Develop for Microsoft Office Groove 2007: Four new papers posted to MSDN

I'm just back from vacation, but while I was sailing, the team's been busy -- Thanks to Bob Novas and Jesse Howard of the Microsoft Groove Incubation Team, headed by Diana Gibson, there are four new Groove technical articles available on MSDN.

1. Using Web Services Helpers to Access Data in Microsoft Office Groove 2007

Summary: Reduce code complexity when accessing Microsoft Office Groove 2007 data by creating or using custom wrappers around the Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Web Services API. (13 printed pages)

Bob Novas, Microsoft Corporation

August 2007

Applies to: Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Server, Groove Web Services V12 Helpers, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 SDK

Contents:

• Downloading the Software
• Descriptions of the Software
• Groove Web Service Helpers Overview
• Groove Helpers Registry Usage
• Building from the Source
• Programming Examples
  • Spaces
  • Tools
  • Files Tool
  • Forms Tool
• Tips and Considerations
• SelectableObjectList and SelectableObject
• Conclusion
• Additional Resources

The Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Web Services API provides rich access to the Groove 2007 environment and to the data stored in Office Groove 2007 workspaces, but when you use this API directly, you must enter multiple lines of code to set up the Web services environment for each operation call. If you are creating a large, complex solution, you can reduce the size and complexity of your code by creating a set of wrappers that provide a higher level of abstraction.

The Groove Web Services V12 Helpers project provides such a set of wrappers. You can download this project from CodePlex, Microsoft's open source project hosting Web site. The Groove Web Services V12 Helpers is not a supported Microsoft product, but it provides an example of how wrappers can make the Groove 2007 Web Services API easier to use. You can download the Groove Web Services V12 Helpers binaries and use them directly; you can download the sources and modify them to fit your needs; or you can use Groove Web Services V12 Helpers as a model to develop your own set of wrappers. If you do add capabilities to the project or create your own set of wrappers, please consider sharing your code on CodePlex to help other Groove 2007 Web Services developers.

Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Web Services Helpers provide an API that is easier to use than the underlying Groove 2007 Web services; the API reduces the amount of code you need when you access Groove Web services directly. The Groove Helpers provide an object and an event model that allows you to write applications quickly and simply. You can also use the Groove Helpers to connect an application to Groove 2007 or to the Groove 2007 Data Bridge Server, making it easy to use a client for development and, after development, to move to an enterprise environment using the Groove 2007 Data Bridge Server.

2. Using Web Services Helpers to Access Events in Microsoft Office Groove 2007

Summary: Reduce code complexity when accessing Groove events by creating or using custom wrappers around the Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Web services API. (12 printed pages)

Bob Novas, Microsoft Corporation

August 2007

Applies to: Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Server, Groove Web Services Helpers, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 SDK

Contents:

• Overview of Events
• Establishing a Simple Subscription and Processing Events
• Establishing an Aggregated Subscription and Processing Events
• Implementing IGrooveWebServicesAdvancedEventCallback
• Maintaining a Long Running Event Subscription
• Conclusion
• Additional Resources

3. Best Practices: Integrating Data Using Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007 Data Bridge

Summary: Review the recommended best practices for configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting, and programming against the Groove Data Bridge 2007 (GDB). This article focuses on using the Groove Data Bridge to archive workspaces. (11 printed pages)

Jesse Howard, Microsoft Corporation

August 2007

Applies to: Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Server, Groove Data Bridge

Contents:

• Archiving with Groove Data Bridge
• Getting GDB into Workspaces
  • Adding GDB into Workspaces Manually
  • Adding GDB into Workspaces from a Central Server
• Configuring the GDB Identity
• Invitation Processing
• Important Considerations
  • Working with Earlier Versions of Groove
  • Using Groove Folder Synchronization
  • Web Services
  • Forcing Relay Connections
  • Considering Previous Versions
  • Managing Archive Security and Passwords
  • Using the Archive Master Log Workspace
  • Monitoring the File System
  • Scaling and Capacity Planning
  • Managing the "Ramp"
  • Determining Available Capacity
  • Adding Servers
  • Managing Archives
  • Managing Invitations
  • Removing Old Workspaces
  • Backing Up the Archive File System
• Conclusion
• Additional Resources

This article provides recommended practices for configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting, and programming against the Groove Data Bridge 2007 (GDB). In a production environment, there are additional configuration, monitoring and troubleshooting tasks and practices that are advisable. This article focuses on using the Groove Data Bridge to archive workspaces. For more information about the minimum system requirements, pre-requisites, and minimum basic configuration tasks for the Groove Data Bridge, see the Groove Data Bridge 2007 Administrators Guide.

4. Best Practices: Archiving Workspaces Using Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007 Data Bridge

Summary: Review the recommended best practices for configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting, and programming against the Microsoft Office Groove Data Bridge 2007 (GDB). This article focuses on using the Groove Data Bridge as a data integration point between Microsoft Office Groove 2007 workspaces and line of business applications. (6 printed pages)

Jesse Howard, Microsoft Corporation

August 2007

Applies to: Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 Server, Groove Data Bridge

Contents:

• Focusing on Integration
• Designing for the Application Development Lifecycle
• Using Transaction Modeling
• Planning for Peak Usage
• Managing the "Ramp"
• Planning to Test Performance
• Planning Ongoing Performance Monitoring and Post-launch Maintenance
• Conclusion
• Additional Resources

This article provides recommended practices for configuring, monitoring, troubleshooting, and programming against the Microsoft Office Groove Data Bridge 2007 (GDB). In a production environment, there are additional configuration, monitoring and troubleshooting tasks and practices that are advisable.

Groove Data Bridge provides a central, server-based mechanism to manage Groove workspaces programmatically, using Groove Web services (GWS), and to back up Groove workspaces of which the Data Bridge is a member. While it may be possible, even convenient and useful, to use a Groove Data Bridge in the capacity of both backup agent and data integration point, doing so may create contention for resources within the server. Creating Groove workspace archives requires heavy use of Data Bridge resources, like most event-driven data transaction models. Consequently, if a Data Bridge is being used to perform both tasks, external transactions may become constrained during archive cycles, and archive cycles may take longer than expected during times of peak transaction load. It is recommended that any single Groove Data Bridge be used for workspace archiving or for data integration, but not both simultaneously.

 

Thanks again to the the authors, editors, and publishers for getting these papers out!

--abbott

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