Fall 2007

Did anybody lose a pen from their Lenovo tablet? I picked one up yesterday after our presentation. E-mail me or give me a call if you lost one.

Most of you shouldn't need to do this, but if you need to execute a SQL command within the backend, please follow the following guidlines from now on:

 

Recently a number of bugs have been cropping up with the backend throwing exceptions about connections and transactions being closed. I believe that this stems from a misunderstanding about how to actually use the backend. I'll try to rectify that here. This information should go in a document later on, but I think people will be more likely to read it if I just post here.
(as a side note, I've committed a change that (I think) will prevent all of these exceptions from being thrown; instead, I'm throwing my own BackendDisposedExceptions now. If you get this you're doing the following thing wrong.)
I think that everyone has been very good about putting any use of the backend inside a "using" statement in the form of "using (IBackend backend = BackendFactory.Create()) { ... }" What happens here is that when the BackendFactory creates an IBackend, it opens connections to the database that are only open within the curly braces. This is good because it prevents us from having lots of unused connections sitting around.
However, what most people probably don't know is that anything you get from the backend (content, entities, tags, etc) internally retains a reference to the backend that created it. This means that if you have a reference to a piece of content that you hold onto after the end of the using block, that content holds a reference to a backend with closed connections.
This hasn't been a problem for most of the time because all object that you retrieve from the backend should cache all of their data internally, so you can perform "get" operations regardless of if the backend is open or closed.
The problem comes with trying to modify the piece of content (or entity or whatever), which people are just now starting to do. Since the content no longer has a connection to the database, you can't change it, and trying to do so is causing those exceptions. There's simply no way to get around this.
To understand this better, think of a very similar situation. You open a File. From that File, you create a FileWriter. You write to the File for a while through the FileWriter, but then you decide to close the File. Once you've done that, the FileWriter essentially becomes useless, and even though you still have a reference to it, trying to call any of its methods will throw exceptions.
The way to fix this is to think of each "using" statement as starting a session where you interact with data. As long as you want to use that data, be within the using statement.

I've posted new team milestones. I still think we are very much on track for real user testing in November, so keep up the hard work.

 

In other news, 5 of you need to do your milestone reports.

 

As per our discussion, the current version of the code is being locked down for the customer demo. I have created a branch of the project called Atelier-CustomerDemo, which will be what we demonstrate from. We will be taking bug fixes to this branch but no new features. This will be deployed to http://www.skynet3.cs.rice.edu/comp410f07/atelierPub/ in the near future. We can test against this over the next couple of days.

 

As more people have begun to work on UI or need to know how to work on UI, I have created a UI Guidelines document. Please read over these guidelines if you plan to make frontend pages in the WebApp project. If you see any mistakes or bad design paradigms on my part, email me immediately so we don't have to go back and fix too much.

Sorry, I was making some changes to the database to add more tag functionality and I must have renamed that column. It's back now.
The latest version of the code is in the code repository, it has not been built on skynet yet. You can still see the changes if you update your code and run it off your own computer.
--Hubert

Backend code providing User functionality has now been merged into the main branch. The following functions are available from IBackend:
IUser LoginUser(string email, string password, IDatabaseConnection connection, SqlTransaction transaction)
IUser GetUser(Guid id, IDatabaseConnection connection, SqlTransaction transaction)
IUser CreateUser(string name, string email, string password, IDatabaseConnection connection, SqlTransaction transaction)

To use them, you will want to do something like:
IBackend backend = BackendFacade.Instance;
IDatabaseConnection connection = backend.CreateConnection();
SqlTransaction transaction = connection.BeginTransaction();
---- here you would put the code for creating/getting a user ----
---- and for then using the returned IUser ----
transaction.Commit();

After committing, you will probably need to get the IUser object again to do further getting/setting of its properties, rather than try to keep using the same one. Brad and/or Aaron would know better than me.

LoginUser gets a User matching the provided email, and checks that the provided password matches that user's password. If it does, an IUser for that user is returned. If not, null is returned.
GetUser returns the User matching the given guid, or throws an exception if the user wasn't found.
CreateUser creates a new database entry for the user and populates it with the name, email, and password provided. It throws an exception if there was a problem.
Once you have an IUser object, you can do user.Name to get or set the various properties (user.Email, etc.). Some are set-only and some are get-only -- check IEntity for these details. As stated above the getting or setting of properties should be done inside of a transaction where you first get the IUser, as far as I understand.

