LogicNP Software Knowledge Base And FAQ

Announcements :: Brand new component - Crypto Obfuscator For .Net v2009 released..

Crypto Obfuscator For .Net Released

We are pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Crypto Obfuscator for .Net. Crypto Obfuscator For .Net is a powerful and easy-to-use obfuscator and protection product for:

.Code Protection & Obfuscation
.Improved And Simplified Deployment
.Optimization And Performance Improvement

Product Information : http://www.ssware.com/cryptoobfuscator/obfuscator-net.htm

Download: http://www.ssware.com/cryptoobfuscator/download.htm

Features At A Glance
Crypto Obfuscator uses a combination of the following sophisticated and advanced techniques for code protection, performance optimization and simplified deployment:
.Symbol Renaming
.String Encryption
.Control Flow Obfuscation
.ILDASM Protection
.Anti-Reflection Protection
.Anti-Decompiler Protection
.Resource Encryption & Compression
.Assembly Embedding, Encryption & Compression
.Digital Watermarking For License Tracking
.Metadata Reduction
.Runtime Performance Optimizations
.Best Ever Code Obfuscation & Protection
.Simplified And Smaller Deployment

Additional Features
.Incremental Obfuscation
.Automatic Re-signing of assemblies
.Exclude/Include entities from obfuscation using Obfuscation Rules or inline Obfuscation Attributes
.Debugging Support & Stack Trace De-Obfuscation
.Command Line Support - Integrate in your build process.
And much more..!

Crypto Obfuscator Helps You To:
.Protect your code and intellectual property from hackers, crackers or competitors.
.Increase ROI for your business.
.Save time and money spent handling deployment related issues.
.Improve the performance of your application.
.Build a fast, light-weight and robust application

Product Information and Download

Product Information : http://www.ssware.com/cryptoobfuscator/obfuscator-net.htm

Download: http://www.ssware.com/cryptoobfuscator/download.htm

Existing Customer Discount
As an introductory offer, for a limited time, existing customers can get Crypto Obfuscator for a 10% discount. Contact us at sales@ssware.com to get your discount code. Be sure to include your complete license info in the email.

If you have any queries about Crypto Obfuscator or need technical support, contact us at support@ssware.com

Announcements :: LogicNP Software Product Newsletter : CryptoLicensing v2009 (v2.0) now available..

CryptoLicensing v2009 (v2.0) Released

We are pleased to announce the release of the next version of CryptoLicensing. Some of the exciting new features are listed below. A complete list of new features and functionality, new API, changes and fixes can be found by clicking on the 'Version History' link on the download page.

CryptoLicensing Generator

. E-Commerce integration with various providers like PayPal, ShareIt, Plimus, etc. Includes ready-to-use license generators for these e-commerce providers which can automatically perform order-fulfillment and license delivery when using your preferred e-commerce provider.
. .Net Edition - Tie License To Specific Host Assembly using a combination of the assembly's name, version or public key.
. .Net Edition - One-of-a-kind Ability To Perform Strong Name Verification of the host assembly even if it has been disabled by hackers or crackers. When combined with the check against the public key of the host assembly, ensures that the host assembly has not been tampered and that its the public key has not been changed (typical ways to crack your software).
. Enable/disable tamper checking (date rollback) when using trial licenses.
. String and number data fields can now have standard values that can be selected via a dropdown list.
. Record IP addresses when licenses/serials are activated/validated.

Software-side API and Generator API

. Added 'userData' parameter to CryptoLicense.GetLicenseFromSerial and LicenseService.ValidateSerial - this allows setting custom user-data in returned license.
. Added CryptoLicense.EnableTamperChecking property and CryptoLicenseGenerator.EnableTamperChecking property.
. .Net Edition - Added CryptoLicense.HostAssembly, CryptoLicense.HostAssemblyName, CryptoLicense.HasHostAssemblyName properties and corresponding CryptoLicenseGenerator properties. These are used to check for matching host assembly and perform (force) strong name verification.
. Added CryptoLicense.UseHashedMachineCode property.
. New LicenseService.LogException method to enable troubleshooting of a live license service.
. LicenseService.Deactivate, DeregisterFloatingLicense, IsLicenseDisabled and NotifyValidated now return encrypted boolean strings for better security.
. Added ability to show 'Offline Activation' and 'Computer ID' in Evaluation Info dialog.

Product Information and Download

CryptoLicensing for .Net
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_net.htm

CryptoLicensing for MFC
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_mfc.htm

CryptoLicensing for ActiveX
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_ocx.htm

Announcements :: LogicNP Software Product Newsletter : EZNamespaceExtensions v2009 and EZShellExtensions v2009 for .Net and MFC now available..

EZNamespaceExtensions v2009 and EZShellExtensions v2009 for .Net and MFC released

We are pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of EZNamespaceExtensions v2009 and EZShellExtensions v2009 for .Net and MFC. The new version features many new features and functionality and improved support Vista and Windows 7. A complete list of all new features can be found further along this newsletter.

Product Information and Download
EZNamespaceExtensions.Net v2009 :
http://www.ssware.com/eznamespaceextensions/eznamespaceextensions.htm

EZShellExtensions.Net v2009 :
http://www.ssware.com/ezshell/ezshell.htm

EZNamespaceExtensionsMFC v2009 :
http://www.ssware.com/eznamespaceextensions/eznamespaceextensionsmfc.htm

EZShellExtensionsMFC v2009 :
http://www.ssware.com/ezshell/ezshellextensionsmfc.htm

Upgrade Information
v2009 is a free upgrade for customers who have an active Support And Upgrade Subscription. To get your v2009 license, goto http://www.ssware.com/upgrade.htm

v2009 is a paid upgrade For 'License Only' customers and customers whose Support And Upgrade Subscription has expired. To upgrade to v2009, goto http://www.ssware.com/upgrade.htm

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New Build of CryptoLicensing Available
A new build dated 9 June 2009 (Build 591609) of CryptoLicensing v2009 for .Net, MFC and ActiveX is available for download. This build has new features and functionality, new APIs and bug fixes made over the past few weeks.

Product Information and Download

CryptoLicensing for .Net
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_net.htm

CryptoLicensing for MFC
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_mfc.htm

CryptoLicensing for ActiveX
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_ocx.htm

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What's new in EZNamespaceExtensions.Net v2009
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added ability to specify properties of the root node of the NSE such as the 'Comments' string, 'Percent Full', etc via the NSETargetInfo.AddRootNodeProperty method.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Vista Toolbar support.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Tile View support on Vista.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Property sheet extensions developed with EZShellExtensions can be displayed for inner items in the namespace extension via the NSEPropertySheet class.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for attachments drag-dropped from Outlook (via NSEDataObject.GetFileDescriptors method).
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for managed icons when specifying root node icon via NSETargetInfo or NSEFolder.SetRootFolderIcon.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: ShellMenu.SetBitmap changed so that bitmaps are seen properly even when the menu item is hovered over.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Vista Preview Details functionality.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Improved default implementation of CompareTo method.
. CHANGE: Added workaround for "potential security flaw" message shown on XP when KB921398 is installed.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for custom views on Windows 7.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for Utils.BrowseTo when used from context menu invoked from tree (left-side) in Windows Explorer.
. NEW CLASS: New ExplorerCommand class.
. NEW METHOD: New NSEFolder.GetToolbarCommands method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.PIDLConcat method.
. NEW METHOD: Added new NSEFolder.GetColumnValueEx method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.GetDriveType method.
. NEW CLASS: Added new NSEPropertySheet class.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.SysIconIndexFromPIDL method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.ExecuteShellCommand method.
. NEW METHOD: Added NSEFolder.RefreshView(bool syncronous) overload.
. NEW PROPERTY: Added NSEDataObject.TargetCLSID property
. NEW METHOD: NSEDataObject.IsDropTargetRecycleBin method.
. NEW METHOD: Added NSEFolder::InitializeWithTarget method.
. NEW METHODS: Add NSEFolder.SetRootFolderIcon and NSEFolder.SetRootFolderInfotip methods.
. FIX: ShouldDeleteSource() did not return correct values on Vista.
. FIX: Crash occurred WinXP x64 when moving over frame menu item.
. FIX: OnExternalDrop method did not get called correctly on Vista.
. FIX: NSEItem.GetIconFileAndIndex did not work when passing paths containing Unicode characters.
. FIX: Dragging emails from Outlook did not work for more than 1 email.

