Cesar de la Torre - BLOG

Workshop “Oslo” introduction: The Future about Model Driven Development (June 30th 2009)

2009-07-01T09:49:00Z

One more event!. Yesterday we delivered a nice workshop regarding Model Driven Development and “OSLO”.

I talked most about MDD/MDE (Model Driven Development/Engineering), Model Drive SOA, how can be the future regarding MDD implemented with “OSLO”. Key points, risks, and long term goals and then how could everything be mapped to “OSLO”.

Miguel Llopis (Developer in “OSLO” Product Group, in Microsoft corp.) explained “Oslo” design goals and then quite a few demos regarding M language, Quadrant and Repository.

Here I post the agenda and the presentations (URL to my SkyDrive):

http://cid-c537c2af47f728a0.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Msft%20Dpe%20Spain%20Architects%20Events/2009%20-%20MDD%20and%20OSLO

AGENDA

9:00 - 9:30	Registro
9:30-10:45	Model Driven Development, MDD/MDE y la propuesta de futuro de Microsoft: "Oslo"	César de la Torre - Microsoft - España
10:45-11:15	Cafe
11:15-14:00	"Oslo" en detalle, Lenguaje M, Quadrant, Repositorio	Miguel Llopis - Microsoft Corp.

Agenda & presentations are in Spanish. ;-)

WCF Load Test tool

2009-06-24T13:49:00Z

It’s been just released a few days ago to Codeplex: WCF Load Test. It looks pretty nice! :-)

Project Description

This tool takes a WCF trace file and a WCF client proxy, or a WCF interface contract, and generates a unit test that replays the same sequence of calls found in the trace file. The code generated is easily modifiable so that data variation can be introduced for the purpose of doing performance testing.
The tool generates code for both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. It also installs a wizard into both editions of Visual Studio for creating the trace and processing it from inside Visual Studio. If both editions are present the tool is installed into both editions. The source code is a Visual Studio 2005 project.

Latest Release June 2009

A new beta was released in June 2009 adding support for ASMX web services. Download it from here.

Features

The tool has the following main features:

Replay of captured scenario in a unit test that can be included in a load test.

Support for the DataContractSerializer.

Support for message contracts.

ASMX support (beta)

Support for proxies generated using svcutil.

Support for clients that create proxies at run time from contract interfaces.

Supports calls to multiple services in a single scenario.

Supports multiple calls to the same service operation.

Filtering by SOAP action of which messages in the trace to replay.

Readable and modifiable code is generated.

Automatic association of trace message with proxy method (requires all operations to have a unique SOAP action).

Support for client and server side traces.

A command line tool for processing traces and generating code.

Visual Studio 2005/2008 integration (Team Developer, Team Test, Team Suite and for 2008 also Professional)) that can be used instead of the command line tool.

Architect Forum XXIII – VSTS.2010 & Tools for Architects (Madrid & Barcelona)

2009-06-17T16:51:46Z

Architects Forum XXIII - Visual Studio Team System 2010 & Tools for Software Architects

Here I post some info & Presentations about the Forums we just delivered in Madrid (May 28th) & Barcelona (June 16th):

http://cid-c537c2af47f728a0.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Msft%20Dpe%20Spain%20Architects%20Events/2009%20-%20Arch.Forum%20-%20VSTS.2010

We had around 130 attendees in Madrid and around 90 attendees in Barcelona.

And some pictures:

This was the agenda:

AGENDA (Spanish)

Hora	Descripción	Ponente
9:30-9:45	Presentación del evento y agenda	Cesar de la Torre Microsoft
9:50-10:40	**Keynote: Novedades en el ciclo de vida de desarrollo con VSTS 2010**	Aurelio Porras Jose Murillo Microsoft
10:40 – 11:10	Coffee
11:10 - 12:15	Herramientas para Arquitectos en VSTS.2010 *Diseño ‘Top-Down’ de nuevas apps y análisis ‘Bottom up’ de apps existentes*	César de la Torre Microsoft
12:20 – 13:00	Architecture Explorer ‘a fondo’ Todas las posibilidades de esta nueva herramienta.	Bruno Capuano Avanade
13:05 – 13:45	Integración Continua con TFS 2010.	Luis Fraile MVP VSTS
13:50 - 14:30	Cerrando el ciclo de pruebas (Camano)	Jose Aracil TestHouse
14:30 – 15:30	Comida
15:30 – 16:15	Test Driven Development no es pruebas antes sino diseño (Desarrollo TDD, Pruebas unitarias, etc.)	Daniel Mazzini Renacimiento
16:20 – 17:05	Novedades en metodologías y seguimiento de proyectos (Metodologías, Plantillas, etc.)	Rodrigo Corral Plain-Concepts
17:10 – 17:30	Conclusiones y Cierre del evento	César de la Torre Microsoft