That should be all that's necessary to start using the User services from the backend. Let me know if you have any questions.
PS - I will post this information in a more permanent form "soon".
PPS - There is a function in IBackend that checks that a userId is valid before creating content, but that's still in a testing phase so use at your own risk. It doesn't put author information into the database yet.
PPPS - There is a user in the database for testing purposes with:
Name = Bob
Email = bob@fake.email
Password = 1234
Id = 1cdda5f0-71ef-4a7c-acb2-be6730cff0d4

Sorry for taking so long guys.. I have managed to move around some documents in an attempt to make it easier for us to locate documents and whatnot. So here are a few guidelines for our documents and lists:

Documents:
-Private Documents: will contain a folder for each team. Each team should add their documents under their folder. Feel free to add subfolders as needed.
-Staff Documents: will remain as it is. It is a place for our staff (TA’s) to upload documents for our class.
-Project Documents: will contain documents that pertain to the project as a whole. Project Architecture design documents and standards documents are under here.
-Expectations and Milestones: will contain the weekly milestones for each team for archive purposes if wanted; it seems like milestones have moved to the lists so maybe this folder is no loner needed.
-Meeting Minutes and Agenda: will contain meeting minutes and agenda.


Lists:
(for the whole class we have..)
- Class contacts
- Team Organization
- Team Milestones
- Hardware Issues
- Atelier Testing Links (bottom of the lists)

(for each team we have...)
- Advanced Research Team Tasks
- Authoring Team Tasks
- Content View Team Tasks
- Search & Navigation Team Tasks
- Customer Relations Team Tasks (currently does not exist; can create if needed)

(the rest…)
- Advanced Research Team
- Authoring Team Announcement

I was wondering if we could get rid of "the rest" ones somehow..? We have a lot of items under Lists. The Advanced Research Team's content seems like it can be moved to documents. And Authoring Team Announcement has one item in it currently. I didn't touch them since I belong to neither group. You guys can decide if you want to keep them around. Another thing you can do is keep those lists but have them not show up on the quick launch bar at the left.

Thanks guys! =)

The staff has compiled a document detailing how your milestone reports will be graded. Check it out before writing the next one; it's in the Staff Documents folder. Don't worry, we'll be lenient with those written before these standards were posted.

Search works. The one currently on Skynet contains only complete tag matching. It links directly to Skynet3 content serving page. This is just a temporary thing to show the customer that the things are working.
It is located here. You can search for boomerang!
Note: Don't look at the aspx for good program design--I just hacked something together quick to check and prove that the search module was working correctly.
I had committed more code earlier in the day that did substring matching but no one has updated it and I did not want to go ahead and do it seeing that Corey had categorically stated that he did not wish anyone to mess with that check out.

For editing web sites, including the Sharepoint site (e.g. for moving folders around) you will need to install Sharepoint Designer 2007 (or Frontpage 2003).  Expression Web is not able to open a Sharepoint site.  The ISO's are in the Exciton repository and the license keys are in the Comp410 Resources site as usual.   Enjoy!

Hi guys, the TAs were a little confused on the milestone 1 reports. The date on this is 9-25, but it wasn't even created until the 28th. What exactly happened here? Was this just because it was for the first milestone? Even if you create the milestones early, it would be really helpful to us if you date it the day it's due. Thanks!

 

 

If this doesn't get you excited I don't know what will.

We've got video served up from the backend showing in the browser!

 

So hurry up and get cracking so i can put some new videos up and search for them.

Visio and Expression Web, Blend and Studio are now available.  The license keys are in the private docs of the resources site and the iso's are on the Exciton repository.

Also, we should include a script that does the exact reverse and removes these keys from the registry. -- Hubert

I've uploaded team milestones for this week to a new Sharepoint list called "Team Milestones".

Please don't hesitate to contact if you need more specificity, help, or don't understand something.

 

More or less, when we complete these milestones, we will have a very ugly YouTube with no user authentication or profiles.

A couple of the groups have extremely ambitious goals, and I will personally oversee that they have the resources to get them done. For a couple of the groups, I have a reasonable hope that you can exceed the milestones substantially (which is encouraged :-) !!).

 

-brad

    OK, so I screwed up. I missunderstood Barnaby, and instead of deleting the "Search and navigation" folder from the Meetings, Agendas and Milestones document list, I deleted the whole list. Im really sorry!

    So, the point is, if you have any copies of old minutes/agendas/whatever, *please* upload them onto the re-created list. Once again, I'm really really sorry!!

         -Rae

If you have QUESTIONS, comments, complaints, criticisms, etc. please email them to me. The comments thus far have been very good, and I'd like to hear more. We need to make sure everyone feels comfortable that they're working on a productive part of the whole system.

 

-brad

There is a planned network and power outage in Duncan Hall on Sunday Sept. 23 from 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM.   This means that at least that the Sharepoint and source control servers will be unavailable during that time.   The servers do not autoboot after the power is restored so they could be out for an extended length of time.

 

The milestones for this week have been uploaded to the sharepoint (under the Team Expectations and Milestones folder).

