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  • The Incremental Architect&acute;s Napkin - #1 - It&acute;s about the money, stupid

    - by Ralf Westphal
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/theArchitectsNapkin/archive/2014/05/24/the-incremental-architectacutes-napkin---1---itacutes-about-the.aspx Software development is an economic endeavor. A customer is only willing to pay for value. What makes a software valuable is required to become a trait of the software. We as software developers thus need to understand and then find a way to implement requirements. Whether or in how far a customer really can know beforehand what´s going to be valuable for him/her in the end is a topic of constant debate. Some aspects of the requirements might be less foggy than others. Sometimes the customer does not know what he/she wants. Sometimes he/she´s certain to want something - but then is not happy when that´s delivered. Nevertheless requirements exist. And developers will only be paid if they deliver value. So we better focus on doing that. Although is might sound trivial I think it´s important to state the corollary: We need to be able to trace anything we do as developers back to some requirement. You decide to use Go as the implementation language? Well, what´s the customer´s requirement this decision is linked to? You decide to use WPF as the GUI technology? What´s the customer´s requirement? You decide in favor of a layered architecture? What´s the customer´s requirement? You decide to put code in three classes instead of just one? What´s the customer´s requirement behind that? You decide to use MongoDB over MySql? What´s the customer´s requirement behind that? etc. I´m not saying any of these decisions are wrong. I´m just saying whatever you decide be clear about the requirement that´s driving your decision. You have to be able to answer the question: Why do you think will X deliver more value to the customer than the alternatives? Customers are not interested in romantic ideals of hard working, good willing, quality focused craftsmen. They don´t care how and why you work - as long as what you deliver fulfills their needs. They want to trust you to recognize this as your top priority - and then deliver. That´s all. Fundamental aspects of requirements If you´re like me you´re probably not used to such scrutinization. You want to be trusted as a professional developer - and decide quite a few things following your gut feeling. Or by relying on “established practices”. That´s ok in general and most of the time - but still… I think we should be more conscious about our decisions. Which would make us more responsible, even more professional. But without further guidance it´s hard to reason about many of the myriad decisions we´ve to make over the course of a software project. What I found helpful in this situation is structuring requirements into fundamental aspects. Instead of one large heap of requirements then there are smaller blobs. With them it´s easier to check if a decisions falls in their scope. Sure, every project has it´s very own requirements. But all of them belong to just three different major categories, I think. Any requirement either pertains to functionality, non-functional aspects or sustainability. For short I call those aspects: Functionality, because such requirements describe which transformations a software should offer. For example: A calculator software should be able to add and multiply real numbers. An auction website should enable you to set up an auction anytime or to find auctions to bid for. Quality, because such requirements describe how functionality is supposed to work, e.g. fast or secure. For example: A calculator should be able to calculate the sinus of a value much faster than you could in your head. An auction website should accept bids from millions of users. Security of Investment, because functionality and quality need not just be delivered in any way. It´s important to the customer to get them quickly - and not only today but over the course of several years. This aspect introduces time into the “requrements equation”. Security of Investments (SoI) sure is a non-functional requirement. But I think it´s important to not subsume it under the Quality (Q) aspect. That´s because SoI has quite special properties. For one, SoI for software means something completely different from what it means for hardware. If you buy hardware (a car, a hair blower) you find that a worthwhile investment, if the hardware does not change it´s functionality or quality over time. A car still running smoothly with hardly any rust spots after 10 years of daily usage would be a very secure investment. So for hardware (or material products, if you like) “unchangeability” (in the face of usage) is desirable. With software you want the contrary. Software that cannot be changed is a waste. SoI for software means “changeability”. You want to be sure that the software you buy/order today can be changed, adapted, improved over an unforseeable number of years so as fit changes in its usage environment. But that´s not the only reason why the SoI aspect is special. On top of changeability[1] (or evolvability) comes immeasurability. Evolvability cannot readily be measured by counting something. Whether the changeability is as high as the customer wants it, cannot be determined by looking at metrics like Lines of Code or Cyclomatic Complexity or Afferent Coupling. They may give a hint… but they are far, far from precise. That´s because of the nature of changeability. It´s different from performance or scalability. Also it´s because a customer cannot tell upfront, “how much” evolvability he/she wants. Whether requirements regarding Functionality (F) and Q have been met, a customer can tell you very quickly and very precisely. A calculation is missing, the calculation takes too long, the calculation time degrades with increased load, the calculation is accessible to the wrong users etc. That´s all very or at least comparatively easy to determine. But changeability… That´s a whole different thing. Nevertheless over time the customer will develop a feedling if changeability is good enough or degrading. He/she just has to check the development of the frequency of “WTF”s from developers ;-) F and Q are “timeless” requirement categories. Customers want us to deliver on them now. Just focusing on the now, though, is rarely beneficial in the long run. So SoI adds a counterweight to the requirements picture. Customers want SoI - whether they know it or not, whether they state if explicitly or not. In closing A customer´s requirements are not monolithic. They are not all made the same. Rather they fall into different categories. We as developers need to recognize these categories when confronted with some requirement - and take them into account. Only then can we make true professional decisions, i.e. conscious and responsible ones. I call this fundamental trait of software “changeability” and not “flexibility” to distinguish to whom it´s a concern. “Flexibility” to me means, software as is can easily be adapted to a change in its environment, e.g. by tweaking some config data or adding a library which gets picked up by a plug-in engine. “Flexibiltiy” thus is a matter of some user. “Changeability”, on the other hand, to me means, software can easily be changed in its structure to adapt it to new requirements. That´s a matter of the software developer. ?

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  • WCF Named Pipe IPC

    - by Peter M
    I have been trying to get up to speed on Named Pipes this week. The task I am trying to solve with them is that I have an existing windows service that is acting as a device driver that funnels data from an external device into a database. Now I have to modify this service and add an optional user front end (on the same machine, using a form of IPC) that can monitor the data as it passes between the device and the DB as well as send some commands back to the service. My initial ideas for the IPC were either named pipes or memory mapped files. So far I have been working through the named pipe idea using WCF Tutorial Basic Interprocess Communication . My idea is to set the Windows service up with an additional thread that implements the WCF NamedPipe Service and use that as a conduit to the internals of my driver. I have the sample code working, however I can not get my head around 2 issues that I am hoping that someone here can help me with: In the tutorial the ServiceHost is instantiated with a typeof(StringReverser) rather than by referencing a concrete class. Thus there seems to be no mechanism for the Server to interact with the service itself (between the host.Open() and host.Close() lines). Is it possible to create a link between and pass information between the server and the class that actually implements the service? If so, how? If I run a single instance of the server and then run multiple instance of the clients, it seems that each client gets a separate instance of the service class. I tried adding some state information to the class implementing the service and it was only retained within the instance of the named pipe. This is possibly related to the first question, but is there anyway to force the named pipes to use the same instance of the class that is implementing the service? Finally, any thoughts on MMF vs Named Pipes? Thanks for you help

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  • Using RIA DomainServices with ASP.NET and MVC 2

    - by Bobby Diaz
    Recently, I started working on a new ASP.NET MVC 2 project and I wanted to reuse the data access (LINQ to SQL) and business logic methods (WCF RIA Services) that had been developed for a previous project that used Silverlight for the front-end.  I figured that I would be able to instantiate the various DomainService classes from within my controller’s action methods, because after all, the code for those services didn’t look very complicated.  WRONG!  I didn’t realize at first that some of the functionality is handled automatically by the framework when the domain services are hosted as WCF services.  After some initial searching, I came across an invaluable post by Joe McBride, which described how to get RIA Service .svc files to work in an MVC 2 Web Application, and another by Brad Abrams.  Unfortunately, Brad’s solution was for an earlier preview release of RIA Services and no longer works with the version that I am running (PDC Preview). I have not tried the RC version of WCF RIA Services, so I am not sure if any of the issues I am having have been resolved, but I wanted to come up with a way to reuse the shared libraries so I wouldn’t have to write a non-RIA version that basically did the same thing.  The classes I came up with work with the scenarios I have encountered so far, but I wanted to go ahead and post the code in case someone else is having the same trouble I had.  Hopefully this will save you a few headaches! 1. Querying When I first tried to use a DomainService class to perform a query inside one of my controller’s action methods, I got an error stating that “This DomainService has not been initialized.”  To solve this issue, I created an extension method for all DomainServices that creates the required DomainServiceContext and passes it to the service’s Initialize() method.  Here is the code for the extension method; notice that I am creating a sort of mock HttpContext for those cases when the service is running outside of IIS, such as during unit testing!     public static class ServiceExtensions     {         /// <summary>         /// Initializes the domain service by creating a new <see cref="DomainServiceContext"/>         /// and calling the base DomainService.Initialize(DomainServiceContext) method.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TService">The type of the service.</typeparam>         /// <param name="service">The service.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         public static TService Initialize<TService>(this TService service)             where TService : DomainService         {             var context = CreateDomainServiceContext();             service.Initialize(context);             return service;         }           private static DomainServiceContext CreateDomainServiceContext()         {             var provider = new ServiceProvider(new HttpContextWrapper(GetHttpContext()));             return new DomainServiceContext(provider, DomainOperationType.Query);         }           private static HttpContext GetHttpContext()         {             var context = HttpContext.Current;   #if DEBUG             // create a mock HttpContext to use during unit testing...             if ( context == null )             {                 var writer = new StringWriter();                 var request = new SimpleWorkerRequest("/", "/",                     String.Empty, String.Empty, writer);                   context = new HttpContext(request)                 {                     User = new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity("debug"), null)                 };             } #endif               return context;         }     }   With that in place, I can use it almost as normally as my first attempt, except with a call to Initialize():     public ActionResult Index()     {         var service = new NorthwindService().Initialize();         var customers = service.GetCustomers();           return View(customers);     } 2. Insert / Update / Delete Once I got the records showing up, I was trying to insert new records or update existing data when I ran into the next issue.  I say issue because I wasn’t getting any kind of error, which made it a little difficult to track down.  But once I realized that that the DataContext.SubmitChanges() method gets called automatically at the end of each domain service submit operation, I could start working on a way to mimic the behavior of a hosted domain service.  What I came up with, was a base class called LinqToSqlRepository<T> that basically sits between your implementation and the default LinqToSqlDomainService<T> class.     [EnableClientAccess()]     public class NorthwindService : LinqToSqlRepository<NorthwindDataContext>     {         public IQueryable<Customer> GetCustomers()         {             return this.DataContext.Customers;         }           public void InsertCustomer(Customer customer)         {             this.DataContext.Customers.InsertOnSubmit(customer);         }           public void UpdateCustomer(Customer currentCustomer)         {             this.DataContext.Customers.TryAttach(currentCustomer,                 this.ChangeSet.GetOriginal(currentCustomer));         }           public void DeleteCustomer(Customer customer)         {             this.DataContext.Customers.TryAttach(customer);             this.DataContext.Customers.DeleteOnSubmit(customer);         }     } Notice the new base class name (just change LinqToSqlDomainService to LinqToSqlRepository).  I also added a couple of DataContext (for Table<T>) extension methods called TryAttach that will check to see if the supplied entity is already attached before attempting to attach it, which would cause an error! 3. LinqToSqlRepository<T> Below is the code for the LinqToSqlRepository class.  The comments are pretty self explanatory, but be aware of the [IgnoreOperation] attributes on the generic repository methods, which ensures that they will be ignored by the code generator and not available in the Silverlight client application.     /// <summary>     /// Provides generic repository methods on top of the standard     /// <see cref="LinqToSqlDomainService&lt;TContext&gt;"/> functionality.     /// </summary>     /// <typeparam name="TContext">The type of the context.</typeparam>     public abstract class LinqToSqlRepository<TContext> : LinqToSqlDomainService<TContext>         where TContext : System.Data.Linq.DataContext, new()     {         /// <summary>         /// Retrieves an instance of an entity using it's unique identifier.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <param name="keyValues">The key values.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual TEntity GetById<TEntity>(params object[] keyValues) where TEntity : class         {             var table = this.DataContext.GetTable<TEntity>();             var mapping = this.DataContext.Mapping.GetTable(typeof(TEntity));               var keys = mapping.RowType.IdentityMembers                 .Select((m, i) => m.Name + " = @" + i)                 .ToArray();               return table.Where(String.Join(" && ", keys), keyValues).FirstOrDefault();         }           /// <summary>         /// Creates a new query that can be executed to retrieve a collection         /// of entities from the <see cref="DataContext"/>.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual IQueryable<TEntity> GetEntityQuery<TEntity>() where TEntity : class         {             return this.DataContext.GetTable<TEntity>();         }           /// <summary>         /// Inserts the specified entity.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <param name="entity">The entity.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual bool Insert<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class         {             //var table = this.DataContext.GetTable<TEntity>();             //table.InsertOnSubmit(entity);               return this.Submit(entity, null, DomainOperation.Insert);         }           /// <summary>         /// Updates the specified entity.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <param name="entity">The entity.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual bool Update<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class         {             return this.Update(entity, null);         }           /// <summary>         /// Updates the specified entity.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <param name="entity">The entity.</param>         /// <param name="original">The original.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual bool Update<TEntity>(TEntity entity, TEntity original)             where TEntity : class         {             if ( original == null )             {                 original = GetOriginal(entity);             }               var table = this.DataContext.GetTable<TEntity>();             table.TryAttach(entity, original);               return this.Submit(entity, original, DomainOperation.Update);         }           /// <summary>         /// Deletes the specified entity.         /// </summary>         /// <typeparam name="TEntity">The type of the entity.</typeparam>         /// <param name="entity">The entity.</param>         /// <returns></returns>         [IgnoreOperation]         public virtual bool Delete<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class         {             //var table = this.DataContext.GetTable<TEntity>();             //table.TryAttach(entity);             //table.DeleteOnSubmit(entity);               return this.Submit(entity, null, DomainOperation.Delete);         }           protected virtual bool Submit(Object entity, Object original, DomainOperation operation)         {             var entry = new ChangeSetEntry(0, entity, original, operation);             var changes = new ChangeSet(new ChangeSetEntry[] { entry });             return base.Submit(changes);         }           private TEntity GetOriginal<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class         {             var context = CreateDataContext();             var table = context.GetTable<TEntity>();             return table.FirstOrDefault(e => e == entity);         }     } 4. Conclusion So there you have it, a fully functional Repository implementation for your RIA Domain Services that can be consumed by your ASP.NET and MVC applications.  I have uploaded the source code along with unit tests and a sample web application that queries the Customers table from inside a Controller, as well as a Silverlight usage example. As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions on the approach I have taken.  If there is enough interest, I plan on contacting Colin Blair or maybe even the man himself, Brad Abrams, to see if this is something worthy of inclusion in the WCF RIA Services Contrib project.  What do you think? Enjoy!

