Low-Code Development Is Awesome--Here’s When Not to Use It

Low-code development makes it easier and faster to write software, but there are 5 things about low-code platforms that should give companies pause.
by Christopher Tozzi via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

10 Future Technology Predictions to Watch in 2019

Our team at ITPro Today talks to industry experts about their future technology predictions, and share how these trends will impact storage, mobility and cybersecurity.
by Jeffrey Burt, Paul Heltzel, Nicole Henderson, Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Talking T-SQL (among Many Other Enterprise SQL Server Topics)

Microsoft experts discuss the current state of cloud adoption, T-SQL enhancements, the evolution of enterprise SQL Server performance tuning and mentorship.
by Tim Ford via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

The 12 Tips of ConfigMas

'Twas the night before ConfigMas, when all through the house, not a keyboard was clicking, not even a mouse ...
by Adaptiva Guest Blogger via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Join Sympraxis Consulting at the SharePoint Conference North America in May, 2019

Beginner’s Guide to AWS Security Monitoring

As organizations around the world shift their workloads to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other popular cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) providers, concerns about cloud security continue to rise. According to a 2018 Cloud Security Report from
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Top 10 PCI DSS Compliance Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Despite the fact that PCI DSS has been in effect for over a decade, and most merchants are achieving compliance, some of the world’s largest retailers have still been hit by data breaches. The sad truth is that achieving compliance doesn’t guarantee
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

2018 Threat Intelligence Report

Threat intelligence has become a significant weapon in the fight against cybersecurity threats, and a large majority of organizations have made it a key part of their security programs. This threat intelligence report, produced by Cybersecurity Insid
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Detect Advanced Threats with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

As malicious actors target endpoints with new types of attacks designed to evade traditional antivirus tools, security teams are looking to endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions for an additional layer of security. In this solution brief, y
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

5G Wireless Service, GDPR Laying the Groundwork for 2019

Two of the biggest stories of 2018 will likely be bigger in 2019. Specifically, we saw the first U.S. cities get 5G wireless service from major carriers, with more devices sure to follow in 2019. The privacy law GDPR took effect in 2018, in what looks to be the just the tip of the privacy crackdown iceberg.
by Paul Heltzel via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

How to Classify Files with File Server Resource Manager

Windows Server’s native File Server Resource Manager allows administrators to classify files in order to simplify management.
by Brien Posey via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

802.11ax: Benefits, Challenges and Use Cases

Date: Tuesday, April 09, 2019Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight TimeDuration: 1 hour IEEE 802.11ax – also becoming known as Wi-Fi 6 – is the latest in a long line of major physical-layer standards for wireless LAN (WLAN) technology. Incorporating a rema
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

DTP: The Future of Data Transfer?

Tech heavyweights have teamed up on the Data Transfer Project, which is designed to make it easier for users to take ownership of data.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

New Year – New Skills! Save 33% on Pluralsight Subscriptions!

Boxing Day is on and Pluralsight is back at it with a 33% off promotion! If you’re new or want to renew, you can get a 1-year subscription to all 600 + courses for as low as 199$ or 299$ on the Premium one which also includes Certification Practice Exams! If you already know about Pluralsight, skip the rest of the blog and get the deal over here: https://spvlad.com/PSBoxingDay2018

If you are a SharePoint person, there are over 200 courses on SharePoint 2013, 2016 and Online, as well as 90 courses on Office 365! Not to mention multiple learning paths for Certifications, as well as general learning! You even have Skill IQ, which allows you to do a test on a certain skill, and then shows you courses on only the things that you didn’t get correct, so you can focus your learning on the stuff that you need!

The promotion is only valid until December 31^st so get it now at https://spvlad.com/PSBoxingDay2018 !

