Microsoft Main Campus (Building 20)
July 30th – Aug 1st 2007
Redmond, WA

Description

Many software factories being built today use a number of different technologies, which include the Guidance Automation Extensions (GAX), the Domain Specific Language (DSL) Toolkit, Visual Studio extensibility components, and a few other additional utilities. This is definitely true for the Web Service Software Factory: Modeling Edition. Much of the feedback we’ve received about these technologies, with regard to building and modifying software factories, revolves around the difficulty of customizing them. More than 40% of all users of the Service Factory will change it in some way before using it to build Web services. Typically, this is done to specialize it for some additional requirement or customize it towards a specific customer domain (i.e. industry vertical). Requiring development teams to know these technologies at any technical depth, beyond what the factory itself provides, justifies any effort to make the customizations as easy as possible.

This 3 day workshop will walk you through the comprehensive process of adding a new model (an entity model) to the Service Factory: Modeling Edition. You will become very familiar will all aspects of the factory infrastructure: DSL models, recipe automation, model validation, cross-model references, model views, project mapping, technology extenders, code generation, and factory deployment. Because the workshop will be hosted by the Service Factory team and other Software Factory experts, you will also have the opportunity to ask questions, and get a glimpse into the future of the software factory platform.

Purpose

  • Transfer knowledge from factory experts to attendees about building software factories on today’s technologies with insights on how these technologies are changing in the future.
  • Transfer knowledge from the attendees to factory experts about the most important and common types of modifications necessary to build other software factories.
  • Design hands-on exercises for others in the software factory community to learn from

Prerequisites

  • This should be considered an advanced workshop. It is highly recommended you have a working knowledge of GAX and the DSL toolkit. There will be some introductory content around the technologies, but there will be a heavy focus on writing C# source code. It is recommended you have reviewed the source code of the most recent Service Factory v3 pre-release (v3b87).
  • You must bring a laptop and a VPC will be provided. If you can have Microsoft Virtual PC installed ahead of time, it will save you from having to install it after you arrive. This will prevent you from having any other system requirements on the machine.
  • If you plan on attending, please have a number of changes you would like to make to the factory in mind. One of the main reasons we’re hosting this workshop is to be sure we understand what the most common and important customizations are (so we can make it as easy as possible). We will ask you to define your scenarios at some point while you are here.

Agenda

  • DSL modeling
  • Recipe automation (GAX)
  • Model validation
  • Cross-model references
  • Model views (tool windows)
  • Implementation project mapping
  • Technology extenders
  • Code generation framework
  • Factory deployment
  • Factory futures

Cost

  • There is no registration fee for the workshop.
  • Attendees are responsible for making and paying for their own travel to and from bldg 20 in Redmond, WA.
  • Attendees are responsible for their lodging accommodations during the workshop. Suggestions can be provided after registering.
  • Breakfast and lunch will be provided on all 3 days and a dinner event will be provided on Tuesday night (July 31st).

Registering

We apologize for the short notice, but please register by July 27th so we can ensure your ability to attend. Attendance is limited to 60 people so please RSVP by sending an email to Don Smith as soon as possible. In the email, please provide the following information about each attendee:
  • Full name
  • Company name
  • Email address (required for internet access)
  • If a vegetarian or high-protein lunch is required
Please email Don if you have any questions.