Tag Archives: Microsoft

Mar 12

Building Windows Mobile application with Visual Studio

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I am still working on this Windows Mobile application.  I am in the polishing stage now.  It has been a challenaging project becuase of having to learn about SQLCE, Windows Mobile, wireless printing (which Windows Mobile does not support natively).  One of my biggest frustrations was the Visual Studio build was getting longer and longer.  It seemed the more I added the slower it got, but shutting down Visual Studio also helped.  I could not find anything anywhere that described this problem or anyone else that had the same problem.  Until yesterday I found VS2008 Windows Mobile 5 Project very slow to compile on a MSDN form.  Yes, I have tried 2005 & 2008 version and they both act the same.  The builds where taking 30 minutes. It got to the point that I started developing this application as a Windows application and the builds would take only a couple of minutes.  This was fine until I got to the point of really testing the application using a mobile device, so I had to convert the project back.  Believe me the 30 minute build only last a couple of days until I found a new way to build my project.  It is not so new but different, because I am using MSBuild to do my compiling and taking only 2 minutes to compile.  After the build I still use F5 to build the project and run, but now there is nothing to build so VS starts the deploy and I am a happy man!!!  There is one BIG downfall to this approach, forgetting to use MSBuild to do the compiling and pressing F5.  It does allow me to write this article though!!!! Here is my solution to slow builds in VS:
  1. Open a VS 2008 command prompt (this is not a normal command prompt, it is a short cut by the VS short cut in the Start | Program | .. menu) ( this only needs to be done once)
  2. Save all changes (Ctrl-Shift-S)
  3. At the command prompt type MSBuild <path\filename of your VS project> (drag the file from Explorer) & press enter
  4. Wait for build to complete
  5. Run (F5) your VS project
Hope that saves a few hairs.
Apr 20

SnT Thursday – Tray It!

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This is one of small but useful tools that I have been using for some time.  

allows to save precious Taskbar space for minimized windows. For each application which applies TrayIt! it creates a small icon in the System Tray. (System Tray area is located near the Clock). When application’s window is minimized this icon represents the application on the Taskbar instead of the regular “minimized rectangle”.

It is particularly useful for background tasks you typically keep running on your PC all day long like your favorite E-mail client, Real Player, etc.


Try It! has improved since my last post, it has a much nicer UI.  Even though it is only in beta , it has been very stable for me and worth the risk.  Here is the new improved list of applications running


I have circled the features that I have set.  I am always up for single clicking instead of that double stuff, except for Lotus Notes double right click!
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For some applications like Microsoft Active Sync or Google Talk there is already a system try icon, so selecting the option not to show in the system tray just makes sense.
Jan 18

SyncToy

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Yesterday I was looking for Microsoft’s Tweak UI for XP and stumbled onto a new (at least to me) tool called SyncToy.  There are more power toys some new and old that might be of interest to some.  SyncToy caught my interest with having a memory stick that I like to keep files from work and home synchronized on.  I also have a need at work to back up files that are only backed up for 30 days,  I just lost some documentation that I don’t access that often and was deleted more than 30 days ago..  So I plan on using SyncToy and Windos Scheduled Tasks tool to take a backup of these files onto my machine or a different location on the server. :)  One more thing, there is no registry trail after the tool runs.  I installed it on my home machine and copied the files to my memory stick and launched it at work and nothing was ever added to the registry.  The only trail is the ‘SyncToyData’ folder in your ‘My Documents’ folder where the settings .  
Dec 30

Some findings

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If you are looking for a couch (not DbCouch ) and in need of a bike check out this couch bike . via: hack a day .  If you are into history instead then try Microsoft’s Historical Monuments , sorry but I have not tried it yet.  How about photography or some sketches then check out G-Man and his journal .

I have also added a new album of our deck that I built in 2003, a little late.  My wife and I design the deck and I built it with the help of friends and family.  I used Trex and so far it has held up very nice, if can afford it.
Oct 12

Ages and versions

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Should software version be more like ages? Tim commented on the way I wrote my kids ages. This might be like what Microsoft did with Windows 95 and 98.
Should software be described by how old it is not by the release or version. That would make windows 20, 25 if you want to start when it was conceived but since human ages don’t start until birth it would be 20. Here is Windows family tree Has anyone ever seen a Notes family tree?

Who ever came up with alpha and beta, and why is there not never agamma version? I just might have to have a gamma release for my next application.

Thanks, Tim for the idea.
Mar 31

Sutdown.exe XP

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A co-worker showed me a quick way to shut down and restart a computer. I was really interested because I use Microsoft Remote Desktop feature to connect to a Domino server. The Domino server is on an older computer with a very loud fan so the less it runs the better. My problem was I did not have the option to shut down the machine from the start menu.. I now have two shortcuts on the desktop, one to turn off the machine and a second to cancel the shut down. Common shortcuts ShutDown.exe -l (Logoff) ShutDown.exe -s -t 30 (Shut Down) ShutDown.exe -r -t 1 (Restart Now) ShutDown.exe -r -t 30 (Restart) ShutDown.exe -a (Cancel) Shutdown Help Usage: shutdown [-i | -l | -s | -r | -a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t xx] [-c "comment"] [-d up:xx:yy] No args Display this message (same as -?) -i Display GUI interface, must be the first option -l Log off (cannot be used with -m option) -s Shutdown the computer -r Shutdown and restart the computer -a Abort a system shutdown -m \\computername Remote computer to shutdown/restart/abort -t xx Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds -c "comment Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 characters) -f Forces running applications to close without warning -d [u][p]:xx:yy The reason code for the shutdown u is the user code p is a planned shutdown code xx is the major reason code (positive integer less than 256) yy is the minor reason code (positive integer less than 65536) If you are interested in selecting the same icon as the “Turn off computer” icons check out the c:\windows\system32\SHELL32.dll. I even assign shortcut keys to launch them easier, which works from anywhere!!! The shutdown command might work on other versions of Windows, but I have not done any testing. Thanks Tim for the idea.