Messages

751

Developer's Corner / Re: [Solved] C# Arraylist

« on: March 23, 2008, 06:48 PM »

You understand the difference between a variable representing a reference to the object, and thus requiring a separate step to actually create the object that it references? This is pretty key to understanding what's going on with C#.

752

Developer's Corner / Re: C# Arraylist

« on: March 23, 2008, 03:49 PM »

Are you sure that the problem is 'Use of unassigned local variable'? That message isn't an error, just a warning, so it wouldn't prevent compilation. However, I do see a different error.

What I do see is that you've only declared fileContentsArrayList at line 9. That is, you've created a variable by that name, that can hold a reference to an object of type ArrayList. But, despite your comment on line #8, you have not actually created an instance of such an object for your variable to point at.

What you want at line #9 is

Spoiler

Code: C# [Select]

1. ArrayList fileContentsArrayList = new ArrayList();

753

General Software Discussion / Re: EverNote beta 2.2.0.372 has some nice new features

« on: March 23, 2008, 11:57 AM »

there's nothing to stop me continuing with 2.2 as is

-Dormouse (March 23, 2008, 11:33 AM)

The version I have an installer for is 2.2.0.384. After installation it downloads an upgrade to 2.2.1.386. But once 3 is out, I doubt that they'll support that upgrade. Does anyone know how to get an actual installer for 2.2.1.386? I don't see any way to download the licensed version directly.

754

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« on: March 23, 2008, 10:05 AM »

First In First Out (FIFO) is *NOT* to be taken literally! FIFO is First In ALMOST First Out - the teqnique brings distortion, and distortion is not "perfect". ...

-Curt (March 22, 2008, 06:28 PM)

No disrespect intended, Curt -- we've had many constructive conversations in the past. But your argument here is nothing but FUD, typical of audiophiles.

From the perspective of pure physics, I think I can understand what you're getting at with your timing objections. However, it can't possibly be relevant to this question. If there's any difference in timing, it's due to differences in the speed with which the signals are propagated electrically through the cable. But for the length of cable that we're talking about, it's quite impossible for the impurities to add up sufficiently to make even a nanosecond of difference.

And even if there were a difference, digital systems generally include a clock; while I must admit that I don't know specifically, since what is being transmitted is digital values of discrete entities (e.g., each pixel in turn). Just as the binary digital signals quantize to yield a 1 or 0 from actual values that are just "1-ish" or "0-ish", so too can clocking quantize the actual arrival time of a signal: a little early or a little late, so long as it's there when the clock ticks, everything is OK.

But none of this matters. We've shown ample evidence that there is no difference. We've shown theoretical evidence of why there can be no difference (within specs). Most importantly, it's been pointed out that due to its digital nature, these claimed problems are readily testable.

Given all this, it's clear to me that the burden of proof lies with Monster and the audiophiles. If there's any problem with off-the-shelf cables, conduct a test and show the result.

755

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« on: March 22, 2008, 04:02 PM »

Yes and no - you need to add AccurateRip to the mix to be sure you get the correct data.

-f0dder (March 22, 2008, 02:31 PM)

The latest version of EAC has AccurateRip built in. Update your beta 

And what you said about copy-protected CDs is true. But it doesn't apply to this discussion because they're intentionally non-standard, broken discs. Not to mention the fact that I will not buy one.

756

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« on: March 22, 2008, 01:39 PM »

Your contra-arguments have been used ever since the CD was first launched, and still they improve the digital media. How can they keep improving something that is "perfect"? Because it is not perfect, I would say.

-Curt (March 22, 2008, 11:32 AM)

Curt, you're misapplying the data. The CD itself is a perfect representation of the data stored on it. There's no improvement with DVD, Blu-Ray, FLAC, or MP3 regardless of bitrate. So long as the media isn't damaged, it's objectively a perfect representation.

On the other hand, we must question what it is a perfect representation of. We've found that its input data contains imperfections that are more perceivable than expected, so we have invented ways of improving the data -- higher sampling rates, greater resolution, etc. Similarly, there may be room for improving the quality of the electronics that turn the CD-stored digital data into audio (the DAC, amplification, speakers, etc.).

