Since all of you VB developers in the present or past would probably find it hard to believe that the old VB code can be migrated and modernized into the latest .NET based HTML5 without having to rewrite the application I am feeling I need to write another post on our migration solution. Hopefully, after reading this and the previous post you will be able to understand the different approach of our solution which already helps organizations around the world move away from the constraints of VB6 and free them to access the applications from any computer or browser-supported devices. I will write on such organization later in this post.
As discussed before the solution is called Instant CloudMove while its main tool is called the Transposition Studio. Why transposition you probably ask yourself?! Well, we found that this term best describes what the tools do. Transposition refers to exchanging elements while everything else remains the same (in mathematics) or moving an element as is from one environment to another (in music). So how dows this relate to software and programming? Well, due to the award-winning Visual WebGui platform we are able to take the source code and put it in a modern technological environment with relatively few adjustments. As you can see in the diagram below Visual WebGui preserved the server centric architecture of client/server applications - enabling the same methodology of work by optimizing the message queue over the web:
So as you can see we have a better starting point to get the code run over the web. But what about the migration process itself?
Here we also bring a refreshing approach that is based on a set of Mapping Expressions which are basically links between an element in the source environment and one in the target environment that has the same functionality. About 95% of the code is usually mapped out-of-the-box and the rest is handled with easy-to-use mapping tools designed for Visual Studio developers providing them with a familiar environment and concepts for completing the mapping and allowing them to extend and customize existing mapping expressions. The solution is also based on a circular workflow that enables developers to make any changes as required until the result is satisfying.
As opposed to existing migration solutions that offer automation are usually a “black box” to the user, the transposition concept enables full visibility, flexibility and control over the code and process at all times allowing to also add/change functionalities or upgrade the UI within the process and tools.
This is exactly the case with our customer’s aging VB6 PMS (Property Management System) which needed a technological update as well as a design refresh. The decision was to move the VB6 application which had about 1 million lines of code into the latest web technology. Since the application was initially written 13 years ago and had many upgrades since the code must be very patchy and includes unused sections. As a result, the company Mihshuv Group considered rewriting the entire application in Java since it already had the knowledge. Rewrite would allow starting with a clean slate and designing functionality, database architecture, UI without any constraints. On the other hand, rewrite entitles a long and detailed specification work as well as a thorough QA and this translates into a long project with high risk and costs.
So the company looked for a migration solution as an alternative; the research lead to Gizmox and after examining the technology it was decided to perform a hybrid project which would include an automatic transposition of the core of the VB6 application (200,000 lines of code) while they redesigning the UI, adding new functionality, deleting unused code and rewriting about 140 reports with Crystal Reports will be done manually using Visual WebGui development tools.
The migration part of the project was completed in 65 days by 3 developers from Mihshuv Group guided by Gizmox migration experts while the rewrite and UI upgrade tasks took about the same. So in only a few months period Mihshuv Group generated an up-to-date product, written in the latest Web technology with modern, friendly UI and improved functionality.
Guest selection screen of the original VB6 PMS
Guest selection screen on the new web–based PMS
Compared to the initial plan to rewrite the entire application in Java, the hybrid migration/rewrite approach taken by Mihshuv Group using Gizmox technology proved as a great decision. In terms of time and cost there were substantial savings; from a project that was priced for at least a year (without taking into account the huge risk and uncertainty) it became a few months project only.
Yesterday brought a lot of news coverage that Cisco has stopped funding and planning its Cius enterprise-grade tablet.
Citing “market transitions” in which an increasing number of people b ring their own smartphones and tablets to work, Cisco General Manager OJ Winge said in a post on the company’s official blog that “Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no further enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what’s available today.” Employees are “bringing their preferences to work” and collaboration “has to happen beyond a walled garden,” he said.
The blog post also cited a recently released Cisco study which found that 95% of organizations surveyed allow employee-owned devices in some way, shape or form in the office, and, 36% of surveyed enterprises provide full support for employee-owned devices.
How is Cisco planning to move forward to adapt to this changing business environment? Instead of focusing on tablets for enterprise customers, Cisco will instead “double down” on software that works across a variety of operating systems and smart phones and tablets, Winge said.
We at Gizmox recognize this need to adapt to the changing environment. Our Enterprise Mobile solution is designed and built for that post-PC, BYOD business world. We recognized the importance of providing a cross-platform solution that can easily target different devices and operating systems. We went with a web-based mobile application approach in order to achieve that and we decided to go with the new open web standard – HTML5.
