Der am 7.7.2011 gegründete Verein Footprint widmet sich dem Thema Frauenhandel und wird seine Räumlichkeiten in 1030 Wien, Ditscheinergasse 3/ Top 1 Mitte Jänner 2012 eröffnen. Ziel der NGO ist es, die von der drastischen Menschenrechtsverletzung betroffenen Frauen über Ihre Rechte und Möglichkeiten in Österreich aufzuklären. Zentral ist das Anliegen, die Lebenssituation der oft traumatisierten Personen während, vor und nach dem Asylverfahren in Österreich zu verbessern. Der noch so junge Verein wurde 2011 bereits zweimal ausgezeichnet: Im Mai mit dem Social Impact Award und im Oktober mit dem dritten Preis der Initiative „Ideen gegen Armut“. „Wir wünschen Footprint viel Erfolg bei Ihrer schwierigen, interkulturellen Aufgabe und freuen uns, einen kleinen Beitrag dazu leisten zu können“, unterstreicht Siegl.

(Den ganzen Text finden Sie auf der LieberLieber Homepage)

www.footprint.or.at

Zum Bild: Im multikulturellen, vorwiegend ehrenamtlich tätigen Team von Footprint ist Mehmet Akif Özdemir für die digitalen Aufgaben (IT, Website etc.) zuständig: „Ich engagiere mich bei Footprint, weil ich die Ungerechtigkeit, mit der diese Menschen tag täglich konfrontiert werden, nicht akzeptieren kann.’’

• What are attributes?

In .NET attributes are used to combine code with declarations. e.g. is the class serializable, or is the property readonly.
Get more information here: codeproject

• My Scenario:

In the internet you can find a couple of blogposts, dealing with setting attributes at runtime . I needed this to build a read-only property Grid, without modifying all the objects, I want to display.

Most information of this article is based on: dotnetfacts

In a short summary: the read-only attributes are set on all public properties except collections.  This is to keep the CollectionEditor button alive, which is disabled when setting readonly= true on collections too.

• What I did:

You cannot create property-based attributes during runtime, but the readonly attribute exists for each property of your class by default. Even, if you do not add the Line “[ReadOnly(false)]“.
This is, why the following code-snippet works. It sets the readonly-attribute on each public property except collections.

• My Problem:

When assigning the class to the Property-Grid, all properties are displayed readonly. And next to collections you still have the button to investigate them.
But when opening the CollectionsEditor you might discover the following:

Although class “Connector” contains more properties than just a ToString-Method, it is treated like a string object.
For a tool like “Enar Spy” this is totally worthless, as you cannot investigate any collections.

• Solution:

By accident, I found an article mentioning my problem in a single sentence:
“Add the readonly-attribute to your class’ properties declaration (= in source code). Because if you don’t, .NET will mix it up and do some crazy stuff.”
(Shame on me, I do not remember, where I found that hint!)

That’s why I ended up adding the line “[ReadOnly(false)]” to each property of each class I use in Enar Spy.

And guess what?
The propertyGrid’s collection editor now works like a charm:

This issue definitely needs some more investigation.

Does anybody have more information about this topic?

I appreciate each comment to this topic!

Am 16.11. erlebte eine neue Surface Applikation für den Handel, die auch das Erkennen von Barcodes erlaubt, ihre Premiere am ECR Austria Infotag im Hotel Savoyen in Wien. Der Titel der Veranstaltung “Neue Wege zum Konsumenten” war auch unser Motto bei der Erstellung der Anwendung, die bei den anwesenden Handels-Spezialisten großes Interesse fand.

To complete the confusion: the property tab also has been named “Behavior”

The property dialog has been changed between EA 8.0 and EA 9.0, the issue has remain. Summary If you want that EA considers your code during code generation please note:

• for class operations use “Initial Code:” input window for manual coding
• for class operations use “Behavior” window for linking it to a behavior only
• for state operations use “Behavior” window only for everything

If you want to understand the reason behind that, see below for explanation:

By the way, the AMUSE 2.0 (coming soon) provides a number of really helpful validation rules, e.g. in that case AMUSE warns the user  about the code will be ignored by the code generation

Is there any logic at all in that? Yes it is logically and the reason is the definition of behaviors and operations in UML. So what is the relation between behaviors and operations and how EA does support that concept? Per definition a classifier (e.g Class) may have operations and behaviors:

• An operation = method declaration - like method declaration in C++ header files
• A behavior = method definition – like method definition in C++ cpp files EA supports 4 behavior-types : state machine, activity, interaction (e.g. sequence) and rule flow.