What's New in EZShellExtensions.Net 2009
. NEW EXTENSION: Control Panel Item.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: It is now possible to return multiple columns from a single column extension.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Property sheet extensions can now be used for inner items of a namespace extension developed with EZNamespaceExtensions.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for Utils.BrowseTo when used from context menu invoked from tree (left-side) in Windows Explorer.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: TargetFiles for Context menu/Property sheet/etc can now return files even when Unicode (non-Latin) characters ar present in file path.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: ShellMenu.SetBitmap changed so that bitmaps are seen properly even when the menu item is hovered over.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Thumbnail extensions and thumbnail provider can now be registered using progid or rootkey-path pair (like contextmenu and property sheet extensions).
. CHANGE: Infotip extension now respects the return type of OnInitialize method and fails if it returns false.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.GetDriveType method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.SysIconIndexFromPIDL method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.PIDLConcat method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.GetPIDLListFromDataObject method.
. NEW METHOD: Added Utils.ExecuteShellCommand method.

What's new in EZNamespaceExtensionsMFC v2009
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added ability to specify properties of the root node of the NSE such as the 'Comments' string, 'Percent Full', etc via the CNSETargetInfo.AddRootNodeProperty method
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Vista Toolbar support.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Tile View support on Vista.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Property sheet extensions developed with EZShellExtensions can be displayed for inner items in the namespace extension via the NSEPropertySheet class.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for attachments drag-dropped from Outlook (via CNSEDataObject.GetFileDescriptors method).
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for managed icons when specifying root node icon via CNSETargetInfo or CNSEFolder.SetRootFolderIcon.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: CShellMenu.SetBitmap changed so that bitmaps are seen properly even when the menu item is hovered over.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added Vista Preview Details functionality.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Improved default implementation of CompareTo method.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for dragdrop images on Vista.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for custom views on Windows 7.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for CUtils.BrowseTo when used from context menu invoked from tree (left-side) in Windows Explorer.
. CHANGE: Added workaround for "potential security flaw" message shown on XP when KB921398 is installed.
. CHANGE: Throwing exception in GetCustomView now causes Windows Explorer to revert to previously browsed folder.
. NEW CLASS: New CExplorerCommand class.
. NEW METHOD: New CNSEFolder.GetToolbarCommands method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils::RefreshRootFolder method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.PIDLConcat method.
. NEW METHOD: Added new CNSEFolder.GetColumnValueEx method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.GetDriveType method.
. NEW CLASS: Added new CNSEPropertySheet class.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.SysIconIndexFromPIDL method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.ExecuteShellCommand method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CNSEFolder.RefreshView(bool syncronous) overload.
. NEW PROPERTY: Added CNSEDataObject.GetTargetCLSID method.
. NEW METHOD: CNSEDataObject.IsDropTargetRecycleBin method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CNSEFolder::InitializeWithTarget method.
. NEW METHODS: Add CNSEFolder.SetRootFolderIcon and NSEFolder.SetRootFolderInfotip methods.
. FIX: ShouldDeleteSource() did not return correct values on Vista.
. FIX: Crash occurred WinXP x64 when moving over frame menu item.
. FIX: OnExternalDrop method did not get called correctly on Vista.
. FIX: CNSEItem.GetIconFileAndIndex did not work when passing paths containing Unicode characters.
. FIX: Dragging emails from Outlook did not work for more than 1 email.
. FIX: Removed memory leak when browsing extension from File Open-Save dialogs.

What's New in EZShellExtensionsMFC v2009
. NEW EXTENSION: Control Panel Item.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: It is now possible to return multiple columns from a single column extension.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Property sheet extensions can now be used for inner items of a namespace extension developed with EZNamespaceExtensions.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for CUtils.BrowseTo when used from context menu invoked from tree (left-side) in Windows Explorer.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: TargetFiles for Context menu/Property sheet/etc can now return files even when Unicode (non-Latin) characters ar present in file path.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: CShellMenu.SetBitmap changed so that bitmaps are seen properly even when the menu item is hovered over.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Thumbnail extensions and thumbnail provider can now be registered using progid or rootkey-path pair (like contextmenu and property sheet extensions).
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for accelerator keys such as backspace, etc in band objects. Tabbing also works now.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Size specified at design-time for the dialog resource is honored.
. NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Added support for context menu commands selected via shortcut to the registered target extension.
. CHANGE: Infotip extension now respects the return type of OnInitialize method and fails if it returns false.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.GetDriveType method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.SysIconIndexFromPIDL method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.PIDLConcat method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.GetPIDLListFromDataObject method.
. NEW METHOD: Added CUtils.ExecuteShellCommand method.
. FIX: Crash occurred in context menu extension under certain circumstances when help string was very long.
. FIX: Crash occurred in overlay icon extension under certain circumstances.

Announcements :: LogicNP Software Product Newsletter : Brand new component - CryptoLicensing v2009 For .Net, MFC and ActiveX now available..

CryptoLicensing v2009 For .Net, MFC and ActiveX Released

After a successful period of beta testing, we are pleased to announce the release and immediately availability of the release version of CryptoLicensing for .Net, MFC and ActiveX. CryptoLicensing provides a robust, yet easy way to add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your software. CryptoLicensing uses the latest military strength, state-of-the-art cryptographic technology to ensure that your software and intellectual property is protected.

.Protect your intellectual property, increase sales and maximize ROI.
.Variety of licensing rules for the most common licensing scenarios.
.Create cryptographic licenses for full versions of your software.
.Create evaluation or trial versions.
.Add online or manual activation and hardware locking.
.On-demand licenses.
.Subscription licenses.
.And more!
.Flexible and adaptable licensing to suit your exact needs.
.Secure and unbreakable cryptographic licenses offers maximum protection to your software.
.User friendly activation and hardware locking scheme.
.Fast, reliable, light-weight and simple API to integrate in your software.
.Comprehensive documentation, useful samples, and prompt competent technical support.

