patterns & practices: Composite WPF and Silverlight

New Post: Discussion Suggestion

BenHayat — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:58:17 GMT

I would like to suggest to split the Discussion List into two seperate lists, one for WPF and one for SL. There are many people who post questions without identifying in the title if this a WPF or SL, and we have to read the post to find out it's not the platform we are intrested. Just like any other forum that has many categries, I think this discussion list should be split too.

Thanks!

..Ben

New Post: Prism v3

BenHayat — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:53:29 GMT

I would like to second the above post and find out more details about Prism 3 with SL3 and RIA services (Data Form, Validation) and SL3 navigation and childwindow as well.

Has there been an official road map about how SL3 and Prism3 and RIA will be coming together to build a modula Business Application?

Thank you in advance!

..Ben

New Post: Responsibility question

idof — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:36:56 GMT

I have a question regarding code responsibility in the MVP pattern.

Say I have a view that holds a DataGrid, and a presenter that is responsible for attaching the view to a model, the view then takes this model and sets it as the DataGrid's ItemSource. I hope so far it makes sense.

Now the issue is, the data that is attach is polymorphic, and according to the type, the DataGrid should display different column, not using the standard AutoGenerateColumns, but rather a custom code we have.

The question is, whether the decision of which column to use and how to create them should be the View's responsibility (because he knows the DataGrid and how to interact with it) or should it be the Presenter's responsibility because he has the business-view logic of which columns should be displayed for each type, but doesn't (shouldn't?) know how to interact with the DataGrid - since View's DataGrid can be replaced in the future with other data grids (3rd party).

Is it the View's or the Presenter's responsibility? or is it a combined effort? (for example, the presenter creates a special collection of column information and the view applies it to the data grid, using the control's specific properties and methods)

I'd appreciate your design input.

Thanks in advance,

Ido.

New Post: Prism v3

mamadero — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:32:09 GMT

Are there any plans to release a new version of the Guidance?

We're thinking on start using the library for a current Silverlight 3 Applications and I would like to know what's the Roadmap for the project. I know P&P works in an agile way and heavily based on customer input. I also know that there're some projects that have evolved during the years like Enterprise Library and others that weren't that succesful. Before we start betting on this library I'd like to know what're the plans (if any) for the next versions of Prism. I'm specially concerned on the support for the next version of Silverlight that is going to be released soon and there're new pieces like Validation, Navigation, ChildWindows that might need to be covered by the Guidance in the form of documentation, libraries or new Region Adapters.

New Post: Binding to a StackPanel

rboarman — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:07:43 GMT

Hello,

I have implemented a View, Model and Presenter much like the StockTraderRI project. My issue is that I am trying to databind a stackpanel to an ObservableCollection<string> object but no strings are being displayed.

Here’s my code:

PresentationModel code:

public InfoBarPresentationModel(IInfoBarView view, IEventAggregator eventAggregator)

{

this.View = view;

this.View.Model = this;

InfoBarItems = new ObservableCollection<string>();

InfoBarItems.Add("Test 1");

InfoBarItems.Add("Test 2");

}

public IInfoBarView View { get; set; }

public ObservableCollection<string> InfoBarItems { get; set; }

XAML code:

<ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>

</ItemsPanelTemplate>

</ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>

<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>

</StackPanel>

</DataTemplate>

</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>

</ItemsControl>

I have tried numerous combinations of bindings but have yet to figure out why my strings never show up. What am I doing wrong?

Rick

New Post: IModuleManager.LoadModule API

jburkhardt — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:45:48 GMT

Thanks Damian! Sorry it took me a bit to get back to you...

The thread you linked to is what I was referring to. My plan for implementing this will be to save the paramters I want to pass to the module (or an object inside it). Then when the module loads it will fire an event indicating that it has initialized. The responder of that event will then obtain a reference to the module (perhaps the module can pass this as the event payload) and call a method on the interesting object in the module to tell it what it needs to finish initializing.

Imagine a scenario where a module can present data in different modes and I want to load it and tell it to present in a particular mode. I think that the above plan will work.

However, I do think that it is a major deficiency in the API that there is no way to find out that a module has failed to load. I'm planning on loading the dll dynamically from my host web site and we all know that this could fail for a client at any moment. Applications need to know this so that it can try to recover. I may create a patch myself to provide this functionality for my app because I think it is important.

Thanks again for your help.