RIA Services (Alexandria) roadmap

2009-06-14T13:03:00Z

Dinesh Kulkarni has written a nice post about RIA Services (Alexandria) roadmap:

http://silverlight.net/forums/p/101160/230835.aspx#230835

So, RIA Services milestones are:

- July 2009 CTP

- PDC 2009 Beta (November)

- First part of 2010: RTW (Like .NET 4.0)

Another key point is that we might provide support for .NET 3.5 SP1 in the server (where you run RIA Services), not just .NET 4.0. I think it is a good point for many customers who are not so agile to rapidly change to .NET 4.0. I just want to highlight that I say 'we might'. This is just a possibility, it is not a final commitment. :-)

Our event: ‘Biztalk Server 2009 news, ESB 2.0 Guidance & WCF LOB SDK Event’ content

2009-06-02T16:45:00Z

Today, we just run a Workshop regarding Biztalk Server 2009 news, ESB 2.0 Guidance & WCF LOB SDK.

I post the presentations here, so any attendee can get it.

You can grab it from the following SKYDRIVE:

http://cid-c537c2af47f728a0.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Msft%20Dpe%20Spain%20Architects%20Events/2009%20-%20Biztalk%202009%20-%20ESB%202.0%20-%20WCF%20LOB%20SDK

BTW, this content is in Spanish, as the event was delivered in Spanish.

:-)

We have released a public Visual Studio 2010 Beta1 !!

2009-05-20T13:57:00Z

Cool!, So we have just released a public Visual Studio 2010 Beta1 and, of course, VSTS 2010 and Team Foundation Server (Beta1), as well.

MSDN subscribers can actually download it today from MSDN site, but you can also install it from this public URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=85520793-68fc-4361-a8b6-dc2cff49c8d2&displaylang=en

"Non Windows users" in AzMan (Authorization Manager)

2009-05-09T17:16:00Z

AzMan background

AzMan (Authorization Manager) is the best Microsoft technology to implement role & permissions based security for your applications.

It exists as part of Windows Server (and Windows "workstation"), since versions Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. If you want to take a look of its management tool, just run it: "Start azman.msc" (from cmd or search).

In Windows Server 2003 old days, your app users had to be Windows users, which in fact, is the most common way. Even today, with current AzMan version, you normally will use Windows users for your apps. But, sometimes, you need non-Windows users for external apps, or for any reason you want. So, in the first AzMan version, you “could use” custom users, but in a very limited way, based on your custom app-users DB tables or any repository, but then you could not use the AzMan administration MMC snap-in to manage those users within roles, etc., you had to use just the APIs for AzMan administration, then...

In Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista AzMan version, SQL Server support for Stores and AD LDS, was added (formerly we could store our metadata just on Active Directory, ADAM, or XML files).

For instance, this is the definition string when using SQL Server as your AzMan store:

mssql://Driver={SQL Server};Server={CESARDLSQLSERVER};/AzManDb/AzStore

Here you can see AzMan console, where you can administer your App’s permissions (operations), roles and assignments:

Ok, so far, I’ve told you just a bit of AzMan’s background, but nothing about "Non Windows Users" in AzMan, so there we go!

"Non Windows Users" in AzMan

Since Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, and now also in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, we have AzMan MMC Snap-in support for our custom app users (DB tables, AD LDS, any LDAP directory, etc.), using a "Custom Object Picker"!!. :-)

You can check it out here, it was updated in MSDN on March 9, 2009:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770724(WS.10).aspx

Also, within AzMan help, you can read the following:

With Authorization Manager, you can include users or groups from any source that can be defined or referenced by the Authorization Manager application programming interface (API). In order to include users and groups from external sources, you must write or acquire a custom object picker. A custom object picker is a software component that can be installed on your system to allow an Authorization Manager administrator to access data stored in an external application.

For more information, see Authorization Manager Model (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=64027).

The permissions required to perform this task will vary for each custom object picker.

Choose users or groups with a custom object picker

Install the custom object picker according to the instructions provided with the non-Microsoft software.
The custom object picker will be added to the Assign users and groups from menu choices under the Role Assignments node and to the drop-down list in the Members and Exclusions tab of the properties sheet for basic application groups. Choose the entry installed by the custom object picker installation process.
Select users from the external source, according to the instructions provided with the custom object picker.

