VB.NET desktop application with SQL and XCeed Grid

This is a kind of demo application and a real project will be based on it. It should be a VB.NET (Visual Studio 10) desktop application, using SQL Server for database. For the data access must use "massive" library, [login to view URL] And the GUI will be based on [login to view URL] (developer can use the 45-day trial version) We prefer not to use direct data-binding between the Grid component and the tables on the database. The app should have user and user's role management included. Basically this app works with 2 main tables, let's call them Master and Detail, remember that this is a generic or skeleton app, and the code will be used to create a real application on a next project. You can think of this Master and Detail tables to represent an Invoice. New "Invoices" will be added to the tables importing them from an Excel spreadsheet, that spreadsheet can contain the data from multiple invoices, this process should validate for duplicated data and missing information. As we do not have the final layout of these Excel spreadsheets the import process should be highly configurable. The application will be show the invoices using the Grid component in a master-detail view. The grid must be editable using the user role to enable editing by row or column (configurable by role management) The data must be easily filtered and sorted on the grid and color should be used to highlight rows based on a pre-defined column value. Data should be exported as XLS and plain text. Some fields in the tables could have an auxiliary table for look-up values, for example, let's say there is a field for "Color_Fild", this can only be edited choosing from a combo-box filed with the values Red, Green, and Blue and those values will be in another table, let's say Colors_Table, and an easy way to add, modify and delete values from Colors_Table should be [login to view URL] can invent your own data for [login to view URL] want clear and commented code. **NOTE: 2012-03-29 Added information into "Detailed requirements" section, please read.** ## Deliverables ADDED 2012-03-29 ******************* I put together some questions we have answered to the bidders as we think will be useful to understand our requirements. If you have any additional questions or wish to clarify some point, do not hesitate to ask. It is appropriate for us, to select the winner, show that you understand the purpose of the project and briefly explain how you will do it. Please excuse my English. Q. Can we use C#? A. This project must be in VB.NET Q. What's the version of .NET framework? A. .Net Framework 2.0, 3.0, or 3.5 are OK. Q. I guess the application is Winforms application in VB.net. Correct? A. Winforms, correct. This is not a web application. Q. Application will be developing with Windows Form or WPF? A. Windows Forms. Not WPF Q. I have never used Xceed grid but have been using DevExpress grid since last many years. Is that acceptable or Xceed grid is must? A. XCeed is not a must, but GUID is very important, the grid is the central piece of the user interface and must be powerful enough, with exporting, sorting, in-line editing, master-detail view, allow images (icons), foreground/background colors, etc... Q. I am presently working on an application and can't input more than 25 weekly hours. Is that fine with you? A. I don't know, you should tell me when you can deliver the project working as many hours as you can/want. Q. Can you give me more detailed description of what needs to be done exactly on front-end or programming front? I mean whether I have to analyze the business requirement and create a database architecture as well? A. We want to have the base of the application with basic functionality and part of the user interface and technical issues solved as we, at the same time, move forward with the detailed analysis of the functionality required by the customer. Then we will take this base application to build the real application over it. We will do it with a vWorker programmer or with our own developers. This is not a traditional project, is more like a demo; your database will have two main tables. Those tables are related by a parent-child relationship. You can name them as you want. In a second stage we will rename it to use un the real application, let's say that you call those tables: Master and Detail, in the future we will change to Orders_Header and Orders_Products" or any other name that will be decided later. What fields those tables should have? An ID is a must, and I think it can by autonumber, the Detail table must have an ID and another field for the [login to view URL] (the foreign key), and some other fields that you can add just to show how the app. works: a test field, let's say "Description", another number field, let's say "Amount", some boolean fields, let's say "Approved", and so on. If you want to use one of the demo databases that comes with SQL Server, like Northwind, is OK too. Q. You want to create users and their roles through some admin login? A. Yes, that is what we want. Q. What about roles, what if we create roles? Do different roles have different options? A. We want to use roles to allow users to edit some data, for example if the "invoice" is in "pending" status, only the user with role "controller" can modify it. Your application should implement some examples of the use of roles to restrict the visibility and/or editon of the information, you can invent whatever role, add flags to the records as you see fit. Also we want to record every change in the data by user, something like an audit log. Q. Import Process. How we need to provide this support to be dynamic. We can allow you to map xls columns with the database columns in an XML and we will read that format... What do you think? A. Your approach sound very good, the mapping should consider some data transformation, like splitting a value from the spreadsheet in two field in the table record, or formatting a number with a mask. Q. But before start, you will have to tell us roles. Or we will create it like, you provide a role and check out the areas which that role can see. That way, it will be dynamic. A. More dynamic is better as we can adjust this app. to the real requirements that we don't have in detail at this stage of the project. At first we need a super-user role, users with this role will have complete access to all functions. Another role could be limited only to view the data but not to edit. The information that this application process will change it status, for example if a record is marked as "approved" by a "supervisor" user, then this record cannot be deleted. Q. Could you send me more details about your project? May be: Database schemas, Sample invoices, Sample import, export data A. We're sorry, but what you are asking is what we don't have. That's why we are asking for a application with "generic" functionalities. And remember that "Invoices" is an example, the real project will manage other kind of information with a data structure that resembles an standard invoice. Thank you for tour time. * * *This broadcast message was sent to all bidders on Thursday Mar 29, 2012 10:52:18 AM: 2012.03.29 UPDATE We just added more information about the project in the "Detailed requirements" section. Thank you, Santa Fe Tech. * * *This broadcast message was sent to all bidders on Saturday Apr 7, 2012 4:11:08 PM: We appreciate all bidders for participating. We have not selecting a winner yet. We hope to do in the coming days, the delay is because our customer has yet to decide on some aspects of the entire project. We will keep you informed. Thank you very much.