Zeal SoftStudio Blog

Make a ListBox display a different tooltip for each item

Zeal SoftStudio — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:20:41 GMT

A customer required a sample that make a CheckListBox display a different tooltip for each item. We modified a sample from Aaron Young to demonstrate how to display tooltips for each item in a CheckListBox control.

You can download this sample from here.

How to use ItemBackColor and ItemFont properties in Visual Basic.NET

Zeal SoftStudio — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:55:56 GMT

A user asked us how to upgrade a Visual Basic 6.0 project of CheckListBox ActiveX control with ItemBackColor and ItemFont properties.

VB.NET doesn't treat ItemForeCOlor and ItemBackColor as common properties, you need use setItemForeColor or setItemBackColor method to change the fore color or back color of an item.

VB.NET program uses a complete new Font object, so you need change your code as followings.


        ' load in program names
        lstProgram.AddItem(" " & ProListName)

        lstProgram.set_ItemBackColor(lstProgram.NewIndex, &HC0FFFF)
        lstProgram.set_ItemForeColor(lstProgram.NewIndex, &HFFFF00)

        Dim fontFamily As New FontFamily("Arial")
        Dim oldFont As Font = _
            lstProgram.get_ItemFont(lstProgram.NewIndex)
        Dim fnt As New Font(fontFamily, oldFont.Size, _
            oldFont.Style Or FontStyle.Bold)
        lstProgram.set_ItemFont(lstProgram.NewIndex, fnt)

Please refer to following links for more details:
1) How to: Construct Font Families and Fonts
2) Font Constructor

How to support higher address than 32767 in C#

Zeal SoftStudio — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:42:47 GMT

If you use following statement in your C# program:

MessageBox.Show(NTPort.Inp(0xfc00).ToString());

You will get two errors:

Error	1	The best overloaded method match for 'NTPort.Inp(short)' has some invalid arguments
Error	2	Argument '1': cannot convert from 'int' to 'short'

Both errors are caused by incorrect declaration in NTPort.cs. In NTPort.cs, all port addresses are declared as short. We need change them from short to ushort. We only change the data type of port addresses, not other parameters, to keep backwards compatible.

The latest version of NTPort.cs is as follows,


using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;

/// 
/// C# Class for NTPort Library
/// Copyright (c) 1997-2008 Hai Li, Zeal SoftStudio.
/// E-Mail: support@zealsoft.com
/// Web: http://www.zealsoft.com
/// 

public class NTPort
{
	// Returns a value indicating the last operation is successful or not.
	// int WINAPI GetLastState(char *s);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="GetLastState", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern int GetLastState( 
		[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] StringBuilder sError );

	// Enable your application to read or write specific ports.
	// void WINAPI EnablePorts(WORD PortStart, WORD PortStop);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="EnablePorts", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void EnablePorts(ushort nPortStart, ushort nPortStop);

	// Disable your application to read or write specific ports.
	// void WINAPI DisablePorts(WORD PortStart, WORD PortStop);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="DisablePorts", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void DisablePorts(ushort nPortStart, ushort nPortStop);

	// Returns a value indicates whether the application is running under Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 system.
	// BOOL WINAPI IsWinNT();
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="IsWinNT", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern bool IsWinNT();

	// Returns a value indicates whether the application is running under 64-bit Windows system.
	// BOOL WINAPI IsWin64();
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="IsWin64", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern bool IsWin64();

	// Returns a value from specific ports.
	// WORD WINAPI Inport(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Inport", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern byte Inport( ushort nPortAddress );
	// WORD WINAPI Inp(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Inp", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern byte Inp( ushort nPortAddress );	
	// WORD WINAPI Inpw(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Inpw", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern short Inpw( ushort nPortAddress );
	// WORD WINAPI InportW(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="InportW", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern short InportW( ushort nPortAddress );
	// DWORD WINAPI Inpd(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Inpd", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern short Inpd( ushort nPortAddress );
	//DWORD WINAPI InportD(WORD PortNum);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="InportD", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern int InportD( ushort nPortAddress );
	
	// Write a value to specific ports.
	// void WINAPI Outp(WORD PortNum, WORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Outp", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void Outp( ushort nPortAddress, short nData);
	// void WINAPI Outport(WORD PortNum, WORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Outport", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void Outport( ushort nPortAddress, short nData);
	// void WINAPI Outpw(WORD PortNum, WORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Outpw", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void Outpw( ushort nPortAddress, short nData);
	// void WINAPI OutportW(WORD PortNum, WORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="OutportW", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void OutportW( ushort nPortAddress, short nData);
	// void WINAPI Outpd(WORD PortNum, DWORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="Outpd", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void Outpd( ushort nPortAddress, int nData);
	// void WINAPI OutportD(WORD PortNum, DWORD Data);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="OutportD", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void OutportD( ushort nPortAddress, int nData);