So, logically, it is not a ver straight forward capability, as you could have any DB schema (or any kind of repository) for your users, therefore, you must develop your "Custom Object Picker" in order to be able to select/assing your users.

I beleive there is a sample "Custom Object Picker" within Windows SDK. At the moment, the newest SDK is the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 - RC (Published on 5/4/2009):

ISO: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6db1f17f-5f1e-4e54-a331-c32285cdde0c

Web setup: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f75f2ca8-c1e4-4801-9281-2f5f28f12dbd

I still have to research more on this capability ("Custom Object Picker"), I'll try to extend this post when I'll do it. :-)

RESOURCES (Some useful links about AzMan):

http://blogs.msdn.com/donovanf/archive/2007/03/08/windows-authorization-manager-azman-the-best-kept-secret.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/donovanf/archive/2007/04/05/azman-in-windows-vista-you-bet-and-longhorn-too.aspx

http://sourceforge.net/projects/netsqlazman/

http://forums.asp.net/t/1124227.aspx (Last post, from David Crawford, is quite interesting)

How to install a Loopback Adapter in Windows 7

2009-05-06T10:24:00Z

It turns out that adding a Loopback adapter in Windows 7 is a little bit tricky, because we have no "Add Hardware" menu icon within Control Panel, anymore. Everything is supposed to be detected by Windows 7. (At least in current Windows 7 RC1).

But if we're talking about a "Loopback Netwrok Adapter", it really cannot be detected, as it is a virtual device..

In any case, if you want to run the Wizard where you can manually add hardware, you need to start it from the COMMAND PROMPT:

1.- Run cmd, but do it like: "Run as Administrator"

2.- From the command prompt, write down "hdwwiz.exe" and execute it. Then, the "Add Hardware Wizard" will be launched.

3.- Select: Install hardware manually --> Network Adapters --> Microsoft --> Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

You can read more info about it (step by step) in the following URL:

http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/how-to-install-a-loopback-adapter-in-windows-7/

Using “MUrl” – A textual Oslo DSL for RESTful Clients

2009-04-20T19:23:00Z

“MUrl” is a textual DSL and runtime for interacting with REST/HTTP services.

It is actually just a great Oslo-DSL sample, as you can download it (all its source code) from MSDN.com:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/0/B/40B632EC-F201-43EE-8E29-C398A9DA8468/MUrlSample.msi

As long as I know, “MUrl” has been mainly developed by Douglas Purdy. I saw his session at MIX09, which was fabulous; so now, I want to explain what “MUrl” is and how to use it. This post is, in fact, explaining most of the content that Doug told in MIX09.

So, Just like we already have within Oslo and “M” Language, the following DSLs, at different levels:

- MGraph

- MSchema (for SQL)

- MGrammar (to create custom DSLs)

We will have many more Oslo DSLs, (many of them, initially as examples), like:

- MUrl (DSL for consuming Services, this is the one I’m going to write about)

- MService (DSL for building Services, based on WCF-REST, not released, yet)

- MWeb (DSL for building Webs, based on ASP.NET, not released, yet)

- MEntity (DSL for building Entity Framework graphs, etc., not released, yet)

- Your great “MCustomSmartDSL”… ;-)

Ok, so "MUrl" is an "M" based domain specific language (DSL) that provides a very compact and intuitive mechanism to communicate with RESTful services. You can use it from INTELLIPAD (for testing) or you can even use its run time from a .NET program (I’ll show both in this post).

Using “MUrl” from INTELLIPAD.

Steps:

1.- First of all, install download from the URL I wrote up above, and install it. Or course, you need to have Oslo SDK already installed, as pre-requisite.

2.- Start INTELLIPAD and select “MURL Mode” like I show below:

3.- Then we can just start writing and executing HTTP requests!. Type:

http://live.com

Select that text line, and press Ctrl+Enter to execute that request. You’ll see the results in a pane on the right:

We can check that the HTTP status is OK, so we get the info. All right, It works!.

4.- Even better, now we’re going to consume RESTFul Web Services, like the TWITTER service.

I login into TWITTER, just to show what messages I have:

Right, so last message is the one that says: “Yes! OSLO and MUrl rocks!!”.

