Hi, Have you seen utorrent? the download table features rows with images, progress bars, strings and numbers. Is there a comparable gadget in C#? The closest i've found is DataGrid, but that looks horrible in comparasion and has a wierd(To me) sidebar thing going on. What would you use personally for a downloads/speeds etc list for multiple files? I'm doing a p2p program so it's fairly important it's nice looking.

That's a nice find, thanks.

So does that mean that utorrent uses it's own custom table code, or a gadget not yet exposed to C++?

Could I write some code in C++ and wrap it within my own custom gadget in C#?

Just in that instance though right? The rest of my gui will be standard C# won't it?

Is there any disadvantage to it? (The way you said seemed to imply there was. or did i read you wrong?)

Not actually sure what you are going for. If this is an hobbyist project thats targeting Windows XP and Vista I'd sugest checking out the .NET 3.0 beta. The Windows Presentation Foundation can do some really slick custom GUI interfaces. It might be pretty easy to achieve the effect your looking for. Microsoft has actually designed a new line of products named Expression to allow the customization of the GUI controls through Vector and Bitmapped graphics. The product you would most be interested in is MS Expression Interactive Designer. You can check out some demo videos of what it can do here. They also have beta versions of the Expression product line located on the site. MS has released a beta version of the Cider designer for Visual Studio 2005 to preview some of the new features that will be available in Visual Studio 2007. However, it appears that Cider will only be able to add controls to forms through the designer (Although you could hand code graphical changes in the XAML file). If you want to graphically customize the controls, you will need to use the Interactive Designer application. Graphical changes made with the Interactive designer will show up in the Visual Studio Cider Designer.

Does Net3.0 run on xp or just vista?(My pc can't handle vista)

As for the preview, thanks for the info, i'll check it out. Will I be able to release what i do with the beta commercially? (The p2p app will be free, but it's part of a suite of commercial programs designed to support it like a media app, and i'll like to maitain a consistant look across the commercial and non commercial apps.)

.NET 3 runs on XP and Vista - I'm running it on my XP machine right now.

If I were you, I wouldn't release software running the beta commericially. Go ahead and get started with the beta (actually now it's the release candidate) and release it when the release version is finished.

Nice, so with the beta, do I need a new version of VCS# or will the latest express version I have surfice?

also do you have a link please?

Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
Nice, so with the beta, do I need a new version of VCS# or will the latest express version I have surfice?

also do you have a link please?

You can compile the code using the command line tools only with the Express Edition. The plugins where released for the retail versions only. However, you could use the beta version of Interactive Designer to do all of the GUI stuff. It will also let you create new C# and VB .NET projects, view/edit source code, and compile the project. The tool however is aimed at Graphic Artists, not programmers. Also Iteractive Designer most likely will not be free after its out of beta. MS plans to release a Express edition of VS 2007 after it ships if you read through the documentation. Until then, you have Interactive Designer, ot the Orcas preview tools for the retail version VS 2005.

As far as using the .NET 3.0 framework, there are restrictions with using the beta.

From MSDN:
"Please note that the License Agreement in this pre-release version of the .NET Framework v3.0 does not allow usage in a live operating environment. Information about Go-Live possibilities can be found here."

Honestly if you plan to sell this software within the next several months, I'd hold off. If its a year from now, It will give you a head start. Once the Framework is released, its fair game to use. Even if you don't use it, its still worth a look at.

Download and instructions for .NET 3.0
MS Express Interactive Designer

Check out the Tours and Demos section on the Interactive Designers site to get an idea of what it can do. Have fun :-)