Code Crunching

I got an email this morning asking for the Windows 7 component update. I had published those last Thursday, but must have unchecked the publish button. It is available now, so go here and get them.

More information will come, soon.

Well, here comes the update promised. Originally, I planned to release it yesterday, but I had to give a talk today on short notice. So I pushed around priorities a little.

Anyway, this update has a few fixes as well as support for taskbar windows as well, interesting for MDI applications. It is all in the code.

A more detailed update will come in the next days, for now, just the download.

ZIP File (790 Kb). Uninstall prior version first! Unzip and install into IDE.

Well, I am quite overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback I've received during the recent days. One of the most frequent questions was whether I would send out previews to select people. In short: no, this would take too much of my time keeping up with the people. So far only two have received the current dev-state. One is going to use them today for a talk about Windows 7 and one person has given me the most valuable input on the latest feature, the Windows Taskbar Previews.

To all others: it's only two more days, you must wait. Sorry for those.

One good comment regarded the logo used in the latest preview, stating Borland Delphi, so I have changed that. In due course I redesigned the Embarcadero Studio logo as EPS file, so if you're interested, I provide it as download. The download contains the EPS file (vector graphic) and a PNG file (bitmap @ 600dpi) for your use. Please, be aware that Embarcadero may be quite alert to how you use it. I can not give you permission to use it, but I guess (hope?) they will be fine with us using it to promote their products within ours. If not, it's your risk to take!

Download file (ZIP, 430kB)

Well, in my last blog post I've asked for your input for getting a preview of WinControls. I am getting pretty well along with the controls and I've wanted to show you a small preview of the Taskbar Windows component.

Download video (WMV, 4MB) here

Watch my blog for the upcoming release of the controls and see them live at the EKON 13 this week!

Currently, I am getting ready to ship an update for the Windows 7 taskbar components. As the preview, this one will be open source and free of charge for anyone to use in any project.

However, one problem still remains to be resolved. I try to get a "screen shot" from a tab sheet, whether it is currently visible or not. The normal Delphi method WinControl.PaintTo, and the Windows API methods PrintWindow and BitBlt do not give the desired results.

What do I need this for? Well consider the image below, showing the tabs of the Internet Explorer, currently opened. Something similar I want to create for Delphi as simple component. To create the preview, I must be able to get the "screen shot" of all Tabcontrols, whether they are visible or not.

I have uploaded a sample application, which demonstrates the problem. Feel free to download and test it. This application runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista as well, as it does not demonstrate the preview windows, but simply the "copy" feature, ehm problem.

Feel free to send me any ideas you have regarding this problem, as all other solutions would not be the best ;)

Download the problem sampler (Source, ZIP-file, 4 KB)

Email any solution to dwischnewski (at) gmail.com

Thank you for your support, I'll mention the solution provider in the finals.

UpdateI got the solution in my Inbox now, thanks to Craig Peterson from Scooter Software, who already has helped me a great bit for this whole problem. I'll finish the components now, await the release for October 1st. Be first to see them at the EKON.

Well, I am back from the SDN Event in Driebergen. It was a fun event, I have met quiet a few people and, after a few years, finally met Dr. Bob again. One of my session was about the Windows 7 Taskbar (an update for the components is in the pipe line, btw). And when talking about Windows 7, one of the question coming up was the user account control (UAC) and how - IF - they have changed it.

While talking about that, I started out to remind them WHY it was implemented in Windows Vista and WHY I have not turned it off, ever. The reason is simple: it was implemented to block viruses from invading your computer and yes, it works. My story for them was as simple as it was obviously surprising for most of them sitting in the room.

About two years ago, I started a small experiment. I set up a computer with a new and clean Windows Vista install. Leaving the UAC on and running updates as Windows reminded me to do just that. The way a user should be working with the PC. However, I have not installed any third party Anti-Virus software, nor any third-party firewall, just the on-board tools Windows Defender and the UAC. I used this PC regularly for internet surfing, writing mails, doing some fun, testing software and so on. I let my girl friend use it for internet surfing - she knows how to use a computer, but by far, she is no geek, or even close to that. She does Excel, Word, mails online, games online, iTunes, etc. Even some peer-to-peer sharing. She had an administrative account and I explained to her what UAC meant and why it was implemented.

Well, end of last year I put on Norton AntiVirus, McAffee and a few other anti-virus tools and ran the big test: All tools reported the same final results: 0 viruses found!

Now my challenge to you: try that with Windows XP in todays Internet world ;-)

Conclusion: yes, the UAC is bothersome at times, and when it pops up to often, it will get the user aggravated, but it has its purpose. With Windows XP's on-board tools you simply where at a large risk when you went online. I am a believer of the UAC and, while it bothers me at times, I support it.