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CryptoLicensing is available in three editions :

CryptoLicensing for .Net
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your .Net, Windows Forms (WinForms) and WPF applications, components and controls and ASP.Net web sites.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_net.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadnet.htm

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CryptoLicensing for MFC
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your MFC, ATL or C++ applications, libraries, components and controls.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_mfc.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadmfc.htm

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CryptoLicensing for ActiveX
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your VB6, VBA, RealBasic, Delphi, Borland, MFC, ATL, C++, etc applications, libraries, components and controls.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_ocx.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadocx.htm

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License Features
Latest cryptographic technologies used for license generation and validation which provides the highest security and copy-protection to your software.
.Support for hardware-locked and activated licenses.
.Support for floating licenses.
.Every license code is guaranteed to be unique, even if you generate thousands of codes at a time.
.Ready-to-use license server for
.Activating licenses
.Validating serials
.Issuing on-demand licenses
.Creating software subscriptions
.Remote monitoring of software usage
.Revoking licenses.
.Support for evaluation licenses with various evaluation parameters such as
.Maximum usage days
.Maximum unique usage days
.Maximum executions
.Maximum run-time
.Maximum cumulative run-time
.Absolute date/time after which the license expires.
.Support for up to 31 license features which allow enabling/disabling specific functionality in your software. A common use of this is to define 'editions' of your software such as a 'Standard', 'Professional' and 'Enterprise' edition.
. .Net Edition: Support for Winforms, WPF and Asp.Net control and component licensing with separate design-time and run-time licenses.
.Support for embedding any amount of additional user-data in the license.

CryptoLicensing Generator Features
.Simple and easy-to-use user interface.
.Generate up to 30,000 licenses at a time.
.Set up license settings profiles to quickly generate licenses for that settings profile.
.Specify custom user-data via 'Data Fields' such as Name, Email, Company Name, etc.
.Export license and serial codes to file.
.Powerful post-generation processing support.
.Insert licenses in a specified template.
.Save generated licenses to a file in a specified format/template.
.Run external programs when a license is generated.
.Plugin support allows you to perform your own processing or tasks whenever licenses are generated.
.User data plugins allow you to enter your own user-data using your own UI or specify your own source for user-data.

CryptoLicensing Generator API
.Generate license/serial codes via code.
.Specify license features and capabilities via code and generate licenses/serials with those settings.
.Simple and easy-to-use, yet powerful API.
.Achieve any level of customization and integration in your license generation, sales/e-commerce and order-fulfillment process

Announcements :: LogicNP Software Product Newsletter : Brand new component - Shell MegaPack.WPF now available..

Shell MegaPack.WPF released!

We are pleased to announce the release and immediately availability of Shell MegaPack.WPF. Built on the same robust code base as Shell MegaPack.Net, Shell MegaPack.WPF brings Windows-Explorer like file and folder browser functionality to your WPF apps. Additionally, the ShellObjects.WPF set of controls of components allows your to convert your WPF forms in to quick-launch-like appbars, show animated icons to the system tray notification are, display multiple MSN/Office 2003 like popups, and more!

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/megapack.htm

Download WPF Edition
http://www.ssware.com/megapack/downloadwpf.htm

Order WPF edition
http://www.ssware.com/megapack/order_wpf.htm

Note that the .Net(Win Forms) and WPF editions require separate licenses and purchases. Licenses for one will not work with another edition.

Other news...
VS Explorer for Visual Studio 2008/2005 now available.

VS Explorer is a Windows Explorer-Like File And Folder Explorer Addin For Visual Studio.
- Eliminate switching back and forth between Visual Studio and Windows Explorer and other external programs.
- Concentrate on your workflow
- Save time and work efficiently.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/vsexplorer.htm

Announcements :: VS Explorer now works with Visual Studio 2010

We have recently updated VS Explorer so that it now works in Visual Studio 2010 too. Download the latest version from our website and install. After installing VS Explorer, in Visual Studio 2010:

Click Tools menu --> Options....
In the tree, select Environment-->Extension Manager, and make sure 'Load extensions from my local application data folder' is checked.
Close the Options dialog, then click Tools menu-->Extensions Manager.
In the Extension Manager, select 'VS Explorer' from the list, then click the 'Enable' button and finally click the 'Restart Now' button.
After Visual Studio restarts, click View menu --> Other Windows-->VS Explorer to bring up VS Explorer.

Announcements :: Major Update For CryptoLicensing v2009 Released With New Features and Functionality

Major Update For CryptoLicensing v2009 Released With New Features and Functionality

A new updated build (Build 591519) of CryptoLicensing v2009 for .Net, MFC and Active is available for immediate download. This build has many new features and functionality, new APIs and bug fixes made over the last month since CryptoLicensing was first released. Simultaneously, the documentation help file has been expanded and our KB at http://www.ssware.com/support/ now contains topics related to CryptoLicensing.

Here is a list of the new features and functionality and bug-fixes:

CryptoLicensing Generator UI

*NEW: It is now possible to validate activated licenses using the 'Validate' button. For this, you need to specify the URL of your license service in the Project Properties Dialog (Ctrl+P).
*NEW: A new low-priced 'Sales Edition' is now available for purchase if your license generation is handled by resellers or other 3rd parties.
*NEW: Project file is automatically copied to the local path where you last created the license service files. When testing on the local host, this can be useful to keep the project file used by the license service updated.
*NEW: 'Import Licenses' functionality of the license service can now use just the license codes directly and does not require the license ids.
*NEW: 'Import Licenses' functionality of the license service can now import license codes in the 'Disabled License' table. This can be used to keep a list of disabled licensed which should be revoked.
*NEW: When a license code is validated, the embedded user data, if any, is displayed in the active user data provider.
*FIX: Project file failed to load when 'Floating' activations was specified for a profile.
*FIX: 'Max Instances' profile setting did not save and load properly.
*FIX: 'Insert In Template' setting was not getting saved in the project file.
*FIX: Error occurred when trying to generate a license service before a newly created project is saved. You are now prompted to save the project file first if this happens.

Software-side API and Generator API

*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.Deactivate method.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.ValidateSignature method.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.IsLicenseDisabledInService method.
*NEW: CryptoLicense.CurrentUsageDays, CurrentUniqueUsageDays, CurrentExecutions and CurrentCumulativeRuntime properties are now read-write.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.RemainingUsageDays, RemainingUniqueUsageDays, RemainingExecutions and RemainingCumulativeRuntime properties.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.IsEvaluationTampered method.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicense.ResetEvaluationInfo method.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicenseUserDataPlugin.SetUserData method.
*NEW: Added CryptoLicenseGenerator.SetActiveProfile method.
*NEW: Added LicenseService.IsLicenseDisabled license service method.
*NEW: CryptoLicense.IsEvaluationLicense can be used to determine whether license is an evaluation license even before it is validated.
*FIX: Licenses not loaded and saved correctly to registry or file.
*FIX: CryptoLicense.GetLicenseFromProfile not working
*FIX: Cannot activate activated licenses ('Limit activations to') from ShowEvaluationInfoDialog. (.Net).
CryptoLicense.GetLicenseFromProfile not working correctly.

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CryptoLicensing is available in three editions :

CryptoLicensing for .Net
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your .Net, Windows Forms (WinForms) and WPF applications, components and controls and ASP.Net web sites.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_net.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadnet.htm

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CryptoLicensing for MFC
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your MFC, ATL or C++ applications, libraries, components and controls.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_mfc.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadmfc.htm

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CryptoLicensing for ActiveX
Add licensing, copy-protection and activation capabilities to your VB6, VBA, RealBasic, Delphi, Borland, MFC, ATL, C++, etc applications, libraries, components and controls.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_ocx.htm

Download
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/downloadocx.htm

Announcements :: Shell MegaPack.WPF released!

