As we finish our second round of the Component Code Challenge, I would to take this time to personally thank all the judges for another successful contest. We would also like to congratulate the TechED 2012 winners Esha Deshpande, Toi Wright, and Rich Goforth. I got to take some time to ask the winners a few questions, here is how they answered:
Esha replies:
1. How did you come up with your application?
I had this idea of creating an app "What’s your fashion Quo?" After talking to my friends and having to tell/explain them what was "Coach/Gucci /Chanel/YSL" or what colors are "in" this season. Many of them had no idea about fashion or the brands. So to make it fun to read up on all the latest fashion trends, fashion tips, shoes, handbags all in one place, I realized this will be a good app to have. I call it a one-stop-shop place: for all things Fashion!
2. Why did you choose the controls you did?
The Infragistics Web Image Viewer control was really cool and easy to implement. It allowed me to have cool pictures as my menu which could be navigated easily and smoothly. Telerik's Rad Social Share control was very fast to implement and setup links to Facebook, Google+ and twitter. This control enabled me to have it on each page, so that users can directly post/upload a fashion tip/ page they liked. Telerik's Rad Splitter control allowed me to create a book like feel to the pages where left pane contained the navigation links and the right pane contained all the content. It also allows users to collapse one side of page which gives more room to view content.
3. What would you like to share about winning one of the prizes in CCC?
I am very excited to have won this prize. Due to this code challenge I was able to implement my idea and winning this prize will enable me to go to TechED which is a great opportunity to learn about the new technologies and products from Industry leaders.
4. What are you looking forward to at TechED?
I am looking forward to all the new learning opportunities and hands-on training across for the latest of Microsoft products and solutions. I will get a chance to connect with Microsoft experts who know the most about the products we're working with and will be a great experience.
Toi replies:
1. How did you come up with your application?
My application is the Meals for New Moms website. In my community, when a mom returns home with a new baby, the neighbors provide dinner for everyone in the household for about 5 days. I, myself, have been lucky enough to be a recipient of this service. And, as such, I wrote this application as a way to give back to the community.
2. Why did you choose the controls you did?
After I decided to create the Meals for New Moms website, I met with the woman in our community who coordinates the meals. After a few discussions it became clear to me that the biggest component of the application was going to be communication. The recipients need to know who is bringing dinner and the volunteers need to know how many people are going to be at the house and if they have any dietary restrictions and/or preferences. This, of course, is all complicated by the fact that babies do not always arrive on the date that they are expected.
The problem was that I needed an easy way for each community to customize the emails that are sent to their members.
These are the two controls that I used to solve the problem:
·Telerik – Editor for ASP.NET MVC
·DevExpress – XtraReports
Each email is a combination of both text and data. Each type of email has different data that is relevant to that type of email. The data is distinguished from the text by using a token. For example, the token [FirstName] represents the first name of the email’s recipient. I programmed the Telerik Editor for ASP.NET MVC control to include a list of tokens in the toolbar. This list only contains the tokens that are relevant to the type of email that is being edited. When a user selects a token from the list it is added to the text of the email. I did this by using the Snippet collection of the Tools collection of the Editor. When the email is sent, I instantiate a DevExpress XtraReport at runtime and by using the RichTextControl I do a mail merge to merge the data with the text.
3. What would you like to share about winning one of the prizes in CCC?
I am honored to be the winner of this competition. I have wanted to work on an application to give back to my community and this competition finally gave be the impetus to get it done. Also, I really enjoyed spending time reviewing all of the products offered by the approved vendors. I hope that everyone reading this takes this opportunity to check out the awesome list of products and services that are available from the vendors who sponsored this competition.
4. What are you looking forward to at TechED?
I love TechED. I have been to TechED in the past and I am always awestruck by the sheer number of sessions. There is definitely something for anyone that works in IT. This year I am focused on getting up to speed with Windows Azure. So, I will be spending a lot of time in those sessions and hands-on-labs. The hands-on-labs are a great way to reinforce what you have just learned in a session. TechED is a great way to get up to speed on the latest technologies.
Rich replied:
1. How did you come up with your application?
I am working on a large web application that does a much more specialized version of this, I felt like the idea of shipping box discovery with pricing could be generalized to function outside of the application and provide an easy way for someone who ships a lot of variously sized items to quickly identify the cheapest and most efficient way to ship whatever it is that needs shipped.
2. Why did you choose the controls you did?
I chose the Telerik UI controls because I had experience with them, and they provide a quick way to get a decent looking app with the pre-defined skins that are available. They also have a great deal of flexibility when you start to spend more time with them. Something simple and decent quickly with the ability to go into a lot of detail and do something very nice.
3. What would you like to share about winning one of the prizes in CCC?
Nothing, besides the fact that I am thrilled to have won :)
4. What are you looking forward to at TechED?
TechED provides a wide array of subjects to survey, often from the leaders in the field. It is a chance to take a break from work and find out what it is you can spend time learning on, to make your next project simpler or faster.
Again, I would like to thank everyone for another successful component code challenge.
Greg Leonardo
Twitter @gleonardo