Working on writing a custom property Handler for our custom file type in windows 7. I have installed the Windows 7 SDK and built the sample Property Handler. After registering the handler, it works great in Windows Explorer, but in the common file open dialog the custom values do not appear. Does anyone know if there is something special I need to do to get the properties to appear in common dialogs?
Explorer:
File Open Dialog:
OK, figured it out. Here is the deal. My app is 32 bit and I am on a x64 system. Because the PropertyHandler is written in x64 to support the shell out of process. But for the file open dialog it needs to run inprocess, so the x64 dll can not run. I confirmed this by creating a quick x64 app and the fileopen dialog works the same as the OS. Hope this helps someone else in my shoes later on, hate answering my own question, but don't want people wasting NRG on this one as I found the solution.
Related
I get following message when I try to add "Periodic Task" to "ScheduledActionService" in Windows Phone 8 Application.
"The drive cannot locate a specific area or track on the disk."
I am really not sure if this is related to Visual Studio 2012 that I am using or related to Periodic Tasks on Windows Phone 8.
The same piece of code works fine in Windows Phone 7.
I found the solution here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-us/wpdevelop/thread/a973955e-0981-4be8-8ac0-8dfcb9dc2917/
You need to manually update your WPAppManifest.xml file and configure the background task there.
Appears to be normal behavior, not related to emulator or debugging.
There is a excellent explanation as to what is required by microsoft for background task in the msdn tutorial videos.
It references your problem at around 24:30 with editing the WPAppManifest.xml file.
He explains step by step what needs to be done and why.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-8-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners/Part-34-Creating-a-Background-Agent-for-Scheduled-Tasks
Also I got a null reference exception after fixing the WPAppManifest.xml when called from the the main project, turns out the main project also has to reference the scheduler project (even if not using anything in it).
You have to add the ScheduledTaskAgent as a Reference to the main project.
I found this in the WPDT Notes
Runtime exception occurs when an application attempts to use a launcher/chooser in Microsoft.Phone.Tasks to call an application that is not present in the Emulator home screen. The following error string is displayed, “The drive cannot locate a specific area or track on the disk.” Workaround: Do not use the launcher/chooser or catch this exception.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/9/2/d926fb38-bb43-4d87-ae5a-1a3391279fac/releasenotes.htm.
(PS If you can't view the link Google "Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Release Notes")
On one computer 'A' (win vista 32 bit) if I run my program in debug mode all the richtextbox controls throw 'property cannot be set' errors.
I can go on to build the exe (without error ) and the full application OK
But when I then install and run the application on this computer or on computer 'B' (win xp) the same problems occur on both.
However if I run the exact same code in debug mode on computer 'B' there are no errors.
If I build and install the application on computer 'B' it works fine. If I then install this application on computer 'A' it also works fine.
When putting together the application for distribution, both computers use identical copies of richtx32.ocx (it, like the code, is checked out from the same repository).
If I check out previous copies of the code on computer'A' (that used to previously behave OK) they also now exhibit the same problems as the latest version of the code.
I don't have a clue what's going on, please help!
I'm seeing multiple references to the Property cannot be set message being resolved in the version of the Rich Text Control that is distributed in Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 4, and another Property cannot be set message fixed in SP5.
First and foremost, make sure that a minimum of SP5 is installed; I'd just go with SP6.
For reference, my Microsoft Rich Textbox Control 6.0 (SP6) is at C:\Windows\System32\RICHTX32.OCX, and is version 6.1.97.82.
I know you said that both machines have the same copy of the control installed; for the sake of completeness, you may want to double-check that the new control was registered after installation.