Shell MegaPack.WPF released!

We are pleased to announce the release and immediately availability of Shell MegaPack.WPF. Built on the same robust code base as Shell MegaPack.Net, Shell MegaPack.WPF brings Windows-Explorer like file and folder browser functionality to your WPF apps. Additionally, the ShellObjects.WPF set of controls of components allows your to convert your WPF forms in to quick-launch-like appbars, show animated icons to the system tray notification are, display multiple MSN/Office 2003 like popups, and more!

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/megapack.htm

Download WPF Edition
http://www.ssware.com/megapack/downloadwpf.htm

Order WPF edition
http://www.ssware.com/megapack/order_wpf.htm

Note that the .Net(Win Forms) and WPF editions require separate licenses and purchases. Licenses for one will not work with another edition.

Other news...

VS Explorer for Visual Studio 2008/2005 now available.

VS Explorer is a Windows Explorer-Like File And Folder Explorer Addin For Visual Studio.
- Eliminate switching back and forth between Visual Studio and Windows Explorer and other external programs.
- Concentrate on your workflow
- Save time and work efficiently.

Product Information page
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/vsexplorer.htm

Announcements :: LogicNP Software Product Newsletter : Brand new component - VSEXplorer now available..

Announcing VS Explorer

We are pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of our new product - VS Explorer for Visual Studio. VS Explorer is a file and folder explorer addin for Visual Studio which brings Windows Explorer-like file and folder browsing inside of Visual Studio.

Some of the main features of VS Explorer include:

Quickly browse to the 'Solution' folder, the 'Active Project' Folder, the 'Output' folder or the folder corresponding to the currently selected item.
Open Command Prompt at selected folder.
Copy paths of selected files/folders to the clipboard.
Open selected files/folders in current Visual Studio instance.
Add selected .dll or .exe files as references to the active project.
Quickly browse to special folders such as the 'Program Files' or 'Windows' folder.
Open Command Prompt on currently browsed folder.
Copy path of current browsed folder to clipboard.
Specify 'excluded' files and folders - these are not displayed in VS Explorer
Specify files which are automatically opened in the current Visual Studio instance instead of externally, using their default associated program.
Same Windows Explorer-like context-menus including 3rd party extensions such as TortoiseSVN. No need to ever leave the Visual Studio environment.
Same Windows Explorer-Like drag-drop functionality allows you to add files and folders to your projects directly!
Various Views - Icons, Details, List and Thumbnails
Various layouts - Tree Only, List Only, Tree And List.
VS Explorer benefits you in the following ways:

Eliminate switching back and forth between Visual Studio and Windows Explorer and other external programs.
Concentrate on your work flow and preserve thought-flow and concentration.
Save time and reduce stress.
Work efficiently.

VS Explorer Product Page
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/vsexplorer.htm

VS Explorer Screenshot
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/shots/layout_tree.png

VS Explorer Download
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/download.htm

VS Explorer Order Page
http://www.ssware.com/vsexplorer/order.php

Flexible Upgrade Offer Extended!
Due to your overwhelming response, we have extended the upgrade offers till 31st December! The flexible upgrade scheme allows you to upgrade any license to any other license just by paying the price difference between the two. Here are some examples :

You have a FileView License worth USD 129 and you would like to upgrade to Shell MegaPack (costs USD 299); you can do so for USD 299 - USD 129 = USD 170

You have a Shell MegaPack License worth USD 299 and you would like to get the 4-developer license pack (costs USD 1049); you can do so for USD 1049 - USD 299 = USD 750

You have a EZNamespaceExtensions.Net 4-Developer License with Support And Upgrade Subscription worth USD 1479 and you would like to upgrade to EZNamespaceExtensions.Net + EZShellExtensions.Net 4-Developer License with Support And Upgrade Subscription (costs USD 1879); you can do so for USD 1879 - USD 1479 = USD 400

Simply goto http://www.ssware.com/upgrade.htm and let us know your existing license and the new license you wish to upgrade to.

See more information about the offer at http://www.ssware.com/newsletters/nl31.htm

Announcements :: ARTICLE : http://www.ssware.com/articles/shbrowseforfolder-unmasked-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-windows-folder-browser-component.htm

Original Article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/shbrowseforfolder-unmasked-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-windows-folder-browser-component.htm

Introduction
The SHBrowseForFolder Windows API function provides a folder browser component for your MFC/ATL/C++ and VB6 applications. The UI consists of a modal dialog which contains a tree control displaying all the files and folders on the system. The user can then browse and select a folder from the tree. The full path of the selected folder is then returned.

Basic Usage
To display a folder explorer UI to the user, the SHBrowseForFolder function is called. This shows the modal dialog containing the folder browser control (tree) and an OK and Cancel button. If the user selects a folder and clicks the OK button, the ShowDialog method returns a PIDL representing the folder selected. If the user clicks the Cancel button, a NULL value is returned.

Advanced Usage
The SHBrowseForFolder has some additional features such as limiting the view of the file system that is displayed to the user and displaying a button to allow the user to create a new folder.
The folder explorer control's root folder can be set to the full path of the folder which is to be displayed as the root of the tree control of the folder browser component. For example, only folders from the 'My Documents' folder can be displayed in the tree, so the user can only select 'My Documents' or its sub-folders.

The folder browser dialog can also be made to show a 'New Folder' button, in addition to the folder explorer tree control, and the OK and Cancel buttons. When it is clicked, it creates a new folder under the currently selected folder.

Limitations
While the folder browser component is a handy way to allow the users to browse and select folders, it suffers from many limitations, some of them preventing the component from being of practical use in applications.

Modal Functionality
The most visible drawback of the folder browser component is that it displays its UI in the form of a modal dialog. When shown, it blocks the rest of the application until the user has chosen a folder. As long as the dialog is displayed, no input (keyboard or mouse click) can occur except within the dialog box. The user must click the OK or Cancel button before input to the calling program can occur.

This is a very annoying and limiting feature of the folder browser dialog. Users are very likely to be irritated and annoyed when they have to interact with a modal dialog every time they have to explore and select a folder. A non-modal UI control which can be put inside of one of the applications's own forms or dialogs is a much more user-friendly way of displaying the same UI.

No Check Boxes
The folder explorer tree in the folder browser dialog cannot show check boxes next to nodes. Ability to show multi-state check boxes can be a very handle feature for such a control.

No Filtering
The folder browser control has no support for filtering. For example, it is not possible to display only network folders or only shared folders or only folders starting with the string "Documents" or files having a particular extension.

No Custom Controls
When using the folder browser component, you are only limited to the actual folder explorer tree control, the OK, Cancel and New Folder buttons and the description label. It is not possible to add custom controls to the dialog box. This can be useful in many circumstances such as when you want to show a thumbnail/preview of the selected file/folder or any kind of additional information.

No Appearance Control
The appearance of the folder browser dialog and its constituent controls cannot be changed. Neither can attributes of individual folders show in the folder explorer control be changed. For example, it is not possible to change the background color of the tree control or to set the font and color of individual nodes/folders in the tree.

No Custom items
The folder browser dialog cannot display external/custom items in the folder explorer tree. For example, it may be necessary to display items from an FTP location in addition to the file system items. This is not possible with the folder browser dialog .

