Web Client Software Factory Webcast
Source: David Hayden ( Microsoft MVP ), Filed: Web Client Software Factory
The Microsoft Patterns and Practices Team did a Web Client Software Factory Webcast that you can view on-demand. It is a decent introduction, but really just reinforces what I already know from presenting the Web Client Software Factory at both the South Florida Code Camp and Orlando Code Camp - the Web Client Software Factory is difficult to present in only 60 minutes.
The webcast hits 3 specific areas of the Web Client Software Factory
- View-Presenter Pattern
- Page Flow Application Block
- Guidance Package
Interesting how my approach to presenting the WCSF is much different from theirs.
First, I think the View-Presenter Pattern is more important because it encourages moving the business logic from your web pages ( view ) and in the more reusable locations of your web applications - business modules and foundation modules. The fact that you can Unit Test your UI is good, but secondary in my opinion.
Second, the Page Flow Application Block is great, but the workflow designer ( WF Provider ) crashes constantly and is unusable in my opinion. This is a known issue that really stinks. I, personally, cannot believe that issue made it into the first release and will not present it until the problem is fixed or I find another page flow provider.
Last, they didn't speak much ( or at all in some cases ) about the parts that are really cool in my opinion:
- Dependency Injection
- Service Registration and Location
- Module Auto-Discovery
- Built-In Services: SiteMapBuilder, HttpContextLocator, SessionStateLocator, Authorization...
- etc...
and how the services help developers solve common challenges in day-to-day development: team development, building loosely-coupled n-layer applications, creating pluggable provider-based applications, develop applications faster, ease unit testing, etc.
The architecture and services provided by the Composite Web UI Application Block ( CWAB ) and Object Builder are fantastic. The Guidance Package then helps you harness those features quickly and effortlessly via wizards and recipes.
Certainly check out the webcast for an overview here, but your best source of information is the help file and reference implementation at this time.
Web Client Software Factory Tutorials
Source: David Hayden ( Microsoft MVP )
Filed: Web Client Software Factory