In May/June I discovered NETMF and I just had to try it. Embedded devices driven by C# code is just a dream come true.

So after some surfing I ordered a GHI Electronics EMX Development System to get started. Since I’m not that good at time management (and it’s holiday season with lots of social obligations) I didn’t come as far as I hoped to be. BUT… I would like to share some piece of code, though.

While working on a secret project called “BeerGuard” I created a small class to use the SparkFun SerLCD (16×2 and 20×4) with NETMF. I’m probably not the only one who has written such a class, but I’ll dump it on the Internet anyway.

Be aware that this is a quick implementation to get me started real quick. Not everything is tested and there is probably a lot of code improvement possible. I hope this might be a starting point for some people. Please don’t start bashing my coding style and please… post improvements and corrections!

using System;
using System.IO.Ports;

namespace LXIT.Hardware
{
    public sealed class SerLCD
    {
        public enum Direction { Left, Right }

        public enum DisplayType { C16L2, C16L4, C20L2, C20L4 }

        public enum Status { On, Off }

        private readonly SerialPort _serialPort;

        private readonly DisplayType _displayType;

        public SerLCD(string portName) : this(portName, DisplayType.C16L2)
        {}

        public SerLCD(string portName, DisplayType displayType)
        {
            // Defaults for SerialPort are the same as the settings for the LCD, but I'll set them explicitly
            _serialPort = new SerialPort(portName, 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);

            _displayType = displayType;
        }

        public void ClearDisplay()
        {
            Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, 0x01 });
        }

        public void MoveCursor(Direction direction)
        {
            MoveCursor(direction, 1);
        }

        public void MoveCursor(Direction direction, int times)
        {
            byte command;

            switch (direction)
            {
                case Direction.Left: command = 0x10; break;
                case Direction.Right: command = 0x14; break;
                default: return;
            }

            for (int i = 0; i < times; i++)
            {
                Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, command });
            }
        }

        public void Open()
        {
            if (!_serialPort.IsOpen)
                _serialPort.Open();
        }

        public void SaveAsSplashScreen()
        {
            Write(new byte[] { 0x7C, 0x0A });
        }

        public void Scroll(Direction direction)
        {
            Scroll(direction, 1);
        }

        public void Scroll(Direction direction, int times)
        {
            byte command;

            switch (direction)
            {
                case Direction.Left: command = 0x18; break;
                case Direction.Right: command = 0x1C; break;
                default: return;
            }

            for (int i = 0; i < times; i++)
            {
                Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, command });
            }
        }

        public void SetBlinkingBoxCursor(Status status)
        {
            byte command;

            switch (status)
            {
                case Status.On: command = 0x0D; break;
                case Status.Off: command = 0x0C; break;
                default: return;
            }

            Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, command });
        }

        public void SetBrightness(int brightness)
        {
            if (brightness < 128 || brightness > 157)
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("brightness", "Value of brightness must be between 128-157.");

            Write(new byte[] { 0x7C, (byte)brightness });
        }

        public void SetCursorPosition(int line, int column)
        {
            if ((_displayType == DisplayType.C16L2 || _displayType == DisplayType.C16L4) && (column < 1 || column > 16))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("column", "Column number must be between 1 and 16.");

            if ((_displayType == DisplayType.C20L2 || _displayType == DisplayType.C20L4) && (column < 1 || column > 20))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("column", "Column number must be between 1 and 20.");

            if ((_displayType == DisplayType.C16L2 || _displayType == DisplayType.C20L2) && (line < 1 || line > 2))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("line", "Line number must be 1 or 2.");

            if ((_displayType == DisplayType.C16L4 || _displayType == DisplayType.C20L4) && (line < 1 || line > 4))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("line", "Line number must be between 1 and 4.");

            int[] startPos16 = { 0, 64, 16, 80 };
            int[] startPos20 = { 0, 64, 20, 84 };
            int charPos;

            switch (_displayType)
            {
                case DisplayType.C16L2:
                case DisplayType.C16L4:
                    charPos = startPos16[line - 1] + (column - 1);
                    break;
                case DisplayType.C20L2:
                case DisplayType.C20L4:
                    charPos = startPos20[line - 1] + (column - 1);
                    break;
                default:
                    return;
            }

            Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, (byte)(charPos + 0x80) });
        }

        public void SetDisplay(Status status)
        {
            byte command;

            switch (status)
            {
                case Status.On: command = 0x0C; break;
                case Status.Off: command = 0x08; break;
                default: return;
            }

            Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, command });
        }

        public void SetDisplayType(DisplayType displayType)
        {
            switch (displayType)
            {
                case DisplayType.C16L2:
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x04}); // 16 characters
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x06}); // 2 lines
                    break;
                case DisplayType.C16L4:
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x04}); // 16 characters
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x05}); // 4 lines
                    break;
                case DisplayType.C20L2:
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x03}); // 20 characters
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x06}); // 2 lines
                    break;
                case DisplayType.C20L4:
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x03}); // 20 characters
                    Write(new byte[]{0x7C, 0x05}); // 4 lines
                    break;
            }
        }

        public void SetUnderlineCursor(Status status)
        {
            byte command;

            switch (status)
            {
                case Status.On: command = 0x0E; break;
                case Status.Off: command = 0x0C; break;
                default: return;
            }

            Write(new byte[] { 0xFE, command });
        }

        public void ToggleSplashScreen()
        {
            Write(new byte[] { 0x7C, 0x09 });
        }

        public void Write(byte buffer)
        {
            Write(new[] { buffer });
        }

        public void Write(byte[] buffer)
        {
            Open();

            _serialPort.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
        }

        public void Write(char character)
        {
            Write((byte)character);
        }

        public void Write(string text)
        {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[text.Length];

            for (int i = 0; i < text.Length; i++)
            {
                buffer[i] = (byte)text[i];
            }

            Write(buffer);
        }
    }
}

Due to the lack of reflection on MonoTouch class declarations are not abstract. Classes have to be declared as concrete classes with getters and setters.

SQLite is the only supported relational database on iPhone, so Vici CoolStorage for MonoTouch only supports SQLite.

The port is still in beta, but is more or less functional. Input from beta testers is highly appreciated!

Check out the beta at the Vici CoolStorage webpage.

All questions regarding Vici MVC, Vici CoolStorage, Vici Parser, Vici WinService and all other future Vici projects can be viewed and answered on http://vici.stackexchange.com.

The old http://support.viciproject.com URL will redirect you to the new support location.

Addison-Wesley Professional

• Released:
  1. iPhone Developer’s Cookbook, The: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK by Erica Sadun (October 2008)

Apress

• Released:
  1. Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK by Dave Marke (November 2008)
• Not yet released:
  1. iPhone Games Projects by PJ Cabrera (June 2009)
  2. iPhone Cool Projects by Wolfgang Ante (June 2009)
  3. iPhone User Interface Design Projects by Dave Marke (July 2009)
  4. Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK by Dave Marke (July 2009)
  5. iPhone SDK 3 Projects by Dave Marke (September 2009)
  6. More iPhone 3 Development: Tackling iPhone SDK 3 by Dave Marke (November 2009)

Manning Publications Co.

• Released:
  1. iPhone in Action: Introduction to Web and SDK Development by Christopher Allen & Shannon Appelcline (December 2008) ~ Website

O’Reilly

• Released:
  1. iPhone Open Application Development, 2nd Edition by Jonathan Zdziarski (October 2008)
  2. iPhone SDK Application Development, 1st Edition by Jonathan Zdziarski (January 2009)
  3. iPhone Game Development: Rough Cuts Version, 1st Edition by Joe Hogue & Paul Zirkle (Rough Cuts Release; June 2009 / Print Book Release: November 2009)
• Not yet released:
  1. Programming the iPhone User Experience, 1st Edition by Toby Boudreaux (August 2009)
  2. Head First iPhone Development, 1st Edition by Dan Pilone & Tracey Pilone
  3. iPhone SDK Development, 1st Edition by Bill Dudney, Chris Adamson & Marcel Molina

Wrox

• Released:
  1. Professional iPhone and iPod touch Programming: Handling Touch Interactions and Events for Mobile Safari by Richard Wagner (October 2007) ~ Wrox Blox PDF
  2. Professional iPhone and iPod touch Programming: Building Applications for Mobile Safari by Richard Wagner (January 2008)

Currently I’m reading “iPhone in Action” (Manning) and  I’ve had a look into “Beginning iPhone Develoment” (Apress) in the bookstore. “iPhone in Action” doesn’t seem to be a hands-on book like “Beginning iPhone Development”. I’m considering buying the PDF version of the latter, so I can switch between books/style while getting my hands dirty.

