I mentioned I would be blogging on IssueVision, so here is one of several anticipated posts describing my experience with it. I'm using it to put a few sound practices in place while wrapping my head around Windows Forms. The Windows project I'm building is in the Beta 2.0, but all Web and Web Service development to support the project is still in 1.1.
Being new to Windows Forms and Smart Clients, I feel I'm getting a lot from IV. The package is probably quite rudimentary to seasoned Winform developers, and I'm sure refactoring will be in my not-too-distant Winforms future, but hey, when are we NOT refactoring?
The IssueVision Main Form is shown below. Click to enlarge. A few good things I've been getting from the package is an Observer Pattern which works hand-in-hand with a Subject component. What this pattern does is to Observe what has focus in any particular pane and respond accordingly. So for instance, if a staff member is selected in the left-hand pane, the chart reflect that person's Issue status statistics as well as displays that person's issues.
Web Service credentials are passed in the Soap Header, based on a username and password and a login box (not Windows authentication.) The system is DataSet-based as opposed to data objects, and in a disconnected environment the much maligned DataSet does a good job with the heavy lifting. The DataSet is serialized and stored locally. I like this design and will be using the DataSet approach in my own application, at least to lay the groundwork and get things moving. The IssueVision DataSet is delivered by the Web Service and in one of the four DevDays 2004 sessions on the DVD, Susan Warren (yes, Susan Warren!) demonstrates how to build the DataSet graphically. I forgot how to do that! Web developers don't build datasets with a GUI, but it seems to work in this particular architecture.
That's all I'll mention for now. A good learning tool for neophyte Winform guys, to be sure.
