Exporting Data from TopSpeed Data bases

Ugh, TopSpeed is a proprietary DB that has very limited tools that can access it. If you want to use it in an ODBC setup, you have to buy a $250 driver package! But once you do that it is still not an easy solution to get access to the data.

The easiest way I found to programatically access the data is to use MS access to pull the tps files as an external data source and then use .Net to connect to that access db. I also build a data mapper that will read the tps db, display sample data, and give you a list of "destination" fields from a text file.

I used this method to pull data from a Time Matters db and pump it into an Outlook / Exchange shared folder. The nice thing about doing it this way is I was able to map the user defined fields I wanted, and define the custom form for outlook for the client.

I can't share the tps driver, 'cause those pesky things call licenses and all, but I can definitely help someone out with pumping data if they need.

Observable Dictionary

Here is an Observable Dictionary that I threw together for a friend. It only does what we wanted it to do at that point in time, so you you need something more, add it. :)

Public Class ObservableDictionary(Of T, P)
    Implements IDictionary(Of T, P)

    Event ItemAdded(ByVal Key As T)
    Event ItemRemoved(ByVal Key As T, ByVal value As P, ByVal Success As Boolean)
    Event ItemChanged(ByVal Key As T, ByVal OldValue As P, ByVal NewValue As P)

    Dim _BaseDictionary As Dictionary(Of T, P)

    Sub New()
        _BaseDictionary = New Dictionary(Of T, P)
    End Sub

    Public Sub Clear() Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).Clear
        _BaseDictionary.Clear()
    End Sub

    Public Function Contains(ByVal item As System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)) As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).Contains
        Return _BaseDictionary.Contains(item)
    End Function

    Public Sub CopyTo(ByVal array() As System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P), ByVal arrayIndex As Integer) Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).CopyTo
        Throw New NotImplementedException
    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property Count As Integer Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).Count
        Get
            Return _BaseDictionary.Count
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property IsReadOnly As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).IsReadOnly
        Get
            Throw New NotImplementedException
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Function RemovePair(ByVal item As System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)) As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).Remove
        Dim Value As P = _BaseDictionary(item.Key)
        Dim Success = _BaseDictionary.Remove(item.Key)

        RaiseEvent ItemRemoved(item.Key, Value, Success)
        Return Success

    End Function



    Public Function ContainsKey(ByVal key As T) As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).ContainsKey
        Return _BaseDictionary.ContainsKey(key)
    End Function

    Default Public Property Item(ByVal key As T) As P Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).Item
        Get

            Return _BaseDictionary.Item(key)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As P)
            Dim oldvalue As P = _BaseDictionary.Item(key)
            _BaseDictionary.Item(key) = value
            RaiseEvent ItemChanged(key, oldvalue, value)
        End Set
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property Keys As System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of T) Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).Keys
        Get
            Return _BaseDictionary.Keys
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Function Remove(ByVal key As T) As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).Remove

        Dim value = _BaseDictionary(key)
        Dim Success = _BaseDictionary.Remove(key)
        RaiseEvent ItemRemoved(key, Value, Success)

        Return Success

    End Function

    Public Function TryGetValue(ByVal key As T, ByRef value As P) As Boolean Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).TryGetValue
        If _BaseDictionary.ContainsKey(key) Then
            value = _BaseDictionary(key)
            Return True
        Else
            value = Nothing
            Return False
        End If
    End Function

    Public ReadOnly Property Values As System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of P) Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).Values
        Get
            Return _BaseDictionary.Values
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Function GetEnumerator() As System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerator(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)) Implements System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).GetEnumerator
        Return _BaseDictionary.GetEnumerator
    End Function

    Public Function GetEnumerator1() As System.Collections.IEnumerator Implements System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator
        Throw New NotImplementedException
    End Function

    Public Sub AddPair(ByVal item As System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)) Implements System.Collections.Generic.ICollection(Of System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair(Of T, P)).Add

        _BaseDictionary.Add(item.Key, item.Value)
        RaiseEvent ItemAdded(item.Key)
    End Sub

    Public Sub Add(ByVal key As T, ByVal value As P) Implements System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary(Of T, P).Add
        _BaseDictionary.Add(key, value)

        RaiseEvent ItemAdded(key)
    End Sub
End Class

DataForm + Combobox == Silly Bugs (combobox in dataFormToolkit:DataField)

UPDATE: So, this worked for SOME of the problems... not All.... Mosy on over to John's blog to see updates that he has for this issue. I believe he has fixed it.

Well... I haven't posted in a really long time... but this problem / workaround was worth it. My amazingly cool and awesome collegue John, had a most annoying problem. He was trying to bind a combobox to an itemsource then take the value of that itemsource and put it into a RIA Domain data source. Sounds easy right? well... not so when you're using the Silverlight 4 Toolkit DataForm / DataGrid.

Each time the form reloads (by adding, removing items from the collection) the bindings are reset, and not nicely... Long story short we found it impossible to get the combo box to work correctly using anything in XAML. For some reason "they" haven't made it easy in Silverlight.

To work around this issue the easiest thing I could come up with turns out to be pretty neat. On the Datafield that held the combo box, there is a Loaded event, so I thunk (yes, thunk; We were very frustrated...) why not just add a new combobox each time it loads so we KNOW that the bindings are correct.

Here is what we did:

Added an empty datafield to the grid in the dataform:

dataFormToolkit:DataField Grid.Row="5" Grid.Column="0" Loaded="ComboBoxField_Loaded" Label="Period Type" LabelPosition="Auto"

Note the lovely RED event handler.

in this hanlder we define the contents of this DataField:

Private Sub ComboBoxField_Loaded(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs)

Dim comboBoxField As DataField = sender 'Get the dataField that sent us here


Dim BindingForItems As New Binding With {.Source = ItemListDomainDataSource,
.Path = New PropertyPath("Data")}

'No need to set Source as it will pick up from the form

Dim BindingForValue As New Binding With {.Path = New PropertyPath("ItemValue"),
.Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay}

Dim combobox As ComboBox = New ComboBox 'Make a new combobox
combobox.DisplayMemberPath = "Name" 'Set Paths FIRST, yes, they have to be done first
combobox.SelectedValuePath = "PeriodType"
combobox.SetBinding(combobox.ItemsSourceProperty, BindingForItems)
combobox.SetBinding(combobox.SelectedValueProperty, BindingForValue)

'add styling wireups if not using default styling

comboBoxField.Content = combobox 'Push the new combobox back to the datafield

End Sub

So, load the data field, add the combobox, with its bindings already set. Now, for all those that are super concerned, like my friend John, about performance etc, you should go look at his blog, 'cause i am pretty sure he will take this and turn it into some shared resource.... :)

Isaac