2009 July | Development Matters Blog

Archive for July, 2009

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek for Developers

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

View a sneak peek of Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for Developers. SharePoint 2010 provides a robust development platform to rapidly build solutions using familiar tools like Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010. Developers gain access to a rich set of out-of-the-box features such as Business Connectivity Services for read/write integration between external application data, the web, and Office 2010 client.

Feature Highlights:

  • Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Tools
  • Language Integrated Query (LINQ) for SharePoint
  • Developer Dashboard
  • Business Connectivity Services
  • Client Object Model (OM)
  • Silverlight Web Part

View the Sneak Peek Video:

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek for Developers

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Generating Documentation Using Sandcastle

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Once you have finished documenting your code, you are ready for the Sandcastle. Sandcastle essentially is a documentation compiler. You can download it at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E82EA71D-DA89-42EE-A715-696E3A4873B2&displaylang=en

It is a command prompt tool, but a number of open source GUIs can be found on the Internet. One of them is the Sandcastle Help File Builder (SHFB) and you can download it at:

http://www.codeplex.com/SHFB

SHFB is very easy to use. In order to build a documentation (.chm) file you need to follow a few simple steps:

  • Create a new project
  • Add your assemblies to it (each has to have an .xml documentation file accompanying it)
  • Build/Dependencies option - add all assemblies your assemblies depend on
  • Build/Framework Version option – select framework version
  • Help File/Presentation Style – select vs2005
  • Help File/Help Title – select help title for your help file
  • Help File/HtmlHelpName – select you help filename
  • Set other desired options (most of them is self-explanatory)
  • Build help file

SHFB snapshot is shown in the picture bellow:

Sandcastle Help File Builder

Sandcastle Help File Builder

Finally, after the build process is complete (it may take a long time), the help file is ready! Enjoy!

Sandcastle Documented Class Library

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Common XML Documentation Tags

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Below is a list, with descriptions, of the most commonly used XML Documentation Tags.

<summary> / <remarks>
The <summary> tag is used to describe a type or a member. The <remarks> tag is used to add supplemental information to a type or member description.

/// <summary>Type or member description.</summary>
/// <remarks>Supplemental Information.</remarks>

<param>
The <param> tag is used for documenting the method parameter. The <param> tag is always used with the name attribute.

/// <summary>…</summary>
/// <param name=”arg1″>
Describe arg1 parameter.</param>
/// <param name=”arg2″>
Describe arg2 parameter.</param>
public void XmlDocumentationMethod(string arg1, int arg2) { … } 

<returns>
The <returns> tag is used for describing the return value from a method.

/// <summary>…</summary>
/// <returns>
Return value description.</returns>
public int XmlDocumentationMethod ( ) { … }

<see>
The <see> tag is used for adding links to your documentation. It can only be used inside other tags. Also, it has to be used with one of two attributes, href or cref. Href attribute is used for specifying the external hyperlinks. This is actually any link that a browser can recognize, including links to .doc and .pdf documents. Cref attribute is used for specifying an internal hyperlink. Internal hyperlink is linking to any item in the installed MSDN library on your local machine.

You can also use the langword attribute for documenting the language words such as true, false, null, etc.

/// <summary>
///
Various links inside text:
/// <see cref=”System.Exception”/>
/// <see href=”http://www.microsoft.com”/>
/// <see langword=”true”/>
/// </summary>
public void XmlDocumentationMethod ( )  { … }

<exception>
The <exception> tag is used in describing the exceptions that might be thrown by a member.

/// <summary>…</summary>
/// <exception cref=”SerializationException”/>
public void XmlDocumentationMethod ( )
{
            throw new SerializationException ( ) ;
}

 <c> / <code> / <example>
The <c> tag describes the in-line code. The <code> tage describes the code block. The <example> tag introduces the example section.

/// <summary>…</summary>
/// <example>
///
You have to clear the data before you can
/// execute the <c>Helper.Load()</c> to load data.
/// <code>
/// Helper.Clear();
/// Helper.Load();
/// </code>
/// </example>

public void Load() { … }

<list>
The <list> tag is used for formatting the text into a list. The List tag has to be used with the type attribute. The type attribute can be bullet (bulleted list), number (numbered list), or table.

/// <summary>…</summary>
/// <remarks>
///
Bulleted List:
/// <list type=”bullet”>
/// <item>
item 1</item>
/// <item>
item 2</item>
/// </list>
///
Numbered List:
/// <list type=”number”>
/// <item>
item 1</item>
/// <item>
item 2</item>
/// </list>
///
Table List:
/// <list type=”table”>
/// <listheader>
///     <term>
item</term>
///     <description>
description</description>
/// </listheader>
/// <item>
///     <term>
item 1</term>
///     <description>
description</description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
///     <term>
item 2</term>
///     <description>
description</description>
/// </item>
/// </list>
/// </remarks>
public void XmlDocumentationMetho ( )  { … }

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Dictionary Control in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The Dictionary Control is one of the features of Advanced Mode from the Support Debugging Tool.

To access the Advanced Mode features, you must have SQL administrator or database owner (dbo) privileges. If you do, then you can open the Dex.ini Settings window by selecting Dex.ini Settings from the Options button drop list on the main window of Support Debugging Tool and enabling Enable Debugger Advanced Mode Features option.

You can open the Dictionary Control window by selecting Dictionary Control from the Options button drop list on the main window of Support Debugging Tool.

Dictionary Control can be used to troubleshoot issues with third party dictionaries. You can effectively remove dictionaries from the system one-by- one until the issue stops. The last dictionary removed can be investigated.

You can use Trigger Status to disable Dexterity triggers for a specific Product in a similar fashion to the Customization Status window in Microsoft Dynamics GP. The added benefit of Dictionary Control is that it can remember the settings and automatically disable the product on the next login.

Dictionary Control can also disable alternate windows for third party dictionaries using the Alternate Status option. This does not change any security settings.

Using Dictionary Control to disable the triggers and alternate windows for a third party dictionary can produce the same effect as removing the dictionary from the Dynamics.set launch file without requiring any backups or manual editing.

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The Support Debugging Tool

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

The Support Debugging Tool is a Dexterity-based suite of utilities and tools created to assist with the task of supporting Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Some examples of purposes where the Support Debugging Tool can be used are listed below:

  • To identify the specific series of events which lead up to an issue or bug in the code occurring.
  • To quickly and simply turn on all logging and profiling capabilities without restarting the application. This can be useful when looking at performance problems.
  • To find details about dictionary resources.
  • To identify resources (forms, reports and tables) causing security access issues.
  • To enable and disable third party products or change the order of the products in the launch file.
  • To export data from and import data to any table.
  • To run SQL or Dexterity scripts without needing Dexterity or SQL Administration Tools installed.
  • To capture and email or save screenshots of all open windows and a system status report.

The Support Debugging Tool is installed by copying the Debugger.cnk (self-installing dictionary), Debugger.txt (readme file) and Debugger.pdf (this user guide manual) to the Microsoft Dynamics GP application folder. When Microsoft Dynamics GP is next launched, select “Yes” to include new code. The Support Debugging Tool requires the version 8.00 Dexterity Runtime update 8.00m88 or version 9.00 Service Pack 3 or later. The Support Debugging Tool works with all builds of version 10.00.

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