February 2005 Archives

As mentioned previously, the managed extensions for DirectX are not installed by default.

You'll need to use the 35MB DirectX 9.0c Redistributable for Software Developers - with Updated DirectX for Managed Code - (December 2004) to get the 3MB of Managed DirectX files.

• If you haven't installed DirectX 9 yet:
  Install both DirectX9.0c and DirectX for Managed Code, by using the command:
  DXSETUP.EXE /InstallManagedDirectX
  
  
• If you have already installed DirectX 9:
  Install just DirectX for Managed Code. Extract the MDXREDIST.MSI from the ManagedDX.cab file (WinZip or your favourite archive program should be able to open cab files) and launch MDXREDIST.MSI directly.

Note that some parts of Managed DirectX are not backwards compatible. Microsoft releases a new version every two or three months (eg. December 2004, Feb 2005), and the wrong version might not work at all with code written for a different version. However, you can have numerous versions installed simultaneously without a problem.

Some software, such as Media Portal, includes all of the .dll files required (ie. just in the exe directory, not requiring installation), to make a large but problem-free download and installation for their users.

This lack of backwards compatibility is mentioned elsewhere, and is seen by developers as a major impediment to the uptake of Managed DirectX as a mainstream language.

Yesterday I unleashed FractalPeaks, my 3D fractal explorer, on to the world. Unfortunately, it appears that the world is not ready. The trouble is that I wrote it using Microsoft's latest technology, the .NET Framework and Managed DirectX 9c. Whilst it has been great for the developer, it appears that non-developers will have a hard time getting their machines capable of running it.

I assumed that it would just be a matter of installing the .Net Framework and DirectX, but it seems that DirectX does not by default install the managed extensions required by .NET.

Once I've found out more about this whole topic I'll update my instuctions on installing FractalPeaks. I know that it's possible because the delightful MediaPortal has no problem; they don't even require the installation of DirectX with managed extensions. I might have to peek into their source code (one of the many benefits of open source).

After that's all sorted I'll do some more interesting blog articles about FractalPeaks itself.

There's a plethora of sites offering to aid the user in solving standard crossword puzzles, but if you've moved onto cryptic crosswords then the pickings are much scarcer. Even after you've read a good guide to the topic, you might still find it difficult to get a toe-hold into the seemingly elitist world of the cryptic setters and solvers.

If you can't find a person to lead you by the hand, explaining puzzles in detail when you ask, then you might find some computer tools of equivalent benefit. Crossword Maestro is Windows software that actually solves cryptic clues, and gives an explanation too. It's been well-reviewed, but it's not free. An online site claiming to solve crypic clues is Crossword Tools, which requires a monthly subscription. However, you came here looking for free online tools to help you, and neither fulfills that role. We have to be a bit less ambitious.

One step down from these cryptic solvers, and so less like cheating, are the many sites that return anagrams and complete words with gaps. A prime example of this is WordFun.

I previously liked the Internet Anagram Server, but by default it returns too many irrelevant answers. To improve this you need to click advanced, and set maximum number of words in each anagram to 1.

Potentially more useful, is Richard's Crossword Tools, an interesting collection of tools, including the quite useful give me a word that means both X and Y.

Finally, a more comprehensive (or at least, more commercial) version of Richard's site is OneLook. For example, if you know it's 6 letters, starting with 'c', meaning barrel maker, then enter c?????:barrel maker. It has a huge word list which includes lots of wacky words, so you'll want to select Common words only.

Naturally, using any of these tools is cheating. Don't expect to win a puzzle championship using your internet-enabled laptop. However, with practice, you should be able to solve puzzles using only what's in your own noggin.

Update 20 Jan 2006: I now heartily recommend my own Instant Crossword Tools as a pleasantly easy way to get assistance with anagrams and word completions.

It's inevitable that people will be annoyed when they receive emails in a mailing list that they haven't subscribed to, but companies still persist in sending them.

Ideally, people should have to opt-in before they become a member of a list. However, some companies talk themselves into believing that their customers would opt-in if they had the choice, because the list is so useful, so they remove the need to opt-in at all. For example, Legacy Family Tree is an excellent genealogy program, but whenever you download a program update (even if you've paid and registered your copy) you are automatically resubscribed to their mailing lists. There's no opt-out option, and it doesn't matter how many times you've unsubscribed in the past, they put you back on their list to receive regular advertisement emails.

When you go to their web page to unsubscribe, you have to select which mailing list to unsubscribe. Since you didn't subscribe in the first place, it's difficult to know which to pick, so I selected all of them. Then, bless 'em, they sent me an error email saying that I wasn't subscribed to one of the lists I tried to unsubscribe from. Maybe they'll resubscribe me automatically to fix that error.

I wonder what the developer was thinking when he created that email? Hmmm, this person tried to unsubscribe because he doesn't want to receive any more emails. But he can't unsubscribe because he's not subscribed to this list, so I'd better send an email to let him know why he's not been unsubscribed to this list...

Moral of this story: use opt-ins for mailing lists. If you can't then allow people to opt-out. If you can't do either, then don't do a mailing list.

If you're annoyed by the new watermark that's turned up on the ABC over the past week, then please take the time to complain. Apparently, upset viewers forced the BBC to drop a similar attempt a while ago.

Just been doing some research about all this - in Britain they call them DOGs! (digitally originated graphics) and there are several examples of them being removed due to viewer response.

In fact, in one case, BBC 2W, in November 2001, they were smart enough to remove it after realizing a DOG was generally hated.

There's a good number of pages on the topic at the DBA forums, including examples of letters people have already sent. You might like to include the ideas of the ABC being paid for by the taxpayer, and treating the audience as too dumb to realize what channel they're watching. Plus that the watermark is irritating and distracting from the program.

If you already know C# and a bit of trigonometry, then it should only take you a few hours a day for a week to learn the basics of Managed DirectX 9. I used the free Borland C# Builder, but I suspect that Microsoft Visual Studio (or Visual C# Express) would offer slightly more polished interfaces. C# Builder would sometimes fail to offer help on clicked functions, forcing me to navigate to the relevant help pages manually, and its autocompletion of functions (cf. Intellisense) was not comprehensive.

I found a number of DirectX 8 C++ and DirectX 9 C# tutorials useful. It's not always obvious how the calls change from the former to the later, but at least it shows you what is possible. I recommend following the tutorials listed below in the given order.

1. Riemer's DirectX 9 Tutorial (C# DX9). A brief, easy-to-follow tutorial that quickly produces impressive results.
2. Drunken Hyena Direct3D Tutorials (C# DX9). Covers pretty much the same areas as the previous tutorial, but explained differently and in more detail, so useful in filling in gaps.
3. Craig Andera's DirectX Wiki(C# DX9). Goes much further than the previous tutorials, exploring topics such as materials, textures and lighting in great detail.
4. Andy Pike's DirectX 8 Tutorials (C++ DX8). Don't let the C++ put you off. Goes into a lot of detail on a lot of topics.
5. Using Managed DirectX to Write a Game (C# DX9). Unlike all of the other tutorials, this actually leads you into producing a playable game. It's not as detailed on theory, but has lots more practical advice.