With Windows 7 it shows up less often. So some settings will be changed easier than under Windows Vista without the user confirming that. But as far as I have seen, none of the changes (except setting the computer time of course) will survive the next reboot of your computer. And if you don't mind, under Windows 7 you can move up the UAC messages to the Windows Vista level again. And yes, if you still mind, you can turn it off as well, but I know, I won't.   

Today, I show you the second set of screen shots from the Windows 7 Taskbar components. Since Windows 95 - which introduced the last real change in how the user handles multiple running applications on Windows - we all know the notification area. Sadly many programs have abused this area, so that on some users computers this really grow into a monster featuring easily 30 and more icons. Never on my computer though ;-)

Windows 7 stops this Taskbar spamming in a really effictive way. The notification icons will not be shown anymore, at least on default. They are all hidden away. Even when your application wants to show a (bubble) hint, the user will not see it unless the user approved your application first. Now, since sometimes showing a state can be really important, Windows 7 introduced overlay icons in the Taskbar entry for running processes. This way the application can show some information without the need for more screen real estate - the application already has an entry in the Taskbar anyway - at least in most cases.

Click on images to view full size version.

Windows 7 automatically hides all notification icons unless the user wants them to show.

Showing the tasks state in the Windows 7 Taskbar.

Note the overlay icon in the second screen shot. Maybe the application is performing a search. A side effect of this is, that the designers should start creating application icons and overlay icons that work with each other well. Overlay icons are shown only if the user uses large icons in the Windows Taskbar (default setting).

For your Delphi application, simply drop a the TdwOverlayIcon component on your form, connect it to an image list (16 x 16 pixels for bitmap size) and set the image index used. Set it to -1 for displaying no overlay icon.

You have asked for it, so here are the first images for you. Today I want to show you a few screen shots of displaying the progress of a rather lengthy task in the Windows 7 Taskbar. You should not that Microsoft does not encourage you to use this for shorter tasks which usually finish within a few seconds. But this is up to you in the end ;-)

For all of you Delphi 7 users, the first screen shot shows Delphi 7 running on Windows 7 using those components. So, this works as well.

Click on images to view full size version.

Delphi 7 running on Windows 7. The demo application is loaded in the IDE, the components are shown in the tool palette.

The marquee shows a task in progress with undeterminable end - like connecting to a server.

The progress is coming along just fine.

The application may be waiting for some user interaction, the current task is paused.

Further, you can cancel a task, coloring the progressbar red as well.

For those of you not knowing Windows 7 just yet and wondering why some application icons have a border in the taskbar and some do not: Windows 7 allows you to pin applications to the taskbar. This way, they will always be in the same order/place. The framed ones are actually running, others are just waiting to be started.

Over at the Delphi-PRAXiS we had an interesting thread going on the last two days where one user asked for what reason it could have, that his Delphi compiler is so slow. It took about 45 minutes to compile just over 20.000 lines.

The source of the problem was a piece of software, which in my mind never earned to be called software. The network version of the Norton anti-virus software. The user asked his admin to exclude PAS, DFM, and DCU files to be excluded from the check list of files being checked with every access.

The compile time went down to 8 seconds. That is just 0,3% of the original compile time. Sadly though, that will not be working anymore...

Well, as written here before, I have toyed around with Windows 7 and created a few Controls that you can simply place on your Form to support some of the most obvious Windows 7 features. Currently available are:

• Jump Lists - right click your application entry on the taskbar to see those
• Overlay Icon - show the state of your application right in the taskbar (notification icons are hidden by Windows 7 by default, finally)
• Progress indicator in the taskbar button
• Taskbar Thumbnails - you application can be controlled directly from the taskbar preview window

Please note, that if you have Aero turned of, or your Windows 7 is running in a VM, most of the features are not supported by Windows 7 (atm?).

The installer provides packages for Delphi 7, Delphi 2006, Delphi 2007, and Delphi 2009.

Further, those are just the first version in early Alpha State, but they are for free ;-) If you want to use them to create your own controls, those MUST be placed under GPL. For use in your applications you can choose freely between GPL, LPGL and MPL, whatever suits your needs.

In the coming days I'll post a few screen shots and/or short videos demonstrating those controls in action.

If you have suggestions, improvements, or anything else regarding those controls, do not hesitate to contact me ;-)

Download the installer (1,5 MB)

Note: the installer only copies the files to your local hard drive (default folder: User Documents\Delphi Win7 Support). You must open the corresponding project group/package and install it into your Delphi IDE.

