Author: Gary Sherman

March 23, 2007 The asp.net website now has a set of "How do I" videos, including ASP.NET, AJAX, SQL Server 2005 Express, and intros to new technologies such as LINQ. I really like how they start with the basics, such as: #1 What is a database?  I think these are cool not only for the content, but for the format: bite-size chunks of self-learning. Taking it to the next level, why not incorporate this style of tutorial directly into your application? That would be much nicer than reading the typical user manual. Good stuff.

March 19, 2007 In a previous post, I covered how to have fcClient pop a page based on a URL. Now, we'll cover how to customize this functionality to perform your own actions. For this particular example, we'll show how to have an existing fcQuery query get executed and the results posted. 1. In console.asp, we'll add code to get the actual objid of the query based on the query name, for the current user. This is necessary because the query names are not unique across the system.   In console.asp, after this existing code: var CommandToExecute = Request("command") + '';var CommandParam1 = Request("param1") + '';var CommandParam2 = Request("param2") + ''; We'll add this: if (CommandToExecute=="executeQuery"){ //get the query objid //first, see if this user ownes this query var gen = FCSession.CreateGeneric('ce_query'); gen.AppendFilter('ce_query2user','=',FCSession.Item('user.id')); gen.AppendFilter('query_name','=',CommandParam1); gen.Query(); if (gen.Count() > 0){ CommandParam1 = gen.Id - 0; }else{ //see…

Typically when a business rule is sent out, it will include the Object Type & Object ID, for example "Case 42". It's easy to customize the business rule message to turn this into a hyperlink that users can click on, and have fcClient automatically "pop" that particular object/page.For example, the following is a business rule message that we use here at Dovetail:RE: [Object Type] [Object ID] has been dispatched to the [Current Queue] queue [Object Type] [Object ID] has been dispatched to the [Current Queue] queue. Could someone please accept it to stop this annoying chain of emails![Object Type] Title: [Title] Severity: [Severity] Click the link below to view this [Object Type]: http://<OurPathToFcclient>//console/console.asp?command=casebyid&param1=[Object ID] Thanks, The Dovetail System which resolves to a message that looks like:Case 6825 has been dispatched to the Support Cases queue.  Could someone please accept it to…

February 26, 2007 Kristina has shared some code that she wrote for fcClient. Lots of screens in the Dovetail/FirstChoice thin client for Clarify have a grid of related values displayed in an iFrame containing the parent information. This article describes how to add a "resize" button so your users can stretch the window if they so desire. [Link to article] Thanks Kristina!

February 21, 2007 Seth Godin has a great post (as usual) about Starting over with customer service.  In it, he outlines an interesting approach to improving customer service. One of his steps is using the right software: It's not like me to recommend a commercial product specifically like this, but I'm talking about Fogbugz because I think they've accidentally revolutionized a huge piece of management. What the software does is allow exactly one person at a time to 'own' a piece of a project, a bug, an issue. That person either solves it or pass it off. And the entire process is tracked and timestamped and tickled, so absolutely nothing is permitted to languish. Those of us in the Clarify and Dovetail space have been used to this accidental revolutionizing functionality for a long time. A support case (issue, trouble ticket, etc.) has…