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• A story of Murphy–my technical issues at TechDays Switzerland #chtd

  - by Laurent Bugnion

  I had two sessions at the recent Swiss TechDays. While the first one (Advanced Development for Windows Phone 8) went extremely well (I think), I had a very annoying technical issue in the beginning of my second session. First let me add that I talked to Microsoft about that and I hope they will change a few things in the room assignment for next year. My two sessions were one right after the other, with only 15 minutes break to change room. I don’t mind having two sessions so close from each other, but I would really like them to be in the same room in order to avoid having to move my laptops (plural, that will become important later) and redoing the tech check. That being said, I am guilty of not checking where my talks would be before the day before the conference, and when I did notice, it was too late to change it. After my first session, I quickly moved to the other room and setup my main laptop, a Dell Precision. We tested the video output (VGA) and didn’t notice anything special. The projectors are using a fairly high resolution (kudos to the Basel conference center for not having old school 1024x768 projectors anymore, that makes Blend really hard to demo ;) but since everything went great during the first talk, I was not worried. In fact I even had some time to chat with some early attendees about my Microsoft Surface and the Samsung Slate 7, which I had carried with me in addition to the Precision. I just thought it would be nice to show the hardware that Windows 8 can run on, without thinking any further. When the session started, I immediately noticed that the main screen was not showing anything. I thought I had just forgotten to switch to “duplicate” for the video output, and did that with a quick Win-P. However it didn’t “hold”. After 2 seconds, it reverted back to a black display for my attendees. Then I started to really worry. We tried everything, switching from VGA to HDMI, changing the resolution, setting the projector as primary display, but nothing did the trick. The projector was just refusing to show my screen. Now, to show you how despaired I started to be, I even considered using the “extend” setting (which worked just fine), and to use one of the feedback monitors on the floor but really it was super cumbersome. Eventually, my last resort arrived: I started my Samsung Slate 7, which by chance has Visual Studio 12 and Blend 5 installed, plugged the HDMI projector in the dock (yes, I had the dock with me, which I usually don’t!), connected it to internet (had to enter a long password for that), loaded the source code from my main machine using a USB stick and…. finally started to give my presentation. All in all I think we lost about 10 minutes. Amongst the most horrible minutes of my whole life, truly (yes I am blessed, I didn’t have that many horrible minutes in my life ;) I really want to apologize to my attendees. We joked a bit during the attempts to resolve the issue, the reactions I had after the session were all very nice and sympathetic. Only a handful of people left my session while I was having the issues, and I really don’t blame them (who knew how long the problem would last!!). But still, I probably talked at more than 60 sessions over the years, and this was by far my most painful moment. What did I learn? So what did I learn from this? Well from now on I will always have my slate ready with the latest source code, internet connection and every tool I might need during the presentation. This way, if I detect even a hint that the Precision might not work, I will just switch to the Slate. The experience of presenting on the slate is actually not bad at all, it is just a bit slow for my taste, but it does work. By the way, I will be posting the code and slides for my sessions very soon, I just need to “clean it and zip it”. Stay tuned, and thanks again for your patience in that horrible circumstance. Cheers Laurent   Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

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• dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.

  - by Murphy

  murphy@murphy-Compaq-Presario-C700-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo apt-get install clipgrab [sudo] password for murphy: E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem. murphy@murphy-Compaq-Presario-C700-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo dpkg dpkg: error: need an action option Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*]; Use `dselect' or `aptitude' for user-friendly package management; Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values; Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options; Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files; Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through `less' or `more' ! murphy@murphy-Compaq-Presario-C700-Notebook-PC:~$ am getting this error when i try to install clipgrab. please help

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• June 2010 Chicago Architects Group Meeting

  - by Tim Murphy

  The Chicago Architects Group will be holding its next meeting on June 15th.  Please come and join us and get involved in our architect community. Register Presenter: Tim Murphy  Topic: Document Generation Architectures        Location: TechNexus 200 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 1500 Room A/B Chicago, IL 60606 Time: 5:30 - Doors open at 5:00 Sponsored by: del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Architects Group,Azure,Scott Seely

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• Setting column length of a Long value with JPA annotations

  - by Gearóid

  Hi, I'm performing a little database optimisation at the moment and would like to set the column lengths in my table through JPA. So far I have no problem setting the String (varchar) lengths using JPA as follows: @Column(unique=true, nullable=false, length=99) public String getEmail() { return email; } However, when I want to do the same for a column which is of type Long (bigint), it doesn't work. For example, if I write: @Id @Column(length=7) @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO) public Long getId() { return id; } The column size is still set as the default of 20. Are we able to set these lengths in JPA or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thanks, Gearoid.

