It seems 2012 has started with an even faster pace than 2011 did. And with that the activities for a year full of promise have started.
So far this year I am scheduled to be at the following events in Q1.
Inaugural Office 365 Saturday in Redmond: February 25th, 2012.
codepaLOUsa, Louisville, KY: March 15-17, 2012.
There have been changes and more changes going on, but will be back to post and go through a memory dump of the challenges I have encountered, but more importantly, the solutions that have come from that.
One of the main attraction points to this offering in my review is how does it fit into the work I do and solutions I recommend. Right off, the fact it has capabilities described as Silverlight focus/MVVM , makes it something that intrigued me. I tested the different capabilities it has from using it in WinForms and WPF as well, and Silverlight.
One of the main points is the C1DataSource, it shows a level of simplicity through the property dialogs that allows you to move right along with, for example, how you need to present, filter (server side) and sort data. The same can be said on how simple it is to implement different paging options, it does take into consideration working with this from a client side as well as managing it server side.
A big advantage here is the ability to connect to any of the “data-bound” capable built-in controls and components. For example, being able to work with the built-in DataGridView or a TextBox for that matter.
So, yes the focus does fall on the C1DataSource component, among the process is the creation of an application wide object that will support any C1DataSource within the scope of the same application. This allows for a unified approach that does not require synchronization among objects as long as they are within the same application scope.
In most of my review and evaluation I had close to zero code added and had a functional data driven solution. For example, in creating a Master-detail form, the process needed was to add a couple of DataGridViews, one pointed to the Customers Entity and the other pointed to the Orders Entity. And yes, that was it, by selecting a Customer then I was able to see the Orders that had been placed. We can get more creative and go further by adding perhaps a DropDown that gives me a list of Customers and then based on my selection the Orders would be displayed on the Grid. This where we would make use of the Server-Side filters (again, depends on the volume of data).
So, what is it that goes on in the back? The C1DataSource is a Data Set, and the ViewSource property helps us define DataViews. The truth of the matter is, it just flows!
All in all, a great tool. However, I do feel their documentation needs some reworking. I am picky when it comes to this as I have been involved in creating/writing Hands-on Labs. And many times assumptions can be made on the level of knowledge an individual may have. In light of this, I will be creating a set of videos that highlights the main elements of the functionality and different implementations. The goal is to make sure tools like this get used, but more importantly get used the right way.
In the meantime look into the videos provided through the ComponentOne Website: http://www.componentone.com/SuperProducts/StudioEntityFramework/Videos/
Let me clarify what I mean by “3 role” environment. When looking at the division of roles with products, solutions or environments, it has been very normal to break it down into IT Pros (Admins), Developers and End Users. And many approach SharePoint in the same style. Does it fit? Sure. Is it the most effective approach? HECK NO!
Let’s look at it piece by piece. Now the question is where do we start?
We need to redefine this. In all cases leaving it as IT Pros, Developers and End Users is too broad. It really does not push to truly have an understanding what the solution should be about. Within the IT Pro role, you have server admins, dbas, infrastructure/solution architects and in many situations the farm administrator is not part of those roles.
Developers are also part of this mix, but this can also be a complex breakdown, as you will likely have your developers, designers, web developers and so on. And within the End User community it is even more complex. I have in the past referred to SharePoint as a solution that is an End User owned solution. Yes, many IT folks do not like that. Why? Because they feel they are losing control of the platform and they will end up supporting, fixing and in the end stuck with it. Yes, that is also part of the reality of many SharePoint deployments. And not only in deployments, the way people are being trained is this same way. There are training materials that I have seen change their approach. I will cover the materials I have experienced having a change in the mindset and style of delivery.
In this series, I will go deeper into each role and the importance of understanding the breakdown. All in all, it meshes with a topic that has been a passion for me over the last couple of years and that is looking to Application Lifecycle Management to help us define that breakdown. ALM is not a software development approach, it goes beyond software development. It goes deeper into being the overarching umbrella that will include the solution ideation/planning, planning/implementation, implementation/stabilization, and stabilization/operations. We talk Governance, Taxonomy and many other topics that many have considered fluff, but are they fluff? When I look at the process, many would refer to End Users receiving their piece once, and only when, Operations has a hand in it. There is some truth to it, but in the effort of driving user adoption, acceptance and so on, we will expand that activity and therefore the involvement. And diving into ownership.
