Just Released – Hands-on Labs for Enterprise Library 4.1 and Unity 1.2

I know it’s easy to get lost in the plethora of announcements and buzz from MIX’09, but today we are releasing a set of hands-on labs for all the application blocks in Enterprise Library. We believe that this valuable release will not go unnoticed by the community of devoted EntLib users and want to take this opportunity to highlight it for new users as well. After all, the labs are meant to help you get up to speed with EntLib.

This release includes a refresh of the labs for the following blocks:

- Caching Application Block

- Cryptography Application Block

- Data Access Application Block

- Exception Handling Application Block

- Logging Application Block

- Security Application Block

There are also two entirely new hands-on labs covering Interception and Dependency Injection with Unity. The Validation Block hands-on lab was released back in December and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve received on it encouraged the team to produce the rest.

You can download the entire set in both C# and Visual Basic .NET: Hands-on Labs for Enterprise Library 4.1
If you prefer to download the Unity lab as a standalone, it’s also available: Hands-on Labs for the Unity Application Block 1.2

You can do them in any order. They will guide you through common scenarios of using EntLib in various application contexts. Some labs go into advanced topics and you may want do them a couple of times. Also, don’t be shy about improvising and departing from the scenarios written in the lab instructions.

The labs may also be of value to trainers and academics, since they can be used as teaching aids in the classes devoted to Enterprise Library specifically or in courses on Component-Based Software Engineering, Enterprise Application Development, and Aspect-Oriented Programming.

With this release, the EntLib team reiterates its commitment to enhancing learnability and increasing ease of use of Enterprise Library. Please, try them. Whether you love them or feel frustrated (especially if you feel frustrated), please send us your feedback.