MicrosoftMiles

Testing Definitions

2008-10-31T08:38:00.005+11:00

After a recent project meeting, I realised that the participants had differing interpretations of what is involved in each phase of testing. I compiled the definitions below to ensure the team are aligned.

A Unit Test is a test that ensures that a single class or routine does what it is meant to without needing to cross class or system boundaries in order to execute. This can be represented using the ACID acronym:

Atomic
Consistent
Isolated
Durable

A test that verifies multiple pieces of functionality is not atomic.
A test that changes results based on external factors (such as user interaction) is not consistent.
A test that accesses a database, file system or interacts with other classes is not isolated. Neither are tests that need to be run in a specific order.
A test that fails when specific data isn't available or breaks when other classes in the application change (not including the class under test) is not durable.

Integration Testing is the combined execution of two or more classes or components. Integration testing can start as soon as there are two classes to test and should continue until the entire system is complete.

Regression Testing is the repetition of previously executed test cases for the purpose of finding defects that previously passed the same set of tests.

System Testing is the execution of the software in its final configuration, including integration with other software and hardware systems. It tests for security, performance, resource loss, timing problems, and other issues that can't be tested at lower levels of integration.

Acceptance Testing is confirmation by a key user, through trial or review, that the software meets mutually agreed-upon requirements.

Load Testing is the execution of the software with varying levels of throughput to determine at what point the response time degrades or fails.
Recovery testing is the process of testing how well a system can be recovered following a hardware failure or other catastrophic problem.

Update Default Visual Studio 2008 Project Templates

2008-07-06T17:11:00.010+10:00

To update existing Visual Studio project templates, follow the manual instructions here. Should you wish to change the default templates, they can be found at:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates

I wanted to set TreatWarningsAsErrors to true by default for all class library projects. First precaution, I took a backup copy of the original zip file prior to unzipping the files.

Next step, the line below was added to the to the debug and release PropertyGroup sections of the extracted csproj file.

Then, I recompressed all the extracted files and copied the zip back to the ProjectTemplates directory, overwriting the original zip.

Finally, it is necessary to regenerate the templates as Visual Studio seems to load them from:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplatesCache

To regenerate the default templates, run devenv.exe /installvstemplates from a Visual Studio command prompt.

Disable Shutdown Event Tracker

2008-02-24T10:53:00.001+11:00

I have recently read a couple of blog posts that promote using Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation. To avoid potential integration issues, I always think it's a good idea to build applications on an environment that mirrors test and production as closely as possible. So when developing applications with differing deployment targets, for instance, IIS, BizTalk or even the Compact Framework, it's important to have different virtual Windows Server 2003 development images available. There are other benefits to this approach which I'll list in a future post.

However, one annoyance with using multiple development environments is the shutdown event tracker which forces you to enter a reason for each system shutdown or restart.

To turn off the Shutdown Event Tracker in Windows Server 2003 or 2008, follow the steps below:

Open the Microsoft Management Console
Add the Group Policy snap-in
Under Administrative Templates expand System
Set Display Shutdown Event Tracer to Disabled

Software Construction Analogies

2008-01-15T21:21:00.000+11:00

Software construction is often compared with building construction. In fact, Steve McConnell devotes a whole chapter to software metaphors in his seminal work, Code Complete 2.

In recent times, I've taken note of some of the analogies used by colleagues and noticed one directly related to construction:

If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Maslow's Hammer has been stated and paraphrased many times over, especially in software development circles.

The concept is thus: individuals who are incomplete in their knowledge or training of solutions propose the same type of solution to every problem they encounter. They opt for the more familiar solution to one that may be more effective yet with which they are unskilled.

In closing, another colleague of mine recently used, perhaps invented, an analogy that provided a new take on the 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' idiom. He considered the introduction of Windows SharePoint Services to solve a rudimentary Workflow problem to be the equivalent of 'using a cannon to kill a mosquito'. Now who could possibly argue with that?

The Quality Reduced Product

2008-01-09T20:43:00.001+11:00

I revisited the concept of the quality reduced product today when a product manager insisted that the software development team take a really low cost option. I reminded the product manager that the typical steps in delivering a product in less time and for less money result in lower quality. Whilst the product's end user willingly consented to this trade off, my warnings regarding the impact on the team were largely ignored.

The heading of this post is taken from the seminal book for Software Managers, Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. In the chapter Teamicide they list the sure-fire ways to inhibit the formation of teams and disrupt project sociology. Quality reduction of a product is one cause.

... [quality] concessions are extremely painful to developers as their self-esteem and enjoyment are undermined by the necessity of building a product of clearly lower quality than they are capable of. An early casualty of quality reduction is whatever team identification the group has been able to build.

This is also discussed in Rob's post Nine Things Developers Want More Than Money, he reminds managers that being setup to succeed is key to developer motivation.

Developers want to build software that not only works, but is maintainable; something they can take pride in. This is not in-line with product development’s goals, which are for developers to build software that works, and nothing more.

The first thing to go when time is tight is quality and maintainability. Being forced to build crap is one of the worst things you can do to a craftsman. Delivering a project on-time but knowing it’s a piece of crap feels a heck of a lot like failure to someone who takes pride in what they build.

In conclusion, whilst the effects of quality reduction are intangible in the short term, the long term effect on a team's engagement and motivation can be catastrophic.

Stakeholders Defined

2008-01-07T16:10:00.000+11:00

This post regarding stakeholders is again inspired by and contains excerpts from the book Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders using Viewpoints and Perspectives.

Software systems are not just used, they have to be built and tested, operated, repaired and of course paid for. Each of these activities involves a number of people, each with their own requirements and interests. The people are collectively referred to as stakeholders. Understanding the role of each stakeholder is fundamental to understanding the role of the architect in the development process.

The IEEE Standard 1471 on architecture description defines a stakeholder as a person, group, or entity with an interest of concern about the realization of a system's architecture.

