Vista’s Task Dialog API

I’ve been looking into the new native mode functionality provided by Vista and the new Task Dialogs API caught my eye. These are designed as the replacement for the venerable MessageBox API call. Some of you may know that I have extended the MessageBox API for MFC clients thro the use of my CMessageBoxX class. You can do quite a few things with the message box API but MS have decided in their wisdom to deprecate the API in preference to the much more extensible Task Dialog API. For a good intro on the usage of Task Dialogs check out Michael Dunn’s article at http://www.codeproject.com/vista/VGTaskDialog2.asp. There is also a good article also on code project about developing an emulated version of the API at http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/taskdialogs.asp. I have also been independently developing a emulated version of the Task Dialog API. Here’s an example of what my code can currently do:

Hopefully I should have a production quality version of the code available on my web site in the not too distant future.

Happy coding.

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CHLinkCtrl v1.27

Just to let everyone know that v1.27 of CHLinkCtrl has been released. Updates for this version include:

• Fixed a small redraw glitch when you use "Use the System Font" setting in the dialog resource editor in VC 2005.
• Fixed a small redraw glitch when the enabled state of the control is changed.

CNTService v1.72

Just to let everyone know that v1.72 of CNTService has been released. Updates for this version include:

• Updated copyright details.
• Optimized CNTEventLog constructor code.
• Reworked CNTService::SetServiceToStatus to allow the last error value to be reported back to client code. Thanks to Matthias Miller for reporting this issue.
• Optimized calls to Win32ErrorToString.

CRasMonitor v1.60

Just to let everyone know that v1.60 of CRasMonitor has been released. Updates for this version include:

• Updated copyright details
• Updated the code to clean compile on VC 2005.
• Replaced all calls to ZeroMemory with memset.
• Code now uses new C++ style casts rather than old style C casts where necessary.
• Optimized CRasMonitor constructor code
• Addition of a CRASMONITOR_EXT_CLASS and macro which makes the class easier to use in an extension dll.
• TAPI line is now opened with LINECALLPRIVILEGE_MONITOR in CRasMonitor::GetRasTAPIDetails method.
• Updated the documentation to use the same style as the web site.

RasMan v1.60

Just to let everyone know that v1.60 of RasMan has been released. Updates for this version include:

• Now uses v1.08 of my CPdh class.
• Now uses v1.21 of my DDXFile class.
• Now uses v1.26 of my CHLinkCtrl class.
• Now uses v1.01 of my DynData class.
• Now uses v1.57 of my CTrayNotifyIcon class.
• Now uses a ini file located in "\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PJ Naughter\RasMan" (assuming you are running Windows XP or 2000, the location will be slightly different on Vista) for configuration. Because of this breaking change existing registered versions will need to be reregistered.
• The default location of the log file now defaults to ""\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PJ Naughter\RasMan".
• The default name for the log file is now "RasMan.csv".
• Updated the documentation to use the same style as my web site.
• Code is now built and delivered using VC 2005 SP1.
• Binary which is now shipped is Unicode and requires Windows 2000 or later.
• Reworked the registration mechanism to improve the security.
• Code now uses the authors DTime+ for date and time formatting.
• Auto start option now uses HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry location.
• Fixed a bug on the Output settings page where you try to move an item up when it was already at the top.
• Fixed a bug on the Output settings page where you try to move an item down when it was already at the bottom.
• Fixed a bug where the schema.ini file is not deleted if you first enable this setting on the Output settings page and then disable it.
• The program now uses the more user friendly SHFileOperation to handle deletion of the log file. By default the deleted log file is now sent to the Recycle bin, although you can override this setting by holding down the shift key before you select the "Delete Log File" menu item.
• Program now prevents multiple dialogs from appearing from the context menu.
• Button controls on "Output" settings tab are now correctly enabled / disabled.
• The supervisor password is no longer stored as plain text in the ini file.
• "Start Rasman automatically" setting is now detected on startup based on the current state of the value in the registry.
• Application now correctly closes if you select the Quit Now button from the register dialog if shown via the tray icon context menu.
• Application is now provided as a standard Windows Installer MSI file created using Wix v3