Explore the Problem Steps Recorder in Windows 7

If you’ve ever worked a Help Desk and become extremely frustrated while trying to coax an end user into accurately describing the problem they are encountering, you are going to love a new tool in Microsoft Windows 7 called the Problem Steps Recorder. When started, this new tool will essentially record each and every step a user takes and document the entire operation in both screen captures and step-by-step details. When stopped, the Problem Steps Recorder will save the recorded information as a compiled HTML file and package it up in a ZIP file that the end user can then e-mail to the Help Desk.
In this issue of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll introduce you to Windows 7’s Problem Steps Recorder.
Launching the tool
At this point in the beta, finding the Problem Steps Recorder is a bit tricky if you didn’t know that it existed as it really does not have a prominent access point. That may change as the UI matures a bit, but then again, it may remain hidden until needed-such as when a Help Desk tech tells the user to run it.
In any case, you can launch the Problem Steps Recorder in the beta by typing PSR in the Start menu’s Search box and pressing [Enter]. However, I also located it in the Control Panel by searching with the keyword “Problem”,

Use Process.Start to open files in their native applications

Use Process.Start to open files in their native applications

Dim ps As System.Diagnostics.Process

ps = Process.Start("C:\dhad.pdf")

or

ps = Process.Start("C:\text.txt")


to open Internet explorer Using Vb.net

Dim ps As System.Diagnostics.Process
'to open
ps = Process.Start("IEXPLORE.EXE")

'to kill

ps.kill()

Visual Basic : Generate A Csv File

First Add reference to Microsoft Activex Data Objects 2.5 Library

Option Explicit

Private m_cnDatabase As ADODB.Connection

Private Sub cmdExport_Click()

Call ExportToCVS("tbl_Watcher")

End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()

Set m_cnDatabase = New ADODB.Connection

With m_cnDatabase

.CursorLocation = adUseClient

.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=D:\folder\Project1\AccessDirectory.mdb;"

.Open

End With

End Sub

Private Sub ExportToCVS(ByRef sTable As String)

Dim sExportLine As String

Dim rsData As ADODB.Recordset

Dim sSql As String

Dim hFile As Long

Dim oField As ADODB.Field

On Error GoTo PROC_ERR

' ' Open the table. '

Set rsData = New ADODB.Recordset

With rsData

.ActiveConnection = m_cnDatabase

.CursorLocation = adUseClient

.CursorType = adOpenForwardOnly

.LockType = adLockReadOnly

.Source = "SELECT * FROM " & sTable

.Open

If (.State = adStateOpen) Then

hFile = FreeFile Open "C:\Temp\" & sTable & ".CSV" For Output As hFile

' Print file header with fieldnames.

sExportLine = ""

For Each oField In .Fields

sExportLine = sExportLine & oField.Name & ","

Next

sExportLine = VBA.Left$(sExportLine, Len(sExportLine) - 1)

Print #hFile, sExportLine

Do Until .EOF

sExportLine = ""

For Each oField In .Fields

sExportLine = sExportLine & oField.Value & ","Next

sExportLine = VBA.Left$(sExportLine, Len(sExportLine) - 1)

Print #hFile, sExportLine

.MoveNext

Loop

End If

End With

PROC_EXIT: ' ' Clean up and exit gracefully. '

If (Not rsData Is Nothing) Then

With rsData

If (.State <> adStateClosed) Then

.Close

End If

End With

End If

If (hFile <> 0) Then

Close hFile

End If

PROC_ERR:

Select Case Err.Number

Case Is <> 0

MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & " (" & Err.Description & ") in procedure ExportToCVS of Form frmMain"

Err.Clear

Resume PROC_EXIT

End Select

End Sub

C# Tutorial For Beginners - Fourth tutorial

Fourth tutorial

Congratulation you would soon be able to hack CsGL but there is one last step you should understand : interop (with C code).You will need a C compiler, I advise gcc for windows called MinGW, it's free, it's good, it's GCC!We will create 3 file:

echo.c

#include

#define DLLOBJECT __declspec(dllexport)

DLLOBJECT void writeln(char* s)
{
printf("%s\n", s);
}
echo.cs using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace HelloUtil
{
public class Echo
{
[DllImport("echo.native.dll", CallingConvention=CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
static extern void writeln(string s);

string myString;

public Echo(string aString)
{
myString = aString;
}

public void Tell()
{
writeln(myString);
}
}
}
hello.cs using System;
using HelloUtil;