Have fun,
Daniel

Probably tomorrow, I will publish my first attempt to create controls tailored towards Windows 7. Naturally, those controls will run on older Systems (tested on XP and Vista), but the new Windows 7 functionality will be available on Windows 7 only, silently failing on older systems.

Currently, I am setting up a VM with Windows XP and Delphi 2006 to test them. Wait a little more and enjoy ;-)

The packages for Delphi 2006, 2007, and 2009 will be included.   

During the last days I have taken the time to get familar with Windows 7, at least a little. So far, I do like it, though it is far from stable on my machine at the moment - at least, Windows Vista was better in that respect.

The new Taskbar and the start menu are pretty amazing. I like the feature to show progress and states on it, as well as add buttons to the window preview panes. Also, the Jump Lists are quiet nice, so I started importing those features into Delphi, all available as a small component set. Those will be available soon, with more details about what and how they will work.

However, so far I have seen many sample videos, read quiet a few blog entries on how to program those jump list, but they all habe one thing in common: they are missing the code samples. If you are looking for those samples, download the Windows 7 SDK Beta and look into the installation folder. For me, those are at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Samples\winui\Shell\JumpList.

The Update first for the application is done. Your ideas as well as mine all made it into the application.

New features:

• Preview any True Type Font File not installed on your system
• Install the previewed files on the fly (if you have administrative rights)
• Filter view fonts by their styles (decorative, modern, serif, sans-serif, script, monospace, proportional)
• Get detailed information about the fonts
• Enumerate dependend fonts (eg: character set sub-font, real bold/italic/etc. versions)
• Get a quick preview of each font in list

Font Review Application

You can download the application from here (1,6 MB, ZIP, InstallAware Installer, Digitally Signed). If you have the previous version installed, simply run this setup. It will automatically uninstall the old version prior to installing the ppdate.

While the last version did not need an installer, this version does in fact need it. To accomodate the Windows Vista UAC, the installer is packaged in an out-of-process COM server, the only way to request elevation without requiring administrative rights to simply view/preview fonts.

Any thoughts, any suggestions? Please, let me know ;-)

I got some feedback from you guys via email on the Windows Font Preview Application, I wrote about yesterday. I like that *g*

So, I decided to spend some more time on it and I ask you for input. What features would you like to see? Following a list of features I am thinking about implementing:

• Preview font files without installing them on the system, permanently
• Allow for filtering fonts when looking for a special one for your next essay
• Show some detailed information about the installed font
• Enumerate dependend fonts (eg: character set sub-font, real bold/italic/etc. versions)
• Quick preview of all fonts in list

What (else) would you like? Drop me an email or leave a comment here.

You probably know this text from the built in Windows font preview application.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Well, it is nice to see a font, when you scroll through them. Many applications out there allow to easily few multiple fonts at once. But all free tools I know of lack the possibility to enter your own (unicode) text to review a font. Well, today I needed just that and I let you all use it for free ;-)

It features:

• Font Size (6 to 128 pt)
• Bold, Italic, and Underline
• Quality: default, draft, proof, aliased, non-aliased, and ClearType

Font Review Application

To get the application, go to the update page.

Yesterday, I asked you guys for a list of Pascal/Delphi parsers. Today I ask you how I should really use it.

What I am going to do...

I am currently writing a indexing filter, that will index your Delphi/Pascal files with the Windows Search Desktop, which comes with MS Windows Vista, and is available for download for Windows XP. The same library can be used with the old indexing service of Windows 9X/ME/200X.

Why I am doing this...

Because I like to find my libraries when I need them. Over the years I have created literally thousands of units and sometimes it just takes a while to find a simple helper function I have written back then... The Windows Desktop Search is great, when you feed it with optimized data. This is what I am going to do for your Pascal/Delphi files.

Does this really work...

You remember ever searching your files and not finding them, though you just know they are there. Well, this is because the Indexing service needs to be told what to index, where to index and how to index. Once you do this, yes, it works, always! I am going to help you with the what and the how for the Pascal files. You just have to determine the where.

How a plan to implement the idea (for now)...

I simply thought I'll parse the interface part of all units (all parts for .dpr and .inc files) and index the name of all classes, types, methods, functions, procedures, properties, constants, variables as keywords. Further I would index the whole declaration of those as well as comments for full-text search.

This way you can search the declarations and the comments of your files on the fly and literally instantly.

How would you implement the idea...

What else should I index - or how should I index those data? Any comments, ideas, etc. are very welcome. I'll plan to release the first beta in January. So let me know what you want.

Thanks for reading, now send me a message ;-)

Most of you now about the User Account Control system of Windows Vista by now. And most of you know, that you can start any application as admin when right clicking it in the list of the start menu.

