Intent Driven Designs

IT Outsourcing Services

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:38:00 +0000

In the current economic climate, many companies are unable to support full-time IT staff. Fortunately, there are options available! At Intent Driven Designs, we are expanding our services to include a variety of new IT Outsourcing Services. Standard options will included basic hardware and software installation, computer upgrades, and monitored systems maintenance.

We will also be offering new ways to dispose of older systems. With so many businesses focusing their efforts towards environmental safety, we will be offering reuse-and-recycle programs that enable companies to donate gently-used computers to local churches, charities, and appropriate avenues. Part of this service will include total privacy protection through the elimination or transfer of personal or corporate data.

If you’re looking to outsource your IT services, visit us at http://www.intentdriven.com/. We’d be happy to give you a quote for our service.

Asp.Net MVC on IIS 6

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:23:00 +0000

So I was migrating some ASP.Net MVC Apps from a Windows Server 2008, IIS 7 server to a Server 2003 IIS6 server temporarily (while I did some maintenance on the 08 server).

However, I found that the MVC apps did not work past the default page. Fortunately, I'm not alone.

Thanks to Steve Sanderson for the post "Deploying ASP.NET MVC to IIS 6."

Personally I used the wildcard mapping method of solving the issue.

Getting Windows Aero to keep working

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:43:00 +0000

I was working on a couple of things earlier today and realized that some of my Windows 7 features weren't working any more. Specifically, I couldn't get the taskbar thumbnail peek feature to work.

After about 30 minutes of fruitless googling, I switched my theme, thinking maybe it just needed to be reminded of its inherent Aero-ness. This seemed to work.

A little more googling turned up a possible reason for the loss of my Aero desktop - Remote Desktop. Apparently it can muck up the Aero settings real good.

Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:59:00 +0000

Well, after Tuesday Updates this week, my Vista computer was left with many many problems. Between the windows printer dialog being totally MIA, and Office crashing randomly and repeatedly, I made the decision to reformat.

However, being the enterprising young geek that I am, I'm not satisfied with simply reinstalling Vista Ultimate. I'm going for broke. Windows 7, here I come.

Connection between HCI and the SDLC

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Zhang et al (2009) insist that "incorporating a human computer interaction (HCI) perspective into the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is critical to information systems (IS) success and in turn to the success of businesses." The problem, they remind us, is that typical software development progresses with the needs of the organization in mind, rather than the needs of the individual using the software. In their article "Integrating Human-Computer Interaction Development into SDLC: A Methodology", Zhang et al provide a new methodology for developing holistic systems which include human factors requirements.

Strategies

Zhang et al provides 5 strategies for utilizing Human-Centered SDLC

Focus on human AND organizational needs early in the process

Develop the HCI in conjunction with other activities, not as an
afterthought

Evaluations throughout the process

Use an iterative process

Consider the user experience, not just usefulness

On the topic of usefulness, an early critic of Twitter once supposedly said "Twitter is interesting, but not useful" (paraphrased). A quick witted fan replied "Neither is Ice Cream". User experience can enhance a product to the point that even a seemingly useless application can live long enough to find its niche.

HCI Principles

In addition to the strategies above, the authors also give 6 principles to follow in HCI design

Improve Performance while reducing effort

Prevent Errors

Strive for a fit between tasks, information needed, and information
presented

Enable an enjoyable user experience, not merely a useful one

Promote Trust

Keep the design simple

Conclusion

Given the strategies and principles listed, I would think that most modern Agile techniques would suit themselves well to developing HCI elements of software in conjunction with other elements. Even the basic OO requirement gathering process is a matter of observing real-world activities and converting them into software objects. Considering the elements from a usability and interaction perspective could improve that process.

References

Zhang, P., Te'eni, D., Carey, J. & Tremaine, M. "Integrating Human-Computer
Interaction Development into SDLC: A Methodology". Retrieved September 11, 2009, from http://melody.syr.edu/hci/amcis04/AMCIS_04_Zhang_etal_HCI_in_SDLC.pdf

Down for everyone or just me?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Thanks to @Subdigital for this awesome suggestion: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

Impact of Reorganization on IT

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:41:00 +0000

IT poses an interesting challenge during reorganizations. Between security policies, differing hardware, and existing software, integration of two business units requires time and effort across both companies.