I personally have a checklist I like to run through when a new project involving my development team is initiated. I like to make sure that all the necessary teams, such as support or infrastructure, are correctly engaged prior to implementation. From the perspective of a software architect, Nick Rozanski and Eoin Woods succinctly classify these stakeholders according to their roles and concerns as below.

Stakeholder	Role
Acquirers	Oversee the procurement of the system or product. In my experience, these stakeholders are often referred to as 'the business' and are usually the most important stakeholders, providing or authorizing funding. Their goals are usually value for money and efficient expenditure of resources during delivery and operation.
Assessors	Oversee the system's conformance to standards and legal regulation.
Communicators	Explain the system to other stakeholders via documentation and training materials. Analysts communicate the requirements to the developers whilst technical authors create manuals for the users and administrators.
Developers	Construct and deploy the system from specifications or lead the teams that do this.
Maintainers	Manage the evolution of the system once it is operational Their main concerns focus on documentation, instrumentation or change control. In my experience this is often the responsibility of the development team.
Suppliers	Build and supply the hardware and infrastructure on which the system will run.
Support	Provide support to users for the product or system when it is running.
System Administrators	Run the system once it is deployed. They focus on concerns such as monitoring, business continuity and disaster recovery and scalability.
Testers	Test the system to ensure that is suitable for use. Testers act as the conscience of the development team, systematically testing the system in order to establish whether it it is suitable for deployment and use. Unlike developers, testers do not have a sense of ownership of the implementation and with their specialist knowledge and experience means they can perform a more thorough and objective job of evaluating the system than other stakeholders.
Users	Define the system's functionality and ultimately make use of it.

Most development projects should include representatives from most if not all of these stakeholder groups though their importance varies from project to project. I totally agree with authors when they state that not considering a view from each class of stakeholder will lead to problems in the future.

Software Architecture Concepts

2008-01-04T17:02:00.000+11:00

I'm currently reading Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders using Viewpoints and Perspectives. I already think this is a book I should have read years ago! In chapter 2, the authors, Nick Rozanski and Eoin Woods break down the widely accepted definition of software architecture by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburg:

The architecture of a software intensive system is the
structure or structures of the system, which compromise software elements, the externally visible properties of those elements, and the the relationships
amongst them.

I have seen this definition quoted many times but rarely examined in closer detail. Rozanski and Woods do however analyse structures and externally visible properties.

They state that there are two types of system structure, static and dynamic. Static structures of a software system define its internal design-time elements and their arrangement whilst dynamic structures of software system define it's runtime elements and their interactions.

Externally visible properties also manifest themselves in two ways, the externally visible behavior (what the system does) and quality properties (how the system does it). The externally visible behavior of a software system defines the functional interactions between the system and it's environment. A quality property is a nonfunctional property of a system such as performance, security, or scalability. These are commonly referred to as the "ilities".

So the key take away is that it's the role of the architect to derive the static and dynamic structures for each candidate architecture and understand the extent to which they exhibit the required behaviors and quality properties.

Leadership Qualities

2007-12-29T20:32:00.001+11:00

This excellent list of leadership qualities is taken from the 'Aspiring Architects' webcast series by Mohammad Akif.

Ask thought-provoking questions that result in actionable technological patterns or solutions
Actively mentor others
Provide thought leadership by enabling others to see things from a different of better perspective
Influence decision makers
Champion structure, process, best practices and standards
Promote the capture and reuse of intellectual property
Effectively build individual partnerships and organizational networks

The valuable qualities below were also mentioned during the series.

Practice diplomacy, negotiating and compromising
Manage and clarify expectations

The Winchester Mystery House

2007-12-28T20:05:00.001+11:00

I've recently been investigating architecture, more specifically SOA and came across an Architecture Journal book entitled SOA in the Real World. I'm unsure of the author but Chapter 1 is certainly an entertaining and informative read. I was fascinated by the reference to the Winchester Mystery House and it's history formed the basis of a New Years message for my team.

The Winchester Mystery House is an intriguing tourist attraction in the USA near San Jose, CA. The Winchester Mystery House was the home to the heiress of the Winchester fortune (amassed from the sales of Winchester rifles). According to the legend, the heiress went to see a fortune teller and learned she was cursed to be haunted by the spirits of everyone ever killed by a Winchester rifle. The only way to avoid the curse was to build a mansion – as long as she kept building the spirits would leave her alone. She promptly hired 147 builders (and 0 architects), all of whom began working on the mansion simultaneously. The builders worked on the mansion until the heiress passed away, 38 years later. The result of their efforts is a classic example of implementation without architecture:

The mansion contains 160 rooms, 40 bedrooms, 6 kitchens, 2 basements and 950 doors

Of the 950 doors, 65 of them open to blank walls; 13 staircases were built and abandoned; and 24 skylights were installed into various floors.

No architectural blueprint for the mansion was ever created.

Confusing architecture with implementation generates chaotic and unpredictable results – much like the Winchester Mystery House.

Let's try not make the same mistake with software construction in 2008 ;)

Favourite Archipedia Entries

2007-12-22T16:10:00.000+11:00

Another Useless Acronym (AUA)
Another Useless Acronym (AUA) or what can happen when partially formed new architectural ideas emerge.

Automagically
When something has the capability to perform an indispensable task that no one thought was even possible.

Bottom Up Design
Bottom up design, as with its counterpart Top down design, are strategies of information processing.
In the Bottom up design approach, individual parts of a system are designed in detail and the design parts are then linked together to form larger components, which are then in turn linked until a complete system is formed. Often the bottom up approach assumes that all facts are known up front as the detailed parts are designed.

In the Top down design approach to modeling an overview of the system is made, without going into detail and each part of the system is then refined by designing it in more detail. Each new part may then can be refined again until the entire specification is detailed enough. Often the top down approach is used when not all facts or constraints are known about a design.

Choreography
Formally a choreography can be defined as a declaration of the activities within collaboration and the sequencing rules and dependencies between these activities.

Often these days, when people talk about the architecture of business services there are 2 related concepts which often come up - choreography and orchestration.

