Microsoft sets rules for Windows Phone app distribution

New Orleans — With an eye to the consumer market, Microsoft has unveiled the policies that will govern how consumer and enterprise applications are distributed in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Yesterday, at its TechEd conference, the company revealed that developers would have no limit on the number of paid applications that can be submitted to the store. Developers will receive five free submissions per registration; further registrations will cost US$19.99 each.

Marketplace business models will provide for ad-supported, free, “freemium” and paid applications. Distribution can be public or private. Private distribution is available for a predefined set of people to review applications, which was done with an eye to the enterprise, said Brandon Watson, director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft will furnish development partners with Windows Phone 7 devices in July, he said. Applications will be written in a hybrid version of Silverlight 3, which includes elements of Silverlight 4, he said. HTML 5 will not be supported.

Developers can port Silverlight 4 desktop applications to Windows Phone 7; however, they should optimize for the experience that they are delivering, Watson said. Windows Phone 7 will introduce a new interface called “Metro,” which exposes application notifications through tiles on the phone’s desktop.

Further enterprise functionality will become available through integration with Active Directory and support for policies. There will be more opportunities to extend functionality in the future, Watson said. “Those are just the tip of the spear.”

Microsoft is unaware of whether third-party component makers are building controls for Windows Phone 7, Watson said. “They all probably want to be first to market when the phone is available,” he remarked.

By David Worthington on SDTimes

Cloud Computing Must Have Proper Governance

Cloud computing has taken off as a trend in enterprise IT, but analysts say proper governance is necessary for companies to realize the full benefits of on-demand systems.

New, relatively unmanaged and untamed technologies always draw the same analogy: the wild, Wild West. That's what was said about the Internet 15 years ago and several subsets of computing technology, which tend to be unregulated when they first emerge. So is the same situation with the Cloud.

As firms move from hosted, dedicated servers to the looser virtualized environment of Cloud computing, that old wild, wild west feeling is starting to come back, and if people are going to feel comfortable using cloud services, they must be rules and governance set down for proper administration. So says IT research firm Ovum in a report by Enterprise IT Planet.

Cloud computing has already established itself as the next disruptive technology in the enterprise, but IT governance in the next few years will be vital as companies feel their way through the transition away from on-site software applications to cloud-based options, independent research firm Ovum said in its latest report.

The benefits of the Cloud -- lower costs, a smaller data-center footprint and immediate access to multiple applications for a distributed, international workforce with minimal fuss -- are also some things that can expose companies to degrees of risk that simply weren't possible during the heyday of locally deployed software installations.

By Larry Barrett, June 17, 2010

Cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. Part of the larger Azure Services Platform, Windows Azure is a platform for running Windows applications and storing data in the cloud.

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. To deploy a new solution, most of your time and energy is spent on defining the right infrastructure, hardware and software, to put together to create that solution, Cloud computing allows people to share resources to solve new problems. Cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use.

Moss 2007 FAQ: Enable/ Disable fields with selection of radio button in Moss 2007 - By Mario Fernandes

Query by Biplab Mitra: 

I need some help from you regarding MOSS.

I need to enable/disable some fields with the selection of radio buttons.

How can I add JavaScript to the fields in the list? As I am unable to get the field ID.

Even I need to add some logic for calculating some fields with the selection of the radio buttons.

Solution by Mario Fernandes

1. Open the List.  ( I am assuming its Employee list.)
   
   
2. Pick any one record & go in edit mode.
   
   
3. Right click on the page & View Source
   
   
4. Search for <form element  - note down the “name” value
   
   
5. Search for the field you wish to make read only say “EmployeeName”. Check <input element next to it – note down the “name” value
   
   
6. Copy the URL of this EditForm.aspx
   
   
7. Open Sharepoint Designer, File à Open à paste the url you copied
   
   
8. Go to code window.
   
   
9. Locate <IMG src="/_layouts/images/blank.gif"
   
   
10. Just after this <Img> element put this code  ---      document.formname.inputfieldname
    
    
11. <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">document.aspnetForm.ctl00$m$g_bf411c27_b525_4df6_a7f3_a64ee5b5aef3$ctl00$ctl04$ctl01$ctl00$ctl00$ctl04$ctl00$ctl00$TextField.disabled="true";</script>
    

    
    
12. Save the form. Refresh the page.
    
    
13. There you go
    
    

Synergetics is a premium brand in the Indian IT industry in the area of people competency development  engaged in delivering it thru  its training and consulting interventions; primarily focusing on their productivity with regards to the project and deliverables on hand . Its primary differentiator has been its solution centric approach and its comprehensive client focused service portfolio.

Silverlight, WPF at forefront of DevExpress plans

.NET component and application framework maker Developer Express will place a greater emphasis on Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) this year, according to its 2010 road map, announced on Tuesday.

DevExpress' Silverlight components will deliver full design-time support for Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend 3. Upcoming Silverlight 3 controls will include charting, data editing and a scheduler. A Silverlight 4 printing control will also be introduced.

"We feel we are late to the party, but then again, Silverlight is changing a lot," said DevExpress CTO Julian Bucknall. Aside from controls, the company is integrating Silverlight into its eXpressApp Framework, he added.

Some of its upcoming WPF controls will include final versions of DevExpress' pivot grid and layout manager, data editor, ribbon, report view, and scheduler.

DevExpress' embrace of Silverlight and WPF comes at the expense of Windows Forms development. Bucknall said that WinForms controls are being deemphasized, but development will continue with more chart types, VS 2010 and Client Profile support for controls, as well as new user interface styles to match the appearance of Windows 7 and Office 2010.

VCL (Visual Component Library) controls will be likewise updated with additional views and similar user interface options for the Microsoft stack.

DevExpress will continue to forge ahead to update its existing ASP.NET controls, and it will begin to deliver new controls that exploit the new capabilities that will be introduced by .NET 4.0 , Bucknall said. He is being more circumspect about developing components for ASP.NET's Model-View-Controller pattern, but the company will introduce a navigation bar and tab control nonetheless.

Lastly, new editions of the company's next IDE productivity tools, including CodeRush and Refactor Pro, will be released later this year around the time that VS 2010 ships, Bucknall said. "There were big changes in Visual Studio 2010," he added.

By David Worthington on SDTimes.

.NET 3.5 WPF FAQ: How to remove highlighted attributes in WPF application - By Mario Fernandes

Query by Mr. Rajpreet Singh

I have a query in my WPF application.

I was trying to generate XAML styles at runtime using the following code:

XNamespace xmlns = XNamespace.Get("http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation");

XNamespace x = XNamespace.Get("http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml");

XDocument xamlDoc = new XDocument(

      new XElement(xmlns + "ResourceDictionary",

            new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "x", x.NamespaceName)));

xamlDoc.Root.Add(

      new XElement("SolidColorBrush",

            new XAttribute(x + "Key", "ButtonBrush"),

            new XAttribute("Color", "Red")));

The output which I get is as shown below, but it also brings this (highlighted) useless attribute.

<ResourceDictionary xmlns:x=http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">

            <SolidColorBrush x:Key="AutoBrush" Color="Black" xmlns="" />

      </ResourceDictionary>

Please tell me what I should change in the code to get rid of this. For now I have manually removed it from the XAML string.

I have also tried combing both the statements into a single one but that also doesn’t help:

XDocument xamlDoc = new XDocument(

new XElement(xmlns + "ResourceDictionary",

new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "x", x.NamespaceName),

new XElement("SolidColorBrush",

new XAttribute(x + "Key", "ButtonBrush"),

new XAttribute("Color", "Red"))));

Solutions by Mario Fernandes

(Just add the variable I have marked in green.)

XNamespace xmlns = XNamespace.Get("http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation");

XNamespace x = XNamespace.Get("http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml");

XDocument xamlDoc = new XDocument(

      new XElement(xmlns + "ResourceDictionary",

            new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "x", x.NamespaceName)));

xamlDoc.Root.Add(

      new XElement(xmlns + "SolidColorBrush",

            new XAttribute(x + "Key", "ButtonBrush"),

            new XAttribute("Color", "Red")));

The output which I get is as shown below, but it also brings this (highlighted) useless attribute.

<ResourceDictionary xmlns:x=http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">

            <SolidColorBrush x:Key="AutoBrush" Color="Black" xmlns="" />

      </ResourceDictionary>

Please tell me what I should change in the code to get rid of this. For now I have manually removed it from the XAML string.

I have also tried combing both the statements into a single one but that also doesn’t help:

XDocument xamlDoc = new XDocument(

new XElement(xmlns + "ResourceDictionary",

new XAttribute(XNamespace.Xmlns + "x", x.NamespaceName),

new XElement("SolidColorBrush",

new XAttribute(x + "Key", "ButtonBrush"),

new XAttribute("Color", "Red"))));

 Microsoft ASP.NET is a free technology that allows programmers to create dynamic web applications. ASP.NET can be used to create anything from small, personal websites through to large, enterprise-class web applications.

TFS FAQ - By Sanjay Jotwani

Introduction

A Work Item in common parlance is considered to be an instance of effort/work being carried out by an individual. Multiple instances of Work Items eventually culminate into the delivery of a service or a product that is meant for a customer.

Team Foundation Server Work Items

Depending on the approach one adopts for managing an application life cycle i.e. from requirement gathering to actual delivery/deployment, there are various work item types that will be instantiated and persisted into a database. As business needs and the processes thereof are dynamic, and disparate, customizing a Work Item, hence seems to be inevitable. It is therefore essential to understand the anatomy and thereby gain the basic understanding of customizing an existing work item type, or even adding a new work item type.

The Anatomy of a WIT(Work Item Type), in TFS has three essential parts, viz.

