Posts

WCF Data Contracts and Data Members

WCF Data Contracts define the contract between client and server over what will be exchanged. Here we will go through creating a WCF service and consuming it, noting the data contracts. First, create a new WCF project: In this example we will have a data contract for a Customer class. Add code: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Runtime.Serialization; using System.ServiceModel; using System.ServiceModel.Web; using System.Text; namespace Carl.WCFCRM { [ServiceContract] … Continue reading WCF Data Contracts and Data Members

Serializing an Object in C#

Serialization is the process of converting an object into a byte stream. Once serialized, it can be transmitted to a file, a database or to memory or send it across a network. For example, you may want to convert data to XML. Serialization allows you to store the state of the object; you can then recreate it as needed. Let’s go through a simple example of serializing a Car object. … Continue reading Serializing an Object in C#

Power BI PubNub

To create a Power BI streaming dataset using PubNub, perform the following steps. Firstly, log into powerbi.com. In the bottom left of the screen, select Streaming datasets: Then select + Add Streaming Dataset: Select PubNub: Enter in information to connect to PubNub: Click Create: Go to the dashboard you want to see the data and select + Add tile: Select Custom Streaming Data: Select our dataset, PubNub Sensor and click … Continue reading Power BI PubNub

Power BI Desktop Data Refresh Issue

I had an issue recently where the data in my dataset was not making it’s way to the Power BI Desktop report. Basically, there were some records I was looking to see on the report but they weren’t there. I looked at the report filters and could not see anything that would restrict the records. I had added a new column to the dataset, which appeared successfully on the report, but the data just … Continue reading Power BI Desktop Data Refresh Issue

USD User Security

Unified Service Desk security is controlled through the Dynamics CRM application. You can read more about Dynamics CRM security in this post here. Once USD is installed, you will see four new roles defined: UIIAdministrator has the rights: UIIAgent: USD Administrator: USD Agent: To access USD, a user will need access to a combination of these security roles, such as: UIIAgent and USD Agent USD Administrator If a user logs in … Continue reading USD User Security

Display Power BI Tiles in Microsoft CRM

Microsoft CRM now has the ability to embed Power BI tiles. This means, Microsoft CRM users are able to view Power BI report charts directly from within Microsoft CRM, without having to leave the application. To do this, perform the following steps. Firstly, enable Power BI in Microsoft CRM. To do this, go to Settings->Administration->System Settings and go to the Reporting tab: Set “Allow Power BI tile embedding to “Yes” Create a … Continue reading Display Power BI Tiles in Microsoft CRM

C# – TypeOf, GetType, Is

In C#, there are different ways to detemine the type of an object or type itself. These include typeof, GetType and Is. We would use typeof if we are trying to determine the type of a class, interface, array, enum etc. Typeof does not accept variables as a parameter. This is specified at compile time. If we are trying to determine the type of a variable, we would use GetType. … Continue reading C# – TypeOf, GetType, Is

Abstract Classes in C#

Abstract classes are a type of class in C# that contains a base class implementation. The abstract class is not instantiated, and are inherited by subclasses to provide a detailed implementation. Consider the example below. We have an abtract class called Vehicle in our console app. We try to create an instance of the abtract class Vehicle: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Threading.Tasks; namespace Carl.AbstractClass { … Continue reading Abstract Classes in C#

Linq and Lambda in C#

LINQ, or Language Integrated Query, is a query language in the .NET Framework. LINQ is useful in that you could have several different data sources you are working with within Visual Studio, and LINQ provides a way to query data uniformly. Examples include SQL, Objects, ADO.NET, Entity Framework etc. Here we will go through examples of using LINQ. Firstly, to use LINQ, you add the namespace: using System.Linq; Let’s say … Continue reading Linq and Lambda in C#

Anonymous Functions in C#

Anonymous functions in C# are basically functions without a name that can be used in different situations. Let’s take a look at some examples. When looking at delegates, we saw how to pass delegate functions as parameters. With anonymous functions, we can define the delegate and then pass an anonymous function to it. In the example below, we are creating a delegate and then creating the anonymous function code, then … Continue reading Anonymous Functions in C#