No Lockdown
The folder browser component allows unhindered operations on folders. The user can rename folders, do drag-drop operations and display the context menu and invoke various operations. In many cases, it may be necessary to limit or altogether prevent such potentially dangerous and irreversible operations, however the older browser component provides no way of doing that.

Beyond SHBrowseForFolder : The FolderView Control
The FolderView Control brings a Windows Explorer like folder browser component to your applications complete with AutoUpdate, dragdrop, icons, contextmenus, Non-file system items, default key-handling, infotips and renaming. It features powerful behavior control and customization functionality that takes it miles ahead of Windows Explorer by adding features like filtering, checkboxes, custom items, multiple root nodes, dragdrop control and customization of default contextmenus, displaynames, icons and infotips.

The FolderView control is a UI control which can be dropped right inside your own forms and dialogs. A non-modal file & folder browsing/selection experience right inside your own dialogs and forms is something that users will appreciate and find intuitive and simple.

Additionally, FolderView overcomes all the limitations of SHBrowseForFolder and provides far greater and advanced features and functionality than the SHBrowseForFolder API. The following table is a quick comparison of the FolderView Control with the SHBrowseForFolder.

Drop-In Windows Explorer like folder browser functionality.
FolderView Control : Yes. Modal UI.
SHBrowseForFolder : The component cannot be dropped in your own form.

Complete Windows Explorer functionality include a file/folder browsing listview (similar to Windows Explorer's right-side) and a drive selection control (similar to Windows Explorer's address bar)
FolderView Control : Yes. As part of Shell MegaPack
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Multi-state check boxes
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Filtering capabilities
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Custom controls
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Appearance Control
FolderView Control : Colors and appearance of the control as a whole and of individual folders/files can be changed.
SHBrowseForFolder : No.

Custom Items
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Prevent renaming, drag-drop, context menus
FolderView Control : Yes. For all folders or on a per-folder basis.
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Multiple root folders
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Change default display names, icons, overlay icons, infotip, etc
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Simply and easy to use API
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : Clumsy, inflexible API

Access complete information of a file/folder including its displayname, fullpath, checkstate, selection state and attributes like whether it is a shortcut, shared, hidden, readonly, file and folder.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Prevent display of contextmenus for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Prevent dragdrop for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Allow/disallow renaming for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Allow/disallow selection for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Allow/disallow expanding/collapsing on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Change default drag actions during dragdrop (e.g. from Copy To Move)
FolderView Control : Yes
No

Control checking/unchecking on a per-folder basis.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Prevent execution of default shell commands ( e.g. Open, Cut, Properties, etc. in response to keystrokes or through the context menu) for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Show/hide hidden folders using a simple property.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Show/hide virtual folders ( e.g. Control Panel ) using a simple property.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Enumerate all folders shown in FolderView.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Enumerate all folders according to folder hierarchy structure.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Execute shell commands ( e.g. Cut, Delete, etc ) on folders.
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

Associate developer defined data with each folder
FolderView Control : Yes
SHBrowseForFolder : No

The FolderView control (and Shell MegaPack) is available in two editions :

.Net Edition :
For use in .Net development using Windows Forms, WPF and ASP.Net

ActiveX Edition :
For use in applications developed using Visual C++/MFC/ATL, Visual Basic 6, VBA (Access, Word, Excel, AutoCAD,etc), Borland Delphi and Borland Builder, and HTML/ASP pages.

Announcements :: ARTICLE: FolderBrowserDialog Unmasked: Everything You Wanted To Know About The Folder Browser Component From .Net Framework

Original Article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/folderbrowserdialog-unmasked-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-folder-browser-component-from-dotnet-framework.htm

Introduction
The FolderBrowserDialog, available as part of the .Net framework, provides a folder browser component for your C# and VB.Net applications. The UI consists of a modal dialog which contains a tree control displaying all the files and folders on the system. The user can then browse and select a folder from the tree. The full path of the selected folder is then returned.

Basic Usage
To display a folder explorer UI to the user, a FolderBrowserDialog instance is created and the ShowDialog method is called. This shows the modal dialog containing the folder browser control (tree) and an OK and Cancel button. If the user selects a folder and clicks the OK button, the ShowDialog method returns DialogResult.OK and the SelectedPath property contains the full path of the selected folder. If the user clicks the Cancel button, the ShowDialog method returns DialogResult.Cancel.

Advanced Usage
The FolderBrowserDialog has some additional features such as limiting the view of the file system that is displayed to the user, pre-selecting a folder when the dialog is first displayed and displaying a button to allow the user to create a new folder.

The RootFolder property can be set to the full path of the folder which is to be displayed as the root of the tree control of the folder browser component. For example, if this property is set to Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal, only folders from the 'My Documents' are displayed in the tree, so the user can only select 'My Documents' or its sub-folders.

Prior to displaying the folder browser control, the SelectedPath property can be set to the full path of a folder causing that folder to be pre-selected in the folder browser tree. For example, when this property is set to "c:\", the node corresponding to the c:\ drive is pre-selected in the tree when the dialog is first displayed.

If the ShowNewFolderButton property is set to true, then, in addition to the folder browser tree control, and the OK and Cancel buttons, the folder browser dialog also displays an additional 'New Folder' button which when clicked, creates a new folder under the currently selected folder.

Limitations
While the folder browser component is a handy way to allow the users to browse and select folders, it suffers from many limitations, some of them preventing the component from being of practical use in applications.

Modal Functionality
The most visible drawback of the folder browser component is that it displays its UI in the form of a modal dialog. When shown, it blocks the rest of the application until the user has chosen a folder. As long as the dialog is displayed, no input (keyboard or mouse click) can occur except within the dialog box. The user must click the OK or Cancel button before input to the calling program can occur.

This is a very annoying and limiting feature of the FolderBrowserDialog. Users are very likely to be irritated and annoyed when they have to interact with a modal dialog every time they have to explore and select a folder. A non-modal UI control which can be put inside of one of the applications's own forms or dialogs is a much more user-friendly way of displaying the same UI.

No Virtual (Non-file system) folders
The FolderBrowserDialog does not allow the user to select virtual (Non-file system) folders such as the Control Panel or My Computer. It only allows the user to select a file system path such as "c:\" or "c:\windows".

No Files
The component does not allow the user to select files. This is a major drawback since there are many circumstances where the user may need to select a file while still using the tree UI to browse to that file.

Limited Choice of RootFolder
The root folder of the folder browser control can be only set to one of the 'special folders' defined by Windows such as the 'My Documents' or 'My Computer'. This is a major limitation since this means you cannot set the root folder to a path such as the "d:\" drive.

No Check Boxes
The folder explorer tree in the FolderBrowserDialog cannot show check boxes next to nodes. Ability to show multi-state check boxes can be a very handle feature for such a control.

No Filtering
The FolderBrowserDialog has no support for filtering. For example, it is not possible to display only network folders or only shared folders or only folders starting with the string "Documents" or files having a particular extension.

No Custom Controls
When using the FolderBrowserDialog, you are only limited to the actual folder explorer tree control, the OK, Cancel and New Folder buttons and the description label. It is not possible to add custom controls to the dialog box. This can be useful in many circumstances such as when you want to show a thumbnail/preview of the selected file/folder or any kind of additional information.

No Appearance Control
The appearance of the FolderBrowserDialog and its constituent controls cannot be changed. Neither can attributes of individual folders show in the folder explorer control be changed. For example, it is not possible to change the background color of the tree control or to set the font and color of individual nodes/folders in the tree.

