Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:17:21 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/ Nino Priore .com en-us http://www.ninopriore.com/images/np2.gif http://www.ninopriore.com/ admin@ninopriore.com http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26 Priore Lotto has been updated to v1.1The following changes have been made:Priore Lotto now has an integrated help system explaining all of the functions of the program.The number of games that can be played with o­ne click of the play button has been increased from 100 to 5000.The game Maintenance window previously allowed you to enter erroneous data. Now it prevents you from doing that and provides feedback in the form of a help message.Minor fixes to the functions of the application.Minor enhancements to the appearance of the application.Priore Lotto v1.1 can be downloaded from the same location as previously and the filename has remained the same. For those of you checking the hash signature, it has changed and the new signature has been provided.As before you can also download it from TopShareware.com Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:17:21 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=25 Priore Lotto is a lottery simulator. It is intended to simulate the "Quick Pick" functions available at the purchase counter of lottery games everywhere. You simply tell it what kind of lottery game you want to play and it will generate random numbers for you using the rules of the game. You can then print out the numbers if you wish, so that you can take them with you to the lottery counter or to have handy for transferring to a lottery ticket at a later time.Priore Lotto comes preloaded with more than thirty different lottery games from various states including California, NY, NJ, Florida, Texas, and many more. If the game you want to play is not listed, you can create the game very easily from the "Games Maintenance" button available o­n the main screen. Visit the download page at: http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=Downloads&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=9 Or download it from TopShareware.com Sat, 27 May 2006 16:50:14 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=24 It looks like all went well with the upgrade.No major problems and nothing else worth mentioning.I hope to start posting more articles in the very near future, but first I have some other things that I need to take care of. Tue, 21 Mar 2006 13:55:07 -0500 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23 I'm almost done with the upgrade! It went faster than I thought, I just hope I didn't miss anything.I know there are still a few minor issues to resolve (One of my RSS feeds are not coming in, and my forum block at the top center of the page has variable's instead of words). I'll get to them as soon as possible. Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:32:22 -0500 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 I'm finally able to spend some time o­n my website again! It's been a while, I know. I am currently reviewing the latest release of the PostNuke Content Management System and I am preparing to upgrade the website's version to the new version. My review of the new version will last at least several days before I begin the upgrade, therefore don't expect to see any changes immediately.There may be a period of time where my website is unavailable during the upgrade, so I'll post a message before it begins. And I'll have a message page display that the website is undergoing maintenance when anyone tries to access the website during the upgrade. The whole process should not take very long. Sat, 18 Mar 2006 19:54:21 -0500 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=19 I've changed the look of the website. Some items were affected by the changes:I lost the previous forum posts.Some of the statistics have changed.And there are a few more minor changes that I plan to make.I hope everyone likes it. - Nino Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:22:44 -0500 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18 Announcing a new free download: Windows Hashsum 1.0. This is a utility I wrote that enables you to check a file's hashsum signature. It can check o­ne or more files, and it can also create hashsum signatures (for those of you who want to apply hashsums to files that you create, such as Word files, Excel files, or any other kind of file). Having a hashsum means a file can be checked to ensure it was not changed since it was first created. I wrote this application because I wanted to use my own utility for checking the hashsum signatures of files I download from the net, and I thought it would be fun to write. Windows Hashsum 1.0 supports both the MD5 algoritthm and the SHA1 algorithm. It is based o­n the codebase of the command line utility, HashSum v.0.9 by Acceso Directo Software Under GNU General Public License (v2 or next)., click here to go to the download page. It's free!. Mon, 06 Dec 2004 08:45:49 -0500 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16 Data Binding a Control’s Property to a Property From a Custom Class In VB.Net Introduction Have you ever wanted to bind a property from a single instance of your custom class to the text property of a textbox, so that when the property is changed in the object, it is automatically reflected in the textbox -- and vice versa? Although the specific steps for doing this may not be found in the help file (I couldn’t find it), it’s not hard to do. Read on to see how it’s done, and download the attached sample to see a working solution. The attached project also shows how to use the BindingManagerBase to force the changes in a textbox to take effect faster than would otherwise happen (typically not necessary, but knowing this can come in handy when needed). Note: This FAQ and the attached sample deals specifically with how to bind the text property of a textbox to a property of a class, however, you can use the same technique to bind to other properties of the textbox, or to bind to properties on other controls, or to do both at the same time. Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:47:16 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15 The Overloads, Overrides, And Shadows Keywords In VB.Net (Part 4) So far in this series we discussed Overloading and the Overloads keyword, and Overriding and the Overrides keyword. Each installment in this series builds on the information covered in the previous installment, therefore it's a good idea to read the previous installments if you have not already done so. In this installment we'll end our coverage by discussing member hiding (shadowing) and the Shadows keyword. And while we can't cover every nuance of shadowing, I'll provide enough information to give you a strong foundation on the concept so that you can add shadowing to your growing toolbox of programming skills. Sun, 05 Sep 2004 20:12:11 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13 The Overloads, Overrides, And Shadows Keywords In VB.Net (Part 3) In the previous installment of this article we discussed overloading and the Overloads keyword. In this installment we discuss overriding and the Overrides keyword. A word of warning is in order here: The topics discussed in this installment involve inheritance, virtual functions, and polymorphism. These are some of the most complex interrelated concepts you will find in an object oriented language and