Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Telerik OpenAccess
ORM is a developer productivity tool used to generate data
access layers for applications. It allows software developers
to quickly and easily map objects in an object-oriented domain
model to relational database tables, views and/or stored
procedures.
In this post I'll demonstrate the Model First approach, also
known as forward mapping. I'll use the OpenAccess ORM Visual
Model Designer to create a domain model and then use the Update
Database from Model wizard to create the database backend from that
model.
I'm going to model a simple contacts list data structure that
will contain the following four tables. Salutation, Person,
Contact and Contact Type. The data relationships are as
follows.
- A person has a single salutation (Mr., Mrs., Miss).
- A person has a number of contact records (Various ways to
contact a person).
- A contact record has a type (Home #, Cell #, Email).
To get started we need to create a new Class Library project in
Visual Studio 2010. Delete the default Class1.cs file that
gets created and add a new folder to contain your ORM code.
For this example I simply named the folder ORM.
Right-click on your ORM folder, select Add -> New Item...
Locate the Telerik OpenAccess Domain Model template, name
your .rlinq file and click Add.
This will initiate the Telerik OpenAccess New Domain Model
Wizard. For the model first approach you want to start with
an empty domain model. Select your database back end, name
your model and adjust your namespace if required. Click
Next.
Two additional screens are presented as a part of this wizard.
One allows you to define your naming rules for classes,
fields and properties. The other allows you to select code
generation templates and make changes to the output settings.
Accept the defaults for both screens by clicking Next and
then Finish.
With the wizard now complete
you're presented with a blank entity diagram that says "Drag from
the toolbox to add items to the diagram". Do just that, open
up your toolbox and you'll see the items that are available to be
dragged onto the canvas.
Add four Domain Class objects, one for each database table
desired. Use the diagram surface and properties windows
together to model your Domain Classes to represent eventual
database tables. Do this by adding a series of properties to
each Domain Class object to act as the fields of your database
table. From the properties window you can set a fields data
type, whether or not it's a nullable field or if it's an identity
field. Once the Domain Objects are configured add
Associations, one for each relationship in the data structure.
Configure associations the same way you would relationships
of a database table. Here's my completed diagram for the
contacts list example.
When saving your diagram, Telerik OpenAccess ORM generates
source code for each Domain Class Object, making them working class
objects usable by applications. This is great and all,
however performing a quick build will result in warnings telling us
we're not mapped to database objects yet.
Being a model first approach, this makes perfect sense.
We've completed our model but have yet to transfer it to a
database. Without the database existing there are no tables
for our classes to be associated with. To apply the model to
a database right click on your diagram canvas and select Update
Database from Model...This will launch the Update Database
from Model wizard.
The first thing the wizard requires is a connection to the
database. You can choose an existing connection, create a new
one or simply provide a connection string. I provided a
connection string and named my connection. Click Next
>.
With a connection now made to the database, the wizard can look
up the available database schemas. Select the schema you want
to use and the types of objects you need to create. This
example only required tables to be created but you can also model
views and stored procedures.
The next step of the wizard lets you select which changes to
apply to the database. You have the option to create a new
database or migrate changes into an existing one. I created
an empty database ahead of time so chose Migrate Database.
The lower portion of the screen displays the database objects
and what operations will be performed. Being new tables, all
operations are set to Add. Click Next >.
Lastly, the wizard displays information about the SQL script it
generated to make changes to the database. You have the
option to save the script file or save and execute it. I
chose to save and execute. Click Finish.
With the database tables created one task remains. To map
the Domain Classes to their database tables. From the diagram
canvas right-click on a Domain Class and select Map to Table...This
opens up the Edit Table dialog. The database tables created
earlier will be shown in the "Already available tables:" dropdown
list. Select the database table for your Domain Class and
click OK. Do this for each of your Domain Classes.
That's all there is to it, at this point you now have a fully
developed data access layer and object model to use in your
software applications. Everything you need to create,
retrieve, update and delete records from the database tables has
been generated without a developer having to write a single line of
code.
In part two of this blog post series I'll demonstrate how easy
it is to use the object model by creating a contacts list ASP.Net
web application.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
This is the first in a series of posts where I'll be covering a
bathroom renovation project that I'm working on for some friends of
mine. We're not talking a small renovation project here,
we're talking about a complete tear down and rebuild. The
type of project that in order to clean a mess, you have to first
make a mess...and a mess we made...as well as found!
Our first task was to tear down the existing bathroom, removing
the sink, toilette, tub, walls and ceiling tile. I found it
odd the bathroom ceiling was finished with ceiling tile because it
acts like a sponge and soaks up moisture. Because of this,
the original ceiling was severely damaged above the shower area,
which meant the ceiling needed to come down too.
