I'm looking for two functions that can take a snippet of VB.NET or C# code, and convert it to nicely formatted code in HTML with syntax highlighting. string VBtoHTML(string code); string CStoHTML(string code); The purpose is to use it in discussion forums, support messages, and knowledge base browser on our website. Is anything like this available?

Mike Sax Serial Communications for C# and VB.NET

In the Adobe Acrobat reader 6.0, choose Help | About and click on the "Patents and Legal Notices" button. About one screen down, you'll see:

Portions copyright © Chris Maunder, 1998.

Is this "our" Chris Maunder? What code does this refer to? Curiously yours, -- Mike

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

I was about 11 when I got really hooked on pogramming (in HP-Basic on an HP-85 my dad brought home from work) and I think what I really liked was that you had complete control - the computer did exactly what you told it to do - and if something didn't work as expected you only had yourself to blame. (yes, that was before operating system and compiler/interpreter bugs)

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

This is an interesting problem... You could draw your keyboard on the screen and have the user use the mouse to enter the password (or you could draw a numeric keypad, to keep things simple). You could even randomize the keys so logging all mouse movements wouldn't get you anywhere. Even if they take periodic screenshots, they'd only see a keypad. You could still have someone secretly install GotoMyPC, but I don't know what you could do against that, except maybe sound!

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

Yeah, there are some very smart people out there (and, actually, right here on CP) who wouldn't mind spending some reasonable effort for a nice stream of additional income. One potential problem is the scope/size of the components - with books there is a general acceptance that it should be something between 200 and 1000 pages and the price will be somewhere between $20 and $100. With components everything seems much more random.

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

Thanks for the feedback - ComponentSource will sell your component but you still have to provide the support, do the marketing, and generally be much more involved with the product than you would when writing a book. Many potential component authors are people or companies who have created something of great value, but who have regular activity that prevents them from turning this into their complete focus. I think companies like ComponentSource certainly have much value, but what I was thinking was something in between what ComponentSource does and having a do-everyting-yourself component company.

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

> C > / > C++ > / \ > Java C# How 'bout: C / C++ / Java / C#

I don't think there's a better group than the Code Project crowd to give feedback on an idea that has been "bugging" me for quite a while: What if there would be a component publisher who works in a way that is very similar to a book publisher: Publish components, and pay royalties to the author. The author would bring some unique knowledge, a finished work, and perhaps his reputation. The publisher would bring infrastructure to "productize" the component (similar to proving toc, index, formatting, channels, promotion, etc.), and guarantee the continued support for the component to customers. Any feedback on this idea, both from a potential author and as a potential buyer of these types of components, would be greatly appreciated. The potential size of projects like this is also very interesting: some projects are small enough that you'd post them on a site like Code Project. Other projects may turn out to be so significant that you'd want to get compensated for them in some way. People have written software for royalties for a long time, but the idea of treating it essentially like a book, with the author still keeping her "identity" and sharing a specific set of expert knowledge seems very intriguing. Thanks!

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

My understanding is that it's not tri-band, so if you're in Australia you'll probably want to get the European version. Personally, I'd hold off. I currently have a Blackberry and it's great: Compared to the PocketPC phones, it has endless battery life (lasts several days for me), and it gives you your email instantly You also have good email filters, so you only get email delivered from people you want to. I have about 60 people in my filters, which is enough for me to feel comfortable I'm not going to miss anything important while I'm travelling, and at the same time keep all the spam out. Being able to browse the web in color is really "cool" (especially with the Thunderhawk browser!) but for that you should just be on a laptop or desktop PC. If you just want the info, the Blackberry's B&W screen is all you need: You have access to CNN headlines and other sites, and when I travelling I can check our Intranet to see how things are going. For now, the Blackberry has all the useful functionality, the PocketPC Phone has all the bells and whistles. PS: I tried a Handspring Treo for a few days and returned it - the lack of integration between the pen and keyboard is just a big mess.