In a TechRepublic article (2001), Loraine Lawson offers the following suggestions for IT restructuring:

How many people are in IT
How many users are they supporting
What are common user requests
What skills are in use in your location

I would further amend these questions by applying them not only to the new, united company, but to the individual companies as well. They would end up looking something like this:

How many people are being combined into one IT department?
How many users are being supported, and how many will be supported in six months, and again in a year
What are the common requests today? What will they be in six months? One year?
What skills are currently in use? Will they still be necessary in six months? One year?

By answering these questions, the new IT manager or CIO can evaluate current staffing needs, and prepare for the needs of the united company in the future.

References

Lawson, L. (2001). Members offer advice on restructuring IT department. Retrieved on July 21, 2009 from http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5033618.html

Best Face Forward – Article Review

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:42:00 +0000

Introduction

In their article "Best Face Forward" (2004), Rayport and Jaworski discuss ways in which companies can integrate humans and computers into a unified interface which interacts with customers. The thesis they begin with is that without specific attention, most companies develop disparate interfaces between departments, or even projects within a department. The goal of "reengineering" the customer-facing business operations is to achieve a unified system which provides customers with better service, and the company with better efficiency and revenue.

The field of Human-Computer Interaction has been growing over the past decades, as computers are becoming more powerful. Analysts are finding surprising results regarding customers preferences of machines over people, even in matters such as shopping assistance and customer service. Airline Customers have found that automated ticket kiosks have sped the process of check-ins, while many grocery customers appreciate the speed of the "U-Pay" style check-out lines.

The first step a business must take is to determine the type of customer interaction their customer expects. In cases where a service provided depends on creative handling of judgement or pattern recognition, humans have an edge over machines. However, if the service depends on achieving consistent results when dealing with repetitive tasks, a machine would have the edge over human.

With the development of the new field of HCI, however, care must be given to how humans perceive the interface. For instance, in Grocery Store Self-Checkout lanes, customers are pleased when it is fast and easy. However, according to Walters (2009), there are cases where confusing dialogs and buggy programming can cause more harm than good.

IT needs to work with the end users and potential customers to ensure that Machine-Based interfaces not only work uniformly together, but that they also work seamlessly with the human side of the business. In addition, the software developers should pay close attention to feedback received during development, in order to develop a system that is intuitively understood by potential customers and users.

References

Rayport, J. & Jaworski, B. (December 2004). Best Face Forward. Harvard Business Review, 82(12), 47-58. Retrieved July 16, 2009, Business Source Complete database.

Walters, C. (2009). Consumerist - Dear Kroger, Please Make Self Check-Out Suck Less. Retrieved July 16, 2009, from http://consumerist.com/5308408/dear-kroger-please-make-self-check+out-suck-less

Business Driven Software Development

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:12:00 +0000

As a software engineer, project proposals are available in spades. Learning how to evaluate business needs and technical needs is a basic job prerequisite (Parkinson, 2000). Parkinson explains that there is a significant difference between a technical requirement and a business requirement. An example of a technical requirement would be needing a new printer. A similar business process requirement would be needing a more efficient printing algorithm that cuts down the time spent spooling a project to the printers.

Business drivers can be broken down into “chunks”. For instance, an “Expense Reduction” driver may be broken into Customer Service expenses, customer acquisition\retention, efficiency, and other expenses (Machavarapu, 2006). Once the drivers are broken down, Machavarapu recommends assigning weights to the “chunks”, such that new projects can be evaluated for priority.

Finally, there is an array of reasons for beginning an IT project which should serve as red flags for engineers and developers. Reasons such as “Wanting to stay abreast of the latest technology advances” frequently translate into “Spend money on shiny new buttons”. Unfortunately, if this desire to advance technology isn’t tempered by legitimate business needs, the project may fail, or worse, prevent legitimate projects from receiving adequate funding.

References

Bernard, A. (December 26, 2003). Why Implementations Fail: The Human Factor.

Boehm, B. W. Quantitative Evaluation of Software Quality. In R. W. Selby, Ed. Software Engineering (p. 27). IEEE. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr =lang_en&id=ttaMIFv8bv8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA5&
dq=characteristics+of+quality+software& ots=yWkqT2mRFl&sig=Mj9mpFfLpWk4BkLvp4cz
M8ZhGU4 Google Books.

