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What's the easiest way to create a managed visualiser in C#?

I have a background in C++ and recently I started working in C#.
I have written following pieces of code (in Visual Studio):
var list_Loads = database.GetData<Load>().ToList();
var test_list = list_Loads.Where(o => (o.Name.Substring(0, 3) == "123")).ToList();
When I run the program and I move my mouse over both lists, first I get the count, which is very useful, but when I ask for the entries, this is what I get:
0 : namespace.Load
1 : namespace.Load
2 : namespace.Load
...
Not very useful, as you can imagine :-)
So my question: how can I show the Name attributes of those objects?
I thought: no problem. I have a background in native visualisers, so it should be rather easy to turn this into useful information, but then it comes:
In order to alter the way that those objects are represented, there is the first proposal to add a [DebuggerDisplay] "tag" to the definition of that class in source code.
However, as those classes are part of a framework I'm just referring to, I don't have access to the source code and hence I can't modify this.
Then I found another solution, which comes down to: "Write an entire C# project, debug, test and install it and it might work" (see documentation on "Custom visualisers of data" on the Microsoft website).
I almost choked in my coffee: writing an entire project, just for altering the view of an object??? (While, in C++, you just create a simple .natvis file, mention the classname and some configuration, launch .nvload and that's it.
Does anybody know a simple way to alter the appearance of C# object, without needing to pass through the whole burden of creating an entire C# project?
By the way, when I try to load a natvis file in Visual Studio immediate window, this is what I get:
.nvload "C:\Temp_Folder\test.natvis"
error CS1525: Invalid expression term '.'
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance

OP (my emphasis):
In order to alter the way that those objects are represented, there is the first proposal to add a [DebuggerDisplay] "tag" to the definition of that class in source code.
However, as those classes are part of a framework I'm just referring to, I don't have access to the source code and hence I can't modify this.
Does anybody know a simple way to alter the appearance of C# object, without needing to pass through the whole burden of creating an entire C# project?
If you just want to specify [DebuggerDisplay] on a type, you don't have to have access to the source code. You can make use of [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] and control how a type appears in the debugger. The only downside is that [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] naturally only affects the current assembly whose code your mouse is hovering over. If you wish to use the customised display in other assemblies that you own, then you must repeat the [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] definition.
Here's an easy before-and-after example with DateTime. I picked DateTime because we generally don't have access to the source code and it has some interesting properties:
var items = new List<DateTime>
{
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2),
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1),
DateTime.Now
};
...which on my machine defaults to:
Maybe I'm fussy and I just want to see:
Day of the week and
Day of the year
...I can do that via:
using System.Diagnostics;
[assembly: DebuggerDisplay("{DayOfWeek} {DayOfYear}", Target = typeof(DateTime))]
...which results in:
Example:
namespace DebuggerDisplayTests
{
public class DebuggerDisplayTests
{
public DebuggerDisplayTests()
{
var items = new List<DateTime>
{
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2),
DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1),
DateTime.Now
};
}
}
.
.
.
}
Overrides
[assembly:DebuggerDisplay()] can also be used as a means to override pre-existing [DebuggerDisplay] on a 3-rd party type. Don't like what style they have chosen? Is the type showing far too much information? Change it with [assembly:DebuggerDisplay()].

acumatica c# / Add SOPackageDetailEx

I have this error when I try to add a line of package
Error : Another process has added the "SOPackagedetail" record. Your changes will be lost.
error
My c# code is this :
protected virtual void creationColis()
{
SOShipment ship=Base.CurrentDocument.Select();
SOPackageDetailEx colis = new SOPackageDetailEx();
colis.BoxID="COLIS";
colis.PackageType="M";
colis.ShipmentNbr=ship.ShipmentNbr;
SOShipmentEntry graph = PXGraph.CreateInstance<SOShipmentEntry>();
graph.Packages.Insert(colis); //insertion de l'enregistrement
graph.Packages.Update(colis);
graph.Actions.PressSave();
graph.Clear();
}
Do you know what I must to change please ?
Thanks so much
Xavier