No Custom items
The FolderBrowserDialog cannot display external/custom items in the folder explorer tree. For example, it may be necessary to display items from an FTP location in addition to the file system items. This is not possible with the FolderBrowserDialog.

No Lockdown
The FolderBrowserDialog allows unhindered operations on folders. The user can rename folders, do drag-drop operations and display the context menu and invoke various operations. In many cases, it may be necessary to limit or altogether prevent such potentially dangerous and irreversible operations, however the FolderBrowserDialog provides no way of doing that.

Beyond The FolderBrowserDialog : The FolderView Control
The FolderView Control brings a Windows Explorer like folder browser component to your applications complete with AutoUpdate, dragdrop, icons, contextmenus, Non-file system items, default key-handling, infotips and renaming. It features powerful behavior control and customization functionality that takes it miles ahead of Windows Explorer by adding features like filtering, checkboxes, custom items, multiple root nodes, dragdrop control and customization of default contextmenus, displaynames, icons and infotips.

The FolderView control is a UI control which can be dropped right inside your own forms and dialogs. A non-modal file & folder browsing/selection experience right inside your own dialogs and forms is something that users will appreciate and find intuitive and simple.

Additionally, FolderView overcomes all the limitations of the FolderBrowserDialog and provides far greater and advanced features and functionality than the FolderBrowserDialog. The following table is a quick comparison of the FolderView Control with the FolderBrowserDialog.

Drop-In Windows Explorer like folder browser functionality.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : Modal UI. The component cannot be dropped in your own form.

Complete Windows Explorer functionality include a file/folder browsing listview (similar to Windows Explorer's right-side) and a drive selection control (similar to Windows Explorer's address bar)
FolderView Control : Yes. As part of Shell MegaPack
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Ability to select virtual (Non-file system) folders
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Ability to specify any and all folders as root.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Ability to show files as well as folders.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Multi-state check boxes
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Filtering capabilities
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Custom controls
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Appearance Control
FolderView Control : Colors and appearance of the control as a whole and of individual folders/files can be changed.
FolderBrowserDialog : No.

Custom Items
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Prevent renaming, drag-drop, context menus
FolderView Control : Yes. For all folders or on a per-folder basis.
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Multiple root folders
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Change default display names, icons, overlay icons, infotip, etc
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Simply and easy to use API
FolderView Control : Yes
Clumsy, inflexible API

Access complete information of a file/folder including its displayname, fullpath, checkstate, selection state and attributes like whether it is a shortcut, shared, hidden, readonly, file and folder.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Prevent display of contextmenus for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Prevent dragdrop for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Allow/disallow renaming for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Allow/disallow selection for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Allow/disallow expanding/collapsing on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Change default drag actions during dragdrop (e.g. from Copy To Move)
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Control checking/unchecking on a per-folder basis.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Prevent execution of default shell commands ( e.g. Open, Cut, Properties, etc. in response to keystrokes or through the context menu) for all folders using a simple property or on a per-folder basis using an event.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Show/hide hidden folders using a simple property.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Show/hide virtual folders ( e.g. Control Panel ) using a simple property.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Enumerate all folders shown in FolderView.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Enumerate all folders according to folder hierarchy structure.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Execute shell commands ( e.g. Cut, Delete, etc ) on folders.
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

Associate developer defined data with each folder
FolderView Control : Yes
FolderBrowserDialog : No

The FolderView control (and Shell MegaPack ) is available in two editions :

.Net Edition : For use in .Net development using Windows Forms, WPF and ASP.Net

ActiveX Edition : For use in applications developed using Visual C++/MFC/ATL, Visual Basic 6, VBA (Access, Word, Excel, AutoCAD,etc), Borland Delphi and Borland Builder, and HTML/ASP pages.

Announcements :: ARTICLE : ShellAppBar - Convert your forms into appbars with full autohide, drag-docking and multi-monitor support

Original Article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/shelappbar-convert-your-forms-into-appbars-with-full-autohide-drag-docking-and-multi-monitor-support.htm

Introduction

The ShellAppBar component from ShellObjects makes it very easy to develop Quick Launch like appbars (application desktop toolbars) with complete autohide functionality, support for drag-docking and support for multi-monitor configurations. This article discusses how easy and fast it is to quickly convert your forms or dialog boxes into application desktop toolbars with the ShellAppBar component from ShellObjects. ShellObjects is available as an ActiveX control (supports VB, Visual C++, Borland Delphi, Borland C++ and any other developing tool supporting ActiveX controls) and as a .Net component (supports VB.Net, C#, Managed C++ and any other language which supports the .Net platform).

What are appbars (application desktop toolbars)?
An appbar (application desktop toolbar) is a window similar to the Quick Launch bar, the Language Bar or the Windows Taskbar. It is anchored/docked to an edge of the screen, and it typically provides the user with quick access to various things like program shortcuts, favorite files, folders or URLs, information such as the local weather or sports news, or commonly used programs such as a clock, stopwatch or a calculator. Appbars are allocated their own area on the screen and the system prevents other applications from using that area. Multiple appbars can exist on the system at any time.

Developing appbars with the ShellAppBar component from ShellObjects
The ShellAppbar component from ShellObjects makes it extremely easy to develop appbars. Simply put the ShellAppBar component on the form or dialog box and it is automatically converted into an appbar when it is loaded. ShellAppBar provides convenient properties for specifying the screen edge to which the appbar should be docked/anchored and to specify whether the appbar should be autohidden or visible all the time. Other properties allow you to specify whether resizing of appbars should be allowed, whether drag-docking (dragging an appbar to different edges of the screen to dock it to that edge) should be allowed and whether the appbar should always be on top of all other windows.

Advanced Features

Specifying the docking edge
The DockingEdge property of ShellAppbar specifies the screen edge to which the form or dialog box should be docked. By simply changing the value of the DockingEdge property, the form or dialog box can be docked to a different screen edge. To undock the appbar, simply set the DockingEdge property to None.

AutoHide functionality
Appbars developed with ShellAppBar support full autohide functionality. An autohidden appbar is normally hidden but becomes visible when the user moves the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen to which the appbar is docked. The appbar hides itself again when the user moves the mouse cursor out of the its bounding rectangle. The system allows a number of different appbars at any given time but it allows only one autohide appbar at a time for each screen edge. The first appbar which requests to be autohidden is granted that permission. Attempting to make another appbar autohidden to the same screen edge fails.

The AutoHide property of ShellAppBar specifies whether the appbar should be autohidden or not. As discussed above, setting this property to True does not guarantee that the appbar will be autohidden. The IsAutoHidden property can be used to determine whether the appbar is really autohidden or not. The AutoHiddenAppBarState property can be used to determine whether an autohidden appbar is currently hidden or fully visible.

Drag-Docking
Appbars developed with ShellAppBar can be dragged to a screen edge to dock to that screen edge. In this way, the user can be given full control over which screen edge the appbar docks itself to. The AllowedDragDockingEdges property enables or disables this functionality. Setting to property to None disables this functionality. This property can also be set to a combination of screen edges to allow drag-docking only to those edges of the screen.

Multi-Monitor support
Appbars developed with ShellAppBar have full support for multi-monitor system configurations. The appbars can be docked to any edge of any monitor. Drag-docking across multiple monitors is also fully supported.

