Watching the final episode of the X-Files, I realized why I don’t like that show. Mulder spends all his time searching for the truth, but even when he finds the date of the planned alien invasion, he doesn’t do anything with it! They’ve spent the last nine years discovering the truth and not doing anything to change it (or, if they do try, they fail miserably). Of course, that’s not the only problem with the show (e.g. why would an alien race powerful enough to do generic engineering to produce the “miracle child” or to create “super soldiers” or to create the virus in the first place, needs to bother with setting up a shadow government), but it’s the one that bothers me the most.

Just knowing the truth is not enough. You need to act on it.

I don’t really know what that’s got to do with the price of tea in China, but hey, you get what you pay for. : )

by Michael Weinhardt

This article describes how to implement a VB.NET version of Chris Sells’s Project Item Template sample for C#. As with Chris’s sample, we leverage the VB.NET wizard infrastructure using various template files and script. There is a fair degree of crossover between the two approaches. Accordingly, I quote/paraphrase Chris where required.

The Sample

The VB.NET Project Item Template Wizard sample used in this article is called MyWebForm. It adds a custom WebForm and Webform codebehind class, over-riding the default wizard behavior of dynamically creating a codebehind class for you. Chris’ sample was the inspiration for the VB.NET version, and it implements the same codebehind over-ride logic by leveraging the Microsoft VB.NET wizard infrastructure.

NOTE: If you’re going to use this sample in VS.NET 2003, you need to append a “.7.1” onto the Wizard = VsWizard.VsWizardEngine line in the .VSZ file located in the VBProjectItems directory, other you’ll get a Wizard can’t run error in VS03 (and thanks to Randy Brown for pointing this out).

The following diagram is what we’ll hopefully end up with:

How You Do It

1. Go to the VB7\VBProjectItems directory beneath your Microsoft Visual Studio.NET install folder. This is where you’ll add all your wizard files.
    
2. Create a .vsz file to configure your project item wizard. There are a bunch of others you can copy from, or you can create your own. The sample creates MyWebForm.vsz, and contains the following text:
   
   

   VSWIZARD 7.0
   Wizard=VsWizard.VsWizardEngine
   Param="WIZARD_NAME = MyWebForm"
   Param="WIZARD_UI = FALSE"
   Param="PROJECT_TYPE = VBPROJ"

   As with the C# sample, we’re leveraging VS.NET’s built-in COM-based VsWizardEngine to do all the work for us. Also, the wizard basically uses the WIZARD_NAME parameter to map to the \VB7\VBWizards\ directory that contains the template and script files used to create your project item.
   
   See VS.NET’s MSDN for more information about .vsz files. And take a look here for a list of parameters you can use in the .vsz file.
    
3. You need to add a .vsdir file to whichever of the subfolders beneath the \VB7\VBProjectItems folder you’d like to be able to use your wizard from. Once you do this, your project item wizard will automagically appear in the “Add New Item” dialog. The MyWebForm sample adds a MyWebForm.vsdir to both the \WebProjectItems and \WebProjectItems\UI folders.
   
   \WebProjectItems\MyWebForm.vsdir contains one line:
   
   

   ..\MyWebForm.vsz| |My Web Form|1|My Very Own Web Form|{164B10B9-B200-11D0-8C61-00A0C91E29D5}
     |4533|0|MyWebForm.aspx

   \WebProjectItems\WebProjectItems\UI\MyWebForm.vsdir contains the same line, apart from an update to the relative file path to MyWebForm.vsz:
   
   

   ..\..\MyWebForm.vsz | ...

   Check out Chris’s article or VS.NET’s MSDN for a discussion of the different fields declared in .vsdir files.
   
   The DLLPath and IconResourceID parameters differ from the C# sample since it appears the underlying implementation differs.
    
