Develop Bugs

Truetype fonts in evC++

Hi gents.
I want to ask you,how can I use external font loaded from ttf file in my app,developed under Embedded Visual C++?
I need to easily change color and size of the font and using the DrawText() function make an output into current DC.
Can someone make an example for me please?
Thank you.

Here's the bare bones of it ,you'll have to flesh it out to suit. It might not be perfect but it works.
Global Variable
Code:
HFONT g_hfont;
Forward declaration of EnumFontProc()
Code:
int CALLBACK EnumFontsProc(LOGFONT *lplf, TEXTMETRIC *lptm, DWORD dwType, LPARAM lpData);
In WM_PAINT print it out. I'll use Wingdings. The name in the EnumFonts must match the actual name of the font as declared in the TTF file.
Code:
case WM_PAINT:
RECT rt;
hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
GetClientRect(hWnd, &rt);
EnumFonts(hdc,TEXT("Wingdings"),(FONTENUMPROC) EnumFontsProc,NULL);
SelectObject(hdc,g_hfont);
DrawText(hdc,TEXT("12345"),5, &rt, DT_SINGLELINE | DT_VCENTER | DT_CENTER);
DeleteObject(g_hfont);
EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
break;
In EnumFontsProc set the font to the first font given. Returning 0, ends the enumeration, non zero, give me the next.
To change the size do it here by changing lplf->lfHeight and lplf->lfWidth
Code:
int CALLBACK EnumFontsProc(LOGFONT *lplf, TEXTMETRIC *lptm, DWORD dwType, LPARAM lpData)
{
g_hfont = CreateFontIndirect(lplf);
return 0;
}
To load and release your font add the code below to the message handling sections.
Code:
WM_CREATE:
AddFontResource(TEXT("\\Storage Card\\myfont.TTF"));
WM_DESTROY:
RemoveFontResource(TEXT("\\Storage Card\\myfont.TTF"));
Here's the proof it works, (with Wingdings anyway!)

Thanks man,I will try it ASAP.
Well,is it possible to read the ttf file directly from exe resource also?
I am still learning C++,so some things are a bit unclear for me. Can you please post this source?

This stuff is explained fully at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa911455.aspx
I've just taken a few shortcuts with it.
The zip file contains the main .cpp file of the above project. It does not include the AddFontResource or RemoveFontResource statements.
Create a shell WinMo application and replace the main program .cpp file with it.
AddFontResource can only accept the path to a True Type font TTF file as an argument.
The thing you have got to get your head around are CALLBACK routines, they are used during most enumeration routines, and are widely used in Win32 for all sorts of things. A Win32 app's WndProc it itself a callback routine. In the case of EnumFonts, you pass the address of the callback routine to the enumerating function, which will call your function once for every instance it finds that matches your request. You terminate the sequence by returning 0 or it will carry on until there are no instances left. You have to decide what to do with the results. In my case I take the first Wingding font I'm offered, then quit.
Be aware that there is little, or no error handling in this code. I cobbled it together pretty quickly to prove the point.
I remember reading somewhere that if you drop the .TTF file in the Windows directory, and do a soft reset, then Windows will pick it up as a resident font, so the AddFontResource and RemoveFontResource functions are not required. EnumFonts() should know about it, and present it accordingly.

Well,thank you very much for that,but can you please provide me full project source,including all the files? With working project,I can better understand the font loading principle.
Unfortunately,I am too busy nowadays to discover something,that I don't understand well,so every time save is a big plus for me. Thank you very much again.

Attached,
But, it is a VS 2008 Smart Device project. EVC won't read it.
You will have to create a shell hello world project in EVC and copy the modified code in the panels above from TestFont.CPP.

