OakLeaf Systems is a Northern California software consulting organization specializing in developing and writing about Windows Azure, Windows Azure SQL Database, Windows Azure SQL Data Sync, Windows Azure SQL Database Federations, Windows Azure Mobile Services and Web Sites, Windows Phone 8, LINQ, ADO.NET Entity Framework, OData and WCF Data Services, SQL Server 2008+, and Visual Studio LightSwitch.
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As noted in my earlier Microsoft Finally Licenses Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on Windows Azure Virtual Machines article, last updated 12/17/2013, organizations providing customers access to Windows Applications running on Windows Azure Virtual Machines (WAVMs) via Remote Desktop Services (RDS), with or without RDWeb access, must enter into an indirect Microsoft Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) and purchase Subscriber Access Licenses (SALs) from a reseller appointed by Microsoft. The only prerequisites for an SPLA are your firm must be a Registered (or higher) Microsoft Partner and have a Microsoft (Live) ID.
When this post was written in mid-January 2014, Microsoft had appointed eight US and seven Canadian resellers in the US. I chose Dell Computer, Inc. as OakLeaf’s reseller because they offered this simple sign-up procedure:
1. Send a message to SPLA_US@dell.com or SPLA_Canada@dell.com with your Partner organization name, ID number and physical location (city or state/province,) as well as the name of the individual having authority to sign the SPLA.
2. A Dell representative will acknowledge your request.
3. A few hours later, you’ll receive a message with Action Required: Your Microsoft License Agreement is ready for electronic signature{~########:1~} as the subject from eagreements@microsoft.com with the following information:
Dear Roger Jennings,
Your Microsoft Volume Licensing Agreement has been created by your Microsoft Channel Partner and is ready for acceptance and electronic signature.
Contract Package Number: PKG#########
Agreement Number: ########
Customer Number: XXXX####
Action Required
Please click the link below in order to review and sign the agreements on behalf of your company. If you no longer have signing authority, please notify your Channel Partner immediately and do not use the below link.
Note: You will be prompted to sign into eAgreements using a valid Windows Live ID. If you do not have a Windows Live ID, you are required to create one and will be prompted to do so after you click the link below.
Clicking the provided URL opens the following Volume Licensing Welcome page:
Sign in with your Windows Live ID to open the eAgreements Registration page:
Click each of the four Document Name links, download the following Word documents and review them or route them to your company’s legal department for review and approval:
Microsoft Business and Services Agreement: MBSA Agreement.docx
Service Provider License Agreement (Indirect): Master Agreement.docx (form is prefilled)
Signature Form: Signature Form.docx
End User License Terms: SPLA End User License Terms.docx
After review and approval of the four documents, select the I Confirm option button to expand the bottom section. Type the signatory’s name, job title and, optionally, purchase order number, as shown here:
Click Submit to send the electronically signed form to Microsoft. Click OK to acknowledge the success message:
Tip: If you receive an error message after clicking submit, try again at least once.
You’ll receive a Confirmation of Microsoft Volume Licensing Agreement Acceptance and Submission{~########:1~} by e-mail from Microsoft a few minutes after submission. The message contains the following (in part):
… Note that this agreement is not wholly formed until accepted and activated by Microsoft.
Once the license agreement is signed by Microsoft, you will receive a Welcome email from Microsoft confirming the activation of your organization’s license agreement. The Welcome email will also provide information about how you can track and manage your organization’s software licenses online. …
I’ll update this post when I receive the activation message.
My (@rogerjenn) Android MiniPCs and TVBoxes blog runs WordPress on WebMatrix with Super Cache in Windows Azure Web Site (WAWS) Standard tier instance in Microsoft’s West U.S. (Bay Area) data center and ClearDB’s MySQL database (Venus plan). I converted the site from the Shared Preview to the Standard tier on September 7, 2013 in order to store diagnostic data in Windows Azure blobs instead of the file system.
Service Level Agreements aren’t applicable to the Web Services’ Shared tier; only sites in the Standard tier qualify for the 99.9% uptime SLA.
Running a Shared Preview WAWS costs ~US$10/month plus MySQL charges
Running a Standard tier instance costs ~US$75/month plus MySQL charges
I use Windows Live Writer to author posts that provide technical details of low-cost MiniPCs with HDMI outputs running Android JellyBean 4.1+, as well as Google’s new Chromecast device. The site emphases high-definition 1080p video recording and rendition.
Note: The usual 99.9% uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA) applies only to Windows Azure Web Sites running in the Standard tier. The Android MiniPCs and TVBoxes site was upgraded from the Shared to Standard tier on 9/7/2013.
My (@rogerjenn) live OakLeaf Systems Azure Table Services Sample Project demo project runs two small Windows Azure Web role compute instances from Microsoft’s South Central US (San Antonio, TX) data center. This report now contains more than two full years of monthly uptime data.