We can query info from TWITTER, like executing the following GET request:

GET http://twitter.com/statuses/public_timeline.xml

We get the HTTP results. Nice, nothing new, similar than before, but now we’re quering a REST Web Service:

5.- In this step we’re going to submit a message to TWITTER service using MUrl. Now, type the following text into INTELLIPAD:

POST http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml

with [<status>Este lo voy a borrar desde MUrl....</status>]

as text/xml

If you just execute that POST, you’ll get a 401 Http error, because in order to submit content to TWITTER, you must be authenticated, and we’re not, yet:

We’re going to use WINDOWS CREDENTIALS MANAGER to create custom credentials for TWITTER. We’ll use it later on from MUrl.

Enter into Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\Credential Manager:

As you can see, I have created a ‘Generic Credential’ called “Twitter”. You can do the same clicking on the “Add a generic credential” link.

It is simple; it is composed by a Credential-Name, User Name and a Password:

Remember the credential’s name, as that name we’re going to use it from MUrl, ok?. (In my case, I just called it “Twitter”).

Then, add the following text to the original MUrl text request we wrote:

“authenticate using [Twitter]”

And now…, It works!! :-). You can check it down below at my TWITTER web page:

BTW, I had to change MUrl internal code in order to run it using Authentication.

If you get the "Expectation Failed" error message, you have to fix it, as well. Take a look to this post:

See: http://www.biztalkgurus.com/blogs/biztalksyn/archive/2009/04/05/issue-with-the-first-release-of-murl-sample-and-twitter.aspx

So, there you have it!, you can use MUrl directly from INTELLIPAD.

Using “MUrl” from a .NET app.

Steps:

1.- Now we’re going to develop a .NET program which consumes MUrl DSL RUNTIME. It is a nice way to shrink .NET code…

In this case, I have a WPF app which is kind of a TWITTER message editor/submitter:

Take into account that I added two references to:

- MUrlLib

- System.DataFlow

Then, I wrote the following .NET code to be executed when the button ‘Upload Message to Twitter’ is pressed:

.NET CODE:

var runtime = new Microsoft.Languages.MUrl.MUrlRuntime();

string twitterCommand = @"POST http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml with [<status>"

+ txtTwitterMessage.Text + "</status>] "

+ "as text/xml "

+ "authenticate using [Twitter]";

var statements = runtime.Parse(twitterCommand);

var result = runtime.Execute(statements.ElementAt(0));

MessageBox.Show(result.AsXml().ToString());

You can see that we’re constructing the same kind of simple MUrl text but within our .NET code… And, it just works in the same way!.

Looking into MUrl DSL M-Grammar program.

Cool!. So up to now, we’ve been just using this cool textual Oslo DSL. But because of it is just a sample, we can take a look at how it is implemented.

1.- Start INTELLIPAD and open the file “murl.mg” which you can find as part of the downloaded MUrl stuff. You’ll see something like this:

I want to highlight that now we’re running on MGrammar Mode, just like the custom DSL sample I wrote in this blog-post:

Creating a simple Textual DSL with Oslo, “M” Language, MGrammar and Intellipad

http://blogs.msdn.com/cesardelatorre/archive/2009/04/20/creating-a-simple-textual-dsl-with-oslo-m-language-mgrammar-and-intellipad.aspx

But in this case, it is a bit more complicated, of course.

2.- Change to MGrammar-Mode--> Tree Preview

It will ask you for an INPUT FILE, so…, just provide the MUrl Text we were writing!! (I called “MUrl Demo Sentences.murl”).

Then, you can see how MUrl M-Grammar program is translating MUrl text to HTTP requests data (which will be used be MUrl runtime):

We can even change the MUrl syntax from within the “murl.mg” file, so for instance, we can now say that in order to do a GET, you can type DAME (in Spanish) or OBTAIN, as well. And it will work just the same! ;-)

Well, you can research on it (murl.mg) a bit more, It is quite interesting…

So, here we go!, “MUrl”!, a great Oslo DSL Sample!

Thanks Doug for this nice development!

Creating a simple Textual DSL with Oslo, “M” Language, MGrammar and Intellipad

2009-04-20T17:12:00Z

I wrote a post about Oslo and “M” Language and how you can use it to model data. But in that case, we were not using our own custom Textual DSL, we were using just “M” Language. You can see that post here:

Starting using OSLO, “M” Language, Oslo Repository and Intellipad

http://blogs.msdn.com/cesardelatorre/archive/2009/04/20/starting-using-oslo-m-language-oslo-repository-and-intellipad.aspx

What I’m going to create now, is a Custom Textual DSL sample (DSL == Domain Specific Language), based on Oslo. It is going to be very, very simple. I just want to show the essence of “M” Language and MGrammar and how we can use Intellipad for that.