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• Problem with Remember Me Service in Spring Security

  - by Gearóid

  Hi, I'm trying to implement a "remember me" functionality in my website using Spring. The cookie and entry in the persistent_logins table are getting created correctly. Additionally, I can see that the correct user is being restored as the username is displayed at the top of the page. However, once I try to access any information for this user when they return after they were "remembered", I get a NullPointerException. It looks as though the user isn't being set in the session again. My applicationContext-security.xml contains the following: <remember-me data-source-ref="dataSource" user-service-ref="userService"/> ... <authentication-provider user-service-ref="userService" /> <jdbc-user-service id="userService" data-source-ref="dataSource" role-prefix="ROLE_" users-by-username-query="select email as username, password, 1 as ENABLED from user where email=?" authorities-by-username-query="select user.id as id, upper(role.name) as authority from user, role, users_roles where users_roles.user_fk=id and users_roles.role_fk=role.name and user.email=?"/> I thought it may have had something to do with users-by-username query but surely login wouldn't work correctly if this query was incorrect? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, gearoid.

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• Using FBML in a ruby sinatra app

  - by Gearóid

  Hi, I'm building an application in ruby using the sinatra framework and am having trouble with rendering some fbml elements. I'm currently trying to render an fb:multi-friend-selector so the user can select which friends they want to invite. However, when I write the following in my code: <fb:fbml> <fb:request-form action="/inviteFriends" method="POST" invite="true" type="MY APP" content="Invite Friends" > <fb:multi-friend-selector showborder="false" actiontext="Invite your friends to use YOUR APP NAME."> </fb:request-form> </fb:fbml> Nothing renders with the text above. I've included the regular facebook xsds for the taglibs in my html tag and have tested fbml on the page using the following code: <fb:name useyou="false" uid="USER_ID" linked="false"/> This code works correctly and displays the user's name. I've tried a simple example like that on http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fb:random but again nothing is rendered in the browser. Do I need to include some special javascript or anything? I would greatly appreciate some help with this. Thanks in advance -gearoid.

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• Huge difference between Facebook Ad Click figures and Apache log requests

  - by Gearóid

  We're running a facebook ad campaign for our business but there seems to be a huge discrepancy between the number of clicks registered and the number of requests made with "facebook.com" in the HTTP referrer. The difference can be anything between 40-80 clicks/requests. I understand why the Google Analytics would be off and I understand that the figures shouldnt be exactly the same but surely if 100 people click the ad then I should be seeing at least 90 requests for the homepage with facebook.com as the referrer? Can anybody provide any insight into why this may be happening?

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• Hash Sum mismatch on python-keyring

  - by Gearoid Murphy

  I came in to my workstation this morning to find an apt error notification relating to a hash sum mismatch on the python keyring password storage mechanism, given the sensitive nature of this package, this gives me some cause for concern. Has anyone else seen this error?, how can I ensure that my system has not been compromised? Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python-keyring/python-keyring_0.9.2-0ubuntu0.12.04.2_all.deb Hash Sum mismatch Xubuntu 11.04 AMD64

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• What tool do you use to organise your tasks?

  - by Gearóid

  Hi, I've been a web developer for four years now and I've yet to come across a nice piece of software that allows me to manage my day to day tasks well. In theory, I should be able to just pull up a textfile and write: write test scripts check code into svn remember to go home But obviously this isnt very usable. I've tried stuff like Ta-da List but it feels quite limited. JIRA is great for bug tracking but what if I have to remember to go to the bank at 2pm. Is there anything piece of software out there that helps organise programmers? I'm really interested in hearing what you guys have to say on this one. Thanks.

