Entries for Jean-Christophe Cimetiere

Windows Azure extended Interoperability presented at PDC09

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:48:11 GMT

During day one PDC09 keynote, Ray Ozzie highlighted Microsoft’s commitment to interoperability announcing additional technologies you can now use on Window Azure Tomcat (Java), memcached and MySQL.

We sat down with Steve Marx (Technical Strategist in the Window Azure team) and Vijay Rajagopalan (Principal Architect in the Interoperability team) to discuss these new possibilities.

If you want more detail and demos, refer to Steve Marx’s talk Building Java Applications with Windows Azure and Mohit Srivastava-Tushar Shanbhag's talk Developing PHP and MySQL Applications with Windows Azure.

Additional links:

Interoperability Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/
Windows Azure interoperability: www.windowsazure.com/interoperability

Meet the people behind the Window Azure SDK for PHP Maarten Balliauw

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:47:04 GMT

Maarten Balliauw from RealDolmen initiated the Windows Azure SDK for PHP a few months ago. Since then we have been working together to improve the project and we were very excited to announce at PDC09 the availability of version 1.0 of this SDK.

In this video, Maarten Balliauw and Vijay Rajagopalan from the Microsoft Interoperability Strategy teams discuss how this project came to life, and show demo of the SDK using the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse.

Additional links:

Windows Azure SDK for PHP
Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse
Interoperability Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/
Windows Azure interoperability: www.windowsazure.com/interoperability

Apache Stonehenge demoed at PDC09

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:47:00 GMT

A couple weeks ago, Microsoft was at ApacheCon. We reported the progress made on the Stonehenge project and presented the roadmap.

The goal of Stonehenge is to provide a public forum to test the interoperability of WS-* protocols on different vendor stacks and to build sample applications that could provide best practices and coding guidelines for better interoperability. The main sample application, StockTrader has been implemented on .NET (by Microsoft), PHP (by WSO2), WSAS JAVA stack (by WSO2), Metro (by SUN Microsystems), Spring (by SpringSource). The latest version of StockTrader uses the WS-Security and WS-Trust protocols for claims-based authentication scenarios. This allows the end-users to be authenticated through an independent Security Token Service (STS) that is trusted by the bank and to pass that token to the broker to process the transaction.

This week at PDC09, we were demoing the project. I went to see Kent Brown, product manager for WCF and asked him to give us an update and show a demo of the different StockTrader applications working together.

Watch the video till the end, Kent unveils the mystery on why the project was called Stonehenge!

Additional links:

Project page: Apache Stonehenge
Interoperability Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/

Using Windows Azure storage from Ruby [Using Windows Azure storage from Ruby ]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:38:00 GMT

Johnny Halife, Partner Architect from Southworks started a few months ago a project aiming at providing a Windows Azure SDK for Ruby developers.

Still in beta, the SDK puts the Window Azure storage features ( table, storage & queues) very close to ruby developer.

Johnny was at PDC09, so we took the opportunity to talk and asked him to tell us more about this project and show a quick demo.

Additional links:

Johnny Halife’s blog: http://blogs.southworks.net/jhalife/
Download page for the Windows Azure SDK for Ruby: http://github.com/johnnyhalife/waz-storage
Project Documentation: http://waz-storage.heroku.com/rdoc/index.html
Windows Azure interoperability: www.windowsazure.com/interoperability
Interoperability Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/

in reply to Using Windows Azure storage from Ruby

Windows Azure platform AppFabric SDK for PHP developers [Windows Azure platform AppFabric SDK for PHP developers]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:44:00 GMT

The Windows Azure platform AppFabric (formerly called .NET Services) SDK for PHP is the third in a series, the first of which was released a year ago. Equivalent SDKs for Java and Ruby are also available and they have been updated to reflect the latest version of the AppFabric.

The AppFabric SDK for PHP is an open source project developed by Persistent Systems Ltd. and is available today on Codeplex: http://dotnetservicesphp.codeplex.com/. Microsoft is providing funding and architectural guidance for this project.

Sumit Chawla, Technical PM/Architect from the Microsoft Interoperability Team gives more details about the scenarios and present a quick demo of the SDK in action with a sample PHP application.