Any indictment of the CD's signal quality must look to the quality of what its given and how its output is rendered. Yet the CD itself is unquestionably perfect (given undamaged media). Indeed, any of the subsequent improvements that I mentioned -- sample rate and resolution -- can be encoded onto CD media as data, and recovered with perfection.

It's the same thing with digital cabling. The input signal might be questionable, and after the signal has traversed the cable, the output systems can be questioned. But as f0dder and Edvard have said, the perfection of a cable carrying a digital signal within its specifications (distance, input voltage, etc) can be easily verified.

That's the beauty of digital. There's no fine gradations of quality. It does its job or it doesn't, and you can immediately tell which.

If this weren't true, then Monster would have to be supplying all sorts of fancy wires inside your computer as well, and those little copper traces on the PC boards wouldn't work. But no: as long as the wire carries something reasonably close to 3.3V or 5V or whatever technology you're using, it is interpreted as if it is exactly that voltage; any slight variations are inherently erased. If the incoming signal is 3.5V or 3.1V, it doesn't matter; the behavior of the system is absolutely identical to how it would have been at 3.3V. Were this not true, modern computers could not function.

Edit: f0dder's comment about laser positioning is correct, but not necessarily relevant. Using ExactAudioCopy I can ensure that I'm getting the precise recorded data. So it is possible to retrieve the exact input data from the CD. More generally, the CD can also carry data, and if this weren't repeatably, precisely, retrievable, then it would be useless as a mechanism for storing software and other files. Yet it does work well for that usage.

757

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph

« on: March 22, 2008, 08:30 AM »

I've considered using something like this off-and-on. I just did some scouting around. There's one that has a graph thingy like the OP mentioned: http://www.dirfile.com/smart_diary.htm. Their actual home page seems to be just a place holder, but their forum is requesting testers for an upcoming new version: http://forum.psunris...m/showthread.php?t=2

The biggest problem I see with starting a diary like this is that, by definition, it's an extremely long-term undertaking, likely to outlive any particular piece of software or even platform. So it's absolutely essential that the data be exportable so that when the next program or platform comes, the user can keep going. I have not seen any provision for this in any diary software out there.

758

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Basic .NET - Can I make a dynamic GUI?

« on: March 22, 2008, 08:03 AM »

You might want to pick up a copy of the Chris Sells' "Windows Forms Programming" book (http://www.amazon.co...pment/dp/0321125193/.

There's a VB version that's getting a little old, but if you don't mind seeing the samples in C# (as I said, the differences are only in syntax -- it's the same function calls), go for the newer editions.

759

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Basic .NET - Can I make a dynamic GUI?

« on: March 21, 2008, 09:12 PM »

If it's simply a matter of moving a control, all you need to do is to modify its location via the Top and Left properties, like so:

[Select]

        Button1.Left = x
        Button1.Top = y

Attached is a simple project with 1 window. Click the button to see a message box. But if you're holding down ALT while you do it, it moves the button to the next corner of the window, clockwise. It's a VS2008 project, so you may not be able to read it, but even if you can't, just open Form1.vb to see the form's code.

BTW, when I said "look at the code that the designers generate", I meant look in the FormXYZ.Designer.vb file. The designer generates code here that actually creates and places each of the controls you put on the form. This will show you how to actually create new controls dynamically.

760

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Basic .NET - Can I make a dynamic GUI?

« on: March 21, 2008, 06:16 PM »

Dynamically creating and moving controls in .Net is trivial -- look at the code that the designers generate for you, and you can see that this is exactly what it's doing.

What will be more complicated is keeping the user from being confused as you switch modes from making the button actually click as it's designed vs. making it grab-able and dragable.

And BTW, if you find examples of this for C#, it's pretty much exactly the same for VB. Other than the syntactic differences, the way you handle the WinForms framework isn't dependent on the calling language.

761

General Software Discussion / Re: EverNote beta 2.2.0.372 has some nice new features

« on: March 21, 2008, 04:41 PM »

De-hijacking....

So, how about that EverNote program?

762

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Evernote Beta & Evernote free at Giveawayoftheday today

« on: March 21, 2008, 10:31 AM »

If you choose not to synch online then you have the same functionality of ver 2 (except portable sync, I haven't tried that but I notice in a post above that it is gone)

-edbro (March 21, 2008, 09:44 AM)

My main usage model is synchronization via flash drive between home and work. If I don't want to or can't use the online option, then I simply can't use my normal workflow anymore. End of story.