Intellipad is a text editor that comes with OSLO SDK, but as you can suppose (because of its name) it is kind of “intelligent”, I mean, it is Oslo Textual DSL oriented. ;-)

I’m using OSLO SDK January CTP (Kind of a OSLO’s Pre-Beta). You can download it from this URL:

Microsoft "Oslo" SDK - January 2009 CTP (Refresh)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f2f4544c-626c-44a3-8866-b2a9fe078956&displaylang=en

Basically, Intellipad gives you support for creating custom DSLs using the MGrammar language.

1.- Starting Intellipad with MGrammar support

Launch Intellipad with sample plug-ins loaded (from the start menu, Oslo SDK, Icon called “Intellipad (Samples Enabled)”)or pass it a startup configuration file that includes the samples directory (startup config files are specified using the /c option). An example would be: ipad.exe /c: ipad-vs-samples.xaml

In the future, the MGrammar Language support will not require loading with samples. This is just because of this beta.

So now, change Intellipad mode to “M-Grammar”, like the following:

2.- Input file and our model’s text data

So, instead of starting writing M-Grammar like crazy (you should know its syntax, first), we’re going to start writing our model’s data, I mean, the simplified and even natural text I would like to provide as the origin.

Because of that, create an empty file (like a .TXT file) called “My DSL Input Data.input”, for instance. Put it in any folder you like.

Therefore, we need the pane to start writing in that ‘input file’. You get that pane/window when selecting “MGrammar Mode” menu and then select “Tree Preview”, like in the following screen:

Then, you’ll get a dialog asking for you input file, like this one:

Then, go and select that empty ‘My DSL Input Data’ file.

You’ll see Intellipad in the following form:

Cool!, so let’s start writing something we’d like to be consumed by our TEXTUAL DSL. For instance, the following text:

"Office 2007" by "Microsoft" is "nice"

"Windows 7" by "Microsoft" is "great"

"Visual Studio 2010" by "Microsoft" is "great"

Very simple, so, regarding that text, there are several products, company-names and adjectives, and, in this case, just the terms “by” and “is” are actually my language terms. You’ll see it like this:

So far, very simple. Now, I’m going to write my DSL program based on M-Grammar. You can copy & paste it on the MGrammar Mode pane:

module DemosOslo

{

language MyCatalogLanguage

{

syntax Main = a:Product+ => SoftwareCatalog { valuesof(a) };

syntax Product = productName:Name "by" company:Name "is" rating:Name

=> {ProductName = productName, CompanyName = company, Rating = rating};

token Name = '"' n:(any - '"')+ '"' => n;

interleave IgnoreMe = " " | "\n" | "\r";

}

Then, you can see how MGrammar transforms the input text to the final form:

This is the generated data, in case you cannot read it on the copied screen:

SoftwareCatalog{
{
    ProductName{
      "Office 2007"
    },
    CompanyName{
      "Microsoft"
    },
    Rating{
      "nice"
    }
},
{
    ProductName{
      "Windows 7"
    },
    CompanyName{
      "Microsoft"
    },
    Rating{
      "great"
    }
}
}

Likewise, “M” Language works internally in a similar way, but it uses the M-Grammar program called M.mg (you can find it in the SDK, check it), instead the simple one we’re using here (I called it SoftwareCatalogMGrammar.mg).

Another great example is the new “MUrl” textual DSL, which is a M-based textual DSL and RunTime to build RESTFul Services clients (just the client) in a very simple way. I might write another post about MUrl, because it rocks! :-)

There’s gonna be another textual DSL to actually build RESTFul services. It is called “MService”, but it is not still released. Douglas Purdy showed it a few weeks ago in MIX09, in Las Vegas. It really looks quite nice, as well.

Just want to highlight that Oslo, “M” Language and Quadrant are tools to create any kind of DSL Tools. Oslo is a “Modeling platform for ALL”. We’re not just talking about data or web-services, we’ll be talking about modeling ANYTHING!. :-)

Starting using OSLO, “M” Language, Oslo Repository and Intellipad

2009-04-20T13:37:00Z

Microsoft “OSLO” is Microsoft’s next generation of Modeling Platform, Tools and DSLs.

OSLO is basically composed by:

- “M” Language (For Data Modeling and Textual DSLs )

- QUADRANT (Visual Tool for Visual Modeling)

- Oslo Repository (Based on SQL Server. IT is the Oslo’s data store, for meta-data and data itself)

You can actually research about Microsoft OSLO using the published “Oslo” SDK January 2009 CTP. This is the version I’m using for this post.