Additional ressources:

in reply to Windows Azure platform AppFabric SDK for PHP developers

BING 404 error management kit for PHP

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:17:00 GMT

The Bing 404 Web Page Error Toolkit for PHP, which was debuted at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York today, helps developers better manage 404 errors by dynamically creating a customizable page that contains error messages and search results that are seeded with relevant keywords from Microsoft’s Bing search engine. This page ultimately helps web site visitors move past the missing page and find the information they need.

The Bing 404 Web Page Error Toolkit for PHP is a customizable PHP application that replaces the default error page on Microsoft IIS or Apache web servers with Bing search results that are based on keywords that have been derived from the URL requested by the user. The toolkit is available on Codeplex as an open source project, and is released under the Microsoft Public License.

Building PHP simple database applications for SQL Server, Windows Azure Storage and SQL Azure [Building PHP simple database applications for SQL Server, Windows Azure Storage and SQL Azure]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:59:00 GMT

The SQL CRUD Wizard for PHP is a wizard type application that can be used to generate a simple "Create, Read, Update, Delete" PHP application from a Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Azure Storage and SQL Azure database table. The generated PHP application supports paging, sorting and simple CSS customization. The generated PHP Application Code, generated by the PHP to SQL CRUD Wizard, includes logic for CRUD functionality between the PHP application and a SQL Server database instance on the web server.

Related links:

in reply to Building PHP simple database applications for SQL Server, Windows Azure Storage and SQL Azure

Instant Messaging Interoperability extended through XMPP (Jabber) [Instant Messaging Interoperability extended through XMPP (Jabber)]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:16:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft announced a new XMPP Gateway for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 that enables interoperability with Cisco Jabber/XMPP and Google Talk, along with new licensing options for Office Communications Server customers to connect with AOL and Windows Live (read the details of the announcement).
To get more details about how all of this works we sat down with Ashima Singhal (Senior Product Manager) and Albert Kooiman (Senior Product Manager) from the Communication Server team to discuss the news focusing on Instant Messaging (IM) interoperability between different networks.

Albert explains the architecture to enable the bridges between the different IM services including AOL, Live, Yahoo! and GTalk (XMPP) as well as with IBM Sametime and Cisco Jabber. Then Ashima shows a demo of various public IM clients communicating and sharing presence/status information with Office Communicator.

Additional links:

Unified Communications: Uniting Communication Across Different Networks
Communication Server team blog:
New PIC Licensing and released XMPP Gateway
Interoperability @ Microsoft team blog:
Instant Messaging Interoperability extended through XMPP and new partnerships
Download link for the XMPP gateway:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=141529

in reply to Instant Messaging Interoperability extended through XMPP (Jabber)

Introducing Simple API for Cloud Application Services [Introducing Simple API for Cloud Application Services]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:21:00 GMT

Zend Technologies today launched the Simple API for Cloud Application Services project , “a new open source initiative that allows developers to use common application services in the cloud, while enabling them to unlock value-added features available from individual providers.”
The initial goal of the project is to provide a set of programming interfaces for PHP developers to facilitate the development of applications that have basic cloud storage needs.

Vijay Rajagopalan, Principal Architect, from the Interoperability Technical Strategy team at Microsoft gives an overview of the Simple API for Cloud Application Services and details the initial contribution from Microsoft.

Related links:

Simple API for Cloud project site www.simplecloud.org.
Blog post: Microsoft, Zend and others announce Simple API for Cloud Application Services
July CTP of Windows Azure for PHP Released and support in Zend Framework
Windows Azure SDK for PHP

in reply to Introducing Simple API for Cloud Application Services

Consuming data over the web between PHP and .NET with REST and ADO.NET Data Services

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Claudio Caldato, Senior Program Manager in the Interoperability Technical Strategy team and Pablo Castro, software architect of ADO.NET Data Services introduce a new project that bridges PHP and .NET: the Toolkit for PHP with ADO.NET Data Services.

The PHP Toolkit is an open source project available on Codeplex at phpdataservices.codeplex.com. The goal is to make it easier for PHP developers to take advantage of the ADO.NET Data Services (ADO.NET Data Services offer a simple way to expose any sort of data in a RESTful way, more details here).

The video starts with a quick introduction and architecture white boarding session, followed by a demo.

Enjoy!

Additional resources:

Toolkit for PHP with ADO.NET Data Services on Interoperability Labs & Bridges
Codeplex Project site: phpdataservices.codeplex.com
Blog post "A new bridge for PHP developers to .NET through REST: Toolkit for PHP with ADO.NET Data Services"
ADO.NET Data Services on MSDN

(1/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: First place Proativa Team from Brazil [(1/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: First place Proativa Team from Brazil]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:28:00 GMT

Proativa Team from Brazil won the Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award(*) with their project ProLearning:

“ProLearning is designed to maximize the experience of distance learning. It’s composed by an immersive virtual reality environment, where students exchange experience and study together. This environment makes easier the interaction between tutor and pupils, so teachers can give proper feedback to students. ProLearning also offers a social network application, stimulating socialization and interaction of students and providing education process’ important aspects unavailable on distance learning environments, as the perception your pairs development and the ability of sharing your knowledge. Finally, ProLearning has the Mobile module, providing a personalized and automatically updated schedule for the student, indicating and alerting on proper time the activities to be done by the student on his distance learning courses. Optionally, the student is able to see the status of his friends in some particular activity, and realize a VoIP call to get some help. Templated SMS messages can also be sent in this module to friends and teachers.”

The video was made by the team to present their project.
Congratulation to Proativa!

(*) The Interoperability Award is designed to recognize the software application that best leverages out-of-the-box Microsoft technologies and blends them with other technologies to connect people, data, or diverse systems in a new way. The ability to build technical bridges and blend technologies from different vendors, including free and open source software, has great value in the industry.

in reply to (1/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: First place Proativa Team from Brazil

(2/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: Second place FteamS from Poland [(2/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: Second place FteamS from Poland]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:27:00 GMT

Fteams from Poland got second at the Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award(*) with their project eduko:

“Eduko is a system, which main goal is to ensure easy and universal education in the less developed parts of the world. New technologies and cheap ways of sending information, like SMS or MMS, enable teachers to reach those pupils for whom education was an unavailable privilege. What is more our virtual board system gives teacher opportunity to interact with pupils who are far away. The only boundary is his imagination.”

The video was made by the team to present their project.
Congratulation to Fteams!

(*) The Interoperability Award is designed to recognize the software application that best leverages out-of-the-box Microsoft technologies and blends them with other technologies to connect people, data, or diverse systems in a new way. The ability to build technical bridges and blend technologies from different vendors, including free and open source software, has great value in the industry.

in reply to (2/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: Second place FteamS from Poland

(3/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: third place ECRAM from Jordan [(3/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: third place ECRAM from Jordan]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:27:00 GMT

ECRAM from Jordan got third place at the Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award(*) with their project Elder Children Remote Application For Mobile:

“Elder Children Remote Application For Mobile(ECRAM) is an intelligent server/client application that uses any communication medium to control mobile from another one for : Making Call Locate Position Sending SMS Etc.”

The video was made by the team to present their project (no audio on this video).
Congratulation to ECRAM!

(*) The Interoperability Award is designed to recognize the software application that best leverages out-of-the-box Microsoft technologies and blends them with other technologies to connect people, data, or diverse systems in a new way. The ability to build technical bridges and blend technologies from different vendors, including free and open source software, has great value in the industry.

in reply to (3/3) Imagine Cup 2009 Interoperability Award finalists: third place ECRAM from Jordan

Federation Identity Interoperability demo with Geneva Server & Sun Open SSO [Federation Identity Interoperability demo with Geneva Server & Sun Open SSO]

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:50:00 GMT

Caleb Baker, Sr. SDET on the Federated Identity team, and Claudio Caldato from the Interoperability team present an interoperability scenario demo with Geneva Server and Sun’s OpenSSO Enterprise (demo presented at JavaOne 2009).