4. At this point, VS.NET can display your Wizard in the “Add New Item” dialog (.vsdir files), and you’ve told VS.NET what wizard to call, passing it the information it needs through a group of parameters (.vsz file). What you’ve got left to do is to create the templates that the wizard will use, and implement a small script that does the work of converting those templates into the MyWebForm.aspx and MyWebForm.aspx.vb (codebehind) files that are finally added to your project. As with C#, the wizard engine converts symbols like [! Output SAFE_CLASS_NAME] into strings like NoClass. The sample demonstrates the use of symbols in both the MyWebForm.aspx and MyWebForm.aspx.vb files.
   
   Navigate to the \VB7\VBWizards folder, which contains the VB.NET wizards. Each wizard is stored in a group of subfolders that make a home for your templates and script. The sample creates the MyWebForm folder:
   
   

   

   MyWebForm uses two template files: MyWebForm.aspx and MyWebForm.aspx.vb, which reside in \Templates\1033. The script file, default.js, hangs out in\ Scripts\1033.
   
   Note: You don’t need a MyWebForm.aspx.vb codebehind template. I started this exercise by copying the VB.NET default WebForm wizard template and script, changing the relevant names to MyWebForm. The \Template\1033 directory only contained the MyWebForm.aspx file. When the wizard runs, it automatically generates the codebehind class from a default codebehind template file, NewWebFormCode.vb, stored in the \VB7\DesignerTemplates folder.
    
5. We, however, do want to use a custom codebehind. The key to making this work lies in extending the default WebForm script to delete the auto-generated codebehind class and replace it with our own, using the same fundamental logic as the C# sample. When it comes down to it, it’s pretty simple: MyWebForm leverages functionality contained in \VB7\VBWizards\1033\common.js to make it happen. Take a look at the sample’s default.js file to see how.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Chris Sells for the C# solution, and the chance.

sttto “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” by Willie Nelson

Chorus:
Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be computer boys
Don’t let them keyboard and drink at Starbucks
Make ‘em be doctors and lawyers and such
Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be computer boys
They’ll always stay home and they’re always alone
Hackin’ is all that they’ll love

Computer boys ain’t easy to love and they’re harder to hold
And they’d rather give you some code than diamonds or gold
Star Trek communicators and pocket protectors
And each night begins a new day
And if you don’t understand him and he don’t ignore you
He’ll be addicted to porn

Chorus

A computer boy loves shiny new gadgets and four-donut mornings
High-speed connections and trackballs and NeverWinter Nights
Them that don’t know him won’t like him and them that do
Sometimes won’t know how to take him
He’s not wrong he’s just different and his brain won’t let him
Do things to make you think he’s right

Chorus

Chris Sells [csells@sellsbrothers.com]
win_tech_off_topic@yahoogroups.com
Wed 5/22/2002 10:55 AM

From Josep L Colom: Windows Forms or Web Forms? I'm convicted that Windows Form approach is more suitable for ERP solutions. And I'm convicted also that they should be open (through Web Forms) for ocasional external access. But ... what can I convict my 'not well documented' boss?

GotDotNet has a message board just for WinForms programmers.

“Have you ever wished you could explore the behavior of a component or some code without having to write any code? To watch events occur on any object and examine the history of events? To quickly try something and see how it affects the component? To look at the visual behavior of a component as you adjust not only its properties, but execute its methods? If so the nogoop .NET Component Inspector is the tool you have been seeking.”

“I’d like to welcome you to the inaugural article of my new MSDN Online column. From the title of this column, you can probably tell two things right off. It’s about Windows Forms, and it’s a technology I like quite a bit. Of course, as with any technology, Windows Forms has its good points and its ‘opportunities for improvement.’ In this column, I’ll explore the various ins and outs of Microsoft .NET as it relates to building stand-alone applications, as well as the client side of client-server and n-tier applications.”

I've just been awarded a grant from Microsoft Research in Cambridge for “Studying the Performance and Memory Usage Effects of Adding Reference Counting to Rotor.” Now we'll see whether they were right to leave ref-counting out of the CLR or not. Wahoo!