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  • CRMIT Solution´s CRM++ Asterisk Telephony Connector Achieves Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle Sales Cloud

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    To achieve Oracle Validated Integration, Oracle partners are required to meet a stringent set of requirements that are based on the needs and priorities of the customers. Based on a Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) framework the CRM++ Asterisk Telephony Connector integrates the Asterisk telephony solutions with Oracle® Sales Cloud. "The CRM++ Asterisk Telephony Connector for Oracle® Sales Cloud showcases CRMIT Solutions focus and commitment to extend the Customer Experience (CX) expertise to our existing and potential customers," said Vinod Reddy, Founder & CEO, CRMIT Solutions. "Oracle® Validated Integration applies a rigorous technical review and test process," said Kevin O’Brien, senior director, ISV and SaaS Strategy, Oracle®. "Achieving Oracle® Validated Integration through Oracle® PartnerNetwork gives our customers confidence that the CRM++ Asterisk Telephony Connector for Oracle® Sales Cloud has been validated and that the products work together as designed. This helps reduce deployment risk and improves the user experience for our joint customers." CRM++ is a suite of native Customer Experience solutions for Oracle® CRM On Demand, Oracle® Sales Cloud and Oracle® RightNow Cloud Service. With over 3000+ users the CRM++ framework helps extend the Customer Experience (CX) and the power of Customer Relations Management features including Email WorkBench, Self Service Portal, Mobile CRM, Social CRM and Computer Telephony Integration.. About CRMIT Solutions CRMIT Solutions is a pioneer in delivering SaaS-based customer experience (CX) consulting and solutions. With more than 200 certified customer relationship management (CRM) consultants and more than 175 successful CRM deployments globally, CRMIT Solutions offers a range of CRM++ applications for accelerated deployments including various rapid implementation and migration utilities for Oracle® Sales Cloud, Oracle® CRM On Demand, Oracle® Eloqua, Oracle® Social Relationship Management and Oracle® RightNow Cloud Service. About Oracle Validated Integration Oracle Validated Integration, available through the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), gives customers confidence that the integration of complementary partner software products with Oracle Applications and specific Oracle Fusion Middleware solutions have been validated, and the products work together as designed. This can help customers reduce risk, improve system implementation cycles, and provide for smoother upgrades and simpler maintenance. Oracle Validated Integration applies a rigorous technical process to review partner integrations. Partners who have successfully completed the program are authorized to use the “Oracle Validated Integration” logo. For more information, please visit Oracle.com at http://www.oracle.com/us/partnerships/solutions/index.html.

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  • The Product Owner

    - by Robert May
    In a previous post, I outlined the rules of Scrum.  This post details one of those rules. Picking a most important part of Scrum is difficult.  All of the rules are required, but if there were one rule that is “more” required that every other rule, its having a good Product Owner.  Simply put, the Product Owner can make or break the project. Duties of the Product Owner A Product Owner has many duties and responsibilities.  I’ll talk about each of these duties in detail below. A Product Owner: Discovers and records stories for the backlog. Prioritizes stories in the Product Backlog, Release Backlog and Iteration Backlog. Determines Release dates and Iteration Dates. Develops story details and helps the team understand those details. Helps QA to develop acceptance tests. Interact with the Customer to make sure that the product is meeting the customer’s needs. Discovers and Records Stories for the Backlog When I do Scrum, I always use User Stories as the means for capturing functionality that’s required in the system.  Some people will use Use Cases, but the same rule applies.  The Product Owner has the ultimate responsibility for figuring out what functionality will be in the system.  Many different mechanisms for capturing this input can be used.  User interviews are great, but all sources should be considered, including talking with Customer Support types.  Often, they hear what users are struggling with the most and are a great source for stories that can make the application easier to use. Care should be taken when soliciting user stories from technical types such as programmers and the people that manage them.  They will almost always give stories that are very technical in nature and may not have a direct benefit for the end user.  Stories are about adding value to the company.  If the stories don’t have direct benefit to the end user, the Product Owner should question whether or not the story should be implemented.  In general, technical stories should be included as tasks in User Stories.  Technical stories are often needed, but the ultimate value to the user is in user based functionality, so technical stories should be considered nothing more than overhead in providing that user functionality. Until the iteration prior to development, stories should be nothing more than short, one line placeholders. An exercise called Story Planning can be used to brainstorm and come up with stories.  I’ll save the description of this activity for another blog post. For more information on User Stories, please read the book User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn. Prioritizes Stories in the Product Backlog, Release Backlog and Iteration Backlog Prioritization of stories is one of the most difficult tasks that a Product Owner must do.  A key concept of Scrum done right is the need to have the team working from a single set of prioritized stories.  If the team does not have a single set of prioritized stories, Scrum will likely fail at your organization.  The Product Owner is the ONLY person who has the responsibility to prioritize that list.  The Product Owner must be very diplomatic and sincerely listen to the people around him so that he can get the priorities correct. Just listening will still not yield the proper priorities.  Care must also be taken to ensure that Return on Investment is also considered.  Ultimately, determining which stories give the most value to the company for the least cost is the most important factor in determining priorities.  Product Owners should be willing to look at cold, hard numbers to determine the order for stories.  Even when many people want a feature, if that features is costly to develop, it may not have as high of a return on investment as features that are cheaper, but not as popular. The act of prioritization often causes conflict in an environment.  Customer Service thinks that feature X is the most important, because it will stop people from calling.  Operations thinks that feature Y is the most important, because it will stop servers from crashing.  Developers think that feature Z is most important because it will make writing software much easier for them.  All of these are useful goals, but the team can have only one list of items, and each item must have a priority that is different from all other stories.  The Product Owner will determine which feature gives the best return on investment and the other features will have to wait their turn, which means that someone will not have their top priority feature implemented first. A weak Product Owner will refuse to do prioritization.  I’ve heard from multiple Product Owners the following phrase, “Well, it’s all got to be done, so what does it matter what order we do it in?”  If your product owner is using this phrase, you need a new Product Owner.  Order is VERY important.  In Scrum, every release is potentially shippable.  If the wrong priority items are developed, then the value added in each release isn’t what it should be.  Additionally, the Product Owner with this mindset doesn’t understand Agile.  A product is NEVER finished, until the company has decided that it is no longer a going concern and they are no longer going to sell the product.  Therefore, prioritization isn’t an event, its something that continues every day.  The logical extension of the phrase “It’s all got to be done” is that you will never ship your product, since a product is never “done.”  Once stories have been prioritized, assigning them to the Release Backlog and the Iteration Backlog becomes relatively simple.  The top priority items are copied into the respective backlogs in order and the task is complete.  The team does have the right to shuffle things around a little in the iteration backlog.  For example, they may determine that working on story C with story A is appropriate because they’re related, even though story B is technically a higher priority than story C.  Or they may decide that story B is too big to complete in the time available after Story A has tasks created, so they’ll work on Story C since it’s smaller.  They can’t, however, go deep into the backlog to pick stories to implement.  The team and the Product Owner should work together to determine what’s best for the company. Prioritization is time consuming, but its one of the most important things a Product Owner does. Determines Release Dates and Iteration Dates Product owners are responsible for determining release dates for a product.  A common misconception that Product Owners have is that every “release” needs to correspond with an actual release to customers.  This is not the case.  In general, releases should be no more than 3 months long.  You  may decide to release the product to the customers, and many companies do release the product to customers, but it may also be an internal release. If a release date is too far away, developers will fall into the trap of not feeling a sense of urgency.  The date is far enough away that they don’t need to give the release their full attention.  Additionally, important tasks, such as performance tuning, regression testing, user documentation, and release preparation, will not happen regularly, making them much more difficult and time consuming to do.  The more frequently you do these tasks, the easier they are to accomplish. The Product Owner will be a key participant in determining whether or not a release should be sent out to the customers.  The determination should be made on whether or not the features contained in the release are valuable enough  and complete enough that the customers will see real value in the release.  Often, some features will take more than three months to get them to a state where they qualify for a release or need additional supporting features to be released.  The product owner has the right to make this determination. In addition to release dates, the Product Owner also will help determine iteration dates.  In general, an iteration length should be chosen and the team should follow that iteration length for an extended period of time.  If the iteration length is changed every iteration, you’re not doing Scrum.  Iteration lengths help the team and company get into a rhythm of developing quality software.  Iterations should be somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks in length.  Any shorter, and significant software will likely not be developed.  Any longer, and the team won’t feel urgency and planning will become very difficult. Iterations may not be extended during the iteration.  Companies where Scrum isn’t really followed will often use this as a strategy to complete all stories.  They don’t want to face the harsh reality of what their true performance is, and looking good is more important than seeking visibility and improving the process and team.  Companies like this typically don’t allow failure.  This is unhealthy.  Failure is part of life and unless we learn from it, we can’t improve.  I would much rather see a team push out stories to the next iteration and then have healthy discussions about why they failed rather than extend the iteration and not deal with the core problems. If iteration length varies, retrospectives become more difficult.  For example, evaluating the performance of the team’s estimation efforts becomes much more difficult if the iteration length varies.  Also, the team must have a velocity measurement.  If the iteration length varies, measuring velocity becomes impossible and upper management no longer will have the ability to evaluate the teams performance.  People external to the team will no longer have the ability to determine when key features are likely to be developed.  Variable iterations cause the entire company to fail and likely cause Scrum to fail at an organization. Develops Story Details and Helps the Team Understand Those Details A key concept in Scrum is that the stories are nothing more than a placeholder for a conversation.  Stories should be nothing more than short, one line statements about the functionality.  The team will then converse with the Product Owner about the details about that story.  The product owner needs to have a very good idea about what the details of the story are and needs to be able to help the team understand those details. Too often, we see this requirement as being translated into the need for comprehensive documentation about the story, including old fashioned requirements documentation.  The team should only develop the documentation that is required and should not develop documentation that is only created because their is a process to do so. In general, what we see that works best is the iteration before a team starts development work on a story, the Product Owner, with other appropriate business analysts, will develop the details of that story.  They’ll figure out what business rules are required, potentially make paper prototypes or other light weight mock-ups, and they seek to understand the story and what is implied.  Note that the time allowed for this task is deliberately short.  The Product Owner only has a single iteration to develop all of the stories for the next iteration. If more than one iteration is used, I’ve found that teams will end up with Big Design Up Front and traditional requirements documents.  This is a waste of time, since the team will need to then have discussions with the Product Owner to figure out what the requirements document says.  Instead of this, skip making the pretty pictures and detailing the nuances of the requirements and build only what is minimally needed by the team to do development.  If something comes up during development, you can address it at that time and figure out what you want to do.  The goal is to keep things as light weight as possible so that everyone can move as quickly as possible. Helps QA to Develop Acceptance Tests In Scrum, no story can be counted until it is accepted by QA.  Because of this, acceptance tests are very important to the team.  In general, acceptance tests need to be developed prior to the iteration or at the very beginning of the iteration so that the team can make sure that the tasks that they develop will fulfill the acceptance criteria. The Product Owner will help the team, including QA, understand what will make the story acceptable.  Note that the Product Owner needs to be careful about specifying that the feature will work “Perfectly” at the end of the iteration.  In general, features are developed a little bit at a time, so only the bit that is being developed should be considered as necessary for acceptance. A weak Product Owner will make statements like “Do it right the first time.”  Not only are these statements damaging to the team (like they would try to do it WRONG the first time . . .), they’re also ignoring the iterative nature of Scrum.  Additionally, a weak product owner will seek to add scope in the acceptance testing.  For example, they will refuse to determine acceptance at the beginning of the iteration, and then, after the team has planned and committed to the iteration, they will expand scope by defining acceptance.  This often causes the team to miss the iteration because scope that wasn’t planned on is included.  There are ways that the team can mitigate this problem.  For example, include extra “Product Owner” time to deal with the uncertainty that you know will be introduced by the Product Owner.  This will slow the perceived velocity of the team and is not ideal, since they’ll be doing more work than they get credit for. Interact with the Customer to Make Sure that the Product is Meeting the Customer’s Needs Once development is complete, what the team has worked on should be put in front of real live people to see if it meets the needs of the customer.  One of the great things about Agile is that if something doesn’t work, we can revisit it in a future iteration!  This frees up the team to make the best decision now and know that if that decision proves to be incorrect, the team can revisit it and change that decision. Features are about adding value to the customer, so if the customer doesn’t find them useful, then having the team make tweaks is valuable.  In general, most software will be 80 to 90 percent “right” after the initial round and only minor tweaks are required.  If proper coding standards are followed, these tweaks are usually minor and easy to accomplish.  Product Owners that are doing a good job will encourage real users to see and use the software, since they know that they are trying to add value to the customer. Poor product owners will think that they know the answers already, that their customers are silly and do stupid things and that they don’t need customer input.  If you have a product owner that is afraid to show the team’s work to real customers, you probably need a different product owner. Up Next, “Who Makes a Good Product Owner.” Followed by, “Messing with the Team.” Technorati Tags: Scrum,Product Owner