However, there is a faster way, if you know te name of the executable, such as cmd. Simply, enter the name of the executable file into the Windows Vista search bar (of the start menu) and press [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[RETURN], and it will be started with administrative rights. I use it for cmd all the time.

I just noticed for the first time, that the Windows Mobile Device Center on Windows Vista hides some folders from your device when connected to your machine.

If you plan, for example, to upload some new ringing tones to your mobile device, you will have to place them in the \Windows\Rings folder of your device. This is, on default, a two step procedure. First, place them in some folder on your device. Next, use the File Explorer of your device and copy the files from the temporary location into the rings folder on your device.

If you want to access the Windows folder, as well as others, directly from Windows Vista, you have to check your Windows Explorer settings "Show hidden System Files."

Darn, why do they make life so difficult. They don't hide the Windows folder of my Vista installation...

I was long-time under the impression that you cannot run 16 bit applications on Windows Vista, except when using some VM software. However, while preparing a session coming up next month, I started my VM running Windows 3.11 with Delphi 1 - just for fun - and started the compiled application on my Vista machine.

What would you expect? Some error message... no, at least not on Windows Vista 32 Bit editions. The application run just as well. However, when starting the application on Windows Vista 64 Bit, you get an error message telling you to check with the software vendor for an updated 32- or 64 Bit version of the software.

Well, it doesn't bother me really any more, as I don't use 16 Bit apps or, even worse, write any. However, I thought it is funny when reading everywhere that they will not work at all. At least that is not true all the way (yet).

Vom 3. - 5. Dezember macht das Delphi Code Camp seinen ersten Stop in München. An drei Tagen erhalten Sie von drei Speakern viele Tipps und Tricks rund um die Softwareentwicklung mit der CodeGear Delphi IDE. Ich werde Sie am ersten der drei Tage durch die Änderungen von Microsoft Windows Vista führen und Ihnen näher bringen, was sich durch Microsofts neuestes OS für Ihre Software ändert.

Dieser Kurs bringt Ihnen als Delphientwickler das neue Betriebssystem Windows Vista näher. In Windows Vista hat Microsoft einige Spielregeln verändert, die man kennen sollte, damit auch die eigene Software problemlos funktioniert.

Sie erhalten alle Informationen, die Sie benötigen, um Ihre Software schnellstmöglich einsatzbereit für Windows Vista zu gestalten. Gleichzeitig können Sie die Software auch so gestalten, dass Sie neue Features von Windows Vista nutzen können, ohne den Nutzer zum Umstieg zu zwingen.

Agenda

Weitere Informationen entnehmen Sie bitte der offiziellen Webseite zum CodeCamp.

One user of the Delphi-PRAXiS asked, how to retrieve a list of either users or computers with the creation date, name and parents name. Since I had those information available, I just thought I post it here as well. Once again, you simple have to query the active directory using ADO. For the parent however, you need to get the object and then query its Parent property.

procedure TYourForm.btnSearchClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  Conn: _Connection;
  Cmd: _Command;
  RS: _Recordset;
  Affected: OleVariant;
  Line: string;
  Obj: IADsUser;
  procedure RunQuery(Query: string);
  begin
    Cmd.CommandText := Query;
    // run query and return domain list
    RS := Cmd.Execute(Affected, EmptyParam, 0);
    if RS.EOF then
      Exit;
      
    RS.MoveFirst;
    while not RS.EOF do
    begin
      try
        Obj := VBGetObject(RS.Fields.Item[1].Value) as IADsUser;
        Line := Format('%s, %s, %s, %s', [RS.Fields.Item[0].Value, RS.Fields.Item[1].Value, RS.Fields.Item[2].Value, Obj.Parent]);
        mmoReport.Lines.Add(Line);
      except
      end;
      RS.MoveNext;
    end;
  end;
begin
  mmoReport.Clear;

  // create objects
  Conn := CoConnection.Create;
  Cmd := CoCommand.Create;
  // setup objects
  Conn.Provider := 'ADsDSOObject';
  Conn.Open('Active Directory Provider', '', '', 0);
  Cmd.Set_ActiveConnection(Conn);
  Cmd.Properties.Item['Page Size'].Value := 1000;
  Cmd.Properties.Item['Searchscope'].Value := ADS_SCOPE_SUBTREE;

  RunQuery(edtQuery.Text);
end;

Once again, the whole sample is available for download (ZIP, 36 Kb).

Someone asked on delphifeeds.com, how to get a list of all domains within an environment. Since I was going to need just the same soon for a application in development right now, I thought I take up the challenge and try my luck. After using Google I found nil solutions using Delphi, so I went to microsoft.com and looked how they do it, using VBScript.