With the drywall removed we discovered a damaged soil stack.
It was an old cast iron stack that had somehow rusted
completely through, leaking sewage gases into the wall cavity.
Luckily this cast iron section tied into PVC at the bottom so it
was fairly easy to replace with a new PVC stack. We also
uncovered a sealed off window behind the bathtub surround that
we'll need to deal with.
It became clear this wasn't the first renovation the bathroom
has seen. We found old plumbing runs on the opposite side of the
room from where the sink and toilette now reside. This was
our first clue. Then we found the window behind the tub
surround, our second clue. But what we discovered next is
downright scary! Our third and final clue, the electrical
wiring.
There was 3 major issues with the electrical work. First was an
unused live wire cut and terminated using duct tape. This was
left dangling in a wall cavity rather than being terminated in a
junction box or better yet removed. Second was an electrical
junction consisting of 4 power lines all duct taped together.
This too was left dangling in a wall cavity with no junction
box or marrets used. Third was the power line for the ceiling
fan. This was done by cutting into another power line and
T'ing off up to the fan. Again using duct tape with no
junction box or marrets. Needless to say, the electrical
wiring was also removed. I could never stress this
enough. Electrical wiring is not something to be taken
lightly. If you don't know what you're doing or are
uncomfortable in any way working with electricity, hire a
professional! Please, for your own safety and the safety of
future home buyers, don't do things like this.
The tear down process certainly uncovered a fair amount of
unexpected work that needs to be done. I can't say I was all
that surprised though, it's quite common during home renovations to
uncover things you didn't expect to see. Be sure to check out
part 2 where we address the ceiling repairs and exterior wall.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Software development requires tools. This could range from a
simple text editor/compiler combination to a full blown developer
work station with all the bells and whistles. I'm in favor of
empowering developers to do their job efficiently and effectively,
so I tend to prefer the bells and whistles approach. Here's my
personal list of must have development apps.
SQL Server Management Studio is a tool for software developers,
database architects and database administrators to visually work
with SQL Server databases. If you use SQL Server as a
database server, this is a must have.
Visual Studio is a powerful integrated development environment,
or IDE, that offers a number of flavors to accommodate various
needs. If you're a .Net developer chances are this is your code
editor of choice.
MySQL Workbench is a tool for software developers, database
architects and database administrators to visually work with MySQL
databases. If you use MySQL as a database server, this is a must
have.
NUnit is an open source unit testing framework for Microsoft
.Net development. It's feature rich and highly supported by 3rd
party tools. If you practice Test Driven Development or simply want
to code with confidence, then NUnit is a fantastic option.
TestMatrix is 3 in 1 application to add Visual Studio support
for running unit tests, collecting code coverage and profiling your
code. If you want to run your unit tests, see how much of your code
is being tested and to better understand the implications of
your design choices all from within Visual Studio, give TestMatrix
a shot.
TortoiseSVN is an easy to use Apache Subversion client that
integrates seamlessly into Windows explorer. If Subversion is your
Source Control Management system of choice, TortoiseSVN is possibly
the best option for you.
JustCode is a Visual Studio add-in that offers on-the-fly code
analysis, error checking, code navigation and refactoring tools. If
you care about productivity and code quality, JustCode has a lot to
offer.
JustMock is a developer productivity tool designed to ease the
creation of mock objects. It allows you to create unit tests that
are independent of external dependencies such as databases, web
services or tightly bound objects. Mock on!
OpenAccess ORM is a productivity tool used to generate data
access layers for your .Net applications. It greatly reduces
development time by taking over the task of writing database access
code.
Telerik offers a huge variety of user interface controls for a
number of development platforms. RadControls exist for ASP.Net
AJAX, ASP.Net MVC, Windows Forms, Windows Phone, WPF and
Silverlight. These control toolsets increase developer productivity
and add large value to your software due to their slick UI and
excellent performance.
Telerik offers a great reporting package. Like many developers
out there I've never been a fan of report writing. Telerik helps to
ease this pain by offering a solution that's easy to use and
feature rich.
Test Studio Express contains a test recorder for creating
automated user interface tests. By building a library of user
interface tests you can efficiently regression test your
applications.
If you have a suggestion for a must have development app
or want to share what's on your list, please leave a comment and
let me know!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
We've all been there, sitting in front of a shiny new computer
running a fresh operating system. Chances are the system is
running fantastic but lacks the functionality we need. So
what's to be done? The installation of our must have apps of
course! Here's my personal list of must have PC
applications.
AVG offers an excellent anti-virus software package for free.
If you own a PC you need anti-virus software and AVG
Anti-Virus is a great option at no cost.
