Third party components

[Alan T]

I found a thirtparty component but have no idea how to integrate into VS
2005 IDE?
The files come with project file and solution files.

[Bjorn Abelli]

"Alan T" wrote...

I found a thirtparty component but have no idea how to
integrate into VS 2005 IDE?
The files come with project file and solution files.

I'm only guessing here, but I'll assume that you're talking about
GUI-widgets, such as enhanced Comboboxes, Treeviews, and that sort of
things.

What you then need is the compiled dll-file, or the source code files.

If you have the dll, right click on the Toolbox and choose "Choose Items".
There you can browse for the dll-file and add it to the toolbox (though I
would recommend to create a separate tab for "imported" components.

The project file and solution files are really of no use for you, unless you
have the source code files as well. Then you should be able to compile it
into a dll yourself, and proceed as above.

If you have neither the compiled dll-file, nor the source code files, you
can't do anything...

/// Bjorn A

[Alan T]

What I got is the timepicker component.
I tried what you said but the error gave me was cannot find .tlb file.

"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:u$******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

>
"Alan T" wrote...

>I found a thirtparty component but have no idea how to
integrate into VS 2005 IDE?
The files come with project file and solution files.

I'm only guessing here, but I'll assume that you're talking about
GUI-widgets, such as enhanced Comboboxes, Treeviews, and that sort of
things.

What you then need is the compiled dll-file, or the source code files.

If you have the dll, right click on the Toolbox and choose "Choose Items".
There you can browse for the dll-file and add it to the toolbox (though I
would recommend to create a separate tab for "imported" components.

The project file and solution files are really of no use for you, unless
you have the source code files as well. Then you should be able to compile
it into a dll yourself, and proceed as above.

If you have neither the compiled dll-file, nor the source code files, you
can't do anything...

/// Bjorn A

[Bjorn Abelli]

"Alan T" wrote...

What I got is the timepicker component.
I tried what you said but the error gave me was cannot find .tlb file.

Then it sounds like the third party component you got *isn't* a .NET
component at all, but a COM component...

That's a bit trickier, and I would personally avoid it, as it would break a
"pure .NET" approach, using unmanaged features.

You would probably need to register the component with regsvr32, and in
extreme cases you would also need to import the Type Library (tlb-file).

If I were you, I would look for a pure .NET alternative instead. If that's
not an option, I'd look into "COM interop", "Type Library importer", etc.

/// Bjorn A

"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:u$******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

>>
"Alan T" wrote...

>>I found a thirtparty component but have no idea how to
integrate into VS 2005 IDE?
The files come with project file and solution files.

I'm only guessing here, but I'll assume that you're talking about
GUI-widgets, such as enhanced Comboboxes, Treeviews, and that sort of
things.

What you then need is the compiled dll-file, or the source code files.

If you have the dll, right click on the Toolbox and choose "Choose
Items". There you can browse for the dll-file and add it to the toolbox
(though I would recommend to create a separate tab for "imported"
components.

The project file and solution files are really of no use for you, unless
you have the source code files as well. Then you should be able to
compile it into a dll yourself, and proceed as above.

If you have neither the compiled dll-file, nor the source code files, you
can't do anything...

/// Bjorn A

[Alan T]

What do you suggest if I am looking for a timepicker component ?
Because the datetimepicker in VS2005 does not have "really" timepicker
ability.

"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:%2******** *********@TK2MS FTNGP05.phx.gbl ...

>
"Alan T" wrote...

>What I got is the timepicker component.
I tried what you said but the error gave me was cannot find .tlb file.

Then it sounds like the third party component you got *isn't* a .NET
component at all, but a COM component...

That's a bit trickier, and I would personally avoid it, as it would break
a "pure .NET" approach, using unmanaged features.

You would probably need to register the component with regsvr32, and in
extreme cases you would also need to import the Type Library (tlb-file).

If I were you, I would look for a pure .NET alternative instead. If that's
not an option, I'd look into "COM interop", "Type Library importer", etc.