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• Commercial Software Development – my presentation for DDD Scotland now available for download

  - by Liam Westley

  Thanks to everyone who voted me onto the DDD Scotland agenda, and for the fantastic audience some of whom you can see in Craig Murphy's photos of the event, http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmurphy/4592461745/in/set-72157624025673156 http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmurphy/4592467645/in/set-72157624025673156 I hope those who came enjoyed the session had a good time, and for them or those who were on one of the other tracks, or who couldn’t squeeze in; I’ve uploaded the presentation for you to download.  I created a more simple, and smaller, PowerPoint without all the fancy animations and video clips, which is available as a compressed ZIP file,   http://www.tigernews.co.uk/blog-twickers/dddscot/commercialsoftwaredev.zip I also printed the presentation with speaker notes (which contain most of the information I was talking about) using PDFCreator, which is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF here,   http://www.tigernews.co.uk/blog-twickers/dddscot/commercialsoftwaredev.pdf ... and if PowerPoint presentations don't do it for you, also thanks to Craig Murphy, you can watch a video of the presentation that I gave at DDD8 in Microsoft TVP, Reading,  http://vimeo.com/9216563

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• Transaction issue in java with hibernate - latest entries not pulled from database

  - by Gearóid

  Hi, I'm having what seems to be a transactional issue in my application. I'm using Java 1.6 and Hibernate 3.2.5. My application runs a monthly process where it creates billing entries for a every user in the database based on their monthly activity. These billing entries are then used to create Monthly Bill object. The process is: Get users who have activity in the past month Create the relevant billing entries for each user Get the set of billing entries that we've just created Create a Monthly Bill based on these entries Everything works fine until Step 3 above. The Billing Entries are correctly created (I can see them in the database if I add a breakpoint after the Billing Entry creation method), but they are not pulled out of the database. As a result, an incorrect Monthly Bill is generated. If I run the code again (without clearing out the database), new Billing Entries are created and Step 3 pulls out the entries created in the first run (but not the second run). This, to me, is very confusing. My code looks like the following: for (User user : usersWithActivities) { createBillingEntriesForUser(user.getId()); userBillingEntries = getLastMonthsBillingEntriesForUser(user.getId()); createXMLBillForUser(user.getId(), userBillingEntries); } The methods called look like the following: @Transactional public void createBillingEntriesForUser(Long id) { UserManager userManager = ManagerFactory.getUserManager(); User user = userManager.getUser(id); List<AccountEvent> events = getLastMonthsAccountEventsForUser(id); BillingEntry entry = new BillingEntry(); if (null != events) { for (AccountEvent event : events) { if (event.getEventType().equals(EventType.ENABLE)) { Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance(); Date eventDate = event.getTimestamp(); cal.setTime(eventDate); double startDate = cal.get(Calendar.DATE); double numOfDaysInMonth = cal.getActualMaximum(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH); double numberOfDaysInUse = numOfDaysInMonth - startDate; double fractionToCharge = numberOfDaysInUse/numOfDaysInMonth; BigDecimal amount = BigDecimal.valueOf(fractionToCharge * Prices.MONTHLY_COST); amount.scale(); entry.setAmount(amount); entry.setUser(user); entry.setTimestamp(eventDate); userManager.saveOrUpdate(entry); } } } } @Transactional public Collection<BillingEntry> getLastMonthsBillingEntriesForUser(Long id) { if (log.isDebugEnabled()) log.debug("Getting all the billing entries for last month for user with ID " + id); //String queryString = "select billingEntry from BillingEntry as billingEntry where billingEntry>=:firstOfLastMonth and billingEntry.timestamp<:firstOfCurrentMonth and billingEntry.user=:user"; String queryString = "select be from BillingEntry as be join be.user as user where user.id=:id and be.timestamp>=:firstOfLastMonth and be.timestamp<:firstOfCurrentMonth"; //This parameter will be the start of the last month ie. start of billing cycle SearchParameter firstOfLastMonth = new SearchParameter(); firstOfLastMonth.setTemporalType(TemporalType.DATE); //this parameter holds the start of the CURRENT month - ie. end of billing cycle SearchParameter firstOfCurrentMonth = new SearchParameter(); firstOfCurrentMonth.setTemporalType(TemporalType.DATE); Query query = super.entityManager.createQuery(queryString); query.setParameter("firstOfCurrentMonth", getFirstOfCurrentMonth()); query.setParameter("firstOfLastMonth", getFirstOfLastMonth()); query.setParameter("id", id); List<BillingEntry> entries = query.getResultList(); return entries; } public MonthlyBill createXMLBillForUser(Long id, Collection<BillingEntry> billingEntries) { BillingHistoryManager manager = ManagerFactory.getBillingHistoryManager(); UserManager userManager = ManagerFactory.getUserManager(); MonthlyBill mb = new MonthlyBill(); User user = userManager.getUser(id); mb.setUser(user); mb.setTimestamp(new Date()); Set<BillingEntry> entries = new HashSet<BillingEntry>(); entries.addAll(billingEntries); String xml = createXmlForMonthlyBill(user, entries); mb.setXmlBill(xml); mb.setBillingEntries(entries); MonthlyBill bill = (MonthlyBill) manager.saveOrUpdate(mb); return bill; } Help with this issue would be greatly appreciated as its been wracking my brain for weeks now! Thanks in advance, Gearoid.