Hello.
Actually i've got it working,but I still cannot discover,how to resize the font.
Where should I exactly put the lfWidth and lfHeight?
I am now a bit confused of that.
This is my code:
Functions and declarations of HFONT,CALLBACK,WM_CREATE,WM_DESTROY are present as you described.
void ShowNumber(HDC hdc, int Value,int xrect,int yrect,int wrect,int hrect,HBITMAP source)
{
EnumFonts(hdc,TEXT("Sam's Town"),(FONTENUMPROC) EnumFontsProc,NULL);
SelectObject(hdc,g_hfont);
TCHAR szText[MAX_LOADSTRING];
int width,height;
rtText.right=wrect;rtText.bottom=hrect;width=wrect-xrect;height=hrect-yrect;
TransparentImage(hdc,xrect,yrect,width,height,source,xrect,yrect,width,height,RGB(255,0,255));
SetBkMode(hdc,TRANSPARENT);
if(Value<10) wsprintf (szText, TEXT ("0%d"),Value);else wsprintf (szText, TEXT ("%d"),Value);
rtText.left=xrect ;rtText.top=yrect ;SetTextColor(hdc,RGB(0,0,0)); DrawText(hdc,szText,2,&rtText,DT_SINGLELINE | DT_LEFT | DT_TOP);
DeleteObject(g_hfont);
}
int CALLBACK EnumFontsProc(LOGFONT *lplf, TEXTMETRIC *lptm, DWORD dwType, LPARAM lpData)
{
g_hfont = CreateFontIndirect(lplf);
return 0;
}
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't work:
lplf.lfWidth=0;
g_hfont = CreateFontIndirect(lplf);
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I want to put one more parameter into ShowNumber() function,which will tell the function the size of the font.

You are nearly there...........
The code to set the font size will have to go in here.......
Code:
int CALLBACK EnumFontsProc(LOGFONT *lplf, TEXTMETRIC *lptm, DWORD dwType, LPARAM lpData)
{
lplf->lfHeight=14;
lplf->lfWidth=8;
g_hfont = CreateFontIndirect(lplf);
return 0;
}
Or whatever your values are, I just picked 8 and 14 as examples. If these values are passed as variables to another function above, store them as global variables, and use them here.
As lplf is passed to this function as a pointer to a LOGFONT structure, you have to use the -> operator to access its members. lplf.lfHeight won't work as you mentioned, that is for predeclared or static structures.
These values have to be changed here in the EnumFontsProc() routine before the font is created, as we are passing that pointer to create the font.
Good Luck!!
P.S. While we are here, let's tidy it up a bit.
Replace:
Code:
if(Value<10) wsprintf(szText,TEXT ("0%d"),Value);else wsprintf (szText,TEXT("%d"),Value);
with
Code:
wsprintf(szText, TEXT ("02%d"),Value);

A very big thanks for that.
I am still beginner in C++,so something can look very comic for others.
My beloved programming language is Pascal.
I really didn't think,that -> is an operator,I've just mentioned,you wrote it as something else(something like "to")

You are more than welcome.
Some features in C/C++ are not immediately obvious, but the real battle is fighting your way through the Win32 programming model, trying to get it to do what you want. Sometimes the simplest of things become maddeningly complicated, but the effort to do it properly is usually worth the effort.
Glad you got it working, best wishes, stephj.

Hello a bit later.
First of all,thank your for your explanation and now I am using this method successfuly.
I want to ask you now,if there is a way to get fixed pitch of the font,that is truetype. With standart font I can achieve with this...
lf.lfPitchAndFamily = (tm.tmPitchAndFamily & 0xf0) | TMPF_FIXED_PITCH;
I am using font,that displays numbers in "digital" mode(7-segment display) and I get the number "1" very narrow in comparison with others(actually it is narrow on any kind display,but is displayed on right segments,so "01" has adequate spacing on hard display). Now I get "0l_" instead of "0_l",that's not preferable.
Thanks in advance for reactions.

I don't think there the above method will work as each character has it own width associated with it.
A simpler approach, a bit of a pain, but which should work, is to draw/print the numeric value out one character at a time using DrawText(). Set a RECT structure up to hold the coordinates of the top left and bottom right of the area for each character.
Setting uFormat to DT_RIGHT will force the character to right align in the RECT area, so the '1' should appear correctly. Move the left and right values along a fixed amount for each character. A bit of trial and error will be involved first until you get the values just right.
Good luck, stephj.

[Q] How to delete/add an item from a ListBox?

