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Win32 Equivalents for C Runtime Functions

Many of the C runtime functions have direct equivalents in the Win32 application programming interface (API). However, when you use C-Runtime functions, you need to have C-Runtime startup code and

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Using goto to Exit a Nested Loop

Loops (for, while, do..while) are used often in code?especially nested loops. Eventually, you need to exit the loop by using a “break” statement. However, if you are inside of a

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Use Stringbuffer When Appending to Strings

In Java, Strings are immutable objects. This means that they cannot be modified in any way after they are created. When you attempt to modify a String object, you often

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Writing Objects To Files

For a number of reasons, you might need to write an object to a file for future usage. Perhaps your applet needs to keep some sort of “state” and between

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Determining the Operating System at Runtime

The following java code allows you to identify the operating system on which your application is running: class OperatingSystem{ public static void main(String args[]) { System.out.println (“Operating system : “

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Code to Restart or Shut Down Your System

There are lots if times when the system needs to be restarted, for example, after changing the autoexec.bat path. Here is code you can use, in the place of writing

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SetIEToolbarPicture – Change IE toolbar image

‘ Set the path of the picture used as background of the IE5/5.5 toolbar’ Note: requires the SetRegistryValue, CheckRegistryKey and CreateRegistryKey ‘ routines, you can find them in the CodeBank’

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ClearIEHistory – Clear Internet Explorer history

‘ Clear the IE History’ Notes:’ This routine requires the DeleteRegistryKey and CreateRegistryKey routines,’ you can find them in the CodeBankPublic Sub ClearIEHistory() Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001 Dim sKey As

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GetIEToolbarPicture – The path of IE toolbar image

‘ Get the path of the picture used as background of IE 5/5.5 toolbar’ Note: requires the GetRegistryValue routine, you can find it in the CodeBank’ Example:’ MsgBox GetIEToolbarPicturePublic Function

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Copy a directory tree

Creating a VB routine that copies a whole directory tree can be a time-consuming job, but fortunately you don’t have to do it. In fact, you can quickly create an

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FlashSound API: The Sound of Invisible Flash

ave you ever wanted to add interactive sound and backing music to a Web site but were unable to use Flash because you didn’t require any visual presentation? Now there’s

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Convert an Exception StackTrace to a String

This feature will be required if you want to store exceptions in a database: import java.io.*;public class Test{ public static void main(String args[]) { String trace = exceptionToString(new Exception(A new

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Using System.gc() to Force the Garbage Collector

The garbage collector works automatically, whether you request it to or not. However, it is possible to make a garbage collector request, by invoking the System.gc() method. When garbage collector

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Creating a Recordset for Testing

When working with pages, the database is not always available. Sometimes, you need to access a test recordset. Here are is an example of how to create a function that

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Overriding toString()

While definitely not required, overriding the toString() method in your classes will make their use much easier. Although java.land.Object provides basic implementation for this method, it is far from being

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<fstream> Open Modes

The library defines the following open modes and file attributes: ios::app // appendios::ate // open and seek to file’s endios::binary // binary mode I/O (as opposed to text mode)ios::in //

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Truncating a File Stream

Certain files need to be emptied every time an application opens them before it writes new data to them, for example, a per-session log file. One way to achieve this

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Classes and Structs — What’s the Difference?

The keywords struct and class are almost interchangeable in C++. You can declare a struct that has member functions, constructors, destructor, base classes and so on as if it were

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Avoid Unnecessary Constructors and Destructors

Some programmers consistently define an empty constructor and destructor in their classes, as in: class A{//..public: A() {} ~A() {}}; This is totally useless. C++ guarantees that when a class

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Avoid Empty Member Initialization Lists

Following yesterday’s tip, here’s another deprecated habit that programmers should avoid. Consider the following class hierarchy: class base{public: base();};class derived: public base{public: derived() : base() {/*some code*/} // superfluous}; The

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Quick and Easy Queue

Listboxes provide suitable functionality to act as a quick queue. Create a listbox named ListMyQueue. Use this code to add to your Queue: Public Sub Enqueue(StringToAdd As String)If Len(String_to_Add) >

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Clear Structure Data With one Assignment

User-defined types are useful when you need to store structured data that has no specific behavior. If you have associated behavior, you should encapsulate the data in its own class.

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Create Captionless MDI Forms

Sometimes you might want an MDI form without any captions or buttons, such as in a game or acting as a background parent object. You can create a captionless MDI