Sesame Data Browser

Company: metaSapiens Project website: http://metasapiens.com/sesame/data-browser/ Industry: Technology and Software Products used: RadControls for Silverlight

OPEN SESAME

With help from Telerik RadControls, metaSapiens’ Sesame Data Browser offers developers a better way of handling relational data

Fabrice Marguerie is a software industry veteran who has built a successful track record of creating innovative, practical tools and resources for .NET and Java. His years of real-world experience left him with one indelible impression: application developers needed a more efficient way of interacting, sharing, and managing data generated by relational databases. Intrigued by both the challenge and opportunity presented by the situation, Marguerie began pursuing a solution.

“I decided to create a tool that would enable developers to more easily deal with the data coming from relational databases, but to do so in a way that ensured whatever tool I finally delivered remained user-friendly and presented a familiar interface,” he says.

Marguerie’s idea began to take form as the Sesame Data Browser. Built on the Silverlight platform and dedicated to the Open Data Protocol (OData), the browser would eventually evolve into a software tool for browsing data available on the Web or private networks. The Sesame Data Browser would enable users to easily visualize, navigate, filter, and sort relational database data exposed via the OData protocol.

Marguerie felt confident in choosing to go with OData, given the benefits it offered to developers – a simple, consistent method for data-sharing at the protocol level, broad integration across diverse products, and lowered barriers to entry by breaking down data silos. Now, he just needed a way to grow the Sesame Data Browser from a seed of an idea into a working solution.

Opening the Door to Sesame

Marguerie began looking for a specific range of tools that would fit his particular vision of what the Sesame Data Browser should be. After some intensive research, he settled on Telerik’s RadControls for Silverlight, which offered both the flexibility and out-of-box functionality he needed.

“I needed robust components that would be flexible, easy to integrate, and were user-friendly; I especially needed components that would support tabular views and allow spatial data to be displayed properly on a map,” he recalls. “I studied other available components and made my choice based on feature set – the controls provided by Telerik had the right set of features for this project.”

Marguerie deployed a number of Telerik’s controls, including RadGridView, RadMap, and RadDropDownButton, to give the Sesame Data Browser the advanced features and functionality OData users would need. The browser does not simply display data in a standard grid; rather, it requires a grid that is flexible enough to support rich interactivity. With help from Telerik-supplied code samples, Marguerie was able to customize RadGridView in order to produce the versatile grid he needed. Leveraging its ability to easily create custom columns within a view, Marguerie used RadGridView for essential data displays, such as photos and images, hyperlinks, and dates. He also tapped into its extensive support for databinding, employing it to display dynamic data where the data schema was not predefined.

RadMap also proved to be fundamental to the Sesame Data Browser. RadMap enables detailed visualization of geographical information from external imagery sources, and offers vital functionality like mouse-driven panning and zooming, as well as navigational controls. Marguerie tapped RadMap to provide users with accurate spatial data displayed on maps.

“The RadMap API was easy to use and its support for geocoding was key,” he notes.

The straightforward, trouble-free nature of RadControls required little support. However, when help was needed, Marguerie was able to get assistance quickly from both Telerik and its active developer community. He was also pleased to see the company supports its developers with regular upgrades and enhancements to its products.

“I didn’t need a great deal of help or information, but I had no problems when I did ask for help,” he says. “I would say the support provided by Telerik and developers in their community forum is excellent. The forums are very active with Telerik users sharing their expertise; it was good to know that a problem or a bug wouldn’t block me, because there was always someone ready to help. Another thing I liked is that Telerik is always doing releases – I’m happy to know that I’m using a product that is continually being improved and moving forward.”

From a Seed to a Solution

The Sesame Data Browser has become a useful tool for helping software developers to understand and effectively use OData. With the browser, developers can swiftly and effortlessly display, sort, filter, and link OData, all from a familiar grid-based UI. It can also project geospatial data across maps with pins and coordinates. Although currently targeted to the development community, Marguerie foresees the Sesame Data Browser appealing to a larger audience.

“In the end, it might not be useful only to developers but to a wider pool of users, such as those dealing with data and having to make decisions based on that data,” he says.

Already, the Sesame Data Browser is attracting attention and followers among software developers engaging with the OData protocol. The number of organizations making OData available to users is on the rise; among the many applications and enterprises offering OData are SharePoint 2010, IBM Websphere, Microsoft, EBay, Netflix, Twitpic, and the Canadian city of Edmonton. Since its launch, Marguerie has released several updates to the browser, adding features and functionality.

RadControls’ ease of use, immediate usability, and deep functionality were critical in getting Marguerie’s ambitious one-man venture off the ground. With Telerik’s tools in place, he was able to extend the project’s breadth and depth, quickly accomplishing numerous tasks despite taking on the development process solo.

“I’m happy with RadControls; the simplicity of Telerik’s API and the controls themselves in terms of development, made using them painless. I was able to deploy both without first having to read a lot of documentation or go through a multitude of code samples.”

Deploying a commercial solution also helped Marguerie to shave time from his development schedule, while still giving him a wide range of features and functionality.

“The ability to use a packaged component instead of having to develop everything myself was important. I could’ve used a different toolset, but I wouldn’t have had access to all of the features that are presented in RadGrid – I would’ve had to recreate them myself. It was beneficial to have a rich component that came packaged with many, many features,” concludes Marguerie. “I’ll be using RadControls for future versions of the project, as it’s the best way to achieve the true promise of Silverlight.”