Here’s the detailed downtime report from Pingdom for December 2013:
Following is the first page of the detailed Pingdom response time data for December 2013:
You can check the site’s Public Status Page (shown for 12/2/2013) by clicking here:
This is the thirty-first uptime report for the two-Web role version of the sample project since it was upgraded to two instances. Uptimes below SLA 99.9% minimums are emphasized. Reports will continue on a monthly basis.
I believe this project is the oldest continuously running Windows Azure application. I first deployed it in November 2008 when I was writing Cloud Computing with the Windows Azure Platform for Wiley/WROX, which was the first book published about Windows Azure.
For more details about the Table Services Sample project or to download its source code, visit its Microsoft Pinpoint entry. Following are Pinpoint listings for fourthree other related OakLeaf sample projects, two of which are live in the South Central US data center:
Build powerful business apps, no coding necessary.
Soma cites as examples:
Apps to support conversations, where a customer can reach over and touch the employee’s screen, make changes and ultimately own the solution
Apps with the smarts to help users make on-the-spot decisions by offering choices first and allowing trade-offs later
Apps for tasks that involve capturing real world information through photos, videos and voice
Project Siena’s Tagline Is an Oxymoron
I have never seen a real-world business app, powerful or not, that didn’t require at least some custom Visual Basic, VBA, C#, Java, JavaScript or code in another programming language. For its Visual Studio LightSwitch rapid application development (RAD) tool, Microsoft claims:
When you use LightSwitch, much of the repetitive work is done for you and, in fact, you can create a LightSwitch application without writing any code at all! For most applications, the only code you have to write is the code that only you can write: the business logic.
A couple of weeks back I took a look at Project Siena, a preview of a new tool for building Windows 8 apps. Project Siena features a simplified user interface builder, an Excel-like expression language, and data-bound controls. It generates Windows 8 JavaScript apps. Project Siena is itself a Windows Store app, and runs fine on Windows RT (the ARM version). I have been using it successfully on Surface 2, on which it runs sweetly. [Emphasis added.]
When I first looked at Project Siena I tried to build the same first app that I have used for numerous simple tests of development tools over the years: a to-do list. I was impressed by how easy it was to create the user interface, but unable to work out the code to complete it. Unless I missed it, the key information is not included in any of the initial documentation. I found this disappointing, since it has been easy to work out the code in every other programming environment I have tried. …
In Siena, data is stored in Collection objects, and you can bind a listbox to a collection. By default, a new listbox is bound to an object called ListboxSample, but you cannot use it for this; if you try, you get a squiggly line error with the message that ListboxSample is not a collection.
Instead, you have to create your own collection object. In Siena, you declare a variable by using it and its type is inferred. Enter this for the OnSelect property of the Add button:
Collect(mycollection,{Value: InputText1!Text})
This is the code that took me so long to work out. The Collect function adds an item to a collection. If the collection does not already exist, it creates it. The first argument to Collect is a collection object, and the second, an item. What is an item? In effect, a record or row in a table. The syntax for an item in Siena is:
where the dots represent additional fields as required. Therefore, the code I entered for the Add button creates or appends an item with a single field, called Value, to a collection called mycollection.
Now you can select the listbox and tap Data and then Items. The collection called mycollection magically appears for selection. Select it. In the case of multi-field collections, you can also choose which field appears in the list. Only one field it seems; yes, Siena needs a grid control. … [Emphasis added.’]
Defining function expressions to respond to events sounds like programming to me. The Microsoft Project Siena Function Reference lists two operators and 71 functions, many of which have complex argument lists. Even inline If() expressions are supported:
Returns the result of evaluating the expression that corresponds to the first matching predicate. If none of the predicates match, default is evaluated and its result gets returned.
The Project Siena expressions remind me of those available to Microsoft Access developers from the Jet Expression Service.
Instructions for Importing Windows Azure Mobile Services
… How do I import Windows Azure Mobile Services ([W]AMS) data into my app?
If your enterprise uses Windows Azure Mobile Services, contact your IT department or the administrator of the account for the account details. Then add [W]AMS tables as data sources to your app:
Click the + control in the Data Sources backstage.
Click Azure Mobile Services in the Data Sources menu.
You will be prompted for the URL (usually of the form https://<EnterpriseName>.azure-mobile.net) and AppKey (this is generated when the account is set up; use an application key and not the master key). Enter this information and click the search icon.
All the tables in your [W]AMS instance are listed. Select one or more of the instances and then click Import Data to import the data into your app.
Note that in the current release, we support a simplified and lightweight interface for accessing [W]AMS data. As part of the [W]AMS setup, your IT administrator will also need to create a table named "zz_config" in your [W]AMS instance for Siena to be able to interact with it. This table should contain the following columns:
Key: This should be set to “table”.
Value: String value that stores the table name.