Our solution however provides both client and the server side programming and its uniqueness is that it allows those cross-platform HTML5 mobile applications while developing within Visual Studio using classic visual form based development. As a result, .NET developers can build secure, efficient, data-centric enterprise mobile application for cross platform mobile devices with their existing skills and tools.
See our new video about our EnterpriseMobile solution
Enterprise applications today need to work on all devices, across different platforms and OS’s. It’s just a fact of life.
How about you – do you bring your own device to work? What’s your company’s BYOD policy?
The recording of the webinar we did with Forrester Research recently is now available. At this opportunity I would like to thank Jefferey Hammond of Forrester who did a great job in discussing the Open Web, Cloud computing and Mobility trends and presenting the new development challenges they bring and why organizations need to rethink their application development strategies.
The 2nd part of the webinar is a presentation from Gizmox, discussing the Instant CloudMove assessment and transposition tools, which support those trends Jefferey Hammod talked about and help companies extend Windows apps to HTML5 and mobile platforms.
Windows CE/Windows Mobile applications are practically .NET applications that based on a subset of the .NET Framework (.NET Compact Framework). Windows CE applications got descent popularity with early PDAs and smartphones that were based on Microsoft’s Windows CE operating System. In the past few years it was replaced by Windows Phone without backwards compatibility or Visual Studio support beyond VS 2008.
This makes applications that were written for Windows CE become obsolete today. Together with the fact that the market today is dominated by Android and iPhone devices, organizations and the developers are facing a strategic and operative dilemma regarding the future of their Windows CE/Windows Mobile applications or even new mobile developments. They need to make a decision about the technology and platform which they are going to rewrite the application on and obviously whether it is even cost-effective to rewrite the application all over again. Microsoft Windows Phone would be the natural decision as it can be developed in Silverlight within Visual Studio 2010. But the problem is that it would not work on Android and iOS devices which dominate the market. We could choose another target platform and develop for it or decide to develop for all major platforms, which obviously means more time and more money as well as more costly maintenance in the future.
So we see a lot of different mobile frameworks today but most of them are so foreign to the common Microsoft developer. In most cases it would be easier to hire new developers who are experienced in those environments or use outsourcing shops than learning those new skills. But of course we don’t want it, so we keep looking for a solution that would allow us Microsoft developers use our existing skills for as many target platforms as possible.
And this is where Visual WebGui comes into play; it brings .NET developers the ability to develop web and mobile applications using Visual Studio and common .NET (Windows Forms) concepts and skills. Visual WebGui is an extension to ASP.NET and behaves exactly the same as ASP.NET in terms of coding language and compilation products.
The mobile framework extends ASP.NET by providing a Visual Studio add in with a classic .NET form designer - with tweaks and designated controls for mobile purposes and usages - the outcome is native ASP.NET applications with HTML5 front-ends. This means that it can be accessed on any mobile platform and any device via the mobile browser while still developing in classic Microsoft Visual Studio patterns and not having to develop especially for each platform.
Going back for our dilemma about Windows CE and Windows Mobile applications, Visual WebGui also provides a quick and fairly simple migration path. There is an interesting post on how Israel’s Telecom Company successfully moved – in less than 2 months – their aging Windows CE application to ASP.NET HTML5. This allowed them to enhance the application, move it to a current technology and provide field technicians with new Tablet accessibility to the revised application rather than having to use old Windows CE devices.
I’d like to point out an opportunity to view a live session with a world leading expert in open web and client architecture, next-generation mobile and software development productivity. Jeffrey Hammond, a Prinicipal Analyst at Forrester Research will be co-presenting with Gizmox a free webinar tomorrow (April 24, 1PM EST) and will speak about market trends in enterprise software development and the changes brought on by the move to web apps and open web architectures.
Jeffrey and Gizmox will also discuss about the new development strategy in enterprise and how they are moving to the cloud and extend operations to mobiles. Gizmox will present its solution for extending enterprise client/server applications to HTML5 which can be consumed in any web browser and mobile device. There will also be a short live demo of example WinForms and VB6 applications moving to the web using the tools.