Let me also point out that they will afoul of people who genuinely don't care, but are constrained by SarbOx, HIPAA, or other regulations such that they can't entrust the data to anyone.

I think they're making a major marketing blunder. The people interested in their software will hate the online model. Their application is outside the normal sphere of computer usage (word, excel, email, web browsing, maybe some photo viewing and the like), and likely to be used by power users. This is especially true of those that might be interesting in any kind of synchronization capability. My mom couldn't even describe what that means; only sophisticated users will look at it. But I believe (without any real evidence) that such users are most likely to object to the online model that they seem to be moving towards. Certainly here on DC, made up of people who are much more interested in note-taking software and synchronization, the opinions voiced have been overwhelmingly against the online model.

763

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Evernote Beta & Evernote free at Giveawayoftheday today

« on: March 21, 2008, 07:46 AM »

I was going to post about this, glad someone else started the conversation.

I've been using EverNote 2 for most of a year, having replaced Surfulater with it. The usability and polish of the current version is quite impressive, and I've grown quite accustomed to using it for transporting my notes between home and work via a flash drive.

While I've only given this beta a cursory glance, I must say that I'm underwhelmed.

The biggest problem is that the flash drive sync model seems to be gone. While it's possible to have a local-only database, the only way (that I can see) to sync data between two systems is via their online service. I hate this model.

• We're limited by their availability - if they're down, or the net between here and there is down, then no service
• We're limited by their security - not that I specifically mistrust them, not that I'm hiding anything important, but I have a strong philosophical aversion to this. I will not under any circumstances trust anything business critical to such a model.
• We're subject to gov't snooping - with our current environment of warrantless wiretaps and other intrusions, you must consider anything held by a service provider an open book to the government. I'm not hiding anything incriminating, but my personal life should be my personal life. And while it's no more of a risk than being struck by lightning, I do believe that misuse and fabrication of such data by law enforcement does occur.
• Bandwidth - I seem to be in a small minority these days, and it's particularly odd being in the most densely populated state of America, but I can't get a data service with more than 128Kbps upload capacity. This limits the extent that I can use the network for exchanging any serious data.

764

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft Office 2007 users, your opinions are wanted

« on: March 14, 2008, 12:26 PM »

all but one of my email accounts are IMAP and Outlook just doesn't do IMAP.

-J-Mac (March 14, 2008, 12:23 PM)

Are you saying that you've had some particular problems with IMAP in Outlook? Because it certainly does support IMAP, I use it at home that way.

765

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft Office 2007 users, your opinions are wanted

« on: March 14, 2008, 09:36 AM »

Unlike some others here, I really like the Ribbon. But there are other things to dislike. Just yesterday I was frustrated (and still am, I haven't found a solution yet) because I can't see the style definition of a piece of text. It used to be back in Word 2003 that the task bar would show you the effective style even for ad hoc formatting that hadn't been assigned a named style. I've been trying to figure out why one bulleted list has extra space between the items, and I don't see any way at all to determine in one place all of the formatting settings for the offending list.

I think your question focused on Word, but let me add my complaining about Outlook as well. Its stability is abysmal. I can't imagine why they removed the shared folder for small workgroups feature. Its threading model is horrible: not only does it freeze up when doing Send/Receive but it freezes the whole darned computer (and it's a dual core CPU, so I think that means that it's freezing the Windows message pump itself). And when I send email from another application, that blocks all access to Outlook.

766

Best Dialog Extender / Re: Revisiting (XfilesDialog, File-Ex, Direct Folders)

« on: March 13, 2008, 02:11 PM »

I've gone through a couple of these utilities, and finally landed on FlashFolder (http://www.zett42.de/flashfolder/). It's freeware (I believe open source). Here's the cited feature list:

FlashFolder enhances the file dialogs by providing the following functionality:

    * menu of recently used folders
    * editable menu of favorite folders
    * enlarges the common file dialogs to a configurable size (even non-resizable file dialogs of many programs)
    * automatically positions the dialogs at the center of the main program window or at the center of the screen
    * enlarges the directory- and file type drop-down fields so less scrolling is needed for them
    * persistent view mode for open/save dialog - e. g. if you select details view, it will be activated again the next time you open an open/save dialog
    * show the full path of the folder who’s content is currently displayed
    * quickly view “all files” (set *.* filter)
    * Total Commander® directory menu can be displayed instead of FlashFolders own favorites
    * editable Hotkeys for FlashFolder’s main functions