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  • light.exe : error LGHT0217: Error executing ICE action &lsquo;ICE*&rsquo; with BizTalk Deployment Framework &amp; TFS 2010 Build.

    - by Vishal
    Hi there, Recently I was working with BizTalk Deployment Framework v5.0 for my BizTalk Sever 2009 projects and TFS 2010 Builds. I had followed all the steps mentioned in the BTDF documentation to create the build definition and also followed the steps to setup the Build Server with BTDF. After few hiccups I was stuck at this light.exe validation error. The detailed error is as below: light.exe : error LGHT0217: Error executing ICE action 'ICE06'. The most common cause of this kind of ICE failure is an incorrectly registered scripting engine. See http://wix.sourceforge.net/faq.html#Error217 for details and how to solve this problem. The following string format was not expected by the external UI message logger: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance." I found few blog posts and forum answers out there which had steps to resolve the error but all of them mentioned different things. Like: Some mentioned that disable the validation itself so that the VBScript would not be called. (I didn’t want to disable the validation.) Another said to put NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE in the local Administrators group but this is not recommended as it opens up network security holes. But what actually worked for me was: TFS Build Service Account was part of the Administrator group on the Build Server which is OK. But somehow it was also part of the IIS_IUSR Group. I removed the TFS Build Service Account from the IIS_IUSR group. Queued up my TFS Build but same error. Again after some digging, I found that I had not restarted the Visual Studio Team Build Service. In a Nutshell: Remove TFS Build Service Account from IIS_IUSR Group. Restart the Visual Studio Team Build Service, either from Services or TFS Console.   Hope this resolves the issue for someone and not waste bunch of hours.   Thanks, Vishal Mody

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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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  • DNASTREAM’s RapidLaunch Oracle Accelerate solution for RightNow

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    The Oracle RightNow Accelerate solution from DNASTREAM allows each Customer to enjoy quicker deployment and earlier time to benefits from this SAAS Customer Experience solution. At the start of the project, a full suite of E-Learning simulations & materials is provided by DNASTREAM to match the customer’s processes. This RapidLaunch content library for RightNow can be leveraged by our customers early in their project implementations bringing significant cost efficiencies, time reduction and improved user adoption to their project roll outs. Solution Profile: This Oracle Accelerate solution is based on Oracle RightNow CX that includes Content management, Contact management, Incident management, Customer Portal, Closed incident Survey, Standard reports. As an additional option there is available the Oracle RightNow CX Chat implementation. For more information about RightNow and the DNASTREAM Accelerate solution, visit the Oracle Accelerate microsite or contact www.dnastream.com

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  • How would you implement API key in WCF Data Service?

    - by rushonerok
    Is there a way to require an API key in the URL / or some other way of passing the service a private key in order to grant access to the data? I have this right now... using System; using System.Data.Services; using System.Data.Services.Common; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.ServiceModel.Web; using Numina.Framework; using System.Web; using System.Configuration; [System.ServiceModel.ServiceBehavior(IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults = true)] public class odata : DataService { public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config) { config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.AllRead); //config.SetServiceOperationAccessRule("*", ServiceOperationRights.All); config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V2; } protected override void OnStartProcessingRequest(ProcessRequestArgs args) { HttpRequest Request = HttpContext.Current.Request; if(Request["apikey"] != ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ApiKey"]) throw new DataServiceException("ApiKey needed"); base.OnStartProcessingRequest(args); } } ...This works but it's not perfect because you cannot get at the metadata and discover the service through the Add Service Reference explorer. I could check if $metadata is in the url but it seems like a hack. Is there a better way?

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  • Salesforce.com s'attaque à Oracle avec Database.com, un service qui veut devenir « l'avenir des bases de données »

    Salesforce.com s'attaque à Oracle avec Database.com Une base de données 100 % hébergée qui veut révolutionner les SGBD Lors de sa conférence Dreamforce, qui se déroule actuellement à San Francisco, Salesforce.com, le plus célèbre éditeur de CRM en mode Cloud, vient de présenter un produit extrêmement ambitieux, qualifié par la société d'« avenir des bases de données ». Il s'agit de Database.com, le premier SGBD 100 % Cloud. La plate-forme veut supprimer les problématiques de l'optimisation et de la maintenance des bases de données et du matériel traditionnels. « Les bases de données Cloud représentent une opportunité majeure pour faciliter ...

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  • Serve web application error messages from Http server [closed]

    - by licorna
    I have nginx as a http server with tomcat as a backend (using proxy_pass). It works great but I want to define my own error pages (404, 500, etc.) and that they are served by nginx and not tomcat. For example I have the following resource: https://domain.com/resource which doesn't exist. If I [GET] that URL then I get a Not Found message from Tomcat and not from nginx. What I want is that every time Tomcat responds with a 404 (or any other error message) nginx sends itself a message to the user: some html file accessible by nginx. The way I have my nginx server configured is very easy, just: location / { proxy_pass http://localhost:8080/<webapp-name>/; } And I've configured port 8080, which is tomcat, as not accessible from outside this machine. I don't think that using different location directives in nginx configuration will work, because there are some resources that depend on the URL: https://domain.com/customer/<non-existent-customer-name>/[GET] Will always return 404 (or any other error message), while: https://domain.com/customer/<existent-customer>/[GET] Will return anything different from 404 (the customer exists). Is there any way of serving Tomcat (Application Server) error messages with Nginx (http Server)? To check the message sent by the proxy_pass directive and act upon it?

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  • How to write an asmx web service without using app_code directory?

    - by JL
    Excuse the title, but it's best I just explain the problem. I have 2 projects in my solution A Class Library A Web Application, which consists of a web service (asmx). the web service has code sitting in the app_code folder, with a file [webservicename].cs Inside the webservice code behind class, I have a web method here is a sample example (its simplified): [WebMethod] public EnumTaskExportState ProcessTask() { var tm = new UploadTaskManager(); return tm.ProcessTask(); } Now at design time, in visual studio (2010 or 2008), when I right click on UploadTaskMananger, and then select "Go to definition". I get taken to AppData\Temp[some folder structure]...etc.... and it displays the public class definition. Instead I would like to have complete integration, so that I get taken directly to the actual class in the class library project. My guess is, this is happening because I am using the app_code route, and not a compiled file for the web service class. But I don't know any other way to do this. How can I fix this? Possibly do away with the need for the app_code directory?