That means you have two ways for definition of the operation behavior (implementation):

• using “Initial Code:” input window for manual coding (like method definition in header files C++)
• using “Behavior” window to link it to a dedicated behavior via button “Element” in EA 9.0 or “…” in EA 8.0

BUT a State within a state machine may also have operations (entry, exit, do)! For that reason EA provides the same dialog for behavior definition of state operations. What about that? The same rules? It would be too easy Because (it’s my guess) a state is an integral part of a behavior, the “Initial Code” window is useless in the dialog. => Whatever you want to do, use “Behavior” input window for definition of state operations.

BR RB

At that place I’d like to say a big thank you to Walter van der Heiden who allowed me to reuse some slides from his impressive presentation I enjoyed some times on the development conferences .

Please find here a video that demonstrates our solution for the Keil environment and ARM RTOS

Couple weeks ago we presented our solution for embedded development at the embedded world Conference 2011 for the first time . Today I’m at the Electronics Fair Exhibition in the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center and present the solution in Asia market. The most of the local development companies need more time to realize the demand for Model Driven Design and Development (MDD) than the European companies, but there is mind change on the way, in particular in the embedded world. The embedded market is one of most competitive and the companies are under pressure to decrease time-to-market. The MDD one of the essential instruments for arriving that target and that what we present to our potential customers here.

How ever me and my colleagues from Sparx Systems Australia we created a new video that demonstrates the usage of the embedded tool kit including Enterpise Architect, AMUSE, Willert Tools and Keil IDE. I like it and would like to share it with you, please enjoy!

And here the same staff as flash video with higher quality:

Na bitte!  Und da wir vorausschauend agieren hält unser Geschäftsführer Daniel Siegl morgen wieder einen WP7 Vortrag auf den Big>Days 2011 in Graz!

IDC-Prognose: Windows Phone zieht an iOS vorbei – pressetext.austria

Using the existing MembershipProvider
If you have already an existing Web application and you want to extend it throughout a Windows Phone application you can use the existing System.Web.ApplicationServices for the authentication.

You can do this by creating a new WCF service file and expose the built-in AuthenticationService.

<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#"
                Service="System.Web.ApplicationServices.AuthenticationService" %>

In the web.config of the Asp.net Web application you have to add following sections:

  <system.web.extensions>
    <scripting>
      <webServices>
        <authenticationService enabled="true" requireSSL="false"/>
      </webServices>
    </scripting>
  </system.web.extensions>

  <system.serviceModel>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name=" ">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
        </behavior>
        <behavior name="AuthenticationServiceBehaviors">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
    <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true"
                               multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
    <services>
      <service name="System.Web.ApplicationServices.AuthenticationService" 
               behaviorConfiguration="AuthenticationServiceBehaviors">
        <endpoint contract="System.Web.ApplicationServices.AuthenticationService"
            binding="basicHttpBinding" />
      </service>
    </services>
  </system.serviceModel>

You also need to configure the WCF service itself by using the AspNetCompatibilityRequirements attribute.

[ServiceContract(Namespace = "LieberLieber.Mobile")]
[SilverlightFaultBehavior]
[AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(
              RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed)]
public class CompanyService

After you have added a service reference to the AuthenticationService.svc and CompanyService.svc you have to enable cookies for the Windows Phone application.

Add following attribute enableHttpCockieContainer and set the value to true.

   <bindings>
       <basicHttpBinding>
           <binding enableHttpCookieContainer="true" name="BasicHttpBinding_AuthenticationService" maxBufferSize="2147483647
               maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647">
               <security mode="None" />
           </binding>
           <binding enableHttpCookieContainer="true" name="BasicHttpBinding_CompanyService" maxBufferSize="2147483647"
               maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647">
               <security mode="None" />
           </binding>
       </basicHttpBinding>
   </bindings>

One important notice:

If you need to update the service reference you will get following Microsoft Visual Studio error: “The configuration for the service reference could not be updated due to the following issue: Unrecognized attribute ‘enableHttpCockieContainer’.

To resolve this issue just remove the attribute. Update the service reference and add the attribute again.

