A. Bekiaris's Blog

Compile your solution without DevExpress assemblies installed in 4 lines

tolisss — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 06:57:04 GMT

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 -join ";" ) -sourcePath YOURSOURCESPATH -dxVersion 18.2.5 Update-HintPath – OutputPath YOURBIN – SourcesPath YOURSOURCESPATH For feedback drop an issue at https://github.com/eXpandFramework/DevExpress.PackageContent...(read more)

Easy asynchronous web notifications

tolisss — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:05:02 GMT

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 candidates e.g How to start a long running operation in ASP.NET application using the ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem method and show its progress in a browser using a WebService method . The problem with the previous sample , is that uses a WebService to periodically call back in a Controller. I wanted to create a reusable implementation inside a library and a WebService cannot live in a library . But I got the idea on how to proceed . I just need to create a ViewItem to host a ASPxProgressBar and with periodic call-backs...(read more)

Scheduled long running tasks with XAF

tolisss — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:31:02 GMT

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 will be: the business object type which we want to clear its records, the criterion to filter the objects and the time to execute this action. The interface along with its registration for this is bellow. using System; using System.ComponentModel; using DevExpress.ExpressApp; using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Model; using DevExpress.ExpressApp.Model.Core; namespace PurgingRule.Module.Controllers{ //rules container public interface IModelClassPurgingRules:IModelClass{ IModelPurgingRules PurgingRules{ get ; } } [ModelNodesGenerator(...(read more)

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

tolisss — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 08:26:05 GMT

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 responses with Utf8Json . Here I want to draw your attention to the bad design of the HttpClient. This class implements IDisposable which makes you think that you can use it in a multithreaded environment and simply dispose it. However the case as it turns out is different, designed to be re-used for multiple calls, and there is a lot of buzz around ( Link1 , Link2 , Link3 ). In short if you try to dispose the HttpClient when the request is done you will end with endless debugging hours. In the previous posts there are...(read more)

The ExcelImporter module

tolisss — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 09:49:01 GMT

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 support and skinning. Imports in batches on a background thread. Visualization of the Excel Sheet for configuring the import. Cons It is not a native XAF implementation but a Windows Forms integration into XAF, which makes it really hard to support and harder to EasyTest. Import configuration cannot be reused. Does not support the Web. Poor notification of importing errors. Can only import *.xlsx files. The IO module This module was designed to help move objects graphs in the form of XML out of XAF and again...(read more)

XAF MOBILE CONTEXT - SUPPORTED in eXpandFramework

tolisss — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 17:59:05 GMT

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 to use eXpandFramework your agnostic modules that reference eXpandFramwork in the mobile platform. p.s.: All easytests for the Win, Web platform still pass on every release, but at the moment there are no tests for the mobile. but its on schedule. Looking forward for your feedback at http://www.expandframework.com/forum/...(read more)

Sending modifer keys to client over RDP

tolisss — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 19:25:03 GMT

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 the context menu when right click). and for the client machine similarly to switch back you need a second script with the following command *^AppsKey::^LAlt I am using this workaround for a week now with no issues, hope it helps some of you. p.s. : if you have a better way, please post in comments enjoy!...(read more)

ASP.NET Dashboard Designer - XAF integration

tolisss — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:41:00 GMT

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 and create dashboard over the existing Business Object domain. As you can see from the images above the eXpandFramework Dashboard module utilize security and syntax highlight editors integrations . The highlight for the win platform is done with the help of DevExpress XtraRichEdit control and for the web with the help of ACE cloud9 editor . For those of you interested in the XtraDashboardTester solution you can find and run the related Easytests for the module. Basically the ASP.NET dashboard designer...(read more)

How to debug eXpandFramework

tolisss — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:02:03 GMT

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 and since version 14.1.4.8 and with the excellent GitHubLink project provides frictionless debug experience as long as Symbol Server support is enabled under your VS/Options/Debugging settings. The symbols are in the same package as the dll so expect the package size to be at least double in size. We will consider a better implementation if there are requests. GitHubLink patches the symbols so to request the assembly sources from the online GitHub repo so there is not need to have the sources in place. The Binaries...(read more)

How confident I am with my code?

tolisss — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 23:02:02 GMT

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 your Navigation Items and for all related views will execute the New action if available and open/close the related detailview. So, lets talk by example. In eXpandFramework there are 38 Demos with a large number of views, each one demonstrating certain features. By using the AutoTest command we can automate the opening of all views therefore we can expect a code coverage larger than 80%. Following is the RunEasyTests target used in eXpandFramework build script ( Xpand.build ). < Target Name = "...(read more)

DX-Nuspec files hosted on GitHub

tolisss — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:41:03 GMT

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 Derjabkin a casual community contributor! The files are available in https://github.com/derjabkin/DX-Nuspec and of course they will be distributed as a submodule from eXpandFramework v13.2.9.1....(read more)

A few more reasons to upgrade to v13.2

tolisss — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 15:15:01 GMT

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). He posted a very complete review of all new XAF features and a few other interesting things we released with 13.2 as part of our DXperience subscription . In addition you can find a performance comparison for our new ReportsV2 module. Mario Blataric Dungeons of XAF and Magic 13.2 Mario reviews v13.2 and explains how XAF helps him to fight monsters in today’s modern dungeon of dev technologies and platforms. His XAF app has more than 1500 reports so he focuses on the ReportsV2 module. Martynas Dauciunas Devexpress...(read more)