By the way the final name for "Geneva Server" has just been announced:

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)

To go deeper on the technical details check these 2 white papers:

Additional link:

Interop Vendor Alliance

Interoperability demo between PHP, Windows CardSpace and Geneva Server

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:51:00 GMT

Last week Donovan Follette wrote about the work Intand did with Microsoft, a project, for the Lake Washington School District, that's based upon the use of Microsoft code name Geneva Server, Windows CardSpace Geneva and Intand’s PHP application using the Zend Framework’s information card support for interoperability. Check the full interview with Bryan Otis and Scott Otis from Intand along with Vijay Rajagopalan from the Microsoft Interoperability Strategy team. We've followed up with Scott Otis who's giving a demo and then is diving into the PHP code, showing how to implement this.

URL references:

The whole story: Identity Interoperability scenario with PHP and Geneva Server, Windows CardSpace, Information Cards
Geneva Server, Windows CardSpace Geneva, Information Cards and PHP Interoperability from Donovan
The Interoperability key topic on Channel 9
Zend Download for Information Card Support

Open XML made easier for Java developers with Apache POI

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:17:00 GMT

When developers are tasked to deal with document file formats it might be challenging to do the right thing if you don’t have a good experience with a particular format, and need to crack it open and understand all the details.

For Java developers and Microsoft Office file formats there’s a very interesting solution with the Apache POI project, which provides a Java API to access Microsoft Office formats. Last year Microsoft and Sourcesence announced that they would collaborate to add support of the Open XML file format to the Apache POI project, and the resulting Open XML support has been integrated as part of POI 3.5 beta 5.

The end result: Good news for Java developers who need to manipulate the Office Open XML files (.XLSX, .DOCX, .PPTX), because it really makes it easier for them to do the job!

To illustrate the point, let me walk you through a demo scenario that uses Apache POI Java Libraries and actually combines it with the PHPExcel project (for PHP developers) and the Open XML Format SDK 2.0 (for .NET developers). My goal is just to give you a sense of the type of scenarios you can easily develop using multiple languages and multiple platforms.

We will make that demo available with more explanation in an article on http://openxmldeveloper.org/. Before we get into the demo itself I want to thank Julien Chable and Maarten Balliauw for their help in building this demo.

For now, let me walk you through the scenario. For the sake of our demonstration we are going to show how raw data can be consumed by a Java web application using the Apache POI, to create an .XLSX file from scratch. How that file can then be accessed and modified by a PHP application (with PHPExcel). And finally how the resulting file can be digitally signed and finalized via the .NET framework using the Open XML Format SDK.

Here’s the data flow:

Step 1 of the scenario starts in the Java Web applications:

Once the “Create Spreadsheet” button is pressed, it creates the files:

And does some processing to inject the initial XML data and formatting. The result looks like this:

Most of the Java code required to do this fits in this code snippet:

Step 2, moving to the PHP application, the UI is similar:

This step adds cell protection, renames the .XLSX file, changes cell formatting, and inserts additional content formatting. The result looks like this:

And the code to accomplish it looks like this:

Step 3, finally, from the ASP.NET web applications using the Open XML Format SDK:

Where the code for adding the digital signature looks like this:

Easy, don’t you think?
Stay tuned, as I said earlier, we will follow up on http://openxmldeveloper.org/ with a more detailed article.

Additional background on PHPExcel and the Open XML SDK:

The PHPExcel project is an open source project available on Codeplex. It consists of a set of classes for PHP that enables PHP applications to read and write to various file formats. These formats include HTML, PDF, and the relevant one for our demonstration…Excel 2007’s .XLSX format. This class set supports features such as setting spreadsheet meta data (author, title, description ...), multiple worksheets, different fonts and font styles, cell borders, fills, gradients, and adding images to spreadsheets. In parallel to this project, there is also the sister project PHPPowerPoint, which is intended to operate along similar lines as the PHPExcel application but with a focus on the .PPTX file formats. Both of these projects are built around the OpenXML standard, and the PHP framework. Read this nice article: Use PHP to create Open XML Spreadsheet reports

The Open XML Format SDK provides methods for .NET developers to access and manipulate XML content, including XML data contained in OXML document formatted files. It provides strongly typed part classes to manipulate Open XML documents. The SDK also uses the .NET Framework Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) technology to provide strongly typed object access to the XML content inside the parts of Open XML documents. The April 2009 CTP release also adds support for the validation of Open XML documents.
Read Brian Jones' blog to go deep on Open XML SDK.

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere - Sr. Technical Evangelist