Dileepa Wijayanayake's blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 16:17:00 -0500

FlowWright v9.8 released....

Software innovation is not easy

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 22:44:00 -0400

Let me first say, Software is not easy, I mean to make a successful software product. To create a successful software product you must do the following:

understand the market
build a product that customers want
build features that customers want
innovate, create something different from your competitors
build enough to get customers, then listen to your customers and improve the product
have a team of super stars
experienced team members are good, but fresh minds are also good
understand trends/changes in the market
manage your money well, specially if you are growing organically without VC money
do your homework, and keep doing homework

Many software companies fail, as I like to say, a software company is "In comes hope, but out goes money". To create great software, you don't need a Ph.d, you just need a good idea and a market need. Someone is willing to pay for you software and in turn your software will add value to your customer.

One of my main rules for starting any company is don't hire friends and family. In some occasions its ok to have friends and family, but in most cases this creates issues and problems. Mainly, it destroys relationships within friends or family members.

So how do you build a successful software product? Well, it's easy, all you need is a good idea and a market need, or a better mouse trap. Take an existing idea and improve it and come up with something better.

You will make mistakes, learn from them, but be careful some mistakes are more costlier than other. So, be careful with money, there are needs and wants, think many times before you spend. I have built many products, some have failed, some have done good. If you want to see my latest successful product check FlowWright.

FlowWright used to be called cDevWorkflow. After automating very large processes for big pharma, biotech and other Fortune 100 organizations, it was time to build a workflow product. And I have been walking around for about 5 years, designing every aspect of the product in my head. And just like that, one weekend, I sat down and wrote FlowWright.

But, then it look a lot of time and effort to make it right, to have the right team and to get customers all over the globe. It's all about doing the homework. By the way, I did learn from many other software product failures, so success comes from failures.

Like I said in the beginning software is not easy.......It's 90% thinking 10% doing.....

FlowWright v9.6.1 was released

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 09:58:00 -0500

FlowWright

FlowWright v9.5 released

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 16:12:00 -0500

FlowWright v9.5

FlowWrght v9.5 was released in January of 2019, please see the history page for the details, click HERE.

FlowWright

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sun, 6 May 2018 20:43:00 -0400

cDevWorkflow has morphed to FlowWright now, check it out at http://www.FlowWright.com

There is fun in solving problems!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 13:41:00 -0500

Here's my problem - drawing round corners when lines join, something like this:

sure, this looks very simple right. It is simple depending on the technology being used. If its HTML5, you can use CSS to define the radius of the corner. But imagine if you were doing in c# using the drawing classes in .net.

Before, I saw any other words, let me say there are many ways to solve this problem.

So, I spent numerous hours trying to solve this problem last weekend, and I miserably failed, I failed due to couple of things. A line can have many bends, so the above dotted line has a bend lets say bottom left and a bend at top right. So here's an example:

Let's identify each corner as shown in the above pic, Top Left (TL), Top Right (TR), Bottom Left (BL), Bottom Right (BR). The other thing that I realized was each corner has two possibilities, here's what I mean, lets take the Top Left (TL) corner, depending on the source and destination of the points, there are 2 possible corners for the Top Left (TL). Here's what I mean:

So as you can see, depending on direction of the line, the corner has 2 possibilities. So, I called these the following:

Top Left - West South
Top Left - North East

So here are my actual notes that I did in OneNote trying to figure out what these corners should be called and how to determine what corner is what based on 3 points, point 1, midpoint, and point 2.

So once I figured out the corners, their computations, off the drawing board into coding. I wrote the algorithm, and guess what I failed. It did not work, I was not taking into account multiple bends of the line. So using my research I decided to try a different algorithm. Draw the lines as if they are straight lines and then erase the corners. So something like this.

Then erase the corners by drawing white rectangles on the corners (this goes back to my first assignment at Algonquin college - community college then - any my first assignment was to draw a ball on the screen and move it from left to right, so the lesson I learned here was smoke and mirrors in programming, if you draw a red ball on the screen, you can erase that ball by drawing same ball using the background color. So if you draw white boxes on the corners, this is what you get.

So the corners are gone now, and we know where the corners are, now we can draw round corners (also called ARCs in math). So we end up with something like this.

I know the corners don't look great, I just drew these using my surface pen. But here's a real example from our cDevWorkflow product with nice round corners for the lines.

Don't these lines look very nice. So this algorithm is used by our cDevWorkflow product's graphics engine when generating graphical representation of a Workflow definition or instance.

It's fun to innovate, technology is changing every day, so keep innovating..........

Finally a tablet/laptop for developers

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:59:00 -0500

I have been a software engineer for a very long time, and problem solving is my thing. I at least believe that I can fix anything, even if I can't I will try, that is my philosophy.

For many years, I have had laptops as developments machines, mainly because of portability, I can open a dev tool no matter where I am, in taxi, airport, airplane, upstairs, downstairs..........

