Develop Reference

Multi platform 2D game engine [closed]

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 6 years ago.
Improve this question
I am creating a 2D game which I wish to run cross platform (on platforms such as Windows, Mac, iOS and Android as the main targets) and the engine I use needs to be open source.
The main goal is to have the most code portability (possibly through scripting).
I would prefer to do this in C# but using another language is not a massive issue if I have to.
I have considered MonoGame and flash using the Flex SDK as they both claim to be cross platform and open source.
Which one of these would be a better choice considering my criteria? Or would another game engine/library be more suitable?

I would suggest Unity3D. It is a 3D platform. But if you only use 2 dimensions you're good to go. In Unity3D you can write your game in C#, Javascript or Boo.
Unity is free and can export to Windows Phone, Windows 8 App, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Blackberry, iOs, Xbox360, Wii and PS3 but for those last 3 you need a developer license from Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo. But the possibility is there.
UPDATE
You had to pay for the ios and android addons earlier. Now they are free:
Today, we’re taking another step on this long road: as of right now,
independent Unity developers will be able to deploy their games to
Android and iOS platforms completely free of charge. Update Unity and
you will find Android and iOS build options (previously basic add-ons)
ready and waiting for you to use.
Source: http://blogs.unity3d.com/
In the meanwhile, support for other platforms has come out (including windows phone, winrt & blackberry). Those are all free. If you want pro features you need a pro license. But most of the stuff you need is in the free version. To compare look at this page.

The engines below allow you to reuse pretty much all your code, only thing you need to change is resolution and touch input/controls from desktop to mobile or the other way around. I would suggest you check out these engines, they are all open source:
libgdx - Uses Java and is almost as fast as XNA, but faster than MonoGame. "Publish your games on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and HTML5, all with the same code base." - off their website, anything that can run java, can run your game. Big community so you shouldn't have problems asking questions when you need help and getting it.
Qt-Project - Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework for developers using C++ or QML, a CSS & JavaScript like language. As of Qt 5.1 you are supposed to be able to build for Android and iOS, allowing you to build for all the platforms you requested. Big community.
Moai - Uses Lua and can deploy to all the platforms you requested. Only downside is the community is pretty small and the docs are a little out of date, but people on irc and forums will usually help you, but the answer won't always be immediate. You also have to build your own hosts to build for the platforms you desire, but last time I checked there were public hosts for all platforms out.
libgdx seems like a perfect fit for you. the performance is amazing, the community is big and it lets you reuse the same code for all platforms, just to name a few. Only downside being it doesn't use C#. Of course you should definitely look into them yourselves and see if they are match for what you want. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

There are a couple of options based on your preferences; I will list a couple of ones I recently come across.
Cocos2d series seem very popular these days. If you think C++ isn't
a problem for you then Cocos2d-X would be an option as it offers a
lot of platforms. Other Cocos2d series might get your attention as
well. I guess there are a couple of versions like HTML5, Javascript,
Python. etc but i think only cocos2d-x is cross platform.
Unity3D(C#, Javascript, Boo) seems as an option but it's not open
source, as well as UDK(UnrealScript) also same, but if you think to
buy a license they offer source code I guess
Flash also can be a good option, as you mentioned. It uses AS3 which
is an OOP language and can be very useful if you are a beginner.
And ImpactJS offers a lot of platforms also, it uses HTML5, you can
check here http://impactjs.com/
The list can be longer and longer, and depends on your needs. You should specify your needs clearly like; how much deep you wanna go, which platforms are most important for you? etc.
Good Luck

You can try this: http://www.appgamekit.com/ (AGK)
Code in c++, but working perfectly. A very simple engine.

Using OpenGl with C#? [closed]

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 8 years ago.
Improve this question
Is there free OpenGL support libraries for C#? If so, which one do I use and where do I find sample projects?
Does C# provide classes for OpenGL?