 

As I mentioned in class, I'll be gone until Sunday night.

If I can i'll try to stay in touch, but I doubt I'll have internet.

In the meantime look to your team leaders for support (and team leaders look to each other).

 

Also don't forget your journals

 

Also, use the following format when you write properties backed by a private field:


///
/// Comment about the property.
///
public DataType PropertyName
{
    //get and/or set code in here
}
private DataType _fieldName;

This way, the comment gets attached to the Property, not to the private field, so when you use IntelliSense to try to figure out what the property is doing, it actually gives you a comment.


If the get and set are both single lines, you may format the property as

public DataType PropertyName
{
    get { return _fieldName; }
    set { _fieldName = value; }
}


and if the entire property is a single get or set statement, you may collapse it onto one line as

public DataType PropertyName { get { return _fieldName ; } }

However, if either the get or the set is more than one line, both should contain the curly braces on separate lines.

I have created two top-level projects in the TFS for the class to use: "Comp410 F07 Main Project" and "Comp410 F07 Test Programs".  To connect to the TFS, first install the Team Foundation Client, found at http://www.exciton.cs.rice.edu/iso/TFS/tfc.zip.  I highly recommend that you be running the full Team Suite edition of VS.NET 2005.   After installation, you will find a new view, "Team Explorer".   Open that view and enter www.photon.cs.rice.edu as a server.   VS.NET should connect to the TFS and show you many projects that are on that server.   Check the above two projects to connect to them.    There are tutorials on using TFS on the Comp410 Resources site (replace "quantum" with "photon" in tutorials).   

 

Important TFS tip:  Never rename or move files outside of VS.NET as this has the possibility of losing synchronization with the TFS and causing major problems.

 

Enjoy! 

If you haven't done so already, sign up with the MSDN Academic Alliance program. To do so, send an e-mail to Dan Jackson (dwj at rice.edu) letting him know as such. After that, you can get licenses for most of Microsoft's library of software -

The catch is that the downloading does not currently work right now, so in order to get the software you must bring blank media for him to burn to.

Currently we are in the process of getting copies Visio Professional 2007 that everyone can use, but you will need to get your own license off of the MSDNAA website (located here).

The TAs have compiled a document detailing what we're looking for in your journals. Look it over before writing your journal for this week. The late policy is included.

The document is located in a new library called "Staff Documents".

I posted today's minutes both to the Scribes discussion forum and the forums. This is because not everyone has joined the forums yet. Please note that you can turn on notification on the forums as well, which would basically send you an email when topics were updated.

Firstly, by my tests, everyone's service is working!!!!!

That's downright excellent.

We (those on the irc chanel) just wanted to remind everyone to zip your files and upload to the sharepoint server before class tomorrow.

 

Great work and good night.

-brad

Specifically, I wanted to remind everyone that part of the grading criterion seems to include extensibility of some form (with a special nod to searching). If you have it, good! If you don't then umm...try to fix it!
The full criteria (again) is this:
Your product must have the following capabilities:
To be able to search for any type of file with any legal filename, including those that have spaces in the name.
To at least be able to search for the full desired filename. Wildcard or other partial specification of the filename is optional but the system should be extensible enough to handle this in the future.
To enable the web browser client to download any type of file with any legal filename.
Must work with at least Internet Explorer 7.
Must be able to connect as a peer to the product created by any other student in the Fall 2007 COMP 410 class.
The browser client must be able to add another server as a peer to the server to which the browser is connected.
The downloading process should be as efficient as possible, minimizing the number of transfers of the requested file.
The system should be extensible enough to handle searching for non-filename criteria, e.g. by type of file contents, creation/modification date or creator.
Must be implemented completely in C#, .NET, ASP.NET, AJAX and/or ADO.NET. Non-C# .NET languages such as BASIC are not allowed. Languages not supported by VisualStudio 2005 are not allowed. Javascript is allowed, but should be minimized in favor of C# “code-behind”.
The system should be able to detect and account for loops in the peer-to-peer network so that infinite request loops don’t occur. It is allowable for the loop detection to occur dynamically during the search process.

You have the following leeway:
You may decide how the search vs. downloading process is performed. For instance, the search then download process may one or two steps. Note that this decision will affect interoperability.
You may design the web site to appear any way you wish. Web sites from different students do not have to be identical. Note however, that the web service will need to conform to some standard for interoperability.
Implementation of a back-end database is not required though how the back-end data is managed should be done in a flexible and extensible manner.

I set up a survey to gauge some interest over whether we need a separate discussion board, a real one, for our real project, as this seemed to be a recurring theme of the yet submitted results in J02. Depending on the response I, or someone else (or possibly even the Course Staff), can set up tried and tested forum software on a server (I'm kinda looking forward to setting up PHPBB3 :P).
Click here to respond!

