MVC - I take it back....

As you can see, my last post was quite ill-informed. Armed with more research and a renewed sense of freedom since I handed in my resignation, I need to rectify the blurb about MVC that I published back in January.

Although I have still not had time to fully explore Microsoft's MVC framework, I have been able to do some research about its background and its high level architecture. I still do not think that MVC is the answer to everything in .NET web development, I now recognise that it does have a rightful place among the other development practices and has to be considered when developing a new project or making major improvements to existing web applications.

Over the next few weeks I will immerse myself into "PRO ASP.NET MVC 2 FRAMEWORK" and hope to be publishing helpful tips and tricks as well as theoretical background to MVC as I discover it.

Microsoft MVC is just a buzz-word

Although not a new technology, MVC is starting to hit the mainstream development circle so hard that it has even squeezed through into the public sector. Hearing whispers from behind closed doors of management meetings, MVC development seems to be on the agenda. But do people understand what it actually does and what the pros and cons are of MVC development.

First of all let me confess: I am not a MVC guru!

So far I have developed two "applications" using MVC.

1. Build your First ASP.NET MVC 3 Application
2. Simple login application using Microsoft Forms Authentication with an SQL Membership Provider

Both times the actual development was easy, fast and efficient, but both times I tried to deploy the application onto my shared hosting platform I got trust level exceptions flying all over the place! Now this could be an issue with my hosting provider combined with my frugal outlook on hosting; not wanting to pay out for a dedicated hosting solution that I can fully control.

One of the other problems is that MVC frameworks can be incredibly bulky. They require a lot of files for everything to work properly. In the examples that I have worked on I had at least double the amount of files than web pages. If you are not careful, MVC projects can get out of hand pretty quickly. This can also end up affecting performance.

I have also found that migrating existing web sites and web applications into a MVC design is not straight forward. A lot of the times you cannot just copy and paste the desired functionality. You will have to re-create your whole application ... and who has got time to do that?

Also, the MVC framework is not efficient unless you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and build your own project specific infrastructure. At this point you really need to know your stuff! And, you need to be surrounded by people that have the expertise to support your creations, just in case you allow yourself a week away from the PC screen.

As you can tell, I am not a MVC fan at the moment. It seems like Microsoft has rushed onto the MVC bandwagon - just like with the buggy AJAX.NET.

New account activation for new students

We have just completed the development of the newly improved activation process for our new students. This application allows students to activate their computing account and set their chosen password. Since its launch last Thursday, it has attracted over 900 users and resulted in a much improved account activation service for our new students.

Following the activation of their computing account, students are able to access all online IT services that the university provides as well as log onto any of the university's desktops.

We feel that this improvement has helped new students in completing their pre-registration tasks which will greatly improve their first experience with Canterbury Christ Church University.

StudentNET extends to our accepted students

We have extended the student portal to include students that have been accepted on a course of study and are required to pre-register online before arriving at the registration event in September time.

The new 'stage' of the portal has several new widgets including 'Key things to know', 'Top questions' and 'Essential first steps' as well as drawing on the functionality of previously developed widgets including the 'WebNote' and 'i-zone search and browse'.

This portal will allow students to confirm their place of study with us, get their arrival instructions, upload their photo, and apply for and accept University accommodation places, as well as being introduced to the student portal with which they will interact for the next 3 years or more.

StudentNET Presentation at IWMW10 with Twitter feedback

Yeay! I managed to do my mini talk at this year's IWMW in Sheffield, and considering I was stressing about it so much ... the audience was very nice.

The slides are available on http://www.slideshare.net/czechman/student-net-iwmw-2010-presentation-upload

Some of the Twitter live feedback

liwazi any library related studentNet widgets exist ? such as reading lists, exampapers, amazon-like recommendation borrow system #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 CCCU - very nice job!

ostephens #iwmw10 #p8 think the UI of StudentNET looks nice - strength of building on something from outside the sector, non-corporate ?

