Being Scott Densmore

Found my new home

2008-08-01T23:54:00Z

Now that I live in the outside world, I decided I needed a place of my own. You can now find me at http://scottdensmore.typepad.com.

See you there. All 3 of you.

Unity Lives! Get your copy today.

2008-04-05T02:19:19Z

Awesome work by the entire team! You can get it from MSDN here or from CodePlex. Please discuss and provide feedback so we can make this even better. Objects of the code Unite! [I know, corny].

Also: I have built an extension to Unity that i will be blogging about over the weekend. This is an extension to do Interception (ala PIAB) that I ported from the ObjectBuilder work that Brad and I did.

Enjoy!

xUnit.net 1.0 RC2 Released

2008-03-17T02:27:54Z

I am sure it would have been soon if it wasn't for the late night WoW session (we can blame any bugs on that too). Go read about it from Brad here.

How to get Enterprise Library 3.1 working in VS 2008

2008-03-13T23:08:00Z

Enterprise Library 3.1 was published for Visual Studio 2005. That is to say: the Guidance Packages and the integrated Configuration Tool were built to work with Visual Studio 2005. The rest of the library works against .NET 2.0 and continues to work with .NET 3.5 apps.

We have done some work to get the integrated tool to work in Visual Studio 2008. If you run the following registry script it will change the keys where VS looks to load the integrated tool package. After you run the script, you will need to run devenv /setup from the Visual Studio 2008 command prompt.

You can download the file from the EntLibContrib project on CodePlex from here.

[edit]

I will try and be a little clearer for the steps:

1. Install EL 3.1 (you don't need the Guidance Packages)

2. Run the script

3. Run devenv /setup from the VS 2008 command prompt

Wheels from the album "Pressure Chief" by Cake

Unity available on CodePlex

2008-02-13T03:14:00Z

The team has done some great work to get this ready. Please provide us feedback and track any issues.

I want to congratulate the team on their effort!

Get the bits and read about Unity here.

Technorati Tags: patterns & practices, Unity

Enterprise Library 4: Now with more Peace Love and Rock n' Roll

2008-01-31T19:14:00Z

At the p&p Summit in November here in Redmond I gave a talk called "EntLib Refactored". This talk was started by my work done on the EntLib contrib project under the same name. What I wanted to do was make Enterprise Library smaller, simpler and easier to consume. My first attempt was to rewrite the blocks to not depend on Configuration. This was a great first stab, yet I found that what I really wanted was to reduce the size of things (which factoring out config did not do). What I wanted to do was get rid of the factories and use a Dependency Injection Container to wire up the objects. Brad Wilson and myself had been working on Object Builder 2 and Containers on top of them to test it out. What we needed for Enterprise Library was a DI Container.

After working on previous versions of Enterprise Library, we have learned that we needed Dependency Injection (DI) without knowing it and did it at the most basic level. We created factories: which is a form of simple DI. The problem this created is that each individual block was responsible for it's own configuration and configuration was buried at the bottom of the stack. We need to change around the model a bit to make the responsibility of configuration built into the DI Container and remove all that extra code from each block.

Here is a picture of the old way: [BTW Enterprise Library Factory is buried at the bottom in the Core assembly that no one sees.]

Here is the new way:

This looks better. Configuration is about the container. WAHOOOOOO! This means that building a block, using a block adding your extensions and having the configuration all comes through the container. This will make it easier for you to use Enterprise Library with Unity or your current DI container and allow us to deliver more cool things to you, the customer. Look for more on this later.

That all sounds good, yet there is one lagging thing that needed to be addressed: the devil. Backwards compatibility is the work of the devil, and just like the devil, necessary. This is fueled by the fact that Enterprise Library has reached over a million downloads and not having a story would cause a lot of people to swing large baseball bats at us. So the old way will still work working with factories so you can upgrade and migrate slowly.

Unity is a lightweight container built on top of the work of Object Builder 2, with heavy tweeks by Chris Tavaras. You can read more from Grigori and Chris on Unity.

The funny story about Unity is the name. Grigori and I were trying to come up with a name for this DI block and mentioned it to Peter Provost when we settled on Unity (which is better than the Doohicky Application Block that was up on the board). Peter never thought we would get it pass legal... neener neener is what we said when we got it. He said "Enterprise Library 4: Now with more Peace love and Rock n' Roll".

Doesn't Remind Me from the album "Out Of Exile" by Audioslave

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Library, patterns & practices, Unity

Unity and Enterprise Library 4 Team

2008-01-30T08:40:00Z

I am back on the team (and no I am not writing configuration again).

Borrowed pic from Grigori's original post.

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Library, patterns & practices, Unity

Unite with Unity

2008-01-30T08:34:00Z

Unity is our new Dependency Injection Container that will soon be available. Read more from Grigori.