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  • Reminder: True WCF Asynchronous Operation

    - by Sean Feldman
    A true asynchronous service operation is not the one that returns void, but the one that is marked as IsOneWay=true using BeginX/EndX asynchronous operations (thanks Krzysztof). To support this sort of fire-and-forget invocation, Windows Communication Foundation offers one-way operations. After the client issues the call, Windows Communication Foundation generates a request message, but no correlated reply message will ever return to the client. As a result, one-way operations can't return values, and any exception thrown on the service side will not make its way to the client. One-way calls do not equate to asynchronous calls. When one-way calls reach the service, they may not be dispatched all at once and may be queued up on the service side to be dispatched one at a time, all according to the service configured concurrency mode behavior and session mode. How many messages (whether one-way or request-reply) the service is willing to queue up is a product of the configured channel and the reliability mode. If the number of queued messages has exceeded the queue's capacity, then the client will block, even when issuing a one-way call. However, once the call is queued, the client is unblocked and can continue executing while the service processes the operation in the background. This usually gives the appearance of asynchronous calls.

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  • SQL SERVER – 2011 – Introduction to SEQUENCE – Simple Example of SEQUENCE

    - by pinaldave
    SQL Server 2011 will contain one of the very interesting feature called SEQUENCE. I have waited for this feature for really long time. I am glad it is here finally. SEQUENCE allows you to define a single point of repository where SQL Server will maintain in memory counter. USE AdventureWorks2008R2 GO CREATE SEQUENCE [Seq] AS [int] START WITH 1 INCREMENT BY 1 MAXVALUE 20000 GO SEQUENCE is very interesting concept and I will write few blog post on this subject in future. Today we will see only working example of the same. Let us create a sequence. We can specify various values like start value, increment value as well maxvalue. -- First Run SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.CustomerID FROM Sales.Customer c GO -- Second Run SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.AccountNumber FROM Sales.Customer c GO Once the sequence is defined, it can be fetched using following method. Every single time new incremental value is provided, irrespective of sessions. Sequence will generate values till the max value specified. Once the max value is reached, query will stop and will return error message. Msg 11728, Level 16, State 1, Line 2 The sequence object ‘Seq’ has reached its minimum or maximum value. Restart the sequence object to allow new values to be generated. We can restart the sequence from any particular value and it will work fine. -- Restart the Sequence ALTER SEQUENCE [Seq] RESTART WITH 1 GO -- Sequence Restarted SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.CustomerID FROM Sales.Customer c GO Let us do final clean up. -- Clean Up DROP SEQUENCE [Seq] GO There are lots of things one can find useful about this feature. We will see that in future posts. Here is the complete code for easy reference. USE AdventureWorks2008R2 GO CREATE SEQUENCE [Seq] AS [int] START WITH 1 INCREMENT BY 1 MAXVALUE 20000 GO -- First Run SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.CustomerID FROM Sales.Customer c GO -- Second Run SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.AccountNumber FROM Sales.Customer c GO -- Restart the Sequence ALTER SEQUENCE [Seq] RESTART WITH 1 GO -- Sequence Restarted SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR Seq, c.CustomerID FROM Sales.Customer c GO -- Clean Up DROP SEQUENCE [Seq] GO Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • Using Table-Valued Parameters With SQL Server Reporting Services

    - by Jesse
    In my last post I talked about using table-valued parameters to pass a list of integer values to a stored procedure without resorting to using comma-delimited strings and parsing out each value into a TABLE variable. In this post I’ll extend the “Customer Transaction Summary” report example to see how we might leverage this same stored procedure from within an SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report. I’ve worked with SSRS off and on for the past several years and have generally found it to be a very useful tool for building nice-looking reports for end users quickly and easily. That said, I’ve been frustrated by SSRS from time to time when seemingly simple things are difficult to accomplish or simply not supported at all. I thought that using table-valued parameters from within a SSRS report would be simple, but unfortunately I was wrong. Customer Transaction Summary Example Let’s take the “Customer Transaction Summary” report example from the last post and try to plug that same stored procedure into an SSRS report. Our report will have three parameters: Start Date – beginning of the date range for which the report will summarize customer transactions End Date – end of the date range for which the report will summarize customer transactions Customer Ids – One or more customer Ids representing the customers that will be included in the report The simplest way to get started with this report will be to create a new dataset and point it at our Customer Transaction Summary report stored procedure (note that I’m using SSRS 2012 in the screenshots below, but there should be little to no difference with SSRS 2008): When you initially create this dataset the SSRS designer will try to invoke the stored procedure to determine what the parameters and output fields are for you automatically. As part of this process the following dialog pops-up: Obviously I can’t use this dialog to specify a value for the ‘@customerIds’ parameter since it is of the IntegerListTableType user-defined type that we created in the last post. Unfortunately this really throws the SSRS designer for a loop, and regardless of what combination of Data Type, Pass Null Value, or Parameter Value I used here, I kept getting this error dialog with the message, "Operand type clash: nvarchar is incompatible with IntegerListTableType". This error message makes some sense considering that the nvarchar type is indeed incompatible with the IntegerListTableType, but there’s little clue given as to how to remedy the situation. I don’t know for sure, but I think that behind-the-scenes the SSRS designer is trying to give the @customerIds parameter an nvarchar-typed SqlParameter which is causing the issue. When I first saw this error I figured that this might just be a limitation of the dataset designer and that I’d be able to work around the issue by manually defining the parameters. I know that there are some special steps that need to be taken when invoking a stored procedure with a table-valued parameter from ADO .NET, so I figured that I might be able to use some custom code embedded in the report  to create a SqlParameter instance with the needed properties and value to make this work, but the “Operand type clash" error message persisted. The Text Query Approach Just because we’re using a stored procedure to create the dataset for this report doesn’t mean that we can’t use the ‘Text’ Query Type option and construct an EXEC statement that will invoke the stored procedure. In order for this to work properly the EXEC statement will also need to declare and populate an IntegerListTableType variable to pass into the stored procedure. Before I go any further I want to make one point clear: this is a really ugly hack and it makes me cringe to do it. Simply put, I strongly feel that it should not be this difficult to use a table-valued parameter with SSRS. With that said, let’s take a look at what we’ll have to do to make this work. Manually Define Parameters First, we’ll need to manually define the parameters for report by right-clicking on the ‘Parameters’ folder in the ‘Report Data’ window. We’ll need to define the ‘@startDate’ and ‘@endDate’ as simple date parameters. We’ll also create a parameter called ‘@customerIds’ that will be a mutli-valued Integer parameter: In the ‘Available Values’ tab we’ll point this parameter at a simple dataset that just returns the CustomerId and CustomerName of each row in the Customers table of the database or manually define a handful of Customer Id values to make available when the report runs. Once we have these parameters properly defined we can take another crack at creating the dataset that will invoke the ‘rpt_CustomerTransactionSummary’ stored procedure. This time we’ll choose the ‘Text’ query type option and put the following into the ‘Query’ text area: 1: exec('declare @customerIdList IntegerListTableType ' + @customerIdInserts + 2: ' EXEC rpt_CustomerTransactionSummary 3: @startDate=''' + @startDate + ''', 4: @endDate='''+ @endDate + ''', 5: @customerIds=@customerIdList')   By using the ‘Text’ query type we can enter any arbitrary SQL that we we want to and then use parameters and string concatenation to inject pieces of that query at run time. It can be a bit tricky to parse this out at first glance, but from the SSRS designer’s point of view this query defines three parameters: @customerIdInserts – This will be a Text parameter that we use to define INSERT statements that will populate the @customerIdList variable that is being declared in the SQL. This parameter won’t actually ever get passed into the stored procedure. I’ll go into how this will work in a bit. @startDate – This is a simple date parameter that will get passed through directly into the @startDate parameter of the stored procedure on line 3. @endDate – This is another simple data parameter that will get passed through into the @endDate parameter of the stored procedure on line 4. At this point the dataset designer will be able to correctly parse the query and should even be able to detect the fields that the stored procedure will return without needing to specify any values for query when prompted to. Once the dataset has been correctly defined we’ll have a @customerIdInserts parameter listed in the ‘Parameters’ tab of the dataset designer. We need to define an expression for this parameter that will take the values selected by the user for the ‘@customerIds’ parameter that we defined earlier and convert them into INSERT statements that will populate the @customerIdList variable that we defined in our Text query. In order to do this we’ll need to add some custom code to our report using the ‘Report Properties’ dialog: Any custom code defined in the Report Properties dialog gets embedded into the .rdl of the report itself and (unfortunately) must be written in VB .NET. Note that you can also add references to custom .NET assemblies (which could be written in any language), but that’s outside the scope of this post so we’ll stick with the “quick and dirty” VB .NET approach for now. Here’s the VB .NET code (note that any embedded code that you add here must be defined in a static/shared function, though you can define as many functions as you want): 1: Public Shared Function BuildIntegerListInserts(ByVal variableName As String, ByVal paramValues As Object()) As String 2: Dim insertStatements As New System.Text.StringBuilder() 3: For Each paramValue As Object In paramValues 4: insertStatements.AppendLine(String.Format("INSERT {0} VALUES ({1})", variableName, paramValue)) 5: Next 6: Return insertStatements.ToString() 7: End Function   This method takes a variable name and an array of objects. We use an array of objects here because that is how SSRS will pass us the values that were selected by the user at run-time. The method uses a StringBuilder to construct INSERT statements that will insert each value from the object array into the provided variable name. Once this method has been defined in the custom code for the report we can go back into the dataset designer’s Parameters tab and update the expression for the ‘@customerIdInserts’ parameter by clicking on the button with the “function” symbol that appears to the right of the parameter value. We’ll set the expression to: 1: =Code.BuildIntegerListInserts("@customerIdList ", Parameters!customerIds.Value)   In order to invoke our custom code method we simply need to invoke “Code.<method name>” and pass in any needed parameters. The first parameter needs to match the name of the IntegerListTableType variable that we used in the EXEC statement of our query. The second parameter will come from the Value property of the ‘@customerIds’ parameter (this evaluates to an object array at run time). Finally, we’ll need to edit the properties of the ‘@customerIdInserts’ parameter on the report to mark it as a nullable internal parameter so that users aren’t prompted to provide a value for it when running the report. Limitations And Final Thoughts When I first started looking into the text query approach described above I wondered if there might be an upper limit to the size of the string that can be used to run a report. Obviously, the size of the actual query could increase pretty dramatically if you have a parameter that has a lot of potential values or you need to support several different table-valued parameters in the same query. I tested the example Customer Transaction Summary report with 1000 selected customers without any issue, but your mileage may vary depending on how much data you might need to pass into your query. If you think that the text query hack is a lot of work just to use a table-valued parameter, I agree! I think that it should be a lot easier than this to use a table-valued parameter from within SSRS, but so far I haven’t found a better way. It might be possible to create some custom .NET code that could build the EXEC statement for a given set of parameters automatically, but exploring that will have to wait for another post. For now, unless there’s a really compelling reason or requirement to use table-valued parameters from SSRS reports I would probably stick with the tried and true “join-multi-valued-parameter-to-CSV-and-split-in-the-query” approach for using mutli-valued parameters in a stored procedure.

