DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 1

www.realdolmen.com
FUN WITH ASP.NET MVC 3,
MEF AND NUGET
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 2

WHO AM I?
 Maarten Balliauw
 Antwerp, Belgium
Me, looking
 www.realdolmen.com intelligent with
 Focus on web glasses
 ASP.NET MVC, PHP, Azure, SignalR, …
 MVP Windows Azure (formerly ASP.NET)
 Co-founder of AZUG
 http://blog.maartenballiauw.be
 @maartenballiauw
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 4

AGENDA
 Technologies & techniques used
 ASP.NET MVC 3
 Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)
 NuGet
 Creating application components
 Building an application
 Conclusion
 Further information
 Q&A
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 5

ASP.NET MVC 3
 All the new stuff:
 Razor view engine
 Global Action Filters
 Unobtrusive Ajax & Client Validation
 Better Visual Studio tooling
 And a very interesting one for doing LEGO
development:
 Better support for Dependency Injection
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 6

DEPENDENCY INJECTION?
I need a
var partA =
“Part B” ! new PartA(new PartB())
Coming
up!
Me on a
typical
work day
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 7

DEPENDENCY INJECTION?
I need a
Let me
There
“Part B” !
you go!
see...
Container
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 8

WHAT ABOUT ASP.NET MVC 3?
 ASP.NET MVC 3 uses DependencyResolver
 : IDependencyResolver
 GetService()
 GetServices()
 Register it on application start
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 9

WHAT ABOUT ASP.NET MVC 3?
 ASP.NET MVC will / can query the
IDependencyResolver for
 Controllers  Value providers
 View engines & view pages  Model binders
 Filters  Controller activator
 Model validators  View page activator
 Model metadata
 Check Brad Wilson’s blog for examples on all of
these
 http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2010/07/service-
location-pt1-introduction.html
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 10

in ASP.NET MVC 3
DEPENDENCY INJECTION
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 11

MANAGED EXTENSIBILITY
FRAMEWORK (MEF)
 Cool as ICE: Import, Compose, Export
[Import]IRule rule;
MEF catalog
[Export(typeof(IRule)]
Let me
There
you go!
see...
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 12

MEF IN ASP.NET MVC 3
 Build an IDependencyResolver
 based on MEF container
 Use
 has a built-in IDependencyResolver
 has a “Convention” model
 is available on NuGet
 mefcontrib.codeplex.com
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 13

NUGET
“NuGet is a Visual Studio extension that makes it easy to install
and update open source libraries and tools in Visual Studio.”
Publish your own packages
+ Create & use your own feed
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 14

and finding it on NuGet
USING MEFCONTRIB
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 15

MEFCONTRIB.MVC3
 Optional addition for
 Adds some things to your application:
 AppStart code that does the wiring
 A CompositionDependencyResolver
 Will check all assemblies in /bin
 Will export everything : IController by convention
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 16

CONVENTIONS BASED MODEL
public class MvcApplicationRegistry : PartRegistry {
public MvcApplicationRegistry() {
Scan(x => {
x.Assembly(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
x.Directory(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "bin");
});
Part()
.ForTypesAssignableFrom<IController>()
.MakeNonShared()
.ExportTypeAs<IController>()
.ExportType()
.Imports(
// ...
);
}
}
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 17

THIS ALL MAKES ME THINK...
 Package company components using
NuGet?
 Distribute them in a custom feed?
 Use ASP.NET MVC 3?
 Wire everything with MEF & MefContrib?
 Pure application Lego!
Me, thinking
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 18

CREATING APPLICATION
COMPONENTS
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 19

WHAT’S NEXT?
 Building it
 MSBuild (or whatever! Nuget.exe is all that matters)
 Hosting it Install-Package NuGet.Server
 Create a NuGet server
 Drop everything in a folder
 Use a NaaS solution: www.myget.org
 Using it
 Reference the feed
 Download & install components needed
 Assemble using MEF (or another IoC)
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 20

A QUICK COMMERCIAL PLUG
 Create your own NuGet feed
 Packages from official feed
 Uploaded/pushed packages
 No need to setup & maintain your own NuGet Server
 Free! www.myget.org
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 21

CREATING A PRIVATE NUGET
FEED
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 22

LET’S SEE IF WE CAN BUILD THIS...
TPS Reports Cover Sheet Generator
(ASP.NET MVC 3) Wired
Domain layer Authentication Theme
with MEF
Domain.TpsReports AccountController Default theme
Contracts
Packaged
as .nupkg
And their
implementations...
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 23

Cover Sheet Generator
BUILDING AN APPLICATION
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 24

CONCLUSION
 You can build an app like a Lego set
 Requires “bricks” (NuGet packages)
 Requires “glue” (MEF / MefContrib / IoC)
 Requires you to think in terms of components
 Structure is key!
 Not a best-practice architecture
 Just something we toyed with on a project
 Proved to work (for the customer)
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 25

FURTHER INFORMATION
 On the Internet:
 www.nuget.org
 www.myget.org
 mefcontrib.codeplex.com
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 26

THANK YOU FOR JOINING
Me, having
a question
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | SLIDE 27