Hostfile Manager Tutorial Introduction

A video tutorial introducing the main functionalities of
the WPF Hostfile Manager for Windows.

You will find the application and the source code for download at http://andykdocs.de/andykdocs/document/Windows-Hostfile-Manager

The video is split into 12 parts - each part explaining a different feature of the Hostfile Manager:

Part 1 -- User Account Control: You need administrator privileges to run the Hostfile Manager and that's why you will trigger a UAC dialog every time you start the Hostfile Manager -- unless you disable the User Account Control (UAC) on your computer.

Part 2 - Settings file: The Hostfile Manager stores certain configuration values such as the last window position and the user-interface language in a settings file named (".settings"). If the file is not present in the current folder at application start, it will be created after you close the Hostfile Manager.

Part 3 -- Pin to Task-Bar: If you are on a Windows 7 system you can create a "shortcut" to the Hostfile Manager by pinning the application to your task bar. Once you have done that you can make use of the Jumplist feature, which gives to quick access to some useful functions of the Hostfile Manager.

Part 4 -- Restore Default Hosts-File: In case you have screwed up your hosts-file configuration you can always restore the Windows default hosts-file.

Part 5 -- Adding a Host/Network node: You can add, modify or delete hosts/network nodes using the WYSIWYG-Editor or the simple Text-Editor of the Hostfile Manager.

Part 6 -- Using Profiles: Profiles are copies of an arbitrary hosts-file that are stored in the working directory of every Hostfile Manager instance. If you keep different host-file configurations in seperate profiles you can quickly switch between these profiles by using the Jumplist feature of the Hostfile Manager.

Part 7 -- Deleting Profiles: Profiles are copies of an arbitrary hosts-file that are stored in the working directory of every Hostfile Manager instance. You can easily delete the profiles by removing them from your hard-drive or you can use the Hostfile Manager menu for this task.

Part 8 -- Making use of Host-Groups: The Hostfile Manager offers the possibilty to combine serveral hosts into a single group which can be activated or deactivated as a whole.

Part 9 -- Localization: You can switch the user-interface language of the Hostfile-Manager from the Help-Menu.

Part 10 -- Open Profile-Directory: If you want to open the directory where all the Hostfile-Profiles are stored you can use the shortcut from the Jumplist.

Part 11 -- Reset Application Settings: If you want to reset the settings and configuration values saved for the current Hostfile Manager instance you can use the shortcut from the Jumplist. Using the "Reset application settings" shortcut will simply delete the ".settings" file from your profile directory.

Part 12 -- Troubleshooting Repaint Issues: In some cases I had problems using the Hostfile Manager in a VMware image, because the virtualized graphics adapter had issues repainting the WPF user-interface. If you are having these problems too, you can disable the WPF hardware acceleration for this Hostfile Manager in the .settings-file.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Tutorial
• Hostfile Manager
• WPF
• Windows
• AndyK Docs