Developer’s Guide to Microsoft® Prism 4 · Building Modular MVVM Applications using Windows® Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight® by Brumfield, Bob -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Developer’s Guide to Microsoft® Prism 4: Building Modular MVVM Applications using Windows® Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Silverlight®

The Team Who Brought You This Guide

The Prism 4 Development Team

Foreword Foreword 1. Introduction

Why Use Prism?

Client Application Development Challenges The Composite Approach Challenges Not Addressed by Prism

Getting Started with Prism

Prerequisites Installing Prism

Step 1: Install System Requirements Step 2: Extract the Prism Source Code, Binaries, and Documentation Step 3: Register the Prism Binaries

Exploring Prism

What’s New in This Release What’s Included Exploring the Documentation Exploring the QuickStarts Exploring the Reference Implementations

Upgrading from Earlier Releases

An Overview of Prism

Prism Design Goals Prism Key Concepts Using Prism

Defining the Shell Creating the Bootstrapper Creating a Module Adding a Module View to the Shell

More Information

Community

2. Initializing Prism Applications

What Is a Bootstrapper?

Dependency Injection Creating the Shell

Key Decisions Core Scenarios

Creating a Bootstrapper for Your Application

Implementing the CreateShell Method Implementing the InitializeShell Method

Creating and Configuring the Module Catalog Creating and Configuring the Container

Core Services Application-Specific Services Creating and Configuring the Container in the UnityBootstrapper Creating and Configuring the Container in the MefBootstrapper

More Information

3. Managing Dependencies Between Components

Key Decision: Choosing a Dependency Injection Container

Considerations for Using the Container

Core Scenarios

Registering Types and Objects

Registering Types with the Unity Container Registering Types with MEF

Resolving Types and Objects

Resolving Instances with Unity Resolving Instances with MEF

Using Dependency Injection Containers and Services in Prism Using IServiceLocator

Considerations for Using IServiceLocator

More Information

4. Modular Application Development

Benefits of Building Modular Applications

Prism’s Support for Modular Application Development

Core Concepts

IModule: The Building Block of Modular Applications Module Lifetime Module Catalog Controlling When to Load a Module Integrating Modules with the Application Communication Between Modules Dependency Injection and Modular Applications

Key Decisions

Partitioning an Application into Modules

Determining the Ratio of Projects to Modules .xap File and Module Factoring

Using Dependency Injection for Loose Coupling

Core Scenarios

Defining a Module Registering and Discovering Modules

Using Code to Register Modules Using a XAML File to Register Modules Using a Configuration File to Register Modules Discovering Modules in a Directory

Loading Modules Initializing Modules Specifying Module Dependencies

Specifying Dependencies in Code Specifying Dependencies in XAML Specifying Dependencies in a Configuration File

Loading Modules on Demand

Specifying On-Demand Loading in Code Specifying On-Demand Loading in XAML Specifying On-Demand Loading in a Configuration File Requesting On-Demand Loading of a Module

Downloading Remote Modules in the Background

Preparing a Module for Remote Download Tracking Download Progress

Detecting When a Module Has Been Loaded Modules in MEF

Using MEF to Register Modules Programmatically Using MEF to Discover Modules in a Directory Using MEF to Specify Dependencies in Code Using MEF to Specify On-Demand Loading Using MEF to Prepare a Module for Remote Download

More Information

5. Implementing the MVVM Pattern

Class Responsibilities and Characteristics

The View Class The View Model Class The Model Class

Class Interactions

Data Binding

Implementing INotifyPropertyChanged Implementing INotifyCollectionChanged Implementing ICollectionView

Commands

Implementing Command Objects Invoking Command Objects from the View Invoking Command Methods from the View

Data Validation and Error Reporting

Implementing IDataErrorInfo Implementing INotifyDataErrorInfo

Construction and Configuration

Creating the View Model Using XAML Creating the View Model Programmatically Creating a View Defined as a Data Template

Key Decisions More Information

6. Advanced MVVM Scenarios

Commands

Composite Commands

Registering and Unregistering Child Commands Executing Commands in Active Child Views

Commands Within Collections Command Behaviors

Extending Prism Command Behaviors

Handling Asynchronous Interactions

Retrieving Data and Interacting with Web Services

User Interaction Patterns

Using an Interaction Service Using Interaction Request Objects

Initiating Interaction Requests from the View Model Using Behaviors to Implement the Interaction User Experience

Advanced Construction and Configuration

Using MEF to Create the View and View Model Using Unity to Create the View and View Model Using an External Class to Create the View and View Model

Testing MVVM Applications

Testing INotifyPropertyChanged Implementations

Testing Simple Cases Testing Computed and Non-Settable Properties Testing Whole Object Notifications

Testing INotifyDataErrorInfo Implementations

Testing Validation Rules Testing the Requirements for INotifyDataErrorInfo Implementations

Testing Asynchronous Service Calls

More Information

7. Composing the User Interface

UI Layout Concepts

Shell Views

Composite Views Views and Design Patterns Commands, UI Triggers, Actions, and Behaviors

