Changes between Version 12 and Version 13 of CodeBestPractices

Timestamp:

2012-03-25 20:22:32 (12 years ago)

Author:

jeroens

Comment:

--

CodeBestPractices

@@ -1 +1 @@
 = Best practices when coding EwE6 =
-This page attempts to convey some of the oddities and nasties that we have ran into over the years when building EwE6.
+This page describes standard solutions for recurring oddities and nasties that we have ran into over the years when building EwE6.
+
+== Mono compatibility ==
+.NET is in theory system-independent, and .NET applications can be deployed under Unix, Linux, MacOS, etc using runtime environments such as [http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page Mono]. However, not all .NET features work under Mono, most notably the !Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly. This can prove problematic since every Visual Basic project by default receives a reference to this assembly.
+
+In !EwE we have worked around this problem by redefining key types and constants from the !Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly in [http://webservice.ecopath.org/Ecopath/Help/Index.aspx EwEUtils]. You should not use Chr, Asc, IIF, TriState, MsgBox, UBound, InStr, vbTab, vbCrLF and a whole whack of other old and familiar constructs if you wish your application to run on any other OS than Windows.
+
+To remove reliance on !Microsoft.VisualBasic simply remove the auto-generated reference in the project properties References page. For most constructs .NET offers a solid alternative (for instance !Array.GetUpperBound()), but for other constructs you may have to be creative (vcTab becomes Convert.ToChar(9).ToString() - or do you have a better idea?).
 
 == User Interface design guidelines ==
@@ -16 +23 @@
 
 == Target processor ==
-The EwE source code now fully utilizes 64-bit capabilies. In order to make sure that Windows finds the correct 32 or 64 bit Access drivers make sure you always compile your EwE6 main project against x86 or x64, never against AnyCPU in'' Menu > Build > Configuration Manager''.
+The EwE source code now fully utilizes 64-bit capabilities. In order to make sure that Windows finds the correct 32 or 64 bit Access drivers make sure you always compile your EwE6 main project against x86 or x64, never against AnyCPU in'' Menu > Build > Configuration Manager''.
 
 Note that 64-bits EwE will not be able to find 32-bit Access database drivers and vice-versa.
 
 == Nasty experiences ==
- * Always override ''Dispose(bDisposing)'' to clean up UI elements, do not use ''!OnHandleDestroyed'' because the .NET framework, which wraps Win32 controls, may call this method during the regular life span of a .NET control to do housekeeping. The call may be followed by ''!OnHandleCreated'' - it's simply not a valid trigger to assume your control is dying. 
+ * Always override ''Dispose(bDisposing)'' to clean up sub-classed UI elements, do not use ''!OnHandleDestroyed'' because the .NET framework, which wraps Win32 controls, may call this method during the regular life span of a .NET control to do housekeeping. The call may be followed by ''!OnHandleCreated'' - it's simply not a valid trigger to assume your control is dying. 
  * Note that the Visual Studio designer automagically places a Dispose method in its *.designer.vb files which is blocked from debugging. You may want to manually move this method to your main vb file and strip off ''!DebuggerNonUserCode'' tags that prevent the debugger from stepping through the code.