OpenTK is an improvement over the Tao API, as it uses idiomatic C# style with overloading, strongly-typed enums, exceptions, and standard .NET types:
GL.Begin(BeginMode.Points);
GL.Color3(Color.Yellow);
GL.Vertex3(Vector3.Up);
as opposed to Tao which merely mirrors the C API:
Gl.glBegin(Gl.GL_POINTS); // double "gl" prefix
Gl.glColor3ub(255, 255, 0); // have to pass RGB values as separate args
Gl.glVertex3f(0, 1, 0); // explicit "f" qualifier
This makes for harder porting but is incredibly nice to use.
As a bonus it provides font rendering, texture loading, input handling, audio, math...
Update 18th January 2016: Today the OpenTK maintainer has stepped away from the project, leaving its future uncertain. The forums are filled with spam. The maintainer recommends moving to MonoGame or SDL2#.
Update 30th June 2020: OpenTK has had new maintainers for a while now and has an active discord community. So the previous recommendation of using another library isn't necessarily true.

I think what #korona meant was since it's just a C API, you can consume it from C# directly with a heck of a lot of typing like this:
[DllImport("opengl32")]
public static extern void glVertex3f(float x, float y, float z);
You unfortunately would need to do this for every single OpenGL function you call, and is basically what Tao has done for you.

Tao is supposed to be a nice framework.
From their site:
The Tao Framework for .NET is a collection of bindings to facilitate
cross-platform media application development utilizing
the .NET and Mono platforms.

SharpGL is a project that lets you use OpenGL in your Windows Forms or WPF applications.

You can OpenGL without a wrapper and use it natively in C#.
Just as Jeff Mc said, you would have to import all the functions you need with DllImport.
What he left out is having to create context before you can use any of the OpenGL functions. It's not hard, but there are few other not-so-intuitive DllImports that need to be done.
I have created an example C# project in VS2012 with almost the bare minimum necessary to get OpenGL running on Windows box. It only paints the window blue, but it should be enough to get you started. The example can be found at http://www.glinos-labs.org/?q=programming-opengl-csharp. Look for the No Wrapper example at the bottom.

I would also recommend the Tao Framework. But one additional note:
Take a look at these tutorials:
http://www.taumuon.co.uk/jabuka/

What would you like these support libraries to do? Just using OpenGL from C# is simple enough and does not require any additional libraries afaik.

Concerning the (somewhat off topic I know but since it was brought up earlier) XNA vs OpenGL choice, it might be beneficial in several cases to go with OpenGL instead of XNA (and in other XNA instead of OpenGL...).
If you are going to run the applications on Linux or Mac using Mono, it might be a good choice to go with OpenGL. Also, which isn't so widely known I think, if you have customers that are going to run your applications in a Citrix environment, then DirectX/Direct3D/XNA won't be as economical a choice as OpenGL. The reason for this is that OpenGL applications can be co-hosted on a lesser number of servers (due to performance issues a single server cannot host an infinite number of application instances) than DirectX/XNA applications which demands dedicated virtual servers to run in hardware accelerated mode. Other requirements exists like supported graphics cards etc but I will keep to the XNA vs OpenGL issue.
As an IT Architect, Software developer etc this will have to be considered before choosing between OpenGL and DirectX/XNA...
A side note is that WebGL is based on OpenGL ES3 afaik...
As a further note, these are not the only considerations, but they might make the choice easier for some...

XNA 2.0 requires a minimum of a shader 1.1 card. While old tech, not everyone has one. Some newer laptops (in our experience Toshiba tablets with Intel graphics) have no shader 1.1 support. XNA simply wont run on these machines.
This is a significant issue for us and we have shifted to Tao and OpenGL. Plus with Tao we have bindings for audio & Lua support.

Home Automation Library [closed]

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 7 years ago.
Improve this question
I'm a C# developer looking to get into home automation as a hobby. I have done a little research, but was wondering if anyone knows of a good .NET library that supports Insteon hardware. I'd rather use Insteon than X10 due to reliability issues.
My ultimate objective at this point is to have a simple home automation server (maybe lights and climate control) with a secure ASP.NET web application interface. I'm more interested in actually building it and learning about it rather than finding an existing solution.
Thanks for any suggestions or comments.
Edit:
Thanks for the help, everyone.
Does anyone have experience with Z-wave technology? Seems promising - appears to be higher quality hardware, includes a core library, supports .NET, etc. ControlThink appears to have a pretty good controller and SDK.
Here's an interesting application to consider: Stall Status: Know Before You Go

We found there really wasn't much developer support for Insteon unless you wanted to buy their SDK and agree to their rather heavy-handed license agreement. Rather than go that route, we wrote our own .NET library called FluentDwelling and we open-sourced it. You can find a download link, and some get-you-started code samples if you follow that link.
The source code comes with a full suite of unit tests (requires NUnit, also free), so you can add improvements and make changes if you like.

