Enterprise Smart Clients Architecture, Patterns, Design, Best Practices Keith Elder Manager, Sr. Software Engineer Quicken Loans Blog:

Take Aways  Previous Session  What are Smart Clients  How to deploy them as easy as a web application  Setting Up Visual Studio – How to get started  Modules  Interface  Business Logic  Data Access Logic  Understanding the architecture of an Enterprise Smart Client and how to get started building one.  Handling Business Rules  Enterprise Library

Enterprise Desktop

Enterprise Smart Client Architecture

Smart Client Architecture SQL 2005 Client Web Services Cluster  Benefits  Provides connection pooling to database  Allows for updates to business layer without affecting clients  Disconnected / Connected Business Logic Documentation

Enterprise Smart Client Pattern: Visual Studio Solution Organization

Visual Studio Solution Organization  Think in terms of modularity and re-use  Will not apply to smaller applications  Modules are collections of projects and solutions  Web Service  BusinessLayer  DataLayer  WorkFlow  Proxy  UI.Web  UI.WinForm  UI.Mobile  Etc.

Visual Studio Solution Organization: Things to remember  Create a “Common” library early on  Common API’s -> EnterpriseDesktop.Common  Typically shared among all projects (it is common right?)  Base APIs to handle validation, serialization, configuration or whatever  Common UI -> EnterpriseDesktop.Common.WinForm  Why separate things out so much?  Allows for Multiple User Interfaces to leverage the same logic. Write once. Use it everywhere.  Bake Enterprise Library into your application from the start, not as an after thought. More on this later.  Each SmartClient “module” will have minimally four projects:  Web service – provides the means to retrieve, and validate information for your module  Business Layer – Contains your business rules and business entities  Data Layer – Facilitates storing and retrieving of data (could be datasets, custom objects, or an ORM)  UI (winform) – User controls which make up your user interface

Web Service BusinessLayer DataLayer Smart Client Mobile 5 App Web Site Internal Web App Smart Client Module WorkFlow

Folder Structure For Application ModuleModule Project FilesProject Files

Enterprise Desktop

Enterprise Smart Client: Best Practices

Handling Business Rules With Smart Clients  Put your business rules in the web service  Business rules change constantly, do you want to redeploy your entire app for a few lines of code change?  Answer: No. Just redeploy your web service. No one will ever know!  Leverage Biztalk rules engines or WorkFlow rules engine  Great idea but I can only pass back and forth XML, so how do I do it?  Answer. List brokenRules  Note: EntLib 3.0 has a Validation Block

Business Rules

Enterprise Smart Client: Patterns and Software Factories

Patterns and Practice Is Your Friend  Enterprise Library  Logging Block  Log exceptions  Route SQL Exceptions to pagers  Log who is doing what  Log to flat files, xml or database  Data Access Block  Abstract data access, less code than ADO.Net  Caching Block  Database  File system  Isolated file storage  Security Block  Manage permissions for your application (who can do what)  Console  Winform Application to configure or re-configure your application on the fly  WSE 3.0 – Web Services Enhanced (pre WCF)

Quick Look at Enterprise Library

Enterprise Smart Client: Deployment Tips

Enterprise Deployment Tips  Things you need to deploy  Smart Client  Web Service for each module  Tip: Create master solutions for each web service deployment  Reminder: Don’t forget to add Enterprise Library to your services  Documentation  Asp.net web site  Purchase software certificate from Versign  Sign ClickOnce manifests with certificate  Have your windows engineers deploy this certficate as a trusted certficate to the desktops.  Build an MSI installer which contains a URL desktop shortcut. Deploy this to the enterprise based which user’s need the application.  Provides an easy on ramp to kick off the application and get it installed.  Can be placed in desktop image by IS

Anything Else I Should Look At?  Web Service Performance Tip: Gzip and ExcludeSchema  Smart Client Software Factory  Web Service Software Factory  Mobile Software Factory  Keep eyes on Patterns and Practice Team

Resources  My Blog     Resources    Patterns and Practices   Smart Client Software Factory  Enterprise Library  Web Services Software Factory  Mobile Software Factory