Brian Scott

What's “Nu” in MS '08 Technology - Chicago, New York and Denver

2008-01-24T16:09:21Z

My company Neudesic will once again be hosting NuCon, a deep dive conference into .Net 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 including LINQ, ADO.Net 3.5, Silverlight and TFS. Microsoft's new IO model (Infrastructure Optimization) will also be covered in one of the tracks.

This year the conferences will take place in Chicago, New York, and Denver starting on February 7th in Chicago.

Space is limited. Get more info and sign up at the NuCon 08 conference site.

Technorati Tags: Neudesic,ASP.Net,.Net 3.5,NuCon08,Silverlight

Cropper source code back up on CodePlex

2007-06-22T02:58:00Z

Sorry for the delay for all those asking when it would be back up.

If you have any suggestions or bugs please post them to the CodePlex Issue Tracker.

Cropper is now on CodePlex

2007-03-08T15:01:00Z

It joins it’s offspring on CodePlex. At this time only the source is available. The application is still available on the Cropper page here on the dojo.

The comments page here is getting pretty long and it is not a very effective way to track requests and bugs. If you have a request or bug, please post then in the issue tracker on CodePlex

>>Cropper CodePlex Page

Tags: Cropper, CodePlex

[Update] CodePlex had issues and the source code for projects on server 3 was lost. Looks like they are trying to recover the data (the work items are back now) but who knows if they will be able to. I don't know what to say about this much TFS hosted source code being lost.

If the source code is not back soon I will do another baseline check-in. I just hoped a restore doesn't happen and overwrites that check-in. Sounds like a big mess.

64-Bit Cropper Beta

2007-02-16T01:16:49Z

There has been some recent feedback on Cropper requesting a 64 bit compiled version. The current version crashes on 64–bit machines. I do not have handy access to a 64–bit machine right now to test with. If anyone would like to test drive a 64–bit version, please contact me. I will send out a download link.

Request 64–Bit Beta

Tags: Cropper, Cropper+64-Bit+Beta, Screen+Capture

Cropper Plug-ins on CodePlex

2007-02-15T14:11:24Z

John Galloway has set up a CodePlex project for Cropper plug-ins. He has an initial release of four plug-ins available including the return of an AVI capture plug-in.

The developer documentation on the plug-in interfaces is nearly complete. I have contacted John so hopefully I can get the documentation completed and up on the project this weekend.

Many readers have asked about the release of the source code for this version. I plan on releasing the source at the same time as the documentation.

Tags: Cropper, CodePlex, Plug-ins

Cropper 1.9 Released

2007-01-29T07:08:00Z

After a long break I’m back working on Cropper. I’ve been a bit under the weather lately so I used my free time to get a little work done on it.

Thanks to Jon Galloway for some suggestions and testing the new plug-in functionality. Also to Scott Isaacs for the predefined sizes suggestion and testing.

This release adds new plug-in functionality to allow plug-ins to be configured within the options dialog and have the settings easily persisted into the Cropper configuration file. You can see the new functionality in the Jpeg and Clipboard formats in the Plug-Ins tab of the options dialog. Developer documentation on the new plug-in functionality will come soon.

[Update] There was a rendering bug on systems that do not have themes enabled. Thanks Corey for bringing it to my attention. The download link points to the bug fix version.

>>More info and download

Release Notes

1) .Net Framework 2.0. Cropper is now compiled against the .net 2.0 Framework and the installer works on systems with only the 2.0 Framework installed.

2) Vista Compatibility. A new option to hide the form during a screenshot is available in the options dialog. The new option allows Cropper to capture other transparent windows and keeps the crop form from showing up in the capture on Vista Glass. This option is automatically enable when running on Vista but may be overridden by the user.

The Alt+PrintScreen capturing now properly captures windows in Vista that have glass in the client area.

3) Predefined Sizes. Frequently used form sizes can now be saved. The sizes are managed in the options dialog under the appearance tab. While working with cropper the sizes may be accessed via the right click menu or by pressing Shift+Tab to cycle through the different sizes.

4) Alt+PrintScreen Captures Stay on Clipboard. The Options dialog Capturing tab allows the user to keep Croppers Alt+PrintScreen captures on the clipboard.