	// Set the registration information.
	// void WINAPI LicenseInfo(LPSTR sUserName, DWORD dwKey);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="LicenseInfo", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void LicenseInfo(
		[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]String sUserName, int dwKey);

	// Returns the version of NTPort Library.
	// WORD WINAPI GetNTPortVersion();
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="GetNTPortVersion", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern short GetNTPortVersion();

	// Set the setting of fast mode
	// void WINAPI SetFastMode(BOOL bOption);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="SetFastMode", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern void SetFastMode(bool bOption);

	// Get the current setting of fast mode
	// BOOL WINAPI GetFastMode();
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="GetFastMode", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern bool GetFastMode();

	// Get the base address of LPT port
	// WORD WINAPI GetLPTPortAddress(WORD PortNo);
	[ DllImport( "Ntport.dll", EntryPoint="GetLPTPortAddress", CharSet=CharSet.Auto )]
	public static extern ushort GetLPTPortAddress(short nPortNo);

	public const int ERROR_NONE = 0;
	public const int ERROR_DRIVER = 2;
	public const int ERROR_SCM_CANT_CONNECT = 9998;

	public NTPort()
	{
		//
		// TODO: Add constructor logic here
		//
	}
}

Shortcuts Map editorial award

Zeal SoftStudio — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:46:23 GMT

Shortcuts Map receives 5 stars award from Best-software4u.

Shortcuts Map will help you to manage hotkeys assigned to shortcuts on the desktop or in the Start menu hierarchy. With the straightforward user interface, you can easily to change a hotkey or find an unused hotkey.

FIX: CheckListBox ActiveX can't be registered

Zeal SoftStudio — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 09:17:59 GMT

Our customers reported our CheckListBox ActiveX can't be registered under some systems. Now, this bug is fixed. In our evaluation version, sometimes setup program will install x64 edition of chklsb26.ocx into 32-bit system directories. We update our evaluation version to fix this bug. Because no other files are updated, we don't change the version number. This bug doesn't exist in registered version and upgrade version.

Download update version of evaluation version from here .

NTPort Library has received a 5 Stars Rating at PCWin.com

Zeal SoftStudio — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:02:51 GMT

This a new award for NTPort Library. Visit NTPort Library page at PCWin.com.

NTPort Library now supports Windows Vista!

Zeal SoftStudio — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:53:15 GMT

We are excited to announce the new release of NTPort Library, version 2.8 .

In this version, we officially support Windows Vista, both x86 and x64 version . From July 2006, we worked on Windows Vista, and released beta versions to our registered users. We got valuable feedbacks from our testers. Now, I think it's the time to release it to all users. Two major updates, signed kernel driver and HTML Help(.chm format), are made for Windows Vista. A screen shot of PortTest sample running in Windows Vista is shown below.

We also addJBuilder 2007 & Eclipse samples to this version. We will continue to develop more samples for our customers.

Since last version, Microsoft and CodeGear have released their new development tools. We are registered partner of Microsoft and Technology Partner of CodeGear. Of course, we provide full support of Visual Studio 2008 and CodeGear RAD Studio 2007 in this version.

Although x64 edition of Windows is not so popular as x86 edition, we continue to improve our x64 support. We rewrite the merge module for Windows Installer, so that it can work with both 32-bit and 64-bit installer.

A small feature is missing in this version. We removed Wise Installation System 8.0 sample. which is out-of-date.

If you are a registered user, please go to update page to download the upgrade version. If you are a new user, please go to download page to get a full feature evaluation version.

Add NTPort Library path to Visual C++ 2005/2008 directories

Zeal SoftStudio — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:05:31 GMT

The installer of NTPort Library will automatically add NTPort Library to Visual C++ 6.0/2002/2003's directories, so Visual C++ can easily find ntport.h and ntport.lib.

But our installer won't do such things in Visual C++ 2005/2008. Because Visual C++ 2005/2008 stores such settings in two files, VCProjectEngine.dll.config and VCProjectEngine.Dll.Express.Config in \VC\vcpackages. Both files in XML format, so it's a bit difficult to modify both files in our installer written in NSIS. We recommend you to add NTPort Library manually using Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> VC++ Directories .

NTPort Library received 5 stars award

Zeal SoftStudio — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:33:10 GMT

NTPort Library receives 5 stars award from Download25.com. See NTPort Libary page at Downlod25.com.

CheckListBox ActiveX 2.6 SP6 is released

Zeal SoftStudio — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:51:17 GMT

Today, we release CheckListBox ActiveX 2.6 SP6.

In this version, we support Windows XP & Vista theme. The checkmark will be automatically changed with the Windows theme. Following picture shows our control under Windows Vista.