public class Hello
{
public static void Main()
{
Echo h = new Echo("Hello my 1st interop code !");
h.Tell();
}
}
Hehe, here you discover a completly new thing, Attribute."[DllImport(.." is an attribute.You could tag any method/field/class with any number of attribute.They generate extra information that could be used by anyone who could understand them.This DllImport attribute is understand by the compiler and told him that the function below is in fact in a DLL whose name is "echo.native.dll". I add a calling convention parameter as the default .NET calling convention is __stdcall whereas, in C, it's __cdecl.By the way, if you look for DllImport in the documentation, look for DllImportAttribute, because you remove "Attribute" to attribute classname when using them, it's like this.
And now let's compile this! > csc /nologo /t:library /out:echo.dll echo.cs
> csc /nologo /out:hello.exe /r:echo.dll hello.cs
>
> rem "if the following line don't work, read bellow.."
> gcc -shared -o echo.native.dll echo.c
> strip echo.native.dll
the 2 last line (the gcc & strip command) are for building the "C-DLL".If they don't work maybe gcc is not in a directory listed in your path environment variable ? check with: %lt; echo %PATH%Well it's probably not,anyway, so type, assumin mingc is in C:\MinGW: set PATH=C:\MinGW;%PATH%And try again... you sure it's not a syntax error ?If it compile test it now: helloGreat isn't it ?
Now I should admit I didn't tell you all the truth. echo.dll and echo.native.dll are not the same kind of DLL. It's not just the language (C / C#) the C one is a plain executable full of, probably, x86 instruction, whereas the C# one is what MS call a portable executable.. anyway they are different.If you install echo.dll in the GAC it wont work because it won't find echo.native.dll except if you put in into the PATH (like C:\Windows\System32).In the same manner when you add the reference in VS.NET echo.native.dll is overlooked and your program won't work....So either put the native one in your path or copy it in the debug/release directory of VS.NET.Or do everything by hand (makefile? build.bat?) and put all your dll in you build directory, and everything work fine..

C# Tutorial For Beginners - Third tutorial

Third tutorial

Now you become to be pretty confident, I guess, so we could start using multiple file, and even a dll ? go into an other directory (or stay in this one, I won't mind) and create 2 file:hello.cs using System;

public class Hello
{
public static void Main()
{
HelloUtil.Echo h = new HelloUtil.Echo("Hello my 1st C# object !");
h.Tell();
}
}
echo.cs using System;

namespace HelloUtil
{
public class Echo
{
string myString;

public Echo(string aString)
{
myString = aString;
}

public void Tell()
{
Console.WriteLine(myString);
}
}
}
Note in hello.cs I have used the syntax "HelloUtil.Echo" it's because Echo is in the namespace HelloUtil, you could have typed (at he start of the file) using HelloUtil and avoid HelloUtil., that's the way namespace work.
Now you could compile both in one .exe with > csc /nologo /out:hello.exe *.csBut it's not my intention, no.Well.(Have you tried?)Let's go building a DLL: > csc /nologo /t:library /out:echo.dll echo.csthat's it (dir will confirm).Now we could use it ... > csc /out:hello.exe /r:echo.dll hello.cs if you typed "hello" it will worked as usual..., but if you delete "echo.dll" the program will now crash: it use the DLL. You could also change Echo.cs, rebuild the DLL and see... that's the advantage of DLL!
You could also put your DLL in the global assembly cache (GAC), and any program would be able to access it, even if the DLL is not in its directory! to put it in the GAC, I sugest you read MS doc but here are the unexplained step:
create your assembly key, create it once and use it for every version. you create it with: sn -k myKeyName.snkthe .snk file should be in your compilation directory (the one where your run csc)
create a strong asssembly title by adding in any .cs source file the following directive at top level: using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
[assembly: AssemblyTitle("My Lib Title")]
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.2.3.4")]
[assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("myKeyName.snk")]

now add it to the GAC: > gacutil.exe /if myLib.dll
By the way, did I tell you ? when I referenced the hello.dll while compiling, remember? csc /out:hello.exe /r:echo.dll hello.cs, it could have been any assembly, even a .exe !!!

C# Tutorial For Beginners Second tutorial

Second tutorial

Congratulation you've done the most difficult, let increase the difficulty. and create an object instance. in the DOS shell create a new directory: > md ..\learncs2
> cd ..\learncs2
> notepad hello.cs
and then type, in the notepad using System;

public class Echo
{
string myString;

public Echo(string aString)
{
myString = aString;
}

public void Tell()
{
Console.WriteLine(myString);
}
}

public class Hello
{
public static void Main()
{
Echo h = new Echo("Hello my 1st C# object !");
h.Tell();
}
}
Wouah, 25 lines! That's a program! Save it, compile it, run it...What happened? csc look for a Main() function in your program, it should find one (and only one) and it will be the entry point of your program.In this tutorial we create 2 classes: Echo & Hello. In the Main() method you create an Echo object (an instance of the Echo class) with the keyword newThen we called the instance method "Tell()".the upper case letter on class or Method is just a MS convention, do as it pleased you.public is a visibility access, method wich are not public could not be seen from outside, there is also other visibility keywords, to learn more, clic on Start menu-> Programs -> Microsoft .NET Framework SDK -> Documentation there is a search window, an index window, etc... try to learn more about public private protected.

C# Tutorial For Beginners- First tutorial

You should first open a DOS command shell. (If you don't know what it is, clic on the Start menu then run (at the bottom) and type, in the text field: "cmd".exercise: there is an easiest way to do that, try to find it.) You should begin to work in an empty directory for this. let call it "C:\learncs". Type in the shell: > md C:\learncs
> cd C:\learncs
> C:
Now you should create your first C# program, type "notepad hello.cs" and type (in the notepad) using System;

public class Hello
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello C# World :-)");
}
}
the using keyword just let you write Console at line 7, instead of System.Console. It's very usefull shortcut when you use a lot of "class" define in System.Save the file.Now you could compile. Type in the DOS Shell again and type: csc /nologo /out:hello.exe hello.csYou probaly have some errors, correct them, compile again, and now you have a working hello.exe program... type hello, see...