Tech Helper

Income tax (India) calculator

2009-01-06T11:55:00.003+01:00

It is the income tax returns filing time in India. Are you looking for a tax calculator?
Here is the link.
Tax Calculator

Do add bugs and suggestions as comments. Check this blog for the latest version.

How to debug a VB6 ActiveX control used in a VB6 application from .NET IDE?

2007-01-16T12:24:00.000+01:00

How to debug a VB6 ActiveX control used in a VB6 application from .NET IDE?

Solution: Build the Activex control and the exe with the debug info (pdb).

1. Open the VB6 Activex control's project.
2. Go to project properties -> Compile
3. Check "Create Symbolic Debug Info" -> OK
4. File -> Make ocx.

5. Open the VB6 Application.
6. Do steps 2 and 3.
7. File -> Make exe.
8. Run the exe.

9. Open the .NET IDE.
10. Tools->Debug Processes->Select the exe ->Attach->Close
11. Open the .ctl file you want to debug and put breakpoints.
12. Note that the debugging will be in VC style.

Argument not optional (Error 449)

2006-07-27T15:40:00.000+02:00

Problem :
Argument not optional (Error 449) pops up in VB
Applies to: VB6 applications using VC6 Activex controls.

Solution:
The usual reasons for this error is documented in
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/102s19ky.aspx

Another reason this could occur suddenly is when you change the function definition in the ocx.
For eg. you had a function called BOOL MyFunc(String) and you decided to change it to BOOL MyFunc()
But in your VB code when you remove the argument you get the above error and if you don't remove you get an argument mismatch error.

Solution: Make sure that you have changed the follwing three.
1) The header file afx_msg BOOL MyFunc();
2) The cpp file BOOL CMyCtrl::MyFunc()
3) The odl file [id(2)] boolean MyFunc();
and
4) The DISPATCH MAP
DISP_FUNCTION(CMyCtrl, "MyFunc", MyFunc, VT_BOOL, VTS_NONE)

Even if you don't change 4 the intellisense of VB shows the correct form of the function and there won't be any compilation error but it will fail while running.

Read and Write Indic languages on WinXP

2006-07-18T14:44:00.000+02:00

Setup to read Indic (Indian) Languages.
1. Go to control Panel -> Regional and Language Options.
2. In the Languages Tab check "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages." Say OK.
3. Restart your comp.

Setup to write Indic Languages.
1. Make sure you have down the above steps.
2. Go to http://bhashaindia.com/downloadsV2/Category.aspx?ID=1
3. Download the required IME. (E.g. for Malayalam it is Malayalam Indic IME 1 Version 5.0)
4. Install the IME.
5. Go to control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Languages ->Details
6. In the "Text Services and Input Languages" click "Add..."
7. Select your desired language. (e.g. Malayalam(India))
8. Select Keyboard layout as "Malayalam Indic IME 1[V 5.0]
9. Say OK and restart your Comp.
10. Search for a better font if you are not happy with the default font.
(For Malayalam use Thoolika from http://www.supersoftweb.com/Unicode.htm)

Supported indic languages:
Hindi Tamil Kannada Gujarati Marathi Telugu Bengali Malayalam Punjabi Konkani Oriya Sanskrit Nepali

How to avoid sidebar of blogs dropping down in IE

2006-05-15T16:44:00.000+02:00

Problem:
The sidebar of the blog is appearing down instead of right in the blogspot blog.

Solution:
Edit the template and adjust the following till you succeed.
Use percentage rather than pixels for the main content. Use pixels for the sidebar.

@media all {
#content {
/*width:660px;*/
width:90%;
margin:0 auto;
padding:0;
text-align:left;
}
#main {
/*width:500px;*/
width:70%;
float:left;
}
#sidebar {
width:220px;
/*width:30%;*/
float:right;
}
}

Workaround:
Use firefox, a better choice.

How to upgrade the firmware of a Linksys WRT54G v5 without using the webclient?

2006-05-10T10:08:00.000+02:00

Problem:
I have a Linksys WRT54G v5. When I go to the web page via http://192.168.1.1 to configure it I'm seeing a sick web page with improper display. I can't navigate to the Advanced tab to upgrade the firmware either.
How can the firmware be upgraded without using the webclient.

Solution:

Another way of updating firware is to use TFTP.
But TFTP doesn't work on the v5. (or least for me it didn't)
There is a mode called Management Mode which allows to upgrade firmware.
The following info is from the linksys site.
1. Unplug the power cord from the back of the router.
2. Hold down the Reset button.
3. While holding down the Reset button, plug back in the power cord to the router.
4. Continue to hold the Reset button for five (5) seconds. After five (5) seconds, release the button.
5. Wait for about one (1) minute. Then, on a computer connected to the router, launch a web browser (for example, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox).
6. Type in the router's IP address of http://192.168.1.1 into the Address field and press the [Enter] key.
7. The Management Mode - Firmware Upgrade interface should appear.