Commands UI Triggers, Actions, and Behaviors

Data Binding

Regions

Region Manager Region Implementation

Module User Control to Region Mapping

Default Region Functionality

Region Adapter Region Behaviors Registration Behavior Auto-Population Behavior Region Context Behaviors Activation Behavior Region Lifetime Behavior Control-Specific Behaviors

Extending the Region Implementation

View Composition

View Discovery View Injection Navigation When to Use View Discovery vs. View Injection

UI Layout Scenarios

Implementing the Shell

Stock Trader RI Shell

Defining Regions

Stock Trader RI Shell Regions IRegion Using XAML to Add a Region Using Code to Add a Region

Displaying Views in a Region When the Region Loads Displaying Views in a Region Programmatically

Navigation

Ordering Views in a Region Sharing Data Between Multiple Regions Creating Multiple Instances of a Region Creating Views

User Controls Custom Controls Data Templates Resources

Application Resources Module Resources Control Resources

UI Design Guidance

Guidelines for Designing User Interfaces

Container Composition Viewing Composite Application at Design Time Layout Animation Run-Time Optimization Design-Time Optimizations

Large Solutions with Many XAML Resources XAML Assets Visual Designers and Referenced Assemblies

Silverlight Design-Time App.xaml Resources

Guidelines for Creating Designer Friendly Views

Coding for Design Time Mitigating Problems in Design-Time User Code Understanding when User Control Code Executes at Design-Time Design-Time Properties

d:DataContext Property d:DesignInstance Markup Extension Typical d:DataContext Scenario

Guidelines for Design-Time Sample Data

Using Design-Time Sample Data Sample Data Sources

Expression Blend XML Sample Data Expression Blend 4 and Visual Studio 2010 XAML Sample Data XAML Resource Code

UI Layout Key Decisions More Information

8. Navigation

Navigation in Prism

State-Based Navigation

Displaying Data in Different Formats or Styles Reflecting Application State Interacting with the User

View-Based Navigation

Prism Region Overview Basic Region Navigation View and View Model Participation in Navigation Passing Parameters During Navigation Navigating to Existing Views Confirming or Canceling Navigation Using the Navigation Journal Using the WPF and Silverlight Navigation Frameworks The Region Navigation Sequence

More Information

9. Communication Between Loosely Coupled Components

Commanding

Creating a Delegate Command Creating a Composite Command Making a Command Globally Available Binding to a Globally Available Command

Region Context Shared Services Event Aggregation

IEventAggregator CompositePresentationEvent Creating and Publishing Events

Creating an Event Publishing an Event

Subscribing to Events

Subscribing on the UI Thread Subscription Filtering Subscribing Using Strong References Default Subscriptions Unsubscribing from an Event

More Information

10. Sharing Code Between Silverlight and WPF

Goal and Benefits Out of Scope Multi-Targeting Scenarios Multi-Targeted Considerations Multi-Targeted Elements A Solution to Multi-Targeting: Multiple Linked Projects

Core Application

Creating Multi-Targeted Applications

Design and Code Guidelines

Use Separated Presentation Patterns to Maximize the Amount of Shared Code Write Code So That It Compiles on Both Platforms

Use #if statements if you have simple or single line constructs Use partial classes if most of the class is similar but some methods have platform-specific implementations Use partial methods only if you need to call an extra method on one platform but not the other Build platform-specific classes with a single responsibility

Create a Solution Folder for Silverlight and Another for WPF Check Silverlight and WPF References When Refactoring Code

Process Guidelines

Develop the Core Application in Silverlight Link the Shared Code Between the Source Project and the Target Project Use the Same Namespace for Silverlight and WPF Projects

Team Build Guidelines

Configure Team Build to Build in Place

Contrasting Silverlight and WPF

Silverlight and WPF Architectural Overview Differences Between Silverlight and WPF

Resources Triggers Data Binding Commanding Miscellaneous

More Information

11. Deploying Prism Applications

Deploying Silverlight Prism Applications

Packaging Prism Modules as .xap Files Reducing the Download Size of Module .xap Files Preparing a Web Server to Host Silverlight Applications Deploying the Application

Deploying WPF Prism Applications

Deploying WPF Prism Application with ClickOnce

ClickOnce Publishing Process ClickOnce Deployment and Update Process

More Information

A. Glossary B. Patterns in the Prism Library

Adapter Application Controller Pattern Command Pattern Composite and Composite View Dependency Injection Pattern Event Aggregator Pattern Façade Pattern Inversion of Control Pattern Observer Pattern Presentation Model Pattern Registry Pattern Repository Pattern Separated Interface and Plug-In Service Locator Pattern More Information

C. Prism Library

Registering with Visual Studio 2010 Organization of the Prism Library The Prism Library Source Modifying the Library Running the Tests More Information

Index About the Authors

← Prev
Back
Next →

← Prev
Back
Next →