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• Naming PowerPoint Components With A VSTO Add-In

  - by Tim Murphy

  Note: Cross posted from Coding The Document. Permalink Sometimes in order to work with Open XML we need a little help from other tools.  In this post I am going to describe  a fairly simple solution for marking up PowerPoint presentations so that they can be used as templates and processed using the Open XML SDK. Add-ins are tools which it can be hard to find information on.  I am going to up the obscurity by adding a Ribbon button.  For my example I am using Visual Studio 2008 and creating a PowerPoint 2007 Add-in project.  To that add a Ribbon Visual Designer.  The new ribbon by default will show up on the Add-in tab. Add a button to the ribbon.  Also add a WinForm to collect a new name for the object selected.  Make sure to set the OK button’s DialogResult to OK. In the ribbon button click event add the following code. ObjectNameForm dialog = new ObjectNameForm(); Selection selection = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWindow.Selection;   dialog.objectName = selection.ShapeRange.Name;   if (dialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) { selection.ShapeRange.Name = dialog.objectName; } This code will first read the current Name attribute of the Shape object.  If the user clicks OK on the dialog it save the string value back to the same place. Once it is done you can retrieve identify the control through Open XML via the NonVisualDisplayProperties objects.  The only problem is that this object is a child of several different classes.  This means that there isn’t just one way to retrieve the value.  Below are a couple of pieces of code to identify the container that you have named. The first example is if you are naming placeholders in a layout slide. foreach(var slideMasterPart in slideMasterParts) { var layoutParts = slideMasterPart.SlideLayoutParts; foreach(SlideLayoutPart slideLayoutPart in layoutParts) { foreach (assmPresentation.Shape shape in slideLayoutPart.SlideLayout.CommonSlideData.ShapeTree.Descendants<assmPresentation.Shape>()) { var slideMasterProperties = from p in shape.Descendants<assmPresentation.NonVisualDrawingProperties>() where p.Name == TokenText.Text select p;   if (slideMasterProperties.Count() > 0) tokenFound = true; } } } The second example allows you to find charts that you have named with the add-in. foreach(var slidePart in slideParts) { foreach(assmPresentation.Shape slideShape in slidePart.Slide.CommonSlideData.ShapeTree.Descendants<assmPresentation.Shape>()) { var slideProperties = from g in slidePart.Slide.Descendants<GraphicFrame>() where g.NonVisualGraphicFrameProperties.NonVisualDrawingProperties.Name == TokenText.Text select g;   if(slideProperties.Count() > 0) { tokenFound = true; } } } Together the combination of Open XML and VSTO add-ins make a powerful combination in creating a process for maintaining a template and generating documents from the template.

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• Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution: The “Control Tower” for the Reverse Supply Chain

  - by John Murphy

  By Hannes Sandmeier, Vice President of cMRO and Depot Repair Development Smart businesses are increasing their focus on core competencies and aggressively cutting costs in their supply chains. Outsourcing repairs can enable a business to focus on what they do best and most profitably while delivering top-notch customer service through partners that specialize in reverse logistics and repair. A well managed “virtual service organization” can deliver fast turn times, lower costs and high customer satisfaction. A poorly managed partner network can deliver disaster for your business. Managing a virtual service organization requires accurate, real-time information and collaboration tools that enable smart, informed and immediate corrective action. To meet this need, Oracle has released the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution to provide the “control tower” for managing outsourced reverse supply chain operations from customer complaint through remediation to partner claim settlement. The new solution provides real-time visibility to return status, location, turn time, discrepancies and partner performance. Additionally, its web portals allow partners and carriers to view assigned work, request parts, enter data, capture time and submit claims. Leveraging the combined power of Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle E-Business Suite Extensions for Oracle Endeca, the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution provides a comprehensive set of tools that range from quick online partner registration to partner claim reconciliation, from capturing parts and labor to Oracle Cost Management and Financials integration, and from part requisition to waste and hazmat controls. These tools empower service operations managers to: · Increase customer satisfaction Ensure customers are satisfied by holding partners accountable for the speed and quality of repairs, and taking immediate corrective action when things go wrong · Reduce costs: Remove waste from the repair process using accurate job cost and cost breakdown data · Increase return velocity: Users have the tools to view all orders in flight and immediately know the current location, status, owner and contact point for repairs so as to be able to remove bottlenecks, resolve discrepancies and manage escalations The Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution further demonstrates Oracle’s commitment to helping supply chain professionals and service managers deliver high customer satisfaction at the lowest cost. For more information on the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution, visit here. 