EDIT:
I exported the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402} reg key:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}]
#="Microsoft Rich Textbox Control 6.0 (SP6)"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Control]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{0DE86A52-2BAA-11CF-A229-00AA003D7352}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{0DE86A53-2BAA-11CF-A229-00AA003D7352}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{0DE86A57-2BAA-11CF-A229-00AA003D7352}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{40FC6ED4-2438-11CF-A3DB-080036F12502}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{40FC6ED5-2438-11CF-A3DB-080036F12502}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Implemented Categories\{7DD95802-9882-11CF-9FA9-00AA006C42C4}]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\InprocServer32]
#="C:\\Windows\\system32\\RICHTX32.OCX"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\MiscStatus]
#="0"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\MiscStatus\1]
#="131473"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\ProgID]
#="RICHTEXT.RichtextCtrl.1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Programmable]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\ToolboxBitmap32]
#="C:\\Windows\\system32\\RICHTX32.OCX, 1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\TypeLib]
#="{3B7C8863-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\Version]
#="1.2"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3B7C8860-D78F-101B-B9B5-04021C009402}\VersionIndependentProgID]
#="RICHTEXT.RichtextCtrl"
A bad richtx32.oca file in the system32 directory seems to have been the cause of this.
Here's what an .oca file does:
Some of the properties of the control are provided by the framework
and some by the control itself. Programmatically, the properties from
the framework and the control all appear as properties of the control.
In order for these properties to appear, Visual Basic creates an
extended type library when the control is loaded into the toolbox.
Because the process of reading the control's type library and creating
the extended type library is time consuming, Visual Basic caches the
extended type library information into an OCA file.
If you delete the OCA file for a control Visual Basic recognized,
Visual Basic will recreate the .OCA file when you load a project
requiring the control. This recreation process comes with a time
penalty.
So it seems that having a bad .oca file in existence can mean that the properties of the control both in the IDE and in the compiled .exe will be affected.
The solution is to delete the .oca file in the system32 folder and then load the project again.
We have an application built against MFC9 (VC2008).
The application is an SDI application, and shows a file open dialog during InitInstance(). Showing that dialog causes comdlg32.dll to be loaded. Some minutes later, the comdlg32.dll is unloaded automatically. After this, the next function depending on the DLL will crash.
How can this be avoided? What governs the automatic unloading/loading of the DLL?
Further info:
We don't see this problem on WinXP with the same application.
On Win7, this behavior only occurred since the beginning of this year - maybe some MFC update is related to this?
A small test application does not exhibit the problematic behavior - the comdlg32.dll is re-loaded when needed.
We’ve found a statement by Microsoft that it isn’t recommended to use modal dialogs in InitInstance() of MDI applications (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/173261) - we have an SDI application, though.
We don't directly use comdlg32.dll in any way, only indirectly through the MFC.
You have to call InitCommonControlsEx in your application on startup.
This will initialize the comdlg32.dll and also increase the reference count of the dll, so it won't get unloaded after closing a file-open/save dialog.
You don't say whether you customize your dialog or it is just a straight up file dialog. I think starting with Vista, the common file dialog was changed some. I know if you compare older MFC code with newer, you will see that the MFC code has been changed to take advantage of those changes. For instance, the IFileDialogEvents and IFileDialogControlEvents were implemented in MFC to support the way Vista and later versions of the OS customize file dialogs.
I don't know if I have an answer, but just for grins I would probably make sure I call AfxOleInitialize() sometime in InitInstance() before I tried to call the file dialog.
The other thing I would try for sure (since it works under XP) would be in the constructor of your CFileDialog would be to make sure to set bVistaStyle to FALSE. This ensures m_bVistaStyle is set to FALSE which it is set at when running under XP.
I have a VB6 application, the installer is compiled using INNO Setup.
The installer runs fine. But in about 10% of computers when the user clicks the Icon to run the installed app, it doesn't start, no error message, only a Beep sound.
This is happening on XP and also Win 7.
I develop in XP and Win 7 and the application works OK, so I haven't been able to reproduce the issue.
The installer registers all ocx and dlls needed (afaik). (Well not completely all, it assumes MS run-time components should be there, but I guess an error message should show up if something is missing)
I was thinking some kind of user permissions, UAC, but even users in the admin group have had the issue.
Could you point me to what possible issues to look for and test in order to patch the app.
Thanks!
[FOLLOW UP]
Thanks to the tips, found out the manifest is causing the problem. I use it to make the controls look better:
http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/vb/code/libraries/xp_visual_styles/using_xp_visual_styles_in_vb/article.asp
Now I'm trying to discover why. I have another application with the same manifest and that one works ok.
Haven't been able to get feedback on the event viewer yet.
The "beep crash" often points to an error in an application manifest such as an XML syntax error or namspace conflict. Event Logs will often provide a hint about this.
