1. Labreg in WPF By Lior Shetrit Semester: Spring 2009 Instructor: Viktor Kulikov March 25, 2009 Networked Software Systems Lab Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion

2. Introduction Creating a Windows application that interacts with the Labreg database and allows the administrator to perform various operations. The application is written using Microsoft ’ s WPF architecture (XAML) and C-Sharp (C#).

3. Implementations Ideas Accessing the database can be done in various ways. Connected Mode: using a DataReader object. Disconnected Mode: using a DataSet object. 3 rd party tools: e.g..netTiers. Using strongly typed DataTables, DataRows and DataAdapters (generated by Visual Studio) – chosen implementation.

4. Implementation (1) Visual Studio provides an interface that converts a table in a database (e.g. SQLDB) to a DataRow (single entity), DataTable (collection of entities) and TableAdapter (for read/write database operations). All of the above are strongly typed, i.e. they are unique to the originating table and posses its characteristics (fields, fields ’ types, etc.).

5. Implementation (2) Application ’ s Paradigm Window2Window1 Controller Labreg Database App DataTables DataRows Data Access Layer

6. Implementation (3) Window – a XAML describing the User Interface (UI) and a C# code-behind implementing the Window ’ s logic (WPF schema). Controller – a module that provides functions that return data the windows need (e.g., DataTables and DataRows). DAL – generated strongly-typed TableAdapters classes that access the database. All of the above use the strongly-typed DataTables and DataRows.

7. Application ’ s Capabilities (1) Provides a list of Students/Experiments in the Next/Current Semester for all the Labs (1, 1h, 2 and 3) or for a specific Lab. Shows a list of all meetings for a specific experiment. Modify a semester ’ s registration times.

8. Application ’ s Capabilities (2) Create and modify a student ’ s registration slot. Check a student ’ s prerequisite (kdams) courses. Smart filtering of students list (by student number and first/last name) and of prerequisite list (by course number and course name).

9. Goals Achieved The application uses an informative yet simple and straightforward UI. The application implements the Controller module as a static class that all windows interact with. The application accesses the database only when necessary and uses DataViews to filter and sort the information.

10. Summary WPF architecture provides a clear separation between the UI and the logic behind it. The application can be further enhanced by improving its visual aspect and by adding new capabilities to its features set.