-John

Updated Wiki: Knowledge Base

MatiasBonaventura — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:10:09 GMT

Composite Application Guidance for WPF & Silverlight Knowledge Base

The purpose of this Knowledge Base is categorize and organize blogs posts, CodePlex pages, CodePlex posts, etc that can be valuable for the community. With this kind of information organized the community will have a new place to search for help/guidance.

We are going to update this KB periodically. You will find highlighted in this page the new posts we are adding.

Below this you will find the categories in which we propose to organize the information. If you feel that some categories are missing, please leave us a comment with the proposed category.

New posts:

More...

Updated Wiki: Others

MatiasBonaventura — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:46:01 GMT

Others

10 Things to Know about Silverlight Prism
- Description: Top 10 things that every developer should know about prism, with videos, samples and more.
- Version: 2.0
The WPF Toolkit DataGrid and Prism Regions
- Description: Thread discussing the issues when using the WPF ToolKit DataGrid and Prism-v2.
- Version: 2.0
Prism/WCF - Cannot find ServiceReferences.ClientConfig in .xap application package
- Description: Article that explains how to add a reference to WCF Web Service from a module (to avoid having the error: "Cannot find 'ServiceReferences.ClientConfig' in the .xap application package").
- Version: Drop 8
Showing a Splash Screen whilst initializing a WPF Prism application
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Article about how to create a splash screen to show the user during the loading progress.
Passing Server information to Silverlight Client
- Version: 2.0
- Description: Article that explains how to pass information to a Silverlight client in a composite application.
Project Linker - sharing single code base between Silverlight and Desktop applications
- Version: 2.0
- Description: Article explaining how to use Project Linker to share a code base between WPF & Silverlight.
Splash Screen with Prism
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Article about how to create a splash screen to show the user about the loading progress using thwe Composite Application Library.
CompositeWPF - ModuleLoader - a better error handler
- Version: 1.0
- Description: The current HandleModuleLoadError() error handler buries the actual error in the InnerException property (the lower the level of the error, the deeper it gets buried). This article explains a different approach to handle module load errors to not bury the original error.
How-to: Use the Disconnected Service Agent (DSA) with CompositeWPF (Prism)
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Sample application that shows how to use the Disconnected Agent Service Application Block with the Composite Application Library.
Composite Guidance for WPF Documentation and Hands On Lab
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Article that describe the features of the Composite Guidance for WPF Documentation.
Prism How-To: Provide metadata to a view that was placed into a region
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Approach on how to show a header on a tab using WPF bindings.
Have a Modules View fill Region completely
- Version: 1.0
- Description: Question on how to make a view fill completely a region.
You Can Depend On Patterns and Practices
- Version: Any
- Description: Alex Homer from the p&p team focuses on ways in which groups inside Microsoft have implemented the Dependency Injection pattern in Microsoft products

Created Issue: how to get the data from the sqlserver's table data in Silverlight using CAG

ravivellanky — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:14:01 GMT

how to get the data from the sqlserver's table data in Silverlight using CAG. Without using CAG I'm getting the data by using WCF Service. By using reference i'm directly binding the list to item source of my control in xaml file. But using CAG it's not possible.

Can any one tell me how to achieve the data from database using CAG..

Created Issue: Problem with wcf service reference in silverlight

ravivellanky — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:10:36 GMT

i implemented a WCF service to get the data from sql server table. i published and use the service reference in Silverlight sample. I'm getting some errors saying that
Error 3 The type name 'ServiceReference1' does not exist in the type 'HelloWorldModule.HelloWorldModule' C:\Documents and Settings\raviv\My Documents\CAGInfo\Prism.Source\Source\Quickstarts\Hello World\HelloWorld.Silverlight\HelloWorldModule\Service References\ServiceReference1\Reference.cs 133 76 HelloWorldModule

New Post: Embedded Fonts

Ozzy1 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:49:11 GMT

Sort of. I ended up loading the font in the ShellView, which works but isn't really satisfactory because when the app starts the default font is shown briefly before the custom font is loaded. There is probably a way to preload the font, but I haven't yet tried to improve on this.

        void LoadCustomFont()
        {
            WebClient client = new WebClient();
            client.OpenReadCompleted += new OpenReadCompletedEventHandler(client_OpenReadCompleted);
            client.OpenReadAsync(new Uri("/Fonts/MINYN___.TTF", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute));
        }

        void client_OpenReadCompleted(object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Error == null && !e.Cancelledl)
            {
                FontSource fontSource = new FontSource(e.Result);
                AppHeaderTitle.FontSource = fontSource;
                AppHeaderTitle.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Minya Nouvelle");
            }
        }

Reviewed: Composite Application Guidance - Feb 2009 (Jul 02, 2009)

pooran — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:30:12 GMT

Rated 5 Stars (out of 5) - You guys rock :)

New Post: Prism and ADO.Net Entity Data Framework

pooran — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:27:54 GMT

Thanks a lot for sharing the sample code.. I will give it a go and let you know.