The following dialogs are currently supported (tested by myself or reported as working):

    * common open/save dialog (Windows 2000 / XP)
    * MS Office 2002/2003/2008 open/save dialog (Windows XP only)
    * Visual Studio 2003/2005 open/save dialog (Windows XP only)
    * common “browse for folder” dialog (Windows 2000 / XP)
    * “Open With” dialog (Windows 2000)

One thing it doesn't mention is the "folders of currently open files" feature, which is quite convenient and unique in my experience. Also, FlashFolder is very stable.

Edited: I should also warn you that Vista isn't yet supported.

767

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: March 10, 2008, 05:56 PM »

I've experimented with dtSearch in the past. The big negative is the price. It's also rather clunky in its UI, and even more so in its configuration (at least as of a few years ago).

The big plus, to me, was the ability to set up separate indexes. So I could have one that indexed my regular email and work files; an other that indexes e-books; and make targeted requests against them since I know what sort of thing I'm looking for.

768

Living Room / Re: The Best Games You've Never Played

« on: February 26, 2008, 05:01 AM »

You wont regret this game, it is a game that everyone loves. Good game support. See ya there.

Ummm. Maybe if you told us exactly what the game is?

(Edit: or maybe I'm replying to spam that was just removed?)

769

Living Room / Re: Apple ][ software

« on: February 24, 2008, 11:44 AM »

I'm on the trail of an answer. It turns out that there is software out there to transfer disk images via either the serial port if your Apple has it, or even the cassette ports using standard audio cables!

I haven't actually tried this yet (I set the computer up at work as a joke, so it's not here). But it sounds promising.

See ADTPro: http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/index.html

770

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: February 21, 2008, 12:33 PM »

I'm annoyed by

• People who seem unaware of those around them. The subway example is a good one; also people who block the aisle in the supermarket, and "left lane dicks" on the highway.
• People who don't seem to make any effort toward the use of proper spelling (pluralization!), punctuation, even sentence and paragraph structure. We all make mistakes occasionally, but I frequently see long "streams of consciousness" with no capitalization, and self-invented punctuation in a single long paragraph. This is actually a special case of my first point, I guess, in that they save themselves the trouble by placing responsibility for deciphering on the poor readers.
• People in political/philosophical/economic discussions that argue passionately on a topic and hold tightly to their view, but really have no understanding of it. I acknowledge that there exist legitimate arguments for many positions other than my own. But echoing back talking points from MSM really does nothing to enlighten anyone. If you want to debate something, understand the whys and wherefores first.

Boy, I'm really becoming a curmudgeon.

(sheepishly edited to fix a punctuation error  )

771

Living Room / Apple ][ software

« on: February 18, 2008, 07:12 PM »

I just picked up an old Apple ][e for nostalgia purposes, along with printer, mouse (!), and yes, even a 300 baud modem.  There was a box with a couple of software titles, but alas, I’ve long since discarded my old collection. It’s easy enough to find the disk images on the intertubes, but no way to put them onto media (they’re intended for emulators).

So this is an official beg: does anyone out there have a box of old Apple ][ disks that their spouses have been nagging to get rid of? I’d gladly pay postage if anyone were willing to donate to the Chris W Nostalgia Foundation    Please contact me off-list: [email protected]

FWIW, there are a couple of disks with it that jog my memory. One is a collection of Beagle Brothers utilities. I have fond memories of calling their stuff via GOSUB -- as far as I’m aware, they must be the first commercial vendor of programming components.

And there’s a copy of the Infocom game “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. I once had that game for my Atari 800, but got so frustrated with it that I literally threw the disk out my college dorm window.

772

Living Room / Re: The Best Games You've Never Played

« on: February 15, 2008, 05:23 AM »

I wish they would remake ... M.U.L.E.

-wraith808 (February 15, 2008, 01:35 AM)

Same here. I was looking around recently, and saw this site: http://www.worldofmule.net which references an OpenMULE project: http://www.codenautics.com/openmule/.

