After my general protection fault with the alarm clock, I did manage to make it into Code Camp for the day.  Got to meet a lot of awesome people & attended a few good talks.  Of all the talks, the one that caught my attention the most was by Jason Olsen on MEF.  I had read maybe 2-3 paragraphs on this in the past few months, but after seeing the presentation he gave and seeing actual code, I'm chomping at the bit to use it.

Since I'm not in a writing mood at the moment, rarity that this is, I'm going to leave this entry at this.

Thanks to all made this possible, I'll definitely be helping again next year, which I understand starts now!  :)

This post is great so I just had to throw a trackback into the fray.  If you want to know a thing or three about IPhone Development be sure to swing into Code Camp this weekend and check out that session or any one of the dozens and dozens of others that have been put together.

It's free, there is no reason not to come, and it rocks!  Plus I helped put it together so you know it'll be good!  ;)

So check out Rory's post and be sure to check out Code Camp this weekend. 

I've started working on some Excel Development efforts again, primarily focused on accessing Webtrends data.  The primary methods that I've been using are ODBC and web services.  The ODBC connection is based on a proprietary Webtrends ODBC Driver and the web services are the new REST based services the Data Exchange Team I was on created.

Performance comparisons for the web services are about 2-6x faster than the ODBC Driver, which really rocks.  Using these connection mechanisms within Excel can sometimes be difficult and trial and error, per the Excel Model that is available for development.  However, once the trial and errors are rung out of the wrinkled framework things fit together rather well.  The following are a few notes I've made while building my latest Excel Add-in Project utilizing the above services.

Getting Started Notes:

1. Make sure all references for the interop, core office references, etc. are all set to Copy Local.  Do this by selecting the reference in Visual Studio, selecting the properties for the reference, and set Copy Local to true.
2. When testing, make sure not to install the add in and then try to run the project for the same add-in.  If so uninstall the add-in to run it from visual studio.  If the add-in gets stuck in Excel and executing even when VS is not used, install the component with the MSI installer project and then uninstall it again.  That should get it removed from Excel.  In this scenario the add/remove programs list often doesn't show the add-in when it hasn't actually been "installed" but only run from VS.
3. All projects that are referenced for the add-in project must be signed.

That?s just for starters, I'll have more in the near future with actual example code snippets and more.

Ok, I know, you're thinking "WTF BBQ Ponies, U R INSANE!"  The first response to that concept, that a developer would do design, is often one of "whatever, I'll do it if I need to" or "yeah, it's not that hard, I can just roll something together".  After hearing a few statements like this is there any wonder there are a gazillion completely horrid, unusable, piece of shit, unattractive, company busting, business failing user interfaces and user experience designs that get implemented?

No, it really answers a lot of questions.

Developers often say they don't need to do the user experience or design work, they just work in the back end.  Often I can see this though, as there are lots of uber A-grade nerds that do everything except worry about what the user is actually attempting to do with the data being requested, the information that is desired, and the end process of the business need.

This is a recipe for continual failure.

Agile processes, legitimate and honest agile processes remedy a lot of this as it requires working software for the end user be built regularly.  With this a lot of problems are worked out because the end user is able to fix and get what they want built instead of being lumped with a pile of code spaghetti application trash.

But beyond just the working software requirement, the manifesto could state simply that working software along with UX paper prototypes be required.  Get those users working with prototypes but also have a UX guru do paper prototypes and arguably keep doing paper prototypes during development.  This is pivotal to making truly usable, exiting, forward thinking and limit breaking software!

On this statement, I?ve dug in and found a few books to read on the topics that our Webtrends UX gurus read.  These guys are a-grade UX geeks like there are a-grade architectural software nerds, rare and hard to find.  Hats off to @skylark64, @parrfolio, and @justinogarrity.  The books as suggested:

• Paper Prototype, The Fast an Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces, by Carolyn Snyder
• Designing Interactions, by Bill Moggridge
• Making and Breaking the Grid, by Timothy Samara (also referred to me by @illusiodesign)

So with that written, I have my reading cut out for me.  I?m off to the books.

Recently I've posted an entry on the Webtrends Developer Network blog titled "REST Web Services Synchronous Request".  This is a good example of synchronously calling services for the Webtrends services or for any REST based calls.

I've ridden the #14 out all the way to Powell and the #9 out of downtown to Powell.  On both trips I landed some pretty nasty disconnects.  I wasn't happy with this at all, but still kept pondering maintaining service.

I rode out on a few other bus lines, namely the #4 and got decent service in city core, but just past 30th I got sketchy service all over the place.  Now I couldn't help but wonder, I'm downtown 90% of the time so would this really matter?  What about on the MAX?

At this juncture I figure if I really need to have remote connection I'll just go back and get my Sprint Connection re-connected.  Overall, if one just wants it for a few spots, that are generally stationary and downtown, then it is a good option.

Otherwise I'm giving them a call and cancelling the service.  Hey! I gave it a try, it just isn't quit up to snuff unfortunately.

I arrived at the Fresh Pot on Hawthorne after attending the Bar Camp 2009 kick off day.  This is a good place to chill and code, think tech, or finish some work and blogs as I was doing.  I also was thoroughly testing out my Clear Wimax USB Device.  This was pivatol for me to do ASAP to be sure I wanted to keep the service or not.  So far I got disconnected once, which you can read about on my Transit Sleuth Blog.

We've covered a ton of ground this week at work in training.  I've learned a bit, am prepped for the new efforts I'm going to undertake, and am jumping back into taking care of some things that have gotten backed up since I've been in training this week.  I've gotten a dose of SQL Server 2008 Administration, and am happy with the changes over the previous versions, and got to review the Webtrends Visitor Intelligence, Score, and Warehouse Solutions.  I often forget, especially when doing development on a single part of the overall suite how many awesome tools Webtrends has.  There is really some powerful functionality in the technologies.

On that note I've finished up most things for the day and am jumping into some ASP.NET MVC work I've been doing.  Hopefully with more to be posted soon.  Right now I have been digging through various ways to do theming/skins.  One thing, is that the CSS, HTML, etc that can be produced with the ASP.NET MVC Framework is light years beyond the complete catastrophe that comes out of standard ASP.NET WebForms.  I've spent years designing, building architecture, and trying to compensate for its lackluster ability in that realm, but now with the new framework elements I feel like the .NET Framework has once again gotten back onto a solid and good path.  In the past the .NET Framework has always seemed more cohesive than any framework out there, but now it seems like it might regain that after losing it over the last year or two.  It?s a relief as I do like working with the tools and framework.

On other fronts, I will be digging into some prospective speaking engagements and am trying to figure out if I want to do some sessions (or A session) at code camp.  I definitely will be there, as I've been working with the organizing committee and been having fun doing so.  I also intend to attend at least a few of the sessions if I have time between volunteering.  Do you have a session that you could present?  If so get over to the site and sign up for a session!

Anyway... I'm done rambling on for now.  Got some things to write up for code camp and some code to get done.