Whenever people ask for my job title, I have to stop and think for a while. I am not sure what exactly my job title is. I got a few documents saying different job titles for me. One as Analyst Programmer, another as Web developer and yet another as Software Engineer. Since I prefer working with webforms than winforms, I answer myself as a webdeveloper. What exactly am I? I’m still figuring out. May be I’m just a “Developer” among millions of “Developers”. Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers

Comparison between LLBLGen Pro and CodeSmith tools. I’m very new to both so the following points might be completely wrong. So correct me please and do fill in more.

# References:

# Debate: O/R Mapping or Code Generation : Lots of discussion going on there in the reply threads.
# Your Favorite O/R Mapper? : A discussion on O/R Mappers
# CodeSmith Rocks! | When code generation goes bad…
# LLBLGenPro vs CodeSmith w/ .netTiers

What is O/R Mapper?

O/R Mapper (Object-Relational Mappers) is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in databases and Object Oriented Programming languages. (# Ref)

What does it do?

The generated code from the O/R Mapper handles all of the steps that you would normally have to code yourself, saving you from having to:

• Find the database server.
• Log in and open a connection to the database server.
• Select the particular database containing the information you want.
• Find the correct table.
• Find the correct row.
• Read all the values for that row.
• Convert every type of value from its SQL data type into the .NET data type while checking and handling the possibility of a null value.
• Present those values in a strongly-typed format, so the consumer knows exactly what kind of object to expect (string, integer, array, etc.) and there are no surprises at run-time.
• Create a container to temporarily hold the values while they are being modified.
• Retrieve data from another row in a related table.
• Manage which values have changed and make appropriate INSERT’s, UPDATE’s, and DELETE’s in the appropriate tables in the database to reflect those changes.
• Close the connection.

What is LLBLGen Pro

LLBLGen Pro is a complete O/R mapper and data-access tier generator for .NET. It generates a data-access tier and business façade/support tier (in C# or VB.NET), using an existing database schema set. The generated .NET code is provided as a Visual Studio.NET project that can be added to a solution or compiled separately. (# Ref + More Info)

LLBLGen Pro Features

A key feature in LLBLGen Pro is dynamically-generated SQL. When retrieving or manipulating data in a database, the SQL script — the code understood by the database — is generated at run-time based off the requested information and dirty flags in each entity’s fields. This enables a generic save entity function on the Data Access Tier to produce different and optimized SQL code each time it is called, optimizing bandwidth usage and database load. (# Ref)

• LLBLGen Pro will completely auto-generate the data access layer. You do not need to do any hand-coding in this layer
• LLBLGen Pro will optionally generate a business logic layer shell for you to get started with your business layer. You do not have to understand the intricacies of inheritance and making custom classes to take advantage of business logic classes; in LLBLGen Pro these classes are intuitively organized, powerful, and infinitely extendable.
• LLBLGen Pro collections and entity objects are bindable, making them extremely easy to add to .NET controls. This can reduce the size of your UI layer.
• Changing the database application and the data access layer without affecting the business logiv and UI layers is actually possible with LLBLGen Pro. If you migrated your database schema and stored procedures to a new database application, refraned from using any database-specific features and your schema matched exactly, you could actually re-generate your LLBLGen Pro data access layer and not make any other changes to your application.

# Ref: Rapic CSharp Windows Development. pp. 17

LLBLGen Pro Objects

• Entities: Every “Row” becomes an “Entity”
• Collections: Every “Table” becomes an “EntityCollection”. Collection classes eliminate the need for DataTable objects and are both strongly typed and bindable.
• Entity relationships: Build into each entity are all relationships in the DB involving that table. You can either get a single entity or an entity collection depending on the type of relationship.
• Typed views: Views in the DB can be wrapped as strongly-typed DataTable. Typed views are read-only; new LLBLGen Pro allows you to add a view from the database as an entity as well as a typed view.
• Typed Lists: Typed lists are the only objects created by LLBLGen Pro that do not correspond one-to-one with DB objects. It’s handy when you need very specific information that does not necessarily correspond to a single table or entity or you only want to grab a subset of information for a given set of table.
• Storedprocedures caller classes: Storedproc that you select will be wrapped in a layer of code. While the parameters of the stored procedures are strongly-typed, the result set is still an untyped DataSet.

Project Types: SelfServicing Vs. Adapter

There are two types of LLBLGen Pro Projects namely – SelfServicing and Adapter.
# In SelfServicing template group, entity objects are responsible for their own persistence (saving their own changes to DB).
# The entity class itself contains logic to know which fields were updated and where to find the database.
# Lazy Loading is useful cos’ it abstracts the specific DB call from the upper layers of code.
# Adapter template group: uses an object called a DataAccessAdapter to interact with DB
# SelfServicing: bundles persistence inside entity objects
# Allows data to load itself automoatically as it is needed without explicit commands.

I got this through my contact form last night. It’s called Blog to America, a site where you send a letter to America. It’s an interesting concept they are starting. They gather letters from all over the world about America. You can read and discuss about other people letters as well. The site is pretty new and there is no letter from Fiji or Myanmar yet. If you have anything to say about America, just submit a letter there and it will be known to the world. So, be the first to send a letter yarr.

Blog to America is a site where individuals from around the world post their opinions on the United States in the form of letters and comments.

Here is the email I got from them. It explains abit about their site. To know more about Blog to America, visit the site here.

Dear May,
My name is Yosei and I discovered your blog while browsing through international sites on the Bloglines website. I am one of the founders of a new site called Blog to America. I had a chance to read through your blog and I think your unique Burmese/Fiji perspective would be a great addition to our site. Our goal is to find individuals like yourself to help increase global awareness and create a greater understanding of the way the United States is viewed across the world. Our site allows people to write a letter addressed to the United States telling the world how they feel about any and all topics relating to the U.S.

If you are interested in writing a letter to the United States or simply interested in reading letters written by others please visit our site at www.blogtoamerica.org

Also, if you are interested in exchanging links, please send us an email with the URL you would like us to post. We would love to feature your site on our blog.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to reading your letter.

Sincerely,

Yosei

Alrite I’m just spreading the word. Now…what do I have to say to America…

I’m learning new things these days and am just sharing some notes here. I’m still learning and these technologies are very new for me, hence my notes gonna have heaps of errors and wrong information. You are most welcome to correct them, fill some more in and share you notes with me too. Alright, so we are set to go.

I’ll be updating this post with links so still tune.

• Windows SDK Setup
• Installing .NET 3.0 and Orcas
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Service Pack 1
• Basic N-Tier Recap
• Introducing O/R Mapper and LLBLGen Pro
• LLBLGen vs CodeSmith
• Dear DotLucene
• Greetings Subversion and TortoiseSVN
• Source Control Resources
• Versioning Models
• More coming soon…

All the notes are subject to change as I’ll be filling in with more info later.

This article written by Joshua of Bokardo.com really is a good read and very informative. Every single line makes a great sense and creates awareness about design. The site also provides many other resourceful articles hence I’m rolling it now. Whoever interested in design should take note of the mentioned 5 principles.

• Technology Serves Humans
• Design is not Art
• The Experience Belongs to the User
• Great Design is Invisible
• Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

Do read through each principle significance, it’s really worth reading.

This one give 5 minutes FREE call per day just from your browser. You only need a small flash plugin to add to your browser and you are all set to go. By registering to their site, you get extra 5min and total of 10 minutes of FREE calling per day.

Gizmo Call is a modernized way to make web-based calls developed by the team who brought you the Gizmo Project voice and IM software, as well as the SIPphone VoIP platform, a robust network and directory for efficiently carrying VoIP calls. www.gizmocall.com

I’ve tried to Singapore and Australia numbers, they all work like a charm. The voice quality is quite alrite too but can’t talk in unison. When I try myanmar number, I got this reply.

Sorry, We intentionally block calls to this country.

It’ll be abit nicer if the message goes like “Sorry, we don’t provide service to this country” or something like that but they use that “intentionally block” phrase. Man, that was just so mean.

I haven’t tested for Fiji numbers as I can do local calls easily but I’m sure it works fine. Oh when you register, don’t enter the last text-box ie. Enter your phone number, otherwise you cannot click on “register” button. Only when you remove it, the button becomes active. Anyways it’s pretty good if you wanna test calls to friends overseas. Enjoy calling. Call me too?