MSDN Blogs

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O workflow do SharePoint 2010 é muito rico em detalhes que muitas vezes são inexplorados. Um deles é o processo de aprovação, que é algo como um sub-processo que nos permite customizar bastante a interação do usuário com as tarefas de workflow.

Neste post vou mostrar como editar o e-mail de tarefa atribuída que o Workflow envia, mas o conteúdo deste post pode ser utilizado em outras customizações deste sub-processo.

Leia o resto deste post »

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[?24?] Windows Azure ??????? http://msdn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/windowsazure/dn221938
????? http://msdn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/windowsazure/hh705140

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— Windows Azure ??????? ??…(read more)

Our data platform has over 600 petabytes of data. The data mining team that I work with has 1/6 of that total space with 73.4 petabytes being utilized….(read more)

Rod Colledge, is a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) for SQL Server, and an expert on the technology side of the use of Business Intelligence in education in Australia. For a living, he helps Microsoft customers with their own business intelligence projects, through his business at StrataDB. But in his role as a Microsoft MVP one of the things that he’s been able to do is record a series of short videos of examples of using business intelligence in education, to show some of the simple things that are useful for school leaders and teachers.

Today’s video is in two parts:

• The first part shows you how you can take a complex data set, containing both central data and a user’s own data – in this case, a spreadsheet of their own data.
• The second part shows you how users can visualise it together in a number of different ways.

Part One – Creating and connecting the education data sources in PowerPivot

Part Two – Reporting education data using PowerView

If you’d like to know more about Rod and his projects, you can find out more on the StrataDB website or email Rod directly

[Troubleshooting] FIM Service Polling the Exchange Web Service (EWS) fills the Application Event Log: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/17439.troubleshooting-fim-service-polling-the-exchange-web-service-ews-fills-the-application-event-log.aspx

When we talk about quality bars, we are not talking about the phenomenal gems such as the Kalahari Oasis in the Mabalingwe game reserve, which I visited and thoroughly enjoyed on more than a couple of hot days under the sun.

Instead we are starting a discussion on the quality bars we are using and considering for ALM Ranger projects, with the hope that you (ALM community) will give candid feedback and share your experience.

Why do we need quality bars?

We strive to ship quality solutions and experience which:

1. Accelerate the adoption of Visual Studio with out-of-band solutions for feature gaps and value-add guidance
2. Create raving and unblocked fans
3. Meet regulatory and legal requirements

The first has been our mission from the start and the second will always be fuelling (inspiring) us and the community. The third is the one that has and will continue to introduce challenges and friction in the ALM community, because it requires bandwidth (which we have little of) and razor-sharp focus.

What are the challenges with quality bars?

Let’s start by looking at the quality bar slider diagram we created in an attempt to highlight the challenges when striving for the full compliance with industry guidelines, standards and a quality user experience. At this point we assume that the ALM Rangers are well known to you, as well as their geographically dispersed, virtual, part-time and volunteer based community.

We deliver a menu of solution types ranging such as guidance, supporting whitepapers and samples, quick response tooling samples, tools or a combination thereof. Raising the Quality Bar for Documentation gives us an overview of the documentation quality bar, while Raising the Quality Bar for Tooling is the starting point for the quality bar discussed herein.  