After a long wait and huge anticipation from the Visual WebGui community, I am happy to announce the release of new versions for the WINWEB and .NETHTML5branches. The new 6.4.0 Release d and 6.4.0 beta3 versions are available after an extensive work on core capabilities of Visual WebGui including extension of existing controls and adding new controls such as Strip Controls, RibbonBar, DataGridView, ComboBox, PropertyGrid and RadioButton as well as some major enhancements to both versions in terms of cross-browser support and performance.
We apologize for the delay in the release of those most expected versions, but we believe that the extra time lead to a more mature and complete product. As you can see the changelog is pretty long and includes a list of enhancements, new features and bug fixes: http://visualwebgui.com/Developers/KB/tabid/654/article/w_changelogs/Default.aspx
The new versions are available for all versions with open sources for Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010.
You are welcome to download the WINWEB Free Trial and the Free .NETHTML5beta on the downloads page.
I would like to invite you to a webinar we are doing in collaboration with Jeffrey S. Hammond, Principal Analyst serving Application Development & Delivery Professionals at Forrester Research.
The webinar is free and it will will introduce the substantial changes brought on by the move to Web Applications and Open Web architectures, and the challenges it places on application development shops. We’ll also introduce how we at Gizmox are helping client navigate this mobile shift and evolve existing Windows applications with a new set of Transposition tools called Instant CloudMove. We will discuss the alternatives in the market to evolve your existing applications and focus on our transposition tools that reduce migration risk, minimize costs, and accelerate your time to market.
So if you have locally installed Windows, VB6 or ASP applications that you are looking to enable as SaaS, offer over Cloud platforms or allow end users with mobile accessibility then you shouldn’t miss that one.
The new mobile framework extends to the Enterprise Mobility the revolution that Visual WebGui brought to Enterprise RIA Applications with almost 1 million downloads and around 40,000 deployments. Just like Visual WebGui for Web, EnterpriseMobile also provides a classic .NET development paradigm within Visual Studio. This allows leveraging existing development skillset for building HTML5 mobile applications and extending enterprise IT to the post PC era.
The new framework is optimized for enterprise mobility and supports the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. It produces totally secured cross platform and cross device HTML5 applications that doesn’t bring or hold any data on the device (the entire logic and data stays behind the Firewall) and doesn’t require strong local computing resources. It also provides a native mobile user experience such as gestures. On the roadmap are utilization of local device resources via PhoneGap (open source) integration and Citrix receiver, along with Form Factor and Device awareness.
The current preview version provides limited functionality and capabilities and includes about 14 controls which were adapted for mobile requirements in terms of performance and user experience. Currently, the framework supports iOS and Android devices or Chrome and Safari and offers only one out-of-the-box theme – iOS like, but it is possible to customize it or create other themes as well. Upcoming versions will offer more capabilities including an HTML5 off-line feature that will ensure application availability even when there is no internet/network connectivity. We encourage you to download and “play” around with this version and will deeply appreciate your feedback. There is also a live HTML5 mobile mail application that was developed with the framework and available for browsing from mobile devices via this url: http://67.205.112.81:8080/m
We just released a new mobile app that allows our users, followers and community members to stay connected anytime, anywhere.
The app provides an easy access to the latest updates, forum posts, tweets, YouTube movies and more from a centralized location. The application which was created using Conduit’s tools supports Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices.
Feedback and suggestions for improving this great tool are much welcome!
All you have to do is scan the QR code with your phone’s camera or go to this URL from any browser or any of the devices above.
As mentioned here before the Visual WebGui Mobile Team is working on a breakthrough .NET Mobile Framework that would enable .NET developers to leverage their existing skills for developing cross-platform HTML5-based mobile apps within Visual Studio.
The Visual WebGui Mobile Framework will allow the .NET development paradigm for creating Form Factor and Device aware, browser-based applications that are totally secure and can use local device resources through PhonGap integration. This makes Visual WebGui the first framework within the Microsoft camp that allows leveraging existing skillset to develop HTML5 mobile applications.
A first preview release is due towards the second half of January 2012. This preview will be accompanied by a mobile email application demo (iPhone look & feel) developed with the framework’s preview. The preview version will support gestures and animations in transitions and will include the following designated mobile controls:
ListView
TreeView
Toolstrip
TabControl
TextBoxButton
RadioButton
Panel
Label
The next framework version is expected in the beginning of Q2 2012 which will be another phase in fulfilling the Visual WebGui promise of allowing .NET development for cross-platform HTML5 Web, Cloud and Mobile within Visual Studio.