State machine enhancements

tolisss — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 23:15:04 GMT

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 by adding an extra tab in the State Machine detailview so the end user can associate it with the admin roles as illustrated in the next image. Support more efficient transitions by changing directly the property value without the need of executing the ChangeStateAction For this a new property “EnableFilteredProperty” introduced in the State Machine attribute to make the life of our real worlds easier. Most useful suggestions Sheldmandu ! Many thanks form all and keep them coming. We also looking forward for such great...(read more)

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

tolisss — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 13:50:00 GMT

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 a Customer if the Name property is blank. If this attempted the UI should respond with a “ Everybody has a name!” message. [ DefaultClassOptions ] public class Customer : BaseObject { public Customer ( Session session) : base (session) { } [ RuleRequiredField ( "Customer_Name_Required" , DefaultContexts . Save , "Everybody has a name!" )] public string Name { get ; set ; } public string City { get ; set ; } ...(read more)

eXpandFramework 13.2 beta 1 is out

tolisss — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 02:49:02 GMT

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 DevExpress site and download the release in red. To get your hand in the eXpandFramework bits login to our build servers and download the latest 13.2.3.x bit. p.s.: eXpandFramework as a community project is based on your feedback in order to be stable so for those of you that want to report issues and suggestions I opened a beta only forum . Note: You cannot have both 13.1 and 13.2 eXpand assemblies in the GAC. It is however totally possible to work using different version as long as you reference the assemblies directly...(read more)

Partial View inheritance

tolisss — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 02:13:00 GMT

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 from Application/Options/MergedDifferencesStrategies. By default there are three common strategies Everything, EverythingButLayout, OnlyLayout . In the above image we see how the Everything strategy is defined. It contains all root nodes of both DetailView and ListView nodes. As you might have guessed the inheritance scenarios are limited only from your imagination. For example in the next image we see the OnlyLayout strategy however what defines the layout may vary so it is possible to inherit from the GridViewOptions...(read more)

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

tolisss — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 11:02:03 GMT

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 create non-calculated persistent fields at design time using the Model Editor . In 13.2, we’ve extended the Application Model with an Expression attribute as illustrated in the image below. When the Expression attribute has a value, XAF will create a calculated member or it will default to the creation of a persistent member. Additionally, you can create a complex expression such as the Sum of another custom field as illustrated below. By design, XAF will not display these custom fields in any view since they were created...(read more)

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

tolisss — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 21:20:05 GMT

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 to: Implement a Custom EasyTest Command . The custom database operations to support Drop & Restore for SQLite , ASA, LocalDB contributed by Markus Dütting! The Drop and Restore Preprocessor Directives are already supported for Access, MSSql databases and to learn how to use them together with other commands look at EasyTest Script Reference . Following are some notes from Markus. SQLite : just deletes the file DBSourceLocation (DropDB) or copys the file (RestoreDB) specified by Backupfilename to DBSourceLocation. Tested...(read more)

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

tolisss — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 18:33:00 GMT

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 to your feedback so we can continue to improve the module to meet your specific requirements. To start using ReportV2, I’ll select it from the toolbox… Because ReportsV2 integrates XtraReports at design time, you can use all the examples and documentation form our Reports Team. As you might imagine, when creating reports with this new module, you’ll be writing code and creating your own custom template within Visual Studio using your language of choice (C#, VB.Net). XAF will allow you to preview and print these new templates...(read more)

How to send mails for any business scenario without coding

tolisss — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 02:46:02 GMT

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 how to install the module along with the registration functionality discussed in How to manage users (register a new user, restore a password, etc.) from the logon form in order to create three mail rules ( 1) When new user is registered. 2) When the password is forgotten. 3) When a new customer is created. In addition I will discuss how to restrict the EmailModue to sending emails only when a specific user role is logged in. 1) Installation To complete installation, drag & drop the EmailModule from the toolbox...(read more)

Schduler Reminders

tolisss — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:58:03 GMT

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 with the Xpand.ExpressApp.Scheduler.Reminders.SupportsReminderAttribute. For example in the snippet we enable reminders for the TestEvent and only when the criteria match. [ SupportsReminder ( Criteria = "Customer is not null" )] public class TestEvent : Event { public TestEvent ( Session session) : base (session) { } // Fields... Customer _customer ; [ Association ( "Customer-TestEvents" )]...(read more)

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

tolisss — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:55:05 GMT

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 requirement we need to write a controller that will go though all data hosted in the ChangeStateAction expose an event that will provide the state from external sources. You can explore the controller that describes this requirement at https://github.com/expand/eXpand/blob/master/Xpand/Xpand.ExpressApp.Modules/StateMachine/Controllers/ChangeStateActionController.cs The next step is to subscribe to RequestActiveState event of the above ChangeStateActionController and provide the Active state logic. Below is illustrated...(read more)

The XAF training week in Germany

tolisss — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:08:01 GMT

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. Day 1 started with XPO and how it works independent of XAF. Oliver is an XPO legend so the introduction was amazing and even I learned some new stuff. Oliver then took the time to describe XAF Domain Components and other data layer related subjects. The day continued with a number of hands on labs so everyone can learn by actually doing. To help get relaxed after a busy day of learning, we spent some time on the golf course. Day 2: The day started with instruction on editing and maintaining the model as well as standard...(read more)

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

tolisss — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 14:51:02 GMT

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

tolisss — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 01:10:02 GMT

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)