	When we talk about tooling we can move the slider from none (pure guidance) to a fully supported “shrink-wrapped” product. The compliance and quality bar checks and balances take a huge jump when we reach and especially cross the “ship binaries” marker.
	As mentioned the ALM Rangers community is based on volunteers, who invest their passion for technology, their real-world experience and their personal time on a part-time basis. What motivates the ALM Rangers? Great question which probably will never have a finite answer. Here are a few replies from a recent survey in which we asked ALM Rangers why they do what they do: Collaborate with passionate real-world experience Ability to work on latest technologies and professionals on valuable projects Credibility in the field and to share real world experience amongst fellow Rangers To develop solutions for real world impediments and share them with the whole community outside the rangers Work together with other high passionate people on subjects of my interest Opportunity to create things valuable to the wider community, opportunity to influence the product Contributing to others success and provide a value for the community around Visual Studio Because I enjoy helping … The challenge is that the motivation factor starts declining as we move the quality bar  slider to the right as shown.
	As we move the quality bar slider to the right we get closer to the product group quality bars, but also start inheriting more and more “process tax”. Quality solutions, quality experience and in particular regulatory and legal requirements introduce stringent compliance testing and validation. We refer to this as the “process tax” which requires time, razor-sharp focus and which inadvertently chisels away at the motivation factor for volunteers, who want to build solutions in their personal time and not be bogged down with compliance red-tape. Our current strategy is for the Program Manager Product Owner and Dev Leads to shield the team from as much of the quality processes as possible, keeping the team focused on building and testing the bits and continuing to have “fun” with what motivates them.
	We have broken down the quality bar into three main checklists: Code Quality checks, as outlined Raising the Quality Bar for Tooling and the Ruck Guides, are used when the solution includes any source code. Effort is estimated in minutes to hours. Code Review checks are introduced when the solution contains source code that is more than just sample source code and are typically used by the community to create a binary. Quick Response Sample Tooling are typically shared as source code only and the community creates and shared the binary builds. See http://aka.ms/treasure35 for examples. Effort is estimated on our backlogs in hours. Quality Essentials checks are used whenever a binary is included with the solution. Effort is estimated on our backlog in hours to days, making it impractical for quick response solutions.

What is the base quality bar we recommend?

Looking at the Ruck Guides we note the following suggested list:

The further you move the quality dial from left to right, the more quality and compliance checks you need to consider as part of your quality bar bucket.

• Minimum
• Sprint Objectives
• Project principles
• Code Reviews
• Definition of Done
• Automated Unit Testing
• Manual Test Cases
• When shipping binaries
• Dogfooding (early adopters)
• Telemetry
• Quality Essentials (PoliCheck, ApiScan, Signing,  …)
• License agreement(s)

I will let you dig into the Ruck Guides, Quality Bar, Definition of “DONE” and knowing when it is safe to sleep peacefully and Code Review and Build process for more details and examples of the ingredients such as “definition of done” and “code review”.

But, what about testing in the context of the ALM Rangers?

• Automated Unit Testing … typically includes a mix of unit, system, integration and regression testing that is automated and performed as part of the build.
• Manual Testing … typically includes a mix of manual user, exploratory and user acceptance testing to validate features and edge-cases, using Microsoft Test Manager.
• Dog-fooding … typically includes a mix of manual, exploratory and on-the-job testing with no predefined tests. While we have dog-fooded the use of automated Coded UI testing, the preferred trend is to use humanoids who are passionate about the technology, who test edge cases we would never have considered and who are willing to give candid feedback.

Your candid feedback and food for thought would really be appreciated! Rangers, comments?

Meet the founders of Pre-Apps -one of the newest partners joining the BizSpark community . With over 30,000 new apps introduced each month, PreApps is a marketplace to discover, rate, and download the best mobile apps coming soon. They also have an exclusive …read more…(read more)

 

A successful game as told by GameMaker

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I found this one walkthrough particularly clear about what makes a great game. I wrote down some notes just to see who could call these things out if I asked them. I am not sure I could have but these are some great discussion points that a team could use when they sit down to write a game.

1. You can read the full-length article here.
   • http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/downloads/tutorials/goodgame.zip

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What makes a great game? The link above really provides a great summary of what makes a game great. I pulled out some key quotes that resonated with me about what makes a great game.

It is about the player making decisions
Giving the player tough decisions that have clear outcomes is a basic feature of any great game.