I’m looking out for the upcoming Apress books (“iPhone Games Projects” and “More iPhone 3 Development“) as they seems to cover my areas of interest.

Of course I’ve still a lot to read of the Apple documentation at the iPhone Dev Center.

Holidays are coming up. Lots of time to read or lots of time to spend outside? We’ll see what Belgian weather brings…

PS: I’ll update this post with more info, e.g. Objective-C development books. This is just a small wrap-up of some Googling about iPhone development books.

Page Speed needs to be used in combination with the well known Firebug add-on.

Philippe describes Vici Project as follows: “The idea of the Vici Project is to provide .NET developers with a collection of lightweight libraries and frameworks, and at the same time get the community involved in the development and support of these libraries.”

The first sub-project of the Vici Project to be released is Vici MVC, formerly known as ProMesh.NET. Later this week, 2 other projects will be released as well: Vici Parser (formerly LazyParser.NET/SharpTemplate.NET) and Vici CoolStorage (formerly CoolStorage.NET).

I personally use Promesh.NET/Vici.Mvc with Coolstorage.NET/Vici.CoolStorage for some months now and I really enjoy developing web applications using this powerful framework.
After getting tired of using WebForms I’m happy that I now again have full control of my application! No more ViewState’s, no more “wanna-be-events”, …

Are you a .NET web developer? Get your ass over there and try out this wonderful products!

Full article at Ars Technica

Release notes

Wanna test it right away? Download VMWare images, LiveCD or packages at the Mono website.

First, you can all enjoy the official 1.0 release of ASP.NET MVC by downloading it from the Microsoft Download Center.

I must say that I’m not really thrilled about it, because I’m already enjoyng an excellent MVC framework for ASP.NET called ProMesh.NET. It’s lightweight, open source and a perfect match with the open source ORM CoolStorage.NET. Both projects will become part of the Vici Project collection of free tools.

Of course I’ll try out ASP.NET MVC, but I must say I expect it to be “too much, too heavy”. I like it to be no-nonsense and lightweight.

Second… The horror of Internet Explorer continues… Microsoft released the 8.0 version of their web browser. As a real opposer to Internet Explorer I will not install it to use as my daily web browser, but I need it to test my web applications. You want to download it and install it out of free will, please visit the Internet Explorer homepage.

When you use GetHashCode() the generated hashes on the 32-bit platform will differ from the hashes on the 64-bit platform…

The solution is either to not use the GetHashCode() the way you do it, or if you can’t change the way your program works you can run it in 32-bit mode by setting the 32-bit flag in the executable’s headers using CorFlags.exe.

Set the 32-bit flag:CorFlags.exe YourApplication.exe /32BIT+

Remove the 32-bit flag:CorFlags.exe YourApplication.exe /32BIT-

More info about CoreFlags.exe on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164699(VS.80).aspx

When migrating GarageTV from .NET 1.1 to .NET 3.5 I ran in a “strange” problem.

It seems that there is a SearchBarrel table containing the links between keywords and posts (and some other info like keyword weight etc), so when a search is made you simply do a select using this table.

But… the keyword is hashed using String.GetHashCode() and that’s stored in the DB. Not clever it seems, because the GetHashCode() in .NET 2.0+ differs from the .NET 1.1 version.

Quote from MSDN: “Prior to the .NET Framework version 2.0, the hash code provider was based on the System.Collections.IHashCodeProvider interface. Starting with version 2.0, the hash code provider is based on the System.Collections.IEqualityComparer interface.”

And for your information I’ve found an implementation of the GetHashCode() of the .NET 1.1 version, so you can use this method in .NET 2.0 projects.


Int32 HashString(String szStr)
{
ulong hash = 5381;

return (Int32)hash;
}

So… enjoy.