So, come along with me in this series and let’s explore what my thoughts are and keep me posted on what your thoughts are, and how they may align.
Part 2: How IT Pros are involved.
Part 3: Here come the Developers, guard your deployment
Part 4: Let the End User own it
Part 5: From Meal Plans to Learning Plans
The updates are installed, all you want to do now is get connected, authenticated and get going.
The first step needed here is to open Visual Studio 2010, once opened then you need to get to Team Explorer. Once there, you will click on the Connect to Team Project button on the toolbar.
If you had a connection defined to another TFS environment, this will be adding one more, so you click on Servers…
On the next dialog, you will click on Add…
Then you will proceed to provide the details of your Team Foundation Server Preview account. Standard details, you will be using HTTPS, no path and the standard default port number. It will look similar to the settings on the screenshot (just making sure yours do show up, and also verify the Preview of the address. Then click OK.
At this point you will be prompted for authentication to the TFS Preview environment with Windows Live ID.
Once authenticated, you will be able to see the entry in your server list.
Then be able to see any your DefaultCollection and Team Projects, and click Connect.
And once connected you will see the listing of them in Team Explorer.
Once you have configured your online preview, then you can proceed to connect to it using Visual Studio 2010.
In order to get Live ID authentication working and such, there is an update you need to apply. This is something that can be accessed through the Administration page, and then clicking on download software.
Clicking on that link will take you to the Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog. From this page, you will be able to download the needed component to connect and authenticate to the TFS Preview. The direct link to that page is as follows:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2011/09/14/tfs-preview-downloads.aspx
The update requires you have Service Pack 1 for VS 2010 installed. If you are going to be using Microsoft Test Manager, the same applies. The links also include downloads for Eclipse components, Build server functionality and download of the Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview.
Upon download of the software update, you can launch the installation.
Accept the license terms
Get the installation going
Once it completes, click finish
Once you have successfully signed in to your environment, you are at the welcome screen, from here we will need to go to Administration.
Once there, if you have not done so already, add a Team Project to your Collection.
Once there, provide a Name, give a description and select your Process Template, then Click on Create Project.
It will run through the process of creating your team project
Once it completes, you will see the following message and click on Close.
The next post is about navigating to the Team Project and connecting to TFSPreview using Visual Studio.
About a month ago, Microsoft announced the release of Lync for Mac. If you have access to TechNet or MSDN you likely have access to download this tool. Among the benefits of the tool, being able to connect to Office 365. Exciting news, yet for some odd reason it was a battle if you had upgraded to Lion (have not heard of anyone having issues that is running on Snow Leopard). Microsoft then released an update for Lync for Mac.
Now, after the update, it was still no dice for me. Upon further research there were two additional items needed. One was removing an “unknown” certificate that made its way to the Keychain. The other was to manually declare the Internal and External servers for it.
Here is a summary then of the “fixes”
1) Get the update for Lync for Mac, if AutoUpdate has not gotten it, run it manually by going to Help (on any of the Microsoft Office for Mac Apps), from there Check for Updates.
2) Check Keychain Access for an “unknown” certificate, and delete it. To get access to this, you need to go to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access
3) Modify the Connection Settings for Internal and External Servers to point to: sipdir.online.lync.com:443 (some have reported to not need this, in my case it was needed)
Hope this helps if you are having issues connecting to Office 365 and taking on a really great tool across the Mac and Windows platforms.
Sometime ago, say around mid April, 2011 I posted about Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 by going in a different path than using the standalone installation.
This post is about what happens after the installation and initial configuration of your Windows 7 “development farm” gets the bits, and goes through the Central Admin and management perspective to get you to the first screen that says “Hi, SharePoint here, would you like to play a game of chess” (yeah, it does not really say that, but you get the idea).
There are several ways of getting to the farm configuration point, using a wizard or getting some scripting behind it (use of PowerShell).
This post is about using the Wizard.
Once you have completed the installation of SharePoint 2010, you will have the following screen welcome you. Select your choice and click OK.
Then, you are presented with the option to run the Wizard, or to cancel and configure everything yourself. This will be discussed in the next post in this series.
Once you started the wizard to configure your farm, you will be prompted for the Service Account. Todd Klindt has an excellent guide that gives you a summary of the service accounts you should be using. The other options you will encounter here are the services you want to run on your farm. As a side note, when you install the standalone option, you are not prompted for this, everything you see as checked is installed. But here we can be selective about what we really need to work with, develop or just flat out discover.
Once it gets going, you will see this
You will come to a point of the Wizard completing and see the confirmation of Service Applications that were configured.
Once you clicked Finish, you will come to the Central Admin display.
Again, my focus here has been from setting up a development environment. Many people have different opinions on how to get a dev environment on their system, using a vm or installing directly. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. This process works on Windows Server 2008 (R2) as well. Getting to know your options and process is a good learning opportunity.
We have gone through several iterations of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit in the past, and while it was not a complex process to get up and running for me, well that was not the story for many. I had the chance of participating in a Windows Azure Bootcamp, and while the attendees were aware of the requirements on the systems, well it was not as easy to get going.
You can get the October refresh here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8396
I believe that is the reason for the Web Installer, it works together with the Web Platform Installer and here is what it looks like …
Initial license screen, I will accept.
Then I can select the specific content, (or all content), I can also have an idea of the size of download for the items I selected.
I then get a description of the process that needs to take place, I agree to terms again.
Then the first step will take place, and that is to configure installation options …
Then, based on our content selection (mainly driven by the Labs and Demos we picked), we get a dependency check and assistance to install the dependency (PRETTY COOL!!!)
Now, depending on the number of dependencies the process will take some time to complete and make sure your system is ready for the full experience.
Then the installation for the content starts.
Once it completes, click Next
And close
Once the installer for the AdventureWorks Community Sample Database has finished, we then need to complete the process (not mandatory, but nice to do to play with the OLAP content).
The first thing we need to do is make sure we note the location of the script files and samples.
The path if you are working with SQL Server 2008 R2 is as follows:
“C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Samples\AdventureWorks 2008R2 Analysis Services Project\enterprise”
I am working with the developer edition, so the enterprise path works for both Enterprise and Developer edition. There is also a path for Standard.
Once I get to that location I will double click on the Adventure Works.sln file. This will open Business Intelligence Development Studio. Take time to review the artifacts that are part of the solution.
The next step is to make sure the Adventure Works.ds file points to the correct server. To edit, we can do a right-click and select Open, then Edit
The edit screen is as follows
Click Test Connection to make sure we have the correct server instance and have access to the database.
Now that we have validated connection information, we can proceed to deploy. Let’s validate the correct server information is set in the deployment properties. We will right-click the Solution name, and select Properties. From the Configuration Properties, select Deployment, and check the values in the Target Server and Database fields. If not pointing to the correct values, change them to read as you need them.
We are ready to deploy, once again, right-click on the Solution Name, and select Deploy.
When deployment starts, you will see a Deployment Process dialog. It will change values as it moves along the artifacts to deploy.
Once complete you will see the following:
This means deployment has completed and it was successful. To validate, open SQL Server Management Studio, at the logon screen, make sure your values are as follows: (make sure it points to the information that corresponds to your deployment
We need to see the following
This confirms the deployment was successful.
For a while now, if we have been around SQL Server we got used to the different sample databases that were provided. From Pubs to Northwind to AdventureWorks.
In order to get the AdventureWorks samples we need to go to CodePlex and download the one that corresponds to the version of SQL Server we are working with. The link to the download site here : http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/releases/view/55926
Now, on to the installation.
Once you download the appropriate file, double click and launch the installation process.
Which in turn becomes this
You will need to accept the license terms to continue
Then you will select the component of the sample content to install. The OLTP content (relational DBs, in blue) will install and be ready to go once the install completes. The OLAP content (Analysis services content, in orange) will require some additional steps to complete the installation process. Important to note is the option to select the Instance where the Databases will be installed to.
Installation process begins
It completes, then click Finish
This is how the content gets installed. The next post is about getting the Analysis services content deployed.
Coming from SPC a couple of weeks ago, during the keynote there was a demo on some great Visio Diagrams. It was created using the following:
http://visiospfarmaddin.codeplex.com/
Expect a post here in the next week or so on how to configure it.
Another great tool I came across is targeted to those who are becoming familiar with PowerShell for SharePoint, and also if you want to use PowerShell with SharePoint Online. It is a Command Builder, you pick the verbs and nouns as you would regularly do with PowerShell and see the combination of parameters and information for that given command.
Give a try here: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/TechNet/en-us/Office/media/WindowsPowerShell/WindowsPowerShellCommandBuilder.html
More info on it: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff603532