Your question needs more context. For starters, where does your code reside? Given that you reference Base.CurrentDocument.Select, I'm going to assume you are extending SOShipmentEntry to add your code.
In this case, you would just use the Base.Packages view rather than initializing your own instance of SOShipmentEntry where your example goes into trying to use graph.Packages. Regardless, there are 2 parts here that need to be addressed.
Packages is not the primary view of SOShipmentEntry. When you create an instance of a graph, you must tell the graph what record is needed in the primary view. In your example where you create a new instance of a graph, you might do something like this:
graph.Document.Current = graph.Document.Search<SOShipment.shipmentNbr>(myShipmentNbr);
If you are working on a graph extension of SOShipmentEntry, then you probably don't need to create a new instance of the graph. Just make sure graph.Document.Current isn't null before you add your package record - see bullet 2.
Once you have a shipment selected, you can then insert your package information. However, the way you have done it here effectively is trying to add a random package to a null shipment (by the structure of the views) but forcing the record to attach to the right shipment by sheer brute force. The views don't like to work that way.
A better way to add your package once you have a current shipment (Document) is like this:
// Find the current shipment (from the primary view Document)
SOShipment ship = Base.Document.Current();
if(ship?.ShipmentNbr != null) {
// Insert a record into the Packages view of the current shipment and return the record into colis
SOPackageDetailEx colis = Base.Packages.Insert(colis);
// Set the custom values
colis.BoxID="COLIS";
colis.PackageType="M";
// Update the Packages cache with the modified fields
Base.Packages.Update(colis);
// If more fields need to be updated after those changes were applied, instead do this...
colis = Base.Packages.Update(colis);
colis.FieldA = ValueA;
colis.FieldB = ValueB;
Base.Packages.Update(colis);
// If a save is needed, now is the time
Base.Save.Press();
}
Notice that I didn't assign ShipmentNbr. That is because the DAC has that field defined to pull the ShipmentNbr from SOShipment through these 2 attributes.
[PXParent(typeof(FK.Shipment))]
[PXDBDefault(typeof(SOShipment.shipmentNbr))]
This means that when the record is created, Acumatica should lookup the parent SOShipment record via the Key and do a DBDefault on the field to assign it to the SOShipment.ShipmentNbr value (from the parent). Important side note: PXDefault and PXDBDefault are NOT interchangeable. We use PXDefault a lot, but off the top of my head I can't think of a case of PXDBDefault outside of defaulting from a database value like this specific usage.

RealmMigrationNeededException in C# adding only one property

I have an app that uses Realm db. I have added a string property to UserRealm named Test.
When I try to run my app it writes
Realms.Exceptions.RealmMigrationNeededException: Migration is required
due to the following errors:
- Property 'UserRealm .Test' has been added.
I'm trying to search on the internet, but almost everywhere the solution is deleting the old database. I dont want to delete the old database, I need to keep it and just add this one column.
This is a Xamarin/C# project.
How can I just simply add a sinle property migration to the realm? It's no problem if the default value is string.Empty.
I Use
Realm nuget 3.4.0,
Realm.Database 3.4.0
Fody 3.3.4

Just add a MigrationCallback to your RealmConfiguration, you do not have to do anything within that callback if no data transformation is needed and you do not need to init new properties to something other than their default values in Realm.
var config = new RealmConfiguration
{
SchemaVersion = 2,
MigrationCallback = (migration, oldSchemaVersion) =>
{
}
};
re: https://realm.io/docs/dotnet/latest#performing-a-migration

