PROJECT HISTORY
LandOrProperty Web Site: January 2006 - June 2010
www.LandOrProperty.com Developed and owned by Destra Software Ltd.Development of a new web site to allow the listing of residential property, commercial property or land. The properties can either be for sale or lease and allow the uploading of photos and documents relating to each property. Properties can be searched for using a variety of search criteria and the property listing contains thumbnails of the property photos, which can be enlarged to full size.
The web site was built upon the pre-existing Destra Platform which was further enhanced and upgraded through the development of the web site. New features include a bespoke message system which allows vendors to send and receive internal messages relating to their properties. This means that vendors do not have to disclose their contact details and can still communicate with prospective buyers or tenants. Other new features include the property shopping cart, HSBC CPI and API EPayments integration to allow credit and debit card checkout from the cart. The customer is able to add any amount of properties to the cart before checking out. Features also added to allow PayPal payment, offline payment by cheque or direct bank transfer.
Further enhancements were made to the Destra Platform including a bespoke registration process, automatic emailing of forgotten passwords, ability to save/modify searches and the ability to add watches. Existing elements of the Destra Platform were upgraded and enhanced such as the paging of large record sets, which was rewritten for improved speed and flexibilty. The code for uploading data was enhanced to allow the upload of photos and the code for uploading xml and csv files was upgraded to cater for the new landorproperty xml and csv property formats. A new xml schema definition was created to validate the upload formats, to ensure that customers upload data in the correct format. The download code was also enhanced to allow properties to be downloaded as csv or xml files. The code for extracting binary images from stored procedures was upgraded to stream photos into aspx pages for display, in either thumbnail form or full size. Error reporting in the Destra Platform was upgraded to allow any code errors to be reported automatically to the web site administrator. The technologies used in this web site are:
- Microsoft ® Visual Studio 2008/2005, C#, ASP.NET, .NET Framework 3.5/2.0, .NET User Controls, SQL Server 2008/2005, T-SQL, XML, XSLT, XML-Schema, IIS6/7, COM+, Enterprise Library, W3C XHTML1.1, CSS, Macromedia Dreamweaver/Fireworks and Javascript on Windows 7/Vista/XP for Windows Web Server 2008/Windows 2003 Server platforms.
Mat:Share web site: March 2004 - July 2005.
https://matshare.comada.comMatshare copyright © Destra Software Ltd. All development at Destra's own office.
Client - Comada Limited, Cayman Islands / Comada (UK) LLP (www.comada.com )Destra Software was the sole development company responsible for the creation of a new web site known as Mat:Share, an operational tool for fund of funds, fund administrators, investment banks and custodians. This system was built upon an existing Microsoft ® .NET Framework-based application, The Destra Platform. The Destra Platform was devised and is owned by Destra Software. The Mat:Share system utilised the majority of the generic code which was developed in the Destra Platform and went on to comprise several thousand lines of new T-SQL code, several hundred aspx/xsl files and over thirty thousand lines of C# code, all created by Destra. Destra was also responsible for developmental testing of the web site. The version delivered in July 2005 was considered stable enough by Comada for their live server. Destra's development of Mat:Share has won several awards and commendations including:- Singled out for special mention due to its ability to help hedge funds to integrate portfolio data efficiently - Banker Technology Awards, October 2007.
- Best Fund of Funds Technology Provider Award - Hedge Fund Journal Service Provider Awards, March 2008.
- Singled out for special commendation for its ability to deliver scalability and enhance operation infrastructure - Funds Europe Awards, December 2008.