Hi there,
I have a ListBox bounded to a query (linq to xml)
Dim CASDAs XDocument = XDocument.Load("./Data/CASD.xml")
Dim CAS_Query As System.Collections.IEnumerable = From query In Cartridge_Doc.Descendants("Cartridges") Order By _
CStr(query.Element("AA")) Descending, CStr(query.Element("AA"))
Select New Cartridge_Data With {.AA1 = CStr(query.Element("AA")), _
.BB1= CStr(query.Element("BB")), _
.CC1 = CStr(query.Element("CC"))}
Me.ListBox_1.ItemsSource = CAS_Query
Now, what I need to do is to select an item and have the option to delete it.
So far, I always got a run-time exception when trying this
Me.ListBox_1.Items.Remove(Me.ListBox_1.SelectedItem)
System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled
Message=Operation not supported on read-only collection.
So far I have tried a lot of options without any luck.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Stick your Linq result in an ObservableCollection, bind this to the Listbox and delete the item directly from the underlaying collection.

emigrating said:
Stick your Linq result in an ObservableCollection, bind this to the Listbox and delete the item directly from the underlaying collection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please, can you poost a little code to do that? I'm fairly new to this collections world.
On the other hand, once the item got deleted, how the Listbox gets refreshed?
Thanks!

You have to set up an NotifyPropertyChanged class to keep the listbox updated with your collection. The default phone list application template that comes with Visual Studio shows you how to do this. I think its's in c# though and it looks like you're coding in VB. I'm sure there's examples in VB you can find on the web with a little searching.

Ren13B said:
You have to set up an NotifyPropertyChanged class to keep the listbox updated with your collection. The default phone list application template that comes with Visual Studio shows you how to do this. I think its's in c# though and it looks like you're coding in VB. I'm sure there's examples in VB you can find on the web with a little searching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My ListBox takes its data from an XML file via query.
Which strategy do you think is the best?
To first delete the Xelement then refresh the ListBox?
Or deleting from the item from the ListBox, then update the XML file?
Sorry but I have all the samples from MS and didn't find any phone list one.
Any code will be greatly appreciated!

Oops. It's called "Windows Phone Databound Application". Attached is a screenshot of the project if it makes it easier for you to find it.
It's hard to post code because I don't know what your xaml looks like and bindings have to be set there for it to work. The best thing you can do is load the above project and play around with it.
You never have to refresh the items in the listbox. A bound listbox updates itself when an item in the collection changes. Change the collection and your listbox will reflect those changes. The NotifyPropertyChanged class is what triggers the listbox to update itself.

I do C#, not VB but the following should give you some idea.
Code:
public class Model : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Blurb { get; set; }
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropChanged;
public void NotifyPropertyChanged(String _propName)
{
if (null!=PropChanged)
{ PropChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(_propName)); }
}
}
The above is your model, create any properties you need there - i.e. one per item of data in your XML file.
Next, you need to create an ObservableCollection somewhere, for the sake of simplicity let's stick it in your MainPage.xaml.cs file for now, so;
Code:
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
public ObservableCollection<Model> Items { get; set; }
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.Items = new ObservableCollection<Model>();
MyListBox.ItemsSource = this.Items;
WebClient wc = new WebClient();
wc.OpenReadCompleted += wc_OpenReadCompleted;
wc.OpenReadAsync(new Uri("http://your.server.here/datafile.xml");
}
public void wc_OpenReadCompleted(object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
{
using (Stream s = e.Result)
{
XDocument xd = Xdocument.Load(s);
var XMLdata = (from q in doc.Descendants("Item") select new Model()
{
Title = (string)q.Element("Title"),
Blurb = (string)q.Element("Blurb")
}
foreach (Model m in XMLdata)
{
this.Items.Add(m);
}
}
}
public MyListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
ListBox lb = (ListBox)sender;
if (lb.SelectedIndex == -1)
return;
this.Items.Remove(lb.SelectedItem)
}
}
This will create a collection named Items as well as tell your ListBox (named MyListBox) to get it's data from said collection. Then it will read (asynchroniously) the XML file from the web and copy each item of data into your collection.
When you select an item in your ListBox it will be deleted from the ObservableCollection which in turn will remove it from the view (ListBox). At this stage you want to include code to also remove this from your actual XML file and so on of course. But the idea is that you work on your Collection only and your View will update based on what is changed - automagically.
Please note, the above code may or may not work out of the box. Written directly here on the forums so it hasn't gone thru VS2010's excellent IntelliSense. Also, the above code is in no way the most efficient way of doing certain things, but it gives you an idea as to what code you need to write to handle your scenario.
While I wrote this I see you've got an answer above which directs you to the VS template - use that and everything should become clear. All you have to remember is that perform operations on the Collection - not directly on the ListBox and you'll be fine.

Emigrating and Ren13B,
Thanks to both of you for the help. Very appreciated!
Will take both advices to see what comes up.
Thanks!

CheckBox state presrving/restoring

Hi there,
Does anyone out there how to preserve/restore the transient state of a CheckBox and/or Radio button?
So far, I'm using the following code, working for textbox
Code:
Public Sub PreserveState_TextBox(ByVal TB As TextBox)
Dim buffer As String = String.Empty
If True = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(TB.Name) Then
buffer = TryCast(PhoneApplicationService.Current.State(TB.Name), String)
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(buffer) Then
TB.Text = buffer
End If
End If
End Sub
Public Sub RestoreState_TextBox(ByVal TB As TextBox)
If True = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(TB.Name) Then
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Remove(TB.Name)
End If
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add(TB.Name, TB.Text)
End Sub
it possible to modify the above code to work for Checkbox and/or Radiobutton?
If not, any ideas?
So far, I've been trying the sample "Tombstoning" sample code from Microsoft without any luck...
Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I'm not a VB developer, but storing the state of a checkbox is not much different from storing any other primitive type. What you could do is have a bool variable "isCbChecked" and store that bool state in your PhoneApplicationService.State.
Code:
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add("isCbChecked", myCheckbox.IsChecked)
Then, when you're restoring your app, simply do
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = (bool)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey("isCbChecked");

keyboardP said:
Hi,
I'm not a VB developer, but storing the state of a checkbox is not much different from storing any other primitive type. What you could do is have a bool variable "isCbChecked" and store that bool state in your PhoneApplicationService.State.
Code:
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add("isCbChecked", myCheckbox.IsChecked)
Then, when you're restoring your app, simply do
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = (bool)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey("isCbChecked");
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your fast reply.
Can I ask for additional help on how to make your statements into generic procedures, at least to take them to something similar to what I posted?
Don't care if it's in C#
Thanks in advance!

GFR_2009 said:
Thanks a lot for your fast reply.
Can I ask for additional help on how to make your statements into generic procedures, at least to take them to something similar to what I posted?
Don't care if it's in C#
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off the top of my head, something like this should work (C# code).
Code:
public static T RestoreState<T>(string key)
{
if (PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(key))
{
return (T)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State[key];
}
return null;
}
'T' is the type that will be used. In C# 'T' is a special character denoting the generic type, not something I just used
So in the code above, the return type is 'T' and when using RestoreState, it will be 'RestoreState<Textbox>("TB.Name");'. The value of 'TB.Name' will be searched within the dictionary and, if it's found, it will cast that object as 'T' (Textbox) and return it, otherwise it will return null.

Hi,
So far, I did the following and while no error is raised, nothing happens...
Code:
Public Function Backup(ByVal token As String, ByVal value As Object) As Boolean
If Nothing Is value Then
Return False
End If
Dim store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State
If store.ContainsKey(token) Then
store(token) = value
Else
store.Add(token, value)
End If
Return True
End Function
Public Function Restore(Of T)(ByVal token As String) As T
Dim store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State
If Not store.ContainsKey(token) Then
Return Nothing
End If
Return CType(store(token), T)
End Function
I call them as follows
Code:
Backup(Me.CheckBox_1.Name, Me.CheckBox_1)
Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name)
Don't where is the error, maybe you could take a look and help me out.
Any help is much appreciated!

Where are you calling the Backup and Restore functions? Since your doing page specific things, you could do it in the OnNavigatedFrom and OnNavigatedTo methods, respectively.

keyboardP said:
Where are you calling the Backup and Restore functions? Since your doing page specific things, you could do it in the OnNavigatedFrom and OnNavigatedTo methods, respectively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm calling them in the OnNavigatedTo and OnNavigatedFrom methods, as you pointed out
Unfortunately, nothing happens at all!
Thanks!

Hi,
As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with your saving/loading code. When you call
"Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name)", is that returning a bool? You need to assign that bool to the checkbox:
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name);
Also, all variables are reset when the page loads, so make sure you have set "myCheckbox.IsChecked" anywhere else on the page that could be called when the page loads.

Please, check the converted code of the above functions, to C#
Code:
public bool Backup(string token, object value)
{
if (null == value)
{
return false;
}
var store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State;
if (store.ContainsKey(token))
{
store(token) = value;
}
else
{
store.Add(token, value);
}
return true;
}
public T Restore<T>(string token)
{
var store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State;
if (! (store.ContainsKey(token)))
{
return default(T);
}
return (T)(store(token));
}
Do you think they are OK?
How should I call them ?
Clearly, the restore does not returns a boolean...
Honestly, I'm lost now!
Hope this helps to find the culprit.

