A. Bekiaris's Blog

Compile your solution without DevExpress assemblies installed in 4 lines

2019-01-28T06:57:04Z

Do you have a project, where you use Azure pipelines to build it? How do you get the referenced DevExpress assemblies? In this post I will discuss how we go for it in eXpandFramework. The process however is applicable in all other projects. After executing the next 4 lines your solution should compile: Install-Module XpandPosh Register-PackageSource – ProviderName Nuget – Name DX_private – Location https : //nuget.devexpress.com/YOURTOKEN Install-DX -binPath YOURBIN -dxSources $( Get-PackageSourceLocations...(read more)

Easy asynchronous web notifications

2018-10-11T13:05:02Z

Today we will discuss another common case, how to create a progress bar to notify our web users about the state of their long running tasks. For this discussion we will work with DevExpress XAF Business Application Framework. We will develop ONE SMALL CLASS, we can then copy paste to any XAF project . It is a good idea before starting any work to search the Support Center for ideas and ask the DevExpress support guys. Doing so we found many tickets with ready to work solutions. Some of them are good...(read more)

Scheduled long running tasks with XAF

2018-08-15T16:31:02Z

Today I will detail about implementing Scheduled Long running tasks in an abstract and reusable way. The Requirement Usually, I have a business objects that store time depended data e.g. Exceptions, Logs etc. There is a need to periodically clean up those tables. The parameters First we need to identify the problem parameters so we can create a model interface . Parameterizing the problem in a model interface is very useful, because the end user can switch it off if something goes wrong. Parameters...(read more)

Dealing with Back-Pressure - UI - a database - the ReactiveX way

2018-06-04T08:26:05Z

This will be a discussion of a possible solution with the requirement to query a large number of web services and selectively project the responses in UI and in a database. For the UI I chose the XAF application framework from DevExpress, because I wanted the tools to validate, secure, display and persist my data while I spent my time designing the service layer. For sending the web requests I introduced a service layer in my solution where I used the HttpClient class and I serialized the...(read more)

The ExcelImporter module

2018-03-19T09:49:01Z

I am happy to announce the new ExcelIMporter module for both Windows and Web. Released with eXpandFramework v17.2.6.3. Importing is a complex task, each scenario has difference requirements. So, first off, a short brief on the existing importing solutions found in eXpandFramework. The ImportWizard module This module was contributed to eXpandFramework a few years ago from a community member. Pros Beautiful UI as it is build with the same DevExpress components that XAF uses. Well integrated, with localization...(read more)

XAF MOBILE CONTEXT - SUPPORTED in eXpandFramework

2017-08-16T17:59:05Z

XAF offers mobile support long time and the XAF team is constantly adding new features and modules, I guess the out of CTP mode is close enough. So its about time to support the mobile platform from our community project (eXpandFramework). Long story short: eXpandFramework up to now only recognized two contexts (Win, Web), this will change from v17.1.5.2 where a Mobile context is introduced. What this means for you? At the moment there are no new mobile modules released, however you are now able...(read more)

Sending modifer keys to client over RDP

2017-08-13T19:25:03Z

Those of you that use Remote Desktop connection you probably noticed that some key combinations like CTRL+ALT+UpArrow are not passed to the client. I looked everywhere but I could;t locate a ready solution so in invented one with the use of AutoHotKey . Install AutoHotKey on both machines and create a Autohotkey script (a file with ahk extension) for the host machine and enter: *^LAlt::^AppsKey This will replace all key strokes that use the left alt key with the Control + AppsKey(the one that opens...(read more)

ASP.NET Dashboard Designer - XAF integration

2016-04-20T15:41:00Z

DevExpress released in v15.2.9 an ASP.NET Dashboard Designer ( Online Demo ). Following eXpandFramework with v15.2.9.3 releases an update to the existing integration of the dashboard suite . Windows In the existing windows implementation the end user can use the UI to create a DashboardDefinition , assign a few Business object types as datasources and execute the Edit Dashboard action to run the Designer . Web Similarly the end user need to perform the same actions to run the ASP.NET dashboard designer...(read more)

How to debug eXpandFramework

2014-07-17T10:02:03Z

In this post I will go through the process of debugging eXpandFramework for each of the distribution channel. The sources If you download the sources either from GitHub or our download page or our build server you need to run the buildall64.cmd file located in the root folder. The batch will generate the symbol files (pdb) and will register the assemblies in the GAC. Debugging is enabled by default since symbols and sources are in place. The Nuget packages eXpandFramework is distributed through Nuget...(read more)

How confident I am with my code?