I would avoid X10 like the plague. Between things like modern TV's and power strips, bridged power junction boxes and just plain strange wiring, X10 signals tend to just "disappear" and never get to their destination.
If you really want to give X10 a shot, I've got a box of X10 stuff in the garage that was worth $250+ new and it's all completely useless in my house, so you can have it. Some of it worked in my old house, but it won't so much as turn a light on 2 outlets away where I live now.
X10 is viewed by most modern electronics as "noise" on the line (which, technically, it is) and something to be filtered out rather than passed along or left alone.

I can't remember if it covers the specific technologies you mention but you should definately check out this episode of .NET Rocks. They talk about all the different stuff you can do with home automation and a lot about how to do it. I believe one of the main points was that Microsoft Robotics Studio was a good tool to use, as it uses a lot of the same abstractions as you would otherwise use.

I know it's been a long time since this post was made, however I was wondering if you'd picked a route, and what you've ended up doing with home automation since.
I've been doing this kind of stuff with many of the technologies available, but I've always done it on top of a product called homeseer. .net plug-ins and vb.net and c# scripting can be done on top of this foundation. I've been thinking of rolling my own similar to what you were describing. Any thoughts, tips, decisions you've made etc?

A bit off topic, but listen to the latest episode of dot net rocks, one of the finalists of my .net story built an home automation solution that really made me want to dive into home automation again.
Totally awsome solution.
http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=518

I think this would bee a place to start
insteon sdk

Some research via Google looking for an Insteon SDK only yields stuff from way back in 2005. There's only information on serial port interfaces (no USB) and the only language mentioned is something called DockLight scripting that also looks like it hasn't been updated since 2005.
X10, on the other hand, boasts support for C++, VisualBasic, VB Script, and JavaScript. No .Net listed, but VisualBasic/VB Script likely implies a COM object you can easily import for use in C#. They're also much more USB friendly, and the kit costs 1/4 of the Insteon kit ($50 vs $200).
If you were actually building a product I would understand the reliability concern. But since this is a home project I think you'll have much better luck with X10.

you can try C-bus by Clipsal(schneider) it's free.

C# Desktop Applications? [closed]

Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it can be answered with facts and citations by editing this post.
Closed 3 years ago.
Improve this question
In looking at the use of C# in a ISV setting, I'm wondering what prominent C# based desktop apps are out there? I can think of only Paint .NET.
Is C# a good idea for an ISV, or should one stick to more native environments like Delphi or even QT?
Of course any experienced based advise or feedback would be appreciated.

Yes, C# can be used quite effectivly to build applications. In regards what applciations are out there, what are you looking for? Big apps, little apps?
I know of a big app that is built on the .NET framework (unsure if C# or VB) and that is Quickbooks.

Developing a Desktop applications in C# is great. Its not just for Web Apps.
WinForms are going to save you huge amounts of time. It really is a first class citizen when it comes to desktop windows development. If interop is a problem you can always use P/Invoke and COM object wrapping that VS does for you.
Done right, it will be a breeze to maintain and update when the client changes their mind on what they want.
Yes, the framework needs to be on the machine, But this shouldn't be a problem if they have ever used windows update. Nowadays what language doesn't come with a run time library. In VS you can create simple installers that include the runtime.
Of course if your gonna deploy to Linux and mono, your mileage may very.

