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Aslan Valued Contributor
Joined: 31 May 2001 Posts: 589 Location: Memphis, TN USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:38 am Post subject: MMC console and VDS |
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I was just wondering if anyone has tried to integrate MMC based tools into a VDS app possibly with API or otherwise.
As an example WSUS 2.0 has a web base interface which I could use either of the browser dlls to show it in a VDS app. It seems now that WSUS 3.0 uses MMC 3.0 and it looks like several of Microsofts other network management apps are going to be using MMC also.
Has anyone looked into this before? Maybe even a GadgetX solution?
Thought I would check with all of you before going into deep research on the issue.
Thanks in advance,
Aslan |
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Rubes_sw Valued Contributor
Joined: 11 Jun 2001 Posts: 625 Location: Northern Ireland
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:50 am Post subject: |
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I too, am interested in this...
I need to be ablt to communicate with an MMC application...
tried DDE (Not working), is their any API's, can we use gadget ?
Nathan |
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Ok MMC 3.0 uses dotNET and has dotNET classes. I don't know if it is backwards compatible with MMC 2.0 which used ActiveX? It will take me some time to figure out first if it is even possible to talk to MMC 3.0 from an external *.EXE. Second if MMC 3.0 has any other way to communicate other than dotNET.
In theory it is possible to access dotNET through GadgetX'es COM support through dotNET's COM inter-opt but I have yet to tackle this since it requires compiling assemblies and typelib's at the command line before you can even use the dotNET object/class. Also the information I have for this is dated information for dotNET 1.1 and 2.x... I have not found any documentation for dotNET 3.0 which would be needed to handle MMC 3.0 since it uses dotNET 3.0.
All I can say is I will do some research and let you know what is or is not possible. _________________ Home of
Give VDS a new purpose!
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Aslan Valued Contributor
Joined: 31 May 2001 Posts: 589 Location: Memphis, TN USA
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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Aslan,
Thanks for the link but I don't have Vista. I don't have a machine good enough to run it _________________ Home of
Give VDS a new purpose!
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Aslan,
Here is a very simple way for using the .NET COM interopt.
http://www.dnzone.com/ShowDetail.asp?NewsId=126
You will need the .NET framework installed to get the command line utilities at the bottom of the article. Warning not all of the .NET framework is COM compatible. _________________ Home of
Give VDS a new purpose!
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Aslan Valued Contributor
Joined: 31 May 2001 Posts: 589 Location: Memphis, TN USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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Dragonshere,
Thanks, I will look at the interop info you listed.
BTW - You should be able to run the SDK on XP as I am. Just make sure you intall the .NET 3.0 framework first.
If you don't have XP let me know. |
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Rubes_sw Valued Contributor
Joined: 11 Jun 2001 Posts: 625 Location: Northern Ireland
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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OK,
We work close with a company who uses MMC and defined snapins for the MMC to redistribute a compiled MMC.
They are going to create a VDS compatible DLL to query and get information from the MMC.
I have sent them example source code of some dll's and given them links to here and vds, so hopefully they will get to grips with it.
I'll keep you informed on the progress
Nathan |
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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Rubes_sw wrote: | OK,
They are going to create a VDS compatible DLL to query and get information from the MMC.
I have sent them example source code of some dll's and given them links to here and vds, so hopefully they will get to grips with it.
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Nathan,
I have looked at trying to build a VDS DLL with C# to try and link some .NET WinForms into VDS but I cannot find the directive to define an exported function as CDECL which is the C calling convention. This is required for the VDS External command to call the Init, CommandProc, FuncProc, and StatProc VDS DLL functions. If they get it to work will you share their solution with me? I just need the information of how to define these functions.
I have some C# code that makes it possible to dynamicly launch .NET classes and objects and it even allows you to pass C# code directly to the dynamic object similar to how GadgetX works with COM. _________________ Home of
Give VDS a new purpose!
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Rubes_sw Valued Contributor
Joined: 11 Jun 2001 Posts: 625 Location: Northern Ireland
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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Of course, i'll share
nathan |
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Nathan,
If I can make it work then VDS will be able to use any .Net class and not be limited to just MMC. ActiveX and COM is considered legacy now and many companies have already moved to either .NET, Java, and/or a variety of XML type languages. It would be easier to build .NET into VDS with C# than to try and use COM/.NET interopt. I am also going to check out Borland C# as an alternative to MicroSoft C# to see if it has a directive to export functions with the CDECL calling convention.
Anyway I will do what I can to come up with a solution for you on my end. _________________ Home of
Give VDS a new purpose!
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Aslan Valued Contributor
Joined: 31 May 2001 Posts: 589 Location: Memphis, TN USA
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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Rubes_sw wrote: |
They are going to create a VDS compatible DLL to query and get information from the MMC. |
Are they using MMC 3.0 or 2.0?
Is this this going to be Freeware or other?
Way to go Rubes |
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Aslan Valued Contributor
Joined: 31 May 2001 Posts: 589 Location: Memphis, TN USA
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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Any updates??? |
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Rubes_sw Valued Contributor
Joined: 11 Jun 2001 Posts: 625 Location: Northern Ireland
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:00 am Post subject: |
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Hi guys
sorry, these guys are really slow, i've been in contact with them and they say they are working on it... no so far no real progress. They have not even sent me a beta dll yet !
Regards |
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vdsalchemist Admin Team
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 Posts: 1448 Location: Florida, USA
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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Nathan,
To be very honest with you I did not expect them to be able too just churn out a VDS DLL just like that. I would think that it will take them between 3 to 6 months to be able to do this depending on how big their team is and how much knowledge their team has with dotNET, MMC 3.0, and older technology such as VDS DLL's. _________________ Home of
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