tools

February 8, 2006 tools

Network bandwidth usage monitor?

Sometimes, for no reason I can discern, the network bandwidth on various computers in my house goes south. What I'd love is a tool that shows me how much traffic is going across my network, where it's going and where it's from, i.e. from the internet, from a machine in my house, etc. Ideally, it'd also show me the ports and even the processes on each machine that are producing/consuming the data. Does such a tool exist?
January 26, 2006 tools

Calling a Remote Index Server from .NET

I was building some code to access Index Server’s results via .NET and I got this:

// Catalog specified in connection string
string query = select Path from Scope() where FREETEXT(‘foo’)”;
using( OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(“Provider=MSIDXS.1;Data Source=MyCatalog”) ) {
  conn.Open();
  OleDbDataAdapter cmd = new OleDbDataAdapter(query, conn);
  DataSet ds = new DataSet();
  cmd.Fill(ds, SearchResults”);
  DataTable table = ds.Tables[0];
  ds.Tables.Remove(table);
  return table;
}

This came from a combo of stuff I found on the net and my own experimenting. However, I had to get an MS employee who know IS (thanks Chad Ray!) to figure out how to access IS remotely, which I was finally able to get working thusly:

// Server and catalog specified in query string, not connection string
string query = select Path from MyServer.MyCatalog..Scope() where FREETEXT(‘foo’)”;
using( OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(“Provider=MSIDXS.1”) ) {
  conn.Open();
  OleDbDataAdapter cmd = new OleDbDataAdapter(query, conn);
  DataSet ds = new DataSet();
  cmd.Fill(ds, SearchResults”);
  DataTable table = ds.Tables[0];
  ds.Tables.Remove(table);
  return table;
}

Also, if the server or catalog name has anything weird” in it, e.g. those wacky dashes, you’re supposed to wrap it in double quotes. My experimenting showed that wrapping any server or catalog name in double quotes worked just fine, e.g.

string query = select Path from "MyServer".\“MyCatalog\”..Scope() where FREETEXT(‘foo’)”;

However, if the server name is localhost” or 127.0.0.1″, IS doesn’t like it, which meant that I had to check for those server names and drop the ones that used the loopback adapter (although using the machine name of the local machine worked just fine), e.g.

static bool IsLocalHost(string server) {
  return string.IsNullOrEmpty(server) || (string.Compare(server, localhost”, true) == 0) || (string.Compare(server, 127.0.0.1″) == 0);
}

string GetPlainTextQueryString(string text, string columns) {
  // IS doesn’t like localhost”
  if( IsLocalHost(_server) ) {
    return string.Format(“select {0} from "{1}"..Scope() where FREETEXT(‘{2}‘)”, columns, _catalog, text);&n
  }
  else {
    return string.Format(“select {0} from "{1}".\“{2}\”..Scope() where FREETEXT(‘{3}’)”, columns, _server, _catalog, text);&n
bsp; }}

I’m only posting this cuz I couldn’t find it on the net and I want to be able to find it again later. : )

January 11, 2006 tools

.NET 2.0 Breaks NTD

Charles Sterling, Developer Evangelist, points out a problem with .NET 2.0 and No-Touch Deployment applications over the internet (where "problem" = "breaks completely").
January 5, 2006 tools

Bindows: Windows Implemented in AJAX

Holy User32 in a browser window, Batman!

I don’t know what it’s like to use an app built this way, but looking at the samples blows me away…

December 20, 2005 tools

New Workspace Link for RegexDesigner

Here.

The nice folks at GotDotNet have decided in their infinite wisdom to move all of the workspaces to a new hierarchy w/o forwarding the URLs and then leaving a message behind indicating that such a thing is temporary to keep users on their toes:

Operational Troubleshooting in Progress
The Gotdotnet team is aware of the current site operational issues and is working on a solution. Thanks for your patience.”

Anyway, due to popular demand, I’ve updated the GotDotNet workspaces link to the RegexDesigner and other tools. Enjoy.

December 9, 2005 tools

Windows Template Library (WTL) 7.5

It looks like my old friend Nenad Stefanovic is up to his old tricks with a new version of my favorite native framework, the Windows Template Library. This will go nicely with ATL Internals, 2e, which Chris Tavares is finishing up for Brent and me.

[via Shawn Wildermuth]

November 16, 2005 tools

Lots of WinForms 2.0 Chewy Goodness

Here. The WinForms team has put up all kinds of WinForms 2.0 resources, including a bunch of FAQs and samples. Enjoy.
November 10, 2005 tools

Windows Forms 2.0 UI Clones

Here.

The Windows Forms team has posted .NET 2.0 versions of their UI clone apps, including:

If you want a Windows Forms app in one of those styles, those samples are where I’d start.