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Convert identical objects from different namespaces?

These are the errors:
Error 1 Cannot implicitly convert type 'Plantool.xRoute.Point' to 'Plantool.xMap.Point'
Error 2 Cannot implicitly convert type 'Plantool.xRoute.Point' to 'Plantool.xMap.Point'
Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'Plantool.xRoute.LineString' to 'Plantool.xMap.LineString'
I have this code which comes with a namespace.
using Plantool; //Contains xMap, xServer, xLocate
And this is the function in question.
/* createMap()
* Input: WaypointDesc[], Route
* Output: string mapURL
* Edited 21/12/12 - Davide Nguyen
*/
private static string createMap(xRoute.WaypointDesc[] waypointDesc, xRoute.Route route)
{
#region boundingBox
// Set boundingBox fand use corners from the calculated route
xMap.BoundingBox boundingBox = new xMap.BoundingBox();
boundingBox.leftTop = route.totalRectangle.rightTop;
boundingBox.rightBottom = route.totalRectangle.leftBottom;
#endregion
#region mapParams
// Build mapParams
xMap.MapParams mapParams = new xMap.MapParams();
mapParams.showScale = true;
mapParams.useMiles = false;
#endregion
#region imageInfo
// Create imageInfo and set the frame size and image format. NOTE: 1052; 863
xMap.ImageInfo imageInfo = new xMap.ImageInfo();
imageInfo.format = xMap.ImageFileFormat.PNG;
imageInfo.height = 1052;
imageInfo.width = 863;
imageInfo.imageParameter = "";
#endregion
#region layers
// Create a line from the calculated route
xMap.LineString[] lineStrings = new xMap.LineString[] { route.polygon };
xMap.Lines[] lines = new xMap.Lines[1];
xMap.LineOptions options = new xMap.LineOptions();
xMap.LinePartOptions partoptions = new xMap.LinePartOptions();
partoptions.color = new xMap.Color();
partoptions.visible = true;
partoptions.width = -10;
options.mainLine = partoptions;
lines[0] = new xMap.Lines();
lines[0].wrappedLines = lineStrings;
lines[0].options = options;
// Define customLayer that contains the object lines and set layers.
xMap.CustomLayer customLayer = new xMap.CustomLayer();
customLayer.visible = true;
customLayer.drawPriority = 100;
customLayer.wrappedLines = lines;
customLayer.objectInfos = xMap.ObjectInfoType.NONE;
customLayer.centerObjects = true;
xMap.Layer[] layers = new xMap.Layer[] { customLayer };
#endregion
#region includeImageInResponse
// Set argument includeImageInResponse to false (default).
Boolean includeImageInResponse = false;
#endregion
// Return object map using the following method.
xMap.Map map = xMapClient.renderMapBoundingBox(boundingBox, mapParams, imageInfo, layers, includeImageInResponse, null);
// Retrieve the image
string result = "http://" + map.image.url;
// Return the drawn map
return result;
}
The problem lies with the boundingBox object and the lineString object. route.totalRectangle contains a Point object from the xRoute namespace which is identical to that of xMap. Is there anyway to copy or convert it?
This issue does not seem to happen in java examples, but it does in C#. I am sure that if I can solve this error, the other ones will be solved aswell. I have searched my ass off on the API, but it may help you:
xMap:
http://xserver.ptvgroup.com/fileadmin/files/PTV-COMPONENTS/DeveloperZone/Documents/PTV_xServer/API/xMapAPI/pages/apidoc.html
xRoute: http://xserver.ptvgroup.com/fileadmin/files/PTV-COMPONENTS/DeveloperZone/Documents/PTV_xServer/API/xRouteAPI/pages/apidoc.html
Still digging myself.

In C# you cannot convert from one type to another, even if they are for all purposes identical, without copying all the properites, etc. unless an implicit conversion exists.
So you can either write a implicit conversion opertor as shown in link above or you could use a tool like AutoMapper to copy between the two objects

I have found another solution for this issue in the meanwhile whilst randomly playing with the code and the API and this is a partial solution for two of the errors by copying over the well known text values from one object to another. Hopefully I can do the same for the linestring part. I am posting this just incase anyone else comes across this and finds it a usefull solution. New code region below.
// Set boundingBox fand use corners from the calculated route
xMap.BoundingBox boundingBox = new xMap.BoundingBox();
xMap.Point rightTop = new xMap.Point();
rightTop.wkt = route.totalRectangle.rightTop.wkt;
xMap.Point leftBottom = new xMap.Point();
leftBottom.wkt = route.totalRectangle.leftBottom.wkt;
boundingBox.leftTop = rightTop;
boundingBox.rightBottom = leftBottom;
EDIT: Same solution for the linestrings.
// Solution: Cannot implicitly conver ttype xRoute.LineString to xMap.LineString
xMap.LineString maproute = new xMap.LineString();
maproute.wkt = route.polygon.wkt;
// Create a line from the calculated route
xMap.LineString[] lineStrings = new xMap.LineString[] { maproute };
Thanks for the help, I hope someone might find this solution usefull aswell.

