Scope for Prism 2.0

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In my previous post, I mentioned that we planned on creating guidance for Composite Silverlight applications. David Hill just blogged on our plans for Prism 2.0. From this survey we heard you wanted guidance on:

  • Multi-targeting controller, presenters, services, and models for both Silverlight and WPF
  • UI Composition for Silverlight
  • Modular Development for Silverlight
  • Data access

Based upon this feedback we decided to create guidance that will help you create Multi-targeted Silverlight and WPF applications and Composite Silverlight applications. We plan to use the existing Prism...I mean Composite Application Guidance for WPF as the starting point.

Based upon your feedback, we decided to guidance on SharePoint Intranet Development. This includes help with solution architecture, solution development, and packaging and deployment.

Elevator Pitch:

Target Customer: Primary: Silverlight Professional Developers (Includes Architects); Secondary: Human Designer

Statement of Need: Build new multi-targeted Silverlight and WPF client applications maintained by multiple teams (composite application).

Product Name and Capability:

  • Prism...Composite Application Guidance for Silverlight 
  • Reusable components, guidance, automation and samples for developing composite WPF and Silverlight applications
  • Enable cross-targeting of applications for WPF and Silverlight easier.

Key Benefit:

  • Provides infrastructure for developing and maintaining WPF and Silverlight composite applications
  • User Interface components are dynamically composed
  • Application modules are developed, tested and deployed by separate teams
  • Allows reusable components across WPF and Silverlight applications
Focus Areas of the Guidance:

Multi-targeting:

  • Developer needs to reuse controllers, presenters, services, and models across Silverlight and WPF: Must Have
  • Developer needs reuse unit tests across Silverlight and WPF: Delighter
  • Developer needs to reuse validation across Silverlight and WPF: Delighter
  • Developer needs reuse UI elements across Silverlight and WPF (styling to views): Delighter

Composite Application Guidance for Silverlight

  • Developer needs guidance on creating a Composite User Interface for Silverlight: Must Have
  • Developer needs guidance on creating modular application for Silverlight: Must Have

Line of Business Guidance for Silverlight

  • Developer needs guidance on how to query data and send updates to the server: Delighter
  • Developer needs guidance on how to create validation rules: Delighter
  • Developer needs guidance on how to authenticate and authorize users: Delighter
  • Developer needs guidance on how to cache data on the client: Delighter
  • Developer needs guidance on logging and exception handling: Delighter

Note that the Must Have's we plan on addressing. The Delighter's we will complete as many as we have time which of course could be none. Give us your feedback on the scope. Are we tackling the right set of challenges?

As an fyi, David Hill recently joined the p&p team and we are really happy to have him on board. I have had the opportunity to work with David in many different roles over the last 5 years. David played an advisor for some of our early Smart Client work which included the Offline Application Block and CAB. He also helped us write the Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide. More recently David was an advisor from the product team for Prism 1.0 and played a big role in helping us simplify the experience of adopting Prism. We are glad that he will be "pig" on Prism 2.0 for those that understand the pig and chicken analogy from SCRUM.