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  • The Benefits of Smart Grid Business Software

    - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP
    Smart Grid Background What Are Smart Grids?Smart Grids use computer hardware and software, sensors, controls, and telecommunications equipment and services to: Link customers to information that helps them manage consumption and use electricity wisely. Enable customers to respond to utility notices in ways that help minimize the duration of overloads, bottlenecks, and outages. Provide utilities with information that helps them improve performance and control costs. What Is Driving Smart Grid Development? Environmental ImpactSmart Grid development is picking up speed because of the widespread interest in reducing the negative impact that energy use has on the environment. Smart Grids use technology to drive efficiencies in transmission, distribution, and consumption. As a result, utilities can serve customers’ power needs with fewer generating plants, fewer transmission and distribution assets,and lower overall generation. With the possible exception of wind farm sprawl, landscape preservation is one obvious benefit. And because most generation today results in greenhouse gas emissions, Smart Grids reduce air pollution and the potential for global climate change.Smart Grids also more easily accommodate the technical difficulties of integrating intermittent renewable resources like wind and solar into the grid, providing further greenhouse gas reductions. CostsThe ability to defer the cost of plant and grid expansion is a major benefit to both utilities and customers. Utilities do not need to use as many internal resources for traditional infrastructure project planning and management. Large T&D infrastructure expansion costs are not passed on to customers.Smart Grids will not eliminate capital expansion, of course. Transmission corridors to connect renewable generation with customers will require major near-term expenditures. Additionally, in the future, electricity to satisfy the needs of population growth and additional applications will exceed the capacity reductions available through the Smart Grid. At that point, expansion will resume—but with greater overall T&D efficiency based on demand response, load control, and many other Smart Grid technologies and business processes. Energy efficiency is a second area of Smart Grid cost saving of particular relevance to customers. The timely and detailed information Smart Grids provide encourages customers to limit waste, adopt energy-efficient building codes and standards, and invest in energy efficient appliances. Efficiency may or may not lower customer bills because customer efficiency savings may be offset by higher costs in generation fuels or carbon taxes. It is clear, however, that bills will be lower with efficiency than without it. Utility Operations Smart Grids can serve as the central focus of utility initiatives to improve business processes. Many utilities have long “wish lists” of projects and applications they would like to fund in order to improve customer service or ease staff’s burden of repetitious work, but they have difficulty cost-justifying the changes, especially in the short term. Adding Smart Grid benefits to the cost/benefit analysis frequently tips the scales in favor of the change and can also significantly reduce payback periods.Mobile workforce applications and asset management applications work together to deploy assets and then to maintain, repair, and replace them. Many additional benefits result—for instance, increased productivity and fuel savings from better routing. Similarly, customer portals that provide customers with near-real-time information can also encourage online payments, thus lowering billing costs. Utilities can and should include these cost and service improvements in the list of Smart Grid benefits. What Is Smart Grid Business Software? Smart Grid business software gathers data from a Smart Grid and uses it improve a utility’s business processes. Smart Grid business software also helps utilities provide relevant information to customers who can then use it to reduce their own consumption and improve their environmental profiles. Smart Grid Business Software Minimizes the Impact of Peak Demand Utilities must size their assets to accommodate their highest peak demand. The higher the peak rises above base demand: The more assets a utility must build that are used only for brief periods—an inefficient use of capital. The higher the utility’s risk profile rises given the uncertainties surrounding the time needed for permitting, building, and recouping costs. The higher the costs for utilities to purchase supply, because generators can charge more for contracts and spot supply during high-demand periods. Smart Grids enable a variety of programs that reduce peak demand, including: Time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing—programs that charge customers more when they consume electricity during peak periods. Pilot projects indicate that these programs are successful in flattening peaks, thus ensuring better use of existing T&D and generation assets. Direct load control, which lets utilities reduce or eliminate electricity flow to customer equipment (such as air conditioners). Contracts govern the terms and conditions of these turn-offs. Indirect load control, which signals customers to reduce the use of on-premises equipment for contractually agreed-on time periods. Smart Grid business software enables utilities to impose penalties on customers who do not comply with their contracts. Smart Grids also help utilities manage peaks with existing assets by enabling: Real-time asset monitoring and control. In this application, advanced sensors safely enable dynamic capacity load limits, ensuring that all grid assets can be used to their maximum capacity during peak demand periods. Real-time asset monitoring and control applications also detect the location of excessive losses and pinpoint need for mitigation and asset replacements. As a result, utilities reduce outage risk and guard against excess capacity or “over-build”. Better peak demand analysis. As a result: Distribution planners can better size equipment (e.g. transformers) to avoid over-building. Operations engineers can identify and resolve bottlenecks and other inefficiencies that may cause or exacerbate peaks. As above, the result is a reduction in the tendency to over-build. Supply managers can more closely match procurement with delivery. As a result, they can fine-tune supply portfolios, reducing the tendency to over-contract for peak supply and reducing the need to resort to spot market purchases during high peaks. Smart Grids can help lower the cost of remaining peaks by: Standardizing interconnections for new distributed resources (such as electricity storage devices). Placing the interconnections where needed to support anticipated grid congestion. Smart Grid Business Software Lowers the Cost of Field Services By processing Smart Grid data through their business software, utilities can reduce such field costs as: Vegetation management. Smart Grids can pinpoint momentary interruptions and tree-caused outages. Spatial mash-up tools leverage GIS models of tree growth for targeted vegetation management. This reduces the cost of unnecessary tree trimming. Service vehicle fuel. Many utility service calls are “false alarms.” Checking meter status before dispatching crews prevents many unnecessary “truck rolls.” Similarly, crews use far less fuel when Smart Grid sensors can pinpoint a problem and mobile workforce applications can then route them directly to it. Smart Grid Business Software Ensures Regulatory Compliance Smart Grids can ensure compliance with private contracts and with regional, national, or international requirements by: Monitoring fulfillment of contract terms. Utilities can use one-hour interval meters to ensure that interruptible (“non-core”) customers actually reduce or eliminate deliveries as required. They can use the information to levy fines against contract violators. Monitoring regulations imposed on customers, such as maximum use during specific time periods. Using accurate time-stamped event history derived from intelligent devices distributed throughout the smart grid to monitor and report reliability statistics and risk compliance. Automating business processes and activities that ensure compliance with security and reliability measures (e.g. NERC-CIP 2-9). Grid Business Software Strengthens Utilities’ Connection to Customers While Reducing Customer Service Costs During outages, Smart Grid business software can: Identify outages more quickly. Software uses sensors to pinpoint outages and nested outage locations. They also permit utilities to ensure outage resolution at every meter location. Size outages more accurately, permitting utilities to dispatch crews that have the skills needed, in appropriate numbers. Provide updates on outage location and expected duration. This information helps call centers inform customers about the timing of service restoration. Smart Grids also facilitates display of outage maps for customer and public-service use. Smart Grids can significantly reduce the cost to: Connect and disconnect customers. Meters capable of remote disconnect can virtually eliminate the costs of field crews and vehicles previously required to change service from the old to the new residents of a metered property or disconnect customers for nonpayment. Resolve reports of voltage fluctuation. Smart Grids gather and report voltage and power quality data from meters and grid sensors, enabling utilities to pinpoint reported problems or resolve them before customers complain. Detect and resolve non-technical losses (e.g. theft). Smart Grids can identify illegal attempts to reconnect meters or to use electricity in supposedly vacant premises. They can also detect theft by comparing flows through delivery assets with billed consumption. Smart Grids also facilitate outreach to customers. By monitoring and analyzing consumption over time, utilities can: Identify customers with unusually high usage and contact them before they receive a bill. They can also suggest conservation techniques that might help to limit consumption. This can head off “high bill” complaints to the contact center. Note that such “high usage” or “additional charges apply because you are out of range” notices—frequently via text messaging—are already common among mobile phone providers. Help customers identify appropriate bill payment alternatives (budget billing, prepayment, etc.). Help customers find and reduce causes of over-consumption. There’s no waiting for bills in the mail before they even understand there is a problem. Utilities benefit not just through improved customer relations but also through limiting the size of bills from customers who might struggle to pay them. Where permitted, Smart Grids can open the doors to such new utility service offerings as: Monitoring properties. Landlords reduce costs of vacant properties when utilities notify them of unexpected energy or water consumption. Utilities can perform similar services for owners of vacation properties or the adult children of aging parents. Monitoring equipment. Power-use patterns can reveal a need for equipment maintenance. Smart Grids permit utilities to alert owners or managers to a need for maintenance or replacement. Facilitating home and small-business networks. Smart Grids can provide a gateway to equipment networks that automate control or let owners access equipment remotely. They also facilitate net metering, offering some utilities a path toward involvement in small-scale solar or wind generation. Prepayment plans that do not need special meters. Smart Grid Business Software Helps Customers Control Energy Costs There is no end to the ways Smart Grids help both small and large customers control energy costs. For instance: Multi-premises customers appreciate having all meters read on the same day so that they can more easily compare consumption at various sites. Customers in competitive regions can match their consumption profile (detailed via Smart Grid data) with specific offerings from competitive suppliers. Customers seeing inexplicable consumption patterns and power quality problems may investigate further. The result can be discovery of electrical problems that can be resolved through rewiring or maintenance—before more serious fires or accidents happen. Smart Grid Business Software Facilitates Use of Renewables Generation from wind and solar resources is a popular alternative to fossil fuel generation, which emits greenhouse gases. Wind and solar generation may also increase energy security in regions that currently import fossil fuel for use in generation. Utilities face many technical issues as they attempt to integrate intermittent resource generation into traditional grids, which traditionally handle only fully dispatchable generation. Smart Grid business software helps solves many of these issues by: Detecting sudden drops in production from renewables-generated electricity (wind and solar) and automatically triggering electricity storage and smart appliance response to compensate as needed. Supporting industry-standard distributed generation interconnection processes to reduce interconnection costs and avoid adding renewable supplies to locations already subject to grid congestion. Facilitating modeling and monitoring of locally generated supply from renewables and thus helping to maximize their use. Increasing the efficiency of “net metering” (through which utilities can use electricity generated by customers) by: Providing data for analysis. Integrating the production and consumption aspects of customer accounts. During non-peak periods, such techniques enable utilities to increase the percent of renewable generation in their supply mix. During peak periods, Smart Grid business software controls circuit reconfiguration to maximize available capacity. Conclusion Utility missions are changing. Yesterday, they focused on delivery of reasonably priced energy and water. Tomorrow, their missions will expand to encompass sustainable use and environmental improvement.Smart Grids are key to helping utilities achieve this expanded mission. But they come at a relatively high price. Utilities will need to invest heavily in new hardware, software, business process development, and staff training. Customer investments in home area networks and smart appliances will be large. Learning to change the energy and water consumption habits of a lifetime could ultimately prove even more formidable tasks.Smart Grid business software can ease the cost and difficulties inherent in a needed transition to a more flexible, reliable, responsive electricity grid. Justifying its implementation, however, requires a full understanding of the benefits it brings—benefits that can ultimately help customers, utilities, communities, and the world address global issues like energy security and climate change while minimizing costs and maximizing customer convenience. This white paper is available for download here. For further information about Oracle's Primavera Solutions for Utilities, please read our Utilities e-book.

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  • How do I configure a C# web service client to send HTTP request header and body in parallel?