It seems okay to me. You'll have to do some debugging. Set a breakpoint inside the Backup and Restore methods. Step through each line and make sure it's going to the line you expect it to and that the value being set is the correct one.
I haven't seen the tombstoning sample from MSDN, but can you get that to work? If so, is the generic method causing the problem? Or can you not get it to work at all?

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in getting back, but I was trying different codes and at least I found the cause.
Code:
Me.NavigationService.Navigate(New Uri("/PivotPage1.xaml?Name=" & "John", UriKind.Relative))
[B]Me.NavigationService.GoBack[/B]()
Me.NavigationService.Navigate(New Uri("/PivotPage1.xaml", UriKind.Relative))
Everything works fine, and the Checkbox state is saved/restored (in the Pivot Page) if I GO BACK using the GoBack hardware button or Me.NavigationService.GoBack
But, the state's dictionary entry is lost or ignored if I go back with the Navigate service (lines 1 and 3)...
Problem is that I need to get back with the query string...
The query string contains a value taken in the SelectedItem event of PAGE2's ListBox, and automatically once retrieved must go back.
I didn't know until know, that NavigationService.Navigate creates a new page instance or something like that in the backstack...
Any sugestions are welcomed!

Hi,
There are various methods you can use depending on the app's architecture. For example, you could have a 'shared' class that contains a shared field that holds the SelectedItem value. When the user selects the item, set the shared field's value and then when you go back, you can get the value from the shared field.

keyboardP said:
Hi,
There are various methods you can use depending on the app's architecture. For example, you could have a 'shared' class that contains a shared field that holds the SelectedItem value. When the user selects the item, set the shared field's value and then when you go back, you can get the value from the shared field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, no other way to cope with the navigation service?
It's a strange behaviour for sure...
Will try your ideas.
Thanks a lot for your reply!

GFR_2009 said:
So, no other way to cope with the navigation service?
It's a strange behaviour for sure...
Will try your ideas.
Thanks a lot for your reply!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are other ways. For example, instead of using the PhoneApplicationService to store the tombstoning information, you could put it in a querystring for page 2. Then, in page 2, you could add the information from the previous page to a querystring AND the information of the selected item to the querystring. Navigate to page 1, with the querystring that contains information on what was there before and what the user selected. Tombstoning is there for when the user presses the hardware search button, home button, a phone call arrives etc.. It's not there for the navigation of the app. That's where querystrings, shared variables, binary serialization etc... come into play.
The concept of the navigation service is similar to a website. For example, when you submit something and then go back, it might still be there in the page state. However, if you submit something and then reload the previous page by typing it in the address bar, it becomes a completely new page as no state is stored.

keyboardP said:
There are other ways. For example, instead of using the PhoneApplicationService to store the tombstoning information, you could put it in a querystring for page 2. Then, in page 2, you could add the information from the previous page to a querystring AND the information of the selected item to the querystring. Navigate to page 1, with the querystring that contains information on what was there before and what the user selected. Tombstoning is there for when the user presses the hardware search button, home button, a phone call arrives etc.. It's not there for the navigation of the app. That's where querystrings, shared variables, binary serialization etc... come into play.
The concept of the navigation service is similar to a website. For example, when you submit something and then go back, it might still be there in the page state. However, if you submit something and then reload the previous page by typing it in the address bar, it becomes a completely new page as no state is stored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Will try your suggested approach, and thanks a lot for the last explanation on how the darn thing works.
Thanks again!

GFR_2009 said:
Hi,
Will try your suggested approach, and thanks a lot for the last explanation on how the darn thing works.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome . It's one of those things that take a bit of time to understand, but starts to make sense. You might be interested in a free WP7 development ebook by Charles Petzold.

keyboardP said:
You're welcome . It's one of those things that take a bit of time to understand, but starts to make sense. You might be interested in a free WP7 development ebook by Charles Petzold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already have the book, but will need a deeper reading
So far, I've been testing your idea of using global classes and works ok.
Thanks a lot for being so cooperative, it's much appreciated!

