MoneyBaron Blog

I’ve recently been working heavily with RTF creation, converting, etc and have come across a need to merge two RTF documents together. I searched quite a bit to determine how others did it and found one solution that seems to work well (for me). There is one caveat that I think should be mentioned is that it forces you to be limited to what the base RichTextBox control supports. Unless you have some highly complex RTF documents, you should be fine.

So here’s what I’ve done.

First, create two RichTextBox objects. For testing, I had added them to the form, but once I was comfortable with the results, I simply created two objects in the code:


Private RichTextBox1 As New RichTextBox
Private RichTextBox2 As New RichTextBox


Next, fill both controls with RTF text.

RichTextBox1.Rtf = "(some rtf data ...)"
RichTextBox2.Rtf = "(more rtf data ...)"


Finally, the merging. NOTICE: this isn’t rocket science, so don’t be too thrilled. It’s nothing more than cut/pasting from one control to the other.

RichTextBox2.SelectAll()
RichTextBox1.Select(RichTextBox1.TextLength, 0)
RichTextBox1.SelectedRtf = RichTextBox2.SelectedRtf
RichTextBox2.Text = ""


Line one selects all contents of second control.
Line two basically moves the cursor to the end of the text
Line three copies the selected text from the second control and places it at the current location of the first control.
Line four clears the second control.

With this method along with some database overhead and windows OS (file creation) overhead, I can create and merge about 100 rtf files in a second. Pretty snappy. I’m quite open to additional tweaks if someone can make it faster, but with the overhead of the DB and OS, I think 100/sec is adequate.

Blessings!

I’ve written a full-blown HL7 Engine in VB.NET (2008) and have been considering opening it up to the public as open source. However, it’s been a tough decision because 1) I really believe in open source and want to contribute my work, and 2) to be brutally honest, I’d love to eventually get some payback from the countless hours it has taken to write. Sure, call me greedy, or yell at me and tell me to publish it and people will donate. Sorry, but I’ve seen and heard of too many solid developers do the same thing and get few coins here and there – enough to buy a burger or two.

I’d love to hear some input on what others have done. I’d also like to hear if there is any interest in this HL7 engine. Here are some specs:

* Bi-directional multi-threaded communications
* Message Builder with tons of configuration screens
* Message Processor with customizable processor API
* Currently running in a production environment
* Highly efficient at both receiving and processing.

UPDATE (02/19/2010): After patiently waiting for an update and not getting one, I updated the Fetch Text URL 1.6.4 to work with Firefox 3.6.x. I take no credit for the Add-on which was created by Jeff Chien. It is a fantastic plugin and strongly recommend using it. I simply updated the version of FF that it will work with and included a required file in the install. This is the English version of the Add-On.

Fetch Text URL 1.6.4 (Fixed)

Old Version of Gmail Manager 0.5.7.5 (fixed)

I’ve got to admit, I’m really liking the new layout of WordPress 2.7 – specifically the admin screens. Changing from the top horizontal bar menu structure to the left vertical menu structure is probably the best thing they could have done. I definitely prefer it. The graphics and layout is most impressive. Simple, powerful, easy to understand… what more do you want?

I think I’m going to have to convert some of my other sites to this.

If only blogger.com would be this nice….

UPDATED (8/27/2008)!

I have updated the Scuttle Firefox Extension to work with FF 3.0.1. I also changed the version of the extension to 0.4.1 to differentiate this update.

scuttle-0.4.1-firefox+fl.xpi

Original Post:

I have a personal copy of Scuttle on my web server and use the Scuttle Firefox add-on. Unfortunately, the author hasn’t made any effort to update the add-on to work with FF3. So I’ve changed the code to allow it to work correctly. I hope others find this useful.

Got some great advice about releasing early and releasing often, but is it always a good thing? No, but the concept is great. Maybe I’ll attempt to take that advice. Look for a release in the next week….

Ok, got your attention. Back from being asleep since Christmas and thought I’d give you an update. I’m just about ready to release 0.5 soon. I simply have a couple final touches I need to make and I’ll release it. I’ve touched just about every screen. Need to do some final work on the transactions form and that’ll be it. Looking forward to finally putting something out there for the masses.

Thanks for being patient.

Although time was limited, I was able to make some progress on development during Christmas. For some reason, I got bogged down on the “Types” screens. I’m still not 100% done with it, but once I finish that, I’ll finalize the Transaction screen and I should have Milestone 0.5 done! Whew.

I’ve been thinking about some other projects, although I should be thinking about getting MoneyBaron done, but I’ll share a small tidbit of info to you about some things that may be in the future. First, for MoneyBaron, I may eventually add the ability to scan in receipts and also be able to OCR the images. Lots to “figure out” with the OCR, but something to play around with. I like the concept of NeatReceipts, but wish they were more open to suggestions from the community. That and I don’t want to spend the money on their product.

Another project I’ve been interested in doing is a Document Management System (DMS). One I do like is DocMGR, but would like it a lot more user-friendly. Still not sold on web-based, for ease of use mostly. Again, it may include OCR abilities for searching. Definitely would have to be IRS compliant (link to supporting IRS document – )

To install MoneyBaron, I’ve opted not to use M$’s setup tool that is built-in to VS.NET. Instead, I’ve decided to go with Inno Setup. It’s one of the leading installation tools that falls under the free column. Great tool and lots of support. For basic installations, the wizard is just about all you need. There’s a couple other add-ons/tools that I’ll probably tinker with later…

As far as where I’m at with the development, I had to revamp the Categories a little to include separation of Income/Expense categories. My original design did not have them separated, and once I coded it and actually looked at it, I didn’t like it. So it is now a very clear distinction.

Payees are pretty much done. Will eventually add more fields, but is usable now.

I have the types designed, but not coded. I’ve got the transaction Detail form GUI coded, and most of the code-behind, but don’t have the db updates done. After the above is done, and a completed installation process exists, then I should be ready for the first release! Woohoo! Being the first release, it will definitely be an infant Alpha release, but would love to hear some feedback.

Signing off for now, and probably won’t be able to write for another week, so have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just some stuff to share.

M$ Visual Studio 2005 (standard version)
SQLite
System.Data.SQLite
sqliteadmin

I’m also using an old VS.NET plugin that allows me (mostly) to manage my source in CVS rather than through SourceSafe. I prefer CVS, since that is more of an industry wide standard (not specific to M$). The plugin is called Jalindi – Igloo. It’s way old and doesn’t function 100% in VS.NET but serves its purpose. If I need any additional control, I use

I also use M$’s Enterprise Library 3.1, which seems to be pretty solid. Go check it out, too much stuff to list here. Right now, I use it for the Database connectivity.