Error: Type "Solution" is not defined???

[Webtest]

Esteemed Forum Participants and Lurkers:

The VB.Net Help examples FREQUENTLY omit essential tidbits of information, and are thus useless (to me, the newbie). I cut the "Solution" and "Globals" code straight out of the "VariableExists" examples, but it doesn't compile because "Solutions" is "not defined". I'm guessing I have to Import some namespace?

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Module Ini_Process
    Private objSoln As Solution  '<<< ERROR: Type 'Solution' is not defined
    Public g_test As Integer
    Sub test()
        ' Do some file operations here!!!
        If objSoln.Globals.VariableExists("g_test") Then
            MsgBox("Variable EXISTS")
        End If
    End Sub
End Module

How do I get "Solutions" defined???

Thank you for any comments, suggestions, and assistance.

[Mike Hildner]

It's in there, but it's is hidden. Notice the requirements section. To get it to work, add a reference to envdte, the you can use

Imports EnvDTE

[Webtest]

Mike -

I already tried that -

"Imports EnvDTE" generates an error:

"Namespace or type 'EnvDTE' for the Imports "EnvDTE' can not be found."

Where do we go from here?

[Mike Hildner]

You missed the first step. You have to add a reference first. From the pull-down menu, click project/Add Reference, then on the .NET tab, double click envdte then click ok. You will see this newly added reference under "References" in solution explorer.

That's when they mean when they say that namespace EnvDTE is required.

[Webtest]

Frustration Level 9.1 and climbing -

Does anyone have an example (for a NEWBIE!) of setting the value of an existing variable "Public g_test As Integer" by referencing the variable name in a string?
Dim varname As String

I want to read a string/value pair from a file, and load the variable. Here is what I have so far - it all compiles - but I obviously don't understand what "Globals" means or what "Property" has to do with what I am trying to accomplish ... I'm not looking at a property, unless a variable is a property of a class???

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports EnvDTE
Module Ini_Process
    Public g_test As Integer = 9  ' This variable is 'globally' available???
    Private objSoln As Solution
    Sub test()
        Dim tst As Boolean
        MsgBox(g_test, 0, "Variable: g_test")  ' variable definitely exists!
        tst = objSoln.Globals.VariableExists("g_test")  '<<<ERROR
    End Sub
End Module

The error message is:
An unhandled exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred in WindowsApplication1.exe

Additional information: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Thank you for your comments, suggestions, and assistance.

[Mike Hildner]

Not sure if this will help you or not. Strange thing is, first time I ran this code, g_test didn't seem to exist. Then after setting it, it did exist. I don't think the first time around it "sees" the g_test variable. But then it seems to create one.

Haven't ever message with this stuff before, so I don't know what's going on.

Public g_test As Integer = 9  ' This variable is 'globally' available???
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim DTE As EnvDTE.DTE
        DTE = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("VisualStudio.DTE")
        'MessageBox.Show(DTE.Solution.Globals.VariableValue("g_test"))
        MessageBox.Show(DTE.Solution.Globals.VariableExists("g_test"))
        DTE.Solution.Globals.VariableValue("g_test") = 42
        MessageBox.Show(DTE.Solution.Globals.VariableValue("g_test"))
    End Sub

[Webtest]

Mike: Thanks for your gracious help -

I don't think "Public g_test As Integer" creates a GLOBAL variable - it only creates a variable that can be referenced anywhere.


And that's consistent with your observation - from the help docs -

"If you attempt to check the value of a variable with the VariableValue property and the variable does not exist, a new variable of that name is created with a null value. "

So after the 1st time through, you have created a TRUE Global variable. How do we create TRUE GLOBAL variables in the first place?

[Mike Hildner]

What are you trying to do anyway? You know this stuff represents your IDE, I don't think you could use in production code.

[Webtest]

Mike -

I want to read a "text string"/"value" pair from a text file, and initialize a variable that has the name in the text string with the value read from the file.

This is just an initialization file for some variables. I don't want them necessarily hard coded in my project - if a variable is included in the initialization file, I want to overwrite it with the value in the file.

[Mike Hildner]

So, you mean like some sort of config file? Not sure why you're going through all the DTE stuff. If so, there's many ways to do it. Try searching around for some really good ideas.

FWIW, I've made a class that contains all the config variables I need, then you can just serialize/deserialize (I used xml). Worked for me, but I know this has been discussed and some really smart guy had a cool way to go about it.

[Webtest]

Mike:

I did something like this (load variables from an initialization file) about 5 years ago in LabWindows CVI, but I have done very little programming since then, and am a Newbie to VB.Net.

I've been dthinking about it, and once the application is compiled, the variable names don't exist any more - only memory location references. I think I must have just made a giant case statement with all of the variables to init. Unless anyone else has any brilliant ideas, that's the way I'll proceed.

Thanks for the help -

[Mike Hildner]

You may want to think of just using an App.config to store your config stuff - that's what it's made for. Check out the help. But basically it goes like this:

Add a configuration file to your project - it's one of the choices when you add a new item.

Set some stuff in it. for example:

<configuration>
	<appSettings>
      <add key="myDogsName" value="Buoy" /> 
      <add key="maxValuesAllowed" value="42" /> 
   </appSettings>
</configuration>

Then in your code, maybe in Form_Load, you get set your variables:

Public myDogsName As String
    Public maxValuesAllowed As Integer
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        myDogsName = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings.Get("myDogsName")
        maxValuesAllowed = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings.Get("maxValuesAllowed")
 
        MessageBox.Show(myDogsName)
        MessageBox.Show(maxValuesAllowed)
    End Sub

You can always check to see if there's a value in the file, and use your default if not. The file can ship with your app, so the end user can change.

[Webtest]

Mike -

I was just trying to reinvent the wheel. The App.config is EXACTLY what I was trying to do. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I told you I am a Newbie! Sorry I didn't make my goal plain in the first post - I'll try to do better in the future!

Thank you for your gracious patience and assistance. I'm learning!

[Mike Hildner]

I was just trying to reinvent the wheel

LOL - I did the exact same thing for my first couple of projects. Thought I was being smart by making all these reusable classes to facilitate reading a config file. Then I find out it's built in. duh.

Live and Learn

[Webtest]

Mike -

I finally found an ap note on the MS web with an example of a Config file application, and I even got it to work, for what it's worth:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...EN-US%3B313405

The config file format is in a klutzy XML format from a user's perspective. I would also still have to do a case statement to load a list of variables. As far as I can tell, the only thing this method does is that it offloads building a sorted list onto the config file. If I write code build a sorted list from a text file, I've got exactly the same capabilities. So, I'm abandoning the config file and rolling my own.