Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Mobile Client Software Factory

From last few weeks I was in search of a module for .NETCF that can work with Web services in connected and disconnected mode, first I came across OpenNETCF application block, but as I mentioned in my previous blog Smart Client offline application block (SCOAB) I faced a lot of problems just to compile that and same problem continued while creating a POC using SCOAB, Later I found out Mobile client software factory a project from the Microsoft patterns & practices team @ Codeplex. I found that this Software factory provides various features for applications based on .NETCF 2.0. It includes
  • The Mobile Composite UI Application Block and ObjectBuilder
  • The Configuration Application Block
  • The Connection Monitor Application Block
  • The Data Access Application Block
  • The Data Subscription Application Block
  • The Disconnected Service Agent Application Block
  • The Endpoint Catalog Application Block
  • The Orientation Aware Control Application Block
  • The Password Authentication Application Block
Disconnected Service Agent Application Block is serving the feature that I was searching from last few weeks. It works with Configuration Application Block, Connection Monitor Application Block,Data Access Application Block, Data Subscription Application Block and Endpoint Catalog Application Block to work in connected and disconnected mode.
So overall logic behind is that when the connection is available the requests are send th Web service & when it is not available i.e. in disconnected mode the requests are stored in SQLCE database on the device & when the connection is available the requests dispatched to Web service. The overall architecture and design of these application blocks is awesome. User can easily create any mobile application using theses AB's. The most important feature I would like to mention here is the documentation provided with this Software Factory is complete & explains the technical details and Howto's in best possible way.

Looking forward to use the rest of the application blocks from Mobile Client Software Factory