Windward Wrocks

Named Pipes in .NET

Like apparently 1 million other developers (according to Google) I needed to set up a named pipe in .Net. The problem is that what I found was either overkill or buggy. So I started with the code at Paranoid Ferret, fixed the bugs I found (you need to open the streams before returning from the connect method), and added a Dispose() to both sides.

This code (NamedPipes.zip) is designed to be a very simple system where a server and multiple clients can send text messages to each other asynchronously. And note that the messages come in on the pipe's threads so you need to Invoke to the UI thread if you are going to touch any of the UI.

This code could use improvement.

1. I tried running it in message mode but the call on the client side to put it in message mode failed. If anyone can tell me why or can fix it, please let me know.
2. The blocking reads on both sides should use events so that the thread can be killed by triggering the event. And the OVERLAPPED struct should be created with an event on the server side for this same purpose. I did not do this because I don't know the SDK events real well and I saw conflicting recommendations about how to use them here. Again, if you know the correct way to do this, please let me know.

This code has been thoroughly tested here and is 100% solid, at least in how we are using it.

Debugging .NET 2.0 DLLs in Visual Studio 2010

This can be a nasty little surprise. If you are running a program (Microsoft Office in our case) where that program is not a .NET 2.0/3.0/3.5 app, and it calls your DLL which is a .NET 2.0/3.0/3.5 app, then the Visual Studio debugger thinks your DLL is .NET 4.0 and it will display the following error.

There are several ways to address this. The easiest one is to add an app.exe.config file with the following information. This explicitly sets the .NET version and the Visual Studio debugger will then use the .NET 2.0 CLR (which is the CLR for .NET 3.0 and 3.5 too).

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>
</startup>
</configuration>

You normally do not need to do this for normal usage, just for debugging.

Microsoft office config files: Download Excel.exe, Download Powerpnt.exe, Download Winword.exe

Keywords: Unable to break execution. This process is not currently executing the type of code that you selected to debug.

Stupid Design Tricks

What is the above picture? It's the garage door openers in our house (they were that way when we moved in). Think about it, someone didn't think things through enough to place them left to right. And to rectify it, they put the compass direction which standing inside you are not generally aware of. At least they added the arrows. This to me is the epitome of poor design.

(We now have them side by side).

What should I do with a free copy of Office 2010?

We received a free copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for our feedback in the technical beta. We don't need it, we get more copies than we need from our ISV Partnership with Microsoft. So we're now trying to figure out what to do with it. We could have a contest of some kind. We could hold a raffle on the last day of JavaOne at our booth. We could hold a drawing of all customers.

But none of these ideas have struck a chord for us. So, any suggestions about what we should do? If so, please post it in a comment.

Thank you.

Bug Resolution Time

We just ran our average bug resolution time numbers for the last two months. The Sev 1 bug time I would like to bring down to under 2 days. But the rest of these numbers I am very happy with.

Severity	Days
1	5.49
2	7.46
3	11.38
4	11.83
5	21.19

 

And what do the sev levels mean at Windward?

1. Showstopper – drop everything and fix
2. Fix within the next 2 weeks (and before a beta goes out)
3. Fix within the next 6 weeks (and before a minor release goes out)
4. Fix within the next 6 months
5. Fix if you have nothing else to do