Windows mobile PDA portable computing software applications developers

Windows mobile PDA portable computing software applications developers

Upgrade WebsiteX5 V7.0.0.9 to the new WebsiteX5 V8.0.0.8 Evolutions

I recently upgraded from version 7.0.0.9 to version 8.0.0.8, of WebsiteX5 Evolutions, the RAD website development application. The process of implementing this upgrade I covered in a posting on the WebSiteX5 website here:

http://www.websitex5.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=63644#63644

This blog is a follow-up to that posting, in relation to migrating existing projects from the old version to the new version and the experience I had during the process. The hope is that WebSiteX5 Evolution users find the following informative, interesting and hopefully helpful for those about to attempt the same process.

In short, this process I found it to be a positive experience which I believe could have just as easily, have gone the other way except I made some good calls early in the process.

Upgrading a small project...

Ok, I am starting with a small project which needs to be brought up to date and so I am starting with the following which was deployed with WebSiteX5 Evolutions version 7.0.0.9:

http://gomobile.ie/xparthenaise.ie/index.html

Before I begin, I make a backup of all the project files and there related folders, thankfully this project utilises only the default templates, so that potential problem will be left to a upgrade of a larger project. All the required old version files are on the local machine and I proceed to open the old project using the new version 8.0.0.8 Evolutions which I have installed side-by-side with the old version 7.0.0.9.

I had read around the WebSiteX5 forums that this process could be difficult at best and I felt leaving the project in place (keeping it in the same folder structure on the same drive) would perhaps yield the best results as I ventured into the unknown.

The first thing I noted was upon opening the old project in the new version, by default, Evolutions opens a existing (prior version) project with the 'Website Address (URL)' blank and regardless of if the project historically had a 'Site Map' or not (this project did in this case), version 8 defaulted to 'No Site Map'. This was not really a problem or even a bad idea. I moved slowly forward typing in the URL and I ticked the box on the 'Expert' tab of the 'General Settings' and before long I was becoming more confident quickly started to move along, through the 'Steps' as they are pretty much the same as they have always been.

I had read in the forums about the dreaded 'Tables' compatibility issue, but it still had not really prepared me for what I was to later find. After taking a quick look around, peeking and poking, test views and reviewing the object contents, I found myself looking to the 'Table' object and wondering the effect of the related issue.

I had read that any text placed in a 'Table' object would not appear when viewed in a browser, which I quickly confirmed having selected the 'Test' in the 'Test' menu. This just showed the rendered 'Table' as an empty set of box's. I felt Ok, I had expected that.

Sorry to say, the surprise was to come as more of a bit of a shock, when I returned to the 'Page Creation' step and opened the 'Table' object and found that the reason the text was not appearing in the browser view of the 'Table' was because the new version had totally dropped not just the correct number of columns and rows, it at also dropped all the content, text and all, that was previously vested in the 'Table' object in the previous version of the project.

At this point I figured, thankfully I had decided to create a 'Side-By-Side' installation of the old version of WebSiteX5 V7 along side the new version 8. This being the case, I opened the old version of the project while the same version was still open (but I had not yet hit the 'Save' option) in WebSiteX5 v8. Having both WebSiteX5's side by side I then preceded to copying and paste each and every cell, one by one, from one version to the other.

If however, I had jumped the gun and hit the 'Save' option from the menus, I would have overwritten the old version with the new version and as a result I would not have been able to open the project ever again using the old version and instead I would have just seen the error message 'Error while project loading'.

Instead, I opened the 'Save' menu and hit 'Save As' option and created a second project file. This now allows me to open the old project file or the new project file depending on which version I want. What was very odd about this, was that it appears small object and its properties for each collective page object that makes up the website being developed are stored solely within the project file, the sole exception appears to be the standalone templates.

I was surprised to find that while the new version is currently (as of: 21st March 2009) not 100% backwards compatible when reading in projects creating in previous versions of WebSiteX5 Evolutions, the old version appears to be forwards compatible as a result of all the objects properties being vested in the single project file. Obviously this appears to be the case at this early point and I would need to spend more time looking deeper into the detail of it to know for sure as to what percentage this maybe true.