Machavarapu, S. (2006). Prioritizing IT Projects Based on Business Strategy - CIO.com. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from http://www.cio.com/article/22976/Prioritizing_IT_Projects_Based_on_Business_S trategy/1

Parkinson, D. (2000). Recognizing business needs can lead to new and repeat clients. Retrieved
July 15, 2009, from http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5 100-10878_11-5027153.html

Pfleeger, S. L. & Atlee, J. M. (2006). Why Software Engineering. Software Engineering Theory and Practice (3rd ed. pp. 9-11). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

GoPrint Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Professor Reynolds) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:46:00 +0000

GoPrint is undergoing it latest remodel and will be released in the next few days. New features include an all new Office 2007 look and feel, improved automation, and enhanced MailShop interfaces.

Of course, the well known interfaces to NCOA, CASS, Crystal Reports, and PrintShop Mail are being improved - both in operation and in quality assurance.

Contact Joseph Reynolds (josephr@intentdriven.com) for more information!

Intent Driven Designs provides IT support, Web applications, Windows applications, and Microsoft Access applications.

New Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Professor Reynolds) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Intent Driven Designs has implemented four new MVC based websites:

Web sites for Judy Reynolds, Realtor - Texas Home Group Realty:
www.JudyReynolds.net (conversion from previous .NET site)
www.ConroeHomeListings.com
www.WaldenHomeListings.com

Conroe Masonic Lodge:
www.Conroe748.com

stay tuned for more!!!
(sites authored by Mark Reynolds, Senior Architect and Developer)

Characteristics of quality software

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:57:00 +0000

Software Quality

Software Quality is a concept has been discussed and defined in a number of excellent books and articles. Granular-Level specific characteristics are numerous, and the weight placed on one aspect may differ from company to company, or even from project to project. However, with the assistance of the Pfleeger and Atlee text (2006) and a text from Selby and Boehm (2009), we can examine several generic properties which are relatively universal.

Portability
This is a measure of how the degree of coupling with other software or hardware. Can the software be easily installed and transferred, or is there a complicated integration with 3rd-parties (eg. SQL Server, or a special hardware key-dongle)

"AS-IS" utility
Does the software require heavy customization once it is deployed to the customer?
- Reliability
- Efficiency
- Human Engineering
Maintainability
In 2 years, will we be able to fix a problem or add new functionality?
- Testability
- Understandability
- Modifiability

Human Factors

Bernard suggests that the most basic reason for an implementation to fail is due to inadequate training and preparation of the operators of the system. Having been involved in several different implementations of new software, I have seen both well-prepared and inadequately-prepared staff try to deal with new software. I would venture to say that Bernard is exactly right in saying that improper training is a huge reason why software does not succeed. It is my experience that users with a stake in the company don't WANT to see software fail, but they will unintentionally sabotage the new initiative with "Well we always did it the other way" attitudes, if they don't have a good reason to make the change.

References

Bernard, A. (December 26, 2003). Why Implementations Fail: The Human Factor.

Boehm, B. W. Quantitative Evaluation of Software Quality. In R. W. Selby, Ed. Software Engineering (p. 27). IEEE. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from Google Books.

Pfleeger, S. L. & Atlee, J. M. (2006). Why Software Engineering. Software Engineering Theory and Practice (3rd ed. pp. 9-11). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Entity Framework Eager Loading

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:59:00 +0000

So I REALLY hate the way that Entity Framework does the Eager Loading system. One of the biggest things gained from EF over legacy ADO was the fact that queries have compile-time checking. With the .Include(string s) method, we end up back in the same place we started.

I'm hoping things are fixed when .Net 4.0 finally releases.

Foreign Key relationships in Entity Framework

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:12:00 +0000

I received the following error while trying to use Entity Framework to update an object.

The property 'AccessLevelID' is part of the object's key information and cannot be modified.

The object is a User, who has an AccessLevel foreign key.

The problem was in my code, which looked like this:

user.FullName = FullName;
user.LoginName = LoginName;
user.Password = Password;
user.AccessLevels.AccessLevelID = SecurityLevel;
user.Active = Active;

I was, in effect, trying to change the primary key of the AccessLevel in the AccessLevels table. Not good!

However, when I changed it to the following:

user.FullName = FullName;
user.LoginName = LoginName;
user.Password = Password;
user.AccessLevels = context.AccessLevels.First(level => level.AccessLevelID == SecurityLevel);
user.Active = Active;

Everything worked out.

The trick was setting the AccessLevel by treating it as an object. Almost like an Enum, but not quite.

Cannot change a SQL Login to a different user

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:49:00 +0000

At some point during your SQL Server development time, you will eventually create a database while logged in to the server with a login other than SA.