The post New Year – New Skills! Save 33% on Pluralsight Subscriptions! appeared first on Absolute SharePoint Blog by Vlad Catrinescu.

by Vlad Catrinescu via Absolute SharePoint Blog by Vlad Catrinescu

Blockchain-Optimized Storage Addresses Performance, Security Concerns

Bluzelle CEO discusses where blockchain breaks down when it comes to data storage and integrity, and how a decentralized architecture can help.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

SPJS Charts v7.0.0.14

Fixed a small bug and added some new functionality. You find the complete change log here: https://spjsblog.com/spjs-charts-for-sharepoint/spjs-charts-for-sharepoint-v7-change-log/

Alexander

by Alexander Bautz via SharePoint JavaScripts

What Apple and Google Know about You--and How to Delete It

Apple and Google know more about us than most people realize, and they've recently provided ways to "take back your data."
by Paul Heltzel via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

AT&T Rolls out Mobile 5G Network to Limited Cities

AT&T and Verizon provided a taste of mobile 5G this year, with more widespread coverage expected in 2019.
by Paul Heltzel via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

What we Got Right (and Wrong) in Our 2018 Predictions

The ITPro Today team looks back to the claims we made on the cusp of 2018 to see how they panned out this year.
by Christine Hall, Richard Hay, Nicole Henderson, Lisa Schmeiser via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

How to Implement File System Quotas in Windows Server

Organizations can curb data growth by placing quotas on their file servers. Here's how to set up File System Quotas in Windows Server.
by Brien Posey via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Enterprise Hardware Lifespan: Why My SSD Still Works After 6 Years

The biggest lesson learned from my SSD's long life may be more about enterprise hardware lifespan best practices and less about the SSD itself.
by Brien Posey via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Data Is Your Story: The Language of Data Infrastructure Modernization

A look at the key trends driving the modernization of the data infrastructure, focusing on governance, mobilization and analytics.
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Recent Security Breaches, IoT Vulnerabilities Make Top Stories of 2018

From the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities to recent security breaches, 2018 was a year in cybersecurity that had its share of ups and downs.
by Jeffrey Burt via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Speaking at SharePoint Conference 2019!

SharePoint Conference is back in Las Vegas in May 2019! SPC19 is one of two major Microsoft events where Microsoft announces their roadmap for SharePoint and of course the full Office 365 collaboration suite! This promises to be an amazing conference, with all sorts of announcements, deep dive technical sessions and of course great networking! There will be over 100 of the best speakers at the event, some of which you can probably recognize from the picture below, and even if the conference has SharePoint in its name, it will cover Office 365, Planner, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Flow, Yammer, and almost all the products in Office 365 that interreact in a way or another with SharePoint!

My Sessions!

I will be presenting two sessions, so let me introduce them quickly!

From start to finish: How to create your modern SharePoint site provisioning solution

I am excited to be doing this session on modern site provisioning with my good friend and MVP Drew Madelung! Here is the official description, and I won’t go too much in depth with the details as we have created a small video that explains it all!

Creating modern SharePoint sites only takes a second, but what if you want to customize or control that process? It can be a challenge to keep up with all the sites in an organization and can affect support and governance of a SharePoint environment. In this session, learn how to use Microsoft’s latest tools such as Site Designs, PnP Site Provisioning, PowerApps and Flow to create a full site provisioning system with custom templates, custom branding, and easy approval before creation!

Enable secure external sharing for the Office 365 Administrator

Does the idea of your users sharing content externally keep you up at night? Join me in this demo-filled session to learn what security controls Office 365 and SharePoint Online offer in order to enable users to securely share content in SharePoint Online. We will cover everything from settings available in the Office 365 admin center, to hidden ones that are only available in PowerShell, and of course, how to create different reports of external users in Office 365 and what they have access to. Users are smart, and if we disable external sharing, they will find a way, most probably using tools that are not approved by IT to get the job done! The end goal is for Administrators to enable external sharing in their Office 365 tenant in order to allow users to be productive, but still have full control over what is shared and with whom.

 

A unique chance of networking with Microsoft

SharePoint Conference 2019 will be a great opportunity for you to have direct access to the Microsoft Product Group! Last year, there were over 100 members of the different Product Groups, from SharePoint to Yammer to Stream and even SharePoint Spaces that you could book meetings with, ask specific questions and get help on the big projects you have in 2019!

