Develop Reference

Unable to get Source Generator to do anything

I've been wrestling with Source Generators but there's a lack of tutorials and information that are hurting.
I want to generate some C# classes from a database. Using a T4 template to do this is difficult and problematic, because of issues I'm having with using SQL in T4 templates and similar.
The description of Source Generator is that "The generator can create new C# source files on the fly that are added to the user's compilation. In this way, you have code that runs during compilation. It inspects your program to produce additional source files that are compiled together with the rest of your code." which seems to match what I want.
This seems significantly more promising.
I've created a project, and put a [Generator] into it using this tutorial.
Full source:
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Text;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace x
{
[Generator]
internal class TestGenerator : ISourceGenerator
{
public void Execute(GeneratorExecutionContext context)
{
File.Create(#"C:\temp\ITRUNS.TXT");
var sourceBuilder = new StringBuilder(#"
using System;
namespace HelloWorldGenerated
{
public static class HelloWorld
{
public static void SayHello()
{
Console.WriteLine(""Hello from generated code!"");
Console.WriteLine(""The following syntax trees existed in the compilation that created this program:"");
");
Debugger.Launch();
// using the context, get a list of syntax trees in the users compilation
var syntaxTrees = context.Compilation.SyntaxTrees;
// add the filepath of each tree to the class we're building
foreach (SyntaxTree tree in syntaxTrees)
{
sourceBuilder.AppendLine($#"Console.WriteLine(#"" - {tree.FilePath}"");");
}
// finish creating the source to inject
sourceBuilder.Append(#"
}
}
}");
// inject the created source into the users compilation
context.AddSource("helloWorldGenerator", SourceText.From(sourceBuilder.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8));
}
public void Initialize(GeneratorInitializationContext context)
{
}
}
}
I want this to run when I build the solution and create some .cs files
However, it does not run. I put some code in the execute method to create a file, and it does not create the file.
The tutorial says:
Add the source generator from a project as an analyzer and add preview to the LangVersion to the project file like this:
I don't really know what this means. Which project? I tried to download the samples as suggested, but I can't get them to build.
When I examine the code, it's quite hard to understand what they've done that is different.
And what they say in the tutorial about adding the analyzer, doesn't seem to present anywhere in the sample code!
I tried adding the project reference in the csproj that it said to add, however that didn't work - it did create an item within Analyzers but it just has a red - and says 'Ignored' on the tooltip.
I honestly don't know what else I can do to figure out how to get this to work.
I also don't know for sure if it will do what I want - autogenerate a bunch of .cs files with code in that I can use.
I'm going to give it one more go then I'll just write a console application to do it manually instead. Any ideas are welcome.

Creating a Bitmap in c# .net 4 Framework

I am currently working on a small program, that loads an image file into the Console and print it out as an asci image. I am using the ".Net Console application framework 4". My Problem is, that I do not know how to create a Bitmap. After browsing for a while, I found many answers to my question, that suggested the "System.Drawing.Bitmap" class. When I try to refer to this class, visual studio does not even know System.Drawing.Bitmap. I have a class "AsciArt" which should convert the picture in the method ConvertToAsci. Does anybody know what my mistake is?
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Drawing.Bitmap;
namespace consoleGrafix
{
class AsciArt
{
private string ImgLink;
public AsciArt(string imageLocation)
{
this.ImgLink = imageLocation;
}
public void ConvertToAsci(string saveLocation)
{
var bm = Bitmap(saveLocation);
}
}
}

The solution was to set up my class by inheriting from image class. Also, in the ConvertTo Asci method, there was a "new". https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.drawing.bitmap?view=netframework-4.0 . This really helped. Thank you!