CCleaner is the application I use to keep my Windows PCs clean.
It removes un-needed files, abandoned registry entries and
has a couple of other useful tools.
Daemon Tools Lite allows users to make CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc
images, create virtual drives and play CDs, DVDs & Blu-rays
without the need for the physical disc.
Dropbox is 2GB of free cloud storage space
synchronized to all of my devices. Drop a
file here, read it there. Nifty.
Google Chrome is my web browser of choice.
NewsLeecher is an NNTP client application that is used to
download from UseNet groups or .nzb files. If you're into news
groups, NewsLeecher is a reasonably priced
option.
I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not happy about this one,
in fact I hate it. I do own a number of apple devices though
and iTunes is required to manage my media libraries.
Notepad++ is a free source code editor and notepad replacement.
When compared to Windows Notepad or Wordpad, Notepad++ is superior
in every way.
Paint.NET is a free image and photo editing application.
Originally intended to be a replacement for Windows Paint,
Paint.NET has grown into a product that competes with the likes of
Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
I have used instant messaging software since 1997 when first
introduced to ICQ (I Seek You). I have used
a number of instant messaging applications through the years and
have settled in with MSN Messenger, now known as Windows Live
Messenger.
WinRAR is an easy-to-use archiving utility that can unpack most
archive formats, as well as compress to both RAR and ZIP.
Wunderlist is a great task management application that runs on a
wide variety of platforms. With Wunderlist I can access, use
and synchronize my task lists to all of my devices.
If you have a suggestion for a must have PC app or want to share
what's on your list, please leave a comment and let me know!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
When your IIS 7 web server is a member of an Active Directory
domain, it's very easy to configure ASP.Net 4.0 web sites to
authenticate domain users and be able to test for group membership.
This is a great option when building secured or intranet web sites
that require authentication and roles functionality, but is not
recommended for unsecured internet sites.
We'll get started by creating a new ASP.Net Empty Web
Application project in Visual Studio 2010.
With our new web site project created we need to make some
modifications to the system.web configuration section of its
Web.config file.
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"
/>
<authentication mode="Windows"
/>
</system.web>
By adding authentication mode="Windows" to our
configuration file, we're passing the responsibility of
authenticating users over to the web server itself. The user
identity supplied by IIS 7 will be treated as the authenticated
user in our ASP.Net 4.0 web site.
This will require a small configuration change to our web site
settings in IIS 7 when deployed. We've asked IIS to be responsible
for user authentication so we need to configure how we expect it to
be done.
From the Features View of our web site in IIS 7 management
console, we need to select Authentication from the IIS
grouping.
Ensure Anonymous Authentication is disabled and that Windows
Authentication is enabled, done deal.
With authentication taken care of we need to configure our roles
functionality. User roles will be managed in Active Directory by
adding or removing domain users to and from groups.
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"
/>
<authentication mode="Windows" />
<roleManager
defaultProvider="WindowsTokenRoleProvider"
cacheRolesInCookie="false"
enabled="true">
<providers>
<add
name="WindowsTokenRoleProvider"
type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider"/>
</providers>
</roleManager>
</system.web>
Here we've added a roleManager element and configured it to use
the WindowsTokenRoleProvider. This configuration enables
our web site to get user role information from Windows group
memberships.
We now have everything required to implement access
restrictions.
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"
/>
<authentication mode="Windows" />
<authorization>
<allow
roles="YOURDOMAIN-COM\WebSiteUsers" />
<deny users="*" />
</authorization>
<roleManager
defaultProvider="WindowsTokenRoleProvider"
cacheRolesInCookie="false"
enabled="true">
<providers>
<add name="WindowsTokenRoleProvider"
type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider"/>
</providers>
</roleManager>
</system.web>
The authorization configuration section allows us to control who
has access to the web site. Above, we are granting access to users
who are members of the WebSiteUsers group on a domain and denying
access to all others. Access restrictions can be kept as simple as
this or configured much more granular to meet more demanding
requirements. The roles framework is also accessible
programmatically so there's a wide range of options.
// Get a user's roles.
Roles.GetRolesForUser();
Roles.GetRolesForUser(@"YOURDOMAIN-COM\SpecificUserName");
// Test if a user is in a role
Roles.IsUserInRole(@"YOURDOMAIN-COM\WebSiteUsers");
Roles.IsUserInRole(@"YOURDOMAIN-COM\SpecificUserName",
@"YOURDOMAIN-COM\WebSiteUsers");
That's about it, with a few lines of XML and a small tweak to a
web site setting in IIS 7 we're able to configure ASP.Net 4.0 web
sites to authenticate users on a domain and be able to test group
memberships.