GFR_2009 said:
I already have the book, but will need a deeper reading
So far, I've been testing your idea of using global classes and works ok.
Thanks a lot for being so cooperative, it's much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries! If programming was super easy everyone would be doing it

keyboardP said:
No worries! If programming was super easy everyone would be doing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said better!

[Solved] Disable forum thread mouseover preview

EDIT: 2015-11-29
Updated the userscript again to, instead of disable the title altogether, move it to the actual link. This way it can still be seen by mousing over the link, but not while your mouse is just lazing around in the middle of the page.
See post #7 for the latest userscript code.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64059286&postcount=7
EDIT: 2011-10-22
I finally got unlazy and actually looked at the source code myself and discovered that it was just a 'title' tag on a table causing the popup. I wrote up a userscript that renames the 'title' tag to 'title-backup', thus preventing Chrome from displaying the mouseover box on thread titles.
If anyone else wants to use this userscript, here are the links that you'll need for it. I wrote this for the Chrome browser, but as long as your browser is up to date and you have a script handler installed, it should work.
Blank Canvas Script Handler - Chrome Extension that loads userscripts, similar to GreaseMonkey for those familiar with it.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pipnnjjknlabchljabhmnpdfpdobpnkk
My userscript. You just need to have some kind of script handler installed to use it, such as the above Blank Canvas.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/116101
ORIGINAL:
Does anyone know how to disable the mouseover thread preview popup when viewing a list of forum threads with the Chrome browser? It's something I've been searching for months with no answer found. It's an annoying feature for me that blocks the thread titles for items around my mouse pointer.
Here is a picture of what I'm talking about...
http://i54.tinypic.com/5pkbvc.jpg

As far as I know, it's not something that you can disable. It's probably a forum-wide setting that can't be changed for individuals.

I finally delved into the code myself and discovered a simple solution. I've updated the first post with the details.

Jackalo said:
I finally delved into the code myself and discovered a simple solution. I've updated the first post with the details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, the popups are gone!

Thanks Jackalo, that popup thread preview was driving me nuts, too!

Considering that userscripts.org is no more, I decided to copy/paste the code for my userscript here.
It's also mirrored at userscripts-mirror.org via the following URL...
http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/116101
Code:
// ==UserScript==
// @name xda-developer Mouseover Remover
// @namespace Jackalo
// @description Remove 'title' mouseover tooltips from the forum thread lists to prevent them from blocking your view
// @version 1.0
// @updateURL http://userscripts.org/scripts/source/116101.meta.js?1.0
// @include http://forum.xda-developers.com/*
// ==/UserScript==
// id = td_threadtitle_######, where # is a unique numeric number for each thread
// querySelectorAll allows regular expression matching! Match and make a list of any ID that starts with 'td_threadtitle_'
var idToFix = document.querySelectorAll('[id^=td_threadtitle_]');
// Iterate through that list of ID's that need to be fixed
for (i = 0; i < idToFix.length; i++)
{
// Make a backup copy of the data in case someone needs to view it from the source code for whatever reason
idToFix[i].setAttribute('title-backup', idToFix[i].title);
// Remove the 'title' attribute from the <td>
idToFix[i].removeAttribute('title');
}

Updated to be even better
I got annoyed with my previous fix of removing the title altogether. I tweaked the userscript to move the 'title' tag from div.thread-info-cell to be directly on the a.threadTitle link. Setting the 'title' attribute on a link is valid in HTML5 from what I read, and appears to work for me in Chrome and Firefox. I'm sure it requires a newer IE version (newer than 9 probably).
What this gives is that when you mouseover a thread-row box, the mouse hover text will not appear until your mouse is over the link thread link itself. Solves my original issue of having a, possibly quite large, box pop up and cover some of the page to where I couldn't read the titles of the other threads on the page, but still allows me to hover my mouse over the thread link itself to see the title text.
Magnificent thing, userscripts are.
Code:
// ==UserScript==
// @name xda-developer Mouseover Remover
// @namespace Jackalo
// @version 2.0
// @description Move 'title' mouseover tooltips from thread-row to thread-title-cell to prevent them from blocking your view when your mouse is not over a link directly
// @author Jackalo
// @match http://forum.xda-developers.com/*
// @match https://forum.xda-developers.com/*
// @grant none
// ==/UserScript==
/* jshint -W097 */
'use strict';
var threadRows = document.querySelectorAll('div.thread-row');
for (i = 0; i < threadRows.length; i++)
{
var title = threadRows[i].querySelector('div.thread-info-cell').title;
threadRows[i].querySelector('div.thread-info-cell').removeAttribute('title');
threadRows[i].querySelector('div.thread-info-cell div.thread-title-cell a.threadTitle').setAttribute('title', title);
}