PlasticSCM

If you can control the system requirements for your application, C# is fine. Some end users still (even though we're nearly in 2009 now) object to a 40MB runtime for some reason, so if you're looking to deploy an application commercially, that may be an issue for you. In a corporate setting, though, where there is some standardization of software on users' computers, this is probably not a problem.
Delphi and QT specifically are both problems. Delphi is effectively a dead language. Companies that are using it these days are, for the most part, porting their code away from it as fast as they can (job boards seem to be full of Delphi-to-C# migration jobs these days). You may like QT, but that moves almost as slowly as Delphi in the Windows world, so I would never consider it to be a real option.

More:
Business Plan Pro
Rescue Time client
Sony Vegas
Sql Management Studio
VS 2010 (much more so than VS 200x)
NASA's World Wind
BabySmash
Windows Live Writer
Microsoft Office Accounting
Fiddler 2
Windows Mobile Device Center
AdiIRC
Jetbrains dotTrace
Lots of Lenovo utilities
Planbook
These are just the ones installed on my PC...

I think that Microsoft Expression Blend/Studio is written in C#

Anything done for Robotics Studio, any XNA game (quite a few commerical ones are coming out now)

I don't see why you would not use C# as an ISV. The problem is ensuring that your target market has the .NET framework. If you are using 3.5, you can build a mini version into your distribution though this increases the file sizes for downloads of course.

Some supplemental information to think about:
One of the typical points against doing desktop applications the distribution model is a lot more difficult to manage. With web apps, if you have a large user base, you can do an update and instantly have your entire user base running on the latest version.
With traditional desktop apps, you'd have to send out an .msi or build something yourself.
However, with ClickOnce and the Updater Application Block (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms978574.aspx), it's so easy to build intelligent updating into your application that it might play very nicely into an ISV plan.
Even though VS 2008/WPF is shrinking the gap, it's typically much faster to develop client applications in the WinForms space that on the web, so I think it's a very viable approach.

I believe TimeSnapper is written in C#

I have worked for an ISV before that used Delphi and it was excellent for their needs. It still produces great native applications and although dieing it is certainly not dead (yet). Until recently I would have recommened Delphi over c# for desktop applications as I had performance and footprint consderations but as .net can now be considered ubiquitous and that the platform is now maturing my opinoin would probably go with c# (over Delphi).
If you need to consider employees, you will find that there are fewer Delphi developers around that c# ones. So you may struggle to entice good devleopers in as you are using that.
That said Delphi is looking exciting again with the Delphi prism VS plugin.
Just as an aside did you know that the c# compiler is written in c++? Delphi was written in Delphi from v1.0

Windows Media Centre is powered by .NET.

I believe that MS use C# to build many of their apps both Windows and Web. At this time, C# is a great language to go with because of the flexibility of the language/framework.

The zune software (v2 and up) is written in c#. Oh, and Sage Timberline Office is written in .net (mostly).

Although it's a developer tool, the excellent open source IDE SharpDevelop was built in C#. I've also worked on another which (despite being semi-commercially-available) I'm not at liberty to divulge. (Very vertical market.)
I'm a huge fan of the C#/WinForms combination, and can't see why you wouldn't go that route if your developers are already familiar with C# and you want to get into the desktop space.

A very prominent example for a commercialy successful application would be Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 itself.
If you are looking into building a client or server application for the Windows ecosystem .Net with C# is an absolut valid choice. You'll get a very rich framework, a great third-party-app ecosystem and a huge community.
If you need a minimal memory footprint for your application or are very hardware centric then C++ maybe an option.
If you want to target the UNIX/LINUX or Apple platforms you should be looking in frameworks more native for the respective platform, though you can get a certain degree of interoperability with the Mono project (But I am not up to date on how complete their implementation of .Net currently is).

I believe the matrox graphics card configuration utilities are using the .net-framework.

I'm still just a student, but for what it's worth (and from other answers preceding mine), there seem to be quite a few apps in C#.
I'd advise working through the book Head First C# (Amazon link). This book will give you a pretty solid idea of what you can do with the language.
=-MDP-=

Creative Docs .NET is a very nice example of C# application.

Microsoft's World Wide Telescope software is written in c#

Who are your target users? Their needs will dictate your choice of language. C# and VB.NET are good general purpose langs, but if you are targeting Mac or *nix, you may want something like C++.