The difference between the two is easy to remember depending on your design perspective. Seen from a publicly observable view of a service, choreography is the description of how to interact with the service to consume its functionality. Seen from the same publicly observable viewpoint, orchestration is how service functionality is achieved ("within" a service) by aggregating some service logic and very possibly other Web services.

Cycles
Time, resource and effort that ought not to be wasted. "Let's not waste any cycles on something that doesn't matter."

A portion of one's capacity to perform work. "Do you have any cycles to burn on the ...".

Drinking from the Fire Hose
Having an overwhelming amount of information thrown at you, commonly at the start of a new job or project.

Ivory Tower Architecture
An architecture developed in isolation from the developers, or teams of developers, responsible for following it.

KISS
Keep It Simple Stupid is a design philosophy that states simplicity lasts and simplicty is needed to properly convey any ideas. Simplicity is the absence of unnecessary elements. Simplicity isn't a design style, but a perspective on design and an approach which often creates the most usable and beautiful results.

Low Hanging Fruit
Management expression for the most available and easy to accomplish objectives.

Operational Requirements
A category of requirements that describe the operational expectations for a system, such as availability, security, performance, scalability, manageability, interoperability, and reliability.

These requirements are distinct from the functional requirements that detail the business functions that the system performs (e.g., calculating the total bill for a shopping basket).

Also called "non-functional requirements"; also called "non-behavioral requirements". Closely related to the concepts "aspects" and "qualities".

Portfolio Management
Portfolio management is a function of IT Governance (which makes it fair game for enterprise architecture). The portfolios in question typically include both the application portfolio and the service portfolio. The focuses of portfolio management typically include:

Redundancy analysis -- avoiding having (and paying for and maintaining) multiple artifacts that perform essentially the same function;
Gap analysis -- identifying opportunities to improve processes through better automation;
Manageability -- standardization of management interfaces, including vendor selection based on adherence to standard metaphors for management;
Cost rationalization -- analysis of the true ROI of automation and elimination of non-cost-effective systems;
Server consolidation -- reduction of the number of systems being supported, often by standardizing to a small set of server operating systems.

Project Stakeholder
Project stakeholders are any of the interested parties in a given development project. Typical examples of stakeholders include:

Business process owner -- the person responsible for the profit-and-loss of the business process being supported;
End user -- the people who will actually use the system under development;
Operations -- the people with the pagers whose sleep is at risk;
Executive sponsor -- the person who can light a fire under non-responsive stakeholders;

As well as architect, project management, developers, and testers, naturally.

Quality
The term "quality" is used in two distinct ways in systems architecture. The first usage is to define a class of common properties that must be addressd by any system. These "qualities" include:

Security
Manageability
Availability
Reliability
Scalability

These system qualities may be cross-cutting concerns for the system, and hence may be best addressed using some form of aspect-oriented programming.

The second usage is closer to the typical English-language usage: how well the system meets the requirements that were defined for it. For a more complete look at this meaning, please see quality management.

Rat Holing
A slang term for a discussion that spirals away from the topic of the meeting.

Return on Investment (ROI)
A calculation of the economic value being derived from a system as compared to its costs.
When embarking on a new initiative, it is common to predict an ROI for the system under consideration. This calculation needs to look at both development and ongoing operational costs for the system. The calculation is used as a justification for moving ahead with the project.
Once a system is in operation, ROI calculations ignore the "sunk costs" of development, and only compares the value being realized with the ongoing costs (which are more fully understood once the system is in operation than it was when the project was being envisioned). This calculation may, however, consider depreciation of assets that support the system, such as computers and storage devices.

Taxonomy
A taxonomy is a system of classification and with context, such as enterprise or folks or something else, a taxonomy is a description of the context.

Time-to-Value
Time-to-value is the elapsed time between the commitment to a project and the perceived realization of value from the investment. Project planners who stress short time-to-value seek to maintain excitement and emotional engagement around the project. Long lags between project inception and perceived first value can cause business process owners to disengage from and deprioritize the project.

Waterfall
Waterfall processes proceed through a unidirectional sequence of discreet steps.

The term is principally applied to a software development methodology that promotes a sequence along theses lines:

Conceptualization -- business process owners identify a business need and develop a conceptual model for a solution;
Requirements definition -- solutions architects work with business process owners to produce a detailed functional specification;
Project definition -- the functional specification is used to generate a set of work items for development;
Development -- Developers and test engineers produce and validate a set of deliverables in accordance with the project plan;
Acceptance testing -- the resulting system is tested for compliance with the functional requirements;
Deployment -- the system is put into production.

Critics of waterfall methodologies question how effectively the requirements for a software system can be understood "up front". They promote more agile approaches to software development.

Don Ferguson Quotes

2007-12-22T16:05:00.000+11:00

"There is no point in building the Emerald City without building the Yellow Brick Road; and you have to build the road first."

"Vision without execution is hallucination."

Location of Configuration File

2007-05-20T13:23:00.001+10:00

If you're unsure where your .NET application is looking for it's config file, check the AppDomainSetup.ConfigurationFile property.

This property gets or sets the location and configuration filename for the running app domain.

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile

Pretty unnecessary when you're writing sensible software, but when your dealing with "Notes + Javascript + ActiveX + .NET" lunacy you might just need this.

Thanks to Stonie for the pre-written post ;)

Utilise the Obsolete Attribute

2007-05-11T19:51:00.001+10:00

Rather than just commenting out code that is deprecated, use the Obsolete Attribute to decorate types and members of types that are obsolete and will cause compiler warnings to be generated if that type or member is used. It’s a great way to make developers aware that a particular object is changing, and the functionality they are using will be disappearing in a future release.

List Running Web Applications

2007-05-02T20:11:00.001+10:00

IISAPP.VBS

You can use the command-line script iisapp.vbs, which is stored in systemroot\system32, to view any worker processes that are currently running.

Command Prompt AutoComplete

2007-04-17T20:07:00.002+10:00

From a command prompt pressing tab will auto complete a file name or folder. For example:

C:\>cd win (TAB) becomes cd windows
C:\WINDOWS>cd sys (TAB) becomes cd system32
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>cmd (TAB) becomes cmd.exe

Continuing to press tab cycles through all other files matching the pattern.

Long Running WebMethod

2007-04-17T19:48:00.001+10:00

By default when you call a Web service method, the HTTP connection is held open until the WebMethod returns its value to the caller. In certain circumstances, where you may need to call a long running WebMethod where there is no return value it is appropriate to start the method processing and immediately return to the caller in a style similar to a "fire-and-forget" process.

By decorating the WebMethod with the attrbute [SoapDocumentMethod(OneWay=true)] , the server holds the HTTP connection open while it loads and parses the request message, but then returns immediately to the caller with an HTTP 202 response, indicating it has begun processing the request.

The disadvantage of this technique is that the consumer does not get any idea whether the method completed successfully or there were errors.

Note: By default, SOAP messages are in "document" style of formatting. If you are using Remote Procedure Call (RPC) formatting then use [SoapRpcMethod(OneWay=true)] instead of [SoapDocumentMethod(OneWay=true)].

Delete All Files Using Powershell

2007-02-03T13:24:00.000+11:00

Where have I been for the last two months? Looking after my first son, Andre Ashton, born on 30th December 2006. I have however, been doing a phenomenal amount of work on Movie Maker in Vista, it's too much fun! I also purchased a Seagate Barracuda 320Gb SATAII hard disk and a Vantec NexStar3 case with an eSata port. I attach the disk to my laptop with an eSata PCMCIA adapter and it really flies, three times as fast as USB.

Anyway, here's a PowerShell tip. To delete all files in a directory except those with a specific extension, use the Remove-Item Cmdlet.

Remove-Item e:\video\* -recurse -force -exclude *.mpg

Select ListControl Value

2006-12-10T20:00:00.001+11:00

The SelectedValue property of a ListControl can be used to select an item in the list. However, if no items in the list control contain the specified value, an ArgumentOutOfRangeException is thrown. This exception can be avoided by using the IndexOf and FindByValue methods of the ListItemCollection.

control.SelectedIndex = control.Items.IndexOf(control.Items.FindByValue(value));

The IndexOf method returns -1 if the specified item is not found and null is returned by the FindByValue method.

Add AutoCompleteExtender to ASP.NET AJAX Web Site

2006-12-03T20:30:00.001+11:00

There are migration guides on the ASP.NET AJAX homepage detailing how to convert Web Sites originally coded against the Atlas CTP to ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Beta2. Unfortunately at this time, the AutoCompleteExtender is only included in the ASP.NET AJAX Futures November CTP but it's relatively straightforward to add the AutoCompleteExtender to an AJAX Web Site.

1. Add a reference to the Microsoft.Extensions.Preview assembly, usually located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions\v1.0.61025.

2. Add the elements below to the configuration\system.web\pages\controls element of the web.config file.

3. Add the ScriptManager, TextBox and AutoCompleteExtender controls to the Web Form.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" />

<div>

<asp:TextBox ID="txtCity" runat="server" />

<asp:AutoCompleteExtender ID="autoCity" runat="server" CompletionSetCount="8" TargetControlID="txtCity" MinimumPrefixLength="1" ServiceMethod="GetCities" ServicePath="AutoCompleteService.asmx"/>

</div>

</form>

4. Finally, add the Web Service that the AutoCompleteExtender will call, making sure that the Place code in seperate file checkbox is unchecked so the code is inline. The WebMethod needs to accept the prefixText and count as parameters, returning the valid list as a string array. Also note the inclusion of the Microsoft.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService attribute on the class definition.

<%@ WebService Language="C#" Class="AutoCompleteService" %>

using System;

using System.Collections;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Services;

using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

[Microsoft.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService]

public class AutoCompleteService : System.Web.Services.WebService {

[WebMethod]

public string[] GetCities(string prefixText, int count)

{

string[] autoCompleteWordList = { "Canberra", "Sydney", "Darwin", "Brisbane", "Adelaide", "Hobart", "Melbourne", "Perth" };

Array.Sort(autoCompleteWordList, new CaseInsensitiveComparer());

int index = Array.BinarySearch(autoCompleteWordList, prefixText, new CaseInsensitiveComparer());

if (index < 0)

{

index = ~index;

}

int matchingCount;

for (matchingCount = 0; matchingCount < count && index + matchingCount < autoCompleteWordList.Length; matchingCount++)

{

if (!autoCompleteWordList[index + matchingCount].StartsWith(prefixText, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))

{

break;

}

String[] returnCities = new string[matchingCount];

if (matchingCount > 0)

{

Array.Copy(autoCompleteWordList, index, returnCities, 0, matchingCount);

}

return returnCities;

}

Software Estimation Tips

2006-11-26T15:26:00.001+11:00

These tips are taken from Software Estimation – Demystifying the Black Art by Steve McConnell, published in the Microsoft Best Practices series. This book has proved to be an invaluable resource and I recommend it to anyone responsible for providing software estimates, be they developer, team lead or project manager. The tips listed are not exhaustive and should be considered in their original context.

Critical Estimation Concepts

When you’re asked to provide an estimate, determine whether you’re supposed to be estimating or figuring out how to hit a target.
A target is a description of a desirable business objective; a commitment is a promise to deliver defined functionality at a specific level of quality by a certain date. A commitment can be the same as the estimate, or it can be more aggressive or more conservative but do not assume that it is the same.
Avoid using single point estimations, use ranges. Avoid using artificially narrow ranges so that you do not misrepresent the confidence in your estimates.
Never intentionally underestimate. The penalty for underestimation is more severe than the penalty for over estimation. Address concerns about over estimation through planning and control, not by bias.
Recognize a mismatch between a project’s business target and a project’s estimate for what it is: valuable risk information that the project might not be successful. Take corrective action as early as possible.
Consider the effect of the Cone of Uncertainty on the accuracy of your estimate. Your estimate cannot have more accuracy than is possible at your project’s current position within the Cone. Use predefined ranges in your estimates.
Include all necessary software development activities in your estimates, not just coding and testing. For example:
i. Mentoring of new team members;
ii. Deployment;
iii. Requirements Clarification;
iv. Technical Reviews;
v. Performance Tuning;
vi. Creation of Test Data.
On projects that last longer than a few weeks, always include allowances for overhead activities such as vacations, sick days, training days and meetings.
Never give an off-the-cuff estimate. Even a 15 minute estimate will be more accurate.
Always document assumptions embedded in an estimate.
Match the number of significant digits in your estimate (its precision) to your estimate’s accuracy. For example:
i. “This Project will take 1 year” is not very precise but could be accurate.
ii. “This Project will require 7,214 staff hours” is very precise but not accurate to the precision stated.
Don’t assume that effort scales up linearly as project size does. Effort and communication paths scale up exponentially.

Fundamental Estimation Techniques

Look for something you can count that is a meaningful measure of the scope of work in your environment.
Collect historical data that allows you to compute an estimate from a count. Our organization’s past performance is the best indicator of future performance, industry data is not reliable.
Collect a project’s historical data as soon as possible after the end of a project.
At all costs, avoid using expert judgement to tweak an estimate that has been derived through computation.
To create task level estimates, have the people who will actually do the work create the estimate.
Create both Best Case and Worst Case estimates to stimulate the thinking about the full range of possible outcomes.
Estimate new projects by comparing them to similar past projects, preferably decomposing the estimate into at least five pieces.
Use T-Shirt sizing to help non technical stakeholders rule features in or out whilst the project. The first table can be used to calculate Net Business Value.

Development Cost

Business Value

XL

L

M

S

XL

0

4

6

7

L

-4

0

2

3

M

-6

-2

0

1

S

-7

-3

-1

0

Feature

Business Value

Development Cost

Net Business Value

A

XL

M

6

B

M

M

0

C

M

S

1

D

S

L

-3

E

S

XL

-7
Have each team member estimate pieces of the project individually and then review estimates. Don’t just average estimates, arrive at a consensus that everybody is comfortable with.
Use an estimation software tool to sanity check estimates created by manual methods. Do not treat the output of the tool as divine revelation. For pointers to estimation tools, see www.construx.com/estimate
Focus on estimating size first. Then compute effort, schedule and cost from the size estimate.
Re-estimate at each milestone. Base new estimates on the project’s actual progress, not on the project’s planned progress.
Communicate your plan to re-estimate to project stakeholders in advance.

Estimation Scheduling Challenges

Do not shorten a schedule estimate without increasing the effort estimate.
i. Larger teams require more coordination and management overhead.
ii. Larger teams introduce more communication paths which introduce more chances to miscommunication which introduces more errors.
iii. Shorter schedules require more work to be done in parallel. The more work that overlaps, the higher than chance that one piece of work will be based on another defective piece of work increasing the need for rework.
Reduce costs by lengthening the schedule and conducting the project with a smaller team.
Consider the project’s development approach in allocating schedule to different activities.

ASP.NET2.0 Page Life Cycle

2006-11-23T18:13:00.001+11:00

Whilst investigating the ASP.NET AJAX Client Page LifeCycle in my previous post, I also revisted the server side ASP.NET Page LifeCycle . The overview on MSDN is definitive but this splendid chart, courtesy of Leon Andrianarivony, deserves further propogation.

Maintaining GridView Scroll Position in an ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel

2006-11-20T21:47:00.001+11:00

Sometimes, it is inappropriate to use the paging feature of the ASP.NET GridView. Instead, a scrolling grid is more applicable and enclosing the GridView in a <div> tag with the overflow style applied ensures that the over-sized element is clipped and that scroll bars are displayed.

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="updateGrid" runat="server" UpdateMode="Conditional">
    <ContentTemplate>

        <input type="hidden" id="hdnScrollTop" runat="server" value="0" /> 

        <div id="divScroll" style="width:350px;height:200px; overflow-x:hidden; overflow-y:scroll;" onscroll="$get('hdnScrollTop').value = this.scrollTop;">
            <asp:gridview id="grdOrders" runat="server" width="95%" datasourceid="objDataSource" cellpadding="3" GridLines="Horizontal">
                <Columns>
                    <asp:CommandField ShowSelectButton="True" />
                </Columns>
            </asp:gridview>  
        </div>
    </ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel> 

It is slightly more complex to persist the scroll position during an syschronous postback using ASP.NET AJAX. It's necessary to store the scrollTop property of the div tag in a hidden field using the client side onscroll event. Note the use of the Sys.UI.DomElement $get method, which is a shortcut to the getElementById method. It's also important that the hidden input element has the runat="server" attribute so the element can be accessed during the pageLoaded function.

<asp:ScriptManager ID="scriptManager" runat="server" EnablePartialRendering="True" />
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
    var prm = Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance();
    prm.add_pageLoaded(pageLoaded);
    prm.add_beginRequest(beginRequest);
    var postbackElement;

In order that the scroll position of the div can be reset after a postback, it is first necessary to add a reference to the PageRequestManager. To use the PageRequestManager class in client script, you must first have a ScriptManager server control on the page. To access the PageRequestManager class, you must have the EnablePartialRendering set to true (the default) on the ScriptManager control. When EnablePartialRendering is set to true, the MicrosoftAjaxWebForms.js file that contains the PageRequestManager class is included as a script resource for the page. Once you have the current instance of the PageRequestManager, you can access all of its methods, properties, and events such as beginRequest and pageLoaded.

The beginRequest event is raised before the processing of an asynchronous postback begins and the postback is sent to the server. Here we get a reference to the element that has raised the postback.

The pageLoaded event is raised after all content on the page is refreshed. The function initially determines if the page has been posted back by checking the typeof the postbackElement. If the postback was raised by a our GridView, the scrollTop property of our div tag is set to the value stored in the hidden field.

Client Page Life-cycle Events are also integral to Customizing Error Handling in Partial-Page Updates.