    - by Christopher
    Hi, I am using a traditional C# web service client generated in VS2008 .Net 3.5, inheriting from SoapHttpClientProtocol. This is connecting to a remote web service written in Java. All configuration is done in code during client initialization, and can be seen below: ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = false; ServicePointManager.DefaultConnectionLimit = 10; var client = new APIService { EnableDecompression = true, Url = _url + "?guid=" + Guid.NewGuid(), Credentials = new NetworkCredential(user, password, null), PreAuthenticate = true, Timeout = 5000 // 5 sec }; It all works fine, but the time taken to execute the simplest method call is almost double the network ping time. Whereas a Java test client takes roughly the same as the network ping time: C# client ~ 550ms Java client ~ 340ms Network ping ~ 300ms After analyzing the TCP traffic for a session discovered the following: Basically, the C# client sent TCP packets in the following sequence. Client Send HTTP Headers in one packet. Client Waits For TCP ACK from server. Client Sends HTTP Body in one packet. Client Waits For TCP ACK from server. The Java client sent TCP packets in the following sequence. Client Sends HTTP Headers in one packet. Client Sends HTTP Body in one packet. Client Revieves ACK for first packet. Client Revieves ACK for second packet. Client Revieves ACK for second packet. Is there anyway to configure the C# web service client to send the header/body in parallel as the Java client appears to? Any help or pointers much appreciated.

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  • WCF, ASMX Basic HTTP binding and IIS

    - by Brennan Mann
    Hello, I have been doing a lot of work with WCF "self" hosted applications. I recently was requested to write a web service where the calling client was a Linux based program named "WGET". I would like to use WCF instead of a traditional ASMX web service. The web service is returning a standard XML response. I am not sure of the underlining details between the two technologies but I know WCF is the proper route. I created a WCF service to be hosted in IIS ( using basicHttpBinding). 1.) Did classic ASMX web services ( standard HTTP POST/GET) use SOAP to return responses? I created an class from XSD for the web service response. What is really going on behind the scenes? Is there just special XML HTTP headers that know how to handle to response? Is the response not wrapped in SOAP? The traditional ASMX web service worked perfectly with the class I generated using the .Net "XSD" program. 2.) I want to use WCF for this service. Will using basicHttpBinding work? As I have read, that is the correct binding to use for ASMX clients. Does this use SOAP, standard HTTP headers, or something else? 3.) This is a dumb question because I have not done a lot of web service programming. I noticed on the ASMX default landing page there were examples for responses and code to invoke the functionality. When I create the same service using WCF, I had to create a client application to perform these tasks. Is there a way to expose the WCF endpoint like a classic ASMX service or is the WSDL the only route? As always, I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks, Brennan

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  • Oracle and Eloqua Welcome Compendium’s Content Marketing

    - by Mike Stiles
    Yesterday, Oracle announced its acquisition of Compendium, a cloud-based content marketing provider that helps companies plan, produce and deliver engaging content across multiple channels throughout their customers' lifecycle. Why? Because every part of the above paragraph speaks to where modern marketing is and where it’s headed. Customers have now been empowered, thanks to the Internet and particularly social, with access to almost limitless amounts of information about companies and products. This includes the especially influential voices of friends and objective acquaintances that have experience with the product or brand. With mobile, this info is available instantly in the palm of their hand. All of this research and influence mind you, is taking place long before a prospect will ever engage with the brand itself or one of its sales reps. So how does a brand effectively insert itself into these conversations and this flow of the customer journey? Now, more than ever, marketers must deliver relevant and engaging content across multiple channels and throughout the entire customer journey to be useful, helpful, and influential. Compendium has a data-driven content marketing platform that lines up relevant content with customer data and personas so brands can accelerate the conversion of prospects. Now think about combining that with the Oracle Eloqua Marketing Cloud, part of Oracle's comprehensive CX solution. Marketers will be able to automate content delivery across channels by aligning persona-based content with customers' digital body language. Better customer engagement, improved sales lead quality, better return on marketing investment, and higher customer loyalty. Now we’re talking. Does data-driven content marketing have an impact? Compendium customer CVENT is a SaaS company specializing in meetings management tech. They wanted to increase leads & ad performance on their blog and dramatically increase their content. They also wanted to manage the creation, workflow, promotion and distribution of that content. With Compendium, CVENT created over 9,000 content elements, and sales-ready leads grew 325%. So Oracle Eloqua helps you target audiences, know buyers, and automate multi-channel marketing campaigns. Compendium lets you plan, publish, manage and measure content across content types and channels. Now kick it up yet another notch with Oracle’s Analytics, Big Data and Social solutions, and you’re using your marketing dollars to reach the right people in the right place at the right time with the right content. And as if that weren’t enough, your customers will love you for it. @mikestiles

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  • 2 eventos, 2 países, 1 jornada.

    - by Noelia Gomez
    Normal 0 21 false false false ES X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} El pasado Martes 23 de Octubre fue un día de gran actividad tanto en España como en Portugal. El Dialogo CxO , organizado por Econique, y en el que participó Oracle, tuvo lugar en Madrid en el Hotel Puerta de Ámerica. Este encuentro tenía como objetivo intercambiar opiniones sobre todos los aspectos relacionados con la gestión estratégica de clientes y el Contact Centre. En este marco, los asistentes tuvieron la oportunidad de realizar reuniones “one to one” con nuestros mejores expertos. Además Oracle presentó dos coloquios relacionados con la visión de las "Nuevas necesidades, estrategias y tendencias en la gestión del Marketing", de la mano de Gema Sebastian, Principal Sales Consultant de Oracle. En dichos coloquios los participantes de empresas, como Caprabo, Carrefour, Endesa, Jaguar Land Rover y Repsol (entre otros) trataron temas de máxima actualidad para los directivos de Marketing. Esta mesa redonda se centró sobre todo en el Marketing en redes sociales, compartiendo entre todos nuestra percepción de que es algo necesario pero que todavía el mercado no sabe muy bien cómo tratar. La escucha activa dentro de las redes y la posibilidad de reaccionar ante determinados factores se veía como un claro punto donde comenzar a trabajar de manera activa y donde Oracle puede ayudar. La experiencia de cliente fue otro de los puntos tratados en esta mesa, donde se dejó claro que ahora es el consumidor el que manda, el que quiere ver las cosas donde quiere y como quiere y que un mensaje de marketing ha de darse en el momento adecuado y aportando un valor real para que el consumidor lo acepte como algo interesante. Igualmente Oracle dispone de herramientas para hacer que esto sea posible. Por otro lado, en Lisboa, tenía lugar el Total Training 2012, una conferencia organizada por el Grupo IFE. En ella participaron más de 100 profesionales de los recursos humanos de las empresas más importantes de Portugal y tuvo como base de partida los conocimientos y experiencias, el intercambio de ideas y la discusión de oportunidades a las que actualmente se enfrentan los profesionales de este área. En este marco Oracle realizó una ponencia sobre “Los nuevos conceptos en RRHH”, de la mano de Julio Rodriguez, Principal Sales Consultant de Oracle, y que puso de manifiesto algunos conceptos tecnológicos relevantes para la gestión del talento que por su novedad, no eran muy conocidos por los profesionales de los RRHH cómo: · Saas (Software as a service) · BI (Business Intelligence) para RRHH · Social Networking y cómo integrarla dentro de la empresa · El mapa del talento, por fin fuera del Excel y en una aplicación · La movilidad en las aplicaciones de RRHH. Sin duda, esta fue una jornada cargada de intercambio de experiencias y de conocimientos para dos grandes áreas: los Recursos Humanos y la Gestión Estratégica del cliente. Si quieres saber más sobre la experiencia del cliente: Customer Concepts Magazine Customer Concepts Exchange in LinkedIn Customer Concepts Web TV Customer Experience @ Oracle.com Customer Experience Facebook Hub Customer Experience YouTube Channel Customer Experience Twitter Puede conocer más sobre HCM (Gestión de RRHH): Oracle Fusion Applications Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management Oracle PartnerNetwork Oracle Consulting Services Oracle Human Capital Management Blog Oracle HCM on Twitter Oracle HCM on Facebook

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  • Business Objects - Containers or functional?

    - by Walter
    This is a question I asked a while back on SO, but it may get discussed better here... Where I work, we've gone back and forth on this subject a number of times and are looking for a sanity check. Here's the question: Should Business Objects be data containers (more like DTOs) or should they also contain logic that can perform some functionality on that object. Example - Take a customer object, it probably contains some common properties (Name, Id, etc), should that customer object also include functions (Save, Calc, etc.)? One line of reasoning says separate the object from the functionality (single responsibility principal) and put the functionality in a Business Logic layer or object. The other line of reasoning says, no, if I have a customer object I just want to call Customer.Save and be done with it. Why do I need to know about another class to save a customer if I'm consuming the object? Our last two projects have had the objects separated from the functionality, but the debate has been raised again on a new project. Which makes more sense and why??

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  • Silverlight, WCF service, integrated security AND ssl/https not possible?

    - by Flores
    I have this setup that works perfectly when using http. A silverlight 3 client .net 4 WCF service hosted in IIS with basicHttpBinding and using integrated security on the site When setting https to required on the website the setup stops working. Using the wcftestclient on the uri I get the message: The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Anonymous'. The authentication header received from the server was 'Negotiate,NTLM'. The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized. Maybe this makes sense because the wcftestclient does not pass credentials? in the web.config the security mode for the service binding is set is set to 'Transport'. The silverlight client is created like this: BasicHttpBinding basicHttpBinding = new BasicHttpBinding(); basicHttpBinding.Security.Mode = BasicHttpSecurityMode.Transport; var serviceClient = new ImportServiceClient(basicHttpBinding, serviceAddress); The service address is ofcourse starting with https:// And the silverlight client reports this error: The provided URI scheme 'https' is invalid; expected 'http'. Parameter name: via Remember, swithing it back to http (and setting security mode to 'TransportCredentialOnly' makes everything working again. Is the setup I want even supported? If so, how should it be configured?