Within the Windows Phone application you can now use the AuthenticationService’s method LoginAsync.

    readonly CookieContainer _coockieContainer = new CookieContainer();

    private void Authenticate(string userName,string password)
    {
      var authService = new AuthenticationService.AuthenticationServiceClient();
      authService.CookieContainer = _coockieContainer;
      authService.LoginCompleted += authService_LoginCompleted;
      authService.LoginAsync(userName,password,"",true);
    }

If you make now a method service call, you have to set the same CookieContainer.

    private void GetCompanyName()
    {
      var client = new CompanyServiceClient();
      client.CookieContainer = _coockieContainer;
      client.GetCompanyNameCompleted += client_GetCompanyNameCompleted;
      client.GetCompanyNameAsync();
    }

Authentication without MembershipProvider

If you are using your own authentication method you have to set the authentication cookie by yourself.

   public bool Authenticate(string userName, string password)
   {
     if (userName == "lieberlieber" && password == "ll%123")
     {
      System.Web.Security.FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(userName, false);
      return true;
     }
     return false;
    }

One important thing to remember

If you are using Basic Authentication the username and password are sent in plaintext. That means you should definitely use SSL.

Here you can find a running solution.

It’s a kind of “Hello World” for multiple machines, simplest possible example
Two state machines fires triggers to each other: Ping fires ping trigger and receives pong trigger and pong works another way around.

1. Download XMI
2. Create an empty Enterprise Architect project
3. Import XMI
4. Open ping and pong state machine diagrams
5. Add both to AMUSE simulation window
6. Start pong first then ping
7. if initial ping wasn’t caught, fire first trigger manually via trigger menu
8. watch the ping/pong counters

How you can do that in a simple way? In that case you typically need to:

1. setup an Visual Studio Project and take care of some settings (e.g. usage of 3.5 NET); 2. develop a form; 3. compile the VS project into assembly; 4. import the form into your EA model, AMUSE reverse engineers it from the assembly and create a form class; 5. create an attribute in the class, that contains the state machine of type of reverse engineered form class; 6. connect form events with the state machine triggers; 7. initialize your form at state machine initializing phase
We recommend not import the form class directly but rather to create a wrapper class that contains only the events and methods you really need for modeling, otherwise the reverse engineered form class contains too much stuff inherited from the Form basis class. That means you have basically one more step to do.

The described procedure is not really complex and after performing it once you have a reusable template. In addition you develop and test the UI in very comfortable VS development environment.

But what if the usage of VS is not an option or you just want to perform the whole modeling using EA environment only?
– Not a problem at all . Following XMI contains a simple model including an integrated Windows Form: simple model including an integrated Windows Form
Please find below the corresponding video:

The idea is as simple as the implementation itself. First of all we have to know which .NET assemblies are referenced by AMUSE and therefore are available for behavior programming: System; System.Core; System.Data; System.XML; WindowsBase and most important for us System.Windows.Forms
Following steps are to do:

1. create an attribute e.g. testDialog of type System.Windows.Forms.Form with following initial value: new System.Windows.Forms.Form()
2. create a method e.g. ShaowDialog() responsible for the form initialization. Please find the example initial code below:

//the layout panel is required for positioning of controls we create below
System.Windows.Forms.FlowLayoutPanel MyFlowLayoutPanel = new System.Windows.Forms.FlowLayoutPanel();

//ensure that we create controls and add them to the form only once
//later on if the form is closed or hidden just show it again
if(testDialog.Controls.Count < 1)
{
    testDialog.Text = "Loginform";

    System.Windows.Forms.Label NameLabel = new System.Windows.Forms.Label(); 
    NameLabel.Text = "UserName";
    MyFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(NameLabel);

    System.Windows.Forms.TextBox NameBox = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
    NameBox.Name = "NameBox";
    MyFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(NameBox);

    System.Windows.Forms.Label PasswordLabel = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
    PasswordLabel.Text = "Pasword";
    MyFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(PasswordLabel);

    System.Windows.Forms.TextBox PasswordBox = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
    PasswordBox.Name = "PasswordBox";
    PasswordBox.PasswordChar = '*';
    MyFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(PasswordBox);

    System.Windows.Forms.Button CloseButton = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
    CloseButton.Text = "Submit";
    MyFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(CloseButton);

    testDialog.Controls.Add(MyFlowLayoutPanel);

