Introduction to the Enterprise Library

The Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0 – January 2006 is a new release of the Microsoft patterns & practices Enterprise Library. The Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks. These are reusable software components designed to assist developers with common enterprise development challenges. This release of the Enterprise Library has been designed to take advantage of new features in Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, and it also includes various new features and enhancements.

Benefits

Application blocks help to address the common problems that developers face from one project to the next. They are designed to encapsulate the Microsoft recommended best practices for .NET-based applications. They can be plugged into .NET-based applications quickly and easily. For example, the Data Access Application Block provides access to the most frequently used features of ADO.NET, exposing them through easily-used classes. In some cases, application blocks also add related functionality not directly supported by the underlying class libraries.

Goals

The Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks intended for use by developers who build complex, enterprise-level applications. These applications are typically deployed widely and have interdependencies with other application and systems. In addition, they generally have strict security, reliability, and performance requirements.

The goals of the Enterprise Library are the following:

• Consistency. All Enterprise Library application blocks feature consistent design patterns and implementation approaches.
• Extensibility. All application blocks include defined extensibility points that allow developers to customize the behavior of the application blocks by adding their own code.
• Ease of use. Enterprise Library offers numerous usability improvements, including a graphical configuration tool, a simpler installation procedure, and clearer and more complete documentation and samples.
• Integration. Enterprise Library application blocks are designed to work well together and are tested to make sure that they do. It is also possible to use the application blocks individually.

Audience Requirements

This guidance is intended for software architects and software developers. To get the most benefit from this guidance, you should have an understanding of the following technologies:

• Microsoft Visual C# or Microsoft Visual Basic .NET
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

System Requirements

To develop applications using the Enterprise Library, you need the following:

• Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 operating system
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development system (any of the following editions):

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite

    Note that the Enterprise Library includes unit test source code. To compile and execute the unit tests you need either Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition or NUnit 2.2. For instructions about how to use the unit tests, see Unit Tests.

In addition, each application block may have further requirements. See the documentation for the individual application blocks.

Contents of This Release

The Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0 – January 2006 contains the following:

• Source code. Installing the Enterprise Library places source code for the application blocks, configuration console, and QuickStarts into the installation directory. To execute the QuickStarts or the Enterprise Library tools, you must first build the Enterprise Library source code. For instructions about how to build Enterprise Library, see Building the Enterprise Library.
• Unit tests. The Enterprise Library includes the unit tests that were created while the application blocks were being developed. For more information, see the documentation for the appropriate application block and the unit test documentation.
• QuickStarts. Enterprise Library QuickStarts are brief, easy-to-understand illustrations of key application block features. Each application block includes one or more QuickStarts.
• Documentation. Enterprise Library includes documentation that can be viewed with the Visual Studio Help system. The documentation includes guidance about how to use Enterprise Library, as well as a class library reference.

Migrating from Previous Releases

The Enterprise Library – January 2006 uses features that are available in .NET Framework 2.0. Most of the changes to the application blocks are internal and will not affect your client code. However, there are changes that require you to modify your existing applications, configuration data, and custom providers.

The documentation for each application block includes a description of the public API changes. For detailed migration guidance, see the application block documentation and QuickStart samples.

Configuration data is treated differently in the Enterprise Library – January 2006 than in earlier releases, and this change affects all application blocks. You must migrate existing configuration information from earlier releases. The Enterprise Library – June 2005 release stored the application block configuration data in a location separate from the application configuration file. By default, this location was an XML file specific to the application block. With this release, the default location for application block configuration data is the application configuration file. For a description of how to migrate your existing application for use with Enterprise Library – January 2006, see Migration Information.

You must update any custom database providers to reflect how the Enterprise Library – January 2006 passes configuration information to providers. In addition, some application block changes will require you to implement a new interface for certain providers.