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  • Search multiple datepicker on same grid

    - by DHF
    I'm using multiple datepicker on same grid and I face the problem to get a proper result. I used 3 datepicker in 1 grid. Only the first datepicker (Order Date)is able to output proper result while the other 2 datepicker (Start Date & End Date) are not able to generate proper result. There is no problem with the query, so could you find out what's going on here? Thanks in advance! php wrapper <?php ob_start(); require_once 'config.php'; // include the jqGrid Class require_once "php/jqGrid.php"; // include the PDO driver class require_once "php/jqGridPdo.php"; // include the datepicker require_once "php/jqCalendar.php"; // Connection to the server $conn = new PDO(DB_DSN,DB_USER,DB_PASSWORD); // Tell the db that we use utf-8 $conn->query("SET NAMES utf8"); // Create the jqGrid instance $grid = new jqGridRender($conn); // Write the SQL Query $grid->SelectCommand = "SELECT c.CompanyID, c.CompanyCode, c.CompanyName, c.Area, o.OrderCode, o.Date, m.maID ,m.System, m.Status, m.StartDate, m.EndDate, m.Type FROM company c, orders o, maintenance_agreement m WHERE c.CompanyID = o.CompanyID AND o.OrderID = m.OrderID "; // Set the table to where you update the data $grid->table = 'maintenance_agreement'; // set the ouput format to json $grid->dataType = 'json'; // Let the grid create the model $grid->setPrimaryKeyId('maID'); // Let the grid create the model $grid->setColModel(); // Set the url from where we obtain the data $grid->setUrl('grouping_ma_details.php'); // Set grid caption using the option caption $grid->setGridOptions(array( "sortable"=>true, "rownumbers"=>true, "caption"=>"Group by Maintenance Agreement", "rowNum"=>20, "height"=>'auto', "width"=>1300, "sortname"=>"maID", "hoverrows"=>true, "rowList"=>array(10,20,50), "footerrow"=>false, "userDataOnFooter"=>false, "grouping"=>true, "groupingView"=>array( "groupField" => array('CompanyName'), "groupColumnShow" => array(true), //show or hide area column "groupText" =>array('<b> Company Name: {0}</b>',), "groupDataSorted" => true, "groupSummary" => array(true) ) )); if(isset($_SESSION['login_admin'])) { $grid->addCol(array( "name"=>"Action", "formatter"=>"actions", "editable"=>false, "sortable"=>false, "resizable"=>false, "fixed"=>true, "width"=>60, "formatoptions"=>array("keys"=>true), "search"=>false ), "first"); } // Change some property of the field(s) $grid->setColProperty("CompanyID", array("label"=>"ID","hidden"=>true,"width"=>30,"editable"=>false,"editoptions"=>array("readonly"=>"readonly"))); $grid->setColProperty("CompanyName", array("label"=>"Company Name","hidden"=>true,"editable"=>false,"width"=>150,"align"=>"center","fixed"=>true)); $grid->setColProperty("CompanyCode", array("label"=>"Company Code","hidden"=>true,"width"=>50,"align"=>"center")); $grid->setColProperty("OrderCode", array("label"=>"Order Code","width"=>110,"editable"=>false,"align"=>"center","fixed"=>true)); $grid->setColProperty("maID", array("hidden"=>true)); $grid->setColProperty("System", array("width"=>150,"fixed"=>true,"align"=>"center")); $grid->setColProperty("Type", array("width"=>280,"fixed"=>true)); $grid->setColProperty("Status", array("width"=>70,"align"=>"center","edittype"=>"select","editoptions"=>array("value"=>"Yes:Yes;No:No"),"fixed"=>true)); $grid->setSelect('System', "SELECT DISTINCT System, System AS System FROM master_ma_system ORDER BY System", false, true, true, array(""=>"All")); $grid->setSelect('Type', "SELECT DISTINCT Type, Type AS Type FROM master_ma_type ORDER BY Type", false, true, true, array(""=>"All")); $grid->setColProperty("StartDate", array("label"=>"Start Date","width"=>120,"align"=>"center","fixed"=>true, "formatter"=>"date", "formatoptions"=>array("srcformat"=>"Y-m-d H:i:s","newformat"=>"d M Y") )); // this is only in this case since the orderdate is set as date time $grid->setUserTime("d M Y"); $grid->setUserDate("d M Y"); $grid->setDatepicker("StartDate",array("buttonOnly"=>false)); $grid->datearray = array('StartDate'); $grid->setColProperty("EndDate", array("label"=>"End Date","width"=>120,"align"=>"center","fixed"=>true, "formatter"=>"date", "formatoptions"=>array("srcformat"=>"Y-m-d H:i:s","newformat"=>"d M Y") )); // this is only in this case since the orderdate is set as date time $grid->setUserTime("d M Y"); $grid->setUserDate("d M Y"); $grid->setDatepicker("EndDate",array("buttonOnly"=>false)); $grid->datearray = array('EndDate'); $grid->setColProperty("Date", array("label"=>"Order Date","width"=>100,"editable"=>false,"align"=>"center","fixed"=>true, "formatter"=>"date", "formatoptions"=>array("srcformat"=>"Y-m-d H:i:s","newformat"=>"d M Y") )); // this is only in this case since the orderdate is set as date time $grid->setUserTime("d M Y"); $grid->setUserDate("d M Y"); $grid->setDatepicker("Date",array("buttonOnly"=>false)); $grid->datearray = array('Date'); // This command is executed after edit $maID = jqGridUtils::GetParam('maID'); $Status = jqGridUtils::GetParam('Status'); $StartDate = jqGridUtils::GetParam('StartDate'); $EndDate = jqGridUtils::GetParam('EndDate'); $Type = jqGridUtils::GetParam('Type'); // This command is executed immediatley after edit occur. $grid->setAfterCrudAction('edit', "UPDATE maintenance_agreement SET m.Status=?, m.StartDate=?, m.EndDate=?, m.Type=? WHERE m.maID=?", array($Status,$StartDate,$EndDate,$Type,$maID)); $selectorder = <<<ORDER function(rowid, selected) { if(rowid != null) { jQuery("#detail").jqGrid('setGridParam',{postData:{CompanyID:rowid}}); jQuery("#detail").trigger("reloadGrid"); // Enable CRUD buttons in navigator when a row is selected jQuery("#add_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#edit_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#del_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); } } ORDER; // We should clear the grid data on second grid on sorting, paging, etc. $cleargrid = <<<CLEAR function(rowid, selected) { // clear the grid data and footer data jQuery("#detail").jqGrid('clearGridData',true); // Disable CRUD buttons in navigator when a row is not selected jQuery("#add_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#edit_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#del_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); } CLEAR; $grid->setGridEvent('onSelectRow', $selectorder); $grid->setGridEvent('onSortCol', $cleargrid); $grid->setGridEvent('onPaging', $cleargrid); $grid->setColProperty("Area", array("width"=>100,"hidden"=>false,"editable"=>false,"fixed"=>true)); $grid->setColProperty("HeadCount", array("label"=>"Head Count","align"=>"center", "width"=>100,"hidden"=>false,"fixed"=>true)); $grid->setSelect('Area', "SELECT DISTINCT AreaName, AreaName AS Area FROM master_area ORDER BY AreaName", false, true, true, array(""=>"All")); $grid->setSelect('CompanyName', "SELECT DISTINCT CompanyName, CompanyName AS CompanyName FROM company ORDER BY CompanyName", false, true, true, array(""=>"All")); $custom = <<<CUSTOM jQuery("#getselected").click(function(){ var selr = jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('getGridParam','selrow'); if(selr) { window.open('http://www.smartouch-cdms.com/order.php?CompanyID='+selr); } else alert("No selected row"); return false; }); CUSTOM; $grid->setJSCode($custom); // Enable toolbar searching $grid->toolbarfilter = true; $grid->setFilterOptions(array("stringResult"=>true,"searchOnEnter"=>false,"defaultSearch"=>"cn")); // Enable navigator $grid->navigator = true; // disable the delete operation programatically for that table $grid->del = false; // we need to write some custom code when we are in delete mode. // get the grid operation parameter to see if we are in delete mode // jqGrid sends the "oper" parameter to identify the needed action $deloper = $_POST['oper']; // det the company id $cid = $_POST['CompanyID']; // if the operation is del and the companyid is set if($deloper == 'del' && isset($cid) ) { // the two tables are linked via CompanyID, so let try to delete the records in both tables try { jqGridDB::beginTransaction($conn); $comp = jqGridDB::prepare($conn, "DELETE FROM company WHERE CompanyID= ?", array($cid)); $cont = jqGridDB::prepare($conn,"DELETE FROM contact WHERE CompanyID = ?", array($cid)); jqGridDB::execute($comp); jqGridDB::execute($cont); jqGridDB::commit($conn); } catch(Exception $e) { jqGridDB::rollBack($conn); echo $e->getMessage(); } } // Enable only deleting if(isset($_SESSION['login_admin'])) { $grid->setNavOptions('navigator', array("pdf"=>true, "excel"=>true,"add"=>false,"edit"=>true,"del"=>false,"view"=>true, "search"=>true)); } else $grid->setNavOptions('navigator', array("pdf"=>true, "excel"=>true,"add"=>false,"edit"=>false,"del"=>false,"view"=>true, "search"=>true)); // In order to enable the more complex search we should set multipleGroup option // Also we need show query roo $grid->setNavOptions('search', array( "multipleGroup"=>false, "showQuery"=>true )); // Set different filename $grid->exportfile = 'Company.xls'; // Close the dialog after editing $grid->setNavOptions('edit',array("closeAfterEdit"=>true,"editCaption"=>"Update Company","bSubmit"=>"Update","dataheight"=>"auto")); $grid->setNavOptions('add',array("closeAfterAdd"=>true,"addCaption"=>"Add New Company","bSubmit"=>"Update","dataheight"=>"auto")); $grid->setNavOptions('view',array("Caption"=>"View Company","dataheight"=>"auto","width"=>"1100")); ob_end_clean(); //solve TCPDF error // Enjoy $grid->renderGrid('#grid','#pager',true, null, null, true,true); $conn = null; ?> javascript code jQuery(document).ready(function ($) { jQuery('#grid').jqGrid({ "width": 1300, "hoverrows": true, "viewrecords": true, "jsonReader": { "repeatitems": false, "subgrid": { "repeatitems": false } }, "xmlReader": { "repeatitems": false, "subgrid": { "repeatitems": false } }, "gridview": true, "url": "session_ma_details.php", "editurl": "session_ma_details.php", "cellurl": "session_ma_details.php", "sortable": true, "rownumbers": true, "caption": "Group by Maintenance Agreement", "rowNum": 20, "height": "auto", "sortname": "maID", "rowList": [10, 20, 50], "footerrow": false, "userDataOnFooter": false, "grouping": true, "groupingView": { "groupField": ["CompanyName"], "groupColumnShow": [false], "groupText": ["<b> Company Name: {0}</b>"], "groupDataSorted": true, "groupSummary": [true] }, "onSelectRow": function (rowid, selected) { if (rowid != null) { jQuery("#detail").jqGrid('setGridParam', { postData: { CompanyID: rowid } }); jQuery("#detail").trigger("reloadGrid"); // Enable CRUD buttons in navigator when a row is selected jQuery("#add_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#edit_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#del_detail").removeClass("ui-state-disabled"); } }, "onSortCol": function (rowid, selected) { // clear the grid data and footer data jQuery("#detail").jqGrid('clearGridData', true); // Disable CRUD buttons in navigator when a row is not selected jQuery("#add_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#edit_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#del_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); }, "onPaging": function (rowid, selected) { // clear the grid data and footer data jQuery("#detail").jqGrid('clearGridData', true); // Disable CRUD buttons in navigator when a row is not selected jQuery("#add_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#edit_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); jQuery("#del_detail").addClass("ui-state-disabled"); }, "datatype": "json", "colModel": [ { "name": "Action", "formatter": "actions", "editable": false, "sortable": false, "resizable": false, "fixed": true, "width": 60, "formatoptions": { "keys": true }, "search": false }, { "name": "CompanyID", "index": "CompanyID", "sorttype": "int", "label": "ID", "hidden": true, "width": 30, "editable": false, "editoptions": { "readonly": "readonly" } }, { "name": "CompanyCode", "index": "CompanyCode", "sorttype": "string", "label": "Company Code", "hidden": true, "width": 50, "align": "center", "editable": true }, { "name": "CompanyName", "index": "CompanyName", "sorttype": "string", "label": "Company Name", "hidden": true, "editable": false, "width": 150, "align": "center", "fixed": true, "edittype": "select", "editoptions": { "value": "Aquatex Industries:Aquatex Industries;Benithem Sdn Bhd:Benithem Sdn Bhd;Daily Bakery Sdn Bhd:Daily Bakery Sdn Bhd;Eurocor Asia Sdn Bhd:Eurocor Asia Sdn Bhd;Evergrown Technology:Evergrown Technology;Goldpar Precision:Goldpar Precision;MicroSun Technologies Asia:MicroSun Technologies Asia;NCI Industries Sdn Bhd:NCI Industries Sdn Bhd;PHHP Marketing:PHHP Marketing;Smart Touch Technology:Smart Touch Technology;THOSCO Treatech:THOSCO Treatech;YHL Trading (Johor) Sdn Bhd:YHL Trading (Johor) Sdn Bhd;Zenxin Agri-Organic Food:Zenxin Agri-Organic Food", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "stype": "select", "searchoptions": { "value": ":All;Aquatex Industries:Aquatex Industries;Benithem Sdn Bhd:Benithem Sdn Bhd;Daily Bakery Sdn Bhd:Daily Bakery Sdn Bhd;Eurocor Asia Sdn Bhd:Eurocor Asia Sdn Bhd;Evergrown Technology:Evergrown Technology;Goldpar Precision:Goldpar Precision;MicroSun Technologies Asia:MicroSun Technologies Asia;NCI Industries Sdn Bhd:NCI Industries Sdn Bhd;PHHP Marketing:PHHP Marketing;Smart Touch Technology:Smart Touch Technology;THOSCO Treatech:THOSCO Treatech;YHL Trading (Johor) Sdn Bhd:YHL Trading (Johor) Sdn Bhd;Zenxin Agri-Organic Food:Zenxin Agri-Organic Food", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" } }, { "name": "Area", "index": "Area", "sorttype": "string", "width": 100, "hidden": true, "editable": false, "fixed": true, "edittype": "select", "editoptions": { "value": "Cemerlang:Cemerlang;Danga Bay:Danga Bay;Kulai:Kulai;Larkin:Larkin;Masai:Masai;Nusa Cemerlang:Nusa Cemerlang;Nusajaya:Nusajaya;Pasir Gudang:Pasir Gudang;Pekan Nenas:Pekan Nenas;Permas Jaya:Permas Jaya;Pontian:Pontian;Pulai:Pulai;Senai:Senai;Skudai:Skudai;Taman Gaya:Taman Gaya;Taman Johor Jaya:Taman Johor Jaya;Taman Molek:Taman Molek;Taman Pelangi:Taman Pelangi;Taman Sentosa:Taman Sentosa;Tebrau 4:Tebrau 4;Ulu Tiram:Ulu Tiram", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "stype": "select", "searchoptions": { "value": ":All;Cemerlang:Cemerlang;Danga Bay:Danga Bay;Kulai:Kulai;Larkin:Larkin;Masai:Masai;Nusa Cemerlang:Nusa Cemerlang;Nusajaya:Nusajaya;Pasir Gudang:Pasir Gudang;Pekan Nenas:Pekan Nenas;Permas Jaya:Permas Jaya;Pontian:Pontian;Pulai:Pulai;Senai:Senai;Skudai:Skudai;Taman Gaya:Taman Gaya;Taman Johor Jaya:Taman Johor Jaya;Taman Molek:Taman Molek;Taman Pelangi:Taman Pelangi;Taman Sentosa:Taman Sentosa;Tebrau 4:Tebrau 4;Ulu Tiram:Ulu Tiram", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" } }, { "name": "OrderCode", "index": "OrderCode", "sorttype": "string", "label": "Order No.", "width": 110, "editable": false, "align": "center", "fixed": true }, { "name": "Date", "index": "Date", "sorttype": "date", "label": "Order Date", "width": 100, "editable": false, "align": "center", "fixed": true, "formatter": "date", "formatoptions": { "srcformat": "Y-m-d H:i:s", "newformat": "d M Y" }, "editoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } }, "searchoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } } }, { "name": "maID", "index": "maID", "sorttype": "int", "key": true, "hidden": true, "editable": true }, { "name": "System", "index": "System", "sorttype": "string", "width": 150, "fixed": true, "align": "center", "edittype": "select", "editoptions": { "value": "Payroll:Payroll;TMS:TMS;TMS & Payroll:TMS & Payroll", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "stype": "select", "searchoptions": { "value": ":All;Payroll:Payroll;TMS:TMS;TMS & Payroll:TMS & Payroll", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "editable": true }, { "name": "Status", "index": "Status", "sorttype": "string", "width": 70, "align": "center", "edittype": "select", "editoptions": { "value": "Yes:Yes;No:No" }, "fixed": true, "editable": true }, { "name": "StartDate", "index": "StartDate", "sorttype": "date", "label": "Start Date", "width": 120, "align": "center", "fixed": true, "formatter": "date", "formatoptions": { "srcformat": "Y-m-d H:i:s", "newformat": "d M Y" }, "editoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } }, "searchoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } }, "editable": true }, { "name": "EndDate", "index": "EndDate", "sorttype": "date", "label": "End Date", "width": 120, "align": "center", "fixed": true, "formatter": "date", "formatoptions": { "srcformat": "Y-m-d H:i:s", "newformat": "d M Y" }, "editoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } }, "searchoptions": { "dataInit": function(el) { setTimeout(function() { if (jQuery.ui) { if (jQuery.ui.datepicker) { jQuery(el).datepicker({ "disabled": false, "dateFormat": "dd M yy" }); jQuery('.ui-datepicker').css({ 'font-size': '75%' }); } } }, 100); } }, "editable": true }, { "name": "Type", "index": "Type", "sorttype": "string", "width": 530, "fixed": true, "edittype": "select", "editoptions": { "value": "Comprehensive MA:Comprehensive MA;FOC service, 20% spare part discount:FOC service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 1 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 1 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 2 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 2 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 3 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 3 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 4 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 4 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 6 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 6 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, no free:Standard Package, no free", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "stype": "select", "searchoptions": { "value": ":All;Comprehensive MA:Comprehensive MA;FOC service, 20% spare part discount:FOC service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 1 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 1 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 2 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 2 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 3 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 3 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 4 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 4 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, FOC 6 time service, 20% spare part discount:Standard Package, FOC 6 time service, 20% spare part discount;Standard Package, no free:Standard Package, no free", "separator": ":", "delimiter": ";" }, "editable": true } ], "postData": { "oper": "grid" }, "prmNames": { "page": "page", "rows": "rows", "sort": "sidx", "order": "sord", "search": "_search", "nd": "nd", "id": "maID", "filter": "filters", "searchField": "searchField", "searchOper": "searchOper", "searchString": "searchString", "oper": "oper", "query": "grid", "addoper": "add", "editoper": "edit", "deloper": "del", "excel": "excel", "subgrid": "subgrid", "totalrows": "totalrows", "autocomplete": "autocmpl" }, "loadError": function(xhr, status, err) { try { jQuery.jgrid.info_dialog(jQuery.jgrid.errors.errcap, '<div class="ui-state-error">' + xhr.responseText + '</div>', jQuery.jgrid.edit.bClose, { buttonalign: 'right' } ); } catch(e) { alert(xhr.responseText); } }, "pager": "#pager" }); jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('navGrid', '#pager', { "edit": true, "add": false, "del": false, "search": true, "refresh": true, "view": true, "excel": true, "pdf": true, "csv": false, "columns": false }, { "drag": true, "resize": true, "closeOnEscape": true, "dataheight": "auto", "errorTextFormat": function (r) { return r.responseText; }, "closeAfterEdit": true, "editCaption": "Update Company", "bSubmit": "Update" }, { "drag": true, "resize": true, "closeOnEscape": true, "dataheight": "auto", "errorTextFormat": function (r) { return r.responseText; }, "closeAfterAdd": true, "addCaption": "Add New Company", "bSubmit": "Update" }, { "errorTextFormat": function (r) { return r.responseText; } }, { "drag": true, "closeAfterSearch": true, "multipleSearch": true }, { "drag": true, "resize": true, "closeOnEscape": true, "dataheight": "auto", "Caption": "View Company", "width": "1100" } ); jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('navButtonAdd', '#pager', { id: 'pager_excel', caption: '', title: 'Export To Excel', onClickButton: function (e) { try { jQuery("#grid").jqGrid('excelExport', { tag: 'excel', url: 'session_ma_details.php' }); } catch (e) { window.location = 'session_ma_details.php?oper=excel'; } }, buttonicon: 'ui-icon-newwin' }); jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('navButtonAdd', '#pager', { id: 'pager_pdf', caption: '', title: 'Export To Pdf', onClickButton: function (e) { try { jQuery("#grid").jqGrid('excelExport', { tag: 'pdf', url: 'session_ma_details.php' }); } catch (e) { window.location = 'session_ma_details.php?oper=pdf'; } }, buttonicon: 'ui-icon-print' }); jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('filterToolbar', { "stringResult": true, "searchOnEnter": false, "defaultSearch": "cn" }); jQuery("#getselected").click(function () { var selr = jQuery('#grid').jqGrid('getGridParam', 'selrow'); if (selr) { window.open('http://www.smartouch-cdms.com/order.php?CompanyID=' + selr); } else alert("No selected row"); return false; }); });