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• TechEd 2012: Dude Where&rsquo;s My Azure

  - by Tim Murphy

  It has been a fun first morning at TechEd North America.  They keynote was both informative and entertaining.  Some of the high points included a walk through of Windows Server 2012 and its new Hyper-V capabilities and use of ODX (offloaded data transfer).  Between seeing stats like being able to being able run a Hyper-V VM with 1TB of memory and watching ODX move a 10GB file at a rate of 1GB per second was really impressive. The fun started when Scott Guthrie was doing his keynote demo and popped up an iPhone emulator from Visual Studio.  There is just something wrong with that picture and the WPDev community agreed.  This was followed by an iPad emulator and by that time the groans across Twitter were rolling. Later in the morning The Gu kept us laughing in the Azure Foundations session when he name a server Dude (I believe a suggestion from the crowd).  After that I thought I was watching the turtle in Finding Nemo.  Duuuuude! In the expo area the line for the Windows Phone booth was ridiculous.  Granted this is a Microsoft event and is sure to be full of MS fan boys, but the only other time I have seen that much enthusiasm for Windows Phones in one place was on the flight down. I am sure there will be a lot more to get excited about over the next few days.  Stay tuned. del.icio.us Tags: TechEd 2012,TechEd North America,Windows Phone,Azure,Scott Guthrie

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• Leveraging Microsoft Patterns and Practices

  - by Tim Murphy

  I want to bring the Patterns and Practices group to the attention of those who have not already been exposed.  I have been a fan of the P&P team since they came out with the original Application Blocks which eventually turned into the Enterprise Library.  Their main purpose is to assemble guidance and tools that make it easier for all of us to build amazing solutions.  I would simply suggest you spend some time exploring the information and code libraries that they have produced.  Free resources are always a great find and I have used a number of the P&P solutions over the years with success.  If nothing else you may find some new ideas.  Enjoy. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/                           del.icio.us Tags: Patterns and Practices,Microsoft,Architecture,software development

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• What Is A Software Architect&rsquo;s Job Today?

  - by Tim Murphy

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/10/25/what-is-a-software-architectrsquos-job-today.aspx It was 2001 when a project manager first put my job title as architect on a statement of work.  A lot has changed over the last twelve years.  The concepts around what an architect is has evolved.  In the early days I would have said that they just rebranded the role of the system analyst.  Now we have a multitude of architect titles: application, solution, IT, data, enterprise.  Whatever the title the goals are the same.  An architect takes the business needs and maps them to the solutions that are needed and at the same time works to ensure the quality of the solution and its maintainability. One of the problems I see these days is that we are expecting every developer to have architect skills.  That in itself is not a problem.  This reduces the need for dedicated architects.  Not every developer though is going to be able to step up to this level.  Some are just good at solving small problems instead of thinking in the larger abstract. Another problem is the accelerating speed and breadth of new technologies and products.  For an architect to be good at his job he needs to spend large amounts of personal time studying just to stay relevant. In the end I don’t think the main objectives of an architect has changed, just the level of commitment needed to stay of value to your company.  Renew your commitment to your profession and keep delivering great solutions. Technorati Tags: software architect,enterprise architect,data architect,solution architect,IT architect,PSC,PSC Group

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• Oracle Leader in Latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for TMS

  - by [email protected]

  Oracle was again placed in the leaders quadrant in the latest Gartner report on Transportation Management System vendors.  The full report can be viewed at the following site: http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/oracle/article129/article129.html

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• Chicago Code Camp Call For Speakers

  - by Tim Murphy

  The Chicago Code Camp is coming up on May 1st, 2010.  They are still looking for speaker.  If you have a rock’n code demonstration that you would like to present to the community be sure to sign up.  If you know someone else who has some ideas that you really think they should share with the world guilt them in to signing up.  http://www.chicagocodecamp.com/ del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Code Camp,call for speakers

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• Why Standards Only Get You So Far

