Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Outdated Technology: When to Build New vs ...

All IT leaders face challenges of outdated technology. Sometimes it’s time to build or buy a new application. But nowadays, it might make more sense to refresh the new old one. I explore those challenges and provide real client examples where I’ve used low code to help in both cases.

Outdated Technology: When to Build New vs Refresh the Old
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Does SAP's acquisition of No-Code Developer ...

I share my thoughts on the recent acquisition of AppGyver by SAP and how that does or doesn’t relate to their SOLEX partner, Mendix.

Does SAP's acquisition of No-Code Developer AppGyver hurt their SOLEX partner Siemens Mendix?
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Is Rapid App Development essential in the ...

The world is battling a war on two fronts: our health is threatened by COVID-19 and our economies have slowed and even stopped in certain sectors. As an App Developer, does my work really matter in such times?

Is Rapid App Development essential in the current climate?
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
What makes a Great Rapid App Developer?

After years of delivering, leading, and coaching leaders in Rapid App Development, I give you my perspective on what skills and profile it takes to be a ‘Great’ RAD Maker.

What makes a Great Rapid App Developer?
Mendix
Nolan Ramsey
Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix Revisited

It’s been 1 year since I first wrote the post, “Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix?” and a lot has changed. Because of the changes, this older post has gotten a lot of renewed interest so I thought I would take a look at my opinions from a year ago and see if they differ. If you haven’t already, please refer to the original article to have context for this one.

IT should be an expert “SWAT” team with precise skills to tackle the toughest app challenges, not a bottleneck to solving business problems.

Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix Revisited

Microflow

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Mendix Best Practices - Microflows

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Mendix Best Practices - Microflows

When I reach out and ask the community what they would like me to share, I primarily get asked for Best Practices. For a time I have rejected the idea of sharing those in too much detail as I consider Best Practices to be part of the value proposition of a consultant practice. It's taken years to forge and sharpen those practices and they therefore have value. We continue to challenge those and update as new scenarios, tools, and skills evolve over time. But I continued to think about this and have had a change of opinion.

Pattern Recognition and Optimization in Mendix

Pattern Recognition and Optimization in Mendix

I recently received a few requirements for a project related to security of passwords.

  1. If a user attempts to change their password and reuse three of the same characters in sequence, the password change should be rejected.

    1. Example: ‘!abc1abc4’ is rejected because ‘abc’ is repeated somewhere in the string

  2. If a user attempts to change their password and has in common a 6-character sequence with their user name, the password change should be rejected

    1. Example: User name = ‘pgriffin’ and the new password is ‘!3riffin#$’, it is rejected because ‘riffin’ is consistant in both

In this post I will detail how I solved it with one microflow and then how I optimized it. If you like to dive into the weeds, read along!

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Reporting with Mendix Document Templates - Alternative to the 'Report Pane'

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Reporting with Mendix Document Templates - Alternative to the 'Report Pane'

There will come a point during your project where the users will start to ask about getting information back out of this new, slick Mendix application that they are all putting data into. As a BI professional, I’m not talking about OLAP models and prediction modeling. OLTP (On-Line Transactional Processing) applications like the ones you build with Mendix are all about data capture and workflow transformation. But every mature application offers its users some ability to report on the information within it. I’m going to describe one method I use for building these reports in this post, so if that interests you read on!

How can code execute correctly sometimes, and incorrectly others?

How can code execute correctly sometimes, and incorrectly others?

This past week I encountered a problem that I was at my wits end to solve. The problems was this: Randomly, a process wouldn't work. The same code was getting executed by the press of a button, but sometimes it just wouldn't work. Was something wrong with the engine in the Cloud since it always worked in local testing?  After a brief discussion with a few members of Mendix’s own Success Team, we were able to find the root cause and redesign to care for the issue. Read on and hopefully I'll save you from some similar headaches.