If this happens, your dbo user account will be mapped to the account which created the database (call it sa2 for now).

A year later, when the db goes into production, you decide you want the sa account to be the owner.

In order to do so, you will need to run the following query:

USE [TroubleDatabase]
EXEC sp_changedbowner 'sa'

References:
http://alghourabi.blogspot.com/2008/09/changing-database-owner-when-dbo-is.html

Update to Clearing the Visual Studio 2008 Web Cache

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:05:00 +0000

If you're using Windows Vista, the location of Visual Web Developer's cache will be different from what I posted earlier.

The new location is at C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Temp\VWDWebCache

C# Plugin Architecture

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:55:00 +0000

Working with DLLs and C# plugins can be an interesting problem. In our particular case, I needed to be able to drop in a dll (not known at compile time) based on a known interface, and have it discovered an run during runtime.

I found the following video that made everything crystal clear:
http://www.johnkoerner.com/index.php?/archives/43-Creating-a-Plugin-Architecture-in-C.html

Other interesting reading:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/c__plugin_architecture.aspx
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/rmcochran/plug_in_architecture09092007111353AM/plug_in_architecture.aspx
http://digg.com/programming/Building_a_Plugin_Architecture_with_C_
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb735304.aspx

Office Live Dialog keeps popping up

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:34:00 +0000

An update to MS Office caused the following message box to appear continually:
MESSAGE TEXT

[Title] Office Live Workspace

[Body]
Get Started With Office Live

Thanks for installing Office live add-in via Microsoft Update. You can now get started using Office Live Workspace.

This Office Live Workspace lets you:

-Access and view documents from almost any computer with a Web browser
-Open and save online documents directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

[checkbox] Do not show me this message again [buttons] Continue | Close

The solution to this is here: http://blogs.technet.com/arykhus/archive/2009/01/26/get-started-with-office-live-add-in-window-keeps-popping-up-after-first-startup-of-word-excel-powerpoint-2007.aspx

Note that this is a registry based solution. Be careful!!!

Email Queue

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:04:00 +0000

So I was thinking about the situation of one of the websites I work with. The website is on a separate server from the SMTP server, so requests for information, purchases, etc. risk getting dead air.

I chose to solve this problem by setting up a fairly simple queue on the web server. Essentially, any time someone sends an email, it tries to send anything on the queue. If it can't, then things stay on the queue a little longer. During a typical server reboot, this should accumulate a half dozen emails or so before the SMTP server is back online.

Here's the code. I'd love to hear your thoughts! If you copy\paste, I would appreciate if you could leave our company information in the comments.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Mail;

namespace IntentDrivenClassLibrary
// library developed by Intent Driven Designs
// http://www.IntentDriven.com
// copyright 2009
// free to use - post back any changes - do not remove this comment
// posted on http://blog.intentdriven.com
{
   public static class IDDSendMail
   {
      private static Queue Messages = new Queue();

      public static MailMessage Message
      {
         set
         {
            Messages.Enqueue(value);
            while (Messages.Count > 0)
            {
            MailMessage msg = Messages.Dequeue();
            try
            {
               SmtpSendEmail(msg);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
               Messages.Enqueue(msg);
               break;
            }
         }
      }
   }

   private static void SmtpSendEmail(MailMessage msg)
   {
      SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient("localhost")
         {
            Port = 587,
            Credentials = new NetworkCredential("[emailaccount]","[emailpassword]")
         };
      client.Send(msg);
      }
   }
}

Code Dojo at Houston Alt.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:06:00 +0000

JP Hamilton will soon be teaching a Code Dojo at the Houston Microsoft office. All of the information is on the Houston Alt.Net Wiki, so come over and check it out!

If you're ready to register, head over to the Registration Page.

WHEN: May 7th at 6 PM
WHERE: Microsoft Office in Houton
WHAT: Totally awesome TDD Code Dojo lead by JP Hamilton of Sogeti.

Thanks to J for helping us get it scheduled at MS!!!

Remote Debugging with Visual Studio 2008... Almost

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Today has been long. I've been trying to figure out why on earth my Remote Debugger wouldn't run. I had the Remote Debugging Monitor set up correctly on both machines, but I kept getting an error message about DCOM:

"Unable to start debugging on the web server. The Visual Studio Remote Debugger on the target computer cannot connect back to this computer. A firewall may be preventing communication via DCOM to the local computer."

