As solutions architects, we often find ourselves at the intersection of innovation and legacy. We’re constantly faced with choices that can lead us toward modern, elegant solutions or the well-worn road of tried-and-tested approaches. A few years ago, I encountered this crossroad when I was asked to lead a Fintech project requiring me to convert a legacy Windows-based platform written in VB.NET to a new web-based solution. The timeline? It was a challenging seven months, with a high-stakes presentation at a major industry conference on the horizon.
Continue reading Balancing Innovation with Legacy: Choosing the Right Path for the Greater GoodCategory: Web
Crafting a Successful Software Development Roadmap – A Guide for Product Managers
Introduction
As a product manager, one of your key responsibilities is creating and managing the software development roadmap. This strategic document serves as the guiding light for your development team, outlining your product’s vision, direction, and priorities over time. But how can you ensure your roadmap succeeds with developers and the business? This blog post explores best practices for planning, engaging, measuring, reviewing, and communicating your software development roadmap.
Continue reading Crafting a Successful Software Development Roadmap – A Guide for Product ManagersDraggable
I have used many custom made dialog boxes in my web applications. I had always kept them very simple, but recently I had been asked if they can be draggable. The answer I had given is: Probably, but I had never tried!
Faced with the challenge; I came up with the following.
jQuery – Slow Selectors
Recently I was experiencing slow jQuery functions. Slow jQuery was especially slow as I added more elements to the page and especially in Internet Explorer and FireFox. I was not surprised by the browsers being slower than others, but the fact that the jQuery was slower than it should was a surprise. Continue reading jQuery – Slow Selectors
Dynamically Load MVC Partials Using jQuery
Normally I do my examples in C#, but lately I have noticed a lack of VB.NET examples. Therefore, this example is in VB.NET.
I have searched long and hard to find a way to dynamically load MVC partials. I had tried to find a solution a few times, but quickly gave up. I figured there must be a way. Then I remembered how I used to create on the fly images using an HTML image control and simple URL to an ASPX page which served up the image ( another blog topic ). Through this latest realization and a little searching I have pieced together a working model. The piece I was missing was having the controller return a PartialView
. Continue reading Dynamically Load MVC Partials Using jQuery
Cookie Monster Would Be Disappointed
Using localStorage or sessionStorage would disappoint Cookie Monster.
My go to for a website to store data temporary was to use cookies. I would use cookies for storing user preferences, scores, shopping carts and more. Cookies can be a problem though as many people stop excepting cookies and they are difficult to manage. Continue reading Cookie Monster Would Be Disappointed
Simple MVC AJAX GET Method
MVC makes doing AJAX calls simple. As I have said before, I do not like the AJAX controls and methods that the Microsoft ships with the MVC platform. I prefer to create my own AJAX methods instead of posting a AJAX form. I find I can get better control and I can create tighter rules around elements of importance.
The one thing I learned early is when doing a Get Method, you need to ensure that you give permission to the AJAX call to return JSON by adding the following to your JSON return object:
JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGetThis is an easy example of how to use your basic jQuery with your MVC Controller.
Joined the Dark Side and Loving It
A while back now I had a friendly debate with a colleague. It began innocently in a pub on a Friday night and it was Web Forms vrs MVC in the DotNet framework. I was anti-MVC for various reasons and in some sense I could still make an argument against MVC. We escalated our debate to a more public forum where we took the topic to the masses and presented our two sides. We created the exact same projects in our chosen DotNet platforms ( me in Web Forms and he was in MVC ) and we presented the projects. We talked about what we thought were the plus sides of what we chose and why. Before the debate I posted a question on LinkedIn for feedback and the feedback seemed positive for Web Forms. At the end of the debate, we asked our audience to make a choice based on their experience and what they had seen and Web Forms won.
Continue reading Joined the Dark Side and Loving It
Which Web Tools – When and How Much
I cannot say enough about learning which tools use when. It is only through experience will you ever learn this discipline. I have learned when to use a handful of tools and how often. I have also learned that sometimes there is overhead that can make your projects bloated; therefore, I often create my own ( although some may argue against it).
Continue reading Which Web Tools – When and How Much
Simple JS Dialog
Keeping in the spirit of using my blog as a quick code repository; sometimes you just need a simple easy to implement dialog box. I have been using the following routine for sometime now. Sometimes you just need a simple piece of code to get the project done. This although is very simple, it does the job perfectly. It is not how I often style it, but you can figure that out.
See Working Copy: view & try Continue reading Simple JS Dialog