Visual Studio Add-Ins Every Developer Should Download Now

Tools for unit testing
Tools for code and documentation management and generation
Tools for modifying the development environment
Tools for working with data

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POS for .NET and OPOS

OPOS is an existing implementation of UPOS for Microsoft Windows, based on Component Object Model (COM) technology. POS for .NET constitutes an improved, next-generation implementation of UPOS for Microsoft Windows, based on .NET. In comparison to OPOS, POS for .NET increases productivity of developers of both POS applications and service objects, by providing all the benefits of .NET managed code while at the same time exposing a set of easy to use interfaces and base classes.

POS for .NET is backward-compatible with OPOS version 1.8 service objects. In other words, applications using POS for .NET can simultaneously interact with .NET service objects written for POS for .NET and OPOS service objects.

POS for .NET Device Basic Classes

Each hardware device in POS for .NET is represented by both an abstract interface, such as CashDrawer class, and a “basic” class, such as CashDrawerBasic. Basic classes derive from the underlying interface and contain basic functional support for the device. POS for .NET provides generic support for opening, claiming, and enabling the device; device statistics; and management of delivery of events to the application. In addition, each basic class contains a set of inherited and protected methods that can be implemented by the service object. This topic provides summary information about basic classes that can be used by service objects that wish to derive from the device’s basic class, rather than taking advantage of the more fully implemented device base class

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms827970.aspx

New ConfigurationManager in VS 2005

Using .NET Framework 1.1 i have used following code to pull a encrypted connection string from the app.conf file, I used....
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["connstr"].ToString();

And the compiler gave me the following error.
Warning 1 'System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings' is obsolete: 'This method is obsolete, it has been replaced by ConfigurationManager.AppSettings'

So I try and change my Code to the following ...
System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["connstr"].ToString();

and I get a compiler error, saying the compiler can't find ConfigurationManager.

Well here's the confusion.... The Original System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings class is found in the System.dll assembly. There is a new assembly with all the new ConfigurationManager classes as System.Configuration.dll. Before using the ConfigurationManager class, you must first set a reference to the new System.Configuration.dll.

Add a reference to System.Configuration by clicking Project -> Add Reference... and searching through the .NET components for System.Configuration

Mobiles to get portable hard drives

The first portable hard drives for phones are coming onto the market, promising a "multimedia revolution".

Seagate launched its Digital Audio Video Experience (Dave) range of mobile hard drives on 30th Jan 2007, which consist of a 1cm thick credit card sized unit storing 10GB to 20GB of storage and communicating with phones via Bluetooth.

The devices have a range of around 30ft and battery life of 14 days standby or 10 hours use. No pricing details have yet been released.

"Mobile telephony is undergoing a multimedia revolution, and the Dave mobile content platform will provide even more fuel for the growth of new music and video services over mobile networks," said Patrick King, senior vice president and general manager of Seagate's consumer electronics business unit.

"Products using Dave will enable digital content for business or entertainment to be stored, moved and connected in ways never before possible."

But Seagate has been beaten to the punch on the technology by Agere Systems with a similar device, the BlueOnyx, that can communicate via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and can store up to 40GB.
Models are also available with USB and SD card ports, and costs range from £50 to £130.
"We wanted to create a highly mobile device that solves a lot of the connectivity issues consumers have while giving them all the storage they want at an affordable price," said Ruediger Stroh, general manager of Agere's storage division.

"The capability will finally make the PC just another consumer device instead of the centre of the digital universe."

Source: vnunet

ADO.NET Connection Strings

ODBC Driver for Excel

strConnection = _T("Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};DriverId=790;" bq=C:\\DatabasePath\\DBSpreadSheet.xls;
DefaultDir=c:\\databasepath;");

ODBC Driver for Text
strConnection = _T("Driver={Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt; *.csv)};" "Dbq=C:\\DatabasePath\\;Extensions=asc,csv,tab,txt;");

Refer Connectionstrings