How to use referenced c# dll code in a VS C# console application

So I have two dlls, Algorithms.dll and Data_Structures.dll (I made these from projects I found on GitHub). Using the browse feature I have managed to add both of the DLL files as references to my Visual Studio 2017 console project. The problem is I can't do anything else with them. Whenever I try to reference something within either file, it simply cannot be found. The only thing that is recognized is the namespace, but nothing inside of that.
What do I need to do to get VS to find the classes these DLLs contain so I can use them? I am aware I need to use Algorithms.Sorting for the example but I can't call anything so I used this as an example.
P.S. If you need more info, please ask. I'm not sure what's relevant to this issue.
EDIT: Ok, it was misleading to have that kind of example. Corrected but please read the question.
EDIT: I tried this on Monodevelop and get the same issue. Maybe it's not the IDE that's the problem?
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Algorithms.Sorting; // Error, Sorting cannot be found, and neither can the file container Sorting
using Data_Structures; //Perfectly ok, can find the namespace
namespace CS_HW2_Testing_App
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// I'd like to call MergeSort and so forth here. What am I missing?!
}
}
}
Here's the top piece of the file containing MergeSort if it helps
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Algorithms.Common;
namespace Algorithms.Sorting
{
public static class MergeSorter
{
//
// Public merge-sort API
public static List<T> MergeSort<T>(this List<T> collection, Comparer<T> comparer = null)
{
comparer = comparer ?? Comparer<T>.Default;
return InternalMergeSort(collection, 0, collection.Count - 1, comparer);
}
...

In the first code block, you're importing the wrong namespace: using Algorithms.MergeSort should be using Algorithms.Sorting. Then you can use MergeSorter.MergeSort<T>(...) in your code!

You need to reference the namespace not the class.
using Algorithms.Sorting; //instead of using Algorithms.MergeSort;
Plus make sure the classes are public

Why can't I write IO.Directory.GetFiles?

I come from a VB.Net environment, where using Imports System and then IO.Directory.GetFiles(...) works.
On the other hand, it seems that using System; is not sufficient to write use IO.Directory without prefixing it with System.. The only workaround seems to be
using IO = System.IO;
Why?
Example code:
using System;
using System.IO;
namespace Test {
class Program {
static void Main(string[] args) {
System.Console.WriteLine(IO.Directory.GetFiles(System.Environment.CurrentDirectory)[0]);
}
}
}
Edit: My question is not what should I do to get my code working, but specifically "why cant I write IO.Directory.GetFiles ??"

Add
using System.IO;
and you'll have the behavior you expect. C# does not make child namespaces available without a using directive (or full qualification.)

The thing you are talking about is not posssible in C# that might be diffrence between C# and vb.NET.
If you are converting vb.Net code to C# than make use of this site will help you lot
vb.net to c#
Code fo ryou
System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(...)
or add
using System.IO;
will do for you

How to write a hello world add-in for Win 7 Media Center

I want to write a simple hello world add in for Media Center on Windows 7, but I am having problems finding up to date functional documentation. I found this page: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcreasy/archive/2004/10/12/241449.aspx which looks to be exactly what I need. I implemented it and some of the interfaces it references are marked as obsolete, and even so when I try to launch it in media center is just pops up a dialog saying "unable to launch addin"
I updated the namespace interfaces from using Microsoft.MediaCenter.AddIn to using Microsoft.MediaCenter.Hosting which looks to be the up to date namespace according to the sdk docs, but I still have the same problem.
registering the assembly with the gac and with RegisterMCEApp both are successful, and I have unregistered and registered from both places in between builds.
I strongly signed the assembly with a .snk file and got the public key token to update the registration.xml
Can anyone either tell me what I am doing wrong or direct me to some up to date tutorial /docs?
Here is the little bit of code I have:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.MediaCenter.Hosting;
namespace MCPluginTakeTwo
{
public class HelloWorldAddIn: MarshalByRefObject, IAddInModule, IAddInEntryPoint
{
public void Initialize(Dictionary<string, object> appInfo, Dictionary<string, object> entryPointInfo)
{
}
public void Uninitialize()
{
}
public void Launch(AddInHost host)
{
}
}
}

Maybe looking at some open source mc plugins would help.

Here's another getting started tutorial, with some tips for getting started with Visual Studio 2010 (because the SDK only comes with VS 2008 templates).
http://david.gardiner.net.au/2010/10/writing-media-center-application-in.html