The second installment of the BackOffice® Developer's Guide continues the work of the first installment. As with the first installment, you will follow a team of developers as they plan, design, code, and deploy a Microsoft® Windows® Distributed interNet Applications Architecture (Windows DNA) application using BackOffice Server as the development platform. Once again, the development team works for the fictional Fitch & Mather Corporation. As you follow the development process of this sample application, keep in mind that while the scenario is fictional, the code and the development issues are quite real.
Windows DNA offers developers a way to write applications to an evolving programming methodology. The Component Object Model (COM) technology at the heart of Windows DNA emphasizes how distinct individual software components can be easily integrated. This BDG installment presents an elaboration on this theme by combining two distinct applications, each written at different times for different purposes, into a single integrated application. The application featured in this installment builds on the Corporate Media Library (CML) application presented in Scenario 1 by combining it with LitCrit, an application built using a Microsoft Outlook® form and Microsoft Exchange public folders. Joining these applications required enhancements to both applications and new code to create a user experience that exceeds the sum of its parts.
In creating CML/LitCrit, the BDG team documented its efforts with an approach that differs slightly from the BDG's first installment. The document retains the essential structure used in the first scenario: its major sections focus on Planning, Design, Implementation, Deployment, and Lessons Learned. However, the Design Decisions section was written almost journalistically as the application was designed. When implementation began, the design section was not changed. Instead of updating the design section, changes in the application are reflected in the implementation section. As a result, the BDG preserves the dynamic nature of application development, capturing the changes as they occur, instead of presenting the design decisions as already accomplished.
The resulting application builds on Scenario 1 by adding Microsoft Exchange application development to the BDG repertoire. It even integrates a Microsoft Office product, Microsoft Outlook. It shows how an application can utilize two data stores, Microsoft SQL Server™ 7.0 and the Exchange information store. It implements Collaboration Data Objects (CDO), the technology for building messaging and collaboration applications. In addition, Scenario 2 adds richness to the client development story in the BDG, using both Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Visual Basic® forms to enhance the user experience. While the BDG's focus is not client development, the team's work with these clients should prove instructive. For example, the challenges they faced developing the LitCrit Outlook form are recounted in Lessons Learned, along with the answers they uncovered.
Finally, the BDG team's commitment to providing developers with current information can be seen in the new topic Updates to Scenario 1.