Review this for your own purposes... but one option is to use a JSON Parser to serialize one class into JSON, then to deserialize it back into a different class. Short and simple answer, but if all you are looking for is to grab properties from Contoso.Project.UrMom, and transfer them directly to Albiet.Project.UrMom, it works well.

I've found this other alternative that is based on serialization of the objects. As far as I'm concerned it has the disadvantage of accessing the disk.

How did you create the client classes from the WSDL's?
I prefer to create them via command line:
WSDL /sharetypes /out:"XServer.cs" /namespace:"Plantool"
"https://xroute-eu-n-test.cloud.ptvgroup.com/xlocate/ws/XLocate?WSDL"
"https://xroute-eu-n-test.cloud.ptvgroup.com/xroute/ws/XRoute?WSDL"
"https://xroute-eu-n-test.cloud.ptvgroup.com/xtour/ws/XTour?WSDL"
/sharetypes ensures that classes such as Point will be merged intoa single shared class
This also works fine with the xServer2 API and it's WSDLs.

How to correctly load a WF4 workflow from XAML?

Short version:
How do I load a WF4 workflow from XAML?
Important detail: The code that loads the workflow shouldn't need to know beforehand which types are used in the workflow.
Long version:
I am having a very hard time loading a WF4 workflow from the XAML file create by Visual Studio.
My scenario is that I want to put this file into the database to be able to modify it centrally without recompiling the Workflow invoker.
I am currently using this code:
var xamlSchemaContext = new XamlSchemaContext(GetWFAssemblies());
var xmlReaderSettings = new XamlXmlReaderSettings();
xmlReaderSettings.LocalAssembly = typeof(WaitForAnySoundActivity).Assembly;
var xamlReader = ActivityXamlServices.CreateBuilderReader(
new XamlXmlReader(stream, xmlReaderSettings),
xamlSchemaContext);
var activityBuilder = (ActivityBuilder)XamlServices.Load(xamlReader);
var activity = activityBuilder.Implementation;
var validationResult = ActivityValidationServices.Validate(activity);
This gives me a whole lot of errors, which fall into two categories:
Category 1:
Types from my assemblies are not known, although I provided the correct assemblies to the constructor of XamlSchemaContext.
ValidationError { Message = Compiler error(s) encountered processing expression "GreetingActivationResult.WrongPin".
'GreetingActivationResult' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.
, Source = 10: VisualBasicValue, PropertyName = , IsWarning = False }
This can be solved by using the technique described here, which basically adds the assemblies and namespaces of all used types to some VisualBasicSettings instance:
var settings = new VisualBasicSettings();
settings.ImportReferences.Add(new VisualBasicImportReference
{
Assembly = typeof(GreetingActivationResult).Assembly.GetName().Name,
Import = typeof(GreetingActivationResult).Namespace
});
// ...
VisualBasic.SetSettings(activity, settings);
// ... Validate here
This works but makes the whole "dynamic loading" part of the Workflow a joke, as the code still needs to know all used namespaces.
Question 1: Is there another way to get rid of these validation errors without the need to know beforehand which namespaces and assemblies are used?
Category 2:
All my input arguments are unknown. I can see them just fine in activityBuilder.Properties but I still get validation errors saying they are unknown:
ValidationError { Message = Compiler error(s) encountered processing expression
"Pin".
'Pin' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.
, Source = 61: VisualBasicValue, PropertyName = , IsWarning = False }
No solution so far.
Question 2: How to tell WF4 to use the arguments defined in the XAML file?

Question 2:
You can´t execute an ActivityBuilder, it´s just for design. You have to load a DynamicActivity (only through ActivityXamlServices). It should work that way (without using a special XamlSchemaContext), but you must have loaded all used assemblies in advance (placing them in the bin directory should also work, so far about Question 1, DynamicActivity might make things a little bit easier):
var dynamicActivity = ActivityXamlServices.Load(stream) as DynamicActivity;
WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(dynamicActivity);
In general, I got the impression that you´re trying to implement your own "ActivityDesigner" (like VS). I tried this myself, and it was quite hard to deal with DynamicActivity and ActivityBuilder (as DynamicActivity is not serializable but ActivityBuilder cannot be executed), so I ended up with an own activity type that internally converts one type into the other. If you want to have a look at my results, read the last sections of this article.

