Wish you a very Happy New Year from AppKettle Team!!

AppKettle wishes all our App users Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010!! and Thank you for your continual support, we really appreciate it!!

2009 was the year when AppKettle was born. On its first year AppKettle launched five applications on Android, three on Facebook and one on the iPhone. Darshana and I are pretty impressed with our outcome on first year. All credit goes to our Software Engineers (Arin, Gopal and Arun), Graphic Designer (Samtha) and Product coordinator (Nishant) who have been working really hard to get these application out. Thank you for all your support!!



Looking back at our first Application Shouldi - A polling app among friends, it had a pretty concept but with ok UI. As we built this App and launched, we learnt a lot what app users are looking for? what they like and started listening more closely. We got number of request from south American countries that they need this application in Spanish. So we built second app Deberia.


Deberia - Same polling app like shouldi in Spanish, catering to all Spanish speaking users. However, the adoption of the app was not as great we expected. So looking back what went wrong? Well status message, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook was way users get their friends comment on the questions or anything. So lesson learnt was unique value to user, which they cant get from other places and it should be really really simple and easy.


Learning from our first two application we built our third application on Android "Indian Railway Schedule". There was no App which was catering to indian train commuters. Furthermore, India has thousands of railway stations and hundreds of trains, that it just made lot harder to build the mobile App. We took-up this challenge to build a mobile App, which will allow android users to "very quickly and easily find the status of train arrival and departure". We built the app on this key principle and published it on Android Market. We got a great reception on the adoption of the App and the App has 5 star rating. We have received tons of great reviews on the App.

Special thanks goes to Darshana for building this App!!


As Darshana and I love Bollywood movies, we were using quite a number of bollywood apps on our iPhone and Android to know what latest movies, gossip and news in the bollywood world. We realized that we had to use two or three apps to get information. We found this fustrating, so we decided to build a bollywood app "Access Bollywood".

The key thing we wanted the app to do
(1) Get all bollywood information from movies, to gossip all at one place.
(2) Should be fun and intuitive to read bollywood gossip.
(3) Should be very simple
(4) Should have pictures rather than text.

We built the App on the key principles and launched the App on iPhone AppStore, Android Market and Facebook on Thanksgiving. Just over a month since we launched the App, the App has been well received by the bollywood fans. We got ton of Feedback on what more Access Bollywood users want in their app. I really want to Thank you for your Feedback and i want to tell you that we are working on the request and in next coming months you would see your most requested features implemented.

It was very nice year for AppKettle and we are very thankful for your support.

So what's coming in 2010. A lot more new apps for user and also enhancements to existing apps.

We wish you all a very Happy New Year!!

Vishal

Follow us on Twitter
@AppKettle
@vishalchordia

MS SQL Server Managerment Objects (MS-SMO) - Using SMO

The SMO namespace is implemented as a .NET assembly using which you can include all SMO functionality in your .NET application. The SMO namespace is Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO and is located by default in “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\SDK\Assemblies” directory. It is installed with the client tools of SQL Server 2005 and requires Common Language Runtime (CLR) to be installed as well. The assemblies required to work with SMO in managed environment are:

• Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo
• Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo
• Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum
• Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum

Other assemblies present in SMO can be used as and when required.

SMO can be used even in an unmanaged environment, as there exist the COM wrappers around the SMO classes. The SQLSMO.dll and SQLSMO.tlb files enable the SMO to be used with unmanaged code.

SMO Classes

The SMO Object Model Contains two types of classes: Instance Classes and Utility Classes. Each of them is discussed below in details.

Instance Classes

SMO Instance Classes contains the SMO Objects in a hierarchy that matches the hierarchy of a database server. At the top of the hierarchy is the Server Instance class that represents a SQL Server instance, and under it there are other classes in hierarchy representing the other objects of the database such as databases, tables, columns, indexes, stored procedures, etc.

