Knowledge of JavaScript is a requirement for any modern web developer, but there's a new twist in Windows 8! You can build Windows 8 applications using JavaScript as well. This issue explores some new ideas in building apps with JavaScript as well as our usual content for SQL Server, Sharepoint and other tools!
March/April 2013 Editorial by Rod Paddock
In my last CODE Magazine article, I professed my love for SharePoint 2013 style workflows. I must say, having been spurned by SharePoint 2010 style workflows, falling in love with a technology with the same name was not easy. In that article, I talked about how workflows can now finally scale and perform; I talked about how to setup workflows and how to use them in SharePoint designer. Microsoft introduced numerous enhancements in SharePoint designer 2013 surrounding workflows, but in this article, I wish to switch gears a bit and talk about the Visual Studio side of things
In Part 1 of this article you learned how to create a Windows 8 look and feel for your WPF applications. In Part 2 of this article you learned to create a few of the user controls that went into making the shell application. In this final article in this series, you will learn how to create the last few user controls that I used to create the Windows 8 Shell application. In this article, you will learn to put together a WPF Image button, an Image button with text and finally the main Tiles used for the primary navigation system.
The CODE Framework WPF features (based on MVVM and MVC concepts) have become very popular amongst .NET developers, thanks to ease of development paired with a high degree of freedom, control and reuse. Another CODE Framework module takes these concepts and extends them into the domain of documents and printing. Many applications use third-party reporting products to create print and report output, and those products certainly have a good reason for existence and aren’t entirely replaced by the CODE Framework Document features. However, the CODE Framework Document features can replace some functionality that would otherwise be handled by reporting packages, and in addition, the CODE Framework Document features add a significant number of new features including the ability to create more naturally flowing documents and printouts and use those not just for print, but also use them as interactive user interfaces.
Sometimes it happens that a new version of an operating system introduces a new type of application completely incompatible with older versions of the same system. The last time it happened I think it was with Windows 95. More than 15 years later, Windows 8 comes with support for a completely new segment of applications named Windows Store apps.
It seems you cannot turn in one direction or another and not hear about a new JavaScript library or CSS framework that promises to be the silver bullet-to be THE thing that will make web-based application development a breeze. This article will introduce you to Knockout.js (http://knockoutjs.com/). Knockout.js is an open source library (under the MIT License) that is pure JavaScript that works with any existing web framework and every mainstream browser. Further, Knockout.js is fully documented with a complete set of online tutorials. What does Knockout.js do? It simplifies the task of building data-aware web UIs through the application of the Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) pattern. Regardless of the business problem your web applications are built to solve, all web applications, and just about every other application for that matter, shares the following characteristics:
Imagine you’re working for a company that has accumulated a tremendous amount of transaction data. The business users want to perform all sorts of analysis, monitoring and analytics on the data. Some OLTP developers might reply with, “Just create views or stored procedures to query all the data the way the users want.” Many companies initially take that approach - however, just like certain technologies and system hardware configurations don’t scale well, certain methodologies don’t scale well either. Fortunately, this is where data warehousing and dimensional modeling can help. In this article, I’ll provide some basic information for developers on the basics of data warehousing and dimensional modeling - information that might help you if you want to provide even more value for your company.
It didn’t take long after the introduction of Windows Runtime (WinRT, the set of APIs that allow Windows Store apps to communicate with the Windows 8 operating system), for Microsoft to unveil the next generation of its mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8, which conveniently includes some of the APIs coming directly from WinRT. It’s easy to imagine the APIs merging together at some point, as that would make writing applications for on-the-go devices such as tablets and mobile phones much easier.
Here’s a bit of news for you: Despite all the criticism and despite all the naysayers, Windows 8 is actually a very good operating system. Improvements to the desktop are good and welcome. A lot of the underlying tech for WinRT is quite impressive. Microsoft should be applauded for their willingness to invent and change. However, because of a long list of puzzling decisions, and due to a lack of polish and packaging, Windows 8 just doesn’t add up to a good product that serves all the market segments it aims to serve. That’s a tall order, of course, but anything less has to be seen as a dramatic failure for any version of the Windows operating system.