If you're looking for a way to get started quickly, I recently published DesktopBootstrap, which is my attempt to factor out the elements you'll need to get started.
Hope that helps!

What tools exist to convert a Delphi 7 application to C# and the .Net framework? [closed]

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 7 years ago.
The community reviewed whether to reopen this question 7 months ago and left it closed:
Original close reason(s) were not resolved
Improve this question
I maintain an old PC-only application written in Delphi 7. Although Delphi has served me very well in the past I now only use it for this one application and find my skills with the language diminishing. Its syntax is too different from my 'day job' languages of Java/Ruby so it takes me longer to get into the groove of writing new code, plus it is so old I have not used many interfaces so the code is not managed which seems ancient to me now!
Many of my users are moving to Vista which may run the app in compatibility mode or may have GPF problems depending on how their PC is configured by their IT department, so I have to do some maintenance on the application. I'm wondering if I should jump to a more familiar stack.
Is there an automated tool that will do the legwork of converting the code base to C#, leaving me to concentrate on the conversion on any non-standard components? I'm using an embedded database component called AbsoluteDatabase which is BDE compatible and using standard SQL throughout, and a native Delphi HTML browser component which can be swapped out with something from the Microsoft world.
How good are these conversion tools?

I am not aware of any automated tools for making that conversion. Personally I would suggest you stick with Delphi, maybe just upgrade to a new version. I have seen a couple code DOM's that attempt to convert from Delphi to C#, but that doesn't address the library issue.
CodeGear (formally Borland) has a tool for going from C# to Delphi that works OK. I would assume the tools that go the other direction will work the same (requiring a lot of editing). Here is a Swedish tool that works on the same CodeDOM principle to go from Delphi to C# (and a number of other languages). There are others, I just can't find them right now.
Another option would be to upgrade to a more resent version of Delphi for .NET and port your code to .NET that way. Once you get it working in Delphi for .NET (which will be pretty easy, except for the embedded DB, unless they have a .NET version) you can use .NET Reflector and File Disassembler reverse the IL to C#. You will still be using the VCL, but you can use C# instead of Object pascal.
Another similar solution would be to port it to Oxygene by RemObjects. I believe they have a Delphi Win32 migration path to WinForms. Then use .NET Reflector and File Disassembler reverse the IL to C#.
In short, no easy answers. Language migration is easier then library migration. A lot of it depends on what 3rd party components you used (beyond AbsoluteDatabase) and if you made any Windows API calls directly in your application.
Another completely different option would be too look for an off shore team to maintain the application. They can probably do so cheaply. You could find someone domestically, but it would cost you more no doubt (although with the sagging dollar and poor job market you never know . . . )
Good luck!

There has been a scientific report of a successfull transformation of a 1.5 million line Delphi Project to C# by John Brant. He wrote a Delphi parser, a C# generator and lots of transformation rules on the AST. Gradually extending the set of rules, doing a daily build, lots of unit tests, and some rewriting of difficult Delphi parts allowed him with a team of 4, among which some of the original developers, with deep Delphi & C# knowledge, to migrate the software in 18 months. John Brant being the original developer of the refactoring browser and the SmaCC compiler construction kit, you are unlikely to be able to go that fast

Many of my users are moving to Vista
which may run the app in compatibility
mode or may have GPF problems
depending on how their PC is
configured by their IT department, so
I have to do some maintenance on the
application. I'm wondering if I should
jump to a more familiar stack.
Unless you are doing something non standard, D7 applications should run fine in Vista.
As for conversion to C#, I would think that most conversion tools would be a waste of time. A better approach may be to rewrite the application from scratch.

There is no easy answer, but bear in mind that the Delphi.net variant of the language targets the .net runtime, and that different languages on .net can interoperate closely.
You could try getting it to compile in Delphi.Net, factoring into different assemblies and then converting the assemblies by hand one by one. Reflector could help be reverse-engineering compiled code into a skeleton of C# code - equivalent but without comments, internal variable names etc.
On the other hand, Delphi.net may be good enough (TM) for this project.
But unless you have a good test suite (I'm guessing probably not, given the state of the art in Delphi 7) you're going to introduce bugs.