Chris Szurgot's Blog

I've noticed a few things since the release of .NET v1.1, some good some bad.

1) MS has put V1.1 Framework on the Windows Update site, and removed V1.0. That means anybody who uses Windows Update is going to get the new version, so it's probably in our best interest to look at brining applications forward.

2) The msi files built with VS.NET 2003 have a check for .NET V1.1. Which is a good thing. However, the page that it goes to (which is already redirected to another page) has links for both the Framework and the SDK for both V1.1 and V1.0. The page is confusing, and having all those files to available to download is asking for trouble. I think it would be better to have that page be a simple page with one download link (the V1.1 Framework) and a link to another page with more information. That would alleviate confusion, and allow people to easily get the proper version.

Most days I love using .NET and the .NET Framework. Today is not one of those days.

First, I've spent a good portion of the last two evenings trying to decipher Drag & Drop so that I could drag a url from my app onto the desktop. Nothing I've tried worked, even though I mimiced what IE did. Then I found DataFormats.FileDrop, which should do exactly what I want, but it's not supported by Windows Forms. Argh!!!

Then, in trying to polish an app I've been working on, I'm trying to detect when a close event is cause by logout/shutdown, and I can't. I've got an app that has the close even wired up to confirm quit. Normally, it works great, but when you try to shutdown, it hangs the shutdown until the apps is closed or killed. Nothing I've tried seemed to work. Application.ApplicationExit doesn't fire till after the form is closed, Environment.HasShutdownStarted (V1.1) does not ever seem to return true, and SystemEvents.SessionEnding never seems to fire. (I can't quite figure out what SessionEnding/Ended is for unless it's broken)

So here I am with two problems in as many days that I just can't solve. (If any body has any ideas, they'd be appreciated)

Then, just to add insult to injury, dotnetweblogs.com errored out on my first attempt to post this, leading me to beleive .NET is out to get me. <grin>

From the Developmentor Mailing List DOTNET-CLR:

Here we go:

SDK:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d

Redist:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3

Now if they'd only put VS.NET 2003 up on MSDN.

[Sean 'Early' Campbell & Scott 'Adopter' Swigart's Radio Weblog]

Last thing.  This is going to create all kinds of really weird and hard to troubleshoot situations.  Let's say that a company decides that they're only going to deploy v1.1 of the framework.  Most of their apps are v1.1, and the few 1.0 apps they have were tested on 1.1, and everything works fine.  They also change their runtime security policy so that the local intranet has more permissions, because they make extensive use of no-touch deployment.  Life is good.  The v1.0 and v1.1 apps run against the v1.1 Framework, and use the v1.1 security policy.

http://radio.weblogs.com/0117167/2003/04/02.html#a219

Couple of thoughts on this. First, if a companies going to only distribute v1.1, then it's in their best interest to migrate all the apps forward to v1.1 so they only suppport v1.1. Second, if they are going to make version specific security changes, then the code should be version specific. Third, if they do keep the code in V1.0, and make V1.1 specific changes, this issue should be caught in testing. If it's not, they are just asking for trouble anyway.

[From DanaC]

Having to recently do a complete set of technical specifications for a client in addition to coding, I was wondering just how many developers are being called upon to also handle information architect tasks, dba tasks, project management tasks and support and training.  Working as a private contractor/consultant, I probably run into this more than in the corporate sector. 

http://dotnetweblogs.com/DanaC/posts/4828.aspx

In the 13 years I've been doing this, I've experienced this to a large degree in every job. In my last job, I didn't have to do dba, or most web work, but I wore most of the other hats. Of course, I've never worked for a large dev shop, either.