Module manager in a view.. I have to bind few more modules and views in that view with custom regions. Not implemented yet though.

Webservice.. I might replace it with EF if that thing goes right. SqlMembershipProvider.. we are building a multiple logins including openid, live, and few other logins. So, custom implementation is what we preferred.

Thanks again :)

Pooran

New Post: View in a Window

matiasbonaventura — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:57:54 GMT

Hi Kumar,

Though I don't know your exact scenario, there are some discussion that address similar issues:

· Regions inside popup region

· Popup Region

· Multiple instances of a window (view)

Hope it helps!

Matias Bonaventura

http://blogs.southworks.net/matiasb

New Post: Prism and ADO.Net Entity Data Framework

lrr81765 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:07:52 GMT

I'll try here -

First, this is just how *I* roll :)

In your Bootstrapper, register the service as such (be sure to call it from your CreateShell ):

        private void RegisterServices()
        {
            //you need to have a conn string in the shell app.config for SampleDataEntities.
            this.Container.RegisterInstance<SampleDataEntities.SampleDataEntities>("SampleDataService", 
                new SampleDataEntities.SampleDataEntities(), 
                new Microsoft.Practices.Unity.ContainerControlledLifetimeManager());

        }

Then in your view, I would add a property for your entities & set it as your DataContext :
        
IUnityContainer container;
IEventAggregator _eventAggregator;

public object Entities
 {
            get { return this.DataContext as SampleDataEntities; }
            set { this.DataContext = value; }
 }
 
 public AdminView(IUnityContainer container, 
                            IEventAggregator eventAggregator) :this()
 {
            this.container = container;
            _eventAggregator = eventAggregator;
            this.Entities = this.container.Resolve();

 }


Then your XAML can bind to the Entity directly  Text = {Binding Path=users.Username......} 

Couple of things - Not sure why you are using the ModuleManager in your view, you should likely be using the IRegionManager, but I've only browsed the code.
Also, it appears that you are implementing a webservice as a custom authentication and membership provider based on SQL. 
While I don't have specific links, I *know* this has been done before, and likely the SqlMembershipProvder can take care of your needs with configuration. I've been immersed in WSS for awhile, so 
some of those things can taint my mind.

Hope this helps.
Good Luck! 

P.S. One thing I learned today - If you are going to use an EF Entity as a source, you likely need to wrap it in an ObservableCollection<> 
 this.Referrals = new ObservableCollection<Referral>( this.ReferralEntities.ReferralSet.ToList() );

New Post: VS2010, SL3 and Windows 7 - can't convert Silverlight projects

Billkrat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:27:59 GMT

Found a work-around.

The following folder

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\Silverlight

Will only have a v3.0 subfolder on fresh installs. I copy/pasted this folder and renamed the copy to v2.0 and VS2010 works as expected (Bug ID: 472162)

New Post: VS2010, SL3 and Windows 7 - can't convert Silverlight projects

Billkrat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:27:59 GMT

Found a work-around.

The following folder

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\Silverlight

Will only have a v3.0 subfolder on fresh installs. I copy/pasted this folder and renamed the copy to v2.0 and VS2010 works as expected (Bug ID: 472162)

New Post: VS2010, SL3 and Windows 7 - can't convert Silverlight projects

Billkrat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:46:47 GMT

I was able to convert the Prism Silverlight projects under SL2 but when I built a new beta development box and did a fresh install I am unable to load Prism Silverlight projects using VS2010, SL3 under Windows 7 (Build 7100). The conversion process acts like it worked (shows the report) but the project never appears - when I attempt to add it again it goes through the conversion again.

Any chance the team can convert and make them available so we can plug them in? I'm dead in the water on the Silverlight side...

Thanks

Bill

VS2010 info follows:

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Version 10.0.20506.1 Beta1
Microsoft .NET Framework
Version 4.0

Installed Version: Enterprise

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Version 10.0.20506.1

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Workflow Designer Package 1.0
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