Editions and supported development tools, environments and technologies
ShellObjects comes in two separate editions - ActiveX and .Net

ActiveX edition
The ActiveX edition fully supports Visual Basic (VB), Visual C++ (VC++, MFC, ATL), Borland Delphi, Borland C++ Builder and a lot of developing environments and IDEs which have support for ActiveX controls. As mentioned above, simply drag and drop a ShellAppbar component on your form or dialog box and it will be automatically converted into an appbar when it is loaded.

.Net Edition
The .Net edition is a 100% .Net component and supports Visual Studio.Net 2002, Visual Studio.Net 2003 and the latest Visual Studio 2005. It supports all version of the .Net runtime library including .Net 1.0, .Net 1.1 and the latest .Net 2.0. It supports a variety of .Net languages include Visual Basic.Net (VB.Net), C# and Managed C++. Using ShellAppbar on your Windows Forms is just as simple - simply drag and drop a ShellAppBar component on your form and it will be automatically converted into an appbar when it is loaded.

Conclusion
The ShellAppBar component from ShellObjects makes it very easy to develop Quick Launch like appbars (application desktop toolbars). With ShellAppbar you can automatically convert your forms and dialog boxes into appbars with minimal effort and with full support for advanced features such as autohide functionality, support for drag-docking, automatic resizing and support for multi-monitor configurations.

Announcements :: ARTICLE : Add Windows Explorer Integration to Document Management Software, Content Management Software and Virtual Drives Using Namespace Extensions

Original Article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/add-windows-explorer-integration-to-document-management-software-content-management-software-and-virtual-drives-using-namespace-extensions.htm

Introduction
Companies developing document management software, information management software, content management software, asset management software, virtual drives, and database browsers and front-ends are always looking for ways to improve the usability of their product. Adding Windows Explorer integration is one of the ways of achieving this. Windows Explorer integration allows users to interact with the software right from Windows Explorer or File Open/Save dialogs. For example, consider document management software. Every time a user needs to retrieve documents from the repository or add new documents to it, he/she has to first open the software and then interact with the software to achieve the desired goal. On the other hand, suppose the same product was integrated within Windows Explorer, the user can access documents and browse through the document repository right from the comfort and convenience of Windows Explorer. Then, to retrieve a document, he/she could simply drag-drop the document from the repository to his hard-drive. Similarly, to add a new document, he/she would simply drag-drop the document from his hard-disk to a folder within the repository. Of course, all this occurs in Windows Explorer!
And now, EZNamespaceExtensions offers to make the process of adding Windows Explorer integration (via namespace extensions) fast and painless!

Adding Windows Explorer Integration is now a breeze!
EZNamespaceExtensions is a framework library for fast, painless and easy development of Windows Explorer namespace extensions. Namespace extension development is notorious for its difficulty, subtleties and for the sheer amount of work and time that is required. With EZNamespaceExtensions, developers can concentrate on writing the functionality of the namespace extension and not worry about the hundred things that are necessary to integrate the namespace extension seamlessly into Windows Explorer and File Open/Save Dialogs. EZNamespaceExtensions can reduce the time required to develop this functionality by as much as 80%.

Fast-track namespace extension development with project wizards
One of the best features of EZNamespaceExtensions is its Visual Studio integrated project wizard. Create a new namespace extension project using this wizard generates skeletal code for a read-to-build-and-view namespace extension. With the scaffolding in place, it�s a matter of adding functionality specific to your namespace extension. Each functionality is exposed as one or more well-designed API and adding functionality is as simple as overriding methods and writing product-specific code.

Loaded with features
Feature support in EZNamespaceExtensions is quite comprehensive with full support for folders and non-folders, automatic sub-folder navigation, multi-level sub folders, context menus, background context menus, drag-drop, cut-copy-paste, details/report view, tile view, thumbnail view, group view, icons, overlay icons and lots of other things.

Choose your flavor
EZNamespaceExtensions comes in two editions: EZNamespaceExtensions.Net allows developing namespace extensions in .Net languages such as VB.Net or C#. EZNamespaceExtensionsMFC supports developing namespace extensions in MFC, ATL or C++. All versions of Visual Studio including Visual Studio 2008 are supported and all Windows OS including Windows Vista are supported.

Conclusion
Adding Windows Explorer Integration to products such as document management software has never been so easy. EZNamespaceExtensions makes it a breeze to do so. Make your product easy-to-use and stand out from the crowd and shine!

Announcements :: ARTICLE: Creating a Windows Explorer clone with complete shell browsing GUI in your Visual C++ MFC application with Shell MegaPack ActiveX

Original Article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/creating-explorer-clone-in-visualc++-mfc.htm

Introduction
Any developer who has ever wanted to provide file/folder browsing or file-selection functionality in his own application knows the utter lack of simple, extensible and customizable MFC components for this purpose.

Even as simple a task such as letting the user select a folder has to be accomplished by using complex shell programming APIs like SHBrowseForFolder. And all you get after all this is exactly the ability to let a user select a folder. The disadvantages of this approach, apart from the fact that it is very inflexible and non-customizable, is that this approach shows a modal dialog to the user, meaning the user has to deal with the dialog before moving on - either select the folder or cancel the operation.

Another option is to use the 'common dialogs' - the MFC CFileDialog class - which is almost as inflexible and narrow-minded in its goals and features. Sure it can be extended to add more controls, but only after you have spent 20 hours wrestling with subclassing and hooks and WindowProc.

To do away with the modal madness, you can a listbox and combobox in your own own dialog and use an API like the DlgDirList to list all drives, directories or files. All you get with these APIis is a textual list of filenames. Compare this to Windows Explorer which shows the entire shell's namespace including filesystem items and virtual items like Control Panel, Network Neighborhood etc in all their glory - with pretty icons, a hierarchical display of folders, Thumbnail or Details or Group Views, infotips, dragdrop, context menus, etc.

And with Shell MegaPack, you can get all this in your application. If you want drop-in Windows Explorer shell browsing functionality in your own application, with all features of Windows Explorer's features, along with the advanced behavior control and customization, and you want all of this with minimal time and effort, then Shell MegaPack is the way to go.

Inserting the controls in your dialog.
To insert the ActiveX controls in your MFC project, right click on the dialog at design time and select 'Insert ActiveX Control..'. In the dialog box that comes up, select 'LogicNP Software FolderView ActiveX Control" and click 'OK'. Repeat this procedure for FileView and ShComboBox. Now that all three controls are on your dialog, position and size the controls as per your needs and give them the desired IDs.

Next, we will add variables for all the three controls. To do so, right-click on the FileView control at design-time and select 'ClassWizard..'. Select the 'Member Variables' tab, select the ID for the FileView control in the 'Control IDs' listbox and click 'Add Variable..'. At this stage, Visual C++ will ask whether it should generate wrapper classes for the control. Click 'OK' and give the control the desired variable name and click 'OK again'. Repeat this step for the other two controls as well.

Setting properties
All three controls can be fully customized at design-time. To set properties, right click on the controls at design time and select 'LogicNP Software FolderView ActiveX Control Object' --> 'Properties..'. This will bring up the property pages from where you can customize the controls as per your needs. You can change the appearance and colors, set filtering modes (hide virtual items, hide hidden items, show folders), set the starting folder, set whether context menus, infotips, etc are shown and whether dragdrop is allowed. Almost every aspect of the controls can be customized at design time in this way.

