ASP.NET Dynamic Data on CodePlex

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Today, ASP.NET Dynamic Data moved from its current home on Code Gallery to its new home on CodePlex.  Note that this is part of a general ASP.NET CodePlex project, so you'll see other features mentioned in there, like MVC and AJAX.  This doesn't mean that those features tie with Dynamic Data any more than they did before; they're just sharing a home on the same CodePlex project.

There are a couple different things related to Dynamic Data that are available there, and since there is room for confusion I'll try to help make sense of it all.

The 'core' Dynamic Data

The first piece is Dynamic Data itself.  This will ship later this summer as part of Framework 3.5 SP1, but until that happens you need to install preview bits.  In order to get the latest preview, you first need to install VS 2008 SP1 Beta.  This comes with an outdated build of Dynamic Data, so you then need to install the update from CodePlex.  This is the same update that we had on Code Gallery, so if you already installed that, you don't need to do it again.

Once Framework 3.5 SP1 officially ships, there will no longer be a need for this.  Note that for all practical purpose, this update is identical to what the final release will be in SP1.  We are now completely locked down, and have not made a change in 3 weeks.  It just takes a little more time for the whole VS SP1 stack to finish up and be out the door.

Note that even though this is on CodePlex, we are not at this time making the sources of the 'core' Dynamic Data available.  I certainly hope that we will be able to in the future, but that has to go through some lawyers and other fun things.

The Dynamic Data Futures

The second important piece that's available on CodePlex is the Dynamic Data Futures (previously calls 'Dynamic Data Extensions').  At this time, these Futures are basically a big VS solution that contain both a library of new features (Microsoft.Web.DynamicData.dll), and a couple web sites that show them in action.

Unlike the Dynamic Data 'core', this 'Futures' piece is fully available in source form.  The solution first builds Microsoft.Web.DynamicData.dll, and then builds the various samples that rely on it.

Note that those Futures do not replace the core Dynamic Data, but instead run on top of it.  So it shouldn't be looked at as being the 'next version' of Dynamic Data, but rather as being some extra functionality that will be available on top of the Framework 3.5 SP1 release.

This project serves a few different purposes:

  • It gives us a place to experiment with new features that we didn't have time to put in SP1.  Some of those will eventually make their way into the next version of Dynamic Data, while others are likely to remain samples.  Obviously, we'd love to get feedback on those (the forum is the right place for that).
  • It lets us address some issues that are in the SP1 release and couldn't be fixed in time.
  • It has some great samples for Dynamic Data users to look at and learn how to achieve various results.  Note that a few of the samples that were previously separate are now included in there (e.g. Scott Hunter's DbImage sample).

What happens next

The 'Futures' project is very much work in progress, and we are actively adding things to it.  So you should expect to see fairly frequent updates on CodePlex.

Please give this a try and let us know how it goes on the forum!