Download - Microsoft "Oslo" SDK - January 2009 CTP (Refresh)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f2f4544c-626c-44a3-8866-b2a9fe078956&displaylang=en

What I’m going to do in this post, is to play a bit with INTELLIPAD, “M” Language and OSLO Repository, so we can see what it is about.

Keep in midn that this post is about “DATA MODELING with OSLO and M-Language”, but in the future, we could potencially model anything with OSLO (Web Services, Workflows, Deployments, custom specific domains, etc.)

So, Intellipad is a very special text editor that comes with OSLO SDK, but as you can suppose (because of its name), it is kind of “intelligent”, I mean, it is Oslo Textual DSL oriented and aware. ;-)

So, Intellipad gives you support for directly writing in “M” Language. At the end of the day, Intellipad lets you write and execute any TEXTUAL-DSL you have installed over Intellipad.

I’m going to use Intellipad to write simple “M” Language arbitrary data and we’ll see how Intellipad translates to specific languages like TSQL, etc.

Steps to do:

1.- Open Intellipad. You’ll see it like that:

2.- Select “M Mode” as current Intellipad mode:

3.- We’re going to create kind of a ‘Software Catalog’ or Library. It could be a Library about books, songs or whatever, but I chose to do it about Software products, ok?.

So we start typing the following M-code that you can copy&paste:

module OsloDemos

{

SoftwareCatalog

{

{ProductName = "Windows 7", Company = "Microsoft", Rating = 3},

{ProductName = "Windows Vista", Company = "Microsoft", Rating = 3},

{ProductName = "Visual Studio 2010", Company = "Microsoft", Rating = 3}

}

You’ll see it like that:

Nice, it is very simple and intuitive as we’re focusing just on the data I’m handling, right?. M-code with Data and metadata can be stored in Oslo Repository, but before doing so, I’m going to show you how this M-Mode DSL understands that code. I mean, Intellipad can actually translate that code to T-SQL (SQL Sentences for schema and data)…

4.- It is very easy to generate that T-SQL code, just change M Mode to “Generic T-SQL Preview”:

Then, we have another pane, to the right, where M runtime has translated our simple data code to T-SQL:

As you can see, it generates SQL Sentences in order to create the table and then INSERT sentences in order to insert that data. It is interesting that it guesses the data schema types depending on actual data. For instance, nvarchar(max) for ProductName, etc.

5.- We can even specify constraints or restrictions. For instance, I want to specify that we have an entity type called ‘Product’, and that my data within SoftwareCatalog is based on that entity.

We type the following, after our actual M code:

SoftwareCatalog : Product*;

type Product

{

ProductName : Text;

Company: Text;

Rating: Integer32;

}

Therefore, we’re explicitly declaring what and how is our data type.

We can even set restrictions, like field length, etc, like the following:

SoftwareCatalog : Product*;

type Product

{

ProductName : Text where value.Count <= 128;

Company: Text where value.Count <= 128;

Rating: Integer32;

}

You can check that it is changing the generated T-SQL, on the right side:

6.- Next step I want to show is “Compiling M-code”, so we can afterwards execute it and get that schema and definitions into OSLO Repository. J

So first of all, let’s save our M-code to a file, called “SoftwareCatalog.m”

And now, let’s compile it.

Open a Command-Prompt for Oslo Tools, and type the following:

m.exe SoftwareCatalog.m /p:image

You’ll see it like the following:

This tool (m.exe) compiles “M” code and generates an image file. In this case: “SoftwareCatalog.mx”.

7.- Next step is to deploy that compiled image file into the OSLO REPOSITORY (into SQL Server), using the mx.exe tool. Type the following:

mx.exe –i:SoftwareCatalog.mx –d Repository

After that, you’ll be able to see that data in the OSLO Repository, I mean, in the SQL Server database called “Repository” (when installing OSLO SDK you provided a specific SQL Server or SQL Express Server) and now we have a table called “OsloDemos. SoftwareCatalog”, where we can check even the model’s data:

8.- Of course, we’ve been doing this in a kind of low level way (TEXTUAL DSL called M Language, Intellipad and Command-line Tools), but you could do it also in a VISUAL way, using QUADRANT.

At this moment, we could also Access our data model in Oslo Repository using QUADRANT. Just DRAG & DROP “Quadrant—>Explorer-->Browse All --> OsloDemos. SoftwareCatalog” into the Quadrant’s design Surface. J

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

IMPORTANT:

Keep in midn that in this example we’ve been using Oslo, “M” Language and Intellipad to model data and data’s schema, BUT, this is just one way you can use OSLO. In fact, in the future we’ll be using OSLO for many more things like:

- Modeling a Web Service (WCF Services, etc.)