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

Thanks for the pointer - unfortunately, the API description says that the virus checker is responsable for showing UI to the user in case of an infected file, so it cannot be used on a server. It's amazing to me that none of the major anti-virus vendors seem to have an API! :confused:

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

Here's the scenario: Customers upload files via a support site. The support engineer needs to download the file, scan it for viruses and if it's infected, notify the customer. To avoid this hassle, we'd like to make virus checking a part of the upload process so we can immediately notify the customer and save time for ourselves. Is there any anti-virus company out there that has a simple "Scan this file and tell me if it's infected" function you can call? We can think of a few work arounds (like emailing the file to a mail server which has virus checking software on it), but we'd really like to make it part of the process. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... thanks!

Mike Sax http://www.Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

Visual Studio.NET - for MSDN Universal, Enterprise, and Professional subscribers only .NET Framework SDK - for everyone .NET Framework redist - for everyone

Mike Sax
http://Sax.NET Rock Solid Components™

Has anyone seen a good book/article on the new ATL features in VS7?

Mike Sax
http://Sax.NET Rock Solid Components™

"Gartner recommends that enterprises hit by both Code Red and Nimda immediately investigate alternatives to IIS"

Why should it matter whether enterprises have been hit by both worms? The only possible answer is that this advice is meant for companies that don't apply patches at all. Perhaps the wiser (and more cost effective) advice would be "Gartner recommends that enterprises hit by both Code Red and Nimda get their act together and start applying patches on a regular basis."

Mike Sax
http://Sax.NET
Rock Solid Components™

Well, I resisted the temptation to provide a link to download the product or even mention its name. And I offered some technical advice and a pointer to a free sample. And I do very honestly and strongly believe that writing TAPI code is something you should try to avoid because it's one of the less well designed APIs in Windows [understatement of the year]. So to answer your question... yes! :-D

Mike Sax http://Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

The handle that was opened by TAPI uses Overlapped I/O. You may want to check out the TAPICOM sample on the MSDN site, or save yourself a bunch of trouble and get a third-party component library.

Mike Sax http://Sax.net Rock Solid Components™

There have been many comments about support on this forum... Rather than focusing on specific cases, I would like to open up the discussion and talk about the ideal support policy. Of course, we would all like unlimited 24/7 free telephone support for life directly from someone who has unlimited access to and complete control over the development team. Unfortunately, companies have made this promise (in most cases with good intentions) end up getting in trouble by either not being able to live up to their promises, or going down because their business model doesn't make sense. I wanted to share the perspective of a programming tools vendor. Sax Software has been in the component business four about seven years, and over the years we've had different support models. We started out with a flat, unlimited free phone support model for everyone. Support was so easy to reach that people would call us for very simple questions they would probably have solved using the documentation in less than a minute. It also put a beginning VB developer who needed a walk-through at the same priority level as a seasoned corporate developer who's $80K project depended on our control. In short, it wasn't a good policy, neither for the company and nor for its customers. Over the years we've defined a few principles we use to determine our support policy:

1. Quality Is More Efficient Than Support: Every dollar invested in testing and quality assurance will save a vendor between three and five dollars in technical support.
2. Enable and Promote Self Help: Most developers are very self-reliant people who prefer to go on the web and solve their own problem, rather than relying on someone else.
3. Be Open About Bugs: A hidden bug can waste hours or even days of a customer's time. The benefits about publishing all known bugs and fixes far outweigh any negatives.
4. Make Financial Sense: Support doesn't need to be a profit center, but also can't be a money pit. It's important to do the math and make sure the support department can be self-sufficient.
5. Set Correct Expectations: It's important that customers know what to expect. It's tempting to over-promise, but it's better to under-promise and over-deliver.
6. Provide Multiple Support Levels: Different customers have different needs, and many customers actually prefer to have a premium paid support option so they can be sure to receive the attention they need.