  - by Tim Murphy

  Over the years I have been exposed to a number of standards.  EDI was the first.  More recently it has been the CIECA standard for Insurance and now the embattled document standards of Open XML and ODF. Standards actually came up at the last CAG meeting.  The debate was over how effective they really are.  Even back in the late 80’s to early 90’s people found they had to customize these standards to get any work done.  I even had one vendor about a year ago tell me that they really weren’t standards, they were more of a guideline. The problem is that standards are created either by committee or by companies trying to sell a product.  They never fit all situations.  This is why most of them leave extension points in their definition.  Of course if you use those extension points everyone has to have custom code to know how to consume the new product. Standards increase reliability but they stifle innovation and slow the time to market cycle of products.  In this age of ever shortening windows of opportunity that could mean that a company could lose its competitive advantage. I believe that standards are not only good, but essential.  I also believe that they are not a silver bullet.  People who turn competing standards into a type of holy war are really missing the point.  I think we should make the best standards we can, whether that is for a product so that customers can use API, or by committee so that they cross products.  But they also need to be as feature rich and flexible as possible.  They can’t be just the lowest common denominator since this type of standard will be broken the day it is published.  In the end though, it is the market will vote with their dollars. del.icio.us Tags: Office Open XML,ODF,Standards,EDI

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• Review: ComponentOne Studio for Entity Framework

  - by Tim Murphy

  While I have always been a fan of libraries that improve coding efficiency and reduce code redundancy I have mostly been using ones that were in the public domain.  As part of the Geeks With Blogs Influencers program a got my hands on ComponentOne’s Studio for Entity Framework.  Below are my thought after working with the product for several weeks. My coding preference has always been maintainable code that is reusable across an enterprises protfolio.  Because of this my focus in reviewing this product is less on the RAD components and more on its benefits for layered applications using code first Entity Framework. Before we get into the pros and cons here is a summary of the main feature listed for SEF. Unified Data Context Virtual Data Access More Powerful Data Binding Pros The first thing that I found to my liking is the C1DataSource. It basically manages a cache for your Entity Model context.  Under RAD conditions this is setup automatically when you drop the object on a your design surface.  If you are like me and want to abstract you data management into a library it takes a little more work, but it is still acceptable and gains the same benefits. The second feature that I found beneficial is the definition of views with improved sorting and filtering.  Again the ease of use of these features is greater on the RAD side but no capabilities are missing when manipulating object in code. Linq has become my friend over the last couple of years and it was great to see that ComponentOne had ensured that it remained a first class citizen in their design.  When you look into this product yourself I would suggest taking a dive into LiveLinq which allow the joining of different data source types. As I went through discovering the features of this framework I appreciated the number of examples that they supplied for different uses.  Besides showing how to use SEF with WinForms, WPF and Silverlight they also showed how to accomplish tasks both RAD, code only and MVVM approaches. Cons The only area that I would really like to see improvement is in there level of detail in their documentation.  Specifically I would like to have seen some of the supporting code explained, such as what some supporting object did, in the examples instead of having to go to the programmer’s reference. I did find some times where currently existing projects had some trouble determining scope that the RAD controls were allowed, but I expect this is something that is in part end user related. Summary Overall I found the Studio for Entity Framework capable and well thought out.  If you are already using the Entity Framework this product will fit into your environment with little effort in return for greater flexibility and greater robustness in your solutions. Whether the $895 list price for a standard version works for you will depend on your return on investment. Smaller companies with only a small number of projects may not be able to stomach it, you get a full featured product that is supported by a well established company.  The more projects and the more code you have the greater your return on investment will be. Personally I intend to apply this product to some production systems and will probably have some tips and tricks in the future. del.icio.us Tags: ComponentOne,Studio for Entity Framework,Geeks With Blogs,Influencers,Product Reviews

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• Book Review: Getting Started With Window 8 Apps By Ben Dewey