Doesn't Remind Me from the album "Out Of Exile" by Audioslave

Technorati Tags: Unity

My New Home - CodePlex

2006-10-19T19:01:42Z

For the last nine months I have been working in a group working on a project doing WinFX (.NET 3.0) with CAB. (No, the reports are wrong, I was not living under a rock). I can definitely say that it has been fun working with XAML. Turning a ListBox into a totally new thing with a few lines of code is wicked cool. Now it is time for the next evolution in my career.

To be honest, when I was looking at the next stage of my career 9 months ago, I contacted Jim about the CodePlex project. At that time, he was just getting traction and did not have a spot for me. Little did I know that after I accepted the offer with my current job space would open up. I know what you are thinking because I am thinking the same thing… “Why oh why did I not take the CodePlex pill?”. I saved it for a rainy day. [I live in Seattle.] I start October 24th!.

Now playing: Tool - Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)

What do you know Joe... Enterprise Library is out the door

2006-01-21T01:32:03Z

Go get it while it is hot here. I can’t believe.. we could have waited a few more days and it would have been a full year.

Now playing: Collective Soul - Forgiveness

Enterprse Library V 2.0 - It must be the end of the world

2006-01-18T00:31:04Z

I have been really busy working on my new team, but I just noticed 3 new things that I found very cool that I thought I would pass along :

Enterprise Library should be out this week via Tom
Brian Button explains how we used Object Builder in Enterprise Library
The Seattle Seahawks are in the NFC title game.

All that being said, I have to say I am cheering on my Steelers to go all the way.

Now playing: Toad The Wet Sprocket - Walk On The Ocean

This is Scott... not saying goodbye.... just saying...

2005-12-08T04:19:46Z

Now that I have finally finished working on the Design Time Tool (for the last time) and Enterprise Library 2.0 is near the finish line. I can let the cat out of the bag.

What a long strange trip it has been. It is hard to believe that almost 3 years ago (January 6th), I started back at Microsoft and this small little group I had never heard of called patterns & practices. 3 years ago J.D. Meier e-mailed me and asked me to come do an interview. Believe it or not, I was the second developer they hired as a full time employee (FTE) (most development was done with MCS). It has been amazing to see the growth of this business and it’s following. Alas, it is time to move on.

When I first got here, I started working on small projects like the first Logging Block, Authorization and Profile, and a *research* project that would help integrate our deliverables into the developer environment (now known as GAT). That first year went by fast and led me straight in the middle of this small little project known as Enterprise Library. For the past 2 years, I have really enjoyed seeing the uptake by the community and helping everyone out. I am passing on the torch of dev lead to Brian Button. He will take very good care of you. And lets not forget Tom and Ed.

Where am I going? Well if I tell you I would have to kill you, but it is going to be really cool. I will still post random thoughts about technology etc and preach p&p. I just want to thank Gary for giving me the chance.

Along the way I have met and worked with some amazing people. For those who I forget, I apologize up front. (I feel like I am at some awards ceremony and like an awards ceremony, the comments will not make sense to most).
Jim Newkirk – the players coach
Brian Button – never gets angry or forgets his robe and sandles
Peter Provost – my little prodigy
Brad Wilson – we are to much alike music man
Tom Hollander – community bulldog
Jason Hogg – who needs a car in New York (that is why you ran out of gas)
J.D. Meier – dragon whip tail
Edjez – boy I wish I knew some spanish / polish
Darrell Snow – yes I am a prima donna
The rest of the team

tshak – the kid
olaf – the other kid

Kzu – system.componentmodel can solve everything
fds – DI guy
All those guys at Clarius – automate your life

And last but not least, the management team at patterns & practices.

Now playing: Queens Of The Stone Age - Song For The Deaf

December Release

2005-12-06T19:17:04Z

For all of those who wanted the tool because they hate figuring out the schema for the xml, here is a pretty solid preview. We have really been hard at work to finish this off. Don’t blame Olaf, most of it is my fault. I wanted to make things a bit easier to add your own design time nodes. Go and download it here.

Now playing: Adam & The Ants - Stand And Deliver

Enterprise Library Core Webcast

2005-12-06T19:13:32Z

As Tom and Ed have pointed out, there are some major changes to the core architecture of Enterprise Library 2.0. Join Tom and I to talk about our integration of object builder, Configuration Sources, and the new (kinda) design time for all the blocks. This will be the last time you get to here my annoying voice (more on that later). Sign up here.

Now playing: Alien Ant Farm - Quite

Enterprise Library 2.0 / Configuration 12.0

2005-11-09T01:13:10Z

We have done it again. Another drop another configuration change. You can read the marketing mojo from Tom. Read the MSDN announcement and download it here. All feedback welcome.

Now playing: Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien