(Software) Architecture

(Software) Architecture: "The art of drawing lines, with the interesting rule that once you've drawn the lines all dependencies that cross that line go in the same direction" -- Robert C. Martin

Using your own Pre-populated SQLite database in (Xamarin.)Android applications

Problem:

Most of Sqlite-net samples – at least the ones I came across – address creating new databases and populating them with data at runtime through calling web services, or else. Nothing on the other side address the situations when you need to start with a pre-populated database.

Solution:

Thanks to this post, and other questions on StackoverFlow and Xamarin Forums, find below the C# version of the code on the mentioned post. Note that I only “translated” the part that copies the database file from the assets folder to your package data directory. That – off course – requires your SQLite database to be added to you Android project assets folder as an “Android Asset”.

Visual Studio 2012 launch, MEA-ALM community, etc

If you haven't noticed already, Visual Studio 2012 launch was yesterday. It was such a buzz yesterday on Twitter. Our way in MEA-ALM community was to launch Hands-on Visual Studio website; a fairly large collection of guided, multi-lingual and real-life labs to experience, learn & practice Visual Studio 2012. I contributed a couple of videos too ;)

We had our own little twitter buzz too!

Remember, Visual Studio 2012 will be launched in Egypt by the End of September.

FCIH Initiative family call for new members

FCIH initiative is group of FCIH graduates who are interested in passing their experience & knowledge to FCIH students. The kick off was on 7 November 2009; during these two years, we managed to hold number of sessions and  Java training.

We think of the initiative as our role towards the society and as a chance to help others find their way in life. Currently, we are hoping to add new members to FCIH  initiative family. Kindly, if you are interested, take a few minutes to fill  this form, if you are already a member please fill the form as well.

Please, feel free to spread the word to other FCIH graduates who might be interested.

#Vodafone #Buzz #Fail

I was online through my favorite IM client; Google Talk, when a work-colleague started talking to me, asking me:

دا ايميل مين انا تعبت رابع ايميل يفتح غلط

I am using Vodafone Buzz from my mobile. Get it now for free from http://vf.eg/buzz

After talking for a while, I realized he was a total stranger; not my colleague. He's another user of Vodafone Buzz, like my colleague. The issue was that every time he signs in to Google Talk (using Vodafone Buzz), he signs in with my colleague's account. As far as I remember, Buzz associates your Vodafone number with the passwords you supply for your social networking sites (likes Facebook, Gmail , etc) so you don't have to type them every time you fire up the app.

If that was not scary enough, I'd just direct your attention to the fact: that stranger is not intending harm, (he's not a hacker for eg, or even evil enough to abuse the situation, he probably lack technical expertise too) so I'm expecting a disaster if he intended!! That if he was the only case of compromised password!!

Conclusion: If you're using Vodafone Buzz, just don't! And more importantly: UPDATE EVERY PASSWORD YOU'VE EVER SHARED WITH VODAFONE!

Side note: Thank GOD I don't save my credit card number on their website!!