Also, don’t forget to register as soon as possible, because the price will go up as we get closer to the conference! The early bird ends on January 14^th, and you can save an additional 50$ with code VLAD. If you sign up for a workshop package, you can also bring some sweet gadgets home such as a Xbox One or a Cortana Smart Speaker! Register today at: https://sharepointna.com/#!/register?utm_term=VLAD !

The post Speaking at SharePoint Conference 2019! appeared first on Absolute SharePoint Blog by Vlad Catrinescu.

by Vlad Catrinescu via Absolute SharePoint Blog by Vlad Catrinescu

New Types of Data Storage Support Rapid Growth in 2018

The year in storage news can best be summed up with types of data storage brought by advances in hardware that will allow IT organizations to keep abreast of the terabytes of data they're managing both on-site and in the cloud.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Start a Security To-Do List

Protecting an organization depends on deep knowledge and experience, but a security to-do list can go a long way toward locking things down.
by Tom Henderson via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

CommentBox for SharePoint v3.0.0.5

I have released a new version of CommentBox for SharePoint with a few bugfixes.

Look here for the complete change log: https://spjsblog.com/commentbox-for-sharepoint/commentbox-v3-x-change-log/

Post any comments below, but please post bugs or questions in the forum: https://spjsblog.com/forums/forum/comment-box-for-sharepoint/

Alexander

by Alexander Bautz via SharePoint JavaScripts

Microsoft Continues Building an Open Source Software Legacy

In a year when Microsoft has added a lot to the open source software landscape, it is closing out 2018 with one last addition to its open source contributions and work. Also: information about merging data between G Suite applications; Microsoft's work to make modern desktop management more efficient.
by Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Delayed Flight? Honeywell May Have a Fix

Honeywell has a vision for using technology to improve air travel and stake out a leading position in the burgeoning field of connected aircraft.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Drone Industry Fears Political Attack After Gatwick Shutdown

Analysts and executives are concerned that political reaction may hinder the rapid growth of the drone industry.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

2018 in Machine Learning News: A Year of Reckoning

In a lot of ways, machine learning news in 2018 suggests a year of reckoning with the technological advancements of preceding years. The push toward driverless vehicles slowed after a death; ethical concerns about AI were addressed by no less than Microsoft and Google; ML-driven tech became increasingly ubiquitous at home and at work, even as people grew increasingly concerned about data protection.
by Terri Coles via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

IBM Says No Evidence That `Sensitive' Data Was Taken by Hackers

International Business Machines Corp. says it doesn’t have any evidence that hackers took “sensitive” company and client information after Reuters reported China’s Ministry of State Security attacked IBM and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Facebook's Spiraling Data Issues Could Lead to Billions in Fines

Facebook, bound by a 2011 settlement with the FTC, isn’t supposed to share private data without the permission of users or misrepresent its privacy policies. But a New York Times report earlier this week said Facebook shared users’ private messages and allowed access to data about friends without their consent. Those are "two potentially thorny legal problems," according to Matthew Schettenhelm, a Bloomberg Intelligence litigation analyst.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Security Analytics: Benefits and Best Practices for Deploying

Security analytics offer a comprehensive, automated system for staying on top of security alerts and events. What should your IT team keep in mind when researching and deploying these tools?
by Joan Goodchild via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Learn the Benefits and Drawbacks of Edge Computing

This exciting technology can extend compute power to places and scenarios previously considered unimaginable – but it carries some very real risks.
by Stuart Burns via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

The Seven Steps of the DevOps Lifecycle Process

A well implemented devops process should mean delivering better code, faster. But getting it right does mean investing in an appropriate process. Here’s a framework for seven steps to successful devops.
by Simon Bisson via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Four Data Center Colocation Trends to Watch in 2019

Colo providers expect a surge in enterprise business driven by hybrid cloud and new, modern tools for consuming their services.
by Yevgeniy Sverdlik via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Samsung Foldable Phone: Apps Will 'Tell' Form Factor's Future

The long-awaited Samsung foldable phone is poised for release, but how long will it take for a critical mass of apps for the form factor to appear?
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

How to Detect Cryptomining in your Environment

Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2019Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Standard TimeDuration: 1 hour Cryptominers are built to turn computing power into revenue. To make cryptomining a profitable venture, cyber criminals are writing and distributing malware to stea
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Data Replication, Automatic Failover Drive University's Search for New Storage Solutions

Pittsburg State University seeks new storage solutions that will help it move from time-based replication to synchronous replication.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

4 Online SQL Server Help Resources for DBAs ('Accidental' and Otherwise)

There are several good online SQL Server options DBAs can turn to for advice, support and help.
by Tim Ford via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Confluent Creates New 'Open Source' License to Stop Cloud Poaching

As they attempt to fight the onslaught of cloud giants selling their software as managed services, open source companies devise new licensing restrictions.
by Christine Hall via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Enabled HTTPS protocol for SPJSBlog.com

I have added an automatic rewrite of all URLs to use HTTPS. This mean the site is not only accessible trough the secure HTTPS protocol. All existing links will automatically be rewritten so the users should not experience any issues.

Please post any comments below.

Alexander

by Alexander Bautz via SharePoint JavaScripts

CommentBox for SharePoint v3.0.0.4

I have released a new version of CommentBox for SharePoint with a few bugfixes.

Look here for the complete change log: http://spjsblog.com/commentbox-for-sharepoint/commentbox-v3-x-change-log/

Post any comments below, but please post bugs or questions in the forum: http://spjsblog.com/forums/forum/comment-box-for-sharepoint/

Alexander

by Alexander Bautz via SharePoint JavaScripts

EU Investigating Report of Massive Hacking on Diplomatic Cables

The European Union is investigating "a potential leak of sensitive information" following a report that hackers breached the bloc’s diplomatic communications network.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Modernizing Your SQL Databases with HCI and Workload Optimization

Date: Thursday, January 17, 2019Time: 11:30 AM Eastern Standard TimeDuration: 1 hour Sponsored by We live in a data-driven society. that is experiencing tremendous growth. 33 Zettabytes (ZB) in 2018 to 175 ZB by 2025. The other big challenge isn't j
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Windows 10 Security: How to Configure Advanced Security Features

Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2019Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight TimeDuration: 1 hour System and information security are critical elements of doing business in today’s connected world. As more companies dive deeper into digital transformations, more d
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

SharePoint Online Search Isn’t Displaying What I Expect – Part 2 – EnableDynamicGroups

This occasional series probably ought to be titled “How to solve a search problem by asking Mikael Svenson” (@MikaelSvenson), but he probably doesn’t want to be the world’s help desk for search. Luckily, I know him.

In my previous post, I showed how to simplify your code by using PnPJS and async/await. I didn’t focus much on what I was trying to accomplish. The goal of the search call was to get a list of all the sites (STS_Site) which the current user could access. We’ve built a My Team Sites SPFx Web Part and this call is in the services for it.

Over several weeks, we’ve been trying to get the Web Part to display what we want – which wasn’t as simple as we would have thought. If you work with the search APIs all the time, these things may be old hat to you, but since there is usually a big gap in between the times I use them, my memory can get a little fuzzy.

In the prior post in this series, I talked about how the way that the search API trims duplicates – which may make total sense in many ad hoc search results – can cause you to miss results you actually need. By setting TrimDuplicates to false, we can ask the search API to return all the results.

We ran into another search “feature” in this instance. Since we’re trying to retrieve all the sites to which the current user has access, we’re asking the search API to return objects where contentclass=STS_Site. I’d already turn off duplicate trimming – can’t catch me twice on that! But we still weren’t getting all of the sites back. Even more strangely, we were getting some modern sites back, but not others. The sites we were getting back and those we weren’t were darn near identical in their set up and use. Because they represented a project covering a specific scientific topic, the names of the sites were almost identical.

