ComponentOne Studio for WinForms controls

Even with all the advancements in technology, two important factors for enterprise desktop development still hold true today. There remains a need for better performance and an appealing user interface (UI). Today, you've got the opportunity to win a free license of ComponentOne Studio for WinForms controls (valued at $1,195.00) that will help you do just that. (Note: contest is complete and winner awarded)

I was excited when presented with the opportunity to test ComponentOne's collection of .NET Windows Form controls included in the Studio for WinForms suite. What’s great about ComponentOne is that they have been providing some of the most well-known grids for Windows Client apps, FlexGrid and TrueDBGrid, since 1991. With that longevity, you know that their controls will stand the test of time and evolve along with market trends.

The Studio offers over 65 .NET Windows Forms controls, in some instances extending what is “in the box” and in others providing controls you can’t get anywhere else. ComponentOne Studio for WinForms controls include code-free designers, built-in features, like the ability to replicate popular interfaces as seen in Microsoft Office, and awesome flexibility. The Studio comes with controls like Chart, Ribbon, FlexGrid, Scheduler, Reports, and True DBGrid.

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As you read on you’ll see this product earned high remarks and we decided to hold a drawing so that one of our readers would have a chance to win a Free License of ComponentOne Studio for WinForms. Be sure you are logged in as an eggheadcafe.com member and click the entry banner to be automatically entered in the drawing

As a developer, you invest in a third party control suite (or get your employer to do so) for several reasons:
• First, because it provides controls with functionality that you need in order to develop better applications in less time.
• Second, because it can be significantly less expensive to purchase the control suite than to devote the many hours of development time that would be necessary to provide the needed functionality.
• And third, because the professional look and feel of a control suite enhances the usability and performance of your applications. Having reviewed ComponentOne's Studio for WinForms controls, it's my opinion that the suite meets all three criteria

One really strong suit for ComponentOne's Studio for WinForms controls is it's all-in-one reporting solution, which has a rich object model for generating reports, several UI controls for previewing, and a report designer for creating and designing reports. Reports for WinForms is pretty much an all-in-one reporting solution. You can generate professional looking, well-behaved reports for your applications. You can even integrate your existing reporting solutions (SQL Server, Access, Crystal) into your applications.

I used the report designer to create a custom report based on some tables in the trusty Northwind database with no trouble at all. You can drag fields onto your report designer surface and easily design custom reports exactly to your liking. I generated a Grouped-by-Country Sales report from Northwind in a matter of seconds, from a stored procedure. These can then be either printed, or exported to other programs such as Excel, PDF, Html, RTF, Text, and XML Paper Specification:

Here's another custom report I did with a C1 Chart control added. You can see my Bromberg IPA and Ultra Bock are doing well:

The C1Chart control offers a wide range of features and makes it relatively easy to create really stunning color charts of just about any type. Here's one I did using the OpenHighLowClose bar chart style for a stock:

C1Report provides a rich object model for creating, customizing, loading, and saving report definitions. Whether you need to generate reports with barcodes, charts, etc., or render reports directly to a printer or preview control it is possible using C1Report. You can also modify existing SQL Server SSRS reports or even create new reports completely in code using the C1RdlReport component

People often ask about importing, and with ComponentOne’s control you can import Access report files (MDB) and Crystal report files (RPT) using the C1ReportDesigner application. The C1ReportDesigner uses a banded report model for a highly organized and familiar layout. You can create complex hierarchical documents with automatic word index, TOC generation, data binding, and more with C1PrintDocument.

Controls that come with the C1Report features include:

C1Report Component : The C1Report component generates Access-style database reports. C1Report exposes an object model for creating, customizing, loading, and saving report definitions. I experimented mostly with this component. I found it easy to use and easy to customize with a variety of added controls.

C1RdlReport Component : The C1RdlReport component provides support for SQL Server Reporting Services. C1RdlReport exposes the full RDL object model so you can modify existing reports or create new reports without external dependencies such as Microsoft Reporting Services. Import your existing SSRS report definitions (RDL) into C1RdlReport to programmatically generate your reports and integrate them with the full ComponentOne Reporting suite.

C1PrintDocument Component : The C1PrintDocument component provides an object model that allows you to create arbitrarily complex documents in code. The object model specifically targets paginated documents, providing a rich set of features to facilitate automatic and intelligent pagination of complex structured documents. Documents can be completely created in code, or bound to a database via a flexible data binding model.

C1MultiDocument Component : C1MultiDocument is designed to allow creating, persisting and exporting large documents that cannot be handled by a single document object due to memory limitations. Use C1MultiDocument to combine multiple C1PrintDocuments, C1Reports and C1RdlReports which will be rendered as a whole continuous document with shared page numbering, a common TOC, word index, page count and inter-document hyperlinks.

