How to use Composite UI to build a simple winform application?

noreply@blogger.com (DotNetIdeas) — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 17:14:00 +0000

Preparation

Create a black solution, i.e. HelloWorld

Open File Explorer; create a new folder for CAB source code under the solution folder. You may call it “CompositeUI Source” and copy the CAB source from \\Program Files\Microsoft Composite UI App Block\CSharp\Source to this folder.
In Visual Studio, create a new solution folder called “CompositeUI Source”. You may call it whatever you want.
Add CAB projects under this folder.

The Shell Application

Add a new project under the solution. Here we call it “ShellApplication”. It is a windows application

Add reference to CAB

Rename Form1.cs to MyShellForm.cs (*Note: you can name it whatever you want.)
Open MyShellForm in design mode. We will need to add a work space to it. In this example, we will only add one main work space. If you don’t see any work space in you toolbox, you will need to add them from the CAB.

a. Right click on “ToolBox” panel, Click on “Choose Items…” from the pop-up menu

Click on “Browse”, then find the Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI.WinForms.dll in your CAB source directory. If you don’t find it, build your solution first.
You will see the workspaces are highlighted in the list. Click on “OK” to close the window. The workspaces should be added to your toolbox
We choose DeckWorkspace here and add it to the form. Change the “Dock” property to “Fill” and name it “mainWorkspace”. The form will look like below.

Rename Program.cs to MyShellApplication.cs (*Note: you can name it whatever you want.)
Open MyShellApplication.cs

Add some using statements

using Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI;
using Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI.WinForms;

Make the following code change

namespace ShellApplication
{
    class MyShellApplication : FormShellApplication<WorkItem, MyShellForm>
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            new MyShellApplication().Run();
        }
    }

}

Add ProfileCatalog.xml to the ShellApplication project and have the following code added to it. You must name it ProfileCatalog.xml, otherwise CAB won’t be able to recognize it. This file is for loading your modules on the run time. The AssemblyFile attribute is your compiled module name which we will create later.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<SolutionProfile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/pag/cab-profile" >
  <Modules>
    <ModuleInfo AssemblyFile="HelloWorldModule.dll"/>
  </Modules>
</SolutionProfile>

Change the “Copy to Output Directory” property to “Copy always”

The Module

Create a new project under the solution. We call it “HelloWorldModule”. It is a Class Library. You can name it whatever you want, but it has to match what you put in the ProfileCatalog.xml

Add reference to CAB

Right click on the project and open “Properties” page. Click on “Build” from the left. Change the “Output Path” to “..\ShellApplication\bin\Debug\” which is your application run-time directory. This step is required, otherwise you will receive “HelloWorldModule.dll” was not found” exception.

Create a new user control and name it “MyView”. We will put our “Hello World!” label here.

Add a new class called “MyWorkItem” and have the following code added to it.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI;
using Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI.SmartParts;

namespace HelloWorldModule
{
    public class MyWorkItem : WorkItem
    {
        public void Show(IWorkspace workSpace)
        {
            MyView myView = this.Items.AddNew<MyView>();
            workSpace.Show(myView);
        }
    }
}

Add another new class called “MyModuleInit” and add the following code to it. Note that the “mainWorkspace” metioned below is the name of the work space in our shell form.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Practices.CompositeUI;

namespace HelloWorldModule
{
    public class MyModuleInit : ModuleInit
    {
        private WorkItem rootWorkItem;

        [ServiceDependency]
        public WorkItem RootWorkItem
        {
            set { rootWorkItem = value; }
        }

        public override void Load()
        {
            MyWorkItem myWorkItem = rootWorkItem.WorkItems.AddNew<MyWorkItem>();
            myWorkItem.Show(rootWorkItem.Workspaces["mainWorkspace"]);
        }
    }
}

The End

Now you are ready to run the application. You need to set the startup application before running, though. Good luck!