BrandonTools

ryanwagner:

And the Startlets still work fine and Start++ runs despite the error, but it is the cool gadgets that don't work then.

If you come up with a debug build that you want me to run I'd be more than happy to try it out, and then report back. Thanks Brandon!

Yeah, that error means it's failing to load the "hook" library and inject it into Explorer.  It's either failing to find the file, or failing to find the entrypoint inside of it.  Pretty sure it's the former, but can't think of any reasons right now why it would be failing if the file is there.  You could try reinstalling to make sure it isn't corrupt or anything.

Was this an upgrade from a previous version of Start++?  Or a clean install?

Something else you could try would be to edit the properties on the Start++ shortcut and explicitly set the "working directory" to be the directory where Start++ is currently installed.

zhackwyatt:

I get this message everytime Start++ starts.

---------------------------

---------------------------
Start++ BETA
A problem was encountered when trying to load the Start++ hook DLL.

Exception:
Value cannot be null.

Parameter name: ptr
---------------------------
OK  
---------------------------

I too get this error. 64 bit, UAC enabled, admin account. Nothing much installed yet so I don't see there being much to conflict.

 

 

I wonder, would the performance and reliability packs have any effect? That's the only thing I have installed right now that I can think of that seems to change much (for instance the stricter driver signing requirement)

 

 

Edit: Okay, just uninstalled the two updates to check, no help. 

I did a clean install of this version after formatting my computer last week. Otherwise I had never upgraded from the older version prior to that.

I also tried this on another computer running Vista Ultimate with the same results. One computer has the performance and compatibility packs installed, and the other doesn't. So I don't think that it's a problem with that as the previous poster mentioned.

The working directory for Start++ was already set in the shortcut, and I've even tried running the Start++ directly from the Program Files folder. I also tried running it "as an administrator" but that didn't make a difference.

You have the same problem on two computers?  Very strange...

I have those packs installed on the machine I do most of my Start++ development on, so it wouldn't be related to those.  I'm kind of at a loss for what it could be.

Can you guys download this and tell me if it helps?  Or at least post the new error dialog? (should have more details to help me figure out the problem)

http://brandontools.com/files/Start++ 0.7.3 Setup.msi

 

Didn't fix it, here's the new dialog. The gadgets still don't work (startlets do as always)

 

 

I get the exact same error message posted above, but it is for the 32-bit DLL.

ryanwagner:

I get the exact same error message posted above, but it is for the 32-bit DLL.

Same here.

jmc777:

ryanwagner:

I get the exact same error message posted above, but it is for the 32-bit DLL.

Same here.

Ditto.

Interesting... looks like it's finding the file then, but failing to find the entrypoint.  Otherwise maybe it's something in the load of the DLL that's failing.  I may have to update the message again to find out more since the error is later in the process.

The manifest of SPPHookDll32.dll says it needs MSVCR80.dll revision 8.0.50727.762. Perhaps this file or this revision is missing (SxS problem).

Nosch:

The manifest of SPPHookDll32.dll says it needs MSVCR80.dll revision 8.0.50727.762. Perhaps this file or this revision is missing (SxS problem).

Oh wow, good find.  Can't believe I missed that!  I'll post a fixed version tonight (along with one other bug, I think in 0.7.2 I broke the "calc" gadget, doh).

In the meantime, running this should fix that problem:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647&displaylang=en

Or for 64-bit users:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=eb4ebe2d-33c0-4a47-9dd4-b9a6d7bd44da&DisplayLang=en

 

Yep, that fixed the problem!

Oh, and one idea that popped into my head while using the gadgets was a scroll feature. It would be nice if you could scroll for things like the movie listings and such. I do, however, love the zoom factor that you can adjust!

Update:I did notice that the page up/down buttons work for scrolling.

Also, ctrl+down and ctrl+up will scroll in addition to PageUp/PageDn.

I wanted to add mousewheel support, but didn't get to it yet.  And I thought turning on scroll bars was ugly :P