After further ado, we finally shipped the Web Client Software Factory. Glenn and Michael describe what is in the new release. I want to highlight a couple of things from the release.

  • Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 Support. This factory supports Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5. Over the next 2 weeks we will re-release the bundles with support for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5.
  • Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0 Support on Codeplex. If you need support for Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0, you can use the code on Codeplex. Over the next few weeks, we will migrate the existing bundles to MSDN and the Microsoft download center.
  • WCSF February 2008 and WCSF June 2007 run side by side: I'm excited that this release can run side by side with WCSF June 2007 so you can leave the previous release on your machine if needed.
  • Requires GAX February 2008 Release. You will need to upgrade to the Guidance Automation Extensions (GAX) February release. This release of GAX allows you to upgrade existing versions of GAX and keep your previous GAT packages. Thank you GAX/GAT teams. The delay in GAX/GAT caused us some delays but it is well worth the extra time.

Another item that I want to highlight is that we released WatiN Automated Acceptance tests.  There are a number of good automated acceptance tools on the market. This one works well for our requirements. You can download WatiN from here. When you look at the source code, you will find solution files with "FunctionalTests" in the name. In order to run the these tests, you will need to have the WatiN dll.

Please give us feedback as how much you use the automated acceptance tests. In a later blog post, we will provide information as to how you can maintain the acceptance tests.

Note: this is a link to an external Web site that provides software that can be used to write acceptance tests. Please note that Microsoft is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. This is for the lawyers.

We have received feedback that you really like the bundle documentation on the Web. Based upon this feedback, we plan to put all the Web Client Software Factory documentation on MSDN. This will take time as we figure out so keep checking back on www.msdn.com/webclientfactory.

Links

Factory Links:

  • WCSF Home Page.
  • WCSF February 2008 Download. This includes the guidance package, documentation (both HsX and CHM), source code installer for the blocks, source code installer for the guidance package, QuickStarts, and Reference Implementations.
  • Getting Started with the Web Client Software Factory
  • Installing the Web Client Software Factory - February 2008 Release
  • Upgrading to the Web Client Software Factory - February 2008 Release

Factory Component Links:

  • Source code: includes source code for the guidance package, QuickStarts, and Reference Implementation.
  • Block Source code: Web Client Software Factory Source Code for Application Blocks
  • Documentation: Web Client Software Factory documentation and api documentation in CHM format.

Bundle Links (also for Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0 Support):

Release Blog posts:

If you got this far, go download the factory and use it on your next project. When you start using it, give us your feedback on Codeplex.