Here’s an abstraction of what we were seeing:

	Site 1	Site 2
Site Type	Modern Team Site	Modern Team Site
URL	/sites/SITE-CHR-204	/sites/SITE-CHR-207
Title	SITE-CHR-204	SITE-CHR-207
Permissions*	Owner	Owner
contentclass	STS_Site	STS_Site

* In this case, my permissions as I was testing, but we checked with a few other people’s views as well.

As you can see, the only difference we could spot was the single character difference in the Title and URL for the site. Duplicate trimming could certainly have kicked in there, but we had already turned that off. (If you have any ideas of what else might be different, I’m all ears!)

After a discussion with Mikael, he suggested adding EnableDynamicGroups to the call. Magical – it worked! I can’t for the life of me understand why it worked, since we were seeing probably a good half of the modern Team Sites already, but since it worked, I guess we should just be happy with that. As Mikael told me, “turn off duplicate trimming and add that, and things usually work.”

If you’re using PnPJS and async/await- as I recommended in my prior post, then the change is in lines 14-20. We’ve simply added the EnableDynamicGroups property and set it to true.

private async _getSiteData(): Promise<ISPSite[]> {

    var thisDomain: string = location.host.split(".")[0];
    var exclusions: string[] = ["https://" + thisDomain + "-my.sharepoint.com", "https://" + thisDomain + ".sharepoint.com/portals/personal"];
    var exclusionString: string = " -Path:" + exclusions.join(" -Path:");
    exclusionString += " -Path=https://" + thisDomain + ".sharepoint.com";

    try {

      let result = await sp.search(<SearchQuery>{
        Querytext: "contentclass:sts_site " + exclusionString,
        RowLimit: 500,
        TrimDuplicates: false,
        Properties: [{
          Name:"EnableDynamicGroups",
          Value: {
            BoolVal: true,
            QueryPropertyValueTypeIndex: QueryPropertyValueType.BooleanType
          }
        }],
        SelectProperties: ["Title", "Path", "SiteLogo"]
      });

      return this.processSearchResults(result);

    } catch (e) {

      console.error(e);
      return null;

    }

  }

by Marc D Anderson via Marc D Anderson's Blog

Service Meshes are Getting Hot in the Enterprise, and VMware Is Listening

Bringing the Istio service mesh to its network virtualization platform, VMware is hitting three strategic priorities at once.
by Mary Branscombe via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

AWS Is Coming to Enterprise Data Centers, With or Without VMware

In a departure from its previous strategy, AWS is going for the on-prem data center market. What does the move mean for its partnership with VMware?
by Wylie Wong via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

GE Creates New Independently-Managed IoT Business

With its stock valuation continuing to sag, the company is looking for short-term revenue growth. To that end, it is creating a new stand-alone IoT software business.
by Brian Buntz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Oracle Sees Stronger Sales Growth in Cloud Transition

Oracle Corp.’s shares rose on a strong sales forecast, signaling the world’s second-largest software maker expects greater customer demand in its transition to cloud-based computing.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

A Preview of Bosch’s IoT Projects on Display at CES 2019

From driverless shuttles to smartphone-based vehicle keys, Bosch plans to show off an array of IoT projects at the CES 2019 exposition in Las Vegas.
by Brian Buntz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Ransomware Attack Victim: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

A dozen years after it was hit, ransomware attack victim A1care continues to search for and implement the latest and greatest in security software.
by Jeffrey Burt via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Infographic: Benefits of Migrating from ADFS to Okta

Organizations of all sizes are on a journey to the cloud, migrating their legacy software and adopting new cloud-based apps. Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) enables you to keep using Active Directory as your single source of tru
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Facebook Bug Gave Developers Broader Access to User Photos

The bug, which spanned the 12 days between Sept. 13 and Sept. 25, potentially gave developers access to other images, such as photos uploaded to the site but not yet posted, the Menlo Park, California-based firm said.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Removing the Identity Barrier for Office 365 Migrations

