To make things a tad simpler in my C# application, I decided to save all user style changes using the Properties.Settings properties, which works as expected.
But I liked the style change aspect of my app so much, and it is so important to the usage, that I have now decided to have savable and loadable style files(MyStyle.xxx) for the user to save and reload. But as I have never used these user settings before, I am unsure of how to duplicate and save this object. Can it be done simply, or can I maybe write these objects to serialized XML? What is the common approach?
P.S. I tried researching this topic but because it is so closely related to just saving user settings, all I could find was questions about saving user settings.
This is sort of sketchy but it has worked for me in the past and seems to be a pretty decent solution..
Firstly, create a list of settings you want and some default values.
Then create some JSON-esque format for your data and save in the setting as a string. From there you can jsut copy paste this template and make say 3 more string in your settings file for a total of 4 strings with the same JSON stuff in it.
It's a bit of a fuss parsing that info in and out but if you do set it up in JSON format then it shouldn't be too hard.
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C#
TL;DR: I want the user to be able to input text, which is then written to an external file, which then can be called later based on position in the file. What's the easiest way and form to read and write a list of strings to?
Very amateur question, but I can't seem to find an easy anwer on the internet. If I'm missing something obvious, please redirect me. I am writing a very simple program in which the user can input a string which is then written (added) to an external file, from which later a string can be called based on the position in the file. I found things like JSON, Resource file, SQL DB... Problem is that due to my lack of programming experience I have no idea what's the best option to look into.
Example of what I want to achieve:
User inputs strings 'Dog', 'Cat', and 'Horse' into the textbox. Each of these strings are added to the external file. Lateron, the user calls the 2nd number on the list, to which the program returns 'Cat'.
Thanks!
If you already know the kind of data that will be saved I recommend using XML Serialization. This lets you save and read your file very easily. The linked example is from Microsoft and shows a dataset being serialized. If you want to save a generic list instead of a fixed object you might find this link helpful.
Alternatively, you could save data to your application configuration file (search online for "C# application configuration for PROJECT_TYPE" where the project type is winforms/mvc/class library etc..)
I am working on cloud storage system in ASP.Net MVC5. In which I made a file manager that handles cut,copy,download multiple files,edit and preview of files, but I want to edit documents like word files in real time (collaborative editing)..is there any api that can help me accordingly.
Thank you in advance.
you should use Signal R for real time applications...it may be possible with the help of application user interface but its better to write your own code according to your choice...
[http://signalr.net/][1]
dev_express and syncfusion may be your solution..try these..
This is turning into a huge comment, so I'll just explain my point of view in an answer. I'll remove it, if I see an actual answer appears.
I am suggesting you start writing your own code for collaborative editing and the reason is quite simple. You need at least slightly different processing for almost each file type, which suggests there will never be a single API to support collaborative editing for all file types, unless somebody makes it their goal to maintain it and keep up with every one created.
Start it simple, text (or hex) editing. Define how changes are made and implemented on other clients and then work your way to add as many file types (and methods that go with them) as you need.
You could use source code of 1 of these open source collaborative text editors (you'll have to find download / Github links on their websites) to get a general idea how to do it, but you will still have to put in some work and won't go far without creating your own code.
Collaborative editing requires user 1's (who just started editing) client to send either one of these:
Data pointing to changes made in file
Full file, and user 2's client (or central "server") should be able to calculate the changes made from there and implement them.
One of the problems is to overwrite only that portion of the file changes were made to (and avoid overwriting the other user 2's work).
And the biggest problem (the reason you can't have "1 for all" method/API) is each file type has its own structure meaning that different file types will have different data representing changes in file. If you try to write raw data it might work, but you'd still need to calculate and lock away specific portions of file, that contain general information, rather than data of your file.
I'm currently working on a winforms application that gets information from a user via a textbox. Since this information is not likely to change very often, I would like my application to save the input and load it into the appropriate text box the next time it is run.
I feel confident in my ability to set this up on the form side of things, my question has to do with how to store the values outside of the program. My first instinct is to just use a text file, but the overhead needed to handle IO and reading in the values seems a bit much. I also would rather not have the user editing it outside of the textbox in the program. I tried using string resources, but those are read only. Is there a more elegant solution available?
You need at least a mediocre database client whether it be sql server, mdf, MS Access, SharePoint, Oracle etc. Sounds like a vis studio prog. (winforms). They are designed for IO procedures but requires data architecture knowledge or relational dbs. (RMDBS). Try a lightswitch project (if a VS proj.) to get the basics of db and form data relationships.
I know it's not outside Your program, but you could try settings, it's easy, kinda like the resources ownly in the settings you can change it.
To change settings goto:
Properties and then double click Settings, here you van add strings, bools etc. Make sure you set them to user
To access them through code use:
Properties.Settings.Default.
To save the settings use:
Properties.Settings.Default.Save()
How do I go about saving dynamically added WinForms controls?
My application should be able to do this for the following: TabPage, GroupBox, RadioButton, and CheckBox. The RadioButton and CheckBox both correspond to a block of text that will be outputted when selected. I understand the process would consist of creating the controls first and storing them, but I am unsure whether what I have found so far (listed below) are the most apt ways to go about doing so.
Creating the Controls
The topic I linked suggested the use of objects that inherit from specific controls. This means I should just instantiate such objects as needed and assign the dynamic values accordingly. It appears to be the easiest way to do this step unless someone suggests otherwise.
Storing Controls
For this part, I was thinking of:
A. Database
My application uses SQLite to save the text and the control properties could also be saved into and retrieved from it via a method from the aforementioned classes.
B. XML
Perhaps a configuration file that I will make myself to write and read from? Tutorials seem aplenty on how to process XML, which makes it doable for me. I am unsure, however, whether storing lengthy text is advisable here, and likewise for what follows.
C. Serialization
Researching got me 3 results--JSON, XmlSerializer, and BinaryFormatter--all of which I have not had experience with as far C# is concerned. There seems to be difficulty in deserializing controls, and each control needs to be serialized differently.
D. UserSetting
This appears to be similar to XML, only that it uses StringCollection or Settings.setting instead.
Suggestions, recommendations, or corrections anyone?
I am making an application that will generate and SQL scripts from a template and after taking input for different fields from the user.
There are many templates, so the GUI needs to adjust for the fields that the user will be filling out.
In the interest of keeping this scalable, I'd rather not hardcode the GUIs into the program, but would like have it read from an XML file and change based on the template the user has selected.
This is preferred because if a new template were to arise, then all that the program needs is a XML file that corresponds to the template. And the actual code does not need to be changed.
I have my eyes set on using C# for this, as I have good experiences using it.
I am open to suggestions for other languages though.
Edit: This is a project for work, and I wanted to be sure that this is possible with C# before convincing my employers to expand into using C#.
You could do this sort of thing by subclassing Windows.Forms.Form and adding a constructor to accept your XML file as a parameter. Add a parser for your XML file that will interpret instructions for which labels and fields you want to add to a consistent form design (say, two columns with a label for field name on the left and the actual input field on the right, easily achievable by filling the form with a TableLayoutPanel). You just need to lay out your design constraints from the beginning and stick to them.
This is essentially what visual studio does when you create a form through the designer anyway, so I'd suggest you start by creating an example form manually and just looking at the kind of code it places in the form's designer.cs file
Any language can do that. It's more about design patterns than specific technologies.
If you meant writing a GUI only declaratively and with XML, though, then no. You'd have to write your own parsing and GUI assembling code.