Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Generatedname

Read Keyboard input from inactive form

Generatedname — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:35:34 +0800

I'm trying to make a program that will allow me to turn certain keys into macro keys. In other words, while its not the active form, it will be reading keyboard input and if the 3 key is pressed, it will do another button sequence.

Basically, if anyone uses ventrilo, there is a bush-to-talk feature, and it has to read input for that push-to-talk key while not being the active window.

Thats what I need to do too.

I'm writing it in c#, but any .net code will help. Thanks.

C# Query Builder using Variables

Generatedname — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 05:01:13 +0800

I'm currently making a small application to run a database that has 2 tables.

One table has primary key "ID"

The other table has the Foreign key "ID" and another field.

I'm trying to use a bindingNavigator to navigate through the ID's, and a dataGridView to show the other field with the foreign key.

I figure the best way to do this is make a Query and call the query whenever the value of the bindingNavigator changes.

Problem is I cannot get the query builder to use Variables (bindingNavigatorPositionItem.Text). Gives me the error "No Value given for one or more required parameters".

The query I am using: SELECT BoxContentLine FROM BoxContents WHERE (ID = bindingNavigatorPositionItem.[Text])

I'm using an OLE DB connection.

Not sure what other details I can give. Hopefully someone out there and used variables in the query builder and can tell me where I'm going wrong.

Thanks!

-generatedname

Java + POI API

Generatedname — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:57:18 +0800

Alright, I wanted to right a Web Start application that would read in 2 excel files and combine them using similar titles.

One field contains a hexadecimal hash code, that can sometimes be all numbers.
(E3FAB321 or 31493817) When it is all numbers, excel sets that cell's type to be number, while the alpha-numerics are of type String. (this is fine except:)

When the program loads the cell value for the number (usually an 8-digit number), it puts it into exponential form, which then gets put into a string array as "3.4718956E7" or similar, instead of the original 8-digit number being put into the string array.

CODE

switch(tmpCell.getCellType())
{
case HSSFCell.CELL_TYPE_STRING:
input2Data[i][j] = tmpCell.getStringCellValue();
break;
case HSSFCell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC:
double d = tmpCell.getNumericCellValue();
if(HSSFDateUtil.isCellDateFormatted(tmpCell))
{
Calendar cal = new GregorianCalendar();
cal.setTime(HSSFDateUtil.getJavaDate(d));
String cellText = (String.valueOf(cal.get(Calendar.YEAR))).substring(2);
cellText = cal.get(Calendar.MONTH)+1 + "/"
+cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH) + "/" + cellText;
input2Data[i][j] = cellText;

}
else
{
input2Data[i][j] = String.valueOf(d);
}
break;
default:
break;
}

Thats the code that is in a nested for loop, going through each cell of the excel spreadsheet grabbing the values and dumping them into input2Data[][] which is just a string array that is basically going to clone the spreadsheet.

I've tried using a setCellType() command on the cell before reading it, but it does not work and I still get an error saying getStringCellValue() on a NUMERIC cell.

Any suggestions are appreciated!!

Thanks.

Java: Reading and combining excel files

Generatedname — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:21:28 +0800

Here is a description of the project I am trying to create:

First note....its an applet.
I need to allow the user to give the applet 2 files (XLS or CSV), and take those 2 files, find similar column headings...and combine the 2 files together

So for example:

1 spreadsheet could have something like:

Name : Age : Address : Occupation

and the other have

Name : Address : Degree : Lowyat Login

the resulting spreadsheet would look like

Name : Age : Address : Occupation : Degree : Lowyat Login

and would have all the records from both spreadsheets, filled in with the information possible.

Does anyone know of a library that allows such a broad input of a spreadsheet?

jXLS only seems to support reading XLS files that I know the exact mapping of, but I need it to be able to read any spreadsheet that the user throws at it.

Can jXLS do this? (jxls.sourceforge.net does not have enough documentation to suggest this sort of task, so I'm wondering if anyone has used it before for this purpose and how you did it)

Otherwise, are there any other libraries out there that do support this?

