Help!!!!

etalley posted on Thursday, June 04, 2009

Hello my name is Eric and I have an application that uses the CSLA VB 2005 Framework.  I have purchased the book and tried to read it but I'm having the worst time ever understanding it.  I would like to learn this framework and all of it's in's and outs from the bottom up does anyone have any suggestions. 

Tom_W replied on Friday, June 05, 2009

Hi Eric

I know your pain!  OK, for a starter, here's a thread that has my initial thoughts:
http://forums.lhotka.net/forums/thread/33003.aspx

Beyond that, basically you need to allow yourself a good amount of time to learn CSLA.  Realistically, I'm talking weeks for the basics and months to get really proficient (assuming you can't devote your time 100% to CSLA).

From what I've learnt so far, once you understand the framework it is very straightforward to use, but you need to understand the framework to use it effectively (or even at all), and that's the bit that takes the time.

This forum is a fantastic resource, almost every question has been asked at some time, so searching the forum is definitely worth the effort.

One other new resource is Rocky's training video series.  There is a post here discussing Segment 5 of the series.  Segment 5 looks at all of the CSLA stereotypes in more detail - I'm in the process of watching this video now, I will update that thread with my thoughts on it's value to beginners and non SilverLight developers when I've finished watching it.

A final thought; if you are based in the US, I believe there's a company that does CSLA training - if I had that option available (I'm UK based) then that's where I'd start!

HTH and welcome to the CSLA community!

dlambert replied on Friday, June 05, 2009

Try reading the book a chapter or two at a time, and reviewing the implementation of the concepts that are discussed in one of the sample applications to make sure you understand what's going on. Many of the ideas in the book will "click" only when you've done them a couple times.

I believe you'll find the forum to be particularly helpful if your questions are somewhat specific -- ie, ask for guidance on a particular concept that's eluding you.