There are a few gaping holes in the .NET Framework which Microsoft seems unwilling or unable to fill. The first of these is a framework to allow communication with smart cards. Implementing a framework utilizing the PC/SC standard should not be that hard, of course I have seen a library that does so on CodeProject, so maybe in .NET 4.0 we'll get it.

A second hole is no Most Recently Used menu option. They provide an interface to automatically allow MDI windows to be populated under a WINDOW menu, but for whatever reason you have to design and build a system for MRU.

And yes, a MRU is a very, very important user interface component. Such things makes application which open files much, much easier to use. I often find myself using the MRU on Visual Studio, Office, and the one which Windows provides on the Start menu. I really do not understand why this type of menu option was left out of the Framework.

Of course, since I'm a programmer, I'm lazy and went looking for one before I spend hours on end building one (hey, why re-invent the wheel?).

Well, CodeProject came to the rescue, and thanks to one Joe Woodbury over there, I now have a nifty MRU menu class. That particular version is for .NET 2.0, but Joe initially built that class for .NET 1.1, this is just an updated version using the new menu structures.

I plugged this into my application, and after a few minutes of poking and prodding at the demo, the application I'm working on has a handy, dandy MRU. Thanks, Joe!