    //prevent hiding the dialog
    testDialog.TopMost = true;
    //connect button click event to the class operation OnSubmit
    CloseButton.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.OnSubmit);
}
testDialog.ShowDialog();

3. Create form event handler class operation e.g. OnSubmit(). Please find the example initial code below:

//TODO:: error handling

//get the form from event args
System.Windows.Forms.Form myForm = ((System.Windows.Forms.Control)sender).FindForm();

//assign the strings from the name and password boxes to corresponding class attributes
this.Username = ((System.Windows.Forms.Control)myForm.Controls.Find("NameBox", true)[0]).Text;
this.Password = ((System.Windows.Forms.Control)myForm.Controls.Find("PasswordBox", true)[0]).Text;

testDialog.Close();

//fire trigger by calling identically named TriggerEvent method
trigIdentificationDone();

4. Finally dispose dialog at state machine finalization e.g. implemented in a separate class operation DisposeDialog(). Please find the example initial code below:

testDialog.Close();
testDialog.Dispose();

That’s it.

Enjoy!

“I’m honored by the recognition and confidence so many of my OMG colleagues have given me through my election to the Architecture Board,” said Mancarella. “This role will enable me to make a significant contribution to OMG’s state-of-the-art specifications and standards over the next two years.” Mancarella added, “I am looking forward to serving the OMG and its members, Sparx Systems, and the greater modeling industry in this prestigious role.”

Read the full story on: Sparx Systems Representative Elected to OMG Architecture Board | Benzinga.com

Why to use state-machines at all?

UML supports state charts for really long time, but only a small part of UML community uses state-machines on a regular basis.
My experience confirms that – it isn’t easy to start using them. The question is – why?

In my opinion, the reason is – the way how the people do thinking – in functions and activities (actually straight forward ). Therefore most of us likes sequence and activity charts better.
Everybody begins programming by writing functions – first, you have an idea of desired result in your mind and next, to get that result – you program a… function. Other way around – nobody will start thinking about classes, instances, states, interaction between objects, etc. if you just want e.g. to parse some strings.

But one day you want to (or you have to ) develop code in a more structured way. At that point machines can help
- Why? Because they get the object oriented methodology to the heart of the matter – it’s all about objects and their states. But as already mentioned above, at the beginning, state-machines seem to be non-trivial
– So what to do?

How to get the state-machine right?

Wouldn’t be great if an UML tool could interact with you and give you feedback while modeling to show if you are still on the right track?
– It’s exactly what AMUSE does. It extends Enterprise Architect to an interactive UML tool.

My first lesson learned with AMUSE

1. First, install the tool – very easy
2. Cause I developed state machines before AMUSE, the next step was also easy going – created a model, a view, a package, added an state diagram and drew a trivial state chart
3. Next, I wanted of course to know if it’s executable – the first thing I had to learn was to add every state-machine into simulation window manually. Actually it’s annoying, hope we change that in the next version
4. But already at the fourth step I learned a really important thing – every state machine belongs to a class. First, I thought it is also nonsense, but then I’ve got it

Basically it is easy and exactly the right way to think:

- So, you want a state chart? First question you have to answer – state of what? And the answer is – state of class you have to design.

Answering that question is the first step in the right direction of good design!

Bottom line

To cut a long story short:

• State machines are cool, because they guide you to a good design
• AMUSE is cool, because it guides you to a good state machine
  - e.g. it creates automatically a class and a state machine that belongs to a state diagram if you forgot

meanwhile i came to the conclusion:
- Usage of state machines is probably most suitable way to enter into object oriented design, but they are also excellent helpers for experts.

Next time more …

It is an port of an existing Windows Mobile 6.5 Application – and yes it was a rewrite – but it didn’t take very long.

View Full Album

And I found a pretty interesting result:

It only takes into account “Classes” and not “Instances”.

There is two links that proved helpful – a video tutorial from Sparx Systems and a Blog post from Tom Peplow.

 

Setting up works in a similar way than it does for NUnit – refer to this Posts for hints.

I used my very Simple Account Class from the NUnit sample.

Then I prepared a little runner that would record a Sequence Chart using Enterprise Architects Debugger.

The result I’m getting from Enterprise Architect looks like this:

It doesn’t take into account that I have two instances of the same class – I would have rather expected it to look like:

What do you think? Is there value in a Sequence Diagram based on classes rather than on instances?