2014-06-18T23:02:02Z

With smart frameworks like XAF it is inevitable that you will create applications one would except they developed by a whole team and not from just one person. A side effect of rich/large applications is that it is impossible to determine if all parts of the application function unless you have tests. Enter AutoTest from EasyTest XAF comes together with EasyTest a functional testing framework. EasyTest has an undocumented command the AutoTest. In short the AutoTest command will go through all...(read more)

DX-Nuspec files hosted on GitHub

2014-04-22T19:41:03Z

DevExpress offers a great installer for their components and frameworks. But if you work in a continuous integration environment or have to deal with different versions of the components NuGet packages are the better way to deploy and version-control dependencies. This project contains .nuspec files for DevExpress WinForms, Web and XAF assemblies. It is not an official release and it is not supported by DevExpress. This is the description of the DX-Nuspec files, open sourced from Sergej...(read more)

A few more reasons to upgrade to v13.2

2013-12-31T15:15:01Z

13.2 was a great release and many of you already upgraded your applications. For everyone else I am here to help you make that decision sooner and easier, by reminding you what our reviewers had to say, when they upgraded their apps to our latest major release. These are real world feedback without any kind of interaction from us. Gustavo Marzioni Making Business Applications Easier Gustavo is a veteran programmer (20 years+) with a great presence in our community (most active user in eXpandFramework)....(read more)

State machine enhancements

2013-11-30T23:15:04Z

Yesterday, I had a few interesting suggestions from an eXpandFramework user ( Sheldmandu ), about a few real world State Machine enhasements. Since XAF makes development amazingly fast, today we can discuss a bit about the implementaion released with (v13.1.8.22). The full discussion can be found at this thread . In sort Sheldmandu suggested. Allow certain roles to bypass State machine transition validation and make transitions without any restriction in order to correct mistakes. This implemented...(read more)

XAF: Soft Validation (What’s New in 13.2)

2013-11-28T13:50:00Z

Our next major release (13.2), updates our Validation Module with more features that come with different behavior rules, such as Warnings and Information. These can be applied to your existing validation rules using code or the Model Editor . The XAF validation module is a mature and flexible validation system, which allows you to create rules that can validate any business problem, For more information, check out the module documentation . Suppose we have a Business Object that disallows saving...(read more)

eXpandFramework 13.2 beta 1 is out

2013-11-25T02:49:02Z

It has been almost a week since the XAF beta 1 and I hope you already tried the 13.2 bits of XAF. I am happy to announce that in our build servers you can find the 13.2 beta 1 of eXpandFramework . I am also happy to tell you that even if eXpand has a huge code base the 13.2 migration was lighting fast. Thanks to the great job from the XAF team. So, I am pretty sure that the 13.2 migration will not affect your code bases or time either. To get your hands in the XAF beta1 login to your account in the...(read more)

Partial View inheritance

2013-11-19T02:13:00Z

A few months ago eXpandFramework released the first version of View inheritance(see http://goo.gl/3YhTa9 ). In the latest version of the framework (13.1.8.12) it is possible filter the nodes that participate in the inheritance strategy. The MergedDifference Strategy To inherit a model view configuration from another view you can use the Model Editor and add a new record in the MergedDifferences collection as illustrated below. Now the great thing is that the Strategy attribute if fully configurable...(read more)

XAF: Easy custom members (What’s New in 13.2)