So I have gone through many, many laptops. Last couple of years, I was so impressed by the tablets, really wanted one but the problem was not the cost, but the lack of hardware performance. As a software engineer and manager of a development team, I review a lot of stuff. When I review, I comment, I suggest, but it was becoming difficult to do with a laptop keyboard and a mouse. When I see people using a stylus on a tablet to review a document and go through pretty well by marking the document with a pen instead of selecting and typing.

I have to say, I am not a fan of Mac, they have good hardware but not software. I want productivity, not a device that will consume my time and life. So finally, I found my match, I found the Microsoft Surface Book.

Surface book, love it. Its a tablet, laptop, machine, piece of art that can really keep up with my brain. And my brain runs fast, super fast and even at quantum speeds. I am able to dot it all using the Surface book, it has the speed/performance. Ended up getting the i7 CPU with 16 GB of RAM, 500 GB of hard drive space. I was thinking of getting the 1 TB drive, but then I thought when I get 1 TB I collect more junk, so with 500 GB I can clean up and have the things I really want on the machine. Move all the unnecessary things to a portable SSD drive.

With the use of the machine, I am able to do 2 things really well. When I write code, could be c#, jquery, html5, even some vb.net, I am able to write, compile and execute code without any issues. And the second most thing is to review stuff from my developers. I am able to take the screen of the keyboard, take the pen/stylus and start reviewing the app. These days I mostly review functionality and UI for our cDevWorkflow product. My favorite browser is Chrome, but for reviewing our app, I use Microsoft Edge to review and markup screen, with 2 clicks its sent of to my developers through email. I have to say, it is very productive for me. What used to take 2 hrs to do now takes me 20 minutes to do.

So, here's an example of markup that I sent to my development team, its right out my email:

Tools by cDevWorkflow

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 08:08:00 -0400

We have started to really show the power of cDevWorkflow, we have implemented a bunch of tools fully powered using cDevWorkflow, check it out at

http://cdevworkflow.innovativeglobal.com/cdevworkflowtools/Default.aspx

The first tool is simple, given 2 dates, it computes the number of days betweent the 2 dates

Next generation graphical bpm/workflow product

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 21:58:00 -0400

Next generation graphical bpm/workflow product

N37YNHMQX47U

BPMGarden - launched by cDevWorkflow

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:30:00 -0500

cDevWorkflow has launched a new site to plant and grow your process. FB has millions of users, let's collaborate and grow your process......

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BPMGarden/214581435305994

www.cDevWorkflow.com

cDevWorkflow Blog - Client calls - they need a change to the business process

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:29:00 -0500

cDevWorkflow Blog - Client calls - they need a change to the business process

BPM/Workflow done right……

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 9 Feb 2012 21:15:00 -0500

http://cdevworkflow.innovativeglobal.com/cdevworkflowwebsite/Blog/tabid/73/EntryId/60/BPM-Workflow-done-right.aspx#.TzR9piQwoOA.blogger

Introduction to cDevWorkflow

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:39:00 -0500

Introduction to cDevWorkflow

Building a Bioreactor

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:43:00 -0400

It was interesting to see and do some work on a small scale bioreactor. Most credit goes to many others for their hard work. Most times the biotech side of the business works in very large scale bioreactors that are 4 stories tall, sitting at pretty large biotech companies.

So here are the pics from start to finish......

Graphical workflow for IBM\Lotus Domino

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:34:00 -0400

From one of my past lives, working on the Lotus Domino world, I can remember the number of workflow soltuions/tools that were implemented to solve bpm in Domino\Lotus Notes environment. After many many years later, I am still not finding any great bpm\workflow tools for Lotus Domino.

So I thought of introducing cDevWorkflow for Lotus Domino and how to implement it for Lotus Domino applications. As cDevWorkflow can be integrated to any application platform using 3 simple steps, Lotus Domino requires the following custom steps that can really enhance the power of bpm within Lotus Domino:

MoveToFolder - moves a document to a folder
UpdateFieldValue - updates a field value for a given notes document
GetFieldValue - gets the value of a given notes document
RouteDocument - route a notes document to a user or users

Just by implementing the above steps, you can automate some complex processes using cDevWorkflow. cDevWorkflow steps will communicate with Domino using the Lotus Script COM API. Download the free community edition of cDevWorkflow today from: http://www.cdevworkflow.com/

If you have any question, drop me an email at: support@cDevWorkflow.com

Here's a sample workflow:

Process maps made simple........

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:56:00 -0400

Many developers have hard times understaning process maps or even developing process maps. Key to process maps is having domain expertise or having access people who know the domain.

Process maps also comes down to object and relations = object A is related to object B using some modifier

Applying the above principle, most process maps describe pieces or functionality and how these pieces of functionality are related. Here's an example:

The above process map analyses the POAmount and routes the PO to different approvers. In most large organizations this approval process is used to approve Purchasing orders, as you can see from the above diagram its a very simple process map.

