Sebastian Iacomuzzi’s Blog

The Smart Client Software Factory (SCSF) provides a set of guidance for architects and developers building composite smart client applications. The factory includes samples, reusable code and a guidance package which automates key development tasks from within Visual Studio.

New In This Release

> Full support for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. This release does not support Visual Studio 2005.

> Side-by-side usage of the April 2008 Guidance Package with the May 2007 Guidance Package.

> Support for Enterprise Library 3.1.

> Fixed bugs indentified by the community.

> Requires Guidance Automation Extension 1.4.

• More info
• Smart Client Software Factory - April 2008
• Smart Client Software Factory Source Code - April 2008
• Smart Client Software Factory Documentation - April 2008

This is a release candidate, and may have bugs. We have not completed testing the factory.

Give us feedback on the discussion board.

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This is a beta release and still has known bugs. We have not completed testing the factory.

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Note: This is an alpha release and still has known bugs. We have not completed testing the factory. Use at your own risk.

Known issues

• If the SCSF source is installed on the default path, compiling Quickstarts.WPFIntegration.sln will fail with path too long error.
• If the SCSF source is installed on the default path, compiling GuidancePackage.sln will fail with path too long error.
• Unit tests of CompositeUI.WPF.Tests project (in CompositeUI-WPFExtensions.sln) will fail when executed under debug mode.

Give us feedback on the discussion board.

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NOTE: A new version of Smart Client Software Factory was published. This new version is for Visual Studio 2008. Please check this post for more information.

Now that we have SCSF installed in Orcas B2, we are able to apply workarounds for the known issues (Visual Basic).

Note: For C# know issues, click here.

> Symptom: When adding a WPF view with presenter, Visual Studio crashes.

Problem

We believe that the problem has to do with the Target Framework as in C#, but we are not sure.

Workarounds

• Workaround 1: Update manually in the project’s properties page the Target Framework, setting it to 3.0 or 3.5 (this would have to be done before adding a WPF View so that it doesn’t crash)

Fig. 1 | Target Framework in VB.NET project

• Workaround 2: Modifying the projects’ templates inside the guidance package to include the TargetFramework directive. If we follow this approach, solutions will be coupled to a specific framework version. Note: having this directive in the template and unfolding it in VS2005 doesn’t cause problems.
  (Note: Before, visit this post: How-To: Installing Smart Client Software Factory May 2007 source code and customizing the Guidance Package in Visual Studio Orcas Beta 2)

Fig. 2 | Module.vbproj.template

> Symptom: Form1 is not a member of Shell

Fig. 3 | Error Message : ‘Form1’ is not member of Shell

Problem

The MainForm set to the project is Form1 instead of ShellForm.

Workarounds

• Workaround 1: Manually, by replacing the “Form1” with a “ShellForm”

Fig. 4 | Application.Designer.vb

• Workaround 2: Modifying the Guidance Package’s Application.myapp.template:
  (Note: Before, visit this post: How-To: Installing Smart Client Software Factory May 2007 source code and customizing the Guidance Package in Visual Studio Orcas Beta 2)

Fig. 5 | Application.myapp.template

> Symptom: After adding a WPF View and compile the solution, a warning appears.

Problem

The file which contains the WinFx targets is being imported more than once.

So far we were only able to fix this manually. However, we could search for a way to make the Guidance Package get the environment (whether it’s running Orcas Beta2 or not) and, in case it’s running Orcas B2, skip adding the import line.

NOTE: A new version of Smart Client Software Factory was published. This new version is for Visual Studio 2008. Please check this post for more information.

Now that we have SCSF installed in Orcas B2, we are able to apply workarounds for the known issues (C#).

Note: For Visual Basic know issues, click here. 

> Symptom: When you add a WPF view with presenter, a compilation error occurs because some references are missing.

Problem

The Target Framework for the unfolded project is 2.0 by default. With this target framework, references to .NET 3.0 assemblies are not being added by Visual Studio.

Workarounds

• Workaround 1: Update manually in the project’s properties page the Target Framework, setting it to 3.0 or 3.5

Fig. 1 | Target Framework in C# project

• Workaround 2: Modifying the projects’ templates inside the guidance package to include the TargetFramework directive. If we follow this approach, solutions will be coupled to a specific framework version. Note: having this directive in the template and unfolding it in VS2005 doesn’t cause problems.
  (Note: Before, visit this post: How-To: Installing Smart Client Software Factory May 2007 source code and customizing the Guidance Package in Visual Studio Orcas Beta 2)

Fig. 2 | Module.csproj.template

> Symptom: After adding a WPF View and compile the solution, a warning appears.

Problem

The file which contains the WinFx targets is being imported more than once.

So far we were only able to fix this manually. However, we could search for a way to make the Guidance Package get the environment (whether it’s running Orcas Beta2 or not) and, in case it’s running Orcas B2, skip adding the import line.