I’m developing a part of an application, named A. The application I want to plug my DLL into, called application B is in vb 6, and my code is in vb.net. (Application B will in time be converted to vb.net) My main question i, how is the best way for me to organize my code (application A)?
I want to split application A into layers (Service, Business, Data access), so it will be easy to integrate application A into B when B is converted to vb.net. I also want to learn about all the topics like layered architecture, patterns, inversion of dependency, entity framework and so on. Although my application (A) is small I want to organize my code in the best way.
The application I’m working with (A) is using web services for authenticating users and for sending schema to an organization. The user of application B is selecting a menu point in application B and then some functions in my application A is called.
In application A I have an auto generated schema class from an xsd schema. I fill this schema object with data and serialize the object to a memory string (is it a good solution to use memory string, I don’t have to save the data yet), wrap the xml inside a CDATA block and return the CDATA block as a string and assign the CDATA block to a string property of a web service.
I am also using Entity framework for database communication (to learn how this is done for the future work with application B). I have two entities in my .edmx, User and Payer.
I also want to use the repository pattern (is this a good choice?) to make a façade between the DAL and the BLL.
My application has functions for GeneratingSchema (filling the schema object with data), GetSchemaContent, GetSchemaInformation, GenerateCDATABlock, WriteToTextFile, MemoryStreamToString, EncryptData and some functions that uses web services, like SendShema, AuthenticateUser, GetAvalibelServises and so on.
I’m not sure where I should put it all?
I think I have to have some Interfaces like IRepository, ISchema (contract for the auto generated schema class, how can I do this?) ICryptoManager, IFileManager and so on, and classes that implements the interfaces.
My DAL will be the Entity framework. And I want a repository façade in my BLL (IRepository, UserRepository, PayerRepository) and classes for management (like the classes I have mention above) holding functions like WriteToFile, EncryptData …..
Is this a good solution (do I need a service layer, all my GUI is in application B) and how can I organize my layers, interfaces, classes an functions in Visual Studio?
Thanks in advance.
This is one heck of a question, thought I might try to chip away at a few parts for you so there’s less for the next guy to answer…
For application B (VB6) to call application/assemblies A, I’m going to assume you’re exposing the relevant parts of App A as COM Components, using ComVisibleAttributes and similar, much like described in this artcle. I only know of one other way (WCF over COM) but I’ve never tried it myself.
Splitting your solution(s) into various tiers and layers is a very subjective/debatable topic, and will always come down to a combination of personal preference, business requirements, time available, etc. However, regardless of the depth of your tiers and layers, it is good to understand the how and the why.
To get you started, here’s a couple articles:
Inversion of Control is also a very good pattern to get into right now, with ever increasing (and brilliant!) resources becoming available to the .Net platform, it’s definitely worth infesting some time to learn.
Although I haven’t explored the full extent of IoC, I do love dependency injection(a type of IoC if I understand correctly though people seem to muddle the IoC/DI terms quite a lot). My personal preference for DI right now is the open source Ninject project, which has plenty of resources online and a reasonable wiki section talking you through the various aspects.
There are many more takes on DI and IoC, so I don’t want to even attempt to provide you a comprehensive list for fear of being flamed for missing out somebody’s favourite. Just have a search, see which you like the look of and have a play with it. Make sure to try a couple if you have the time.
Again, the Repository Pattern – often complemented well by the Unit of Work Pattern are also great topics to mull over for hours. I’ve seen a lot of good examples out on the inter-webs, and as many bad examples. My only advice here is to try it for yourself… see what works for you, develop a version of the patterns that suits you best and try to keep things consistent for maintainability.
For organising all these tiers and layers in VS, I recommend trying to keep all your independent tiers/layers in their own Solution Folders (r-click the Solution, Add New Solution Folder), or in some cases (larger projects) there own solutions and preferably an automated build service to update dependent projects with up to date assemblies as required. Again, a broad subject and totally down to personal preference. Just keep an eye out when designing your application for potential upcoming Circular References.
So, I’m afraid that doesn’t even slightly answer your question, but hopefully provides you with some resources to check out and a few hours of reading.
Good luck!