[Q] Database question

Hi guys,
We are currently developing an app which stores the users contacts for a quick search.
Any tip on which DB to use (SQL CE, WP7DB, Ninja DB, Rapid Repository and so on)?
My primary and most important requirement is that the database should be quick to load and search on application startup.
We are currently using IsolatedStorageFile together with ObservableCollection which is taking too long to load (~6 seconds to load and search 600 contacts from startup).
Any tip would be much appreciated!!

take a look on CodePlex, this is an example:
http://winphone7db.codeplex.com/
or in general...
http://www.codeplex.com/site/search?query=windows phone database&ac=8

namiran said:
We are currently using IsolatedStorageFile together with ObservableCollection which is taking too long to load (~6 seconds to load and search 600 contacts from startup).
Any tip would be much appreciated!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you have serious problems in design or implementation (or both ). What is the total size of your contact collection? How you serializing that collection? 600 contacts - it's just nothing for ISF file operations...

andreacorti said:
take a look on CodePlex, this is an example:
http://winphone7db.codeplex.com/
or in general...
http://www.codeplex.com/site/search?query=windows phone database&ac=8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Do you have any experience with winphone7db performance?
I know there are several solutions out there, I guess i would need the one with the fastest loading time. Don't need any advanced performance or query operations though.

sensboston said:
I believe you have serious problems in design or implementation (or both ). What is the total size of your contact collection? How you serializing that collection? 600 contacts - it's just nothing for ISF file operations...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are more advanced developer than I am since I really don't even know how to check the size of the collection.
However this is basically the operation I am performing
on application firststart:
this.contactListOld = new ObservableCollection<Person>();
contacts.SearchAsync(string.Empty, FilterKind.None, "");
foreach contact
contactListOld.Add(b);
when application exits:
save contactListOld
on application load:
load contactListOld
[DataContract]
public class Person
{
...
}
public class IsoStoreHelper
{
public static void SaveList<T>(string folderName, string dataName, ObservableCollection<T> dataList) where T : class
{
if (!IsoStore.DirectoryExists(folderName))
{
IsoStore.CreateDirectory(folderName);
}
string fileStreamName = string.Format("{0}\\{1}.dat", folderName, dataName);
using (IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream(fileStreamName, FileMode.Create, IsoStore))
{
DataContractSerializer dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<T>));
dcs.WriteObject(stream, dataList);
}
}
public static ObservableCollection<T> LoadList<T>(string folderName, string dataName) where T : class
{
ObservableCollection<T> retval = new ObservableCollection<T>();
string fileStreamName = string.Format("{0}\\{1}.dat", folderName, dataName);
try
{
using (IsolatedStorageFileStream stream = new IsolatedStorageFileStream(fileStreamName, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, IsoStore))
{
if (stream.Length > 0)
{
DataContractSerializer dcs = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<T>));
retval = dcs.ReadObject(stream) as ObservableCollection<T>;
}
}
}
catch (Exception es)
{
es.ToString();
}
return retval;
}
}

Personally I've made the switch to the built in Mango SQL CE database, seams performant enough and it's much more pleasant to work with than dealing with serializing data directly to isolated storage. Not to mention u can use LINQ to SQL.

Nudua said:
Personally I've made the switch to the built in Mango SQL CE database, seams performant enough and it's much more pleasant to work with than dealing with serializing data directly to isolated storage. Not to mention u can use LINQ to SQL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But doesn't the loading of the database take a lot of time? How many objects/rows do you store in your database?
Thanks for your input!

namiran said:
I think you are more advanced developer than I am since I really don't even know how to check the size of the collection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I created small project for you to demonstrate simple binary serialization to ISF. I hope you will be happy with timing
P.S. You may also reduce serialization time by using MemoryStream.

sensboston said:
I created small project for you to demonstrate simple binary serialization to ISF. I hope you will be happy with timing
P.S. You may also reduce serialization time by using MemoryStream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried it and it was Really quick!
Gonna see if I can transfer this to my code, thanks so far!

namiran said:
Gonna see if I can transfer this to my code, thanks so far!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome!
P.S. You may also press "thanks" button on my post