5) Configurable Plug-In Support. Cropper now has support for integrated plug-in configuration. A new tab named Plug-Ins will present options from plug-ins that support configuration. The new functionality also supports easily persisting a plug-in's settings into Croppers configuration file.

Two included plug-ins support the new configuration options. The clipboard plug-in allows the user to choose the format of the image that is placed on the clipboard and the Jpeg plug-in has a single option for specifying the file extension. More community plug-ins with configuration support are on the way.

6) 'Prompt' File Name Template Bug Fixed. There was a bug that could cause a null reference exception when using the 'Prompt' file name template that has been fixed. Another bug with the dialog placement when the crop form was set to always on top has also been corrected.

Tags: Cropper, Screen+Shots

Animated Gif Plug-in for Cropper

2006-11-08T09:33:00Z

John Galloway has created a nice animated gif plug-in for Cropper. It has some nice optimizations like a neural net quantizer and capture comparison that only adds a new image if it has changed from the previous one.

Who needs booleans...

2006-08-07T07:42:00Z

... when strings are so flexible.

Seen all over some production code.

string isValid = SomeDbFunction() == "" ? "T" : "F";
...
if(isValid == "T")
{
...
}

// The best part
if(isValid != "F")
{
...
}

Cropper Flickr Plug-in Updated

2006-08-07T05:55:00Z

Patrick updated his Flickr plug-in to 1.8 a couple weeks ago with a bug fix and compilation against the newest Flickr API and I accidentally deleted his trackback while trimming spam.

Look for the update at the bottom of the post.

Bitmap Debugger Visualizer with Transparency Indication

2006-08-07T04:59:00Z

I am now working on the next version of Cropper. It is still a couple weeks from release but I thought I would release the visualizer I created and have been using during development. The next version of Cropper has the effect plug-ins I mentioned a while back plus support for transparency in non-rectangular form captures and effects.

I needed a visualizer to easily watch the effects as they are applied. Since Cropper will support transparency in the non-client areas of forms and in effects such as drop shadows, I needed the visualizer to indicate the transparent areas of the capture. This visualizer has the standard checkerboard pattern to distinguish the transparent areas of a capture from areas that could otherwise be the same color as the background.

Bitmap Image Debugger Visualizer Form

Download assembly and source

Visual Studio 2005, still locking assemblies

2006-02-18T00:29:00Z

I can not believe this still happens. VS 2005 with no addins, no other apps running that would access the assembly and requiring a complete shutdown of VS to free the file. Third time this week.

[UPDATE] This only seems to happen when my WinForm project is in the solution. I have a couple class libraries with custom controls and a WinForm app to test them with. The custom controls are added to the WinForm by dragging from the toolbox area that lists the components in the solution. The references to the class libraries are added by Visual Studio when the controls are dropped on the form.

The strange thing is that I can go for a couple hours without getting the error. After the first error that forces me to restart Visual Studio, I get the error again on the second build after each restart. The assembly is getting locked during or after the first build.

The development of my custom controls has become:
code - build - code - build error - restart - repeat

Cropper 1.8 Released

2006-02-02T09:46:00Z

New Features and bug fixes

1) Per pixel alpha blending. Cropper now uses per pixel alpha blending to render the main window. The size tabs, text and lines have a higher alpha value. This makes the form indicators easier to see at lower opacity levels. The main form area's opacity is still adjustable. On slower machines the crop form may respond slower, in that case you may turn off per pixel alpha blending on the Appearance tab of the options dialog.

2) More settings persisted. Always on top and hidden settings are now saved between sessions. Cropper will now start minimized the first time it is run on a computer. Thumbnails enabled and the thumbnail indicator showing is also saved between sessions.

3) Print Screen captures. You can now use the Print Screen button to take screen shots with Cropper. The crop form can be minimized. The images will be saved with the same options as regular screen shots. Print Screen will capture and save the entire desktop. Alt + Print Screen will capture the current active window. Ctrl + Alt + Print Screen will capture the region below the mouse. Enable and disable this feature in the options dialog.

4) Transparent window area fill. When using Alt + Print Screen, the transparent areas of the foreground window are filled with the color of your choice. This option will give you clean edges around the non–rectangular areas of a window as in the XP window above and the media player below. The capture is also cropped to the smallest rectangle that will include the visible areas of the form. Enable and disable this feature in the options dialog.