Anywho, at this point I figured, that if I had of continued and had made the mistake of hitting the 'Save' option and there-by lost the 'Tables' contents, I could have always have gone to the website and cut and pasted them from there.

Instead, much as you may use a dual monitor, putting both versions side-by-side I was happy copying and pasting the table cell contents between version 7 and version 8, when it dawned on me. Surely, the answer to this problem is to create a utility to read the table objects contents, save them as an XML file and then reloaded this XML file into a table object from within the new version, assuming this compatibility issue is not addressed in future versions?.

Thinking to myself, well all-in-all, that upgrade of a small project was not as painful as I had expected and not wishing to insult the gods, I proceeded with great haste to 'Export To Disk' the entire project so I could review the website locally using my browser. Again in order to play it safe, I exported everything to a new folder and then 'FileZilla'd everything (FTP'd) to the web which ended up here:

http://gomobile.ie/p arthenaise.ie/index.html

If your interested in comparing the tables from both versions as I was, compare version 7 which is here:

http://gomobile.ie/xparthenaise.ie/keelties_entries.html

to version 8 which is here:

http://gomobile.ie/parthenaise.ie/keelties_entries.html

You need to look very closely to see what I noticed next. While my efforts had paid off and I had the new version up and running within minutes, I noticed version 8's tables are not as well behaved as version 7.

Yes, I had reduced the font for the text and yes I had right aligned some of the text, but no I did not expect that the bottom of my tables would disappear!.

In truth I had noticed this during editing, when I noticed the right hand edge of the tables was also disappearing, but I resolved this by just expanded the object in 'Page Creation' to take up an additional column... this fixed the 'Table's right hand edge, but I am not sure how to fix the bottom edge of the 'Table' without having to extend the object further down the 'Page Creation' area.

Expanding objects into additional rows or columns is not always aesthetically pleasing. At this point I had come over all 'Super-Dude-ish', because by in large the upgrade was not as bad as I had expected and the sweet cent of self confidence was filling my head which would not normally be so self-evident other than for those having enjoyed the pleasures of a dozen or so pints of Guinness … keeping this in mind, I decided, "hell .... lets go for it, lets test the new modified files only uploading enhancement and get this new version on the web!".

If your like me, two things which are always top of your mental ‘WebsiteX5 Evolutions’ wish-list are ‘Can we please upload only the changes in order to speed up the deployment of websites’ and secondly ‘Please god, don’t mess it up during the transfer’.

The only reason I mention these is because, you guess it, ‘Murphys Law’ (my dear old friend) hit me bang square on the nose. Here’s the sequence of events:

1. First I uploaded using ‘FileZilla’ (an excellent open source independent ftp client) and on reviewing the results, everything looked excellent, bang on, first time.
   
   
2. Next, I uploaded using the ftp client built into ‘WebsiteX5 V8.0.08 – Upload to the Internet’ feature, which uploaded everything as planned.
   
   
3. At this point, I doubled back through the website design and decided to change two pages and see what would happen when I tried a “Export only those files modified during the last export….”. For this experiment, I choose to reduce the font and right justify the text in my new version of my old tables on two different pages.
   
   Then I started the ‘Upload to the Internet’ using the option to ‘Export only those files modified…’ and I found no real difference or advantage in the time required to transfer what I had thought would be only two files, but pretty much looked like everything was going back up again.
   
   I did however, find that while the ‘Export All website files’, did upload, render and review intact in the new version of the website, the new ‘Export only those files modified…’ feature had taken just as long in my view but worst still, for some reason (which maybe more to do with transfer problems than anything) some files had ‘Zero Bytes’ and had caused the the entire website to come over all muddled looking which would normally suggest the styles sheets (.css files) had been corrupted.

For me, there was only one sure fast cure for this, and that was to double back very quickly and ‘FileZilla’ the lot yet again using a ‘Transfer if different size’ transfer filter. This ('FileZilla') had worked a dream, all was well with the world yet again, crisis averted.

In short, the upgrade of a small project was a very good learning experience. While I am inclined to suggest that this process is not really for the total beginner, the experience and confidence which may result from a small project migration would perhaps make it worth while. In my view it is relatively painless and any difficulties I encountered have been easily overcome, but this was only a small project.

That said, now I am off to try a big project, if I get out the other side of this safely, I will let you know how I go.

….. watch this space!.

Note:

Some users had problems locating version 8.0.0.8, this patch can be found here:

www.websitex5.com/download/v8/x5UpgSetup.exe

A Question of Which Mobile Device for your Mobile Application?

Ok, so your thinking about a mobile device, but not sure where to start in relation to what configuration of mobile device is required.

Well, (in my view) at the very least, 'Handhelds' or 'Smartphones' selection requires some very basic but important questions to be addressed before digging into all the small print of those long lists of specifications, features and functions. In other words, know your application before getting down and dirty with someone else’s application deployment platform.


The Question of Keypads:

Keypads (for manual data entry i.e. Asset Descriptions etc...) can be full 'Qwerty', 'Alpha Only', 'Numeric Only' (mobile phone style) and this can redefine the cost, deciding which keypad for the application is a key factor (if required ... may not be required where the application is solely scanning barcodes and / or using a touch screen with onscreen keypad). I would normally suggest, that you look to the data you wish to capture and based on that data, choose the best keypad configuration.

Which keypad is required for your application? (if pre-defined)


The Question of Data Exchange:

The data from a back office application and / or data from the mobile device, can be exchanged in either 'Real Time' or 'Batch'. 'Real Time' technologies requires a direct connection to a back office shared resource (Application, Drive or Printer etc...), this would normally be for example a 'Wireless Network' (WLAN) connection. Where as 'Batch' technologies requires only a scheduled / un-scheduled periodic connection to a back office resource, this would normally be for example a 'Cradle / Docking Station' connection. I would normally suggest, that even in a wireless network, keep in mind that connections can still be lost or you may move in and out of range, so 'Batch' would normally always form a key part of data exchange.

Which Data Exchange technologies is required for your application? (if pre-defined)


The Question of Screen Size, Dimensions and Resolution via Data Capture Requirements:

While software developers may suggest what should be the best screen layout for an application and should always seek to maximize the ease of use and to minimize the data capture inputs required by the user, there are always a refined minimum amount of data that must be captured. This minimum amount of data to be captured, can be matched to the most practical screen size, dimensions and resolution available or can be presented using a pre-defined visual minimal requirement. When selected a handheld or smartphone, keep in mind, that in general, a Smartphone will on average have the smallest visual viewable area, with PDA and EDA often having double the capability to display data inputs. The bonus of EDA's is that often they are the best choice (including their touch screen) where you require a more robust unit then PDA and EDA may also include a Barcode scanner, GSM etc...

What Size, Dimensions or Resolution do you require? (if pre-defined)

What Data is to be Captured as a requirement of your application? (if Size is not pre-defined)


The Question of Touch Screen:

Some enterprises may have a set of predefined equipment already in operation which they would like to deploy their new application too, this equipment may include windows mobile smart phones. These smart phones are normally tided via contract to a Telco service provider and utilise a pre-defined spec to match pre-existing mobile office requirements. Some times these devices do not include (or require) touch screens and / or stylus pens.

However, the added simplicity or flexibility of touch screen may be a requirement of a new software application and may force the new device into play and add additional requirements for pre-existing applications which must sit along side your new application (with or without touch screen). Touch screen may also allow the users to scroll quickly and simply through long lists, or make multiple selections and move between on screen items without requiring a large number of keypad depressions, where as, the pre-existing application may only be operated using key depressions, so an onscreen touch keypad or slide out hardware keypad will also be required.

Is touch screen, as requirement of your application? (if pre-defined)

Armed with the above answers, you should now your ready to dig a little deeper and hopefully refine the large number of mobile devices down to a few application ready devices.

Where To Start with RFID and Asset Management

I find myself repeating answers to common questions, one of which is 'Where To Start with RFID and Asset Management'.

For the purpose of simplicity, here's my 2 cents for your consideration.

