Tim Hibbard

EnGraph SQL Connection String Builder .NET Control

We have released SQL Connection String Builder .NET Control. This control is designed for situations where you need your user to enter their own SQL connection info. It has 4 textboxes and labels for Data Source, Initial Catalog, User ID and Password. You can pass in a full connection string and it will parse out the elements and display them in the proper field or you can let the user populate the data and pull out a valid connection string using the .ConnectionString property. The connection string will be properly formated with the correct SQL syntax. The password field is masked to the end user.

Click here to see it in action.

Click here to download installer with help file or click here for just the dll

Other EnGraph .NET Controls - DateBox

posted @ Wednesday, June 29, 2005 9:38 PM | Feedback (3) | Filed Under [ EnGraph .NET Controls ]

Visual Studio freezing up

I've been running into issues lately where Visual Studio 2003 freezes up and no matter how long I wait, I end up having to end the process. I'll just be going along and it will happen in mid-keystroke. I lost almost an hour of work yesterday!! I'm running Enterprise Architect with Source Gear Vault.

posted @ Wednesday, June 29, 2005 4:09 PM | Feedback (0) |

Trouble with Events when using implements

I am using VB.net, reworking one of our GPS solutions and I have class A that inherits from class B and implements interface C.
I defined Events in interface C and when I raise those events from class A, they do not bubble up to application D that consumes class A.

I found some information here, that says I need to define my events in class B and raise them by calling a overridable sub in class B. But I had trouble with that as well.

The whole thing is not very intuitive, I wonder if I am missing something obvious. I'll post my solution when I figure it out...until then, if any smarter OOP programmers have any ideas, please let me know.

posted @ Friday, June 17, 2005 1:59 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ .NET ]

Configure Cisco PIX for VPN

To enable your Cisco PIX firewall for VPN access:

1) Connect the cable between PIX and your COM port
2) Open Hyperterminal (All Programs->Accessories->Communications)
3) When the Connect to box opens up, select the COM port that the cable is connected to
4) Enter your password when prompted
5) Enter = config t - press enter
6) Enter = fixup protocol pptp 1723 - press enter
7) Enter = write mem - press enter

Exit Hyperterminal

posted @ Thursday, June 16, 2005 4:15 PM | Feedback (2) | Filed Under [ Remoting ]

VSTO 2005 with Outlook!

You can now create managed add-ins to outlook using Visual Studio Tools for Office 2005. This will make a lot of headaches go away...like this one. More info here.

Linked from Paul Stubbs

posted @ Monday, June 06, 2005 11:19 AM | Feedback (1) |

Dev Con Recap

2005 KC Dev Con was good. The speakers were informed and the sessions got to the point quickly. There was the expected Microsoft spin...plugging VS 2005 and making sure we knew that EVERYTHING was being ran inside VirtualPC. There must have been a memo about it...We heard VirtualPC over 40 times I bet.

I attended the Smart Client Track where Jon Box talked typed datasets, binding sources, background workers, as well as a bunch of cool stuff you can do with Visual Studio Tools for Office. I'm still confused on a couple things with VSTO though...

Dale Michalk talked about ClickOnce, adjusting security settings on the function level (rather than changing zones), using Application.Reset to restart your ClickOnce app and targeting the Compact Framework. I had a couple questions for him that he didn't know off the top of his head, but was nice enough to give me his email address.

The closing keynote was disappointing. Usually, the closing is a multimedia, demo-filled presentation about all kinds of cool geek stuff and you leave with little MSN butterflies in your stomach and you just want to go home and code all night. This guy talked about some cool things, but there wasn't any flare, no excitement. Everything was very dry and acronym laded. It was a bit much to try to follow after absorbing so much info in the last eight hours.

I ran into a fellow GWB and Lawrence geek, Clint Batman. Turns out his company offers a solution that could possibly save our company ALOT of money. Clint talks about his DevCon day here. Rob was there, and so was Jeff.

It was a good day...now if I can only convince EnGraph to let me go to PDC...

posted @ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 11:06 PM | Feedback (0) |

Heading to Dev Con

I'm off to Dev Con 2005 in Kansas City. It's very exciting. I love these one day geek jam sessions!!

posted @ Wednesday, June 01, 2005 7:07 AM | Feedback (0) |