- Modeling Restful Clients (like using MUrl)

- Modeling WF Workflows

- Modeling Web Apps (ASP.NET)

- “Modeling your Specific Doman, whatever you want!”

- Etc.

So, in this post we’ve been using plain “M” Language for modeling data, but, it is just one of the possibilities!! :-)

Azure Metro Training in Madrid (16th April 2009) Material

2009-04-20T09:41:00Z

Last week, we delivered a nice Azure training (One condensed full day about AZURE platform).

Sorry, but everything is in Spanish (Agenda & Presentations), as we delivered it in Spanish.

So, down below you can read the agenda and the Presentations are posted in my SKYDRIVE, as well:

SKYDRIVE location (Presentations):

http://cid-c537c2af47f728a0.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Msft%20Dpe%20Spain%20Architects%20Events/2009%20-%20Azure%20Metro%20Training

Marzo de 2009

AZURE - METRO TRAINING

¿Cloud computing?... es uno de los mayores cambios impactantes en la industria de IT. La posibilidad de disponer de capacidades de escalabilidad a medida en Internet y a bajo coste, afectará a medio plazo a cualquiera que trabaje en el mundo de IT. Pero para poder aprovechar esta nueva ola, se requiere entender este nuevo concepto y como explotarlo en Internet.

En este caso, el objetivo de esta formación de AZURE, es revisar a nivel de desarrollo cada una de las partes de Windows Azure y Azure Services.

Agenda
Hora	Descripción	Ponente
9:30 - 10:00	Introducción a METRO	Cesar de la Torre - MICROSOFT
10:00 – 11:00	Arquitectura de Windows Azure y ¿qué tiene la competencia?	Cesar de la Torre - MICROSOFT
11:00 – 11:30	Coffee
11:30 – 13:30	Desarrollo y Despliegue de Aplicaciones y Servicios Azure (Azure Fabric, programación para Roles Web y Worker, Colas, monitorización, etc.)	David Salgado - MICROSOFT
13:30 – 15:00	Comida-Catering
15:00 – 16:00	‘Datos en la nube': Azure Storage vs. SQL Services y una pizca de ADO.NET Data Services	Rodrigo Corral - PLAIN CONCEPTS
16:00 – 17:15	.NET Services (Access Control, Service Bus, y Workflow)	Unai Zorrilla - PLAIN CONCEPTS
17:15 – 18:00	Desarrollo de aplicaciones con Live Services Framework para Live Mesh	Angel Acha - CIIN

De Interés

Windows Azure

Visual Studio Team System

Architect JOURNAL

Patterns & Practices

Architecture Center

Web Services Center

Security Center

IE8 release version ships during MIX09

2009-03-20T17:43:00Z

We have just released the final version of IE8!.

Here you have the address where you can download it:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

Silverlight 3.0 news disclosed today at MIX09 in Las Vegas!!!

2009-03-18T19:00:00Z

So, I’ve just been attending MIX09 keynote (ScottGu, etc.), and… as you’ll discover, Silverlight 3.0 rocks!!! :-)

Here you have some of what we’re disclosing today about SL3.0:

SILVERLIGHT 3.0

MEDIA & GRAPHICS
- GPU hardware acceleration!!
- Codecs (H.264/AAC/MP4, VC1, etc.)
- Perspective 3D
- Bitmap & pixel API
- Pixel Shader effects!!
- Deep Zoom improvements
App. Development
- Deep linking, navigation and SEA
- Improved text quality
- Multi-touch support
- 100+ controls available
- Library caching support (reference to libs & cached so no need to download it again)
DEMO: ROLLING STONE COVER TO COVER
DATA
- Data-binding improvements
- Validation error templates
- Server data push improvements
- Binary XML networking support
- Multi-Tier REST data support
Entity Framework context in SL client side
SAP NetWeaver Support bsed on Silverlight
'OUT OF BROWSER CAPABILITIES' – WINDOW & OFF-LINE mode

No browser needed!…
Also for MAC!
Safe, secure, sandboxed environment
Built-in auto-update support
Build offline-aware applications
Integrated with underlying operating system
DEMO: KEXP 90.3 FM - SEATTLE KEXP.ORG

www.kep.org
-----

LOCAL MESSAGING

- Cross plug-in Silverlight communication
    ○ Multiple plugins on the same page
    ○ Multiple plugins on different brwoser tabs
    ○ Multiple plugins on different browsers
    ○ DEMO: Balls going from one browser to the other. :-)
    ○ DEMO: CHESS battle, JavaScript vs. C# BENCHMARK, but in different BROWSERS!! :-)

Download experience! : 40k smaller than Silverlight 2!!!
Available today:
- Silverlight 3 Beta
- Expression Blend 3 Preview
- Silvelright 3 Tools for VS.2008
- IIS Media Services (Smooth Streaming, etc.)

