#RevCon13 – Final Posting

I promise that this will be the final blog entry from me with regards to this years amazing Revelation Software 2013 Conference in Nashville.

Following another mammoth O4W tutorial session with Bryan, Mike took to the stand one last time to close out the conference. The highlights of his talk included:

1. A thank you to everyone that took the time to attend this year’s conference and to those who gave the presentations. He also thanked Billy Kirsch for a very      entertaining keynote address which resulted in Revelation’s very own song – check out the conference highlight video.
2. The Mixer evening (replacing the Vendor Fair) was a great success with at least 8 laptops open and information being shared. This appears to have been a much more casual event enjoyed by all.
3. The conference included over 5 hours of O4W content and most of that being tuition based.  Mike hinted at the ‘possibility’ of some of the O4W content being published online for conference attendees or in the WORKS area.
4. OpenInsight 9.4 will be the main priority on the return to the office, as well as OI 10 and the removal of the last traces of Notes from the website. The Notes content is largely (if not completely) being replaced with O4W content.
5. Plenty of fun was had by all during the conference. This included the keynote address and the evening out. Mixed with alot of technical content and learning and this conference has proven to be another huge success and rewarding for all who attended.
6. Finally, Mike did not give a date for the next conference but asked for some feedback on the current conference and whether people would like another on in 12 or 18months time. With everyone’s training budgets being stretched and the cost of conference venues and the associated bits and pieces, Mike is looking for some guidance on timescales from those of you that hope to attend the next conference.

I think that the cat is out of the bag and, for personal reasons; I was not personally able to make it to the conference this time. However, I fully intend to be at the next one and it looks like I missed a lot of very good stuff at this year’s event. Hopefully these blog postings will have helped to underline what the Revelation Conferences are all about and I hope that you will be able to join me and the Revelation team at the next Revelation Software Conference whenever and wherever it is to be held.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate Nancy and her team on a great job, well done.

#RevCon13 – The conference draws to a close.

Well, all good things must come to an end and the same can be said for the Revelation Software 2013 World Conference.  The final technical session is done and Mike has taken the spotlight for one last time to wrapup the conference.  This will also be my final ‘planned’ blog posting with regards to this years conference.

Once again, the team at Revelation have put on an amazing show and with the help of some highly knowledgable speakers everyone will have struggled to leave Nashville without a long list of things that they want to know more about, that they want to incorporate into their solutions and those all importnant little tips and how to’s that make attending the conference all too important.

I hope that these blog postings have been of interest to those of you that could not make the conference this year and that they have tempted you to make the next conference.  I apologise to those of you that subscribe to my blog and who have not been interested and therefore bombarded with these postings this week.  You’ll be pleased to know that normal service will now resume with more occasional postings.

This posting will be edited following Mike’s closing address with a few additional details, so please check back here early next week.

The conference wrapup video can be found online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CHzrn1b4Ks&list=UUoDlRSmTk0-XyB2Ij_Mig6A&index=1

I’ll add a new blog posting touching on the content of Mike’s closing address.

 

#RevCon13 – End of Day 2

So, an action packed day two draws to a close and this evening the entertainment turns to the traditional conference dinner event.  This year, it takes place at Nashville’s famed Wild Horse Saloon, where the food is intoxicating and corporate events are…a little less corporate.

#RevCon13 – OI with Outlook and Programming the OI Console

With lunch over the conference heads into the afternoon schedule and a full afternoon of breakout sessions.  The first of which will see Kevin Fournier and David Hendershot take to the spotlight.

OI Integration with Outlook
Kevin Fournier (SRP Computer Solutions)
In today’s modern software development environment, integration with Microsoft Office is not just desirable, it is down-right necessary and expected these days.  During this presentation, Kevin will demonstrate how to interact with Outlook using OLE Automation to enable OpenInsight based  applications to programmatically manipulate email, appointments, or contacts.  Attendees will learn how to employ these techniques in their own applications and, as a result, will acquire enough skill to explore interaction with other MS Office products such as Word or Excel.

Programming with the OI Console
David Hendershot (Revelation)
The OpenInsight Console is sure to become one of the key tools for system administrators and support staff looking after OpenInsight based systems.  During this session David will look at the programming techniques used to develop the OI Console using O4W’s application programming interface.

#RevCon13 – The BRW and the Data Connectors

With the first of the O4W training sessions behind us, it is time to choose between two new breakout sessions.  During this session Mike Ruane will go up against Bob Carten in a clash of the titans.