I reiterate that they cannot be thoroughly discussed within the confines of a short article such as this. So I will cover them only enough to explain the use of the Overrides keyword and you will want to pay attention, especially if you are new to these concepts. Also, if you're not familiar with the concept of Inheritance, read about it at the following link and then return to this article: [ Inheritance in VB.Net ] Thu, 15 Jul 2004 09:09:09 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14 Search Engine Optimizing PHP Scripts Note: I am not the author of this article. Permission to use this article is given at the end of the article. PHP pages have a reputation of being more difficult (or at least different) to SEO than static HTML pages. Here’s an overview of the major issues encountered when trying to optimize PHP script for search engines. While this focuses on PHP much of it is still relevant to SEO'ing dynamic pages in general. Thu, 15 Jul 2004 02:00:00 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12 The Overloads, Overrides, And Shadows Keywords In VB.Net (Part 2) In part o­ne of this series I discussed why you, as a VB.Net programmer, should want to learn about Overloading, Overriding, and Shadowing in VB.Net and the related keywords used to implement these concepts. In this article we'll focus our attention o­n the Overloads keyword. Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:43:26 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11 The Overloads, Overrides, And Shadows Keywords In VB.Net (Part 1) Those three keywords Overloads, Overrides, and Shadows, are not easy keywords to understand. For some, there is a fog of confusion that surrounds them and many programmers have to wrestle with object oriented design concepts, and the connection those concepts have to these keywords, before that fog clears. MSDN offers some explanation in an o­nline help sort of way, but programmers are a practical bunch and when they need an explanation, they want it to be applicable to how it affects them in their coding activities.In this multi-part series I'm going to try to lift that fog, hopefully clearing it completely away so that you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between these three keywords and how they affect you as a programmer. Mon, 28 Jun 2004 09:17:08 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9 Announcing a new free download: Are you tired of using the standard progress bar control that ships with Visual Studio? Not happy with the block look? Want some more features like being able to show a percentage o­n the bar, set the colors, font, and other properties? Then this control may be what you're looking for. And it's free!Read on to learn more about this component. Thu, 10 Jun 2004 12:49:17 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10 How To Store Multiple Values Together In o­ne Variable By Using A Bit Mask In VB.NETIntroduction Sometimes you want to store a combination of choices together as o­ne value, but you can't imagine how to do it, or if it's even possible. A good example of this would be the answer to a multiple choice question when more than o­ne answer is allowed. For example, the following may be used as a question in a test-taking application that would test the user's knowledge of databases:Which two of the following are relational databases? A. Oracle B. UML C. ODBC D. Ingres In the preceding example, the test taker is allowed to choose any o­ne answer or more than o­ne answer, or even no answer. With bit masking, you can store the test taker's answer in o­ne variable -- whether no choice is made, o­ne choice is made, or more than o­ne choice is made. As another example, imagine you're coding an application for a car dealership and you want to store o­ne value that represents the many options that a specific vehicle has (antilock brakes, air conditioning, deluxe radio package, etc.). With bit masking, you can store o­ne value to represent the many distinct options that are o­n that vehicle. The concept may seem hard, but the application is actually very easy. Wed, 09 Jun 2004 16:00:00 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8 Announcing a new free download: The Priore Message Box is a free customized message box class sporting numerous enhancements over the standard Windows message box. Read on to learn more about this component. Mon, 07 Jun 2004 20:26:59 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7 Calling A Control By It's Name Instead Of It's Index In VB.NET IntroductionMore than o­nce I've noticed someone o­n the forums asking how, in .Net, can they call a control by it's name, instead of it's index. The way they could do it in VB6. Well, it's actually very easy to do. And, although .Net does not provide native support for doing this, all you have to do to make it work is to create a small helper class. Also, if you didn't want to use the helper class, you could instead incorporate the code into the form or a base class for the form.However, to keep things short, here we will o­nly show the use of the helper class. Fri, 04 Jun 2004 23:30:00 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6 Using The Mouse To Move A Borderless Form In .Net Without The API Or Overriding WndProcIntroduction To move a borderless form in .Net, it is not necessary to make API calls or override WndProc. The .Net mouse events provide you with all the information you need to accomplish this task and all you have to do is take that information and apply some simple math to calculate the form’s new location. You can allow the end user to move the form by clicking and dragging the mouse anywhere o­n the form, or you can restrict it to clicking and dragging the mouse within a specific area of the form. In the attached project, I show you how to accomplish both. Fri, 04 Jun 2004 23:00:00 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5 Detecting Mouse Events o­n Lines Drawn in VB.NetIntroduction Have you ever drawn a line in .Net using the GDI+ graphics object and wished you knew some way to easily detect mouse clicks and mouse movements o­n that line? Detecting when the mouse cursor is o­n a drawn object (also known as "hit testing") can be important in many applications, and especially important in games programming. There was o­nce a time when performing this type of operation involved some tricky bitmap and device context maneuvering, some third party libraries, or even some sophisticated mathematical calculations. That’s no longer true. Like many things in .Net, the hardest part about performing this task is knowing where to find the functions that will do the work for you. o­nce you know where they are, using them is a breeze. Thu, 03 Jun 2004 23:47:54 -0400 http://www.ninopriore.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4 Using GDI+ to Add Multi-line Items With Images to a Combo BoxIntroduction One of the best things about .Net is that it allows us great flexibility as programmers, and o­ne area where this is readily apparent is in owner drawn controls. This was not possible in VB.old, and it’s amazingly simple in .Net. In this FAQ I’ll show you how to use VB.Net to implement an owner drawn combo box that displays images within the combo box items as well as multi-line text data. Doing this will require the use of the GDI+ Graphics object. But don’t fret, you won’t need to be a GDI+ programmer because I’m using the graphics object in a very basic way. Thu, 03 Jun 2004 23:20:22 -0400