It appears that Microsoft is rearranging its web sites again. I'm trying to see the flags available for the DrawText function format parameter, and the only page I can find on the Microsoft site says TBD where the description should be. I'm hoping that they haven't eliminated this information entirely, it's still essential.
I've noticed a similar trend for other WinAPI functions lately, but this is the first time that vital information was completely missing.
Related
I am trying to handle an event for when a PDF has downloaded and been fully displayed in Internet Explorer.
Which UIAutomation event will handle this?
If you are referring to the UIAutomation object in the .NET Framework, it supports managed code. Internet Explorer is written in C++ as unmanaged code. Some folks have managed to write extensions using managed code, in spite of clear advice to the contrary, however, I've not heard of anyone successfully controlling IE using managed code.
Earlier versions of IE could be automated using COM interfaces or VBA objects, however, these features have been increasing deprecated over the years.
In addition, few of those interfaces supported extensions. (PDF is not a natively supported file type for Internet Explorer, so automation would depend on the surfaces exposed by the application registered to handle PDF mime types for the individual user.)
Since Edge is now the official browser, it's unlikely that IE will be updated to support managed code extensions. Note that Edge does not currently support extensions and little information is available describing when, or if, that will change. (There have been vague promises in the past, but little additional information.)
If you're trying to accomplish a specific effect, consider posting a more specific question, one showing:
The code that you're trying to use,
The effect you're trying to achieve, and
The behavior you're seeing instead.
Hope this helps...
-- Lance
I've been hearing a lot about how starting with Windows 8 there would be a new API that replaces mirror drivers. AFAIK, mirror drivers are the only way for an AT application to read text output by drawing APIs such as GDI+ (in particular non-standard controls that don't use any accessibility APIs like UIA or MSAA).
So I did some research and found this page, which confirms the rumor but doesn't give much information about what's next. I e-mailed the address it said to contact, but received no response (not even an automatic "thank you for e-mailing Microsoft" message), so I'm not sure where else to look.
So I searched on here and found this page, which said there's a "desktop duplication" API available now; but the documentation that guy provided didn't seem to say anything about accessibility, but more geared toward people developing remote desktop apps - which is really cool but probably not what I was looking for... or was it? (lol)
Thanks in advance. :)
I am using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UITesting to hand-code automated tests for a Silverlight web application. I am running into an inconsistent failure problem, and I need to understand what visual studio is doing when it runs a test.
Where can I find detailed technical information on the testing framework/engine in Visual Studio? Or to state more specifically, I am looking for information on what is going on 'behind the scenes' when I run a test.
Since you didn't specify any specific information that you are looking for, I'll link you to a couple of "portal" pages that I tend to have good luck with when searching for Coded UI information.
The first one is here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mathew_aniyan/archive/2009/12/10/content-index-for-coded-ui-test.aspx, it's also got some links to some blogs of Microsoft employees who specialize in the Coded UI testing framework.
The second one is a bit smaller, but the links are a bit more organized: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd286726(VS.100).aspx.
I hope you find something useful on one of these.
I'm developing a WinForm app in c# 4.0 and would like other (non-developer) colleagues to contribute writing a context sensitive end-user helpfile. First I thought I could use "HTML Help Workshop" from Microsoft, but it seems outdated (Vista and Windows 7 not supported).
Then I've looked at Sandcastle, but the documentation is lacking and I wonder if it is suitable for non-technical users to write end-user documentation.
So I read about RoboHelp, but it's way to expensive for me.
I'm getting lost in all the information that is available about helpfiles. Can someone help give some best practices or information on what tools to use and what output format I should target (still chm or other).
Great question. I like your idea of non-developers contributing to the end-user documentation.
This idea might motivate users and testers of your application to easily contribute to the documentation.
The first thing that comes to my mind, is using a some sort of wiki engine. You could build a simple function in your WinForm application, that fires up a browser and directs in to the wiki. You could use the context from which it is called to build up an url; e.g. http://dev-wiki.mycompany.com/LoginForm?action=edit. Here the name of the form ("LoginForm") is used in the url of a wiki page.
Alternatively, you could simply use the embedded web browser control for WinForms to access the wiki. That would look something like:
var url = GetWikiUrl(myForm);
browserControl.Navigate(url);
This would be very easy to embed in your application.
In a controlled (office) environment, this would be very easy to set up. In you production environment it might be a bit more difficult, but still doable. It might leverage some end-user contributions too.
For writing documentation, I use sphinx.
It lets you document in plain text and has various output formats (chm, html, pdf etc.).
Some of these (chm, html) can be used as context-sensitive help sources.
However simple, the sphinx user-interface (text editor and make file) might not be suitable for non-technical users.
I would recommend to use Help+Manual for creating CHM documentation. It's similar to MS Word and any PC user can start to contribute doc development after short education.
But this tool isn't free :(
How do I let Microsoft know about a problem I've found in one of their core library routines? Do they have a central repository to report these things?
I am not a member of Microsoft Development Network (MSDN).
Or should I even bother?
There is no official way to report bugs to Microsoft for an end-user. If you are participating in a beta program for an upcoming release, the beta program includes a bug-reporting channel. Otherwise, if the bug causes problems that you want to get resolved, you can call Microsoft support, and they will help you solving the problem (be it by providing a patch, or a work-around); if the problem turns out to be caused by a bug indeed, they will refund the costs of the support call.
Microsoft does have a central repository (perhaps separate ones per product), but this repository is not accessible for the general public.
If it's a documentation bug (or if the documentation should call it out), you can get good results with the Feedback links in MSDN library. You can report bugs in Microsoft developer tools (among other things) by signing up at connect.microsoft.com.
If you're sure you've found a bug in a core library routine, you can raise a PSS (support case. It'll cost you money, but if it turns out you're right (and they issue you a hotfix), I think that they refund the money.
I've never been so confident that I've found a bug that I'm willing to make that gamble.
I don't know why ChrisN took back his answer. I saw it earlier today when he had it up, He said:
You can report bugs on the Microsoft Connect website (I've done this in the
past). You don't have to have an MSDN
subscription.
I had not heard of the Microsoft Connect website, but when I used the search box there to search for "Registry Unicode", the first entry listed was a bug very similar to the one I encountered. And clicking through on that entry led me to look at the conversation that appears to be Microsoft people addressing the issue, passing it on to appropriate people and escalating it as necessary.
I have no experience with the Microsoft Connect website, but if it turns out to be as promising as it appears, this may be the answer to my question.