Banded Report Writer – Practical Examples, Tips and Tricks
Bob Carten (Revelation)
I have done a fair amount of work with the Banded Report Writer (BRW) during my Archery Club Manager development project and I have come to like the tool very much.  Whilst it can be a little frustrating at times and you have to understand the way that it has been designed and works, the tool is very powerful and you can create some really very nice formatted reports with graphics, exploding reports, etc.

The OpenInsight BRW therefore delivers the benefit of a robust reporting tool but at the cost of a steep learning curve.  During his presentation, Bob will step through creating some commonly used report formats and discuss some of the techniques and approaches for getting exactly what you want from the BRW.

Bob will create reports which demonstrate such commonly used features such as calculations, sub reports and graphs. The talk is aimed at people who have looked at the BRW and are interested in using it for more than simple tabular reports. Bob will also show how to launch the reports from OpenInsight.

Using OpenInsight with Non-OI Data sources
Mike Ruane (Revelation)
Given the power of OpenInsight’s desktop and web interface design tools and its programming tools, we are often asked whether OpenInsight can be used as a front end to other database technologies such as SQL and many of the other MultiValue databases.  Whilst OpenInsight applications are usually made to work the OpenInsight’s own Linear Hash data source, they work as well with other databases, such as SQL, QM, D3, and other MultiValue databases.

In this session, Mike will show the tools used to connect to these third party databases, show OpenInsight’s tools working with these databases, and talk about specific issues that an OpenInsight developer might come across whilst working with each of these data sources.

If you have the need to have your application, whether desktop based, or browser-based, work with other data sources like SQL or Access, you should attend this session.

#RevCon13 – Day 2 and it’s O4W Training

Yesterday saw a packed agenda delivered with a few laughs and some serious learning, today will start with a full two hour session with Bob Catalano and Bryan Shumsky.  The topic for discussion is, of course, O4W Programming Practices.

This will be the first of two O4W training sessions, with the second being delivered on Friday morning, so more on that later.

In this first O4W training session, Bryan and Bob will review the basic O4W programming concepts and conference delegates will learn the best practices for developing web applications with O4W.  Basic+ programming experience is recommended, but no HTML, Javascript or web development experience is required.

O4W is fast becoming the tool of choice for Revelation developers (clients) building web and mobile solutions for their clients.  Revelation Software are also moving large chunks of www.revelation.com into O4W based content and it is nice to see a software manufacturer using their own tools across their business.

#RevCon13 – Day 1 ends and it’s time to mix!!

So the first full day of the Revelation 2013 conference draws to a close.  The last of the three breakout sessions has been completed, but the day is far from over.  Whilst some delegates will head off into Nashville to amuse themselves, the schedule of events turns to an ‘Evening Mixer’.

At previous Revelaiton Conferences, the first evening has traditionally been given over to a vendor fair.  At this conference though, Revelation have decided to do things a little differently.

In an more relaxed atmosphere, with some light snacks and beverages, delegates will be able to network with colleagues from within the Revelation world.  They will have a chance to chat with the staff of Revelation Software and other vendors, developers, and users.  Revelation expect to see a few laptops open, ideas being discussed and business cards exchanged, but in a more casual setting.  No booths, no pipe and drape.  People can simply bring their business cards or smartphone, mix and mingle, and pick up some tips to bring back to their own organization.

#RevCon13 – Megamation notes from the presentation

Hank talking about Megamation’s online OpenInsight based solution.

Jared Bratu sat in on Hank’s presentation and he has kindly shared some useful notes with me.  They are copied below:

Hank Huizinga presented Megamation’s DirectLine mobile application for facilities management. Before the mobile application facilities work orders (request for facilities maintenance) were printed by a clerk, handed out to a maintenance person and put on a clipboard and taken to the client’s site where time, supplies, and work performed are recorded on the work order. The work order is returned to the office clerk where it eventually get’s entered back into the CMMS system. By going with a mobile web app the maintenance person is able to directly update the CMMS system reducing labor and errors.

Hank walked through the discussion of why O4W was chosen, it’s strengths, and some of the obstacles to implementing the mobile application to meet the clients requests.  He walked through a live demonstration of his application emphasizing the design considerations behind his application. Considerable emphasis was added to the obstacles encountered by the limited support of certain mobile devices while casting a positive outlook that mobile devices are evolving at a rapid rate.

The demo is beautiful and optimally designed to run well on limited bandwidth. The application extensively utilizes selection controls to limit the amount of typing that a user must do to use the application.

The Megamation DirectLine application (in my opinion) is a beautiful example of an O4W mobile application.

http://mobile.megamation.com/demo