Configuring SpecFlow for XUnit using new-style csproj
by Matthew Adams
While you cannot yet use SpecFlow with netcore or netstandard projects, you can use new-style (dotnet) test projects that target net461, and reference netstandard projects-under-test from there. We like to use XUnit as the underlying test provider in this scenario, and we do the following: Install the current SpecFlow VS 2017 extension into VS 2017 […]
Using Python inside SQL Server
by Ed Freeman
Hello everyone. Before Christmas I played around with SQL Server 2017’s inline Python integration capability. This capability was announced early last year, with the corresponding integration with R already being possible for a number of months. The main benefits from this are the abilities to: Eliminate data movement (having to transfer data samples from a database to […]
Snap Back to Reality – Month 2 & 3 of my Apprenticeship
by Ed Freeman
Hello again, everyone. For those who read my blog a couple of months ago, you may well have been expecting to hear from me a little sooner. Well – I was hoping that would be the case, but it turns out my body had other ideas. I was off for 8 weeks after my appendix […]
How we set up daily Azure spending alerts and saved $10k
by Mike Larah
One of the great benefits of Azure (and the Cloud in general) is the simplicity with which you can create and scale resources. The downside to this is that you can easily lose track what you’ve got deployed, or accidentally create expensive items and leave them running. We wanted a way to track our spending […]
We’re talking about Cosmos DB at Future Decoded 2017!
by Howard van Rooijen
We’re very excited to announce that at Future Decoded on 01 November from 11:30 – 12:30 in L3 – Session Room 11, we’re going to be sharing our experiences with Cosmos DB! Co-presenting with Microsoft’s Phil Harvey, endjin’s Director of Engineering, James Broome and Engineer Mike Larah are going to provide an overview of Cosmos […]
Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” is the prequel to Satya Nadella’s “Hit Refresh”
by Howard van Rooijen
Over the last few week’s I’ve been catching up on my reading backlog and serendipity meant that I read Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action” which was published in 2009, shortly followed by Satya Nadella’s “Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future […]
My first month as an apprentice at endjin
by Ed Freeman
A little over 10 months ago I wrote a blog which reflected on my summer internship at endjin. Now, a little over 10 months later, I’m sitting in the same office one month into my Software Engineer Apprenticeship after having completed my Maths degree and choosing to come and join the team here, for good. […]
How to choose the right .NET technology or “learn to stop worrying and love NetStandard2.0”
by Matthew Adams
The diversification of .NET technologies – from Windows Desktop Applications using WPF and WinForms, UWP, ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core, “portable” libraries, the various flavours of .NET Standard, .NET Core (and portable executables on MacOS and Linux) – have brought with them incompatibilities, and a huge problem with older (but well-used) libraries that aren’t built for […]
Kickstart your API proposition with the API Maturity Matrix
by Howard van Rooijen
Digital Transformation is the buzzword of the moment; organisations are trying to reconfigure themselves to operate in the digital age. One of the key enablement strategies involves putting APIs at the heart of the organisation to centralise access to data, logic and value, while removing those traditional barriers that prevent collaboration between organisational silos. APIs […]
How to plan your cloud transformation journey
by Howard van Rooijen
This week I received an email from someone who asked how they could use our free Thought Leadership content to help their organisation move to the cloud. I realised that although we’ve released a lot of content, we’d never talked publicly about the rationale behind them and how they are all interconnected. Our Thought Leadership […]
Azure Tech Selector – 2017 Edition
by Matthew Adams
A couple of years ago we put together the Azure Tech Selector – a handy poster which walks you through the technology choices you can make for common cloud workloads. Now, two years later, the number of services provided in the Azure ecosystem has multiplied (and the types of workload have become more sophisticated). Revisiting […]
Best of the Recorded Azure Sessions at BUILD 2017
by Howard van Rooijen
For this week’s edition of our Azure Weekly Newsletter, I reviewed all the Azure related sessions from BUILD that are now available on Channel 9 and categorised them into the standard grouping we use for Azure Weekly. If you’re not a subscriber, I’ve included the list below: Compute Container apps on Azure App Service are […]
10 ways working with Microsoft helped endjin grow over the last 7 years
by Howard van Rooijen
At the start of 2017 James Broome, endjin’s Director of Engineering was asked to give a talk to the latest Collider cohort about how Microsoft can help start-ups via the BizSpark programme. After the event we were asked by the Microsoft UK Small and Medium Business team if we would like to be interviewed about […]
2 Day Microsoft Bot Framework Hackathon with Watchfinder
by Howard van Rooijen
Jonathan Gill CTO, Watchfinder Jonathan Gill is CTO at Watchfinder. Watchfinder buys watches from members of the public, returns them to as new condition, warranties them, and sells them back to the public via their website and retail stores. They have grown to 120+ staff, and turnover £70 million per year. On the 3rd of […]
My final year as a software engineering apprentice at endjin
by Alice Waddicor
This month, I’ve completed my three year apprenticeship at endjin – a big landmark in a journey that started with enrolling on a computing MSc several years ago. Endjin’s apprenticeship is a custom programme which aims to bridge the gap between new entrant and competent developer. The scheme was set up in recognition of the […]
Creating a PowerBI report with DirectQuery and multiple SQL Database sources using Elastic Query
by Alice Waddicor
This post explains how to create a PowerBI report which sources data from two separate Azure SQL Databases. PowerBI offers two data access mechanisms; Import and DirectQuery. DirectQuery provides a range of benefits, the chief of which is that data is automatically refreshed. DirectQuery doesn’t import any data into PowerBI, instead it queries the data […]
Benchmarking the Cloud against on-premise data centres
by Howard van Rooijen
Guest Blogger – Barry Smart IT Director & Partner, Hymans Robertson Barry is IT Director at Hymans Robertson, the largest independent firm of consultants and actuaries in the UK. He is responsible for leading the firm’s technology strategy. The firm is turning increasingly to technology to enhance and extend the services it provides to clients. […]
Is JavaScript still dead?
by Matthew Adams
TLDR; Yes. But its successor is still called JavaScript, except when it isn’t. The long, slow death and resurrection of JavaScript Back in my 2015 programming languages post I observed that, while JavaScript had pushed its way back into the top 10 programming languages, over at TIOBE, it was still a dead language walking. My reasoning was […]
Top Gadget Purchases of 2016
by Howard van Rooijen
TLDR; I’m surprised how much Amazon based hardware I’ve purchased in 2016– they’ve become the conduit that all my entertainment comes through. Amazon Fire TV 4K Ultra HD I thought I’d end the year with a look at some of the tech I’ve acquired over the last 12 months. First up is the Amazon Fire […]
A Bit of a Christmas Do in the Country with Benchpeg
by Paul Waller
Benchpeg – Supporting the work of the Jeweller since 2006 Earlier this year endjin redesigned the Benchpeg website that had previously been hosted on a decade-old content platform that was beginning to creak and groan. One of our main aims was to halve the day-to-day workload for generating content, and streamline the process of producing a weekly […]