When kicking off the process of evaluation of RFID technology and its application within Asset Management, there are three common approaches with RFID Asset Tracking:

1. Challenge - This is where you move about between rooms scanning for external or internal RFID tags, named so, because you are 'Challenging' the 'Object', 'Person' or 'Location' to identify itself at a time and location of your choosing - A Batch Processing Approach

2. Event Managed - This is where key locations act a gateways, and a server is monitoring these gateways for movements. These Movements are called events (Recording the Date and Time) and deriving the movement in or out of locations and confirmed when 'Objects' or 'Persons' moved between two 'Locations' and the server identifies and manages these movements via a voluntary (triggered by the 'Person' moving the 'Object') or in-voluntary (triggered by the movement of an 'Object' through a gateway which is being monitored) registration of the movement event. - A Real Time On-Line Approach

3. A strategic mix of both methods (1) and (2)

Notes:
Each of the above have there advantages and disadvantages i.e.

1. 'Challenge' allows you to amend 'Asset' details but requires you physical presents to record the presents or lack of, an 'Asset' - Normally associated with high value or mobile assets.

2. 'Event Managed' allows you to record 'Asset' movements without the physical presents, but would any amendments are only possible when they are notified to you or become part of an annualised 'Challenge' audit (which is where the mix of both methods, is often the most desirable) - Normally associated with low value or less than mobile assets.

3. A more frequent mix of both methods may be required, where the options to cover multiple areas using a mix of methods is most desirable, practical or cost effective. i.e. a 'Canteen' area may contain a number of 'Assets' which are not Prone to frequent movement or have a low value i.e. Mice, Keyboards, fridges, Halon Gas Tanks etc..., you may elect to 'Challenge' these locations on a annualised basis only, where as, other areas like buildings or room entrance and exist points may include a monitoring gateway which can also be used to trigger other events i.e. a 'Asset' change of custody assignment and validation or a visual security challenge.

I would first consider each of these methods and what (if any) method is the most desirable.

Also, if possible, seek out a CAD representation (Drawing/Diagram) of the area's of interest, proposed area's for consideration at some point in the future (New buildings or Remote Sites) together with a short list of your deployment priorities.

Finally, if you have any pre-existing restrictions for the project (Targets and Goals, Important Considerations, Financial Limitations, Deployment Requirements and Limitations, Comments and Concerns etc...) within which the requirements must be meet, make them plain and obvious by documenting them into a 'Draft Requirement Specification'.

If possible, make these restrictions available for review, so everyone is clear as to the pit falls and possible shared goals and targets of the project with both the share holders and service providers.

If you find these form of research is difficult to compile, seek 'Professional'! assistance in relation to areas such as 'Information Gathering', drafting a 'Problem Statement' and drafting of the a 'Requirement Specification' which you would normally be seeking to document each of these areas.

Be aware of the Pit Falls, they can be numerous, do your research, while the technology sounds sexy, RFID is one topic that in my view can 'Talks-The-Talk' but when implemented without a full understanding and full Account! of the limitations, it may not 'Walk-Your-Walk'.

Some of the big questions include worth pondering in detail are:
Where movements can be derived?
What that may mean in the event of a failed or false identification?
Consider 'What if the power driving your web of RFID readers should be lost - What is your backup Plan?'

I've been Wiki'd

Wikipedia - What an excellent on-line resource library it is, I find I do not use it often, but when I do, I find I can always locate what the information I am looking for.

So yesterday, I decided I would be Wiki'd and add an section myself that I felt was sadly missing, that of EDAs. Having written a blog on the subject and found no entry in 'Wiki' (for short) relating to Enterprise Device Assistant's, so I decided to give it a go.

When thinking about "How do I CRUD Wiki without drawing a backlash upon myself", I found it very difficult to find a simple top ten of Do's and Dont's, mainly because as the site suggestions ... Go on ... Give it a go ..., I was very nervous of submitting something which did not first require an authorised review or any form of moderation of the contents I wanted to submit.

Once I came to this understanding of the 'Wiki' frame of mind, I began to edit. The first thing I noticed was, you really need to find a parent for the subject your about to submit before you begin, otherwise I would imagine, a new topic is just left hanging as a orphan (No branch for my subject to hang upon).

To explain a little further, I wanted to fill a hole in Wiki's content in relation to what an 'EDA' (Enterprise Digital Assistant) is, this lead me to search for 'EDA' which I knew would return nothing related to the missing subject I was now seeking to add.

This did however return 'EDA' as a menu of items which also share the same letters (EDA) but were totally unrelated to mobile computing, so this became the parent for my first born topic i.e.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDA

Now the idea of editing this page, which is a Parent to many children i.e. 'Eating Disorders Association', 'Event Driven Architecture' etc.. made me more than a little uncomfortable. Being a database developer and understanding the importance of relationships between Parents and children and the ease of which a Child can become an Orphan if you don't maintain a good relationship between the two, I was shocked to say the least at how simple the process was, once I got my head around the mark-up language which is very much like HTML with a speech impediment.

So, I went ahead and added my editions which were to add a new 'EDA' to the list of unrelated subjects already in the list (as the Parent), which was:

"Enterprise Digital Assistant ^[2], an electronic portable device which can include some of the functionality of a computer coupled with a Data Capture device, a image or linear barcode reader, a RFID Reader, a cellphone and a camera"

Then I added the subject itself, which was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Digital_Assistant

Leaving to one side the simplicity of it all, the only issue which concerned me, was when I was allowed to create references to pages which did not yet exist ... Links to no where. So being of a good nature (not wishing to draw the attention of others to insight a nasty comment), I removed these links to other topics which I had assumed would already be available within 'Wiki', but in fact, they two pointed out, yet more holes in Wiki's content.

Be Warned!, while I found the experience enjoyable, I get the horrible feeling I am going to regret been Wiki'd, mainly because I can see how a single subject can grow so simply and generate requirements for further additional subjects, which themselves would leave your head spinning as you go around and around where you could become trapped in a never ending cycle of adding content to Wikipedia and amending your entries until your old and gray.

The only reason I say this is, because you submit your subject and you have two choices, you can avoid creating Orphans (as I choose) or be very Wiki'd and have lots of Children, but you could end up being Old and Gray by the time you feed all these Children with even the most basic of bear contents.

I would encourage anyone to give it a try and edit an existing subject, but creating new subjects, I would suggest is for those who are just plain Wiki'd.

Anyway, if you interested, check out the new addition at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Digital_Assistant

I am hoping it will draw others in, to add and edit more and more content on the subject of [b]EDAs[/b] in business.

Yours
Brendon McLoughlin of Tasc Software

Developing a Future with Microsoft - A Brief paw print Introduction

To be honest, this old dog has decided to see what new tricks Microsoft have to teach. Always the enthusiastic student, I have sank my teeth into the 'Microsoft Partner Program' and I am hoping the taste will be a pleasant one.

After many years of complaining shaking a stick at Microsoft for what I always considered a less than perfect approach to less than perfect product launches, I have been forced to put my tail up and have a little wag at the progress we have seen in Windows XP with SP2 and the Visual Studio 2005 Development suit with SP1 in comparison to previous versions of Windows and Visual Studio.

(Looking over my shoulder...) the words "... you will be assimilated ..." can be heard in the shadows, but thankfully I have not found myself saying '... We are Borg ... Welcome to the collective ..." as I do believe "Resistance is not futile" (When warranted).

I am not going to find myself barking at the moon to the sound of the windows global anthem, but I am going to let Microsoft take me for walk through the benefits of the 'Partner Program'.

The intention is to work through the process of 'Windows Logo Certification' and seek to win 'Microsoft Partner Certification' in the process.

Today is the 7th of Nov. 2007 and I signed up (Officially ... as per Microsoft) a few days ago, and today was the first time I found myself sniffing around the benefits of the process.

Hence this posting.

In the hope my experience of the process will help others and as I didn't find much from an independent point of view about the moving through the process, I thought I would share my experiences as we progress.