2013-11-16T11:02:03Z

With our next major release (13.2), we have simplified the manner in which you are able to add custom and computed fields to existing business models. The functionality is available to both developers and end-users. Once beta 1 is released, you can explore this new custom member functionality by exploring the FeatureCenter solution located in the C:\Users\Public\Documents\DXperience 13.2 Demos\eXpressApp Framework\FeatureCenter\CS folder. Design time As you know, XAF already offered the ability to...(read more)

Extending Easytest to support Drop & Restore for SQLite, ASA , LocalDB

2013-11-13T21:20:05Z

XAF includes the EasyTest functional test framework which as all DevExpress tools is an extensible beast. To learn more about EasyTest I suggest you go through our documentation. So, it was just about time to include a few projects in eXpandFramework to host custom commands and extensions contributed by our community. Starting from next eXpandFramework version 13.1.10 in the root of our repository you will find three extra projects which contain: The FillDataTimeValue command as described in How...(read more)

XAF: Reporting V2 (What’s New in 13.2)

2013-11-08T18:33:00Z

With the upcoming release of the eXpressApp Framework (version 13.2), we’re introducing a new way in which to create reports for your XAF powered application. Simply said, you’ll now be able to create your report using XtraReports within Visual Studio and effortlessly integrate them into your XAF applications. This is an introductory post for the ReportsV2 module and I’ll describe it in more detail once we release. For now, please keep in mind that this will ship as a beta. We are looking forward...(read more)

How to send mails for any business scenario without coding

2013-10-30T02:46:02Z

A few weeks ago, the eXpandFramework released registration support as discussed in How to manage users (register a new user, restore a password, etc.) from the logon form . While users could register, the implementation process was still incomplete it was missing email notification. Thus, this post will discuss the new EmailModule which was made available beginning version 13.1.8.2. The module was designed following the workflow discussed in Declarative data auditing . In this post I will demonstrate...(read more)

Schduler Reminders

2013-10-22T13:58:03Z

I am happy to announce one more contribution from the known to you Stephen Manderson the creator of Dashboard module and not only! Installation The reminders can be found in eXpand Scheduler module in version 13.1.7.12 and currently is available only for the windows platform (Stephen is working on the Web version as well!). So you only need to drag & drop the XpandSchedulerWindowsFormsModule into the module designer. Usage To enable reminders decorate a business object that implements IEVent...(read more)

StateMachine - Allow hiding and disabling transition actions based on security and current object criteria

2013-10-15T13:55:05Z

I will provide a short discussion on how to extend XAF StateMachine module as per subject. By design when creating a new State the it is possible to restrict the transition to that State using Criteria. For example in the below image we see that the transition to the Completed state is allowed only to Administrators. When you try to make the transition to the Completed state a handled exception will be raised however our goal is to hide all transitions that criteria do not fit. So given the above...(read more)

The XAF training week in Germany

2013-10-14T13:08:01Z

Last week I had the privilege to join many of our customers at Oliver’s XAF Training Class in Germany. I wanted to take the time and share with you what happened at the event – as it was an amazing week and highly recommend it to all XAF users. The location The hotel is located high in the mountains and the above an amazing landscape…a simply beautiful location. The agenda Day 1: The organizers (Oliver and John) did a great job with course content. You can see all the XAF courseware below....(read more)

How To create custom menus in DevExpress‐XAF‐Win‐Applications

2013-10-09T14:51:02Z

If you need to customize the default templates consider going through the instructions posted by Michael Lang in our Support center . The issue I am talking about can be found at B234907 . Just download the pdf and follow the very detailed instructions. Big thanks to Michael! for this sharing this, let us know your questions/feedback by replying on the same issue....(read more)

Dashboard web integration module

2013-10-06T01:10:02Z

I am happy to announce web support for the module discussed in Dashboards in the real world – A Scotland strike! Big thanks to Stephen Manderson for this additional contribution!. Installation Drag & drop from the VS toolbox. End Result Please use eXpand forums for your feedback and questions! p.s. : the module is released with eXpandFrameowork v13.1.7.6....(read more)