IIS MEDIA SERVICES (Launched today, as well)
- Smooth streaming (Silverlight <—> IIS 7.0 & Smooth Streaming)
- Edge caching
- Web playlist
- Bit-rate throttling
- Advanced logging
- AKAMAI integration
- DEMO: NBC OLIMPICS -- VANCOUVER 2010 CANADA will use it! :-)
  - HD 720 - All content

Also, about the new EXPRESSION BLEND, some new features:

EXPRESSION BLEND 3
- Sketch-Flow
- BLEND PLAYER FOR MAC!! :-)
  - For customers/designers so they can review and approve designs in a MAC
  - Feedback Window for every screen, etc.
  - Notes, save it and send it to the designer!.
- Export to Microsoft Word – Design Document with all the notes, etc.
- Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator import
  - Directly open .PSD files from BLEND.
  - Yo can modify all Photoshop layers changing images to XAMEL elements and dynamics data & Data binding. :-)
- Behaviors
- Designing with data
- Source code control ---> TEAM FOUNDATION integration.
- XAML, C# and VB code intellisense in Expression Blend 3.0.

How to create a Bootable DVD (Windows 7 or Windows Vista)

2009-03-08T19:34:00Z

Sometimes you'd want to install Windows from a bootable DVD but you just have all the Windows files... I mean, in my case I've got Windows 7 build 7048 (beta drop, but it does not matter), but I currently don't have its related ISO image. So, if I want to install a plain new Windows 7 from scratch (booting & installing from a DVD), guess what you need?, right..., I want to create my own bootable Windows DVD.
In order to do that, we can use several Microsoft tools that come in AIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit), for Windows Vista or Windows 7 (the latest in my case).

You can download from here, for instance:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4ad85860-d1f4-42a1-a46c-e039e3d0db5d&displaylang=en

Needed Tools you can get once you install AIK:
- oscdimg.exe (usually you can get it from in "%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 )
- etfsboot.com (This is the boot sector file will put into the DVD)

1.- COPY WINDOWS FILES TO A HARD DISK

Of course, you'll need all the Windows 7 or Windows Vista files. For instance, I copied all of them within C:\Win7_7048_EN\x86fre
You could even add more custom files, like drivers or whatever..

2.- GENERATE THE ISO FILE

Open a command prompt console (with Administrator's rights) and go where you have the AIK's tools. Then type the following:

oscdimg -n -m -b"C:\Win7 7048 EN\DVD Bootable Tools\x86_Boot\etfsboot.com" C:\Win7_7048_EN\x86fre C:\Win7_7048_EN_ISO\Win7_7048_x86_EN.iso

You'll get messages like the following:
”OSCDIMG 2.55 CD-ROM and DVD-ROM Premastering Utility
Copyright (C) Microsoft, 1993-2007. All rights reserved.
Licensed only for producing Microsoft authorized content.
Scanning source tree (500 files in 49 directories)
Scanning source tree complete (810 files in 159 directories)
Computing directory information complete
Image file is 2825107456 bytes
Writing 810 files in 159 directories to V:\Win7_7048_EN_ISO\Win7_7048_x86_E
100% complete
Final image file is 2825107456 bytes
Done."

At this time you'll have a new ISO file for Windows 7 or Vista!!. :-)

If you want Windows x64, just use the other file types for x64, like:
oscdimg -n -m -b"C:\Win7 7048 EN\DVD Bootable Tools\x64_Boot\etfsboot.com" C:\Win7_7048_EN\x64fre C:\Win7_7048_EN_ISO\Win7_7048_x64_EN.iso

COMMAND'S MEANING:

-b points to the boot sector file location (etfsboot.com). This file will make the DVD bootable. Do not use a space between b and path!

Then, first path is the location of original Windows DVD files.

Second path points to the directory where the iso file will be created in.

-n makes it possible to use extended file names.

-m allows to create iso files, larger than CD format.

3.- BURN YOUR ISO FILE

Just burn your new ISO image onto a DVD media using any third party software, like NERO, ROXIO, ImageBurn, etc.