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MVVM Light Toolkit Works Great, Less Complicated
- 1. MVVM Light Toolkit Works Great, Less Complicated Tom Fischer September 29, 2011
- 2. Agenda ∗ Background ∗ Enterprise Applications ∗ XAML ∗ Ramifications ∗ Architecture Considerations ∗ Patterns ∗ Toolkits ∗ Toolkit Demonstration ∗ Sample Application ∗ Incorporating MVVM Light
- 3. Background: Enterprise Application Definition ∗ Targets ∗ Any type of organization ∗ Any type of industry ∗ Not intended for consumers ∗ Function focused, such as, accounting, purchasing, sales, etc.
- 6. Background: XAML Definition ∗ Declarative markup language for .NET API with XML nodes equating to CLR objects ∗ Features include ∗ Rich eventing support ∗ Declarative databinding ∗ Developer friendly conventions, such as, the content property equals the “inner xml” of many nodes
- 7. Background: XAML & CLR Objects
- 8. Background: Ramifications ∗ Enterprise applications do not ruthlessly follow well trodden UI guidelines; business users know what they want ∗ XAML does not mirror ASP.NET or Windows Form technologies, blindly adhering to their patterns & practices may result in harder to build and maintain Silverlight/WPF applications
- 9. Architecture Considerations: Options ∗ Patterns ∗ Toolkits ∗ Code Behind ∗ Caliburn Micro ∗ MVC ∗ Catel ∗ MVP ∗ MVVM Foundation ∗ MVVM ∗ MVVM Light Silverlight ∗ Simple MVVM ∗ Prism Note: The above lists are NOT exhaustive. Many other relevant patterns and toolkits exist.
- 10. Architecture Considerations: The UI Pattern’s Pattern
- 11. Architecture Considerations: UI Pattern Picking ∗ Theoretical considerations ∗ Not the same as most software patterns (maybe why some call them “frameworks”?) ∗ Technology dominates ∗ Practical considerations ∗ Application complexity and life span ∗ Development team’s abilities and interests ∗ Organizational resources and support
- 12. Architecture Considerations: UI Patterns and Technology ∗ MVC (Model-View-Controller) ∗ Conceived when viewers offered very little support for a software developer writing presentation code ∗ Built with language and platform specific helpers ∗ MVP (Model-View-Presenter) ∗ 2nd generation MVC; facilitated testing ∗ Response to feature rich viewers ∗ MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) ∗ 3rd generation MVC; reduced coder/designer friction ∗ Response to XAML
- 13. Architecture Considerations: Toolkit Overview ∗ Plugs gap between technology and its use; maybe entitled “helper” code!? ∗ Considerations ∗ Fit (Simple as possible, but not simpler) ∗ How well does it plug the gap? ∗ Does it include more than required? ∗ Obsolescence susceptibility ∗ Handle newer, better technologies ∗ Ingest requirement/application changes
- 14. Architecture Considerations: Prism Toolkit ∗ Overview ∗ Supports WPF and Silverlight ∗ Available on Microsoft Download Center ∗ V4 (11/2010) ∗ Supports MVVM many features, such as, ∗ Bootstrapper ∗ Dependency Injection (Unity & MEF) ∗ Composition (über) ∗ Event Aggregator ∗ Wiring Commands & Events
- 15. Side Note: Prism It’s Complicated, Documented & Supported
- 16. Architecture Considerations: Caliburn Micro Toolkit ∗ Overview ∗ Supports WPF, Silverlight and Windows 7 ∗ Paired down version of Caliburn (10X smaller) ∗ Available on CodePlex ∗ V1.2 RTW (7/2011) ∗ 2,000+ downloads ∗ Supports MVVM and MVP with ∗ Bootstrapper ∗ Composition ∗ Event Aggregator ∗ Window Manager ∗ Wiring Commands & Events
- 17. Architecture Considerations: MVVM Light Toolkit ∗ Overview ∗ Supports WPF, Silverlight and Windows 7 ∗ Available on CodePlex ∗ V3 SP1 (2/2011) ∗ 20,000+ downloads ∗ Supports MVVM with ∗ Event Aggregator ∗ Service Locator ∗ Wiring Commands & Events
- 18. Side Note: What about CSLA.NET, Enterprise Library & Entity Framework? ∗ CSLA.NET ∗ Solves data access & business logic problems ∗ Works with most .NET UI technologies, especially those leveraging databinding ∗ Not focused on specific UI pattern or technology ∗ Enterprise Library ∗ Addresses aspect oriented & generic problems ∗ Not associated with any UI pattern or technology ∗ Entity Framework ∗ Handles database exchanges ∗ Not associated with any UI pattern or technology
- 19. Architecture Considerations: Conclusion ∗ MVVM pattern facilitates XAML-based enterprise applications ∗ Supports commands & databinding ∗ Minimizes designer-developer friction ∗ Many toolkits exist supporting MVVM-XAML ∗ Offer expected “helpers” ∗ Require varying degrees of “buy-in”
- 20. Toolkit Demonstration: Overview ∗ Work thru a simple client information application with Silverlight (out of browser) ∗ Implement three iterations (as projects) ∗ 1st Iteration constructed as a basic non-MVVM ∗ 2nd Iteration converted to an MVVM to help handle additional requirements ∗ 3rd Iteration incorporate MVVM Light to fix a few architecture issues uncovered in 2nd Iteration
- 21. Toolkit Demonstration: Solution 1st Iteration 2ND Iteration 3rd Iteration
- 22. Toolkit Demonstration: Why MVVM Light Toolkit? ∗ Solves known issues ∗ Communications between controls ∗ Turning UI events into commands ∗ Avoids unnecessary features (for now), e.g., ∗ Composition ∗ Navigation ∗ Reasonably documented and stable
- 23. Toolkit Demonstration: Sample Application 1st Iteration ∗ MainPage.xaml.cs communicates with two models (ClientInformation and ClientPreferences) ∗ Databinding not employed; properties programmatically manipulated
- 24. Toolkit Demonstration: Sample Application Models 2nd & 3rd Iteration
- 25. Toolkit Demonstration: Sample Application 2nd Iteration ∗ MainPage.xaml.cs indirectly communicates with three models (ClientInformation, ClientPreferences and ClientSale) via two ViewModel classes ∗ Databinding employed; UI events initiate data access
- 26. Toolkit Demonstration: Sample Application 3rd Iteration ∗ 2nd iteration + MVVM Light Toolkit ∗ Databinding and commands leveraged to allow all logic to live within the ViewModels
- 27. Toolkit Demonstration: Recap ∗ 1st Iteration – architecture typical of many Windows Form-based applications ∗ 2nd Iteration – MVVM pattern applied with a few resulting “programming holes” ∗ Communications limited between controls ∗ Events to commands not fully supported ∗ 3rd Iteration – MVVM Light Toolkit addresses shortcomings from the 2nd Iteration
- 28. Toolkit Demonstration: Some Other MVVM Light Features… ∗ Ability to dynamically load appropriate ViewModel classes (ServiceLocation) ∗ Designed to work well with Blend ∗ Developer Candy ∗ NuGet support ∗ Visual Studio templates ∗ C# snippets
- 29. ∗Thanks for attending! ∗Any other questions?