Brand your photo

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:43:00 -0400

Get your logo on your photos! Download your organization's logo and place it directly on photos you've taken or new ones. Brand Your Photo by Cexi Me LLC is perfect for product photos, product placements, customers and events such as sporting, dinners, anniversaries, nights out, parties and other special events.

Logos can be resized and rotated. Captions can be added. Your branded photos can then be shared with any app that consumes content such as Facebook, Flickr and other apps.

cexi.me

https://market.android.com/details?id=cexi.me.brandyourphoto

3 Things customers are looking for when selecting a bpm product

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:19:00 -0400

From the research that we have performed, we find the following 3 are the top most things a customer looks for in a bpm product:

1. Easy to use - has to have simple models and easily understanding. Has to be able to easily integrate.

2. Easily extensible - has to be able to extend the product to fit customer's needs.

3. Affordable - no matter what cost still comes into play, even in hard times there are processes that need to be automated to survive, and cost plays a huge role in selecting a bpm product/vendor

If you would like to see a product that fits the above, check out: http://www.cdevworkflow.com/

Paradigm shift in programming

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:33:00 -0400

For all those programmers out there, we write code, and code, and code, and code........

then we test, test, test, test

then we deploy in production environments

then we run into problems. we say things like, it just worked fine on my machine, does not work on the production server.

Now that we have an issue in hand, now we try to reproduce the problem. These days the biggest problem for developers is to reproduce the problem. In most cases we cannot reproduce the problem, and even most importantly, we can reproduce the problem on the production environment, but cannot reproduce on the development environment. Also cannot debug on the production environment.

Coming from Pharma/Biotech automation world of programming, and over the years automating many business processes, I have come to terms with smart programming and visual designs.

The answer is.................

BPM - instead of coding, build functionality in blocks and join them to function as a program. Cool thing in BPM, you can view what happen in your process visually. This also makes it very easy to pin point issues/problems faster than debugging code.......

Try it sometime.........you might like it.......

Embed Workflow into your application using 3 steps

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 17 May 2011 22:26:00 -0400

cDevWorkflow is built such way it can be embedded into your application in 3 simple steps, and the 3 steps are:

provide a page for managing workflow definitions
provide a page for managing workflow instances
provide a page for managing user tasks

And you are Done.......

Here's how one of our clients embedded workflow into their application using the 3 step process:

check out http://www.cdevworkflow.com/

cDevWorkflow at .Net user group CodeCamps

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:20:00 -0400

Join the June 4th session in NH

A picture is worth 1000 words....

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Thu, 12 May 2011 07:56:00 -0400

Given we are in 2011, any workflow engine must have graphical elements. Just like the old saying....

A picture is worth 1000 words....

When it comes to bpm/workflow this is completely true. There are 2 key areas where you really need the graphical environment.

for designing workflow definitions
for rendering executed workflow instances

When it comes to designing and building workflows, the first thing we learned how to do in kindegarten was to connect the dots...Imagine it still comes handy.....

Then comes executed workflow instances, if you can graphically see what happen, you can also graphically see what went wrong. As developers we are used to debugging code to figure out what went wrong, and most of us spend a lot of time trying to reproduce the problem.

Imagine if you can see the problem...And now you can with: www.cDevWorkflow.com

Returns from Business Process Automation

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:21:00 -0400

Most people don't realize the great returns from the Business Process Automation, here are some of them:

time to market - reduce the development efforts and reduce the time to market
optimization - optimization of processes overtime
changes - process changes are fast and carry less testing and risk
view - view what's happening in the system
cost - mostly, save on future development cost, if its done right business analyst can make the change to processes

http://www.cdevworkflow.com/

Flow separation in Workflow

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Tue, 10 May 2011 11:03:00 -0400

Most workflows devide flow into two categories:

Control flows
Data flow

Control flows are decisions made along the way based on expressions, computations or user input. Data flow is passing of information within the workflow so steps can interact with that item. Example for a data flow could be, where if a Word document was submitted for approvals, then that word document will get saved at some location and the file path to that word document will be passed within the workflow using a variable. Any step within the workflow needs to perform an action on the word document, the step is able to reference the word document using the variable value.

http://www.cdevworkflow.com/

JavaScript Anonymous Functions

noreply@blogger.com (Dileepa Wijayanayake) — Mon, 9 May 2011 11:52:00 -0400

Most developers don't realize this concept, but you can actually have functions without names. You can have the function created, assigned and executed.....

Look at the followin code:

<html>
<head>
< script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
< script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
$("p").click(function(){
$(this).hide();
});
});
< /script>
< /head>
<body>
< p>If you click on me, I will disappear.</p>
< /body>
</html>

The above code has a function associated with all <p> elements of the page where if you click the <p> element, it makes the element dissappear.