MSDN Magazine Launch Issue - February 15, 2008 - (Page 15) Accessing views is also supported. While the ORM portion of SubSonic is its largest feature, SubSonic also includes numerous other helper functions and controls. One of the more useful controls, Scaffold, makes it easy to get a quick application up and running— and while you might not use it for your production code, it’s perfect for building a prototype. Some of the more useful helper methods center on validations with a host of different validation methods available for just about every scenario (numeric, alpha-only, ZIP codes, every major credit card, and so on) SubSonic on its own is a very powerful application toolset; when paired with ASP.NET MVC, it becomes a valuable application framework that will be a compelling competitor to other rapid development application frameworks available in .NET and other languages. Price: Free, source code available. subsonicproject.com The Bookshelf When Agile methodologies they were largely disconnected from the modeling and project management software at the time; uniphases and gigantic Gannt charts were counter to everything Agile was championing. As Agile methodologies have become more mainstream, tools have been created to cater to Agile projects. In fact, the premier application lifecycle management tool from Microsoft, Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), was built to work well with Agile (although you don’t have to use Agile to use VSTS). Visual Studio Team System: Better Software Development for Agile Teams by Will Stott and James W. Newkirk (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2007) is an excellent introduction to both the Team System tool and to working on an Agile project. The book introduces the pieces of Visual Studio Team System Following this is a brief lesson on Extreme Programming. You’re better off reading a separate book dedicated to Extreme Programming, however, if you want to use it on your project. The book then goes into more detail on the Microsoft Solutions Framework for Agile processes and how to go about changing your current process. Then the book starts digging into the details. It walks through source control, continuous integration, and test-driven development, highlighting how Team System provides functionality that lines up well with these core Agile practices. Each section not only includes good practical advice but includes step-bystep Team System instructions and screenshots. The book goes on to cover an Agilefriendly method of modeling with Class Responsibility Collaborator (CRC) card-inspired, lightweight modeling. I was pleasantly surprised to see a section dedicated to the Framework for Integrated Test (FIT). FIT is an open-source testing tool that can enable your users or business analysts to drive the testing of your app. The book is based on Visual Studio Team System 2005, but Visual Studio Team System 2008 will probably have shipped by the time this column is published. The general guidance will instructions and screenshots may become out of date. There are better books on Agile, and there are others that take a more methodology-independent approach to learning Team System. However, if you are in that perfect cross-section of starting an Agile project using Team System, this book is the ideal place to start. Price: $49.99. aw-bc.com Send your questions and comments to toolsmm@microsoft.com. James Avery runs his own .NET consulting practice, Infozerk Inc. His most recent book is Windows Developer Power Tools (O’Reilly, 2006). You can e-mail him at javery@infozerk.com and read his weblog at www.dotavery.com/blog. All prices were confirmed at press time and are subject to change. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft. Toolbox launch2008 15 http://ASP.NET http://subsonicproject.com http://aw-bc.com http://www.dynamicpdf.com http://www.dotavery.com/blog http://www.cete.com http://www.cete.com
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