1. The more interesting the decisions, the more interesting the game is. There can be very simple low-level decisions or very high-level strategic decisions
2. A game allows a player to make decisions through the control of game objects and resources, in pursuit of a goal
3. If the player chooses a helicopter instead of a plane, it should be logically coherent in the game, the player “needed” a helicopter
4. Player decision affect game objects, such as a prince, a cave monster, etc
5. Be careful about giving players lots of control
   • There needs to be a careful balance of freedom of control and dramatic effect
   • For example, the player may make a decision during a game that avoids some cool graphics in the game. You want the games best features to be seen by the player.
6. A satisfying game can be played over and over again and there are different strategies that lead to success
   • Games cannot be too easy or it become boring quickly
7. When the game progresses and the player becomes better at it, he should get more and more complicated decisions to make
   • This can be achieved by introducing new features gradually during the game

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It is about Goals and Rewards
There should be goals and sub-goals and reaching a goal should have a reward.

1. Goals should not be too easy to achieve
   • There must be a challenge
   • A learning curve is very important
2. Make sure the player notices the rewards he gets and starts understanding why he gets them
3. Permanent rewards are given when bigger goals are achieved
   • Examples of rewards are better weapons, power-ups, spells, or knowledge about the game world
     • Knowledge about the game world is perhaps the most effective type of reward
4. Game players are picky about their rewards
   • If the rewards are too small they will not work hard to achieve them
5. But be careful with failure
   • It can easily put the player off, making them stop playing
   • Make the player feel that they could have avoided the mistake
   • There is a balance
     • A player can hopefully become determined to avoid this mistake the next time
     • This feeling keeps the player playing the game

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Obstacles

There should be obstacles. Obstacles give challenges to the player and the player develops abilities to conquer these challenges.

1. Challenges can take the form of monsters to beat, obstacles to avoid
2. The game designer needs to balance player ability to the challenge and obstacle level

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Managing Game Resources

The game designer must carefully manage resources, such as the amount of food, wood, stone, gold, weapons.

1. Make the resources interesting to use
   • The powerful weapon can fire only one shot per second, or the ammunition is more expensive, or it cannot be used in a cave, or one opponent is more sensitive to a particular weapon than another

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Avoid Frustration

If you create a two-player game, you better make sure that the best player normally wins, and not the most lucky one

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Art and graphics matter

Be immersive by adding wonderful graphics, music and cut-scenes.

1. Special effects can have an important effect on the player
2. Invest in great explosions or sound effects
3. Details matter too
   • Well-detailed three-dimensional game world with lights, shadows, and special features like mist and water is crucial to give the player the feeling of presence
4. Be realistic
   • The player has to see what a real fighter would see, otherwise the game becomes artificial
   • For a flight simulator the world should also look as realistic as possible
     • A hard-core lover of flight simulator wants full instrumentation
   • For an adventure game a realistic three-dimensional world is not so important

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Story telling is important for adventure games

While not all games tell a story, this is known to be a powerful success factor.

1. For adventure games the story is crucial
2. Give a higher level meaning to the actions the player is performing and deepen the satisfaction when reaching their goals
3. Develop characters that the player becomes emotionally attached
4. The player can hate them and try to kill them or like them and try to help them

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General Here are some more useful tips to creating a great game.

1. Good games come up with surprises, all the way till the end.
2. Maximize the real-time element that is not present in non-computer games, such as board games
3. The game keeps going even if the player does nothing
4. Player controlled opponents are very effective that make each game unique
5. Not all players are the same – children versus hard-core gamers – know your audience
6. Give the player power, not the computer controlled opponents in the game
   • Do not continually increase the firepower of the player while the opponents get equally stronger. The player should feel superior to the computer controlled opponents

If you are an iOS or Android developer with an app in your respective market, why not expand your audience to consumers with devices running Windows 8?  To help with the process, Microsoft has provided a special learning track just for you!  Get tips for the following:

• Getting started with development for the Windows Store using your Mac
• Obtaining free developer tools
• How to acquire a developer license
• Specific resources for iOS and Android developers
• Design guidelines
• Design assets
• Access to experts
• Promotional opportunities

 

Share your app with more in the world!  Start now with step one…