Showing archive results for 2010

Feb 22, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

On the Internet, everybody wants to know if you're a dog

Raymond Chen

On Slate, Michael Agger expounds on increasing pressure for people to provide pictures of themselves online. I've managed to resist so far. That article also tipped me off to a phenomenon I didn't even know had a name: MySpace angles.

Non-Computer
Feb 22, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

Custom navigation in dialog boxes, redux

Raymond Chen

SuperBK asks, "What's the proper way to add keyboard support to a dialog box?" There are many options available to you. The most traditional way is to pick them off in the dialog loop, either hard-coding the keys in code or putting them into resources by moving them to an accelerator resource. Moving them to an accelerator resource is a good ide...

Code
Feb 19, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

How many servings are there in a single-serve cup? The answer might surprise you

Raymond Chen

I was in the grocery store, and there was a sign advertising a new product. Delight in a cup Your favorite XYZ Ice Cream Now in convenient single-serve cups. I took a look at the cup. Seemed kind of big for a single serving. I picked one up to read the nutritional information. Servings per container: 2

Non-ComputerReading the fine print
Feb 19, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

The normal string manipulation functions stop on a null terminator, so be careful when manipulating double-null-terminated strings

Raymond Chen

One of the many gotchas of working with double-null-terminated strings is accidentally using functions on them which were designed to operate on single-null-terminated strings. Now, you do need to use those single-null-terminated strings, but you also need to know when they won't do what you want. One of the responses to my psychic detection th...

Code
Feb 18, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

Don't forget to double-null-terminate those strings you pass to SHFileOperation

Raymond Chen

About once every two months for the past six months (I stopped checking further back), somebody reports a problem with the function. Often, they don't include very much information at all. They just say, "I call the function and it doesn't work." Here's an example: I'm hitting a problem with when using it to frob files in the gonzo directory ...

Code
Feb 17, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

Happy birthday, Windows 2000, and try not to get too hung over

Raymond Chen

On this date ten years ago, Windows 2000 launched in San Francisco. One of my colleagues was working as a staff member at the Windows 2000 Conference and Expo in San Francisco, an event which accompanied the Windows 2000 launch event. Also working at the event was his boss's boss, and the two shared a hotel room. Their flight back ...

Non-Computer
Feb 16, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

It rather involved being on the other side of this airtight hatchway: Dubious escalation

Raymond Chen

Consider this type of dubious security vulnerability: There is a buffer overflow bug in kernel driver X. To exploit it, call this function with these strange parameters. The exploit works only if you are logged on as administrator, because non-administrators will get . Yes, this is a bug, and yes it needs to be fixed, but it's not a securit...

Other
Feb 15, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

Advocating the overthrow of the government of the United States by force or subversion

Raymond Chen

It has been widely reported that South Carolina now requires "subversive groups" to register with the Secretary of State (and pay a $5 filing fee). Curiously, the list of organizations which must register include "an organization subject to foreign control." I wonder if this means that all consulates have to register, and that when any foreign d...

Non-Computer
Feb 15, 2010
Post comments count0
Post likes count1

Private classes, superclassing, and global subclassing

Raymond Chen

In the suggestion box, A. Skrobov asks why it's impossible to superclass , but the example that follows is not actually superclassing. When I register my own class under this atom, and leave NULL in WNDCLASS.hInstance, Windows fills it in for me. Then I have two distinct classes registered: (0,WC_DIALOG) and (hMyInstance,WC_DIALOG), and DialogB...

Code