[serious] Other programming forums for really tough questions

VB Forums has been great over the years but I'm looking for a few other places to post my programming queries (mainly relating to vb.net).

I'm looking for things where, for example, one programmer I saw wanted to use inline ASM in vb6. Can't be done, right?

Somebody suggested he put the opcodes into a string and pass the pointer to the string to (iirc) CallWndProc to call the ASM code. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this. BTW, this shouldn't work on newer processors due to data execution prevention (I think).

Any idea of a good forum where instead of 'that can't be done' they answer 'how can this be done?'

I realize that this may come across as snide, rude, or insulting towards the VB Forums community. I can assure this is NOT how I intend this comment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by agent

Any idea of a good forum where instead of 'that can't be done' they answer 'how can this be done?'

---

This problm isn't in the forums'. It's in the members

Try the Microsoft newsgroups.

(Actually serious answer.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by agent

I'm looking for things where, for example, one programmer I saw wanted to use inline ASM in vb6. Can't be done, right?

Somebody suggested he put the opcodes into a string and pass the pointer to the string to (iirc) CallWndProc to call the ASM code. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this. BTW, this shouldn't work on newer processors due to data execution prevention (I think).

---

I asked VB6 ASM related question just a few days ago and my question was answered and resolved as well. ASM is very possible in VB6 using ThunderVB and MASM, although that will work only in compiled code. However, there are other methods as well that work also under IDE, Agilaz just figured out last week (thanks to my question) a new way to run ASM code without CallWndProc. Also, the method also works for running API calls much faster and also allows to pass variable pointers to native VB6 functions quicker without the need for VarPtr (which again is slowish to call).

So I can't see much of this "that can't be done" around here; a few members may give that answer, but those answers can be ignored and judging entire forum on that is rather harsh.


The topics: Making pointer of a long variable and ThunderVB ASM and function return value

I think I've only seen 1 member say "It can't be done", and that was Hack when I first started. And the next post corrected him, and he swore to never say that again.

(Correct me if i'm wrong Hack :))

So I don't knwo where you're drawing this conclusion from...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by agent

VB Forums has been great over the years but I'm looking for a few other places to post my programming queries (mainly relating to vb.net).

I'm looking for things where, for example, one programmer I saw wanted to use inline ASM in vb6. Can't be done, right?

Somebody suggested he put the opcodes into a string and pass the pointer to the string to (iirc) CallWndProc to call the ASM code. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this. BTW, this shouldn't work on newer processors due to data execution prevention (I think).

Any idea of a good forum where instead of 'that can't be done' they answer 'how can this be done?'

I realize that this may come across as snide, rude, or insulting towards the VB Forums community. I can assure this is NOT how I intend this comment.

---

I can help shorten that whole paragraph for you:

Quote:

---

ASM in VB6. C0d pls.....

---

My answer: www.rentacoder.com

Seriously, the people here give their time for free, in return those asking for help should help assist them selves too. I rarely use VB and have stumbled accorss threads which answer your question.

Finding a better forum for VB and VB.NET help?


Can't be done. :wave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JPicasso

Finding a better forum for VB and VB.NET help?


Can't be done. :wave:

---

Amen

The big difference I see between VBF and other forums is that you learn about it and how to do it. 95% of these threads are "mini-articles" as opposed to other forum's copy and paste solutions.

Which actually works better (IMO). If the snippet that's posted doesn't work for you; reading through the posts and links will explain how to modify it to do what you need. Conceptually, that should cut down on redundant questions, but nothing is ideal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Merri

So I can't see much of this "that can't be done" around here; a few members may give that answer, but those answers can be ignored and judging entire forum on that is rather harsh.

---

That's because the hard questions just aren't replied to.

You don't consider my question on "Making pointer of a long variable" a hard question? If you think about it, to really get an answer there needs to be a lot of knowledge lying in the back of a head. In this case we got a very creative solution that doesn't answer the actual question, but is solves the issue; and is actually much more as well.

I didn't expect to get any answers when I made the thread, yet I did. Asking is worthwhile, even if you don't always get an answer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arrow_Raider

That's because the hard questions just aren't replied to.

---

I'm actually offended by that ;)

I work up complete examples in query analyzer to questions that are asked. I enjoy the challenge of arriving at a solution to a complex database query question - takes my mind off what I'm working on.

All my questions always get answered - I might not ask many, but when I'm stuck on a .Net issue or have a truly difficult requirement in VB6 I always get an answer.

The only questions I see that don't always get answers are questions about third party controls or crystal reports.

It's usually some crazy, obscure control that someone googled and bought without reading about the company or their product (which they should be asking the vendor about anyway). As for crystal reports, I'm confident everyone hates CR and no one wants to think about it more then they have to. ;)

It's not so much the difficult questions that don't get answered, it's the "write a program for me, I'm too lazy to do it" or "do my homework for me, I can't be bothered" types that don't get answered. Hey, I'm too lazy too, and can't be bothered either.

But it's fun to have to work out a solution to what is sometimes a more difficult problem than it appears on the surface. "I'll just pop this code into the IDE and ... oh, wait a minute, that's not going to work ..."

The majority of the hard questions I post have gone either unanswered or the answer provided didn't quite fix the problem.

The major problems I'm having that I can't seem to find a decent solution to are thus: (ordered by most pressing to least pressing in my surrent project)

All these are for vb.net 2005

Deserialize a class from a file into a generic or fallback class when the class is not available on the system. In other words, program saves data which may included data dynamically rendered by a plugin. Both the data used to render and the result of the render are serialized. I want to find a way to show the rendered data without being able to modify it in the event that the plugin couldn't be loaded.

Create ShellView window and a folders dropdown. I'm emulating a heavily modified Save As dialog. Me thinks it would be simpler to create it from scratch rather than subclassing the hell out of an existing Save As... Me thinks I was wrong. (I want to use the built in ShellView window, not emulate it using a ListView control.)

Call/Provide a function pointer from/to a 3rd party dll that provides/requires one. I'm trying to host (not write) a couple winamp plugins. For those who aren't familiar with the NSDN (Null Soft Devloper Network), the Init function in each plugin returns a struct with a bunch of function pointers that the player calls when appropriate. The player may also pass pointers to the dll which may also be called by the dll. In vb6, you could pass a function pointer using AddressOf. You couldn't call a function pointer though. .Net's AddressOf operator passes a delegate, not a function pointer, so now I can't pass those to the dll anymore.

These are three hard problems I've not been able to get help with on this forum. I'm hoping that the increased publicity of this posting my lead to some solutions.

Otherwise, this forum has been great over the years.