I haven't figured out the correct programming architecture for:
-WPF Application
-Each build will be unique for each customer
-There will be unique variables for each customer in both code and the app.config file
-Ideally, there will also be unique deployment URLs for each customer
What is the best way to build the project file given this scenario? Im using VS 2008 Pro. I can create all of the above and use ClickOnce for deployment, but its the unique variables for each customer that I need help with.
It's not 100% exactly what I need, but it's close. This article has an explanation of how to work with multiple config files and assign one during the pre-build process. It still doesn't allow me to set pieces of code like I would like, but it's almost close enough: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ManagingMultipleConfigurationFileEnvironmentsWithPreBuildEvents.aspx
Related
I have a fairly complex setup with eight databases on a server each referencing each other (about every database referencing each other), giving way to quite a complex web. The design is far from ideal, but unfortunately this is something we have to work with.
We need to create a SSDT solution to facilitate CI/CD
The whole project needs to be deployed from scratch on a new instance and I am trying to get my head around this, as I have limited SSDT knowledge for a project this scale.
The approaches I consider are as follows:
1) Split objects into shared objects, and reference the shared objects. This seems to be a nightmare to implement, as we would require different layers because of the complex web of references. (shared object referencing other shared objects). Also how do we deploy such a project on a blank server?
2) Create stubs for each object in a project being referenced by other objects, and make a database reference to these. This seems to be the easiest option, although it seems that if the object the stub is based on gets changed, the stubs also needs to be maintained otherwise the project will break. Is this the right assumption?
3) Only create stubs for projects required to compile (eg. tables referenced by views in other databases), and ignore warning references. I am leaning towards this route as the stubs will be much smaller and project easier to maintain, but I hate to ignore referencewarnings..
If we deploy using the stubs option, do we need to deploy the stubs first and then delete them after successful deployment?
Another (more straightforward question). What is the best way to deploy logins, users and object permissions ?
Thanks for replying.
The question is too broad but these are few suggestions:
You can't do anything with circular reference. There are some ways to workaround it but all of them are "hacky" and most probably will introduce more problems than to solve your problem. So try to move objects in so manner that there is only one way dependency;
Use synonyms for ALL cross database objects, so there supposed to be no straight reference outside database;
I agree with Peter Schott that it is better to ignore logins and users for now as handling them in SSDT is a bit of pain and you need to have good expertise on SSDT to make it working properly.
I work on Labware LIMS, which has both configuration, and customization via its own programming language and internal code editor, and stores this customization code in database records. (Note, not the source code of the actual application itself, just the customization code a.k.a. LIMS Basic.) Almost everything in LIMS is stored in the database.
We want to investigate the possibility of using source control to protect this code but we don't know much more than the theory of using something like Git. (I have worked as a junior QA and used git but not as a dev and my knowledge is limited!)
Of particular use would be the merging tools, as currently we have to manually merge code in a text editor, if we even notice there is a conflict (checking content between dev and live is time consuming and involves using multiple tools, some of which are 3rd party tools we have developed ourselves, which are hit and miss. I personally find it easiest to cut and paste into a text file and then use Beyond Compare.
There is no notification that the code is different when moving it from dev to live (no deployment as such, you just import an xml file) so we often have things going live that someone was working on unbeknownst to each other. I.e. dev 1 is working on the code in object 1, dev 2 gets a ticket to make a change to object 1, does so and puts their change Live, whatever dev 1 was doing is now also Live in whatever state it was in. (Because we don't always have time to thoroughly check what state each object is in between up to 3 different databases.)
Is it possible to use source control just on the code within the database, but not necessarily the database itself? (We have backups and such for that but its easy for some aspects of the system to get overwritten by multiple devs working on overlapping areas at the same time.)
If anyone reading this has any specific knowledge of LW LIMS, we are referring to the Subroutines mostly, we have versioned Analyses which stands in for source control for the moment and is somewhat effective but no way to control who is doing what on the subroutines other than a comment log at the top. I have tried to find any information on how other teams source control their code in LIMS but to no avail.
The structure of one of these tables can range from as simple as the code just existing in one field as a straight text dump with a few other fields such as changed_on, changed_by and name (Subroutines), or more complex with code relating to one record being sprinkled around in multiple rows on another table entirely (Analyses) but even if it could just deal with the simple scenario to start with that would be great!
TL;DR: Could the contents of the Code field in a database record be treated like a regular code object in other dev environments somehow and source controlled using Git? (And is anyone willing to explain it simply for me to follow?)
As you need to version control table fields of subroutine, but LW LIMS doesn’t have the IDE for version control (such as git, svn etc). So the direct answer is no.
If you really want to do version control for the codes in database, you can create a git repository and only put the codes in git repository. when a file has updated, you can commit & push the changes. And it’s easy to compare the difference between versions.
More detail about git, you can refer git book.
LabWare LIMS has a number of options for version control. You COULD version the Subroutine table by adding a SUBROUTINE.VERSION field to the table, this works the same way as other versioned tables in LabWare where it asks you if you would like to create a new version of the object before saving. There are a few customers I work with that have done this.
Alternatively, (and possibly our more recommended method prior to LEM) there is the Snapshot capability where the system automatically takes a "snapshot" of objects as they are saved - when viewing these you have the ability to view them side by side in a comparison dialogue - it will show < or > for lines which are different.
Another approach is, if you have auditing turned on you are able to view the audit history for changes to specific objects - this includes subroutines.
One other approach is to use configuration packages - this has the ability to record version AND build numbers. Though individual subroutines is probably a bit too granular for it's intended design.
Lastly, since this question was originally posted we have developed a product called LabWare Environment Manager (LEM) which has some good change control functionality built-in.