I have a project that does this - the assemblies are also stored in a database.
When it is time to instantiate a workflow instance I do the following:
Download the assemblies from the database to a cache location
Create a new AppDomain passing the assembly paths into it.
From the new AppDomain load each assembly - you may also need to load assemblies required by your hosting environment too.
I didn't need to mess around with VisualBasic settings - at least as far as I can see having taken a quick look in my code but I'm sure I've seen it somewhere...
In my case while I don't know the input names or types, the caller is expected to have built a request that contains the input names and values (as strings) which are then converted into the correct types via a reflection helper class.
At this point I can instantiate the workflow.
My AppDomain initialisation code looks like this:
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="OperationWorkflowManagerDomain"/> class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="requestHandlerId">The request handler id.</param>
public OperationWorkflowManagerDomain(Guid requestHandlerId)
{
// Cache the id and download dependent assemblies
RequestHandlerId = requestHandlerId;
DownloadAssemblies();
if (!IsIsolated)
{
Domain = AppDomain.CurrentDomain;
_manager = new OperationWorkflowManager(requestHandlerId);
}
else
{
// Build list of assemblies that must be loaded into the appdomain
List<string> assembliesToLoad = new List<string>(ReferenceAssemblyPaths);
assembliesToLoad.Add(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
// Create new application domain
// NOTE: We do not extend the configuration system
// each app-domain reuses the app.config for the service
// instance - for now...
string appDomainName = string.Format(
"Aero Operations Workflow Handler {0} AppDomain",
requestHandlerId);
AppDomainSetup ads =
new AppDomainSetup
{
AppDomainInitializer = new AppDomainInitializer(DomainInit),
AppDomainInitializerArguments = assembliesToLoad.ToArray(),
ApplicationBase = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory,
PrivateBinPathProbe = null,
PrivateBinPath = PrivateBinPath,
ApplicationName = "Aero Operations Engine",
ConfigurationFile = Path.Combine(
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "ZenAeroOps.exe.config")
};
// TODO: Setup evidence correctly...
Evidence evidence = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Evidence;
Domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(appDomainName, evidence, ads);
// Create app-domain variant of operation workflow manager
// TODO: Handle lifetime leasing correctly
_managerProxy = (OperationWorkflowManagerProxy)Domain.CreateInstanceAndUnwrap(
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name,
typeof(OperationWorkflowManagerProxy).FullName);
_proxyLease = (ILease)_managerProxy.GetLifetimeService();
if (_proxyLease != null)
{
//_proxyLease.Register(this);
}
}
}
The download assemblies code is easy enough:
private void DownloadAssemblies()
{
List<string> refAssemblyPathList = new List<string>();
using (ZenAeroOpsEntities context = new ZenAeroOpsEntities())
{
DbRequestHandler dbHandler = context
.DbRequestHandlers
.Include("ReferenceAssemblies")
.FirstOrDefault((item) => item.RequestHandlerId == RequestHandlerId);
if (dbHandler == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException(string.Format(
"Request handler {0} not found.", RequestHandlerId), "requestWorkflowId");
}
// If there are no referenced assemblies then we can host
// in the main app-domain
if (dbHandler.ReferenceAssemblies.Count == 0)
{
IsIsolated = false;
ReferenceAssemblyPaths = new string[0];
return;
}
// Create folder
if (!Directory.Exists(PrivateBinPath))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(PrivateBinPath);
}
// Download assemblies as required
foreach (DbRequestHandlerReferenceAssembly dbAssembly in dbHandler.ReferenceAssemblies)
{
AssemblyName an = new AssemblyName(dbAssembly.AssemblyName);
// Determine the local assembly path
string assemblyPathName = Path.Combine(
PrivateBinPath,
string.Format("{0}.dll", an.Name));
// TODO: If the file exists then check it's SHA1 hash
if (!File.Exists(assemblyPathName))
{
// TODO: Setup security descriptor
using (FileStream stream = new FileStream(
assemblyPathName, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
{
stream.Write(dbAssembly.AssemblyPayload, 0, dbAssembly.AssemblyPayload.Length);
}
}
refAssemblyPathList.Add(assemblyPathName);
}
}
ReferenceAssemblyPaths = refAssemblyPathList.ToArray();
IsIsolated = true;
}
And finally the AppDomain initialisation code:
private static void DomainInit(string[] args)
{
foreach (string arg in args)
{
// Treat each string as an assembly to load
AssemblyName an = AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(arg);
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(an);
}
}
Your proxy class needs to implement MarshalByRefObject and serves as your communication link between your app and the new appdomain.
I find that I am able to load workflows and get the root activity instance without any problem.
EDIT 29/07/12 **
Even if you only store the XAML in the database you will need to track the referenced assemblies. Either your list of referenced assemblies will tracked in an additional table by name or you will have to upload (and obviously support download) the assemblies referenced by the workflow.
Then you may simply enumerate all the reference assemblies and add ALL namespaces from ALL public types to the VisualBasicSettings object - like this...
VisualBasicSettings vbs =
VisualBasic.GetSettings(root) ?? new VisualBasicSettings();
var namespaces = (from type in assembly.GetTypes()
select type.Namespace).Distinct();
var fullName = assembly.FullName;
foreach (var name in namespaces)
{
var import = new VisualBasicImportReference()
{
Assembly = fullName,
Import = name
};
vbs.ImportReferences.Add(import);
}
VisualBasic.SetSettings(root, vbs);
Finally don't forget to add namespaces from the environment assemblies - I add namespaces from the following assemblies:
mscorlib
System
System.Activities
System.Core
System.Xml
So in summary:
1. Track the assembly referenced by the user's workflow (since you will be rehosting the workflow designer this will be trivial)
2. Build a list of assemblies from which namespaces will be imported - this will be a union of the default environment assemblies and the user referenced assemblies.
3. Update the VisualBasicSettings with the namespaces and reapply to the root activity.
You will need to do this in the project that executes workflow instances and in the project that rehosts the workflow designer.