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  • Large invoice database structure and rendering

    - by user132624
    Our client has a MS SQL database that has 1 million customer invoice records in it. Using the database, our client wants its customers to be able to log into a frontend web site and then be able to view, modify and download their company’s invoices. Given the size of the database and the large number of customers who may log into the web site at any time, we are concerned about data base engine performance and web page invoice rendering performance. The 1 million invoice database is for just 90 days sales, so we will remove invoices over 90 days old from the database. Most of the invoices have multiple line items. We can easily convert our invoices into various data formats so for example it is easy for us to convert to and from SQL to XML with related schema and XSLT. Any data conversion would be done on another server so as not to burden the web interface server. We have tentatively decided to run the web site on a .NET Framework IIS web server using MS SQL on MS Azure. How would you suggest we structure our database for best performance? For example, should we put all the invoices of all customers located within the same 5 digit or 6 digit zip codes into the same table? Or could we set up a separate home directory for each customer on IIS and place each customer’s invoices in each customer’s home directory in XML format? And secondly what would you suggest would be the best method to render customer invoices on a web page and allow customers to modify for best performance? The ADO.net XML Data Set looks intriguing to us as a method, but we have never used it.

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  • How Are Businesses Advancing with the Experience Revolution?

    - by Charles Knapp
    Businesses worldwide are operating in a new era. Customers are taking charge of their relationships with brands, and the customer experience has become the most important differentiator and driver of business value. Where is the experience heading? And how can businesses take advantage of the customer experience revolution? Find out from the experts at a one-of-a-kind event: the Oracle Customer Experience Summit at Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco, October 3-5. Our featured speakers are global visionaries including Seth Godin, George Kembel from the Stanford d:School, Bruce Temkin, Kerry Bodine and Paul Hagen from Forrester, and Gene Alvarez from Gartner. Featured industry leaders will include speakers from Athene Group, Bazaarvoice, Comcast, Consortium of Service Innovation, Haworth, Intuit, KPN, Marriott, Nikon, Quicksilver, Royal Caribbean, SapientNitro, Southwest, Stryker, Stuart Concannon, and Twilio. Featured speakers from Oracle will include Oracle President Mark Hurd, Anthony Lye, David Vap, Brian Curran, John Kembel, and Matthew Banks. So, please join us at the Customer Experience Summit at the Oracle OpenWorld Conference.

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