Developing Windows Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio — Lesson 3: Data Access, Services and Application Security

Learning Objectives

• Connect to files, databases, APIs, and services using asynchronous and resilient patterns
• Protect configuration, credentials, input, output, permissions, and sensitive information
• Validate data access, services and application security decisions with documented requirements, test evidence, risk controls, and measurable acceptance criteria

Detailed Topics

• Connect to files: Connect to files, databases, APIs, and services using asynchronous and resilient patterns
• Protect configuration: Protect configuration, credentials, input, output, permissions, and sensitive information
• Validate data access: Validate data access, services and application security decisions with documented requirements, test evidence, risk controls, and measurable acceptance criteria

Guided Demonstration

1. Review the requirement, users, data, dependencies, permissions, risks, and expected result.
2. Demonstrate the relevant configuration, creation, administration, analysis, migration, or development workflow step by step.
3. Capture settings, outputs, logs, screenshots, calculations, test results, and other useful evidence.
4. Compare the observed result with acceptance criteria and explain any corrective action.

Hands-On Activity

Implement a secured data-driven application workflow.

• Document assumptions, prerequisites, and the planned sequence before starting.
• Complete the activity and preserve evidence of normal, boundary, and failure behavior.
• Record issues, corrective actions, reusable notes, and the next improvement priority.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the business or technical decision that must be made.
• Compare valid implementation approaches and their trade-offs.
• Consider security, privacy, accessibility, performance, support, and operational impact.

Troubleshooting Focus

• Separate symptoms from causes and collect evidence before applying a fix.
• Check configuration, data, permissions, dependencies, capacity, connectivity, and recent changes.
• Validate rollback, recovery, ownership, user impact, and business continuity.

Validation Checklist

• The requirement, scope, inputs, and expected outcome are clear.
• The selected design or configuration is documented and follows approved standards.
• Normal, boundary, failure, security, accessibility, and operational conditions are reviewed.
• The result is supported by evidence and the next improvement is prioritized.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can explain and apply Data Access, Services and Application Security in a realistic scenario and validate the result with documented evidence.