PlanetClaire Brilliant talk there from Josef. Time to revisit the student portal project methinks. #iwmw10 #p8

mancypino Loving the Student Portal demo! #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Contextural help for each widget - all works very smoothly.

webpackets #iwmw10 #p8 I like the studentnet portal - seems really well thought out, designed and most importantly usable for the students

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Use of the campusM API to pull data in as future development - interesting - I'm looking at that too...

ostephens #iwmw10 #p8 the problem with this stuff is almost always getting access to the data - not building the code/widgets

PlanetClaire StudentNET looks fab! MIght have to pay a visit to Canterbury! #iwmw10 #p8

NIMRweb RT @liwazi studentNet - Canterbury Christ Church Univ is like CAMSIS in Cambridge Univ, but better #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Comms widget to send personalised alerts - nicely done - even if it is all .NET :(

webpackets #iwmw10 #p8 Good to catch up on this project, attended the barcamp last year on the early stages of it.

PlanetClaire Who owns the student portal? Internal comms, web team, student services? #iwmw10 #p8

liwazi studentNet - student portal from Canterbury Christ Church Univ is like CAMSIS in Cambridge Univ, but better, much better #iwmw10 #p8

I was there ... honest

Here is some more proof that I attended the IWMW2010 in Sheffield.

Josef Lapka at IWMW10 from UKOLN on Vimeo.

Thumbs up for StudentNET portal at IWMW10

This year I signed up to do a presentation about the Canterbury Christ Church University student portal, StudentNET, in front of my peers and colleagues at the IWMW 2010. Although it was quite nerve-wracking, and it included a live demo, the nightmare of any presenter, it went very well.

My 20 minute talk was well received on Twitter and in subsequent interviews. Here is some of the feedback that our portal received ... (ego boost!)

Some feedback
"What has been the best bit this year so far?
All of it has been brilliant. By far the highlights were Sid and Paul Boag’s p5/p6 talks, however the StudentNet portal was a great technological demo. If pushed to select just a single highlight, I would go with Josef Lapkas StudentNet – to save me having to decide between Sid & Paul! The project management parallel session also deserves a mention."

Twitter feeback

liwazi any library related studentNet widgets exist ? such as reading lists, exampapers, amazon-like recommendation borrow system #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 CCCU - very nice job!

ostephens #iwmw10 #p8 think the UI of StudentNET looks nice - strength of building on something from outside the sector, non-corporate ?

PlanetClaire Brilliant talk there from Josef. Time to revisit the student portal project methinks. #iwmw10 #p8

mancypino Loving the Student Portal demo! #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Contextural help for each widget - all works very smoothly.

webpackets #iwmw10 #p8 I like the studentnet portal - seems really well thought out, designed and most importantly usable for the students

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Use of the campusM API to pull data in as future development - interesting - I'm looking at that too...

ostephens #iwmw10 #p8 the problem with this stuff is almost always getting access to the data - not building the code/widgets

PlanetClaire StudentNET looks fab! MIght have to pay a visit to Canterbury! #iwmw10 #p8

NIMRweb RT @liwazi studentNet - Canterbury Christ Church Univ is like CAMSIS in Cambridge Univ, but better #iwmw10 #p8

spellerlive #iwmw10 #p8 Comms widget to send personalised alerts - nicely done - even if it is all .NET :(

webpackets #iwmw10 #p8 Good to catch up on this project, attended the barcamp last year on the early stages of it.

PlanetClaire Who owns the student portal? Internal comms, web team, student services? #iwmw10 #p8

liwazi studentNet - student portal from Canterbury Christ Church Univ is like CAMSIS in Cambridge Univ, but better, much better #iwmw10 #p8

Useful links

View the presentation

Watch part of the presentation

Fitting development methodologies

It seems to me that with cutting resources the need for structured methodologies is more and more important. The use of the waterfall methodology seems the obvious choice, because it is designed to cut down on feature creap and allows for easy management, but others have a place too.

What have I learned about WCF?

WebNote's just around the corner

The. NET development team has completed the second phase of StudentNET WebNote. The WebNote is an area within the University's student portal that displays important messages to students, including reminders to do certain admin tasks.

We wanted to make this tool as flexible as possible so that massages could be sent to all students if necessary or just one individual, and anything in between.

So we have devised an admin tool that allows our staff to do just that. We have also de-coupled the different parts of the system. In the middle of it sits the messaging interface which has been deployed as a webservice and can be called by any application. This means that we can send automated messages as well.

The whole system will be handed over into production by the end of this month.

StudentNET V2 at IWMW2010

CCCU's student portal will be showcased at this years Institutional Web Management Workshop in Sheffield. Presenting to delegates from all over the UK I'll be giving a 20 mins presentation as part of 'Doing the day job'. For more information visit IWMW2010.

Park and Ride Application for staff

The web app development team have released a Park and Ride application for staff today. It's a simple but great new addition to CCCU's new Staff Services portal.

StudentNET Content

This paper describes how student content could be treated once removed from the external web. Its purpose is to start a discussion.

Option 1 - Full content integration into StudentNET V2

Similar to content administered by the i-zone content would be surfaced using the 'app area' in StudentNET V2.

i-zone content surfaced through StudentNET V2

The advantage of this approach is that it is in keeping with existing design and functionality.

Option 2 - Layered content integration into StudentNET V2

Following the original StudentNET vision, content would be surfaced using a conventional, layered web structure.

This layered content would be accessed through an 'A-Z app widget' from StudentNET V2. It could also be accessible through direct URLs.

E.G.: https://secure.canterbury.ac.uk/student/subject1/

The advantage with this approach is that it appears to be more scalable. It allows for more flexibility when having to cater for all CCCU's departments' needs.

Content structure

With either option the content structure needs to be carefully designed to allow for content to be reused in different areas of the web and in different media.

Content would be packaged up in logical subject sections. These subject sections may be informed by the more detailed content audit.

Content administration

With either option Contensis CMS would be used to administer content and support workflow rules.

Content rules will be important because content will be edited from staff across departments.

Change password online - Manage My Account

CCCU staff and students are now able to change their passwords online using a new application built by CIS with assistance from CS.

This is the first step in delivering a complete computing account self service online to all current staff and accepted and enrolled students. This will include the ability to unlock the account if it was locked and reset your password if it has been forgotten as well as keeping your secret questions and answers up to date.

So, if you have ever forgotten your password or locked your account, no need to worry. Soon you will be able to reset and change your University password and unlock your computing account online.

StudentNET V2 at UCISA

StudentNET V2 development has been chosen to be showcased at this year's UCISA 2010 Conference.

"UCISA represents the whole of higher education, and increasingly further education, in the provision and development of academic, management and administrative information systems."

UCISA Conference Programme

StudentNET V2 is Canterbury Christ Church University's new student portal, currently being rolled out gradually to its students, with a final release on March 1st 2010.

Three new apps for StudentNET

We have developed three new apps for StudentNET.

Photo Uploader

This application lets our students upload photos online. It validates the type of photo and allows the student to crop, rotate and resize the image. Once it has been uploaded, the file is saved to a University network drive for manual checks. A fairly simple application that helped us deliver on producing University ID cards (smartcards) for our students.

Status letter

To prove that students are studying with us they may need to ask our Registry Department to print status letters. This application is currently pending sign off and will replace manual processes. Students will be able to produce status letters in their own home.

Park and ride application

With restricted parking in the center of Canterbury, the University is offering park and ride schemes to students and staff. This application will calculate the distance between the user's home address and allow them to apply for a park and ride ticket according to that distance. Applications can be reviewed by issuing staff and approved.

StudentNET stress testing - it's not just about running the scripts ...

We have done some preliminary stress tests to see how StudentNET responds to high levels of usage. To start us off we created very simple test scripts that simulated a user logging on, loading the framework and logging off.

Creating test scripts using Visual Studio Team Foundation is a piece of cake, so at first we didn't stumble upon any problems. Within a few minutes of launching the wizard, the script was created in C# and we were ready to set up the first load test.

For an adequate load test we needed to have at least 4 agents that would be sending requests to our web servers; a controller that would be distributing the test load among the agents; a test client that executes the script. Now, considering we do not have a testing environment, let alone a testing lab, we had to make do with PCs of colleagues that were on holiday. So getting together 6 PCs was difficult enough.

Set up

Setting up the testing grid with staff PCs proved to be quite tricky. At first we had problems connecting the client (runs the scripts) to the controller (distributes the load). A few IPCONFIGS later we discovered that the two machines were on completely different IP ranges and were unable to resolve the machine name. Even though we were able to connect via IP, Visual Studio Team Foundation did not work, seemingly because the controller tried to contact the client with its name, which again did not resolve.

Secondly, running Virtual PC 2007 on our staff PCs meant that all 6 machines were too weak to generate a load that we would have wanted to test. It created a bottle neck of 300 requests to our web servers at any one time before the agents started to fail.

So we reduced the load of concurrent users to be able to run a few 5 hour tests to see whether the application was deteriorating in any way. Although this significantly reduced the load on our webfarm and resulted in minimal load balancing, we were able to fetch a few results that helped us improve the application.

Next steps

We're going back to the framework to improve its load and also to fix fundamental errors that cropped up during stress tests.

We are also going to look at the possibility of using a Virtual Environment to run 10-12 agents to increase the stress on our web servers.

StudentNET Pre-registration Portal launches

We have today launched Canterbury Christ Church University's StudentNET Pre-registration portal. It was launched to support the registration event for our students-to-be. Although it is a simple concept of collecting information about our students prior to their arrival, the developments required input from several departments from across the University.

Students are given the opportunity to complete various tasks within this portal, which include

• Confirm your place
• Upload your photo
• Submit your email address
• Activate your computing account
• Get your arrival instructions

The role of the portal was to bring seamlessly together several different systems which are used by our users to complete the tasks above, with a view to further integration next year.

The portal also utilises the University's knowledgebase system by presenting the students with top questions and answers that have been asked by others and also giving them an opportunity to query the knowledgebase should they have other questions about the registration event.

All in-house built applications within this portal, such as the photo upload facility, have web service driven context help fed by our Content Management System on each page to guide students through step-by-step. After several years experience of building online applications, we have found that it does not matter how intuitive you think your pages are, it is always better to guide your users with appropriate help.

All we can do now it has been launched, is to monitor the use of it and if necessary amend the help content and faqs.

StudentNET gets a facelift

From August 12th, StudentNET will receive a facelift. This development will bring all StudentNET applications one step closer towards the final product that will be launched in the late Autumn term.

Our designer has widened the layout to 960px to provide space for a flexible yet structural 12 column grid on the page. We have also freshened up the header by intensifying the StudentNET orange colour while matching it closely to our corporate colour palette. The footer has also seen some attention. It has been tidied up into clear, categorised columns with scope to add a large number of links.

From a development point of view, we have introduced forms authentication to fall in line with external IT products that our students use, such as WebMail and BlackBoard. We introduced context help for each page which is fed by our Content Management System and centralised common error pages which also allow for student feedback should an error occur.

We would love to hear any feedback you might have. So please leave a comment!

First mini barcamp experience

I held a barcamp session today. After 3 years of attending the IWMW, I finally plucked up the courrage to speak in front of my peers at this years IWMW at the University of Essex.

My session was about our development efforts towards delivering a new student portal at Canterbury Christ Church. The session, I think, was well received a few delegates have contacted me since wanting to be kept informed about our progress and student feedback.

You never know, we might be able to share the portal and collaborate on future widget developments.