The Edge

Right Methodology, Wrong Tools?

I've just started a new project - a large scale claims system replacement programme with a partner of ours.  As the client is investing almost £100,000,000 in the project and is completely mission critical, it is essential that we deliver the project on time and within budget.  As a result, the client has adopted an Agile methodology in order to run the project.  This in itself presents a challenge as the client traditionally utilised the waterfall methodology on all previous projects.  As a result, the development teams have no experience in Agile and so there is an expected learning curve in the initial sprints where the teams will learn and adopt Agile methods.

 

We've almost completed the initial sprint and so far, so good!  Most people are adopting to Agile pretty well so far.  There are a few 'old timers' who have spent 25+ years working with the Waterfall methodology and are entrenched in its way, and they are struggling to get to grips with the fact that they aren't expected to produce vast amounts of documentation, although they are slowly coming round to the new methods.

Allow InsecureTransport issue with SharePoint 2010 Public Beta Install

So, after the brouhaha regarding the public beta release of SharePoint 2010 it seems that installing the product is not straight forward when using Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.

There's an issue with WCF in .NET 3.5.1. where SharePoint relies on an attribute that isn't present, namely AllowInsecureTransport. You can simply remove this from the client.config files but this will break other services. There is talk of other work arounds but at the minute, the official advice if you want to run SharePoint 2010 Public Beta on Windows Server 2008 R2 is to wait for the official WCF Fix from Microsoft.

When this is available, it can be downloaded from: KB976462 at present this is not available.

Note: There is a WCF Fix available for Windows Vista/Windows 2008 which will fix this issue which is available from here KB971831 note that this fix is NOT for Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 and if you attempt to install it you will receive the "This update is not applicable to your computer" error and the install will terminate.

Steve Ballmer Keynote Speech

Steve Ballmer, CEO at Microsoft, keynotes at the SharePoint Conference 2009 held in Las Vegas.

 

Creating Reporting Services Shared Data Source in MOSS Report Centre

 

OK so you’ve created a Report Centre in Moss, configured it to use Reporting services and have the list of reports that you need to upload, what could go wrong?

 

For me it was forgetting how to create the shared Data Source (.rsds file). Not only could I not quite remember how to create it the default settings in MOSS hid the ability to create the connection. So for those of you who are in a similar situation here’s a step by step guide to creating a MOSS SSRS Share Data Source Connection.

The Big Drop

As some of you may have seen on our website, four of us at Business Agility participated in a charity event for Children with Leukemia called The Big Drop. We managed to raise just under £1000 for the charity and complete the event with no injuries! A selection of pictures taken from the day are below.

 

Red Nose Day 2009

Well done to everyone who got involved with Business Agility's Red Nose Day. A lot of fun was had and we raised a lot of money for charity too! I have included a few pictures from the day below...

 

Generating VMware machines without Workstation

At Business Agility we use a lot of VMware virtual machines for development and testing of new technologies. This proves to be a quick way for team members to get up and running on a project, simply copying over the VM and they have everything ready to go.

Now although the VMware Player can be downloaded freely from the WMware site, you need to purchase something like the Workstation edition to create the VMs - or so I thought until a colleague pointed me in the direction of easyvmx. Here you can enter some simple parameters, such as the amount of memory and disk space your VM should have. Then the site will generate the empty VM, which you can download (4k zip!) and install your OS into. So far I am very impressed with the solution - more to come. Thanks easyvmx!

Developing Custom, Connectable Web Parts in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 provides a rich model for developing communication between web parts.  This is useful in scenarios where you need to pass either simple string values to another web part, perhaps to display and filter custom Parent-Child data, or pass complex objects for processing and rendering.  The principle of Web Part communication is that it is contractual and interface based.

Consider a scenario where Web Part A must send a simple string value to Web Part B as shown below.  Web Part A is the provider and Web Part B is the consumer.

Using Linq with Objects

This document assumes you have created a Linq to SQL project which references a table called myTable.

The diagram shows myTable as shown in the Linq to SQL designer.

 

After adding an item to the designer do not forget to build the object.

Linq Query

To retrieve data from myTable we need the following query.

linqExampleDataContext db = new linqExampleDataContext(); db.Connection.ConnectionString = connectionString; var results = from p in db.myTables       select p;

“db” is the database context 
“connectionString” is a string holding the connection details
“p” will hold the results from the linq query.

More than ever before, companies are using Agile to develop and deploy functional SharePoint applications - WHY?

Business Agility is running an Agile SharePoint deployment workshop on December 4th, further details and links to registration are below.

 

Business Agility and Microsoft invite you to attend a free, unique SharePoint workshop event.
 
When: Thursday, 4th December 2008.
Location: Microsoft Reading Office

 

Whether you are a new, existing or potential SharePoint user, at some point in your SharePoint journey, you may find yourself asking "What's next?". Due to the functionality and customisation available to SharePoint users, many organisations reach a point in their SharePoint project where they are unable to determine which capability to pursue next.
 
This half-day workshop will provide an overview of SharePoint best practice deployment, address "what next" scenarios and also demonstrate how real business benefits can be realised much faster by adopting an Agile development approach.   
 
Spaces are limited and will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. 

 

Reserve your FREE seat now by registering HERE or by calling +44 (0) 1462 476 160.