Unfortunately, it looks like development of the game has stalled (one thing about open source projects that you can frequently count on) and the version that was left doesn't really do anything interesting.

773

General Software Discussion / Re: Free PDA Software

« on: February 11, 2008, 08:32 PM »

Here's one place to start:
http://www.pocketpcf...res.com/en/index.php

774

General Software Discussion / Re: Media Monkey 3 is the most exciting audio player yet

« on: February 10, 2008, 03:55 PM »

What, and no comments about it being the best tool to tag mp3 out there?

PS: should i move this to the mini-review section?

-jgpaiva (February 10, 2008, 03:44 PM)

If you think it's more appropriate with mini-reviews, I don't mind it being moved. But personally, I didn't think it was complete enough for that treatment.

And I don't think MM is the best tool for anything but supplementary tagging.

775

General Software Discussion / Media Monkey 3 is the most exciting audio player yet

« on: February 10, 2008, 02:17 PM »

I've always been a fan of MediaMonkey (http://www.MediaMonkey.com), but with it's recent version 3 release it's become the most exciting music player out there. MM has been just another one of a half-dozen or so leading players, but the scripts that its latest version is enabling make it top-of-the-heap.

The merits of music players is a frequent topic around here, and the tastes generally run to the utilitarian. This frequently means minimalist, but I wonder if that's because so much of the feature set in today's apps is eye candy and other junk that introduce complexity and bugs. The scripts that I'd like to tell you about really have use, so I hope they escape that criticism.

What to listen to?
My collection is large, so the biggest problem I've got is deciding what to listen to. There are external services to help you put together playlists (MusicIP is a good one), but I don't know of any that's well-integrated. Some folks have written MM scripts that I'd never have though of, but do a great job in building me a list of music to listen to.

Last.FM Node
This plugin builds a "best-of" list for an artist, or find tracks having a given tack, or research related artists, all based on actual Last.FM data. For each of these tasks it submits requests, then searches your own database looking for what you've got on that list.

The most basic operation is the "best-of" for an artist. Simply add a Favorite Artist, and it will get the top tracks for that artist from Last.FM:


But you can do other things with the artist. It's in a tree structure, so you can open up its node to see a list of related artists. In this picture I've opened Dream Theater, and within that, continued to drill down into Symphony X. For each of these artists, you can click on the node to see the "best of".


You can also get lists of top tracks having a given tag. Just add a Favorite Tag node, and click on it to retrieve your list. You can also drill into this to see top musicians having that tag, and repeat the process above to see their best songs.


You can read more about Last.FM node and download it here: http://www.mediamonk...iewtopic.php?t=24879

MagicNodes
If you don't like to rely on other people's taste, you can derive lists from your own database. A script called MagicNodes (http://www.mediamonk...iewtopic.php?t=19168) allows you define criteria for building a tree of music according to properties in your database. You might specify "Tracks from between 1970-1979 having Rating 4-5 classified as Soft Rock, organized by Artist". The list is navigable, and dynamically built as your collection evolves.

Cleaning Data
I'm pretty particular about my data, and I've got the lyrics for most of my music thanks to Zortam. However, I do run into occasional holes. When this happens I use the WebNodes script (http://www.mediamonk...iewtopic.php?t=25845).

When a song with missing lyrics comes up, I go to "Search the web". This opens a panel that contains one of various pre-seeded searches. Using the one for "lyrics-songs.com" I've never missed in finding the lyrics. Then just select them with your mouse and click the Lyrics button; they're automatically saved into the tracks ID3 tag.

Seeing what you're hearing
I really don't like visualizations, but I do like to see what I'm hearing. The MonkeyRok script (http://www.mediamonk...iewtopic.php?t=14494) displays some basic info about the track, but also lists the other tracks of the album that it's from, and lists other albums from the same artist. You can click these to add to the "Now Playing" list.

Improving the sound
The quality of sound from a PC isn't the best, between small speakers and occasional 128kb MP3s (before I knew any better). There's a DSP plugin (MM supports the same DSPs that WinAmp does) that seems like magic to me in the way that it improves the sound of the music. I'm sure purists will object that it's then not playing what the artist intended, but to my ears the sound is much more pleasant.

You can find the Sound Solution DSP here: http://www.soundsolu...solution-t966.0.html

I hope these improve your pleasure in music listening as much as they have for me.