Migrating to Office 365 can present many challenges and delays. One of the greatest is the problem of identity. How do you easily connect your existing users, groups and other Exchange/Lync information in Active Directory to Office 365, and keep it u
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Benefits of Migrating from ADFS to Okta

Organizations of all sizes are on a journey to the cloud, migrating their legacy software and adopting new cloud-based apps. Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) enables you to keep using Active Directory as your single source of tru
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Deploying Mission-Critical Business Workloads on Hyperconverged Infrastructure

Hyperconverged holds out the promise of helping consolidate your infrastructure. It can seem like the “easy button” to deploying storage in remote locations or for VDI. But “easy” often comes with tradeoffs—like performance limitations that don’t sup
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

The State of Software-Defined Storage, Hyperconverged and Cloud Storage

DataCore’s Seventh Consecutive Market Survey
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

A Modern Approach to Protecting Business Data and Improving Application Performance

An organization’s data is at the core of all of its operational and service functions, and the amount of that data only continues to grow.  The need for quick access to the data is growing commensurately; companies today increasingly require the abil
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Smarter Storage Management Series

Organizations are creating huge amounts of data but how and where are they going to store it all?  Answers can be found in this eBook, which includes a series of thought provoking articles covering critical issues including storage silos, application
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Business Continuity for Mission-Critical Applications

Learn how to get the most out of your infrastructure
by via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Study Shows Disconnect Between Firstline Workers and Management

A Forrester Consulting survey conducted on behalf of Microsoft exposes a distinct disconnect between firstline workers and managers. The numbers show that managers believe they are providing the necessary tools for their workers but that is not the perception of those who work in public-facing positions. However, there is opportunity to improve the situation across IT. Also, in another survey from Pega Systems, it seems balance and consolidation is needed with those tools so that workers can be more productive.
by Lisa Schmeiser, Richard Hay via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Marriott Breach Exposes Weakness in Cyber Defenses for Hotels

There is a growing sense that an industry whose bedrock business is providing real-world security isn’t equipped to look after its guests in cyberspace.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Google's Cloud Unit Won't Sell a Type of Facial Recognition Tech

Google said its cloud business won’t sell a general type of facial recognition software until questions around the controversial technology have been answered.
by Bloomberg via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Is AWS Glacier Deep Archive the Tape Killer?

Bottomless cloud storage at cents per gigabyte for your cold tier might sound like the end of tape, but there’s more to consider than cost.
by Mary Branscombe via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Druva's CloudRanger Integration Helps Manage, Protect Workloads in the Cloud

As companies increase their workloads in the cloud, unified disaster recovery/business continuity becomes increasingly important.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

DNA Storage: Why the Stuff of Life Is Poised to Be the Stuff of Storage

DNA storage may prove to be optimal for archiving files that must be retained but will rarely (if ever) need to be accessed again.
by Karen D. Schwartz via IT Pro - Microsoft Windows Information, Solutions, Tools

Using PnPJS and Async/Await to Really Simplify Your API Calls

Anyone who knows us at Sympraxis realizes that Julie (@jfj1997) is the master developer. I consider myself quite capable, but Julie is always at least three steps ahead of me. She often leads me by the nose to a better pattern or practice, and it always seems to be a good idea.

Over the last few days – at Julie’s suggestion – I finally decided to try using the PnPJS library with a couple of SPFx Web Parts I’m working on. Even though I was on all the calls in the beginning of the effort to build it, and on some level it’s a “modern” SPServices, I decided a while back that I didn’t really like the way it looked. I understand REST just fine, I figured. Why would I need a helper library?

I’ve been cruising along just fine, building great stuff for our clients, but Julie started telling me recently that PnPJS and async/await was reducing her code size significantly. It sounded too good to be true, frankly. So I figured I should give it a try.

Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate how right Julie was and how much code I’ve been writing that I didn’t need to write. (Allow me to get away without doing everything I need to in the try/catch here. That’s not the point I’m trying to make. Watch for a post on Julie’s blog about how to use PnPJS’s Logging package with try/catch.)

Calling Search to Get Sites

In this instance, switching to PnPJS and async/await didn’t greatly diminish my code size, but I do think it makes it more readable. It also runs significantly faster.

Here’s the starting code. It’s a simple call to the search endpoint requesting Sites (as in Site Collections in the old parlance) with some specific exclusions. The Web Part this is in shows all the sites the current user has permissions to see. It’s like the modern Sites Web Part, but that Web Part doesn’t allow us to:

1. Show *all* the sites the user can access, and
2. Control the styling of the output

The end result is a listing of the sites, showing their icon and Title as a link to the site.

This is one of the data calls as it started:

private _getSiteData(): Promise<any> {

    var thisDomain: string = location.host.split(".")[0];
    var exclusions: string[] = ["https://" + thisDomain + "-my.sharepoint.com", "https://" + thisDomain + ".sharepoint.com/portals/personal"];
    var exclusionString: string = " -Path:" + exclusions.join(" -Path:");
    exclusionString += " -Path=https://bluebirdbio.sharepoint.com";

    var url: string = this.context.pageContext.web.absoluteUrl +
      "/_api/search/query" +
      "?querytext='contentclass:sts_site " + exclusionString + "'" +
      "&selectproperties='Title,Path,SiteLogo'" +
      "&rowlimit=500";

    return this.context.spHttpClient.get(url, SPHttpClient.configurations.v1,{
      headers: {
        "Accept": "application/json;odata.metadata=none"
      }
    })
      .then((response: SPHttpClientResponse) => {
        return response.json();
      });
  }

And this is what it looks like using PnPJs and async/await.

private async _getSiteData(): Promise<ISPSite[]> {

    var thisDomain: string = location.host.split(".")[0];
    var exclusions: string[] = ["https://" + thisDomain + "-my.sharepoint.com", "https://" + thisDomain + ".sharepoint.com/portals/personal"];
    var exclusionString: string = " -Path:" + exclusions.join(" -Path:");
    exclusionString += " -Path=https://bluebirdbio.sharepoint.com";

    try {

      let result = await sp.search(<SearchQuery>{
        Querytext: "contentclass:sts_site " + exclusionString,
        RowLimit: 500,
        SelectProperties: ["Title", "Path", "SiteLogo"]
      });

      return this.processSearchResults(result);

    } catch (e) {

      console.error(e);
      return null;

    }
    
  }

Even with the added try/catch the code is smaller, and since we’re building up the request with the library, we get help from our IDE (I use WebStorm) because the library is strictly typed. In the first example, since I’m building the request in the URL string, it’s easier to type an error into my code.

Getting List Data

In this example, I’m retrieving values from what I think of as a reference list for a more full-fledged application-in-a-Web-Part.

public getShipmentStatuses(serviceProps: IServiceProperties): Promise<IStatus[]> {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    var urlList: string = `${serviceProps.context.pageContext.web.absoluteUrl}/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('SL_ShippingStatuses')/RenderListDataAsStream`;
    var requestOptions = this.spHttpOptions.getShipmentStatuses;
    serviceProps.context.spHttpClient.post(urlList,
      SPHttpClient.configurations.v1,
      requestOptions
).then((responseList: SPHttpClientResponse): Promise<{ value: any }> => {
      return responseList.json();
    })
      .then((responseJson: any) => {
        var shipmentStatuses: IStatus[] = [];
        for (var i = 0; i < responseJson.Row.length; i++) {
          var thisRow = responseJson.Row[i];
          var thisShipmentStatus: IStatus = new Status();
          thisShipmentStatus.Id = thisRow.ID;
          thisShipmentStatus.Title = thisRow.Title;
          thisShipmentStatus.SortOrder = thisRow.SortOrder;
          thisShipmentStatus.Follows = thisRow.Follows;
          thisShipmentStatus.CanBeCancelled = thisRow.CanBeCancelled === "Yes";
          shipmentStatuses.push(thisShipmentStatus);
        }
        resolve(shipmentStatuses);
      })
      .catch((err) => {
        reject(err);
      });
  });
}

