Issue 16  November 20th 2019

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I started making baby steps in programming with Delphi 3 at the age of 14, followed by working on microcontrollers with C and LabView. I moved into freelancing as a PHP/Web developer, and then finally found my love and passion in C# and the .NET ecosystem.

I can proudly look back on over 15 years’ experience leading a development team, teaching, training and consulting with other companies using XAF.

How do you got started with XAF?

I don't remember exactly. Almost 10 years ago maybe. It was version 9.8 or 10.1. Yes, 10.1 was around the corner, so 9 years or almost 10 years right now. We were early adopters, but I know for a fact it was before 10.2 I remember that clearly because in 10.2 they changed the way the model was generated, and we're really upset at the moment but actually that change, it turned out to be really good.

What has been one of the most enjoyable experience using XAF?

The first project I was working on with XAF was some kind of logistic tool where they can deliver products on the field. It was a Google Maps project integration and we could not get it to work with XAF. So, we got the WinForms part out of the way and 5 to 6 years later I built the same project on XAF. In half a day (or something like that) it was ported. Before it took me six weeks. That moment it was a revelation.

Advice for beginners?

For beginners my advice will be to watch the video from Llamachant and the webinars from DevExpress. They are really helpful for most people because learning trough video is easier most of the time if you at least follow along. Also read the docs, they are great. And lastly, if you want to accelerate the process hire Consultants like me 😁.

Opinion on Blazor?

I'm really looking foward to Blazor in a lot of ways. For example, I'm working right now in my project Xenial. I’ll be launched in mid of May next year, I hope, or at least to have an open beta by that time and I will not support Asp.net. I don't want to do any new project that doesn't run on ASP.NET CORE and with Blazor I think there is so much opportunity, especially in combination with Electron and PWAs.

That will open the door to not have to support WinForms anymore at least as a long-term goal because you can just put your app in the browser and you only focus on one platform. I think it's a great opportunity for almost every business application developer out there.

The new Blazor controls DevExpress provides right now are really looking great and it's just a matter of time when they pull out an early beta.

And finally, it will be great for mobile. Of course, XAF with Blazor it will focus on desktop experience first, but I think it will solve all our mobile needs, it's just HTML and CSS in the end. It's just so much easier to do some adaptive and responsive layout and that's no difference with a Blazor application. With that out of the way, I don't think Xamarin will die but for most of the business applications we have you don’t really need to do some really crazy stuff on the device itself. So yes, I am excited for the future with Blazor.

Must have tools?

Free Tools I almost used every day, the first one is a NCrunch. It's a continuous test runner and I couldn't work without it. Besides that, basically go down to the command line and VsCode for small stuff.

Cake is awesome as always and please don’t reinvent the wheel, just use the tools that makes you productive the most.

Anything else you want to add?

One thing I am looking forward it is to Xenial. There will be a lot of stuff in there, all my modules I have developed over the last decade. A lot of Enterprisy features, but not only Enterprises stuff. It will be moderately good priced. It will include a licensing server you can rent and an invoicing system with credit card capabilities and all that kind of stuff because I needed to build it for myself anyway. Please keep tuned with xenial.io for more updates.

Make sure you keep up to date with the prolific work of Manuel:

Blog: https://blog.delegate.at/

Twitter: @biohaz999

Xenial: www.xenial.io

NCrunch: https://www.ncrunch.net/

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