We signed .ocx file with our certificate, so Internet Explorer won't pop up an unknown publisher warning dialog.

We add x64 edition ActiveX into this version, but we don't know how many users will use it. If you require x64 edition, please let us know.

Please download the evaluation version from http://www.zealsoftstudio.com/checklist ... nload.html . Registered users can download upgrade version from http://www.zealsoft.com/upgrade/ .

Dev-C++ Sample for MemAccess Library is available

Zeal SoftStudio — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:59:11 GMT

Dev-C++ Sample for MemAccess Library is available for download now. This sample is used to demonstrate how to use MemAccess Library in Dev-C++. Dev-C++ is a full-featured integrated development environment (IDE). It uses Mingw port of GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) as it's compiler.

If you use memacc.h and memacc.lib included in MemAccess Library 1.4 with Dev-C++ 4, you will get some errors. In this Dev-C++ sample, we change the memacc.h to avoid errors with MinGW compiler. Another change is the import library, MemAcc.lib, which is created by Visual C++ 6.0 and can�t be used for Dev C++, so we create libmemacc.a as the import library.

A console sample is also included in this package.

If you find any problem, please feel free to contact us.

NTPort Library for JBuilder 2007 Samples

Zeal SoftStudio — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:07:23 GMT

Now, NTPort Library for JBuilder 2007 Samples are available for download.

From version 2.6, we supports JBuilder 2006 and previous version. JBuilder 2007 is a completely new version and built on the open source Eclipse platform. Our samples are fully tested with JBuilder 2007 and will be included in the next release of NTPort Library.

Before install and run these samples, you must install an evaluation version or registration version of NTPort Library, which includes Java JNI DLL and other documents. If you don't have a copy of NTPort Library, please download an evaluation version from here.

We supports all Borland Turbo products.

Zeal SoftStudio — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:11:37 GMT

Zeal SoftStudio announced that our flagship products, NTPort Library and MemAccess Library will support all Borland Turbo products. As a Borland Technology Partner (BTP), we always provide best support to Borland Development tools, and our products will pass the test with Borland Development products before Borland release its products.

The Turbo product set includes Turbo Delphi for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET Turbo C++ and Turbo C# Each version will be available in two editions: Turbo Explorer, a free downloadable version, and Turbo Professional, a version priced less than $500 which is designed to accept thousands of available third-party tools, components and plug-ins. All Turbo editions enable developers to rapidly build high performance GUI, Database, Web, and Web Services applications for Microsoft Windows. Turbo Delphi for .NET and Turbo C# support the Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET platforms. More information is available at http://www.turboexplorer.com.

Color ComboBox ActiveX Control 1.05 was released

Zeal SoftStudio — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:26:59 GMT

We released an update version Color ComboBox ActiveX Control, version 1.5, in this week.

In this version, each item's fore color and background color can be individually modified via ItemForeColor and ItemBackColor property. Please refer to ItemColor sample for details.

Another new feature is CustomColor sample. This Visual Basic sample is used to demonstrate how to launch the color selection wizard and get the selected color without using the Edit button, when users select "Custom Color". This sample was requested by one of our value customers.

Please download free evaluation version from here.

How to use CheckListBox on an MDI child form in Visual Studio 2005

Zeal SoftStudio — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 07:45:18 GMT

A user reported CheckListBox didn't work with an MDIChild form. Whenever the form was made a child form, the listbox would load, but all entries would appear invisible. The vertical scrollbar showed that the listbox did contain items, but the user just couldn�t see them. If removed the code that made the form a child form, everything would show up properly.

If you want use CheckListBox ActiveX on a MDI child, you must place a panel on the child form, and then place ActiveX control on the panel. Not only our control, but several ActiveX controls have such problem.

Visual Studio 2005 MDI Sample is attached.

MemAccess Library 1.4 was released

Zeal SoftStudio — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:23:12 GMT

Zeal SoftStudio announced an update version of MemAccess Library, Version 1.4.

In this version, we added Windows x64 driver. All features are supported in x64 driver. Windows Installer Merge Module (registered version only) still supports only x86 (32-bit) edition, and the next version will provide x64 version of merge module. Only 32-bit version of MemAcc.dll is included, and we will ship x64 version of MemAcc.dll in future. New function, maIsWin64 was added to detect whether the program is running on 64-bit Windows.

We also added a new function, maGetPCIDeviceInfo. It provides details about a PCI device, such as Bus, Device, Function number and Interrupt number.

The help document was changed from Windows Help (.hlp) format to HTML help (.chm) format, because Windows Vista no longer supports .hlp file.

In this version, Visual Studio 2005 and Borland Developer Studio 2006 are also supported. We tested all samples under both IDEs.