A sample hierarchy of Instance Classes is depicted in the figure below:


Utility Classes

SMO Utility Classes are meant for performing some specific task, being independent of the SQL Server Instance. Lists of tasks, which can be performed using these utility classes, are:

• Generate Database Scripts
• Backup / Restore Databases
• Transfer Database Schema between database instances
• Administering the Database Mail subsystem
• Administering the SQL server Agent
• Administering the Service Broker
• Administering the Notification Services

Thank you iPhone & Android Access Bollywood users!!

Thanks for your support guys!

Stay tuned with us on Twitter

@AppKettle
@vishalchordia

Access Bollywood for all Bollywood Lovers

Last Thursday on Thanksgiving, we launched our Bollywood Gossip App “Access Bollywood” on iPhone, Android and Facebook platforms.

Access Bollywood is an app for all those Bollywood fans who love to know about the latest gossips going around the Indian Film Industry. The app enables users to peek into their favorite Bollywood Actors and Actresses stories. Apart from News it also gives updated information on the Box Office and New & Upcoming Releases of Bollywood.

With Access Bollywood, we tried to provide users with an elegant interface to browse through the latest stories, movies and Pictures of their favorite celebrities. In brief, main features of the app include:

• Access latest Bollywood Gossip and easily share with your friends over social networks

• Know the latest movie releases, upcoming movies and box office list

• Browse thousands of Bollywood celebrities pictures and download your favorite pictures right on to your phone

• Read the latest Bollywood News in quick to read news format

If you are a Bollywood fan and want to be updated with all Bollywood happenings it's the right app for you to download.

For all iPhone lovers you can download the App at AppStore or by searching “Access Bollywood” on AppStore.


For all Android lovers you can download the App at Android Market by searching “Access Bollywood”.



For all Social Media freaks, download the Facebook app “Access Bollywood”.

I hope you enjoy the app!!

MS SQL Server Managerment Objects (MS-SMO) Introduction

Microsoft has introduced Server Management Objects (SMO) with SQL Server 2005 that enhances the capability of Distributed Management Objects (DMO) of the earlier version of SQL Server. In SQL Server 2005, DMO is abandoned in favour of SMO. It allows managing the database server programmatically, and is compatible with the earlier versions of SQL Server (2000 and 7.0). However, SMO cannot be used to manage databases with compatibility level 60 and 65. The only functionality that SMO doesn’t offer as compared to DMO is that, replication objects are not included in SMO. Instead, there is separate Replication Management Objects (RMO) that exists for replication in SQL Server 2005.

To enlist few of the tasks that you can do with SMO are:

• Connect to Database Server
• Create Database
• Drop Database
• Backup Database
• Attach / Detach Database
• Copy Database Objects
• Create / Edit / Drop Objects (Tables / Views / Indexes / Stored Procedures / etc.)
• Create / Edit / Drop Relationship between tables
• Generate Scripts
• Handle HTTP and SOAP requests using EndPoints objects

The list still goes on. It’s almost everything that you can do in a Server; you can do it through SMO. In addition, the Capture Execution feature in SMO is an interesting new feature that allows capturing scripts for later execution. For example, suppose you have a section of your code that creates a database or table, adds an index, populates data, for example, in an installation routine. After testing, you can actually use SMO to capture this as a script for later execution, or on a separate server.

continued...

Naming Conventions for SQL Server 2005

Simple rules for naming Objects in SQL Server 2005:

