That's right ladies and gentlemen, the December release of the Web Service Software Factory and a VB.NET version is now available for your consumption, modification, and production pleasures :)
Okay, I'm just going to do 3 things in this post since I know there will be many more to follow:
- Lay some links on ya. For downloading the Service Factory releases and more info.
- Share my favorite new features of the Service Factory with you.
- Give you a sense of what is to come in the near and not-so-near future.
Links
- Service Factory December release helps you build both WCF and ASMX services in C#. The old July release is no longer available since everything it contained is included in this release. Web Service Software Factory–December 2006 (ASP.NET and WCF services in C#)
- Service Factory July release that helps you build ASMX services in VB.NET. Yes, I know this is new and was actually published in December, but it is effectively the same exact version as the original July release - it's just been converted to VB.NET (that's why we're calling it the July release). If this is confusing, I apologize ... I'm to blame. Web Service Software Factory–July 2006 (ASP.NET services in VB.NET)
- Service Factory information. If you're not sure what the Service Factory is and want to find out before downloading it, go to http://msdn.com/servicefactory to learn more about it.
Favs
WSDL-first support. This feature definitely wasn't the most challenging to include, but I still love it. I've spent a lot of time over the years monkeying around with WSDL files. The fact that Service Factory has a single recipe (wizard) that will take a single WSDL and generate the service interface, service implementation, binding configuration (config file), and all of the associated DataContracts/XmlSerializable types is just freakin' sweet. You have to see it even if you don't define all your contracts in WSDL first.
Versioning guidance. This is a favorite of mine because ... well, I wrote it haha. No, seriously ... it's no secret this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I have labeled the topic "emerging guidance" in the Service Factory documentation because I want to gather more evidence from customers that this approach is actually working for them before I propose we call it a "proven practice". I have spoken with a number of customers who have taken this approach and it is working well for them. I haven't spoken to anyone it didn't work for, but I'd love to hear from you. If you're interested in reading or sharing, I've also posted the topic on my blog here. Personally, I think the "strategy" section of the guidance is still weak on content, but more on that in the "futures" section of this post. I also plan to do a webcast on it.
WCF Code analysis. This one turned out to be the sleeper feature - we didn't expect this to turn out so sweet. As you may know, FxCop has been integrated into Visual Studio 2005 under the name Code Analysis. Well, we took all of the same rules that used to be the Security Analyzer back in the WSE days and converted them all to code analysis rules. They also work against the code AND the config files (something FxCop hasn't done historically). I know, pretty sweet, huh? Well, when we showed this to the WCF team, they asked if we could include some of the rules that they fire at run-time so they could be run at design-time (like the ones that make sure all the binding stuff is consistent). "Sure", we said. So there are about a dozen of them too ... and it's all integrated into Visual Studio ... even if you're not using Service Factory.
Recipe runner. Okay, now I'm cheating a little. This isn't actually a feature ... and it's not really included in Service Factory. One thing we learned while building the July release was that testing GAX recipes is feakin' hard. Well, harder than it should be. So the team took a couple of months at the beginning of this version to get it right. The result is something we call RecipeRunner. Those of you who are creating your own recipes or heavily modifying the ones we provide will really like this if you care about testing, which you should. We'll be making it available on the community site in the near future.
There are loads more things that are new and way cool in this release, but I want you to discover some of them for yourself too. Of course I'll be mentioning them as time goes on and in some mini videos. Oh, that brings me to the last item on my agenda.
Futures
Blogcasts. The very next things you're going to start seeing are more of the blogcasts I did some months back. Many of them are outdated now and I need to do more of them now that the WCF Service Factory has released. The feedback was very positive (thank you) and because I claim to listen to you, I promise to do more of them shortly.
HOL exercises. I've already began the process of converting the existing hands-on lab (HOL) to WCF. Additionally, we'll be adding a bunch of new exercises. What I need from you is some details so we're sure they are helpful. This is what we have in mind:
- Modifying a guidance package - There is already a how-to in the Service Factory documentation, but customers are always telling me they need more help. If you tell me what kind of changes you're making to guidance packages I will try to create an exercise that illustrates how to make that change.
- Building a service agent - A service agent is that layer of code on the consumer side that invokes the proxy (that's right, you're NOT suppose to do it in the button's click event handler :). It manages things like retries, response caching, offline support, asynchronicity, etc. I need you to tell me what kind of challenges YOU (not your neighbor) need. That will help me get this exercise right.
- Versioning - this will build on the topic I mentioned earlier and will walk you through how to evolve a service in a number of ways.
- Message validation - The reference implementation already illustrates this. But would you find a HOL exercise valuable? If not, cool, I'll spend that energy somewhere else. If so, also cool.
- Exception shielding - The reference implementation also illustrates this. Same question ...
- Create a code analysis rule - I think this is also covered in the VS documentation, but I've never looked for it. Are you going to be writing your own rules? If so, would you find a HOL exercise helpful?
- Workflow Foundation - we actually did a lot of work with this, but had to pull it at the last minute (yeah, sometimes cutting scope at the last minute hurts). We might be in a position to create an exercise as a result of what we already have. We'll see.
v3 planning. We have already began the planning process for v3. But because we JUST started, we don't have a lot to share just yet. I can tell you (if you didn't already guess) that a service domain specific language (DSL) is the primary theme of the next version. I will be sharing everything with you around the features and their priorities as soon as we have something to share. As always, we'll be counting on you to steer us where you need us to go. All of this communication will naturally happen on the Service Factory community site, which will be moving to CodePlex in the very near future. More on that later too.
Okay, it's getting late and the weather is getting nasty so I'm heading home. Until next time, you have a lot to keep you busy :D Looking forward to your feedback. Thanks!