CSLA 4 preview available

CSLA 4 preview available

Old forum URL: forums.lhotka.net/forums/t/8770.aspx


RockfordLhotka posted on Monday, April 05, 2010

This is an experiment. I have put a CSLA 4 preview online in the form of a setup (setup.exe/setup.msi) instead of just a zip with lots of files. This includes pre-compiled debug and release binaries, as well as source code.

I don't know if this is better or worse than the old code-in-a-zip technique I've been using for years. It is certainly more work to create and maintain the setup, but it might be worth it if the results are easier to consume.

So please grab the archive and run the setup and let me know what you think:

http://www.lhotka.net/files/csla40/CslaSetup-4.0.0-100405.msi

The setup app is also here:

http://www.lhotka.net/files/csla40/Csla-4.0.0-100405.zip

Of course this is also a big preview release, so make sure to read the change log for a list of major changes - and there are many very cool and wonderful changes!

There are also two recent blog posts covering some of the big changes in this preview:

This is a preview, not a beta, so if you encounter issues please let me know - but don't be surprised.

On the other hand, if you have any feedback that you think should affect the 4.0 release now is the time for that feedback. A week or two from now will be basically too late to affect anything other than fixing bugs.

The only major feature missing in this preview is the update to authorization rules. They are merging into the business rules system, but that work is not done, and is not yet in this preview. When that's done I'll shift into a beta cycle with CSLA 4, focusing on fixing any bugs and deferring any features until some future 4.1 release.

lukky replied on Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Hi Rocky,

I personally prefer the ZIP file. It gives me more control over what gets installed and where.

regards

cdkisa replied on Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Is there still going to be support for DataAnnotation attributes?

RockfordLhotka replied on Tuesday, April 06, 2010

cdkisa

Is there still going to be support for DataAnnotation attributes?

Yes, absolutely. That is in the current preview and works just like it does in 3.8.

Mick_G replied on Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Rocky:

Does your Setup install give you the option of installing to VS2008 or to VS2010? I'm running both on my development box right now be nice to just install against 2010?

Mick

RockfordLhotka replied on Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Right now there's no integration with VS in the installer. It just lays down the files into an app directory under Program Files.

The benefit is that you can uninstall, or install new versions, and you don't have to worry about locked zip archives from the Internet, etc.

Hopefully we'll get some project (and maybe even solution) templates built, and then they'll go into the installer too, but those don't exist right now.

Mick_G replied on Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Cool Danka!

tiago replied on Sunday, April 11, 2010

RockfordLhotka
The only major feature missing in this preview is the update to authorization rules. They are merging into the business rules system, but that work is not done, and is not yet in this preview. When that's done I'll shift into a beta cycle with CSLA 4, focusing on fixing any bugs and deferring any features until some future 4.1 release.

Hi Rocky,

I got a bit mixed up. The new authentication rules will be on CSLA.NET 4.0 or only on 4.1?

RockfordLhotka replied on Sunday, April 11, 2010

The authorization features will be in 4.0. So will INotifyDataErrorInfo (on SL). Hopefully so will the ability to change the server exception in the data portal. These three are the only outstanding features still in progress for 4.0.

Anything beyond those three will be in a later 4.x.

skagen00 replied on Sunday, April 11, 2010

When you talk about replacing the server exception in the data portal, are you essentially providing a nice place to hook something like an Enterprise Library log/rethrow a new exception -- some place to obfuscate the actual server exception from the Silverlight client?

I think you said that the actual returned exception will still be a DataPortalException. Is that correct?

Thanks!

RockfordLhotka replied on Sunday, April 11, 2010

Right - this is a way to replace the actual exception with your own exception - but it will still be wrapped in a DataPortalException to cross the wire to the client.

The model will be simple - just enhancing the existing DataPortal_OnDataPortalException method so you can do the replacement as well as log the original or whatever you want to do.

djjlewis replied on Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Is there any advice or examples on how to use the new ASP.NET MVC Model Binder / Controller enhancements?

Thanks,

Dan.

RockfordLhotka replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dan Lewis

Is there any advice or examples on how to use the new ASP.NET MVC Model Binder / Controller enhancements?

There will be. I don't remember if I checked it in or not, but I think I did - there's a PTWebMvc project in the C# ProjectTracker in /core/trunk that makes use of all three types in Csla.Web.Mvc. It is not a complete example, but all three types are used and that should get you started.

djjlewis replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Hi Rocky,

I'm not sure if I'm missing something or not, but the current PTWebMvc project in trunk (I have checked out the latest) is from around October last year and doesn't seem to be using the new ModelBinder or Controller base class in Csla.Web.Mvc (it just accepts the id and a form collection and then calls UpdateModel manually). I'm probably being a little impatient, so will spend sometime looking at the source to see if I can figure out how to use the new features myself, but it would great to see some "official" guidance on this if you get a chance to update the PTWebMvc app to use the latest...

Regards,

Dan.

RockfordLhotka replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

If I'd checked in the code it would have been in svn, not in any release - this is something I was doing late last week. But I just looked in svn (you know you can go to http://www.lhotka.net/cslacvs/ to see the live repository?) and I didn't check in the changes. They weren't complete, and so I think I decided to hold off until I could make sure they were reasonably stable.

RockfordLhotka replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

One thing that is there in svn though, come to think of it, is the Csla.Web.Mvc.Test project. That contains unit tests for the new functionality. You may be able to look at the test code and get some good understanding of how the types can be used.

nhwilly replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I put the "i" in idiot.

I love the new installation setup.

Thanks for that.

djjlewis replied on Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thanks for the suggestion Rocky, the MVC test project gives me a good head start on usage.

Regards,

Dan.

rxelizondo replied on Sunday, April 11, 2010

I like the exe/msi idea but only if you can digitally sign the file. I realize that digitally singing an exe does not guaranty that the executable is safe but I think that it makes the person executing the file much more comfortable (at least that is my feeling).

Anyway, even if you can digitally sing the file I would keep the regular zip deployment available for those people that just don’t like exes.

ballistic replied on Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Personally I prefer the zip method since it allows me to go in and create BeginBatchLoad and BeginBatchLoad methods into BusinessBase.

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