One system that I know which does the same job that you are trying to do is the Team Foundation 2010's build system. When you execute a custom build workflow on a controller, you need to point the build controller to a path in TFS where you keep your custom assemblies. The controller then recursively loads up all the assemblies from that location as it starts processing the workflow.
You mentioned that you need to keep the file in a database. Can you not also store the location or meta data information about the required assemblies in the same database and use Reflection to load them recursively before you invoke your workflow?
You can then selectively add/remove assemblies from this path without having to alter the code that dynamically load assemblies using the
var settings = new VisualBasicSettings();
settings.ImportReferences.Add(new VisualBasicImportReference
{
Assembly = typeof(GreetingActivationResult).Assembly.GetName().Name,
Import = typeof(GreetingActivationResult).Namespace
});
// ...
VisualBasic.SetSettings(activity, settings);
// ... Validate here
approach.

This is the way how I load xaml embeded resource (default workflow) to a Workflow Designer:
//UCM.WFDesigner is my assembly name,
//Resources.Flows is the folder name,
//and DefaultFlow.xaml is the xaml name.
private const string ConstDefaultFlowFullName = #"UCM.WFDesigner.Resources.Flows.DefaultFlow.xaml";
private void CreateNewWorkflow(object param)
{
//loading default activity embeded resource
using (var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(ConstDefaultFlowFullName))
{
StreamReader sReader = new StreamReader(stream);
string content = sReader.ReadToEnd();
//createion ActivityBuilder from string
ActivityBuilder activityBuilder = XamlServices.Load( ActivityXamlServices
.CreateBuilderReader(new XamlXmlReader(new StringReader(content)))) as ActivityBuilder;
//loading new ActivityBuilder to Workflow Designer
_workflowDesigner.Load(activityBuilder);
OnPropertyChanged("View");
}
}

Delete Record from C# using ManagedInterop

I am working with a C# project that uses the dll, Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.ManagedInterop to work with an AX 2012 environment. From within the code, I need to find a SalesQuotationLine based on specific criteria and delete it. So far, I can get the record I need but I am unable to delete it because I am not using a TTSBEGIN/TTSCOMMIT statement and I am not using FORUPDATE. This is my code:
DictTable dictTable = new DictTable(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
int quotationIdFieldId = (int)dictTable.Call("fieldName2Id", "QuotationId");
int bdcParentRecIdFieldId = (int)dictTable.Call("fieldName2Id", "BDCParentRecId");
var query = new Query();
var datasource = query.addDataSource(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
var queryRange1 = datasource.addRange(quotationIdFieldId);
queryRange1.value = "=" + line.QuotationId;
QueryRun queryRun = new QueryRun(query as object);
while (queryRun.next())
{
var result = queryRun.get(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
result.Delete();
}
I also looked at the code here, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197113.aspx but I found that I cannot use it since the code I am working with does not use the .NET Business Connector (I am not sure when one dll should be used over the other).

