Composite Web Application Block

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Many line-of-business (LOB) Web sites consist of different systems built by collaborating teams that provide rich user experiences. (An LOB is one of the set of critical computer applications that are vital to running an enterprise, such as supply chain management application and resource planning applications.) The Composite Web Application Block helps architects and developers create such composite Web applications. A composite Web application is composed of a number of discrete, functionally complete, pieces. These pieces are integrated within a Web site.

Not all Web applications are composite, and developers successfully use Visual Studio to create Web applications today. The Web Client Software Factory optimizes the development of composite applications. The Composite Web Application Block included in the Web Client Software Factory implements proven design patterns to help you build composite Web applications.

The Composite Web Application Block is designed to address requests from architects and developers who create Web client applications and need to accomplish the following:

• Build clients composed of independent, yet cooperating, modules.
• Separate the concerns of module builders from the concerns of the Web site developer, allowing business units to concentrate on development of domain-specific modules instead of the Web architecture.
• Use an architectural framework to produce a consistent and high quality integrated development.
• Increase productivity and reduce overall development time through consolidating architect and developer efforts.

For more details about the Composite Web Application Block, see the following topics:

• New in This Release. This topic describes the new features that are included in the current version of the Composite Web Application Block.
• Upgrading from Previous Releases. This topic describes how to upgrade solutions that were developed with previous releases of the Composite Web Application Block to be compatible with the current release.
• Goals and Benefits. This topic describes the goals and benefits of the Composite Web Application Block.
• Solution Description. This topic describes how the Composite Web Application Block helps you to develop modular applications.
• Design. This topic describes the design of the Composite Application Block and provides detailed information about several of its components.
• Development Activities. This topic describes how you can use the Composite Web Application Block to perform development activities that are common to many Web applications.