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Why Microsoft should make its own tablets (and phones and PCs)

It looks like Microsoft plans to build and sell its own tablets, competing with its own partners. Great idea!

Computerworld - The All Things D site reported this week that Microsoft on Monday intends to announce its entry into the tablet hardware business.

While Microsoft does make hardware -- mice, keyboards, Xbox, Kinect, Zune, Surface and other products -- it has not yet made desktop PCs, laptops or tablets, opting instead to embrace a partner strategy of third-party OEM manufacturing.

Pundits will no doubt say that Microsoft has a case of Apple envy and suggest that the company is finally embracing the highly successful "Apple model," in which the operating system maker also makes its own hardware.

In fact, Microsoft's announcement will be more in line with the "Google model."

The Google model is to have it both ways -- making hardware, but also licensing your OS to hardware partners who make products of their own. Google partners with OEMs for smartphone handset and tablet hardware. But it also acquired Motorola, which makes Android hardware.

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The Motorola acquisition isn't Google's first foray into hardware sales and direct competition with hardware vendors. Google launched its Nexus One smartphone handset in early 2010. Although that phone was technically manufactured by one of Google's partners, HTC, it was sold by Google and branded as a Google phone. As it turned out, Google didn't like the support part of the hardware business and decided to exit that line of work for a while, but it had let its partners know that it was willing to compete with them.

Traditionally, the assumption has been that you must either partner with hardware companies to manufacture systems for your operating system (the Microsoft model) or not allow other companies to make hardware for your platform (the Apple model).

A hybrid approach has been considered suicidal because competing with your partners puts you in a gray area where you have hardware competition and fragmentation, but you also have a smaller number of partners who are also less committed and more distrusting.

But times are changing.

Microsoft's application of the Microsoft model to mobile hasn't worked out. A big partnership with Nokia has been a flop. The software vendor has fared badly in the mobile market, far outpaced by Apple, which uses the Apple model, and Google, which uses the Google model.

When Google announced its bid to acquire Motorola -- effectively declaring its intention to compete with its hardware partners -- many pundits predicted disaster for the company. But the disaster never happened. Google is getting away with it. Android OEMs are continuing to churn out more innovative and exciting hardware, and they don't seem vexed by the prospect of competing with the company that makes the operating system they use.

Instead of the worst of both worlds, Google appears to be enjoying the best of both worlds, gaining the benefits of a hardware company (control and patents), while also gaining the benefits of an operating system company that partners with hardware OEMs (a thriving ecosystem, broad innovation and market choice).

Apparently, Microsoft wants the same thing. And why not? Microsoft has succeeded with a variation of the Google model in some areas. The company's mice and keyboards, for example, have sold well, even though third-party hardware makers have offered similar products for the larger Windows PC marketplace. Admittedly, it's a little different because we're talking about peripheral devices that don't run Microsoft operating systems directly. But still.

Microsoft has also succeeded with the Apple model. For example, one of Microsoft's most successful products is the Xbox gaming console. In that case, Microsoft sells the operating system and the hardware, and it even created and runs the associated Xbox Live online service. Like Apple, Microsoft goes it alone, not seeking partnerships with third-party manufacturers to make competing Xbox hardware systems.

And, of course, Microsoft succeeds with the Microsoft model. Microsoft Windows can't be described as anything but a major business success story. The model is to make the operating system software and rely entirely on partners for PC hardware.

But that's the past. The future looks less rosy for Microsoft Windows and the Microsoft model.
Why the Microsoft model won't work in the future

There are two reasons why Microsoft needs to move to the Google model for all of its product lines.

First, the world is becoming increasingly mobile. The so-called PC market is simultaneously becoming more mobile (more laptops, fewer desktops) and increasingly obsolete. Apple's post-PC world is clearly the future of all computing. That's why Windows 8 is so heavily optimized for tablets and touch.

The Microsoft model worked great for the old-and-busted desktop PC world, but it doesn't work so well for the new-hotness mobile and touch-tablet world. With computing "appliances," seamless integration is the highest virtue.

The world has changed, and the model that works is also changing.

Second, Microsoft can't rely on its OEM partners anymore. If you go to, say, BestBuy, to shop for a low-cost laptop, as I did recently, it's clear that Microsoft Windows systems on the low end (sub $1,000) are garbage.

These devices are bloated with crapware (cheap software loaded on the systems by OEMs as part of negotiated deals that offset price discounts), covered with ugly, sloppily applied stickers, and made from flimsy, cheap-feeling materials like plastic or wobbly metal. They look like junk.

The Apple table at BestBuy is 10 feet away, and for $1,000 you can buy a MacBook Air with zero crapware, no stickers and the highest quality materials (unibody aluminum). Their screens look far better, and their performance is shockingly superior. They're displayed in an appealing and uniform way, with Internet running and everything ready to go and available to try (I spent 20 minutes trying to escape from a Dell system's "demo mode" so I could try the machine out myself. I eventually gave up.)

Nobody washes a rented car. Likewise, discount PC OEMs don't treat Windows machines with love and respect, as Apple does with Apple machines.

Higher-end Windows PCs offer a better experience than the low end models, but the cheap systems are destroying the Microsoft brand in the minds of consumers.

That's why Microsoft has launched its own retail stores. Microsoft is willing to invest in retail stores as a way to gain some control over its brand image. But that's not enough.

Microsoft needs to create its own premium, high-quality desktops, laptops, tablets and phones for the same reason that automakers like to have high-end car models in their lineups. The upscale models create a "halo effect" for the brand -- an aura that extends to even the cheapest vehicles.

It's a new world. Rather than viewing Microsoft as a competitor, Microsoft's OEM partners should and, I believe, will welcome Microsoft's participation in the hardware end of the business, because the company can create a halo effect that extends to the entire platform and benefits everyone. Nobody in the Windows world would benefit from an Apple takeover of the market.

There is absolutely no way Windows can compete as a tablet operating system against Apple's iOS -- unless Microsoft takes direct control by making its own integrated tablets, as Apple does with the iPad. And even then, it's a long shot.

In general, though, Microsoft appears to be waking up to the new reality. That reality is that nobody except Apple can succeed with the Apple model. And the Microsoft model is yesterday's news.

That leaves the Google model as Microsoft's one hope for success in the post-PC world.

70-664 Q&A / Study Guide / Testing Engine / Videos

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QUESTION 1
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You have been asked to deploy Lync Server
2010 as a VOIP telephony and video conferencing solution for the company.
Company management is concerned about the possible network load imposed by the VoIP and
video conferencing features of Lync Server 2010.
To manage the network bandwidth used by the system, you configure Call Admission Control.
How can you enable the Call Admission Control feature?

A. By running the Set-CsNetworkInterSitePolicy cmdlet.
B. By running the Set-CsNetworkConfiguration cmdlet.
C. By running the Set-CsCpsConfiguration cmdlet.
D. By running the Set-CsVoiceConfiguration cmdlet.

Answer: B

Explanation:

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QUESTION 2
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. The company’s communication system is
provided by a Lync Server 2010 infrastructure.
You have configured a bandwidth policy to limit the network bandwidth used by real-time audio
and video sessions.
You want to override the policy for the Managing Director of the company.
What type of policy should you create first to enable you to override the bandwidth policy for the
Managing Director?

A. You should first create a Conferencing Policy.
B. You should first create a Client Version Policy.
C. You should first create a Voice Policy.
D. You should first create an External Access Policy.

Answer: C

Explanation:

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QUESTION 3
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You are configuring a new Lync Server 2010 infrastructure.
You want the company phone number to be displayed in the format +11112222333 when users on
the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) receive calls from users using the Lync Server
system.
Which cmdlet should you run?

A. You should run the Set-CsVoiceConfiguration cmdlet.
B. You should run the Set-CsNetworkInterSitePolicy cmdlet.
C. You should run the Set-CsVoicePolicy cmdlet.
D. You should run the Set-CsLocationPolicy cmdlet.

Answer: C

Explanation:

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QUESTION 4
Your work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com includes the management of the Lync Server
2010 infrastructure.
The Lync Server 2010 infrastructure includes a Mediation Server pool that includes three servers
named Certkingdom-Med1, Certkingdom-Med2 and Certkingdom-Med3.
You need to take Certkingdom-Med3 offline for maintenance.
Which two of the following steps should you perform to allow you to take Certkingdom-Med3 offline without
disconnecting any current calls in progress?

A. Navigate to the Lync Server 2010 Topology Builder.
B. Navigate to the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.
C. Modify the properties of the Mediation Pool.
D. Modify the properties of Certkingdom-Med3.
E. Create a new Mediation Pool.

Answer: B,D

Explanation:

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QUESTION 5
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You are in the process of deploying a Lync
Server 2010 infrastructure for the company.
You have configured dial-in conferencing and verified that it is functioning properly.
You now want to notify users about the availability of the feature. The notification should include
introductory instructions such as the initial PIN and the link to the Dial-in Conferencing Settings
webpage.
What is the easiest way to send the notification with the required information to the users?

A. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsAnnouncement cmdlet.
B. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the Set-CsPinSendCAWelcomeMail cmdlet.
C. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsConferenceDirectory cmdlet.
D. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsConferencingConfiguration cmdlet.

Answer: B

Explanation:

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