Use TTSBegin() and TTSCommit() methods on Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.ManagedInterop.RuntimeContext.Current. The forUpdate flag can be set by QueryBuildDataSource's update().
It may be easier (and better for maintenance) to write it in an X++ method just call the method from C#.

IronPython 'execfile' Equivalent in C#

Id like to know how to perform the functionality of the 'execfile' Python command
but from C#. In this example:
var runtime = Python.CreateRuntime();
dynamic scope = Python.UseFile("body.py");
you specify the body file.
In the header of body.py, I specify the header:
execfile('header.py')
I would like to make that execfile from C#, how can I do that?
Note: Import does not work because i'm declaring variables dynamically inside
header.py scope. import would not import that variables because they do
not exist yet.
Thank you very much!

If you want different behaviour from the exec file you can easily create your own and do things like this (share scope) by creating the function in .NET and set this to the scope. This would also allow you to add additional functionality if you wish.
This seems to work:
Setting up the engine:
var py = Python.CreateEngine();
var source = py.CreateScriptSourceFromFile(#"..\..\IronPython\body.py");
var scope = py.CreateScope();
Then I create the function that can be used by scripts and set it on the scope
Action<string> execFileCallback = fileName =>
{
var s2 = py.CreateScriptSourceFromFile(fileName);
s2.Execute(scope);
};
((dynamic)scope).myexecfile = execFileCallback;
source.Execute(scope);
Now my Body.py looks like this:
someVarSetByBody = "This was set by the body"
Console.WriteLine("Body is loading")
myexecfile(r"..\..\IronPython\Header.py")
Console.WriteLine("Body has loaded")
And my Header.py Looks like this:
Console.WriteLine("Header is loading")
Console.WriteLine("Variable set by body: %s" % someVarSetByBody)
Console.WriteLine("Header has loaded")
It is now able to use the same scope in the different scripts so you can share the variables.

Converting VBS code to C#

I just have the below code that was provides as hMailServer's DCOM API at http://www.hmailserver.com/documentation/latest/?page=com_example_account_create The below script works fine. It has no reference nothing. Just after installing hMailServer, running the below code can create an account. Now, I need the same thing in C#. They didn't provide me with any library for C# I googled for it but no relevant results all I have is the below code but in according to hMailServer API they said you can convert the below script to any language that you want. But how? I can't even understand how to start to write even the first line. Anybody please help me.
Dim obApp
Set obApp = CreateObject("hMailServer.Application")
' Authenticate. Without doing this, we won't have permission
' to change any server settings or add any objects to the
' installation.
Call obApp.Authenticate("Administrator", "your-main-hmailserver-password")
' Locate the domain we want to add the account to
Dim obDomain
Set obDomain = obApp.Domains.ItemByName("example.com")
Dim obAccount
Set obAccount = obDomain.Accounts.Add
' Set the account properties
obAccount.Address = "account#example.com"
obAccount.Password = "secret"
obAccount.Active = True
obAccount.MaxSize = 100 ' Allow max 100 megabytes
obAccount.Save

Add the COM object (hMailServer) to your C# project as a reference and translate the rest of the code to C#.
It will look something like this:
var app = new hMailServer.Application();
// Authenticate. Without doing this, we won't have permission
// to change any server settings or add any objects to the
// installation.
app.Authenticate("Administrator", "your-main-hmailserver-password");
// Locate the domain we want to add the account to
var domain = app.Domains["example.com"];
var account = domain.Accounts.Add();
// Set the account properties
account.Address = "account#example.com";
account.Password = "secret";
account.Active = true;
account.MaxSize = 100; // Allow max 100 megabytes
account.Save();

I hope this is still relevant and can help someone. Here I simply used the get item by name property to pull the domain name configured in the hMailServer.
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var app = new hMailServer.Application();
// Authenticate. Without doing this, we won't have permission
// to change any server settings or add any objects to the
// installation.
app.Authenticate("Administrator", "your.admin.password.here");
// Locate the domain we want to add the account to
var domain = app.Domains.get_ItemByName("your.configured.domain.name.here");
var account = domain.Accounts.Add();
// Set the account properties
account.Address = "account.name.here";
account.Password = "pass.word.here";
account.Active = true;
account.MaxSize = 100; // Allow max 100 megabytes
account.Save();
}