For more information on the suggestions above, please have a look at the LabWare Technical manual for the version you are on. We also have a mailing list for questions like this to be posted. You might find an answer there. If you have access to our Support webpage you're able to search previous questions that have been asked. I'd also suggest that you get in touch with your Account Manager at LabWare who can help you answer some of your questions.
HTH
I'm trying to make a custom column (for a custom list), where the users can upload files without overwriting the previous - this way they can keep past versions of the files and upload newer ones and the new ones append. There already exist "append only" comment columns and file upload columns that I can see.
I'm working with Sharepoint designer 2007 (2010 doesn't work with the site), and I'm referencing this code I found online somewhere (http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=0qN89meu), trying to research the Sharepoint documentation on MSDN. I can open the site in designer, but don't know where to go from there (it's already running on a web server, not opening it locally).
I'm just not clear on how to start, I thought there'd be a simple "right+click -> new column" feature but I can't find it. If someone could point me in the right direction to where I could start creating columns on the site, that would be great. Thanks!
An untested idea :
Create a document library with a lookup column to the custom list.
Create an event receiver (ItemAdded and ItemUpdated) than will take the attached files and move them to the other list (with the correct lookup value). --> Code with Visual Studio
Grant to this document library only read permissions.
Adapt the view to display the related documents in the dispform of the custom list.
Advantages:
this seems to answer to your need
you gain all the usability of a document library (nothing prevent you to grant edit rights to other users, force check out, etc.)
Disadvantages:
you have to play with lookup. Can be tricky sometimes, if you play with features
you split one business entity to two entities. You will have to deal with cascading delete (if you need it).
I have a Silverlight solution that has multiple silverlight projects (Views) that all compile to their own .Xap file.
There is one "master" project that handles the dynamic downloading of the Xap files, which works pretty well.
But now I need to make sure that all the references are set to CopyLocal=false in all the View Projects. Only the "master" project can have CopyLocal=true.
This means that the Xap files generated by the Views stay rather small.
What I would like to do is check post or during the build process to see if any of the View projects have a reference with CopyLocal=true.
What would be a smart way of doing this? Using an external tool in the Post Build event? Or perhaps an addin for Visual Studio ? Or creating a macro in Visual Studio for this?
I have looked at using .extmap with assembly caching, but since you have to specify the assemblies in that, this does not solve my problem. I just need to know if there is a reference with the wrong setting and report that. Fixing it is not the question, that will still be done manually. It's just the notification I need.
Solution has 35 projects now, so dont want to check them all by hand every time.
I found a question similar to this one, but it lists msbuild as a possible solution. I would like to know if there is a way to do this using "code" (be it prebuilt in a tool/addin or otherwise)
I have chosen to go the Addin path. I created an addin that listens to : BuildEvents.OnBuildBegin
Whenever that event fires I create a list of all projects in the current solution. Doing a bit of recursive searching since there are also Solution folders that make life in DTE world a bit harder.
Then I loop through all the projects and cast them to a VSProject so I can loop through all the references.
Anytime I come accross a reference that is wrong, I create an ErrorTask where I set the Document property to the full solution path of the reference. To do this I Build the path for the project this reference is in, all the way up to the root of the solution.
The ErrorTask is then sent to an ErrorListHelper class I created, that handles the ErrorTasks and also performs navigation.
If I'm done with all the projects and I found any errors, I cancel the current build and show the Error List window, where my ErrorListHelper holds all the Reference Errors I created.
Whenever I want to navigate to the Reference in question, I activate the Solution Explorer window and get the root of it using an UIHierarchy.
Then I walk the path from the root on down, step by step, using the UIHierarchy to get to the UIHierarchyItems and expand them. Until I get to the deepest level (the reference) and I Select that.
Since I only need it for a certain solution and within that solution for certain projects (.Views.* and .ViewModels.*) I also have some checking for those in place during buildup of the Error List.
It works like a charm, already found 12 "wrong" References in 35 projects where I tought all were well.
I am using a different path now to do this. I have a base class that I can use to write unit tests that have access to the DTE2 object. This way I dont need an addin. This also works for Silverlight projects since the test class does not actually need access to the Silverlight projects, just being in the solution is enough to be able to iterate through the projects and check the references.
Are there tools that make the job easier? If command-line only tools exist, then can anyone speculate if there is a market for a GUI tool? For example, you can create a relational database by modeling visually. Should the same notion exist for LDAP?
Apache Directory Studio includes an ldif-Editor. It is still a text editor but with syntax highlighting, autocompletion and group collapsing for ldif files:
http://directory.apache.org/studio/
I don't know if there are any tools but it isn't that hard to create them by hand.
If you are using IPlanet LDAP then they had a nice interface for creating and modifying schemas though. :)
I don't know if you would consider that to be by hand otherwise that is one tool to use.
I've done some LDIF handling using Perl and the Net::LDAP::LDIF module and it made scripting custom LDAP conversions very easy.
Have you looked at the command-line tool, LDIFDE.exe? Should be on your domain controller.
Business people give me Excel spreadsheets with inconsistent formatting of user and group data and want it loaded right away (then they come back with a new version and tell me they've only added some new users, but some are missing, some data is now invalid, there's a missing column etc.) They want unique passwords assigned, group memberships set up based on department id fields, and so forth.
Then they come back two weeks later and want to know about the differences between that spreadsheet and one from six months ago. Sigh.
I generally just do it all with a few hand-crafted Python scripts.
A lot of times you may be copying objects from one tree to another. Or backing them up. In that case, most LDAP tools have some way of exporting as LDIF. Then you can easily modify the files as needed.
Or copy examples to reuse.
I have seen a number of tools that will do tasks and output the results as LDIF, which can be handy, but they are basically point usage tools.