  - by Tim Murphy

  When O’Reilly gave me an opportunity to review this book I was excited.  It gave me a reason to finally put some time into this new platform and what developers will need to learn in order to be successful. This book by Ben Dewey is only 92 pages long, so if you were looking for an in-depth treatment of Windows 8 development you will need supplemental materials.  It is also due for an update from the perspective of recent changes made by Microsoft prior to the final release of the OS and tools.  This causes a few issues if you try to run the code samples because of namespace changes. I was encouraged by the fact that the author didn’t do the typical “hello world” app.  He uses a lot of pattern based development techniques and hits many of the main topics including: Application lifecycle Charms integration Tiles Sensors The lifecycle is critical for anyone who hasn’t done mobile development before.  Limited resources on these devices mean that the OS can suspend or kill your app altogether if it decides it needs to.  He covers tombstoning which is the key to Windows 8 and Windows Phone lifecycle management. He also dedicates a chapter to marketing and distributing the application you build.  From my experience with Windows Phone development this is crucial information.  You need to know how to test your application so that it is going to pass certification and present your app so that it is going to get noticed amongst thousands of other apps. The main things that I wish had been in the book explanations of more of the common controls and more complete explanation of patterns that were implemented. In the end this book is a good foundation getting exposure to the concepts that underlie this new version of the Windows platform and how it effects developers.  It isn’t a book that I would suggest for someone just getting into development with no understanding of pattern based development. del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8,O'Reilly,Ben Dewey,Book Review,Review

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• BUILD 2013 Session&ndash;What&rsquo;s New In XAML

  - by Tim Murphy

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/06/27/build-2013-sessionndashwhatrsquos-new-in-xaml.aspx If ever there was a session that you felt like your head was going to explode, this one would do it.  Tim Heuer proceeded to try to fit as many of the changes and additions to XAML as he could in one hour. There were a number of improvements that struck me.  The first was the fact that we no longer need to put stack panels in the AppBar in order to add buttons.  This has been changed to a CommandBar which at the very least makes the markup read more cleanly.  Now if they would just bring this same improvement to Windows Phone we would be set. There was a lot of cheering at the beginning of his talk when he showed that there are now date time pickers.  I understand that it makes life easier, but I just couldn’t get that excited. The couple of features that did grab my attention being able to select a group of tags and then add an encapsulating tag such as a StackPanel around them and the fact that they have optimized XAML so that now runs on average 25% faster. I’d go crazy trying to list off all the improvements and new features so be sure to go and review the recording of the session. del.icio.us Tags: BUILD 2013,XAML,Windows 8.1

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• Where I Am Speaking Soon

  - by Tim Murphy

  Open XML and document generation has been my focus lately.  With that being the case I will be speaking on the subject in the near future at the following event. Chicago Code Camp – May 1 Chicago Architects Group – June 15 Lake Count .NET User Group – June 17 I hope to see you at one (or more) of these events. del.icio.us Tags: speaking,Office Open XML,OOXML,Document Generation

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• March 2011 Chicago IT Arch Group Recap

  - by Tim Murphy

  This month’s meeting was outstanding.  We had a record turnout for John Sprunger’s presentation on mobile architectures.  I guess that is what happens when you put up a presentation on the most popular topic in technology.  I invite everyone to join us for next month’s event.   And while I love to see new faces it is always great to have people come back and continue the conversation. Here are some resources from last night’s presentation. Presentation slides Whitepaper Case study Stay tuned for information on our upcoming presentations.   del.icio.us Tags: CITAG,Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,Mobile Architecture

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• TechEd 2012: Office, SharePoint And More Office

  - by Tim Murphy

  I haven’t spent any time looking at Office 365 up to this point.  I met Donovan Follette on the flight down from Chicago.  I also got to spend some time discussing the product offerings with him at the TechExpo and that sealed my decision to attend this session. The main actor of his presentation is the BCS – Business Connectivity Services. He explained that while this feature has existed in on-site SharePoint it is a valuable new addition to Office 365 SharePoint Online.  If you aren’t familiar with the BCS, it allows you to leverage non-SharePoint enterprise data source from SharePoint.  The greatest benefactor is the end users who can leverage the data using a variety of Office products and more.  The one thing I haven’t shaken my skepticism of is the use of SharePoint Designer which Donovan used to create a WCF service.  It is mostly my tendency to try to create solutions that can be managed through the whole application life cycle.  It the past migrating through test environments has been near impossible with anything other than content created by SharePiont Designer. There is a lot of end user power here.  The biggest consideration I think you need to examine when reaching from you enterprise LOB data stores out to an online service and back is that you are going to take a performance hit.  This means that you have to be very aware of how you configure these integrated self serve solutions.  As a rule make sure you are using the right tool for the right situation. I appreciated that he showed both no code and code solutions for the consumer of the LOB data.  I came out of this session much better informed about the possibilities around this product. del.icio.us Tags: Office 365,SharePoint Online,TechEd,TechEd 2012

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