This turns into:

public async getShipmentStatuses(serviceProps: IServiceProperties): Promise<IStatus[]> {

    try {

      let items = await sp
        .web
        .lists
        .getByTitle("SL_ShippingStatuses")
        .items
        .select("Id", "Title", "SortOrder", "CanBeCancelled")
        .orderBy("SortOrder")
        .get(spODataEntityArray<Item, IStatus>(Item));

      return items;

    } catch (e) {
      
      console.error(e);
      return null;
      
    }
}

Much less dense and easier to follow, I think.

The other thing I’m taking advantage of in PnPJs here is Entity Merging. You can see how simple that is in line 12 above. Rather than building up my object in what amounts to a constructor, the Entity Merging package takes care of it for me. All I have to do is tell it what interface to use. (Above, it’s IStatus.)

Summary

Sometimes it’s important for old dogs to learn new tricks. In software development, it’s really a requirement. It didn’t take me anywhere as near as much time to take these steps forward, and I’m already seeing performance improvements and simpler code – both wins for my clients. If Julie recommends something – we should ALL listen!

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Alexander

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(Bloomberg) -- A group of Google employees wrote to Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai demanding better conditions for the thousands of contractors that make up more than half of the internet giant’s work force.

Last month, Alphabet Inc. overhauled the way it handles allegations of sexual harassment and assault, but the updated policies largely left out temporary, vendor and contract workers. On Wednesday, a group of full-time and contract workers sent a letter to Pichai asking for that to change. They also listed other requests, such as access to companywide emails and town hall staff meetings, better health care and benefits, and a more transparent process for applying for full-time jobs.

“We will continue to be mistreated and ignored if we stay silent,” the workers wrote in the letter. “Google has the power -- and the money -- to ensure that we are treated equitably.”

This is the latest example of Google employees speaking out, at a time when the company is being criticized for its handling of sexual misconduct, contracts with the U.S. military and a plan to build a censored search engine in China. Google has said it has strict rules for how vendors and suppliers respond to misconduct, and investigates when a contractor makes a complaint against a Google employee.

U.S. corporations often use contractors. But some Google employees and outside activists contend the company, which is on track to make more than $30 billion in profit this year, can easily afford to treat everyone who works in its offices the same.

In July, Bloomberg wrote about Google’s “shadow workforce” and revealed that earlier this year, for the first time, temporary, vendor and contract workers made up more than half of the company’s total staff.

The workers, known internally as "TVCs," do all sorts of jobs, from serving meals and piloting self-driving cars to writing code and managing teams. Unlike full-time workers, they aren’t given stock, and many struggle with inadequate health care. They aren’t allowed in some buildings or at certain company meetings. They are often employed by outside agencies, including Adecco Group AG, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and Randstad NV.

Several TVCs interviewed recently by Bloomberg News described feeling like second-class citizens compared with full-time Google employees. They asked not to be identified for fear of losing their jobs.

When a shooting happened at YouTube’s campus in San Bruno, California, in April, TVCs didn’t get some communications updating workers on the situation, which left them feeling unsafe, the TVCs said.

The workers are often on teams with full-time employees and said their contributions are indistinguishable from the better-placed colleagues. One contractor, who works 50 to 60 hours a week in Google’s marketing division, said TVCs are treated as “collateral damage” who can be hired and fired on short notice to help the company achieve business goals quickly and cheaply.

Another TVC described full-time staff asking her to move from an office desk or cutting ahead of her in line for coffee because she was a contractor and therefore not as important.

Another contract worker said when he took a job doing user research for Google, a manager told him he would be able to eventually convert the position into a full-time role. Two years later, that hasn’t happened, and he’s largely given up on that ever happening.
 

 

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