Dropbox Chat! - Chat through Dropbox (Or any shared folder).

I wanted a new learning project and after leaving a few notes for friends in shared Dropbox folders, I came up with an idea for a new project!

Drop Box Chat!

This is a very small program - It simply loads up an XML file called "chat.xml" in its current directory (or creates one if it doesn't already exist), and then reloads the file every time it changes.

Put your name in the first box, message in the second and click send!

It does work fine at the moment, although I am sure there are a few bugs, and there is much more for me to do (delete, make the whole thing look nice etc.)

That being said, I am happy with what I came up with considering the time spent.

Please note - this is NOT a real time chat program and it works by saving the chat.xml file and syncing it via drop box. It is simply an alternative to writing notes everywhere. If you use it a lot or at the same time as someone else, there will most likely be sync issues/a conflict. Simply reload the application.

This program should work over any sort of shared folder and the only requirements are .Net Framework 4 (although, I can probably recompile for a lesser version).

Download link (V 0.0.0.1)

Download link (V 0.0.0.2) - Better formatting, Auto Expand/scrolls to bottom.

Download link (V 0.0.1.0) - Message Box now auto clears.
Download link (V 0.1.0.0) - Enter for send and a few other tweaks.

Please leave feedback if you like!

Error 0x80070643 installing ASP.NET MVC 3 / MVC 3 setup fails

Do you get this message?

Basically from what I can tell, this update is basically a package of numerous KB updates and silently installs it.

Unfortunately, it does not display any errors that the individual installs may return.

After a bit of digging, I found the log file and this line:

Returning IDOK. INSTALLMESSAGE_ERROR [Error 1706.An installation package for the product Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - ENU cannot be found. Try the installation again using a valid copy of the installation package 'vs_setup.msi'.]

Why it doesn't report this, I do not know - however, all you need to do is plop in the disk, or mount the ISO and it should clear this error.

--UPDATE--

I thought it was fixed, however, this was just one error and whilst that got over one hurdle, the bigger install still failed.

After running the update once, it extracts all the individual components to a folder on your hard drive - for me, this was c:\temp\ext47334 - I was able to run every KB on its own, apart from `aspnetwebpages.msi`

This keeps failing with:

"Error 1721. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action: WebConfigCA_Remove, location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET Web Pages\v1.0\WebConfig\WebConfigCA.exe, command: -u "

I have tried numerous solutions - manually launching that command, removing it from add/remove programs (which fails with another error), deleting the folder along with many others - but they all fail.

I have no idea what is wrong here at the moment but will update once it is sorted.

---

Update: As I thought this is 100% related to the "Microsoft ASP.NET Web Pages" Component.

It is now Solved! Thanks to Matt Garvenn on the ASP.Net Forums, it is down to the Visual Studio SP1 update placing trailing backslashes in two registry keys.

Steps to workaround are:

1. Remove the trailing backslash from the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ASP.NET\4.0.30319.0\Path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ASP.NET\4.0.30319.0\Path

2. Uninstalled the old version of "Microsoft ASP.NET Web Pages".

3. Add the trailing backslash back to those keys.

4. Install MVC 3.

... I see from analytics that I get a good few visitors now but people rarely seem to leave comments - if this helps and you have a few seconds, please leave a message! (no sign up needed)

comment!