Blog
Talk to the global leaders in fleet management, vehicle tracking and personal safety
Now that MiX Telematics has officially released our latest mobile application, MiX Fleet Mobile, we chatted to a developer to dig a little bit deeper into the interesting facets of how this product came to be and what makes it so special.
Chris van Wyk, takes the time to share his thoughts on the development of MiX Fleet Mobile App…
“First of all, I’d like to give a big shout out to the FM-Web team, who completed the project as I had been moved off to another product during the later stages of the development on the project.
The MiX Fleet Mobile App is the mobile offering product based on features from the flagship product FM-Web, our premiere web-based service for commercial fleet operators that services fleets world-wide.
With this in mind it does not take a lot of imagination to realize that this codebase has reached a substantial level of maturity and as a result has collected its fare share of legacy code.
What you must keep in mind with legacy code though is however best your intentions are, there are always areas within the system, which may be adversely affected by code changes and or additions. Thus, the development team had to approach all changes with precision and support a great deal of testing.
In addition to this, trying to introduce new approaches in development and architecture comes at a cost not everyone is comfortable with and or potentially willing to sink effort into. The approach we wanted to take going forward in terms of supporting the mobile applications on FM-Web was to introduce the mobile API as RESTFul services.
The challenge we faced was which framework to use while taking into consideration that the application stack is Microsoft based and predominantly using C#. Together with this, all existing web services were soap base and implements security and logging features specific to the solution. So if we were to introduce new services, these services would need to fit into the existing constraints of at least the security and logging features.
Having worked on a proof of concept project, introducing Ruby into the organization, the search was on to find a framework that would give us the same or similar benefits of Sinatra and Rack.
Enter NancyFX. The best way to describe NancyFX must be the following description taken from the projects website: “Nancy is a lightweight, low-ceremony, framework for building HTTP based services on .Net and Mono. The goal of the framework is to stay out of the way as much as possible and provide a super-duper-happy-path to all interactions.”
The selling point for me was the amazing balance the guys on the project achieved between the static typed and dynamic object world that exists in both the Microsoft.NET Framework 4 and the latest releases of Mono. Coupled with the implementation of pipelining and pre or post-request hooks snapping the NancyFX framework on top of the FM-Web business logic was as they say, taking “super-duper-happy-path”.
There are a number of things, which I am really excited about in terms of the final outcome of this project. The first is that there are open source projects in existence like NancyFx, which proves that the “we-did-not-build-it”, or it is not from Microsoft, mindset of the average .Net developer to be not entirely accurate. The second is that it is possible to devise simple and elegant solutions hooking into and extending systems sometimes thought of as “legacy” without rebuilding or reinventing the wheel, i.e. reusing security and logging features.
Lastly, and I would venture to say the most important in my opinion, that now having been able to introduce a RESTFul architecture into the FM-Web world and modularly exposing data as required, the possibilities for future feature rich mobile and web development is limitless and we look forward to pushing the boundaries to achieve the best development solutions possible.”
For the full press release visit http://www.mixtelematics.com/news/MiXMobileFleet.
Chris Van Wyk is a Developer at MiX Telematics in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is currently focused on mobile development (iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7), Hypermedia driven RESTful APIs, Micro Web Frameworks and having fun with code.
Steve Jobs not only pushed himself and his ventures to the limits of development potential, he tapped into a sphere of technological ingenuity that perhaps could not have been foreseen. He changed the way we think, the way we work, the way we live. Steve Jobs has left a legacy in many the general population’s lives via the mobile and computing devices we use, but he has also made an astounding impact on the fields of Design and Development that his legacy will forever live on in the dawn of the new Digital Age that his ‘Think Different’ mantra has given rise to.
As the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple, co-founder of Pixar Animation studios, a member on the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company, and founder of NeXT, the late Steve Jobs paved many roads in design and development. He was an inspirational and creative powerhouse and with the introduction of everything ‘i’ or ‘mac,’ Developer, Trevor Langeveldt, notes that “Jobs ultimately revolutionised the way we see and interact with the world digitally as well as how we model our user interface and use design principles to better serve the needs of our end-users.”
Wednesday, 5 October 2011, the world lost Steve Jobs the man, but we will never lose his contributions to the way we interact with devices and technology. “MiX Telematics’ Developers and Designers have certainly been influenced by the strides in development innovation made by Apple with Jobs at the helm, especially in terms of User Experience, Mobile App Development, and even Design principles. It’s clear that we all strive more now than ever to Think Different,” notes Charl van Wyk, MiX Telematics UI specialist, who focuses on the fusion of Design and Development.
“Here at MiX Telematics, we care about User Experience and much like Steve Jobs, our developers take their work to heart. Being passionate about what you do is the key to success and we’re proud to say that passion most definitely plays a big part in how we work as a company,” says Product Manager, Tertius Wessels.
It also goes without saying that Steve Jobs’ innovations in the field have influenced all levels of a development team. Terry Buzer, Group Director responsible for Development, feels that “keeping developers motivated and inspired is a key performance objective that MiX Telematics strives to maintain and in so doing, we are able to bring the end user the very best in telematics technology design and quality.”
MiX Telematics Developer, Chris van Wyk, says, “Mobile development and for a large part, software development, are key creative outlets for me. For me to be creative, I truly need to believe in what I’m doing. I believe the natural progression from here forward will be seeing your users experience a ‘Wow, this is great’ moment when using your products.”
Thank you, Steve Jobs, for making us Think Different, reach further, and create with more confidence.
Shawn Graaff is the Online Content & Social Media Manager for MiX Telematics International. Based in South Africa, Shawn is an American dreaming in digital with a special interest in Mobile for Africa and sustainable living. Follow her tweets about Social Media Marketing, SEO, Content Strategy, and Online Community Management @ShawnGraaff.
A brand has been described as a set of promises in the mind of the consumer; it’s also been defined as an organisation’s reputation, or personality. Blackcoffee, brand management and design consultancy, describes a brand as “an experience living at the intersection of promise and expectation.” Here are some tips on getting started in your efforts to ‘Back Your Brand’…
Embarking on a brand assessment initiative is almost always an exciting step in the right direction. Back your brand and benefit from the many hidden opportunities that lie just beneath the surface!
Leanne Jory is the Communications Manager for MiX Telematics International. Her passion for branding is supported by international experience in the fields of internal and external communication. Industries in which Leanne has gained experience include technology, logistics, advertising and real estate. Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneJory
