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GXOpen's Most Valued Member

Eduardo Dilena -an Argentine who received the GXOpen's Most Valued Member Award from ARTech- says that exchanging knowledge and experiences is key for professional and personal growth.

ARTech awarded the GXOpen's Most Valued Member recognition to Eduardo Dilena at the recognition award ceremony that took place during the XIII GeneXus International Meeting. GXOpen is a site that fosters the exchange of GeneXus or GeneXus-related developments. Although it was the icon library that made him popular, Dilena claims that, among the projects that have been published in GXOpen, he attributes greater value to his knowledge-base backup proposal. His icon library has been downloaded by more than 3,240 people so far, and it is still the most popular project on the site.

Dilena, 30, lives in Río Cuarto, Córdoba (Argentina) and has worked at ON SRL Informática since 1998. "I don't have a university degree; I would say I'm more of a self-educated expert. I have been in contact with GeneXus since 1997, and have developed many applications using all the generators," he says.

Before GXOpen came into existence (http://www.gxopen.com), he had developed a modification to the Fox Pro generator standard programs for Windows so that the menu would show in the Windows' traditional menu bar. This became the MenuBar in GeneXus version 6. In order to share his idea, he sent it to GeneXus Spain, which published it on their Web site's tool section.

What is your experience with GeneXus?
My experience in using GeneXus goes back to 1997, with GeneXus 5.03. Little by little, I started learning more about the tool and about each of the improvements that were made on it. I ended up going through all the platforms and generators, by using each of the versions in the different works I had to do. I have mainly used the Fox Pro for Windows, Visual Basic, Visual Fox Pro, and Visual Basic C/S. I have also used the Cobol and Java generators for Web developments. When I learnt about the GXOpen site, I became a frequent user. I got information and also learned a lot based on what others published.

Why did you join GXOpen?
At first, I was curious about it. Then I developed an interest in publishing stuff that could be useful for others.

Could you tell us how you have used GXOpen and what projects you have shared?
I have published an icon library, a backup project, a progress bar, and I also joined the GeneXus games project. The project that I value the most is an application for knowledge-base (KBs) backup. It was developed with GeneXus in Visual Basic, and has an automatic KB browser.
The project originated from a personal need, because backing up KBs and additional files manually was quite a burden for me. I was looking for a way to automate the process, so I started to develop my application based on an idea that I got from a similar project. I also incorporated the GXZip from another project that was published there. After seeing the final version of the application, I decided to share it so that others would be able to use it, but I don't think it became very popular. After that, I published a series of icons sorted by topic (icon library), and I was shocked to see how, little by little, it grew to become the most downloaded and permanent project. I have to admit that I'd rather have received the Most Valued Member Award for my backup project than for the icon library, which doesn't involve any programming or analysis; it is just a bunch of files put together. I have also joined a GeneXus games project and developed some new ones, but I haven't uploaded them to the site yet.

What do you think are the advantages of this work style?
I think that this is something very positive; exchanging knowledge and experience is key for professional and personal growth.

Have you downloaded any projects?
Yes. I have downloaded many projects, mainly those that have to do with security, Internet, tools, etc. In GXOpen, I have found ideas or suggestions that I can later apply in my own projects. The zipping libraries have also been useful.

Do you recommend joining GXOpen? If so, why?
Yes, because it is a chance to have access to other people in a very simple way. Something that one person may give little importance, may turn out to be very useful to others. Besides, it is an opportunity for programmers to get in touch with each other and exchange knowledge and opinions.

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