topic Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE! in ObjectARX Forum

Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:33:59 GMT

Greetings Autodesk and Users,

Last night, I spoke to a saleswoman at Microsoft who told me I could buy a
version of Microsoft Visual C++ .net 2002. She told me to call her when I
got home, and she would walk me through the process of providing the
appropriate proof that I actually have a legitimate version of 2003 and they
would send me a copy of 2002 for $28.00. OK, so I called back. We then
went through the entire process and up comes a message on here screen :
"CANNOT SELL PRODUCT." Though Microsoft DOES have 2002 in stock, and has a
price for the downgrade, they are not permitted to sell it. So what am I
supposed to do? I cannot download Visual C++ 2002 from anywhere, cannot
obtain the 2002 libraries, and so I am stuck. Is the answer from Autodesk
that I have to wait until 2007 Version, and if so, does this also mean that
I have to upgrade to Autocad 2007 ( yeah that will go over great with the
management at my company "Yeah My ObjectARX code works great, all you have
to do is spend $25,000 and you can use it"). Also having to upgrade to
Visual Studio C++ .net ( another $110.00)? I think that this is an
unnaceptable answer and I have a few suggestions as to how to fix this
problem:

1. Contact Microsoft and beg them to sell the downgrade to people again.
Yes I know, Microsoft doesn't want to sell older versions of C++, but its
all economics. I have already paid for C++ 2003, and I am perfectly willing
to pay for 2002 (the $28) if it means that I am able to learn and develop
ObjectArx code.

2. Contact Microsoft and emplore them to give you the libraries that are
used in ObjectARX (the MFC70.dll I think it is that my compiler is
complaining about). I like this one the best because I DON'T HAVE TO SPEND
ANOTHER RED CENT ON THE SOLUTION. I don't see this as being too far off, as
Autodesk has some sort of agreement with Microsoft. Autodesk could develop
(or approve) a quick patch that makes it possible to use the libraries with
2003, and viola you are now able to develop using off the shelf development
products.

3. REDEVELOP THE 2005 and 2006 ARX CODE TO USE 2003. Umm, yeah you are
providing a programatic interface into your product using probably the
crapiest version of Visaul C++ .net. I don't think it takes a marketing
genious (or Linus Torvalds for that matter) to figure out that this is bad
marketing, bad business, and bad programming. I have seen tons of libraries
that are available for 2003, and 2003 has been available for some time now.
Though I concede that 2005 will also be available soon, but how soon will
autodesk offer the ARX api for it? Probably not soon enough for me ( even
the November projected launch date would be unacceptable ). I know that
redeveloping ARX would cause you to change the code within Autocad, fine,
put out a patch.

I am really anxious to get developing with Arx and really need this for a
project I am doing ( the project makes it impossible to use activex or vba
since it talks to other .net components that I cannot change). Please
contact me directly or reply with a solution.

I appologize if I sound irate or rude, I certainly don't mean to, but the
point of the matter is that we do need this functionality and simple cannot
get it under these circumstances. I am begging you to help me out, since
Microsoft was unable (I suppose one might say unwilling) to help. I am
hoping that since this is your product that you might feel compelled to
help.

Thank you and most respectively,

Alexandros A Nipirakis
anipirakis |AT| gtconveyor.com

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:50:38 GMT

I got my version here. Shipped in a couple days.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MS-Visual-Studio-net-Professional-2002-Sealed_W0QQitemZ7176452562QQcategoryZ182QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

"Alexandros Nipirakis" wrote in message
news:4935839@discussion.autodesk.com...
Greetings Autodesk and Users,

Last night, I spoke to a saleswoman at Microsoft who told me I could buy a
version of Microsoft Visual C++ .net 2002. She told me to call her when I
got home, and she would walk me through the process of providing the
appropriate proof that I actually have a legitimate version of 2003 and they
would send me a copy of 2002 for $28.00. OK, so I called back. We then
went through the entire process and up comes a message on here screen :
"CANNOT SELL PRODUCT." Though Microsoft DOES have 2002 in stock, and has a
price for the downgrade, they are not permitted to sell it. So what am I
supposed to do? I cannot download Visual C++ 2002 from anywhere, cannot
obtain the 2002 libraries, and so I am stuck. Is the answer from Autodesk
that I have to wait until 2007 Version, and if so, does this also mean that
I have to upgrade to Autocad 2007 ( yeah that will go over great with the
management at my company "Yeah My ObjectARX code works great, all you have
to do is spend $25,000 and you can use it"). Also having to upgrade to
Visual Studio C++ .net ( another $110.00)? I think that this is an
unnaceptable answer and I have a few suggestions as to how to fix this
problem:

