CSLA in Guidance Automation Toolkit

CSLA in Guidance Automation Toolkit

Old forum URL: forums.lhotka.net/forums/t/1191.aspx

Rooster posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Hi,

We are currently developeing a smart client using the SCSF (Smart Client Software Factory)/CAB and using CSLA.NET 2.0 for our Business Layer. We have created our custom recipes for implementing CAB and other things using GAT - what we are looking at is maybe porting our My Generation CSLA templates to GAT so that everything is encompassed in the Visual Studio IDE for our developers. I just wanted to find out if anybody has done this, or if anyone else is interested in starting a project to accomplish this. Just a thought????

Ruaan

DansDreams replied on Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I have an introduction whitepaper to the SCSF sitting on my desk that I've been trying to get to for a month now.  I'd really be interested in having you summarize what exactly it is, how it relates to CSLA, and the problems you're left with.  That last part is the point of your question I think, but I can't say anything intelligent without more of an understanding.

Solutrian replied on Tuesday, September 12, 2006

We have done just that. All the CSLA classes are generated via recipes and we have customized the SCSF as well as added VS templates for a common smart part structure. So far so good. It was a pretty easy task to port my Generateion  templates to GAT recipes. I havent found a way to share code between recipes for common CSLA methods yet, as in code smith. But I havent really had time to look into it either.
J

Rooster replied on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Awesome Solutrian, I think it's some thing worth while to embark on seeing as you guys have got it to work. GAT is supposed to be Microsoft's answer to CodeSmith and it seems that the P & P guys are investing some time in it, so it looks like it will be growing. DansDreams is not online. Last active: 09-12-2006, 11:21 AM DansDreams - I will post some feedback on our experiences in using SCSF/CSLA and hopefully some good news regarding automation with the GAT (Guidance Automation Toolkit).

DansDreams replied on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I've never heard of the GAT.  Is it part of the SCSF?  Does the SC part imply there are particular features precluding you from using it as a basis for ASP.NET generation?

Solutrian replied on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

  GAT is a tool to build wizards, "software factories" into Visual Studio that can generate code like code smith or mygeneration the syntax is similar to asp and doesn’t imply any platform. The SCSF uses it to generate the basic template code for a CAB app. Microsoft has other software factories that use gat :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/practices/guidetype/SoftwareFactories/

It's not as easy as it should be. Take a look at the latest HOL for scsf there is a lab on modifying a GAT template.

http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/releases/viewuploads.aspx?id=941d2228-3bb5-42fd-8004-c08595821170

J


DansDreams replied on Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Anybody willing to share their CSLA 2.0 C# recipes?

Rooster replied on Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I have been busy for the past couple of days creating receipes for our use here, all seems to work well and it integrates well in the VS IDE. As soon as I have it complete I will post the solution (will just have to strip out some of the custom stuff we do)Smile [:)] It seems to be a worth while alternative to CodeSmith & MyGeneration - creating the receipes seems daunting at first but other wise no problem.

Jaans replied on Monday, March 17, 2008

Hi Ruaan

It's been some time since these posts, but would you be open to sharing some of your CSLA Recipes ?

Many thanks

Johann

triplea replied on Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Hi Johann, since this thread has been inactive for a while I thought you might be interested (if you dont already know about it) in CSLA factory. (http://cslafactory.net/)
It looks cool but has been mentioned very little in the forums and seems like the site is a bit inactive. So not sure if there will ever be a deliverable...

jupp replied on Friday, April 18, 2008

CTP Version of the CslaFactory is know released. www.cslafactory.net

reagan123 replied on Tuesday, November 18, 2008

 I know this thread started awhile ago, but I was wondering if anyone ever posted their CSLA recipes anywhere?

I'll check out CSLA factory as well.

Thanks!

Solutrian replied on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Take a look at the P&P web service software factory:

http://blogs.msdn.com/donsmith/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/servicefactory.asp

Check out David Haydens blog: http://davidhayden.com/blog/dave/archive/2006/09/23/DataAccessGuidancePackageCodeGeneration.aspx

Watch the webcast...
It does a nice job of generating "best practice" solutions for services. I don't think it should be too hard to add some CSLA ideas into the mix.
j

rhoeting replied on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I have a quick question as it relates to GAT.  In Kathleen Dollard's book on code generation she offers "5 core principles for Code Generation". Principle #3 basically says, you should be able to regenerate all your code with "one click".  The point is, I can make a tweak to a template and regenerate all the code that consumes that template with a single click.  Is this possible with GAT?  

Rob

justncase80 replied on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I believe that the GAT focuses more on generating setup projects and files. Its essentially a way for you to make custom project types and custom file types and editors. So in VS when you click "file->new->project" and a new project is created with a bunch of files and settings, the GAT is essentially giving you the power to do this. In addition when you right click on a project or file object you can see entries for "Add->New Web Form" and such, you can add your own custom file types to these menus.

As far as I know the GAT does not give you (beyond maybe some refactoring capabilities) the ability to "regenerate your code in a single click". You may be able to coerce it into doing this through some hard work but its not exactly what it was intended for (as far as I understand it at least).

However, you could build a code generator that uses the GAT to integrate itself into Visual Studio nicely and that code generator could do all your generating... but that is perhaps beyond the scope of just this thread.

Solutrian replied on Thursday, September 28, 2006

As MS states: "The Guidance Automation Toolkit (GAT) is an extension to Visual Studio 2005 that allows architects to author rich, integrated user experiences for reusable assets including frameworks, components and patterns. The resulting Guidance Packages are composed of templates, wizards and recipes, which help developers build solutions in a way consistent with the architecture guidance."

It can create stub projects and solution, but it can also inject code or create classes via wizards just the same as code smith or mygeneration while being an integral part of Visual Studio.

 We use it to create CSLA like classes as well as CAB classes and web services.

Take a look at the web service software factory webcast.

justncase80 replied on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I've been looking into the GAT a bit recently, I can't say I have anything worth contributing right now but if you have an open project, I'd be willing to dive in and help a little bit in the spirit of learning! This is a really great idea and the GAT is really cool.

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