The first posting is nothing more than an introduction, and my first hard posting will detail the experience of going through the sign up process, which to give you a bone, took over 12 months and three attempts to get it right.

I would guarantee, there will be some who would agree and lots that may disagree, but the point is to assist others seeking to smooth the long road, be you an old dog like me or a pup.

So Watch This Space for "MSPP - Week 1 - Subject: Forms Of Torture"

"Where Enterprise Goes Mobile - http://www.tasc.ie"

WebsiteX5 by 'Incomedia' .... Puts the inovation back in SoHo website development

An old soldier like me has seen them come and go, for example perhaps you may remember:

Gem DeskTop (The 'OS' gui overlay for Dos which at the time could have beaten windows to a bulp)

Concurrent Dos (The first real sign of multi-threading on a Dos platform)

Visual Pascal (The programming language that encouraged some many budding developers)

All the above would fall into my personal category of 'Sexy Software'. Every now and again ... (becoming less often these days), something comes along that begs a second look.

Recently I needed to totally revamp our website, not being overly enthusiastic about the prospect, so decided to goggle around and see what has managed to hold its in a waring world of titans like 'ASP2.Net', 'Dream weaver', 'Front page' etc..

I have always routed for the little guys, thinking small and beautiful ... but then I digress ...

Now I am not going to give you all the bible bashing eulogies and exultation's of my genuine enthusiasm for this product, other than to say, DOWNLOAD! and ENJOY! http://www.websitex5.com. Personally, I went for the 'Evolution' version (sounded like it could turn into something interesting...).

This is truly an excellent innovative product, yes we have seen similar products, but the approach and simplicity of the product is amazing in my view, the results are excellent too.

One of the major advantages of the 'WebSiteX5' product is its 'Pre-Defined' or 'Custom' templates which makes the process of idea to deployment very simple, efficient and very very productive.

If you don't wish to get tangled up in code, then I would recommend this product to Small Office Home Office (SoHo) type DIY enthusiast.

I also genuinely believe that 'Incomedia' have very much missed a great opportunity however (as of today) by not harnessing this powerful feature in the 'WebsiteX5' product range called 'Custom Templates' and building upon it. My suggestion is directed to 'Incomedia' who I believe should consider the value of following steps to enhance the success of their products and the full prospect of their possible marketing appeal by adding some simple options to their forums and / or their main website.

I would suggest that 'Incomedia' and the benefits they may bring to prospective, new and existing customers for the 'WebSiteX5' range of products are very much worth considering.

1. Create a new section in their forum ( http://www.websitex5.com/forum/ ) for 'Custom Templates' and allow users to upload new 'Custom Templates' on a 'Buyer Beware' basis. This would result in I believe a steady growth of innovative designs which would also promote the authors of such designs and perhaps (like we have seen in the forum skins and website templates markets) spawn a cottage industry within 'WebSite X5' users and customers for the resulting innovations. In other words, grow you own market.

2. 'Incomedia' (if not 'WebsiteX5' users), should offer extensive add-on / snap-on packs which extend the number of 'Templates' available for use in their products. There is nothing like the positive feedback of users to promote your product or service.

3. 'Incomedia' (if not 'WebsiteX5' users), should offer custom 'Template designs Services', much a www.templatetuning.com does for general php website developers. I don't know about you, but I am not a graphic artist by any means and these days, which is just what any website needs in my view.

There are also a number of off-shoot idea's I could see this product developing down the lines of, which could return some serious business benefits. These would include 'Enterprise Mobility', 'Server Back-End Integration' and 'Smart phone Web enabled Development'.

Topics like 'SAP', 'Oracle', 'Sage Line 100, 500' integration, Speedy development of Mobility and smart phone Front ends for Back Office Applications, all look interesting if you were looking for an alternative approach.

All in all, its great to see small (relative to the bigger players ... i.e. MicroSoft) software developers like 'Incomedia' bringing innovation to the Soho website development market space.

I believe this is one product to watch .... I wonder are they floating on the stock exchange?

Note To Self: I really must put a list of 'Sexy Software' together or go see a doctor....

"Where Enterprise Goes Mobile - http://www.tasc.ie"