Linking the controls together
Linking the three controls with each other enables them to synchronize automatically with each other. For example, if a new folder is selected in FolderView, FileView will automatically update itself to show the contents of that folder. Linking can be done in just 2 lines of code :

m_shCmbBox.SetFolderView((LPDISPATCH)m_fldrVw.GetControlUnknown());
m_fldrVw.SetFileView((LPDISPATCH)m_fileVw.GetControlUnknown());

Event Handling and behavior control
The controls come with a large number events which are fired when certain things occur, such as when the current folder has changed or an item has been clicked or double-clicked or selected or checked. The other use of events is to give you the opportunity to do advanced customization. For example, you might want to allow the display of context menus for one item but not another, or allow dropping of files on some particular folders or disallow execution of some files. Simply setting Cancel = True in the proper event allows you to accomplish this.

To handle an event, right click on the control at design time and select the 'Events..' menu item. In the dialog that comes up, select the appropriate event and click 'Add and Edit'. For example, to prevent display of context menus for folders, handle the OnItemRightClick event of FileView and use the following code :

CListItem i;
i.AttachDispatch(Item,FALSE);
if(i.GetAttributes(FOLDER) & FOLDER)
*Cancel=TRUE;

Advanced customization
The controls allow you to replace or extend the default attributes of items. You can change the display names (text) of files and folders ( for example, prefix an asterisk(*) before all files ), change the default icons shown for files and folders, add, remove or modify items from the context menu of files and folders, add custom columns in Details View. You can even add your own custom items to the controls. With this feature, you can recreate an entire shell namespace extension within your own application with minimal effort.

Conclusion
A Windows Explorer like shell browsing UI is required in many applications, yet there is no simple way to add such functionality in your application without spending countless hours for the most basic functionality. If you desire even a little semblance to the explorer UI and a little customization, then the corresponding time required grows exponentially. Shell MegaPack brings a drop-in shell browsing UI to your app within minutes and shields you from all the complexities and pains and the modal madness discussed above. Just the gains in terms of the time saved is more than worth it.

Announcements :: ARTICLE: Shell MegaPack : Shell Browser Components and Controls for .Net, C#, VB.Net, MFC, VB, C++, Delphi and VBA

Original article : http://www.ssware.com/articles/shell-megapack-shell-browser-components-and-controls-for-.net-csharp-vb.net-mfc-vb-c++-delphi-and-vba.htm

Shell MegaPack is a set of UI controls which gives drop-in Windows Explorer-like shell browsing functionality to your applications.

Components of Shell MegaPack
Shell MegaPack consists of the following components and controls :

FolderView Control
The FolderView control is a shell treeview control which shows a hierarchical display of folders on the computer similar to Windows Explorer. It is intended to replace the the awkward APIs and controls found in many programming languages. It is an excellent replacement for the SHBrowseForFolder API if you are using pure Windows API programming. Visual Basic developers can use it instead of the DirListBox control. For .Net programmers using C#, VB.Net or Managed C++ to developer Windows Forms applications, it is an excellent replacement for the FolderBrowserDialog, which is nothing but a managed wrapper around the SHBrowseForFolder API function. Many developers whip up a quick fix directorypicker or a browsefolderdialog or a FolderTree control which does not even display the proper icons for the folders. Trying to add anything more complicated than a simple hierarchical display of folders results in a rapid rise in the time required for development. Adding advanced features such as renaming, context menus, dragdrop, infotips become infeasible both in terms of cost and time. FolderView control is a good choice for developers in such a situation.

FileView Control
FileView control mimics the left hand side listview of Windows Explorer. It shows the files and folders on the system in Thumbnail View, Details View or GroupView as well as the normal list and large icon views. It features advanced functionality like item filtering, context menus, dragdrop, infotips, custom columns and custom items. It can be used as a replacement for the FileListBox or the Microsoft Common Dialog controls in VB. For Visual C++ MFC programmers, it can be used in place of the CFileDialog and C#, Visual Basic.Net and MC++ WinForms developers can use it as a substitute for the FileDialog .Net component.

ShComboBox Control
The ShComboBox Control allows you to add a Windows-Explorer-like drive-selection combobox to your application, showing all the drives, folders and even files exactly as Windows Explorer does. VB programmers can use it instead of the DriveListBox control. There is really no substitute for ShComboBox in either MFC or .Net.

ShellObjects
ShellObjects is a collection of components and controls which bring various shell functionality to your applications:

ShellAppBar
The ShellAppBar component from ShellObjects makes it very easy to develop Quick Launch like appbars (application desktop toolbars) with complete autohide functionality, support for drag-docking and support for multi-monitor configurations. ShellAppbar makes it extremely easy to develop appbars. Simply put the ShellAppBar component on the form or dialog box and it is automatically converted into an appbar when it is loaded. ShellAppBar provides convenient properties for specifying the screen edge to which the appbar should be docked/anchored and to specify whether the appbar should be autohidden or visible all the time. Other properties allow you to specify whether resizing of appbars should be allowed, whether drag-docking (dragging an appbar to different edges of the screen to dock it to that edge) should be allowed and whether the appbar should always be on top of all other windows.

ShellPopupNotification control
This control allows you to display MSN and office 2003 style popup notifications from your application. Multiple popups can be displayed at once and the popups can be manually or automatically positioned according to your setting. Each shellpopup notification window looks like a balloon which can be used to notify the user of various events that occur in your application. The appearance, layout and contents of the popup can be completely controlled.

ShellNotifyIcon control
This control allows you to add icons in the shell's system tray notification area. It is an advanced replacement for the NotifyIcon component that comes with .Net or the CTrayIcon that is present in MFC. It has features like multiple images which can be used for animation or for indicating different states of your application, automatic popup context menus and balloon infotip styles.

ShellLink and URLLink
These components allow you to easily create, read and manipulate shortcut (shelllink - *.lnk) files or internet shortcut (*.url) from your applications.

ShellProgressDialog
This control allows you to display user-friendly system-standard progress dialogs while lengthy operations are performed.

TaskDialog
This control allows you to display the new Vista 'task dialog' style message boxes from your applications

TaskScheduler
This control allows you to control the Windows Task Scheduler service and create, delete and modify tasks.

ShellFileOperation
This control allows you to perform copy, move, delete and rename operations on multiple files/folders with progress dialog and sub-folder support.

Wizard
This control allows you to quickly create a 'wizard' style navigable user interface consisting of multiple pages/steps.

Resizer
This control allows you to add automatic resizing and resolution independence to your forms in a single step.

SystemHotKey
This control allows you to define and listen to system wide hotkeys.

SingleInstanceComponent
This control allows you to get notified when a second instance of your application is started and optionally prevent it from running.

SystemIdleTimer
This control allows you to get notified when the system goes idle for a certain time and when it exits the idle state.

Flavors of Shell MegaPack

Shell MegaPack ActiveX
The ActiveX controls are compatible with a wide variety of programming languages and developing environments. They can be used in Visual Basic, Visual C++, Borland Delphi, Borland C++ Builder, Office VBA applications, HTML or ASP pages, dBase, Magic eDeveloper and Visual Interdev.

Shell MegaPack.Net
The .Net controls are compatible with Visual Studio.Net 2002, Visual Studio.Net 2003, Visual Studio.Net 2005 Beta 2, SharpDevelop and Borland Delphi.Net. They can be utilized in all .Net languages including C#, VB.Net, Managed C++ and J#.