/// Bjorn A

>"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:u$******* *******@TK2MSFT NGP02.phx.gbl.. .

>>>
"Alan T" wrote...

I found a thirtparty component but have no idea how to
integrate into VS 2005 IDE?
The files come with project file and solution files.

I'm only guessing here, but I'll assume that you're talking about
GUI-widgets, such as enhanced Comboboxes, Treeviews, and that sort of
things.

What you then need is the compiled dll-file, or the source code files.

If you have the dll, right click on the Toolbox and choose "Choose
Items". There you can browse for the dll-file and add it to the toolbox
(though I would recommend to create a separate tab for "imported"
components.

The project file and solution files are really of no use for you, unless
you have the source code files as well. Then you should be able to
compile it into a dll yourself, and proceed as above.

If you have neither the compiled dll-file, nor the source code files,
you can't do anything...

/// Bjorn A

[Bjorn Abelli]

"Alan T" wrote...

What do you suggest if I am looking for a timepicker component ?
Because the datetimepicker in VS2005 does not have "really"
timepicker ability.

I don't know your preferences for defining "real" timepicker abilities, so
it's a bit hard to know exactly what you're looking for, but with a quick
Google I found this, which I guess is something in line with your
preferences:

http://www.codeproject.com/cs/miscctrl/cstimepicker.asp

Otherwise, there is always the possibility to make your extended version of
the "ordinary" DateTimePicker class, as it's not sealed.

/// Bjorn A

[Alan T]

As the standard datetimepicker in VS2005 does not allow you to set the time.
although I can set the format to time.
But when you click the down arrow it shows up the calender but not the
time/clock.

"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:ey******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

>
"Alan T" wrote...

>What do you suggest if I am looking for a timepicker component ?
Because the datetimepicker in VS2005 does not have "really"
timepicker ability.

I don't know your preferences for defining "real" timepicker abilities, so
it's a bit hard to know exactly what you're looking for, but with a quick
Google I found this, which I guess is something in line with your
preferences:

http://www.codeproject.com/cs/miscctrl/cstimepicker.asp

Otherwise, there is always the possibility to make your extended version
of the "ordinary" DateTimePicker class, as it's not sealed.

/// Bjorn A

[Alan T]

Yes, I downloaded the component you suggested but the problem is I cannot
install into VS IDE.
I compiled the project to get the dll and tried to install into toolbox but
got tlb not found error.

"Bjorn Abelli" <bj**********@D oNotSpam.hotmai l.comwrote in message
news:ey******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

>
"Alan T" wrote...

>What do you suggest if I am looking for a timepicker component ?
Because the datetimepicker in VS2005 does not have "really"
timepicker ability.

I don't know your preferences for defining "real" timepicker abilities, so
it's a bit hard to know exactly what you're looking for, but with a quick
Google I found this, which I guess is something in line with your
preferences:

http://www.codeproject.com/cs/miscctrl/cstimepicker.asp

Otherwise, there is always the possibility to make your extended version
of the "ordinary" DateTimePicker class, as it's not sealed.

/// Bjorn A

[Bjorn Abelli]

"Alan T" wrote...

Yes, I downloaded the component you suggested but the problem
is I cannot install into VS IDE.
I compiled the project to get the dll and tried to install
into toolbox but got tlb not found error.

That's odd.

Just to see the error for myself, I downloaded and compiled it.

Then I proceeded exactly as I wrote you before, and...

There it was, in the toolbox, without any errors, possible to drag and drop
to a form. It seems like there's something else going on in your machine
than in mine.

Could you provide a more *exact* description of your error, the exact words
in the error message, when it occurs during the process, etc?

/// Bjorn A

[Bjorn Abelli]

"Alan T" wrote...

As the standard datetimepicker in VS2005 does not
allow you to set the time.
although I can set the format to time.
But when you click the down arrow it shows up the
calender but not the time/clock.

You can change the property ShowUpDown to True. Then each field in the
DateTimePicker will be changeable via the UpDown arrow.
/// Bjorn A