ASP.NET Panel GroupingText Property

2006-11-16T21:10:00.000+11:00

I discovered the GroupingText property of the ASP.NET2.0 Panel control today. When the property is set, the control actually renders a <fieldset> tag to group child form elements together with a caption and a smooth cornered border. The caption itself is created using the <legend> tag. The browser is responsible for the appearance of the caption and labels I think it looks really neat in IE7.

WCF Contracts Defined

2006-11-14T12:55:00.000+11:00

A WCF service publishes the operations that it supports by using a service contract. This contract defines the operations that the service provides, without specifying how the operations should be implemented.

Operations are defined by adding methods to a Service Contract interface that is annotated with the OperationContract attribute. Only methods that are qualified by the OperationContract attribute are service operations, and can be exposed to clients.

[ServiceContract]
public interface IOrderService {
  [OperationContract]
  void CreateOrder(int orderNumber);
  [OperationContract]
  void AddItemToOrder(int orderNumber, Item itm);
  [OperationContract]
  Order GetOrderDetails(int orderNumber);
}

A WCF service is implemented by creating a class that implements the service interface.

public class OrderService : IOrderService {
  void CreateOrder(int orderNumber) {
    // implementation details
  }
  void AddItemToOrder(int orderNumber, Item itm) {
    // implementation details
  }
  Order GetOrderDetails(int orderNumber) {
    // implementation details
  }
}

Data contracts define how complex types are serialized when they are used in WCF service operations. They defined by applying the DataContract attribute to a class, and then adding DataMember attributes to fields and properties to show which members are to be exposed to clients.

[DataContract]
public class Order {
  [DataMember]
  public int OrderNumber;
  [DataMember]
  public String ClientName;
  ...
}

Message contracts describe the entire SOAP message format. They can use data contracts and serializable types to emit schema for complex types, and they also make it possible to control the SOAP message headers and body explicitly, by using a single type. Message contracts provide a simple method to add custom SOAP headers to incoming and outgoing messages.

[MessageContract]
public class MyRequest {
  [MessageHeader]
  public string field1;
  [MessageBody]
  public string field2;
}

A WCF service reports errors by using Fault objects. Fault contracts document the errors that WCF code is likely to produce, and WCF maps Fault objects to SOAP faults. Note that the type specified in the FaultContract does not have to be an exception.

[OperationContract]
[FaultContract(typeof(DivideByZeroException))]
void SomeMethod();

A Fault is generated by throwing a FaultException:

throw new FaultException(someException);

Share Common Files in Visual Studio

2006-11-09T20:37:00.000+11:00

Under normal circumstances, when you add an existing file to a project, Visual Studio makes a copy of the file, local to the project. This is good for isolating breaking changes, but not so good if you want to share a single copy of a file.

An alternative is to share common files, perhaps containing assembly info or a strong name key, that need to be referenced throughout your code base. To link files across projects by using the Add As Link context menu in the Add Existing Item dialog.

Once added, the linked file can be identified in Solution Explorer by the shortcut symbol at the foot of it's icon. The major benefit is that any changes saved to either the original or any linked file are replicated across the original and all linked files immediately.

Create a new GUID in SQL Server

2006-11-08T16:49:00.000+11:00

To create a new uniqueidentifier or GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) in SQL Server use the newid() function:

select newid()

This function can be useful for creating test data but there is another use. It's also possible to select a random record using the script below:

select top 1 *
from dbo.Customer
order by newid()

I can't really think of any situation where this randomisation technique would have been helpful but, you never know !

Command Prompt Previous Command List

2006-11-05T19:52:00.000+11:00

This Command Prompt functionality has been around since Windows 2k and it's still available in Vista. I don't believe it's particularly well known and can be useful. Rather than just cycling through previous commands using the cursor keys, a list of the previous commands can be recalled by pressing F7. Select the required command using the cursor keys and hit enter to execute.

Avoid releasing ASP.NET applications with using

2006-11-04T16:34:00.000+11:00

I think most people are aware that running production ASP.NET applications with <compilation debug="true"/> is bad practice for a number of reasons but specifically because compilation takes longer due as batch optimizating is disabled and scripts and images downloaded from the WebResources.axd handler are not cached.

One of the great tricks I learnt at a Scott Guthrie session at TechEd in Sydney earlier this year, was that you can avoid the accidental deployment of applications with <compilation debug="true"/>.

Specifically, by setting the <deployment retail="true"/> switch within your machine.config file, you will disable the <compilation debug="true"/> switch, disable the ability to output trace output in a page, and turn off the ability to show detailed error messages remotely across all ASP.NET applications on the server.

<configuration>
<system.web>
<deployment retail="true/">
</system.web>
</configuration>

It's worth noting that regardless of the increased memory footprint, adding debug symbols to release assemblies can be extremely useful as it allows detailed stack trace and line error messages to be logged when exceptions occur. It's important to note that the generated pdb files must be be deployed with the assemblies for the additional debug information to be available.

To add debug symbols to a Web Deployment Project

open the project Property Pages
check the Generate debug information checkbox

To add debug information to a Web Application Project or Class Library:

open the project Property Pages
click the Build tab
click the Advanced button
select pdb-only in the Debug info dropdown
click the OK button

Customising Web Deployments with MSBuild

2006-11-01T20:10:00.000+11:00

Managing web site build configurations has been dramatically simplified with the introduction of the Web Deployment Project. When a Web Deployment Project is used in conjunction with a web site which of course has no project file, the App_Code directory is easily excluded and a clean build directory results. Web Application Projects on the other hand, have a host of additional files that aren't necessary for deployment and by default, are not removed by the Web Deployment Project. This prompted an investigation of the MSBuild script, automatically generated by the Web Deployment Project UI. Luckily, Wayne Brantley has posted some great tips on customising web deployments with MSBuild.

To view the MSBuild script, right click on the Web Deployment Project in Visual Studio, and select Open Project File.

To remove files and folders not required once deployed, add the elements below to the ItemGroup section.

It's also possible to deploy specific files depending on the build configuration. For instance, to replace the web.config file when building in release configuration, create a file named web.config.release and add the elements below to the MSBuild script. This works for any file type in the root directory named *.release, not just config files.

<ItemGroup>
<MySourceConfigFiles Include="$(SourceWebPhysicalPath)\*.$(Configuration)" />
<MyUnNeededDestFiles Include="$(SourceWebPhysicalPath)\*.release" />
</ItemGroup>
...
...
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<Copy SourceFiles="@(MySourceConfigFiles)" DestinationFiles="@(MySourceConfigFiles->'$(OutputPath)\%(Filename)')" />
<Delete Files="@(MyUnNeededDestFiles->'$(OutputPath)\%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
</Target>

Remove time from datetime in SQL Server

2006-11-01T19:44:00.000+11:00

This was going to be a one liner but as ever, there's always something new to learn. Whenever I've needed to remove the time portion from a datetime in SQL Server I've generally used this SQL:

select convert(datetime, convert(char, getdate(), 106))

However, I found a faster method where no string conversion is necessary here. The performance improvement is only slight, 10k conversions are 0.21 seconds quicker, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Internally SQL Server stores datetime values as two 4-byte integers. The first one represents the days since 1st Jan. 1900 and the second one the number of milliseconds since midnight. Therefore another solution is to convert the datetime value to float, strip the digits behind the decimal point and convert it back to datetime again:

select cast(floor(cast(getdate() as float)) as datetime)

Captain Sybase ;)

Authentication and Access Control Diagnostics

2006-11-01T09:44:00.000+11:00

In my previous post, I talked about an IIS issue when using integrated authentication and a custom service account that does not have a service principal name. The problem took some time to diagnose and solve, and it was only later that the Authentication and Access Control Diagnostics tool came to my attention. I replicated the original issue and ran the tool with some very positive results.

Diagnosis with the Check Authentication task, clearly indicates that the custom identity of the application pool under which the virtual directory is running, does not have a service principle name and Kerberos authentication will fail -

Once Kerberos authentication is disabled, only NTLM is available. Rerunning the Check Authentication task results in the warning below -

I think this is a great tool, and one that will save my team a great deal of time in future.

Error 401.1 when when using integrated authentication and a custom service account

2006-10-28T16:43:00.000+10:00

There's a great MSDN article, with step by step instructions on how to set up a service account for an ASP.NET 2.0 application should you not want to user the Network Service account.

Once a user account has been created, assign ASP.NET permissions to the new account by running the command below from the framework prompt.

aspnet_regiis -ga MachineName\AccountName

Where MachineName is the name of your server or the domain name if you are using a domain account, and AccountName is the name of your custom account. When you run aspnet_regiis.exe with the -ga switch, the command grants the following rights to the account:

Access to the IIS Metabase Permission to write to the %Windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\Temporary ASP.NET Files folder
The account is also a member of the local Users group; therefore, it has read access to the \Inetpub directory tree (these directories have an ACL that grants read access to the Users group).

Should you be using the XmlSerializer Class, the account must also have permission to write to the temporary directory (as defined by the TEMP environment variable) in order to deserialize an object.

The article also details one of the disadvantages of using a custom account -

When you change the identity of your application pool to use a domain account instead of a machine account, you lose the ability to perform Kerberos authentication until a domain administrator runs the Setspn utility to create a service principal name (SPN) for the domain account. If you have multiple applications on the same server that use separate domain identities and they need to use Kerberos authentication, then you need to use separate Domain Name System (DNS) names for each application.

If your account does not have a service principal name and for some time, your web site will require authentication and user's will be prompted for a user name and password but even valid credential will not be authenticated. Should you be unable to create a service principle name, another MSDN article, How to configure IIS to support both the Kerberos protocol and the NTLM protocol for network authentication, details how to enable/disable Kerberos authentication.

IIS passes the Negotiate security header when Integrated Windows authentication is used to authenticate client requests. The Negotiate security header lets clients select between Kerberos authentication and NTLM authentication.

1. the following command, usually located in C:\Inetpub\Adminscripts to retrieve the current values for the NTAuthenticationProviders metabase property:

cscript adsutil.vbs get w3svc/WebSite/root/NTAuthenticationProviders

In this command, WebSite is a placeholder for the Web site ID number. The Web site ID number of the default Web site is 1.

This command fails if the NTAuthenticationProviders metabase property is not defined. If the Negotiate process is enabled, this command returns the following information:

NTAuthenticationProviders : (STRING) "Negotiate,NTLM"

2. If the command in step 1 does not return the string "Negotiate,NTLM," use the following command to disable the Negotiate process:

cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/WebSite/root/NTAuthenticationProviders "NTLM"

Repeat step 1 to verify that the Negotiate process has been disabled.

Next week, I'm going to look into how the Microsoft Authentication and Access Control Diagnostics 1.0 Tool could have helped solve this problem.

Data Binding Child Object Properties

2006-10-23T20:57:00.000+10:00

I don't know why but I always have trouble remembering the syntax to databind child object properties. When using a GridView, a TemplateField must be used to get the values from the child object as a BoundField do not work correctly in this scenario.

In order to bind to properties of a Customer object which is a property of another class, use the syntax below:

<%# ((Customer)Eval("Customer")).ID %>
<%# ((Customer)Eval("Customer")).Name %>

Note that a null customer property value will cause problems with this approach and don't forget to add the a reference to the Customer class using the Import directive.

<%@ Import namespace="MyNamespace.Customer" %>

Another fiddly issue can be embedding a nested data control such as Repeater within a GridView column and databinding to a child object.

<asp:Repeater ID="rpt" runat="server" DataSource='<%# ((Customer)Container.DataItem).Address%>'>
<ItemTemplate><%# Container.DataItem %></ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>

Replacing nested web.config sections using Web Deployment Projects

2006-10-17T19:47:00.000+10:00

It's relatively straightforward to replace specific sections of a Visual Studio 2005 Web Site web.config using a Web Deployment Project. Scott Guthrie has a great blog post on the Web Deployment Project feature set, but I stumbled across a minor issue today when I tried to replace the compilation section.

To replace web.config sections, open the Web Deployment Property Pages and select Deployment in the left hand menu. Click the checkbox to Enable Web.config file section replacement. Whilst the examples hyperlink shows a tooltip on how to replace the appSettings and connectionStrings sections using sectionName=filename, when I attempted to replace the compilation element in the web.config, I received the following build error.

Error 2 web.config(1): error WDP00002: missing section compilation.

To successfully replace the compilation element or other nested elements, it's necessary to use an XPath expression. For example, system.web/compilation as below.

IIS Extended Logging Properties

2006-10-16T12:38:00.000+10:00

Countless times, the .NET exception, The request failed with HTTP status 401: Access Denied dumbfounds developers. To determine under what user is trying to access a resource extend the default logging available in Internet Information Services (IIS).

Right click on the Web Site you want to manage.
Click Properties in the Enable Logging panel of the Web Site tab.

Click the Extended Properties tab and check the User Name (cs-username) checkbox under Extended Properties.

Once the User Name is checked, the the windows user who is accessing the resource will be logged as below.

02:40:00 127.0.0.1 domain\username W3SVC1 AUHDQL99 POST /TestAuthentication/Default.aspx 500

Colour Your Console Apps

2006-10-16T11:02:00.000+10:00

A new feature in .NET2.0 is the ability to add colour to console applications. There's now no need to use Interop to import Kernel32.dll as was previously the case. Simply use the ForegroundColor and BackgroundColor properties of the Console object to give your console apps more readability as below. Lovely !

Console.ForegroundColor = System.ConsoleColor.Cyan;
Console.BackgroundColor = System.ConsoleColor.Magenta;
Console.WriteLine("Hello");
Console.ForegroundColor = System.ConsoleColor.Magenta;
Console.BackgroundColor = System.ConsoleColor.Cyan;
Console.WriteLine("Miles");
Console.ReadLine();

Break When an Exception is Thrown

2006-10-16T10:38:00.000+10:00

A colleague of mine recently had an issue with a .NET exception that was caught in a try catch block, not reported and subsequently caused issues. Make sure you have the Exceptions... option in the Debug menu. If not, add it using the Customize... option in the Tools menu. Then, to break whenever an exception is thrown follow these simple steps -

On the Debug menu, click Exceptions...
In the Exceptions dialog box, select Thrown for Common Language Runtime Exceptions.

It's possible to limit the exception types by expanding the tree and checking specific options. Pretty neat I thought.

LINQ Project Types do not appear if VB.NET is not installed

2006-10-07T13:42:00.000+10:00

I installed LINQ (Language Integrated Query) earlier this week and had a bit of trouble getting going. I live in a world of C# and don't have VB.NET installed on my aging laptop at home. This caused the LINQ Preview (May 2006) installer to skip a few tasks during install and the project types that should appear in the Visual Studio New Project menu didn't appear. Well it didn't take me long to hunt this one on down MSDN forums but here's what to do if you have this problem. Remove the LINQ Preview if you've already installed it and the project types are missing or simply install using this command line from the same directory as "LINQ Preview (May 2006).msi" :

msiexec.exe /i "LINQ Preview (May 2006).msi" VCSPROJECTTEMPLATESDIR.C7A0C9D96EB648548BD084A2A4C688EB="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\CSharp\LINQ Preview\" VCSPKGDIR.C7A0C9D96EB648548BD084A2A4C688EB="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC#\VCSPackages\" VCSIDEDIR.C7A0C9D96EB648548BD084A2A4C688EB="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\" DEBUGVISUALIZERDIR.C7A0C9D96EB648548BD084A2A4C688EB="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Packages\Debugger\Visualizers\" CSWEBPROJECTTEMPLATESDIR.4AE13B6F621C49B9995EB64016EC2E60="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\Web\CSharp\1033" CSITEMTEMPLATEDIR.92D1EB66EA714CFE9C88A25F2388CD0F="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\1033" DEVENV="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\Devenv.exe" DEVENVPATH="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\"

Please replace relevant Visual Studio paths (underlined) with actual Visual Studio installation path. Couldn't be simpler ;)

SQL Server Reports

2006-09-28T12:36:00.000+10:00

I wrote a SQL query the other day to determine how many rows there were in each table in my database. I now realise this information is available directly using a Management Studio Report. From SQL Server Management Studio, select the database you would like to work with from the Object Explorer. From the Database Summary page click the report button in the toolbar. There are several reports available from this drop down button but Disk Usage Report is the one we want. Then expand the Disk Space Used by Tables section and hey presto, there are the record counts and plenty more besides !

Additional Remote Desktop Connection

2006-09-26T12:54:00.000+10:00

We're forever running short of our Remote Desktop Licenses on Windows Server 2003 which means only 2 people are able to connect to a server remotely. However, there is a third connection available remotely, the console itself. Launch remote desktop using the following command line to access the magic third connection !

%SystemRoot%\System32\mstsc.exe -console

It is worth pointing out that if anybody is physically logged onto the machine, it will log them out, though in the case of a remote data center this isn't a problem.

Also, to see which terminal server sessions are free/used, type the following in a command prompt

qwinsta /server:servername

Predicate Pleasure

2006-09-26T12:39:00.000+10:00

I've been playing around with predicates in my latest developments but had been using private members to store my find criteria as demonstrated in the dinosaur example on MSDN2. However, I now realise that my preferred way to use predicates is using anonymous methods as below.

private Customer FindCustomerByName(string name)
{
return Customers.Find(delegate(Customer customer) { return customer.name.Equals(name); });
}

I think this is a much neater way of going about things.

Bye for now !

Development Cost
Business Value	XL	L	M	S
XL	0	4	6	7
L	-4	0	2	3
M	-6	-2	0	1
S	-7	-3	-1	0

Feature	Business Value	Development Cost	Net Business Value
A	XL	M	6
B	M	M	0
C	M	S	1
D	S	L	-3
E	S	XL	-7