How to strip extra lines in a file?

2006-04-26T10:26:00.000+02:00

Problem :
Need a script to remove all the blank lines from a file.

Solution:

Save the following as strip.pl and use perl to run the script.

#############################################################
###################### Bipin C Nair #########################
##################### http://www.bipin.co.nr ################
#################### Written on 2003-12-23 ##################

$linecount = 1;
if ( $ARGV[0] )
{
$filename = $ARGV[0];
}
else
{
print "Specify file to strip of extra lines"; exit;
}
open(INFILE,"<$filename") die "can't write to your output file";
@mapfile = ;
close ( INFILE);
open(OUTFILE,">$filename") die "can't write to your output file";
foreach $line (@mapfile)
{
if ( $line =~ m/^\n/)
{
$line =~ s/^\n//;
}
print OUTFILE "$line";
$line = "";
$linecount = $linecount + 1;
}
print "Converted $linecount lines";
close(OUTFILE);
print "The file is stripped of extra line breaks, enjoy!!\n";exit;

How to insert a .NET control in VB?

2006-04-25T10:20:00.000+02:00

Problem:

You are working for a legacy product in VB. You are asked to build a new component as a control. Since .NET is a great way to develop controls you build the control in .NET. But now how to add the new control in the VB form?

Solution:
1. Create ur control in .NET.
2. Make sure in your Config properties "Register for COM Interop" is set to true.
3. After the buils is successful register the library using
regasm YourDll.dll /tlb:YourDll.tlb
4. Add the tlb as reference in VB.
5. Create a custom User Control in VB.
6. Use CreateObject to load the control.

Note:
If CreateObject loads but does not display your control use a shim control provided by Microsoft to load the control.
More at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/samples/automation.aspx
This control was developed for Automation, but currently this is the only way to use a .NET control as an ActiveX.

Warning:
Microsoft doesn't support this kind of deployment. Infact this support was removed in .NET
http://discuss.develop.com/archives/wa.exe?A2=ind0107b&L=dotnet&F=&S=&P=16992
The above solution is a wok around that you can use.

How to assign a drive letter to any folder.

2006-04-24T10:17:00.000+02:00

Problem:
I need to assign a drive letter for my app to work properly. How can I do that?

Solution:
Use something like..
subst S: C:\Documents
where S is the drive that the app looks for. Good to fool apps which looks for Floppy
subst A: C:\SomeFolder

How to enable name (mail id) suggestions in Microsoft Outlook?

2006-04-21T14:10:00.000+02:00

Problem:
On a Monday morning suddenly you might find that your outlook is not auto completing the names when you type the initial few alphabets.
This might be because of your corporate policy, which might enforce this in order to avoid the mails being sent to unintended recipients unintentionally.

Solution:
1. Open regedit. (If you don't know how, back up ur comp gonna explode...)
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Preferences
3. Change ShowAutoSug = 1

And don't forget to look carefully to see whom you are sending the mail.

How to find a control in .NET given the control name.

2006-04-20T13:23:00.000+02:00

Situation:
I've a lot of buttons in a Panel whose names are Button1 Button2 ...
I want to programatically change the Caption and the click event.

Problem:
How do I get the control from the control name.

Solution:
private Control FindControl(String ctrlName)
{
foreach(Control ctr in this.panelGeneral.Controls)
if (ctr.Name == ctrlName)
return ctr;
return null;
}

How to save the gif/jpg images embedded in a mail in Microsoft Outlook?

2006-04-19T15:32:00.000+02:00

1. Make sure you've opened up the mail.
2. Bring up a command shell
3. type cd "%temp%\..\temporary internet files"
4. Look at the folders. Do a cd into the directory with the closest date/time stamp as your time
5. See if there is a gif file in there.
6. copy it away from there using "cd c:\image.gif" (for example)

Thx to NetRyder and Cider at http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=29147

What you can find here?

2006-04-19T15:28:00.000+02:00

Everytime I'm in need of some kind of tech help I search the whole web to find how to do it.
Most of the time it takes ages before I find what I searched for. The height is that I usually forget how I did that and starts searching again when I'm in need of the same thing again. Now the website where I found would have moved or is missing from shortcuts!!!

Here you can find some seeminly common tasks which actually is very difficult.

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