Orchard CMS: Adding default data to fields and then querying them

I have added a LinkField called Website to a content type using a part with the same name as the content type.
ContentDefinitionManager.AlterTypeDefinition("MyContentType", a => a
.WithPart("CommonPart")
.WithPart("MyContentType")
.Creatable());
ContentDefinitionManager.AlterPartDefinition("MyContentType", cft => cft
.WithField("Website", a => a.OfType("LinkField").WithDisplayName("Website")
.WithSetting("FieldIndexing.Included", "True"))
.Attachable());
I then create some default content items during the migration.
I'm creating the item before adding the field data because I have had problems with fields not being updated when their values are set before the item is created. (Feel free to shine some light on that, but that isn't my question though)
var myItem = _orchardServices.ContentManager.New("MyContentType");
_orchardServices.ContentManager.Create(myItem);
var websitePart = myItem.Parts.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Fields.Any(y => y.Name == "Website"));
var websiteLinkField = websitePart .Fields.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "Website") as LinkField;
websiteLinkField.Value = "http://www.google.com";
websiteLinkField.Text = "Link to google";
_orchardServices.ContentManager.Publish(myItem);
I realize there are more dynamic ways to access the field, but this seems to work too.
The data shows up when I view the items, but then I move on to making a Query.
I use the UI to build a simple query looking for the word "google" in the text of the LinkField, then I hit preview.
No results are found.
I then open up one of the items created from the migration and simply hit the "Save" button.
Then I try the preview again and the item I saved now shows up.
So as far as I can tell something is happening when I save a content item that I'm not doing from the migration. But I have been stepping through the code going over all angles, and I just can't find it.
I suspect maybe some handler is supposed to get triggered in order to create the FieldIndex'es ?
(I know how to trigger an update for the Lucene index, but as one would expect it does not affect querying fields using the Projections module and I'm really lost at this point.)
By now I'm just stabbing blindly in the dark.
Would really appreciate any help I can get, even if it's just something pointing me back in the right direction. Thank you.

You should change
_orchardServices.ContentManager.Create(myItem);
to
_orchardServices.ContentManager.Create(myItem, Orchard.ContentManagement.VersionOptions.Draft);
For understanding look at CreatePOST method of Orchard.Core.Contents.Controllers.AdminController class and Publish method of Orchard.ContentManagement.DefaultContentManager class
In your case when you call a Create(myItem) then created published content item and all handlers are invoked normally (but has not yet set up a desired data). When you call Publish(myItem) nothing happens (no handlers are invoked) because your content is already published.

I've raised this as a bug, vote for it if you think it needs fixed.
#Alexander Petryakov is correct in his description of what is happening and his work around is probably the correct approach, however the behaviour doesn't make sense, which is why I have raised the bug. The code in your question manages to create an inconsistency between the content view of the data, stored in the Orchard_Framework_ContentItemVersionRecord table and the Projections view of the data stored in the Orchard_Projections_StringFieldIndexRecord table. Essentially, the Orchard_Projections_StringFieldIndexRecord contains null because it hasn't processed the publish event after you updated the field.
The code you have essentially does the following things:
Create a content item + publish it's creation
Update one of the content items fields this update doesn't change the state of the content
Try to publish the content item which doesn't do anything because it thinks it is already published.
To me, if you update a field on the content item, then the state of the item you are working on should no longer be published (it's changed since you published it). The Fields provide hooks that allow you to be notified when they are updated, so an alternate way of solving the problem would be to create a class that implements the interface IFieldStorageEvents that updates the published state of the content when a field is updated.
public class FieldUpdateEventHandler : IFieldStorageEvents {
public void SetCalled(FieldStorageEventContext context) {
context.Content.ContentItem.VersionRecord.Published = false;
}
}
This would allow your original code to run as it was written.

LightSwitch - "Reference properties cannot be set to deleted or discarded entities."

I am experiencing this exception when trying to define a data member contained within another piece of data.
Example:
Container newRecord = this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.Containers.AddNew();
newRecord.SubContainer = this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.SubContainers.AddNew();
The exception, "Reference properties cannot be set to deleted or discarded entities.", is encountered with the second line.
I don't understand what entity it's talking about with regard to it being discarded or deleted, so any help with this issue would be most appreciated.
The code lines are in an interface function defined in LightSwitch, which is called from a Silverlight project, passing data from that project to the LightSwitch project.

I eventually managed to do this after working out that I needed to be on the 'Logic' thread, which I was not. I spent a little while messing around trying to find a this.DataContext but could not (my Silverlight project had this but not the LightSwitch project).
Eventually though I found out what I needed to do:
this.Details.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
{
Container newRecord = this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.Containers.AddNew();
newRecord.SubContainer = this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.SubContainers.AddNew();
newRecord.exampleIntProperty=2;
newRecord.SubContainer.innerString="Example";
});
I can then assign data to the properties of newRecord and the properties of the objects it contains (such as the example SubContainer's properties), although obviously the new record is not saved until LightSwitch is instructed to save its data.

Your code needs to be changed slightly:
Container newRecord = this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.Containers.AddNew();
SubContainer newSub = newRecord.SubContainers.AddNew();
If the navigation property isn't called SubContainers, just replace that with the correct name.