The zz_config table should contain one row per table that you want to expose to Siena. For example, if you want to allow Siena to access Employee and Sales tables, your zz_config table will have the following entries:
Key
Value
“table”
“Employee”
“table”
“Sales”
Apparently, the Project Siena team didn’t get the memo that “Windows Azure whatever,” not “Azure whatever,” is the naming convention.
Connecting a Project Siena App to Other Data Sources
Links to data sources can be added to your apps for importing data. Create these links through the Data Sources backstage, which can be accessed as follows:
Display the app bar by right-clicking anywhere on the canvas or by swiping down from the top of the canvas.
Click File, and then click Data Sources.
Click the + control to bring up a list of possible data sources.
The current release of Siena supports the following types of data sources that are displayed as options when you click the + control.
Excel
Windows Azure Mobile Services (AMS)
REST
RSS Feed
SharePoint Lists
Note that your SharePoint site, REST web services, or RSS Feed should not be running on the same device as the published app. If this condition is not met, the app will not be able to access the service because of a security restriction with Windows 8 apps that prevents from calling into web services running on the same device. …
How do I import Excel data into my app?
Perform the following steps to import Excel data into your app:
Click the + control in the Data Sources backstage.
Click Excel in the Data Sources menu.
This will bring up the Windows 8 file picker. Browse to the location where your Excel file is stored, select it, and click Open.
All the tables within the Excel workbook you selected are displayed. Select one or more tables from the displayed list, and then click Import Data to import the data into your app.
Note that only Excel tables will be imported (see Create an Excel table). If the data has been imported successfully, the first three rows of the table will be displayed.
How do I use REST connectors?
Consume data from REST connectors in your app by following these steps:
Click the + control in the Data Sources backstage.
Click REST in the Data Sources menu.
Enter the URL for your REST service.
Choose an authentication method from the drop-down list box.
Select the Enable headers check box, if you want to specify any additional custom headers.
Import the data.
All the tables exposed through your REST service are imported into your app.
Siena can fetch data from REST services using GET requests (your proxy must support GET requests at the supported endpoints) if the following requirements are satisfied. Please contact your IT administrator about these requirements if you are having trouble connecting to your enterprise’s REST services.
How do I import SharePoint lists into my app?
Perform the following steps to import data from SharePoint lists:
Click the + control in the Data Sources backstage.
Click SharePoint in the Data Sources menu.
Enter the URL to your SharePoint site, and then click the search icon.
All the lists on your SharePoint site to which you have access are displayed. Select one or more lists, and then click Import Data” to import the data into your app.
Note that in the current release of Siena, a link to SharePoint data is not live—changes made to the list on the server are not immediately reflected in the app. When loading, the app takes a "snapshot" of the data on the SharePoint server.
How do I import RSS feed data into my app?
Perform the following steps to import data from RSS feeds:
Click the + control in the Data Sources backstage.
Click RSS Feed in the Data Sources menu.
Enter the URL to your RSS Feed and click the search icon
All the RSS feeds in your specified URL to which you have access are displayed. Select one or more feeds, and then click Import Data to import the data into your app.
Note that in the current release of Siena, a link to RSS Feed data is not live—changes made to the feed on the server are not immediately reflected in the app. When loading, the app takes a "snapshot" of the data on the RSS Feed server. In the current version of Siena, only Atom and RSS 2.0 feeds are supported. …
The Missing Link
The question remains how to use the imported data and how to update it, if possible. This undoubtedly requires code but Project Siena’s three current sample apps, AdventureWorks, Real Coverage Finder and Personnel Manager, don’t appear to use external data sources.
The Project Siena Release Notes were the primary documentation for the app when this post was written. Paul Mather posted on 1/2/20114 an illustrated tutorial for a simple app with a Excel worksheet as the read-only data source: Win8 Apps using Project Siena:
WAMS provides ToDo demo tutorials for Windows 8 (C# and JavaScript), Windows Phone, iOS, Android, HTML, Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android. My five-part Windows Azure Mobile Services Preview Walkthrough expands on the Windows 8 C# tutorial:
I'm an occasional contributor to the Cloud Computing section of Internet.com's Developer.com web site. Links to my articles are here.
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OakLeaf Systems' Windows Azure Table Services Sample Project
Test drive GridView paging and iterative operations on Northwind Customer entities in Windows Azure Table Storage with the OakLeaf Systems Azure Table Services Sample Project demo from my Cloud Computing with the Windows Azure Platform book.
The dual Web role application has been running in Microsoft's South Central US (San Antonio) data center since September 2009. I believe it is the oldest continuously running Windows Azure application.
I'm a Windows Azure Insider, a retired Windows Azure MVP, the principal developer for OakLeaf Systems and the author of 30+ books on Microsoft software. The books have more than 1.25 million English copies in print and have been translated into 20+ languages.
Full disclosure: I make part of my livelihood by writing about Microsoft products in books and for magazines. I regularly receive free evaluation software from Microsoft and press credentials for Microsoft Tech•Ed and PDC. I'm also a member of the Microsoft Partner Network.
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