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UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:42:45 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is attached in the file vbeuchre21.zip. (If you don't care about the code and are only interested in downloading the game itself, the game installer is attached in VBEuchreGameOnly-nocode.zip below. You won't need to download the Speech SDK if you are just installing the game, because the installer includes the relevant speech binaries -- you need the SDK only if actually building the code.)

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and service releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: Paint-by-Numbers written in VB (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:42:38 GMT

On the VB team blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam), I wrote a four part series in which I walked the using through building an application to create Paint-by-numbers puzzle. (If you don't know, Paint-by-numbers is a popular puzzle where you try to create a picture from numeric clues.) In the series, readers will learn how to implement owner draw, implement undo/redo, load and save files, and print. The blog series can be found at:

+ Owner Draw in VB [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/07/03/owner-draw-in-vb-matt-gertz.aspx]
+ Implementing infinite undo/redo [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/07/06/implementing-infinite-undo-redo-matt-gertz.aspx]
+ Loading and Saving Files in Visual Basic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/07/10/loading-and-saving-files-in-visual-basic-matt-gertz.aspx]
+ Using the PrintForm component in Visual Basic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/07/12/using-the-printform-component-in-visual-basic-matt-gertz.aspx]

The attached file contains the source code for this. It was built using VS2005 but the code should work for all .NET versions of Visual Studio.

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:49:35 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is attached in the file vbeuchre21.zip. (If you don't care about the code and are only interested in downloading the game itself, the game installer is attached in VBEuchreGameOnly-nocode.zip below. You won't need to download the Speech SDK if you are just installing the game, because the installer includes the relevant speech binaries -- you need the SDK only if actually building the code.)

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:47:50 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is attached in the file vbeuchre21.zip. (If you don't care about the code and are interested in just downloading the game, the game installer is attached in VBEuchreGameOnly-nocode.zip below.)

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:45:59 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: DBCS-UTF8-Unicode translator written in VB (Jan 21, 2008)

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:20:47 GMT

The attached file includes an application that I first wrote using VC6 and later translated to VB in VS2002. It's been a really helpful tool for me -- it allows you to translate back and forth between DBCS, UTF8, and Unicode, using both codepoints and raw characters. It supports surrogate characters and uses any fonts you have installed on your system. You can cut and paste as well. The code demonstrates the System.Globalization namespace, the System.Text.Encoding namespace, and also leverages Declare statements.

I describe the application in detail in my blog post at [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/08/making-your-vb-code-ready-to-go-global-matt-gertz.aspx].

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:06:05 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:41:09 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:18:38 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (SpeechSDK51.exe
and speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:14:58 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the redistributable Speech SDK (speechsdk51msm.exe) at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:07:34 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards! [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:06:42 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:55:43 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

[image:VBEuchreScreen.jpg]

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

RELEASED: DBCS-UTF8-Unicode translator written in VB (Jan 21, 2008)

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:27:40 GMT

The attached file includes an application that I first wrote using VC6 and later translated to VB in VS2002. It's been a really helpful tool for me -- it allows you to translate back and forth between DBCS, UTF8, and Unicode, using both codepoints and raw characters. It supports surrogate characters and uses any fonts you have installed on your system. You can cut and paste as well. The code demonstrates the System.Globalization namespace, the System.Text.Encoding namespase, and also leverages Declare statements.

I describe the application in detail in my blog post at [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/08/making-your-vb-code-ready-to-go-global-matt-gertz.aspx].

CREATED RELEASE: DBCS-UTF8-Unicode translator written in VB (Jan 21, 2008)

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:27:40 GMT

The attached file includes an application that I first wrote using VC6 and later translated to VB in VS2002. It's been a really helpful tool for me -- it allows you to translate back and forth between DBCS, UTF8, and Unicode, using both codepoints and raw characters. It supports surrogate characters and uses any fonts you have installed on your system. You can cut and paste as well. The code demonstrates the System.Globalization namespace, the System.Text.Encoding namespase, and also leverages Declare statements.

I describe the application in detail in my blog post at [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/08/making-your-vb-code-ready-to-go-global-matt-gertz.aspx].

RELEASED: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:51:26 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:51:26 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:50:37 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]
[image:VBEuchreScreen]

UPDATED RELEASE: VB Euchre (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:46:00 GMT

VB Euchre is an application that provides a fully-functional Euchre game. The game is single-player, with AI used for the partner and opponents, and features options for various local rules. I first created it in 2001 (using a pre-release version of VS2002) to test out the features of that release of Visual Studio, and then updated it using VS2005. The current version (2.1) uses Visual Studio 2008, but there's nothing in the code that is VS2008-specific and all code should work fine if ported back to VS2005.

The code demonstrates many of the features available in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, including resource management, timers, exception handling, user controls, sound, text-to-speech, among others. To build and deploy it correctly, you'll first need to download and install the Speech SDK at [url:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5E86EC97-40A7-453F-B0EE-6583171B4530&displaylang=en] -- otherwise, the speech objects won't work and you'll get missing reference errors.

The code is well-commented, and the functionality is also described in detail in a series of blog posts that I made on the Visual Basic blog site ([url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam]). The relevant blog posts are:

* Fun with card tricks [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/12/fun-with-card-tricks-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 2: Show me the cards![url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/13/coding-a-euchre-game-part-2-show-me-the-cards-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 3: Timers [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/14/coding-a-euchre-game-part-3-timers-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 4: Tooltips and Menus [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/16/coding-a-euchre-game-part-4-tooltips-and-menus-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 5: Modality is a crutch [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/19/coding-a-euchre-game-part-5-modality-is-a-crutch-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 6: Pump up the volume [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/20/coding-a-euchre-game-part-6-pump-up-the-volume-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 7: Total Logic [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/22/coding-a-euchre-game-part-7-total-logic.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 8: Remember Me, Show Me, Help Me [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/23/coding-a-euchre-game-part-8-remember-me-show-me-help-me-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Coding a Euchre Game, Part 9: Into the Wild Blue Yonder [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/03/26/coding-a-euchre-game-part-9-into-the-wild-blue-yonder-matt-gertz.aspx]
* Euchre Revisited: Fixing bugs and services releases [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/12/11/euchre-revisited-fixing-bugs-and-services-releases-matt-gertz.aspx]

RELEASED: VB Code which identifies who's stealing focus (Jan 17, 2008)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:39:52 GMT

This is some code I wrote to figure out what process was stealing the focus every 15 minutes, which was ruining my RPG playing. (It turns out it was a "call home" updater for some printer software I'd installed, and this helped me identify the culprit and eliminate it.) I discuss the code in some detail at [url:http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2007/04/02/it-s-elementary-using-vb-to-get-process-information-matt-gertz.aspx].

{{
Declare Auto Function GetForegroundWindow Lib "user32.dll" () As Integer
Declare Auto Function GetWindowThreadProcessId Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Integer, ByRef procid As Integer) As UInteger

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Me.RichTextBox1.AppendText("Starting up at " & Now & vbCrLf)
End Sub

Private Sub GoingAway(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Deactivate, Me.LostFocus

Dim hwnd As Integer = GetForegroundWindow()
' Note that process_id will be used as a ByRef argument
' and will be changed by GetWindowThreadProcessId
Dim process_id As Integer = 1
GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, process_id)

If (process_id <> 1) Then
Dim appExePath As String = Process.GetProcessById(process_id).MainModule.FileName()
Me.RichTextBox1.AppendText("Lost focus at " & Now & " due to " & appExePath & vbCrLf)
Else
Me.RichTextBox1.AppendText("Lost focus due to unknown cause.")
End If

End Sub

}}