Effective Use of Microsoft Enterprise Library: Building Blocks for Creating Enterprise Applications and Services

Writing robust enterprise applications presents a special challenge for developers, but Microsoft has addressed that challenge with the free, downloadable Enterprise Library for the .NET Framework.

Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks and guidance documents that together provide functionality common to enterprise applications; each application block includes full source code. Lacking in the guidance provided by Microsoft is an overall roadmap to the process of using the application blocks. Effective Use of Microsoft Enterprise Library is that roadmap.

Microsoft application development lead architect Len Fenster explains exactly how to build applications using Enterprise Library application blocks. Fenster covers all seven application blocks as implemented for .NET Framework 1.1, shows how to develop and use a new application block, and explains how Enterprise Library is changing for .NET Framework 2.0.

Readers will learn

• How the Configuration Application Block is designed and can be used at runtime to easily read and write configuration data
• How the Configuration Application Block works at design time for all blocks
• How to use the Data Access Block to create a portable data layer
• How to use the Exception Handling Application Block to implement a policy-driven, application-wide exception handling system
• How to use the Logging and Instrumentation Application Block to log and instrument messages independent of the message destination
• How to add authentication, authorization, role membership, security cache, and profile membership features to an application with the Security Application Block
• How to use the Cryptography Application Block to add functionality to encrypt and decrypt data and create and compare hashes
• How to build your own application block and providers that “snap” right into Enterprise Library

Whether you plan to extend Enterprise Library for your organization, or just use the existing application blocks to add functionality to your architecture in a consistent, extensible, integrated way, this book will guide you through the complexities and help you find a clear path to success.

Source Code

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Sample Chapter(s)

Download a partial excerpt from Chapter 4

Index

Download the Index file related to this title.

Foreword

Download the Foreword from this book.

Table of Contents

Figures xv

Tables xxiii

Foreword xxv

Preface xxix

Acknowledgments xli

About the Author xliii

Chapter 1: The Configuration Application Block Runtime 1

What Is the Configuration Application Block? 2

Design of the Configuration Application Block Runtime 3

Developing with the Configuration Application Block 52

Summary 59

Chapter 2: The Configuration Application Block Design-Time 61

Configuration and the Enterprise Library Configuration Tool 62

Behind the Configuration Design-Time 84

Example: Design-Time Configuration 100

Summary 107

Chapter 3: The Data Access Application Block 109

What Is the Data Access Application Block? 110

Design of the Data Access Application Block 112

Using the Data Access Application Block’s API 138

Summary 175

Chapter 4: The Caching Application Block 177

What Is the Caching Application Block? 178

The Design of the Caching Application Block 183

Developing with the Caching Application Block 220

Summary 240

Chapter 5: The Exception Handling Application Block 241

What Is the Exception Handling Application Block? 242

The Design of the Exception Handling Application Block 247

Developing with the Exception Handling Application Block 290

Summary 304

Chapter 6: The Logging and Instrumentation Application Block 307

What Is the Logging and Instrumentation Application Block? 308

Design of the Logging and Instrumentation Application Block 310

Developing with the Logging and Instrumentation Application Block 376

Summary 394

Chapter 7: The Security Application Block 397

What Is the Security Application Block? 399

Design of the Security Application Block 400

Developing with the Security Application Block 457

Summary 484

Chapter 8: The Cryptography Application Block 487

What Is the Cryptography Application Block? 488

.NET Cryptography 489

Design of the Cryptography Application Block 492

Developing with the Cryptography Application Block 509

Summary 524

Chapter 9: Building an Application Block 525

Vision and Design Goals 526

Core Functionality 529

Pluggable Providers 530

Factories 540

Runtime Configuration 543

Design-Time Configuration 556

Unit Tests 574

Quick Start Application 576

Summary 576

Appendix A: The Data Mapping Application Block 579

Design of the Data Mapping Application Block 580

Developing with the Data Mapping Application Block 595

Summary 619

Appendix B: Creating a .NET Managed Data Provider 621

The IDataParameter Interface 622

The IDataParameterCollection Interface 625

The IDataReader Interface 629

The IDbCommand Interface 633

The IDbConnection and ICloneable Interfaces 637

The IDbDataAdapter Interface 642

The IDbTransaction Interface 647

Appendix C: Enterprise Library for the .NET Framework 2.0 651

The Core 651

Data Access 657

Logging 658

Security 659

Index 661