Let me start by saying that I do not know whether this is the best stackexchange site to ask this. I am not directly asking for an opinion on which is best (although obviously it would be appreciated). I just simply need some guidance.
I am wanting to start on a hobby project but its going to be a big old thing so I wanted to start off small. I basically need to know how to stream a video of my desktop (or any desktop) into a WPF application. Future enhancements would include doing multiple displays from different computers on a network into a WPF application.
I have done some research and someone has given me a list of Libraries that I could use avlib, ffmpeg, gstreamer. So I started with the first two and could find ffmpeg however I found people stating that it is better to use libav. But I couldn't find any information on avlib really, is libav a successor to avlib and that is why I can't find it?
Finally all these articles that I were reading were from 2012 as well so I don't know whether there is an even more up to date version. The last release notes for libav were from May this year so my assumption is that this is still being developed.
Any guidance would be really useful as I am not sure where to start looking (even if it is telling me which site would be best to post this on).
For FFmpeg vs. Libav, see this post. Beyond what you'll read there and in the posts linked from there, this is entirely opinion-based. See also this, which is relatively fair although a bit old.
For FFmpeg/Libav vs. GStreamer, this really depends on what type of API you prefer and what special plugins you need that are only available in one or the other. Read docs for both, play with both and see which one suits your needs and/or preferences better.
Related
A friend likes to limit his applications to a use a certain bandwidth-limit. Seen as he doesn't have the widest connection and - for example - not every application that downloads/uploads has the ability to throttle/limit their downloads/uploads (Like Steam or a torrent downloader.). So he was wondering if I could maybe put something together since I fiddle around with WinForms often. I recommended NetLimiter and NetBalancer, but I was curious as to whether I could make this in C# myself.
I have searched the web and found some decent solutions as to throttling in an application itself but as to throttling applications outside of the current application you have the source code of, I haven't been able to find anything that would help me understand how to program this from scratch.
Do any of you know how I'd go about throttling other applications? Would I have to write my own network interface and have Windows reroute traffic through that?
Thank you for your time.
EDIT: Seen as the first comment tells me I'm at the wrong address with C#, I rephrased my question in the hopes of a better way to get an answer.
I am currently mostly a Java Developer, and would like to know if one would be able to creating Windows MCE plugins for popular services using a language like C#? Where would i find resources to learn how to write MCE plugins using C# if at all possible?
Really to find these resources you are going to have to be a bit more specific as to what resources you actually need.
Start with the SDK as David M suggested above, also check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb189062.aspx
Its probably going to be easier if you work out what you actually want to build, what it needs to do then research that particular area or ask specific questions rather than trying to look at writing plugins as a whole. Since you come from a Java background C# shouldnt be too hard to pick up if you dont know it already.
A quick google search for 'writing windows MCE plugins' returns a few good results too.
There's an SDK for this published by Microsoft. You could do a lot worse than start by downloading that and reading some of the technical articles available on that page.
In a .NET C# program, is it easy to transition from FTP to SFTP? I'm trying to get a sense of how muh time it would take the contractor to make the transition. My personal experience is mostly with PHP, so I have no idea.
Basically, what I'm talking about, what steps would have to be made? Obviously, different commands, but would anything else in the code itself? Like do the commands require different formats, etc.?
Also, if anyone has a list of all the .NET/C# FTP and SFTP commands, that would be really helpful.
Clarification, as requested: The program is uploading extremely small files (20 KB) to a server. By format, I mean visually, because I was wondering about a find/replace job.
This is a pretty vague question. You haven't told us what the C# program is doing with FTP. Is it a server, is it a client, is it doing directory listings, is it uploading 100 GB files? What library is it using?
According to this forum post , there is no built-in support for SFTP in .NET, so you would have to use third-party libraries such as SharpSSH or Granados SSH.
I don't really know what you mean, "do the commands require different formats". Obviously, the code will use different:
Libraries
Types
Wire protocol.
It will obviously appear somewhat similar, thanks to the abstraction of the libraries. I suggest you provide more information, and a clearer question.
One thing that you'd need to consider is how well your current code is written. If your existing FTP implementation is horribly designed spaghetti code then converting it to SFTP may be next to impossible and take way longer than you'd like. Without knowing the current state of the code, it would be difficult for anyone to make a good estimation. And even if you do get an estimation from people on this site, I wouldn't recommend trusting it (even though the people on this site are great) since without all the information in front of them it will be next to impossible for anyone to come up with a reliable estimate.
Perhaps you should consider hiring a good consultant or business analyst to do a thorough estimate for you.
It really depends on what C# library your developer has used to implement FTP.
If, for example, they used edtFTPnet, a widely available open source library, then the upgrade path is trivial if you replace it with edtFTPnet/PRO. The PRO version has the identical API and just a few extra lines of code would be needed.
I've been down this road.
It depends, but keep in mind that SFTP, FTP-SSL and FTP are different.
If he's writing the SFTP libraries himself, a month or two, since it's a lot of work to make it perfect and compatible. But he should NOT do that.
In short, get him to use an external library to add SFTP functionality. This will make it pretty short. Maybe a week or two of full-time work, but it depends on how involved it is. There's open-source options.. But for $50-150 you can get a license to well-maintained code that's really easy to use. will save him days of work.
There's links above, but I'd look at:
Free:
http://www.enterprisedt.com/products/edtftpnet/overview.html
Commercial:
http://www.weonlydo.com/
Beginner level question
Scenario: Have simple string cocantation tool, that I might expand later on. I'm interesting in keeping updates and "upgrades to it" as time progresses. They have access to the shared drive.