Or, is there a way to read an XLS file from an input stream and put the cell values into a 2 dimensional string array?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[addedon]May 10, 2007, 6:21 am[/addedon]on a side note...

This does not have to be java.

All I need is for the application to run on a website (no d/l and install). If anyone has better ideas on languages to use, you are welcome to suggest it.....I just immediately thought of java.

[addedon]May 10, 2007, 7:13 am[/addedon]alright didn't get any replies but that is ok.

Through my research I found that jXLS uses a library that does the excel stuff for it.

Turns out this library allows for simply reading an XLS file cell by cell PERFECT!!!

http://jakarta.apache.org/poi/index.html

there is the link in case anyone else comes across this problem, and I feel confident that it will work out for me.

MySQL Processing Problems

Generatedname — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 23:27:29 +0800

I made a website for my work using php and mysql. As the database grows, it takes longer to load. And now, with over 1000 records (1 field is PDF file), the website just locks up (seems like the server is having a hard time processing the query).

When I run the site on a local server, the server has no trouble processing the query, but the client CPU usage goes through the roof loading the website with the table (99% used by firefox).

Now for the questions:

Is there a better database I should be using instead of MySQL?

If so, how complicated of a switch would it be?

Is the client processing always going to take forever, no matter what database I use? And is that because loading the html itself is what takes forever?

And lastly, if the client is always going to get overworked, would my best bet be to switch to a new server that can handle my massive needs?

Thanks in advance.

c# webbrowser drop down menus

Generatedname — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:58:19 +0800

OK, tyring to make a program to work with my website to make data entry alot less of a headache.

Using c#, I have a webbrowser object that will navigate to the website, and can be used like a normal browser, I have controls on the side of the c# application that will be for all the fields needed to be entered (matches the "new record" page on the website).

So far, when the page loads for the "new record", the combo box on my application populates with all the values from the drop down menu on the web site.

My question is, once the user selects an option using the c# application, how can I change the website's drop down menu match what the user selected?

I've tried a couple other lines of code, this is what I'm working with right now (not functioning)

webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("select")["Manufacturer"].SetAttribute("value",cboManufacturer.SelectedText);

I'm wondering if there is another attribute I can use, or if I need to target the index values....anyone done this sort of thing before?

Thanks a ton.

[addedon]March 13, 2007, 3:03 am[/addedon]I have also tried

webBrowser1.Document.GetElementsByTagName("select")["Manufacturer"].SetAttribute("selected",cboManufacturer.SelectedText);

I'm thinking the problem is that the select tags themselves cannot have such attributes, as the selected is normally associated with the option tag.

I can't think of a way to set selected to the specific option tag, since it doesn't appear to recieve a value, but its just there:

CODE

c# picturebox image clipping

Generatedname — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:58:01 +0800

I have an image that is all the cards in a deck of cards, layed out like a tile-based image. (each card is 25x40 pixels, 1 image for all the cards).

This is the code I have:
//Card1 and Card2 are the pictureboxes

Graphics g = Card1.CreateGraphics();
Image tmpImage = Image.FromFile("deck.png");
g.Clear(Color.Black);
g.DrawImage(tmpImage, new Rectangle(0, 0, 25, 40), new Rectangle(tmp[0], tmp[1],
25, 40), GraphicsUnit.Pixel);

g = Card2.CreateGraphics();
g.Clear(Color.Black);
g.DrawImage(tmpImage, new Rectangle(0, 0, 25, 40), new Rectangle(tmp[2], tmp[3],
25, 40), GraphicsUnit.Pixel);

Now, is there something else that I need to add? I'm not too sure how the CreateGraphics() works for associating the PictureBox to the Graphics object, I just took that idea from another example that used a textBox.

This code compiles and runs no warning/errors. When executing, it does not change the picturebox images. However, I can see a flicker when the application is running slower than normal,and the picturebox went back to its original image. And one time when running the application, the picturebox ended up having a blurry Image that is a mix between it's original art and the clip from the deck image (looked like a corrupt image loaded).

More info: The pictureboxes are set to load an image file that is 25x40 (a blank card) at startup.