Overview

The DataExport tool is a web service that can be configured to collect, format and deliver internal data to 3rd-party vendors. It is intended to be run from inside the network of organization who is providing the data (e.g. the college).

Requirements

• .NET Framework 4 (the Full platform, not the Client)
• ASP.NET MVC3 (you may also need to see this article)
• Visual Studio 2012 (later versions will probably work)
• NuGet Package Manager (included in Visual Studio) - for various other 3rd-party libraries
• CtcApi - included via Bellevue College's NuGet package server.

Optional

The following are not required, stricly speaking, but will greatly improve your development experience with this project. Some features and/or functionality may also be unavailable without the following.

• Red-Gate's SQL Developer Bundle - Visual Studio will complain that it cannot open the DataExport.DB project without this installed, but the files can - and should - still be modified and managed via source control. The included *.sdc data migration project files also require these tools. Database installation, setup, deployment and synchronization will need to be managed manually.
• ReSharper - Some of the source code contains ReSharper comments that temporarily disable specific code suggestions. Please do not remove these.
• Git Source Control Provider - This solution uses this 3rd-party provider instead of the Git support build into Visual Studio 2012. (This is primarily a legacy decision.)

The projects

• Database - DataExport.DB
• Web service - DataExport.WS
• Unit tests - Test.DataExport.WS

DataExport.DB

This project template is provided by the Red Gate SQL Connect product, which allows managing an MS SQL Server database as files, integration w/ source control.

DataExport.WS

NOTE: If you are using CAS for Single Sign-On (our current configuration), you will need to set up IIS on your local machine, so that the app is hosted at http://localhost/dataexport. CAS login WILL NOT work with Visual Studio's built-in web server.

Important files/folders

• _configSource - Location for configuration settings that are specific to your organization. Use the EXAMPLE-___.config files as a guide to creating your own. The Web.config file contains references to these files, and the application WILL NOT run without them.
• SupportFiles - Location for files needed for the application, such as SSH keys.
• Templates - The application will look here for XSLT files used in formatting data.

Test.DataExport.WS

The project contains unit tests for the DataExport.WS project.

The unit tests for SFTP delivery make use of the Moq framework to create mock objects which simulate actual SFTP transfers. This helps accomplish the following:

• Speeds up the execution of unit tests, as they are not having to actually traverse network resources.
• Eliminates false negatives due to network issues that may be out of the developer's control.
• Eliminates reliance on tests coded to organization-specific settings.
• Removed organization-specific code and configuration from the project.

See also

• BellevueCollege/CtcApi library.