Share one executable and they just have shortcuts to it? Multiple users using it? (might have issues with personalization that I could setup later on.)
Have them copy over the setup file to their individual computer and install individually?
If applicable, please let me know HOW I could publish updates simply with the "publish tool." Is it fairly straightforward and updates them telling them updates are available?
I'm a beginner so a little help or links to beginner level explantions on this would help.
Look into ClickOnce.
I think that executing files on a shared/widely accessible drive is probably not the best idea. How many people are we talking about?
Since you only have 7-8 people in your group, maybe the best solution here is to simply make the setup executable available on your shared drive, that way your users can have access to the newest version of your tool whenever they like and can install it on their machine at their leisure.
sure there are more elegant solutions here, but they may take too much hassle to implement for such a small group, especially if you are not getting paid to distribute this tool to your peers.
Sometimes the simplest approach is best, and I don't usually condone manual efforts, but in this case it may work best for you.
Good luck,
-Robert
I'm a little ashamed for asking this, because, you know, I've been very anti-MS for a long time. I have been fortunate enough as to make a living outside Visual Studio. As I grown older there are "some" things I would like to try, and to be very honest, this Q&A site has inspired me and I realize that VS and Windows Development doesn't suck that much. Hey, after all C# was designed after Java, and now Java is copying back some features from the child language. And Windows vista is the first decent version since windows came to light.
Anyway, to any +3,000 user in the audience, you may delete all the above crap and keep the following:
Do you have, links, resources, tutorial aimed to learn Windows development coming from strong Java background?
I'm very interested in Windows manipulation (that is the actual window, the frame, get the name, get foremost app etc., resize it programatically, etc.) and in Windows Search API among other minor API's. My interest after all is to integrate them with my Java apps through JNI or JNA.
I've read many tutorials and links over the MSDN, and I actually understand the API it self. I've grabbed a copy of C# and C++ Express and actually got some basic samples running.
My problem is I don't get the big picture of the whole architecture (because, well, it is big). The classes have hundreds of methods, and it not that clear to me who calls them. (I had this same opinion when I first look at the Java's Javadoc API.) I don't know some basic common objects, for instance HWCD (or something like that) that it turned out to be the very window handler, but every single tutorial I read give that for granted (as if WHCD or what ever it is, was a very descriptive name).
I don't know exactly the difference between Win32, COM, COM+, DCOM, Windows SDK ADO, and some other technologies. I mean, I know them at some degree and by common sense, but while reading the tutorials or the API I get confused. I've tried to grab some "beginner" tutorials, but they are aimed for absolute 0 programmers using Visual Basic (yiak! , THAT was the main reason I kept away from MS for so many years in first place.)
I do understand .NET framework, managed code, unmanaged code, C# basics, CLR and related stuff, because well, they are SO similar to the Java platform that it is almost transparent.
So, after all my rants and honest opinions about MS development:
What's the best way to learn Windows Development for a non absolute beginner (in programming) but absolute new to Windows APIs itself? What would be a good path?
The Petzold is your new best friend, and MSDN is your new Javadocs. Make sure you have a good understanding of C before you dive into it though. The Forger has a great beginner tutorial too if you're interested. A great place to hang out while learning is #WinProg on efnet irc, plenty of win32 gurus ready to help.
I'm going to suggest an alternate path (with less resistance). Have you looked at WPF yet? It's the new GUI toolkit that lets you create sexy interfaces (like those found in Vista).
That may be enough to keep you interested while easing into more advanced development. From there you can jump into the jungle of the Win APIs (if you choose).
Just a thought, as that path would be more interesting for me. Your mileage may vary, of course.
I strongly recommend getting yourself a copy of "Win32 Programming". It explains the basic DNA of WINDOWS - and this is valid if you are programming with the old C++ win32, the new C# WinForms and also the future Windows Presentation Foundation.
In a nutshell, a Windows program consists of a WinMain. When first started the app registers its window class with the system, initializes and then starts a message loop which continues till WM_QUIT is encountered. The system (OS) keeps pumping messages like keyboard or mouse click etc to the message Q of the application. In Windows, at any point of time there is only one active Window - so the OS knows whom to send the message to.
Well things like these are described in detail in the above book.
COM (COM+, DCOM) are not really related to Windows. When Word, Excel became popular and it was required to be able to access Excel from Word (viceversa) they came up with the AcitveX technology which is kind of the root for COM etc. You can get started with "Essential COM" by Don Box.
One warning: in the Microsoft world, there are two ways to program - to go the boiler plate way (write everything yourself) or use frameworks (MFC, ATL-COM....). It is recommended to do a bit of boiler plate so that you know the basics.
Having made the same conversion a year ago I can say that there's a lot of literature specifically for learning c# from a Java background. This was my first into which I found really useful for learning the important differences / features of C#:
C# from a Java developer's perspective
And there are also books which may be worth a look at (google 'c# for java programmers'). As JohnT said MSDN library is the equivalent of JavaDocs API, but I found it really frustrating to use. The best way to learn is to grab a copy of Visual Studio express and start playing around. Use intellisense to explore classes and methods. Find a small program you wrote in Java and try to reproduce it in C#. Start with simple problems, use google to solve them. You'll find it hard for the first week, but trust me, it will come to you surprisingly quickly!