1. Contact Microsoft and beg them to sell the downgrade to people again.
Yes I know, Microsoft doesn't want to sell older versions of C++, but its
all economics. I have already paid for C++ 2003, and I am perfectly willing
to pay for 2002 (the $28) if it means that I am able to learn and develop
ObjectArx code.

2. Contact Microsoft and emplore them to give you the libraries that are
used in ObjectARX (the MFC70.dll I think it is that my compiler is
complaining about). I like this one the best because I DON'T HAVE TO SPEND
ANOTHER RED CENT ON THE SOLUTION. I don't see this as being too far off, as
Autodesk has some sort of agreement with Microsoft. Autodesk could develop
(or approve) a quick patch that makes it possible to use the libraries with
2003, and viola you are now able to develop using off the shelf development
products.

3. REDEVELOP THE 2005 and 2006 ARX CODE TO USE 2003. Umm, yeah you are
providing a programatic interface into your product using probably the
crapiest version of Visaul C++ .net. I don't think it takes a marketing
genious (or Linus Torvalds for that matter) to figure out that this is bad
marketing, bad business, and bad programming. I have seen tons of libraries
that are available for 2003, and 2003 has been available for some time now.
Though I concede that 2005 will also be available soon, but how soon will
autodesk offer the ARX api for it? Probably not soon enough for me ( even
the November projected launch date would be unacceptable ). I know that
redeveloping ARX would cause you to change the code within Autocad, fine,
put out a patch.

I am really anxious to get developing with Arx and really need this for a
project I am doing ( the project makes it impossible to use activex or vba
since it talks to other .net components that I cannot change). Please
contact me directly or reply with a solution.

I appologize if I sound irate or rude, I certainly don't mean to, but the
point of the matter is that we do need this functionality and simple cannot
get it under these circumstances. I am begging you to help me out, since
Microsoft was unable (I suppose one might say unwilling) to help. I am
hoping that since this is your product that you might feel compelled to
help.

Thank you and most respectively,

Alexandros A Nipirakis
anipirakis |AT| gtconveyor.com

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:53:08 GMT

Hi Paul,
Thank you for the link, but I already own a license of 2003. I don't think I should have to shell out another $275.00 - 325.00 to buy a new one. I am hoping that Autodesk can provide a solution that will not require me to buy a brand new license.

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:12:35 GMT

>I don't think I should have to shell out another $275.00 - 325.00 to buy a
>new one
I agree, but I wanted to get coding..Figured the time dealing with AutoDesk
could
be spend coding and getting my 300 buck back..

gl
Paul

wrote in message news:4935845@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the link, but I already own a license of 2003. I don't think
I should have to shell out another $275.00 - 325.00 to buy a new one. I
am hoping that Autodesk can provide a solution that will not require me to
buy a brand new license.

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:17:07 GMT

Good point also, I might consider that approach. 300 isnt that bad for a full version of pro anyways.

Thanks so much for the link. Who knows maybe someone at Autodesk will reply before I can hit the "Buy It Now" button (granted that hit may take a little while for me to hit said button, 300 isnt so easy to come by 🙂 .

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:25:26 GMT

I think I remember someone having a fix for using 03. Post was about 4 or 5
months
ago. Search via the web browser. Might want to check it out before hitting
"buy"..:)

gl

wrote in message news:4935973@discussion.autodesk.com...
Good point also, I might consider that approach. 300 isnt that bad for a
full version of pro anyways.

Thanks so much for the link. Who knows maybe someone at Autodesk will reply
before I can hit the "Buy It Now" button (granted that hit may take a little
while for me to hit said button, 300 isnt so easy to come by 🙂 .