1. Do not use any spaces in object names: With SQL Server it is possible to have such names by enclosing these in square brackets [and], but are not recommend as you may miss them out and end up in failure quite often.
2. Avoid using reserved words: Even if the word you use doesn't cause an error, it will still cause confusion when someone is editing code and Query Analyzer applies color highlighting to table or column names.
3. Start object names with a letter: Several applications like Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, DTS, VBScript, Visual Studio may cause problems when accessing objects with name starting from numbers.
4. Keep names short but meaningful: This is self-explanatory and fairly logical, as there may be table name either ridiculously long, making it cumbersome both to type and to commit to memory, or abbreviated to the point of utter confusion. "SlQ" is too short. "SalesFiguresForCompanyByFiscalQuarter" is just silly.
5. Avoid Hungarian notation*: The name of the object should make it pretty obvious what type of data it contains, and if for some reason it does not, then there is always the metadata tables and/or the documentation you should have written when designing the system. Using datatype-style prefixes for columns like IContactID (integer) and VEmail (varchar) not only make the column names harder to read, they also make them less flexible.
6. Use CamelCasing instead**: Using a standard convention like CameCase for naming all the objects can help in maintaining consistency in object names.
7. Use the dbo. Prefix: When you are logged in as a non-dbo user, and you create a table without giving it an owner prefix, other users won't see it, because it is stored in the system as you.objectName instead of dbo.objectName. If you consistently use the dbo. prefix, you will eliminate the possibility of creating the same object name twice, with different owner names.

*Hungarian notation:
Hungarian notation is a naming convention in computer programming, in which the name of a variable indicates its type or intended use. In Hungarian notation, a variable name starts with one or more lower-case letters which are mnemonics for the type or purpose of that variable, followed by whatever the name the programmer has chosen

**CamelCasing:
CamelCase is a writing convention in which words are combined by taking out the spacing in between and capitalizing the first letter of each word, such as CamelCase. The name is derived from the idea of the capital letters being reminiscent of humps on a camel's back. The CamelCase convention is used in computer systems in which naming require words to be contiguous. With CamelCase, words are readily distinguished and names more easily read.

Naming Conventions for SQL 2005:


*Do not use prefix sp_ for stored procedures. SQL Server searches for system stored procedures first when it encounters the sp_ prefix. Another reason- if Microsoft decides to rename all system stored procedures using the prefix to identify the system stored procedures, yours too would get renamed (since it has the same prefix) causing your application to fail.

Setting-up T-Mobile Data Service on iPhone

Today i was trying to get my t-mobile data service on iPhone. Well let me tell you it is small processes. I called up t-mobile and told them that i need to get data service on iPhone. The representative transferred me to special technical support.

The special technical support rep Jacie Ross, told me that data service will cost $24.99 on iPhone. Once i accepted the fees, she went through the below steps and there my data service was switched on right away. Also with this data service i can now access any T-mobile hot-spots on my phone and laptop for free. isnt that awesome. its definitely has value.

1. From the Main Menu, tap Settings.
2. Verify that Wi-Fi is set to Off or Disabled -- this will ensure that no wi-fi signals are interfering with your Internet access. To take advantage of local wi-fi at a later time, feel free to go back and turn this setting On; just make sure to turn it Off again when you are done using the wi-fi network.
3. Tap General Settings, then tap Network.
4. Turn Data Roaming On -- this will allow your iPhone to locate T-Mobile’s data network.
5. If you see a setting for 3G, turn it Off -- the iPhone cannot currently connect to T-Mobile’s 3G network, and this setting will interfere with its attempt to connect to our EDGE network for service.
6. Tap Cellular Data Network (this setting may be labeled EDGE instead).
7. In the APN field, enter internet2.voicestream.com -- this tells T-Mobile which version of our Internet network you want to connect to.
8. Leave the Username and Password fields blank -- T-Mobile will assign this information based on your SIM card information.
9. Return to the Main Menu and open Safari to browse the Internet.

Note: if you are taking you sim card from a blackberry (with data service) and insert into the iPhone, the data service will not work. You need to get the $24.99 plan, and t-mobile will close your blackberry/other data service plan. Your log-in info for t-mobile hot-spot: your ten digit number and password: last 4 of your social.

Thanks to T-mobile Support representative Jaice Ross, she was very kind, very helpful and made me valuable for being a t-mobile customer. I like t-mobile customer support!