Nvm - got a solution on the ever-helpful http://forums.asp.net - changing the exposed control type to PlaceHolder instead of Control fixed it. Good enough solution.

Eek. I can't believe I missed that :( Thanks for pointing it out to me!

hey, thanks a lot! some good info in there. I like the fact that you are proposing several solutions. Gives me something to choose from. I dont want to use the Web.config solution because I want my controls to be proper drag-and-drop, and having to modify the web.config kinda breaks that. Besides, if the default asp.net controls work in all browsers, why can't mine? Thanks again!:cool:

When I needed id3v2 support, pretty much the first hit google gave me got it. ogg is another matter. Christian I have several lifelong friends that are New Yorkers but I have always gravitated toward the weirdo's. - Richard Stringer

Can you post the page code?

I don't know of a comprehensive replacement suite for the Microsoft ASP.NET controls, but it is fully possible to instantiate, manipulate and place the standard controls without ever using an .aspx page or .ascx control file. I'm not sure that I understand your issue. You have full control over the implmentation of a web application. It is possible to inherit and extend Server Controls (System.Web.UI.Control), Web User Controls (System.Web.UI.UserControl), Pages (System.Web.UI.Page), and most of the other classes in the System.Web namespace. There is no requirement to ever use the HTML code-in-front. It is simply there as a convenience. There is nothing that availible from the code-in-front that you cannot manipulate in the code-behind. There is no true need for any files other then the raw source code, which would meet your goal of your entire application/page/control being fully compiled into a DLL. In fact, by implementing a simple HTTP Handler to field requests, you could code an entire web application from nothing but raw source files. At its core, that is exactly how the ASP.NET engine drives a site. All .ascx and .aspx files are parsed into classes, compiled, and jitted into a working directory and used as object instances by the .NET framework for processing/rendering. To sum up, the .NET framework and standard .NET controls already support the functionality that you're looking for. To reach the widest possible audience, the framework allows the use of HTML and javascript for developer convenience, nothing more. There are no technical limitations that prevent you from coding in a class-only, object oriented way with the standard ASP.NET components. Hope that helps a bit. :) --Jesse

I personally do not use the built in email. It is too dependant on being configured properly on the deployment server and I do not see a method to use password authenticated SMTP. So, with all my sites I always use OpenSMTP: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opensmtp-net/[^] They have quite a few examples. Easy to use, just include the library. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com www.MyQuickPoll.com - 2004 Election poll is #33 www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com

This question really belongs in the ASP.NET[^] forum or Operating Systems / SysAdmin[^] forum. - Nick Parker My Blog | My Articles

Okay, I think a more straight-forward solution to what you want to do, provided both applications are on the same machine, is to use shared memory via Memory Mapped Files. C# is a bit of a pain in that it only gives the PInvoke mechanism for doing Win32 stuff, but using a page of swap file in a memory mapped file for shared memory isn't that difficult. There are a couple articles showing how to get at memory mapped files from C# on Code Project. Also you can use the tool at http://pinvoke.net to pull the prototypes adjusted for C# right into the editor for you. The main advantage of using a named memory mapped file with app instances is that you don't need to worry about handles. Using a GUID string in the memory mapped filename makes sure it's unique. So in your application you try to create the Memory Mapped File with CreateFileMapping(). If you get a handle but Marshal.GetLastWin32Error() returns ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS then you're in the secondary instance. Otherwise if the creation succeeded you're in the primary. The secondary instance copies info it wants to send to the primary in the shared memory. The primary instance reads it out. To avoid mangling the data you can use a mutex to control access. Before it quits, the secondary instance gets the mutex, copies the info to the shared memory, releases the mutex, then exits(if that's what you want it to do.) The primary gets the mutex, checks for new data in the shared memory, if it finds it then it copies the data out, then releases the mutex. It sounds a bit more complicated than it is. I would look for examples of Memory Mapped Files. Using one page of system swap file is the simplest case with fewest system quirks to worry about. As I suggested, the TellTail component on www.torry.net does what you're trying to do. Delphi is pretty Enlish-like so even if you don't program in it often you can read the source and get the gist. Besides, Win32 calls are going to be pretty much the same no matter what language you call them with.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't being clear enough. Yeah, that article was doing what I wanted. The solution just seemed overly complex, and it was in VB (I'm using C#). Plus I'm writing an open source application, so I have to be careful what code I compile into my app. At the time I didn't realise it would be so much work to have one instance of an application contact another - I figured it was just a case of getting the instance via its handle, which I now understand is not enough. Thanks for your help ... guess I'll be taking a closer look at that VB code after all.