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:28:00 GMT

If memory serves, that solution only worked if you had the libraries from the 2002 release installed. That was why I suggested that Autodesk beg microsoft if they could just put those libraries on the web or something (keeping in mind that Microsoft ships the platform sdk for free and said libraries would likely be part of the sdk so I don't think that this is a big issue for them).

Thanks again,

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:31:13 GMT

check out Owen's site. Might be helpful..
http://www.manusoft.com/Resources/ARXTips/Index.stm

wrote in message news:4935973@discussion.autodesk.com...
Good point also, I might consider that approach. 300 isnt that bad for a
full version of pro anyways.

Thanks so much for the link. Who knows maybe someone at Autodesk will reply
before I can hit the "Buy It Now" button (granted that hit may take a little
while for me to hit said button, 300 isnt so easy to come by 🙂 .

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:34:45 GMT

Thank you for the link , if you look Owen says:
" Note that you must have Visual C/C++ 7 installed in order for the path switching to work. If you only have Visual C/C++ 7.1 available, you must purchase the downgrade to Visual C/C++ 7 and install it also, otherwise the required VC 7 build tools won't be available on your system. This feature can be enabled for an entire solution or for individual projects."

Unfortnately, it appears as though Microsoft is no longer willing to sell Visual C++ 7.

Thank You Again
Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:25:56 GMT

If your company has an MSDN subscription, you are
out of the troubles..... All versions are on those CD's....

But that is the only (legal) solution I know off...

Or we could all chip in and give the people at
Autodesk a proper course in programming.

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:44:56 GMT

Alexandros:

I think if you pull the right strings at Microsoft, they *will* sell you
the downgrade. I've heard of other folks that initially were told it wasn't
available, but eventually ended up getting it anyway. Since this is a
fairly common problem, I think it would be worthwhile for someone to
document the steps necessary to get the downgrade from MS.

If you'd like me to try, please send me an email with contact info so I
can get in touch with you if necessary. I'll see if I can get someone at MS
that has the power to make this happen, and document what I had to do to get
there. No promises, of course, but I think with a bit of patience this
problem can be resolved.

The reson VS 2003 won't work is because AutoCAD 2004-2006 are built on VS
2002, and Microsoft changed a lot of things between VS 2002 and VS 2003 (not
just libraries, but language syntax, name mangling, etc.). It is
frustrating as a developer to be forced into use the older version of VS,
but it would be virtually impossible for Autodesk to rebuild older versions
of AutoCAD in VS 2003.

Just for the record, you need the VS 2002 build tools to build ObjectARX
apps. Having the headers and libraries is not enough. Some folks have been
successful with using VS 2002 libraries in the VS 2003 build tools, but when
doing so one is limited to using only library code that happens to build
correctly in both versions of VS. 🙂
--
Owen Wengerd
President, ManuSoft ==> http://www.manusoft.com
VP Americas, CADLock, Inc. ==> http://www.cadlock.com

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:48:24 GMT

Thank you so much owen. Please look for an email this evening : ) I assume the one on your website is current?

Thanks

Aleksei

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:19:45 GMT

> I assume the one on your website is current?

Yes, and the reply-to address on these newsgroup posts is also correct. 🙂
--
Owen Wengerd
President, ManuSoft ==> http://www.manusoft.com
VP Americas, CADLock, Inc. ==> http://www.cadlock.com

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:22:18 GMT

Is this to suggest that the version I purchased is
illegal?

wrote in message news:4936085@discussion.autodesk.com...
If your company has an MSDN subscription, you are
out of the troubles..... All versions are on those CD's....

But that is the only (legal) solution I know off...

Or we could all chip in and give the people at
Autodesk a proper course in programming.

Re: Problem: CANNOT BUY VISUAL C++ .NET 2002 ANYMORE!

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:34:28 GMT

Depending what you are doing your code it might be possible to
use VS2003. I'm not saying it works always but generally yes,
it does work. You still need some old libraries and dll files from
the previous (VS2002) version.

Don't know how much it needs testing to be sure there are
no side-effects but in my case everything works correctly.
But then, I was using unicode mfc ('threading etc) already
in VC6.0, acad 2000 (and acad 2002).
And it worked (altough making it work was pain in ...).

ismo