John Papa [MVP C#]

Sponsors

The Lounge

News

Advertisement

Images in this post missing? We recently lost them in a site migration. We're working to restore these as you read this. Should you need an image in an emergency, please contact us at imagehelp@codebetter.com
Silverlight, WCF and LINQ to SQL

I've had some requests lately to write some articles that work with LINQ to SQL. I've ben focusing on the Entity Framework a lot due to its vast nature and that fact that its still relatively unknown to many people. So I am going to work on a LINQ to SQL project that ties into a multi tier model. I am also going to show how this can be hooked into a  Silverlight 2 UI that connects through WCF to the lower layers.

I'll probably be demonstrating these first at an event I am trying to set up with Joe Healy of Microsoft in Tampa this coming August. The demos will be ready way before then, but I wanted to have some cool materials for this event. There is no title nor date yet, but once the event is set I will be sure to let blog about it. It should be a great day overall.

I also plan on giving some love to the Entity Framework, regular persistence/mapper models, MVP patterns and more. I just have to find a way to work it all in and still give enough to each topic. Of course, this means all demos are subject to change, but the content will be fresh and cool for certain.

Here is a very poorly and quickly thrown together diagram of one of the demos I am tweaking.

image

Cross posted from johnpapa.net


Posted Wed, May 7 2008 6:31 PM by John Papa

[Advertisement]

Comments

Bryan Reynolds wrote re: Silverlight, WCF and LINQ to SQL
on Wed, May 7 2008 8:13 PM

Sounds like it will be a good example.  Thanks!

Could you throw in some validation logic?

Mark wrote re: Silverlight, WCF and LINQ to SQL
on Wed, May 7 2008 8:45 PM

Sounds great.

If I can make a small request I hope you will go beyond the bare basics which has already been done well several places and include some more real world issues e.g. extending the object model or hiding certain fields that are in the table object from the service. Also sending through child fields rather than just the FK etc. I would love to see some 'intermediate'  and Best Practice Silverlight App tutorials not just beginner.

John Papa wrote re: Silverlight, WCF and LINQ to SQL
on Wed, May 7 2008 10:23 PM

Good points, thanks.

Real world samples are always a tough balance, but I sooooo agree they are valuable and I try to strive for them. The difficulty is keeping them real yet keeping them simple enough so they are easy to see. Sometimes, IMO, presenters get hung up on showing so much of an applicaiton that it makes it tough on the audience to focus on so many aspects.

Anyway, yes, I working on some real world scenarios beyond the basic binding of a list of products to a grid.  To your exact points:

Q) Will I extend object model?

A) YES

Q) Hide fields ... aka return a projection or lesser object?

A) Not exactly. I usually choose to return the object and filter with LINQ.  But yeah, i will address it.

Q) Sending child fields and not just FK?

A) YES

Q) Will they be Best Practice Apps for Silverlight?

A) Yes, I believe so. While I will show some glam and sparkle in Silveright, I will also focus on showing how to accomplish solutions. To me that means showing a multi tiered app that does full CRUD, searching, filtering, extended controls, templates, WCF over a network, MVP patterns, Entity Framework, etc. While I may not show everything I want to (due to time), I will get to a lot. Intermediate is a good category.

Dew Drop - May 8, 2008 | Alvin Ashcraft's Morning Dew wrote Dew Drop - May 8, 2008 | Alvin Ashcraft's Morning Dew
on Thu, May 8 2008 9:19 AM

Pingback from  Dew Drop - May 8, 2008 | Alvin Ashcraft's Morning Dew