Information Bridge Framework

My next mission

Patrick Tisseghem — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:20:00 GMT

These days I get a lot of questions about what I will do after SharePoint 2007. Been busy with it more than a year now and of course there still are a lot of challenges for me but one of the things I will devote a lot of time to is the forthcoming LOBi framework (that is the follow-up of the Information Bridge Framework - IBF). From what I have learned so far this is definitely going to rocko. Interested in getting a first initial impression? Microsoft put up a Business Applications Portal site containing lots of material to get you started.

Update: Well.. I have to revise my mission :). I just received news from MS Press that I will be busy the next 8 months writing the 'Inside MOSS 2007' book.

Belux Information Worker User Group (BIWUG)

Patrick Tisseghem — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:17:00 GMT

I am back from a relaxing two weeks of vacation in the Ardeche in France. Beautiful region with plenty of nice little villages to visit, nougat, of course excellent wine and plenty of sun. Tomorrow I will leave for 3 days to Cyprus visiting a friend there and help him in a new project. But after that, it is back to the real stuff. The first thing planned is the start of a new user group here in Belgium/Luxemburg. We have baptised it as the Belux Information Worker User Group (BIWUG) and as its name suggests, the goal is to unite the Belux community doing great work in the field of the information worker technologies. Meet every month, discuss technologies, products, community work, organize a couple of major events and put together a Web site with great resources. So, if you are living in Belgium or Luxemburg and are interested in staying up-to-date on the progress of our work, register yourself on our temporary SharePoint site over here. The first public BIWUG meeting will be the scheduled the week after PDC. And since, a lot of us are going to be there in LA, we will have a lot of stuff to share!

Information Bridge Framework 1.5 Webcasts

Patrick Tisseghem — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 06:48:00 GMT

IBF is still alive-and-kicking for those of you who have doubts. I am sure that Microsoft will release pretty soon more information on the path IBF will take in the future. Starting in August, 4 Webcasts will be available:

Information Bridge Framework (Part 1 of 4): Business Logic and Architecture Overview (Level 200) - Monday, August 15, 2005
This is the first in a four-part series of webcasts highlighting key concepts for developing Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework (IBF) solutions. This webcast provides an overview of both the business logic and the architecture of the IBF. Using the IBF, you can develop powerful solutions that connect Microsoft Office System programs to line-of-business systems in an intuitive, cost-effective way. These solutions enable information workers to view, retrieve, and act on critical line-of-business information from within familiar, widely used Office applications.
Information Bridge Framework (Part 2 of 4): Guidelines for Building Web Services (Level 200) - Tuesday, August 16, 2005
In the previous webcast we gave an overview of the business logic and architecture in Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework (IBF). This webcast is part two of our series on developing solutions for the IBF. We show you how to construct your Web services so that they are accessible through the IBF to Microsoft Office System based applications across your enterprise. Join us for part three where we discuss how to understand and manipulate the metadata, which is essential for any core solution using the IBF.
Information Bridge Framework (Part 3 of 4): Metadata (Level 200) - Wednesday, August 17, 2005
how to understand and manipulate the metadata that is essential for any core solution using the IBF. Learn how IBF metadata allows you to define service operations, business entities, and user interface elements. The discussion includes demonstrations that take you through the steps necessary to implement a typical action pipeline, define user interface operations, define transformations, and build menus.
Information Bridge Framework (Part 4 of 4): User Interface Development and Smart Tags (Level 200) - Thursday, August 18, 2005
This final webcast in our series on developing for the Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework (IBF) shows you how to design the user interface elements of an IBF-enabled solution. Learn how to use the Information Bridge task pane and implement custom smart tag recognizers.

I am also very excited to again deliver an IBF workshop Thursday and Friday with a nicely filled classroom of IBF enthousiasts.

Whitepaper download - Digital Work Style: The New World of Work

Patrick Tisseghem — Sat, 21 May 2005 04:41:00 GMT

[Via Mark] Microsoft has made available a whitepaper titled 'Digital Work Style: The New World of Work' outlines key trends taking place in the changing working place, important technologies that will influence how we work, and how Microsoft will play a leadership role in driving the next wave of productivity in information work.

Specifically, five key focus areas of Office 12 are outlined, including individual impact, collaboration, knowledge discovery and insight, enterprise content lifecycle, and information solutions & IT fundamentals.

IBF and Navision

Patrick Tisseghem — Fri, 20 May 2005 19:54:00 GMT

Yves Kerwyn, our local MS hero has another presentation on IBF next monday. He has also a blog and posted today a posting on how IBF and Navision can work together.

IBF and Internet Explorer

Patrick Tisseghem — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:32:00 GMT

A small not very well-known new functionality coming with IBF 1.5 is the possibility to activate the IBF Information Window from a hyperlink in a Web page. IBF 1.5 comes with a new protocol handler. This protocol handler is not active when you finished the installation. You have to go to the Information Bridge Settings Manager (in your administrative tools) and activate it manually:

Thing to do now is to create a hyperlink in a Web page that uses the new handler:

<A href="ibf:v1/Microsoft.Solutions.SampleSolution.SR/ServiceRequest/ ServiceRequestDetails/Xsd.TicketNumber%20(urn-SampleSolution-Data)/ref?root=
TicketNumber&xmlns=urn-SampleSolution-Data&Id=SR178787">Show ticket SR178787</A>

People can now click on the hyperlink and bam! the information window is displayed in IE. Showing this to an audience always grabs the attention.

Yves Kerwyn's new blog - IBF and Axapta

Patrick Tisseghem — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:27:00 GMT

One of the most active Belux MS people has 'finally' revived his old blog. Yves Kerwyn moved to blogs.msdn.com and has posted a first very interesting topic about IBF and Axapta. Keep on the good work Yves!

Update on my Office smart client tour

Patrick Tisseghem — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:33:00 GMT

Sitting here in the airport of Paris, I have finished my 7th smart client ascend training now. The last two days was a nice experience for me. I am not doing a lot of sessions in French. It is a very beautiful language and I have studied French for more than 10 years in school but presenting Office smart client technologies in French is not to be underestimated. Luckily my students helped me a lot and appreciated my efforts to do the session in their native language. Flying now to Stockholm to do one more (this time in English :)). Three more to go and then I will look back at a very nice experience I will remember for a long time.

Make a SQL Server Table accessible in the taskpane of MS Office applications via XML/IBF in 10 simple steps

Patrick Tisseghem — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 21:00:00 GMT

For all of you Belgian IBF lovers.. here is a great session to attend:

April 13, 2005:

Make a SQL Server Table accessible in the taskpane of MS Office applications via XML/IBF in 10 simple steps
Yves Kerwyn, Partner Technology Specialist from Microsoft Belgium & Luxembourg

IBF is a framework to ‘connect’ MS Office 2003 as a front end to any backend system, be it a contemporary ERP system or a legacy database environment. The implementation of such a ‘bridge’ between MS Office and a backend system can be completely realized by configuration and without any real coding. IBF however is based on a XML/Webservices model and this means that webservices have to be setup on the backend system compliant to a number of rules. This will not always be a simple and easy task. In many cases, however, a simple ‘link’ between MS Office and a database will already improve end-user productivity a lot. Imagine you can easily lookup customer info or product data from within the task pane of MS Office. Imagine that (in case SQL Server is used as database) this can easily be done in a limited number of steps within a short time frame. In this session you will learn how to do just that.

Reserve your seat here.

IBF 1.5 Walkthrough

Patrick Tisseghem — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 08:24:00 GMT

[Via Mohammed]

A first part of an IBF 1.5 walkthrough is available from the code project.