The Future of Rapid-Development, No-Code Business Applications

As a follow up to my previous post on Access 2013 Web Apps and the fact that Microsoft will be discontinuing any further development of the InfoPath product, a major question remains on the future of custom forms development and data-driven business applications. I submit to you, in my humble opinion, that Visual Studio LightSwitch will be tabbed as the primary tool for rapid development business applications. LightSwitch has many options for creating, consuming, and exposing data. LightSwitch includes robust validation, easy screen customization, and the ability for coders to take their applications to the next level, but isn't necessary for business users who want to build nice, responsive (mobile device-friendly), data-driven applications.  The data can be external data stored in SharePoint, SQL Azure, and other common data sources, yet LightSwitch can also create its own data entities and relationships that it stores and exposes as OData through web services.  Access 2013 is good for quick prototyping, but as I'm finding out, its UI is not very customizable and has an overall data storage limit of 1 GB.

LightSwitch and its SharePoint-specific tooling known as Cloud Business Applications is available as a free add-on to the Visual Studio Community developer suite.

Other nice to have skills are HTML, JavaScript, and T-SQL. T-SQL is a necessary skillset if you want to host your data in SQL Azure.

Today's Worst Mis-Titled Job Description Award Goes To...

The Pew Charitable Trusts!

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/17632795?trk=job_view_similar_jobs

From their "SharePoint Administrator" job post...

"Position Overview:
The SharePoint Administrator will be responsible maintaining the organization’s SharePoint platform and several custom applications developed on the platform. In addition the Administrator will manage changes and enhancements to a handful of other custom .Net applications. "

"Design, implement, test and deploy  Share Point custom features  and packages, 2007/2010/2013 solutions programmed in ASP.NET/C# with particular attention to user interface design."

"Demonstrated experience  in Microsoft .NET development technologies, including Visual Studio 2012, C#, ASP.NET,  HTML, CSS, JavaScript,  LINQ, WCF, Silverlight, AJAX,CAML,XML,  XSLT, REST, and DOM "

DEVELOPER!  Not Administrator.

Sorry, but this is unacceptable for the recruiter or the hiring manager who labeled this as a SharePoint Administrator position when it is clearly a SharePoint Developer position.

Don't let this happen to you.
 

If Your Job Posting Contains "SharePoint Online"

If you are an employer and your job description contains the phrase "SharePoint Online", like any of these, you can expect that candidates seeking a 100% telecommute position are going to come knocking your door down, even if you do not advertise the position as a telecommute position - and rightfully so. If SharePoint Online offerings (part of Microsoft Office 365) can be accessed from any location via an Internet connection, those who are applying for positions to support this platform should be able to perform that support from any location, including their homes. Onsite support can be replaced by Lync video conferencing (if you subscribe to a plan that includes Lync) and possibly a phone call. Isn't mobility and location independence one of the core drivers of Office 365? Microsoft certainly thinks so, and I would have to agree with them.

Recent Announcement from Microsoft Could Affect Your Skillset Recruitment Efforts

So, Microsoft has officially announced that InfoPath 2013 will be the final version of InfoPath, but will support its use in its existing forms until 2023. Okay... so now what?

At SPCON2014, Microsoft has stated, in more detail, that it will shift its forms development platform from InfoPath back to Access 2013 and Excel, and that future versions of Microsoft Word will be enhanced to include additional forms capability to replace InfoPath.

In fact, Microsoft has made HEAVY investments into Access 2013 and subsequent releases as the new SharePoint 2013 Web Apps are also SharePoint Apps that can be packaged and monetized in the Office 365 SharePoint Store and in an enterprise's corporate App Catalog. Microsoft is actively polling for insights on how to beef up / improve future releases of Access even more.

As a recruiter, it will probably be in your best interest to, for now, still consider candidates that have expertise in InfoPath. However, you should probably give equal consideration to those users who have past experience in Microsoft Access for SharePoint Business Analyst / Power User openings.

As I have recommended before, obtaining an E3 subscription of Office 365 ensures that you will have access to the LATEST that Microsoft has to offer in terms of power user / citizen developer tools. Give Office 365 a free trial today!

Happy Anniversary!

This blog just celebrated 1 year and over 1,600 worldwide visits!  Thank you for making this blog a smashing success.

Now... on to business. Today's way-too-long initial application / resume submission goes to... (drumroll, please! .... ..... .... )
https://sclhs.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=20742

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System!

If you want good candidates, don't show that you're willing to waste their time and energy right from the get-go. 

Office 365: The Official Enterprise Platform of CNN!

Justin Bieber - The gift that keeps on giving. 

Another Option for Business Users

So... you're a SharePoint power-user in your company, and let's say that you don't do programming, but you understand relational data models, queries, and application security models. What are your options for writing relational data-driven apps that you can publish to SharePoint? I was doing a freelance project for someone and it became obvious to me that my old stand-bys of InfoPath and custom lists with lookup columns just wasn't going to be enough. The data model was truly relational in nature and called for a little more of a heavy hitter.

Enter Access 2013 Web Apps... And a completely new experience.

It took a good textbook and a little time to catch on, but once I got the ball rolling, I was really able to make a truly mobile-friendly app that has a ton of functionality. Among the books that I purchased on this topic, here is the best one, in my opinion:


The application was easy to build, until I started using macros. Even then, the book I purchased (above) came in handy and I started getting more done. My client understood relational data models and eventually took over his own work on the project.

PROS:
1. Easy to build, once you figure out the navigation.
2. The data and all schemas are stored in SQL server and are able to be accessed and reported on by any SQL-compatible reporting / analysis tool.
3. The resulting application is EXTREMELY friendly to mobile browsers on both iOS and Android.
4. Includes several app templates to get you started.

CONS:
1. Little to no control over style sheets, which means...
2. No control over printer-friendly views.
3. Queries built in the application are read-only. I repeat: READ-ONLY. To replicate the functionality of UPDATE queries, data macros must be built with triggers to update existing records or create ancillary artifact records behind-the-scenes if you're not editing the active record on your screen.
4. I read somewhere that each app only has a 1 GB storage limit.
5. The only file type supported as a table field is an image file. You can try to upload any file type in an image field, but the web app will try to force it into an image file type. Not sure what the reasoning behind this is, especially when SQL supports just about any binary file type.

Overall, I like this product, but it is definitely in its infancy. It will need some work when it comes to ease of customizing security beyond the external SharePoint permissions, file types, and scalability. Be on the look-out for improvements in future versions of this application! It looks like Microsoft intends on putting quite an investment in re-inventing Access and using it to build effective cloud apps!