Profile pictures for everyone are posted - you should be able to see them in the class contact list. I tried to match face to name as best as possible and I'm pretty sure I got them all right, but just in case please do change it if I got it wrong.

I've posted a couple of new surveys.

One is called Warm-Up Project Milestone Status, and it basicall allows you to tell everyone exactly where you're at in the project. Considering the project is due in 4 days, and we must have interoperability, the time has come for accountability! Plus it allows us to help each other on things we don't get or are having trouble with.

 

Also, there's a Factiod Survey which is basically a get to know you kind of thing. It's just for fun. Take a couple of minutes and fill it out; feel free to add a few questions.

As suggested in the meeting on Monday, I have set up an IRC channel on DALnet for the class. You can go to www.dal.net for more information and a server list; I use dragons.ca.us.dal.net:6667. The channel is #comp410.
I set up ChanServ so that the channel can't be hijacked, but for now there aren't any passwords or other requirements to get in. I made the channel secret so we shouldn't have random people in there, but if it becomes a problem then I'll deal with it when the time comes.

It's under the Warm-Up Project Documents section.

Don't forget to post your review of previous years' journals!

I'm really sorry to have to inform everyone that due to the fact that some of the things we chose to use don't serialize (a fact wish I would have known, and we definitely ought to have tested sooner), the previous interface standard won't work.

I've proposed a new one which I believe solves the issues.

I hope most of you haven't gotten too far in yet (I don't think you could have), and I encourage you to check the discussion board for my post on the topic.

Journals are due by midnight Friday evening.   Please be careful to address the correct issues on the first and second halves of the journal:  The first "technical progress" section should address the technical issues you encountered in setting up VS, learning C#, creating a design for your program, etc.   The second "development progress" section should address more general, reflective issues about how well as a group you are progessing towards your solutions.   For instance, did the class do a good job of coordinating your meetings to set the web service standards and to teach each other about VS and C#?   The main issues in this section will revolve around communications and planning.    It is a very common mistake by students to put technical discussion in their development sections of their journals.  

 

The grading criteria will be based on COMPLETENESS and CLARITY.  You should record, in as much detail as feasible, exactly what happened to you and what you thought during the week.   You should strive to express yourself as clearly as possible without being vague.

 

Helpful tip:   Sharepoint does have a time-out, which is around 30 minutes, so it is a good idea to write your journal outside of Sharepoint using Notepad or the like and then simply copy and paste it into the various question responses.   This will save you great heartache if Sharepoint times out on you and invalidates your submission.

 

There are two new discussion boards: one for working on the warm-up project, and the other for brainstorming some ideas about the main project.

Our customer this year is Mr. Lucas Scanlon.  Here's a short bio:

 

Luke Scanlon has worked in real estate with Home Builders for 10 years. During this time, he has focused specifically upon consumer behavior, knowledge organization and management. Currently, Luke Scanlon works for Parkstone Development as a VP of Marketing and Operations for Msoft Online. Luke Scanlon also consults with home builders on operational efficiency to improve profitability. Luke Scanlon is a Rice alumnus, and coming back to Rice to earn an MBA with a focus on Marketing, Consumer Behavior and Entrepreneurialism and Finance. The current project being developed by Rice 410 is a culmination of years of study of consumer behavior and valuation of information.

After reading at least all of last year's journals (preferably multiple years), please fill out the survey to the left.   Please complete this by the Wed. 9/5/07 because there are many lessons to be learned from past mistakes!

All students and staff:

Please go to the "Site Settings/Update My Information" menu item above and enter your name as you wish it to appear on the web site.   Also enter your desired e-mail address so that alerts and other messages sent from by Sharepoint can reach you.  

 

Once you have entered your e-mail address, you can set an "Alert" on any list or library in Sharepoint.   This will cause an automatic e-mail to be sent to you whenever a new item is submitted or an existing item is edited.   I strongly suggest that you at least have an alert set for the "Announcements" list.  Simple click on the name of the list and then select "Alert me".

 

To send an e-mail to the entire class and staff,  send a message to  "comp410f07" at "owlspace-ccm.rice.edu".   (Same as the link on the right side of the home page).   All e-mails will be archived on the Comp410 Owlspace site.

 

We will also be experimenting with creating sections in Owlspace so that e-mails can be sent to smaller groups of people. 

I've got all other 5 CDs, only the CD1 is missing. Contact me at hyzhang@rice.edu. Thanks!

The specifications and requirements for the Fall 2007 Warm-up project can be found here, in the "Warmup Project" document library: http://www.bandgap.cs.rice.edu/sites/comp410f07/Warmup%20Project/Official%20Requirements%20and%20Specifications.doc

The project is due by class time on Sept. 10 when we will hold an all-class demo.  

 

Enjoy!