1. Create a Windows 8 App
in Just Minutes
Frank La Vigne
FrankLa@Microsoft.com
Public Sector Developer Evangelist
http://www.FranksWorld.com

2. Keep the Cash
http://bit.ly/KeepThatCash

3. Frank’s World TV
www.youtube.com/FranksWorldTV
• Published Weekly (more or less)
• Focuses on developers and public sector
developers
• Fun

5. AppCannon Demo

6. How It Should Be
Data Sources Server Service Devices
Content Provider Content Consumer

7. How It Should Be
• Clear separation of concerns
• Data
• Service
• Consumption Device
• Device Agnostic
• Requires well thought out architecture and API
• Non-trivial effort

10. Common SLG Scenario
Data Sources Server Devices
Content Provider Content Consumer
Web Site
• This scenario is not limited to SLG, smaller organizations do not have
budget to build out a more web-aware SOA system.

11. Many SLG Public Sector Scenarios
• Virtually every locality has a web site
• Few have a fully built out web-rich SOA architecture
• Access to content is via browser
• Non-native experience
• Website may not be optimized for mobile
• Less than perfect experience
• There “no app for that”
• No app means they are not on our platform
• Missed opportunities
• For Citizens
• For Governments

12. Enter the
Screen Scraper

13. Screen Scraper Utility Kit
 Takes unstructured data and gives it structure
 Designed was targeting Web based scenarios
 Virtually every agency/town/locality/etc has a web site
 HTML by nature has some structure
 The SSUK leverages that
 Flexible approach to screen scraping
 Can be made change resilient
 Already available
 Over 1100 downloads for WinRT version / Over 1700 for WP7 / .NET version

14. Case Study: Vietnam Wall WP7 App
• Data source: http://virtualwall.org/valor.htm
• WP7 App: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/0b758fa2-6414-4381-923e-557172cb3edc?wa=wsignin1.0

15. Basic Screen Scraping
Source Page
App on Device
App Pulls in Data from
Source Page and Parses it
into View Model.

16. One Change to Source Page
Can Break the App

17. Definitions-Based Screen Scraping
Source Page
App on Device
App Pulls in Data from
Source Page. Parses it
into View Model based on
instructions in a
Definition file.
Definition File
Cloud

18. Definitions Change the Game
Definition files make a screen scraping solution:
• Resilient to change
• Changing definition file hosted in the cloud would not require changes to
the app
• Viable
• Increased resilience and flexibility
• Use developer friendly formats:
• XML (WinRT, WP7, & .NET)
• JSON (WinRT)

19. Example Definition File

20. What the Scraper Makes
Data Sources Server Scraper Devices
Content Provider Content Consumer
Web Site
 The Screen Scraper Utility Kit takes un-structured data and converts it into a
structured data source locally on the device.

21. Bridging the Gap Between Ideal Architecture
& What’s Actually Out in the Field

22. What Azure Integration Will Look Like
Data Sources
Server Scraper Devices
Content Provider Content Consumer
Web Site
 The Screen Scraper Utility Kit takes un-structured data and converts it into a
structured data source locally on the device.
Service
Azure Data Adapter

23. Warning

24. Try It Now!
www.FranksWorld.com/AppCannon