Well, I was lucky and found a solution, but as so often, getting it to work on Delphi is an entirely different task. First you have to find the root naming context of the domain where your application is running. You use the ADs library for that task. From that LDAP-path you replace the prefix with GC, which stands for global catalog.

// get the forest base
try
  DirObj := VBGetObject('LDAP://rootDSE') as IADs;
  Root := (VBGetObject('LDAP://' + DirObj.Get('rootDomainNamingContext')) as IADs).ADsPath;
except
  mmoReport.Lines.Add('Computer is not running in domain setup.');
  Exit;
end;
// replace LDAP with GC (global catalog)
Root := 'GC' + Copy(Root, 5, MaxInt);
mmoReport.Lines.Add(Root);

Next, you query the AD using ADO for the domains or sites, whatever you want. The queries are simple:

Query := 'SELECT Name FROM ' + QuotedStr(Root) + ' WHERE objectCategory=''domain''';
Query := 'SELECT Name FROM ' + QuotedStr(Root) + ' WHERE objectCategory=''site''';

Next, you just iterate the record set, returned after executing your command. A full demo can be downloaded (ZIP, 34 Kb) from my site.

I just decided to install Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft starts to attack the Flash-market with its own tool Silverlight. Well, the first test every application has to take, the Installation Process, and Silverlight failed. Well, it installed alright, however, without any warning or asking whether I want to, it closed all my browser windows (5, each with multiple tabs opened) and reopened only one of those.

Sorry Microsoft, but you can do better than that!

By now everyone who deems himself at least a medium level programmer for Windows applications, should have at least looked at Windows Vista. And while you toyed around with it, you probably have seen the new Windows Vista task dialogs.

Windows Vista Taks Dialog

Personally, I do really like them. They are clear, tell the user what problem was encountered and gives well explained options. Yes, I know, the good content part still depends on the developer, but you should get the meaning without to much picking at me ;-)

Now, there are many components out there, and the best around is from Jeremy North, called TJSDialog. It supports all Windows Vista features, as well as a few more carefully selected ones. So, if you target Vista users, this component is at least worth looking at.

However, I ask myself something else. While components like Jeremy's allow us to display those dialog types on Windows 9X/XP/... should we as programmers do just that? Those dialogs come with Windows Vista and Vista users will get used to them, as they see them more and more all over their system. But now let's think about our granny, finally getting used to her good old Windows XP and now your application comes along with a totally new style for dialogs. She doesn't know this style, and probably she just thinks: What's that?! So, what do you think, should our applications use the Vista style dialogs on older system, just because they do look good? Is it worth it creating every dialog twice, ...? I am not sure myself. And don't misunderstand me, I really think the new style dialogs are simply great, but shouldn't we keep them to Vista where the user knows what hits her (or him)?   

At the EKON I gave a session on the Windows Vista search engine and how to feed it with own content. One thing I heard quiet often was Who bothers using it. or It is hard to find what you are looking for! Well, you may be right, but I think you are wrong.

First: how is it designed? Who did Microsoft have in mind when implementing the search feature right in to the start menu of Windows Vista? Not you, probably. Microsoft designed it for the laymen using Windows, persons who use the computer as part of their work life, as part of their free-time. The average user is probably quiet happy how well the search works. But then you are coming and you tell me you can't find what you are looking for. Why?

Well, mot of us remember searches from a time when it worked strictly on file names, like dir *demo*.*, but this is not how the Windows Vista search works. The search engine (aka Windows Desktop Search 3.x) matches your search against the file name, the content of the file, meta data of the file, data about the program used to create the file, and quiet a few other things.

If you want Windows Vista to search for files containing demo in their name, you have to tell Vista to do so. And it is quiet easy, once you know it, simply type: file:(demo) and the search will return just those. You want to search for files created by a specific person, well you use author:(Daniel Wischnewski) or author:(Daniel OR Bob) (AND, NOT, OR, and so on are case-sensitive)and so on.

Once you know that the search works this way, it is time to get to know over 50 search modifiers, all part of the advanced query language coming with the Windows Desktop Search. Btw, if you like what you read here, but you are still running on Windows XP, go get it!

At the EKON I noticed that many developers do not know one of the great new short cuts introduced. The first ten icons in the short cut menu bar can be reached by two keys on you keyboard at any time. Simply press the [WIN] key with [1] through [0] above your letters to start the corresponding application. Those short cuts however do not work with your number block at the right of the keyboard.

Just to highlight what I mean...

Just in case you don't know [WIN]+[L], give it a try as well (this is not new though).