But I've found that people often try to use the Common Controls 6.0 Library without ensuring proper library loading sequence.
Before any Forms are openend you should load shell32 and then comctl32. The easiest way is a couple of no-op calls in Sub Main:
Option Explicit
Private Declare Sub InitCommonControls Lib "comctl32" ()
Private Declare Function IsUserAnAdmin Lib "shell32" () As Long
Private Sub InitCommonControlsVB()
IsUserAnAdmin
InitCommonControls
End Sub
Private Sub Main()
InitCommonControlsVB
Form1.Show
End Sub
Without this your program will usually work fine in Vista or Win7, but will fail on some XP service pack and patch levels. Part of this is due to changes over time in the Fusion subsystem that handles SxS activation and comctl32.dll patches.
Ignore those saying you need to call InitCommonControlsEx(), it isn't necessary unless you are constructing and using Win32 controls directly instead of VB6 and COM controls.
A few things to try to narrow it down:
Check the Windows Event Log for crash events
Check the Windows Event Log (in the Application section) for crash reports from your application. You can quickly get to the log viewer on Windows XP by clicking Start > Run, typing eventvwr and pressing Enter. On Windows 7, you can type "event viewer" in the search box that is in the Start menu. You can filter the events to only show error events from your program.
You might find a few error events on one of the computers where this problem has already occured, because it sounds like the error reporting feature is turned off on these computers (in which case "hard crashes" like access violations are logged in the Event Log instead of displaying an error dialog to the end-user, as long as a debugger isn't installed on the computer).
Make sure "Error Reporting" is turned at the OS level
As mentioned in the previous section, it sounds like the error reporting feature is turned off on these computers. In that case, a crash won't display any kind of message to the end-user at all and the application will just vanish suddenly. In Windows XP, you can check this setting (and turn it on) as follows:
Right-click "My Computer" and select Properties.
Open the Advanced tab and click the Error Reporting button.
Select the Enable Error Reporting option.
Click OK to all the open windows.
Add trace code to your application
You could also add some trace code to your application's start-up code, such as code to display a message box or write a message to the Windows Event Log or to a log file as soon as your application starts (for example, in the Form_Initialize event of your main form, or in a Sub Main routine).
This way you will be able to tell whether your application is crashing before or after the VB6 runtime is loaded: if you try to start the application and it disappears/crashes, and your startup message isn't logged, then you know it's crashing before it even has a chance to get to your application's startup code, which could indicate that a dependency of the VB6 runtime or the VB6 runtime itself is not installed properly.
Note that Windows XP and Windows 7 both ship with the VB6 runtime pre-installed, but it's possible for misbehaving installers to overwrite or remove files that are part of the VB6 runtime.
I have created a Windows Shell Extension using ATL (Visual Studio 2008). It has the following modules and each module is a separate ATL Simple Object with its own .rgs file for registration:-
IShellFolder/IShellView -> For a virtual drive in windows explorer
IContextMenu/IShellExtInit -> For a popup menu files and folders
IShellIconOverlayIdentifier - To display overlay icons on files and folders
IShellPropSheetExt/IShellExtInit -> For a custom property page in File & Folder's properties
The above work fine in WinXP and I am able to debug this shell extension in WinXP. But a soon as I switch to Vista, I only get method calls for (2) and (4). The drive gets created in Windows Explorer but the underlying methods are not called when I click it.
Although when I right click I get called for (2) and when I select "Properties" for a file or folder I get into the code for (4).
Is there some interface that I am missing for (1) and (3) on Vista. I could not find full and detailed documentation on writing Shell Extensions for Vista on MSDN. I had already gone through the CodeProject articles on shell extensions.
The problem was because of a Xml SMART Pointer usage. It was has problems when Release() was called on it.
Check this link
Internet Explorer crashes when MSXML2::IXMLDOMDocumentPtr -> Release() is called
Make sure that your extensions are handling the initialization properly, otherwise the verclsid.exe won't let your extension getting loaded.
verclsid.exe first loads the shell extensions and does a quick check on them before it sends an 'ok' to the shell indicating that it's safe to load the extension.
See here for some details about verclsid.exe.