The Destra Platform: Primarily Developed November 2003 - March 2004
Developed and owned by Destra Software Ltd.A Microsoft ® .NET Framework-based application developed for Destra's own benefit, known as the Destra Platform. The Destra Platform was built as a prototype web site from November 2003 to (a) Evaluate .NET as a suitable technology for future projects and (b) To transfer Destra's skills and technology base from the Borland Delphi/COM/ASP architecture to Microsoft Visual Studio/C#/ASP.NET. The custom architecture of the Destra Platform included user log in, role/session management and dynamic object creation/calling in each aspx 'code behind'. This object was designed as a central repository for all complex code, so that all 'code behind' files had minimal C# code for improved readability and code maintenance. A standard methodology was developed inside this object for exception trapping, raising and reporting, to ensure consistent and thorough error handling. Microsoft Enterprise library was not available at the time the Destra Platform was devised. Therefore the Destra Platform architecture had to be designed from scratch in a new Visual Studio web project, in order to form a scalable and reliable architecture for future web projects. In addition, many generic C#/.NET routines, patterns and templates were developed, including the following functions to: Retrieve xml documents from sql server stored procedures; Perform xsl transformations on xml documents to produce page html; Manipulate xml fragments and nodes; Validate xml documents against xml schemas; Extract or modify node values; Construct dynamic sql and obtain results using data readers; Call parameterised stored procedures and retrieve output parameters; Access windows registry keys; Manipulate comma separated lists and csv files; Create/call/destroy external COM+ objects; Create random character strings; Automatically send emails; Upload and download files to/from a web site; Save uploaded files to sql server as binary images; Extract binary images from stored procedures and stream into aspx pages for display; Page the display of large record sets for improved data readability; Perform custom xml debugging and method timing; Display data as graphs using ChartFx.NET; Develop an efficient and elegant web page validation technique. The technologies used in the Destra platform were:
- Visual Studio 2003, C#, ASP.NET, .NET Framework 1.1, SQL Server 2000, T-SQL, XML, XSLT, XML-Schema, IIS, COM+, HTML and Javascript on Windows XP platform.
Fundxchange/Fundnexus web site: November 2000 - December 2003
www.fundnexus.com (no longer in use) Client - CJM Systems Ltd, Cheshire. All work at Destra's own office. Destra software was the first external company to work on Fundxchange and was responsible for converting the architecture of a prototype web site, which was in existence in November 2000. This prototype was constructed in Access using direct database calls, with multiple COM object calls in each page to generate the html. Destra migrated the architecture to SQL Server using stored procedures and xml data retrieval. This dramatically reduced the number of COM object calls in each page and, combined with using stored procedures, resulted in substantial performance gains. Destra was also responsible for introducing the concept of xsl pages to dynamically create the page html from the xml retrieved from the database. During the three year project Destra implemented approximately fifty percent of the web site and made major architectural contributions. The remaining fifty percent was developed by CJM Systems Ltd and Bagh Co Ltd. The Fundxchange web site enabled listing, management and subscription of offshore investment funds. Destra understands that the Fundxchange website was later purchased by Zurich Capital Markets and its name was changed to Fundnexus. The Technologies used by Destra on the web site were:- Borland ® Delphi 5 Enterprise, ASP, Active Server/COM+ objects, Component Services, IIS, XML (MSXML3 & 4), XSL/XSLT, XML-Schema, HTML, Javascript, Microsoft ® SQL Server 2000, T-SQL stored procedures, ADO2.6 and VBScript on a Windows 2000 platform.
Dream Ticket and Virgin Travel web site: October 1999 - October 2000
www.dreamticket.com & www.virgintravelstore.com Client - Rapid Business Solutions, Chesham, Buckinghamshire. Destra was one of several contractors developing a new travel web site, for online purchase of holiday packages, hotels and flights. Server-side technology used Delphi 4/5 to create MTS business objects, interfacing to SQL Server. These objects used XML as the data-passing protocol between themselves and the web pages. The web site incorporated the construction/manipulation of XML documents inside the business objects and the presentation of html data in the web pages, using XSL style sheet transformations. Involvement was throughout the project life-cycle, from initial prototype through to the web-site launch. Technologies used by Destra were:- Borland ® Delphi 4 Client/Server, Delphi 5 Enterprise, COM, MTS, ASP, XML/XSL, HTML/Homesite, Javascript, Microsoft ® Sql Server 7, ADO 2.1 on a Windows NT4 platform.
Royal Navy Training System: June 1998 - June 1999
Client - IBM UK Ltd, Farnborough, Hampshire. Destra was contracted as a Delphi specialist for a Royal Navy training system project. The Delphi code written by Destra was designed to access and control a scenario engine constructed in ADA and C++. This was accessed via a COM interface. The Delphi code was implemented from a Select OMT object-oriented design, which was provided to Destra. Involvement was through the entire project life-cycle from design through to formal testing. Technologies used by Destra were:- Delphi 3 on a Windows 95 platform. Creation and use of custom components, GUI design, DLL's, windows API calls, message passing between applications, COM interfacing between applications, creation of COM objects and type libraries and extensive exception handling.
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