Come to find out, not only could VS Remote Debugger not access my local computer, I couldn't even ping myself from the server.

I spent most of the day playing with firewall and IPSec policies, until I stumbled on THIS forum post.

Come to find out, Windows Live OneCare has its own firewall configuration settings. Once you track this down, John Robbins provides all of the basic exceptions needed in the firewall:

Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger - UDP 137
Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger - UDP 138
Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger - TCP 139
Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger - TCP 445

Finally, you may need to set a DCOM exception as listed HERE:

Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Debugger - DCOM - TCP 135

Once all of this is done, you should be good to go for internal pingage and Remote Debugging.

Geting started with Entity Framework

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:53:00 +0000

So I wrote my first Linq to Entity Framework query today. Took a little bit of research to really understand what was happening, but here goes my explanation:

using (DataBase db = new DataBase()) // Relatively obvious... This sets up the data connection.
{
//var letters = db.Receipt_View; // A custom MSSQL View based on some tables with key info

// Next we set up an IQueryable object
// Note that you COULD do this with a 'var' object, but since I'm still learning I wanted to do it the 'hard way'
IQueryable rpQueryable = from e in db.Receipt_View
where e.OrderID == orderID
select e;

// Move the selected records into a List for processing
List rpvi_Receipt_Views = rpQueryable.ToList();

// Pass them to the necessary methods to do their job
CreateAddressBlock(rpvi_Receipt_Views[0]);
CreateGreeting();
HotelBlock();
}

Give it a shot. I'll never go back to ADO Legacy... Entity Framework all the way!!!

Getting started with Test Driven Development

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:47:00 +0000

So I decided today that I would knock out two birds with one stone:

Get started using Test Driven Development so that I can learn how to use it in an upcoming project
Start earning "street cred" by solving the Euler Project puzzles.

I've been putting off TDD due to fear, consternation, and general trepidation related to trying something new. After all, the old way was working, right? Plus, how to choose between nUnit, mbUnit, MSTest, etc. In the end, it came down to just looking at the framework documentation. mbUnit had an easy way to compare the values inside a list, and that made sense to me.

I went over to http://www.gallio.org/ and downloaded the installation package, and off I went. I thought about using TestDriven.Net, but decided to start off simple and work my way up.

My first project on Euler was simple. All I had to do was find the sum of the multiples of 3 & 5 below 1000.

At the risk of giving away the plot, I have included my code below:

public int GetSum()
{
List NaturalNumbers = new List();
for (double d = 1; d < 1000; d++)
{
if (d % 3 == 0 || d % 5 == 0)
{
NaturalNumbers.Add(d);
}
}
return Convert.ToInt32(NaturalNumbers.Sum());
}

Honestly, if that's a huge plot spoiler, you need to be doing something a little differently...

I am proud to say I did this completely Test Driven. I started with a failing test (i.e. Assert.AreEqual(0,1)) and slowly it morphed into a passing test. Along the way, I found the Assert.AreElementsEqual(List1, List2) to be invaluable.

Impressions thus far?

mbUnit is startlingly easy to use. The support for List (not provided in MSTest) was without a doubt a REQUIREMENT for the project I was doing.
TDD in general is nowhere near as scary as I first thought
The speed for compiling and running tests in VS 2008 was a little dissappointing. Considering that most of my tests were simple arithmetic, I would have liked to see some snappier performance from the test framework. When I ran the finished product it completed in under 1 second. The test run was closer to 30 seconds.

I will continue to discuss my experiences, perhaps even provide a few tutorial examples, since there seems to be a dearth of them currently (one of my biggest reasons for being nervous about the whole thing).

Introduction of Silverlight 3

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Yesterday was the April meeting for North Houston .Net User's Group.
Tony Champion introduced us to the benefits of developing Rich Internet Applications in Silverlight 3.

While I haven't done any SL3 applications in the past myself, his demos showed a remarkably robust data-driven form application that he wrote using Entity Framework and Silverlight, and it only took about 45 minutes.

I'm looking forward to playing with it some myself, but the limitations on Search Engine Optimization will probably keep me from rolling it out in a production environment for a while.

In other news, I hear that Houston Tech Fest will be on the schedule soon. Awesome!

Houston Alt.Net Geek Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Tonight is the April meeting for Alt.Net Houston.
We will be meeting at Star City Pizza down on 59 and Shephard.
Be there at 6PM!