1. Fields
2. Layout, and
3. Workflow
   
   

In TFS there are approximately 57 “Field Reference Names”, mapping to base/native types. This is an extensible set.  In keeping with the .NET namespace tradition, two namespaces are predefined: System and Microsoft. The System namespace includes all system fields that are mandatory for Team Foundation system functions. The Microsoft namespace defines all required fields for work item types defined by Microsoft. Customers and partners can create their own field namespaces for custom work item types. We could define our own namespaces, for e.g. a WIT for tracking leads could have a field with a reference name of “Synergetics.LeadManagement.CustomerName”. This in turn could be of a base type “String”, having a name of “Customer Name”, as shown in Figure 1.1

Figure 1.1

Layout

In this section, you map the reference name of the field to a control. The control is the user interface for capturing the required data, and can be customized with a “Type” property to perform necessary validation and change the look and feel, as shown in Figure 1.2. A “Type” property could a “FieldControl”,  “DateTimeControl”, or even a “LinkControl” depending on the data requirement.

Figure 1.2

Workflow

A wok flow is a series of linked steps which would be used to declare transitions to different states, in the life time of a work item. Transitions would be declared, or provide links between states in a WIT work flow, using a graphical UI, as shown in Figure 1.3

Figure 1.3

As an example, the transition from “Active” to “Closed”, will occur for the reasons:

Obsolete, Chose Competitor, Project Cancelled, Too Expensive, or Offer Accepted;

Wherein default values and rules for the fields Assigned To, Activated Date, Activated By, Closed By, and Closed Date are also declared.

The Actions, provides the events under which this transition is deemed to occur.

To conclude customizing a WIT in TFS is a simple, code free effort and can be done within a short period of time, actually hours if not minutes. The key is to know the process and identify the flows, further to which each flow could be encapsulated as a WIT.

Interestingly, as may have been observed, the example used to explain the anatomy and steps, are for a WIT which captures and tracks non development efforts. If you are wondering why would I use TFS to do such a thing?! Well, think about support calls that one would want to capture, post deployment of a product/application.

Thanks for spending time in reading this blog, and sincerely hope it may have helped clear some doubts on the WITs in TFS.

Cheers & Have A Nice Day Ahead!!

About Author: Sanjay Jotwani is Technology Transformation Group Leader.

Synergetics India: IT consulting and Training services on .NET 4.0, SQL server 2008 BI. Awarded as the Best. NET Training Service Provider by Microsoft.

Oracle acquires AmberPoint

Oracle today has announced its acquisition of AmberPoint, a maker of SOA management software.

AmberPoint's SOA Management System solution is focused on resolving issues in application performance and transaction monitoring. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close during the first half of this year, according to Oracle.

AmberPoint has partnerships with HP, Microsoft, Parasoft, SAP and TIBCO. Oracle will continue to support multiple platforms "even if the relationship ends," and it will support OEM agreements going forward, the company said in a conference call with the press.

"My guess is that Oracle will terminate many of these relationships," said Anne Thomas Manes, vice president and research director for Burton Group. AmberPoint, which is the "clear leader" in the SOA management market, is an "excellent acquisition" for Oracle, she added.

"I view SOA management as the most useful piece of SOA infrastructure an organization can buy, yet very few organizations have bought one," Manes said.

"The big vendors have universally promoted ESB as the foundation of a SOA infrastructure, and they've traditionally played down SOA management. I have the opposite perspective; SOA management should be the foundation of the infrastructure, and ESBs are less important."

Oracle intends to integrate data from AmberPoint’s governance runtime into its Fusion middleware products, including Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle SOA Governance and Oracle SOA Suite, the company said.

"We expect the addition of AmberPoint's products to Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite will provide stronger end-to-end governance that allows customers to manage the entire life cycle of SOA-based solutions, providing visibility and management across heterogeneous environments," said Thomas Kurian, Oracle executive vice president of product development.

"I doubt that Oracle will start to downplay ESBs, but I expect they will start to aggressively promote SOA management," Manes said.

By David Worthington

Windows 7 Embedded adds multimedia modules

Windows Embedded 7 Standard, an embedded edition of Windows 7, introduces new multimedia modules, energy saving options, and management capabilities for specialized enterprise and consumer devices.

Microsoft shipped Windows Embedded 7 Standard in late April at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose. Several of its partner's solutions and its own reference hardware were demonstrated during the conference.

Those included multi-touch kiosks built with Intel hardware, industrial automation products from Siemens as well as Microsoft's concept of set-top boxes for integrating PC and Web-based multimedia with televisions. Partners have been working with Windows Embedded 7 since September, when a preview version was released.

The primary focus of Microsoft's embedded products has been on enterprise-class devices, but Microsoft is now targeting the consumer marketplace with new Windows Media Center components and Windows Presentation Foundation-based UI controls, said Ashwin Kulkarni, senior product manager for Windows Embedded.

Developers also have access to Windows 7's multi-touch, Windows Flip 3D navigation and Windows Aero user interfaces. Other technologies found in Windows Embedded 7 Standard are Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol 7.0, Windows Media Player 12 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1.

The core product footprint is 400MB, Kulkarni said. Microsoft's development tools take dependencies into account as images are created, he said.

By David Worthington