No Fill Capture

White Fill Capture

Black Fill Capture

5) Portable Cropper. If you run cropper from a thumb drive you can add a file named cropper.portable to the application directory. If Cropper detects this file, it will save the configuration in the application directory and will default to a sub directory named 'Cropper Captures' for the images.

6) New window color. Added a blue window color that is more visible across light and dark backgrounds. I also think it looks nicer. The Tab key now cycles through the three color states.

7) S key captures. The S keys initiates a crop form capture in addition to the Enter key and double clicking.

8) Mouse wheel sizing. The mouse wheel now sizes the form out from the center in addition to the [ and ] keys.

9) The opacity setting is now located in the options dialog. There is also an option to restore it to the menu if you prefer.

10) The menu has been rearranged. Since it has grown it seemed to loose any sense of grouping. I tried to add a more logical layout to it.

11) The Escape key now hides the form instead of closing it.

12) Fixed a bug where the incorrect small icon and application name showed in alternative Alt-Tab applications like TaskSwithXP.

13) Fixed a bug introduced in version 1.7.1 that could cause high CPU usage in some cases.

More info and download >>

Help translate Cropper

2006-01-23T10:59:00Z

There is suddenly a large international interest in Cropper. I have gotten a number of emails requesting it in other languages. Thankfully most of the strings are already in a resource file. I just need to finish moving a few stragglers I found.

If you would like to help let me know, I'll send you the string file for conversion and give credit on the site and in the app.

Thanks

Minor Cropper update

2006-01-20T10:43:00Z

Version 1.7.1

[Changes from 1.7]

Fixed a bug when trying to browse the output folder before it was created..

Made changes to the way the resize keys [ and ] are handled to better support international keyboards.

Added new file name templates for User, Domain, Machine, and Prompt. The prompt template will prompt the user for the text to insert. Users are able to specify folders on the fly this way by entering text such as MegaApp\OptionsDialog. A Default option was also added to the template menu that will set the entire template to the default value.

More info and download >

Cropper 1.7 Available

2006-01-16T08:47:00Z

Cropper is now available in a Windows Installer package in addition to the binaries.

Two bugs were fixed. The first one caused the plug-ins not to load when launched from applications like SlickRun and AppRocket. The second was a rendering issue caused when Alt-Tabbing using applications like TaskSwithXP that show live previews. Cropper would become unselectable and render incorrectly. Thanks to Mark and Omar for reporting the bugs.

New features include a browse item in the right click menu to open the current output folder. The thumbnail size indicator is now resizable via the mouse and it and the main form have size grips.

File name templates for the full image and thumbnail image have been added. The templates are set in the options dialog. There are four templates for now including the current date, current time, the extension, and an incrementing counter. They can be inserted anywhere in the filename. A dropdown is available to the right of the template text boxes for inserting template text at the insertion point. The format and usage follows;

{date} inserts the current date into the file name.

{time} inserts the current time into the file name.

{increment} inserts an increasing counter number into the file name. (note: The file names will automatically be incremented if this template is not inserted. This template allows greater control over how and where the counter is inserted.)

{extension} inserts the current extension into the file name. (note: The extension is automatically added to the file name. This template allows inserting the extension elsewhere in the filename or seperating the files into folders by extension. See below)

The templates also allow seperating files into subfolders of the output folder using the backslash in the template.

{date}\AppScreens will place the files into subfolders by date. Each day the files will go into a new folder.

{extension}{date}\DocScreens will place the files into different folders based on the extension and date.

Full size images and thumbnails may be seperated by using a different folder in the template for each.

Full\AppScreenShot for the full size image will place it in a subfolder named Full.

Thumb\AppScreenShot Thumb for the thumbnail will place it in a subfolder named Thumb.

I really like the idea of the templates. This is just an initial release to test them out. I have a few more as well as formating options within the template I am testing now.

[Update 1/17/2006 12:30 PM CST] There is a bug if you try to browse when the output folder has not been created (no screenshots have been taken after a new install or the folder is changed). It is fixed and should be uploaded this evening.

More info and download >