Enterprise Library Community
As I sit here in a ~54US a share coffee house (hopefully will be having a 2 for 1 sell soon), I am pondering the question… “how can we build a better community?”. I have been trying to answer questions on the GotDotNet site (that never seems to service it’s community ) [I am trying my best to get to them], and it is very frustrating. In the community where I live, I participate on the home owner’s association and we are trying to improve our “community”. All we can really do is improve the infrastructure, plan for fiscal improvements and keep the budget in line. We need input as to what the community really wants to be successful as an associates. What is the point of all this? Glad you asked.
What do you guys want to see for our community for Enterprise Library? I know we (p&p) have a lot of ideas about how we can do this, but I would love to here what the “real” community thinks. You guys should post to the workspace, here, over at Tom’s blog or at Ron’s blog. Is GotDotNet the right place? Should we do something else? Are the web casts enough? Do we need more hands on labs? Tell us how we can make you successful.
Sorry for the rambling, it must the be the triple grande coffee . [and if you want to send coffee money, I am always willing to accept].
Comments
- Anonymous
March 09, 2005
Scott -- I do not know if this is very important to the EntLib community but I am trying to design and implement a way for Delphi 2005 developers to use the EntLib 1.0. Now with the Config UI, it adds a bit of complexity but I think I can get something going for all the Delphi for .NET people out there. Are there any Delphi people that have expressed interest with the EntLib? If anyone wants to bounce ideas around email me at cwoodruff@<NOSPAM>terralant.com
On the community idea, I think having some canned presentations and source examples that we all can go out to all the user groups would be great. Ron Jacob's webcasts this month are great and may be what we need to spread the word along with the quick start projects for EntLib.
I also would like to see what is being done with an EntLib for Compact Framework I have heard about not too long ago. If you guys need help with that project let me know. - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
I've been pretty busy lately, but have been committing the time to keep up on the EntLib community. I think the GDN setting is OK, but with the problems it has had lately, it's frustrating.
Seems like the same questions get asked over and over, so the responses end up being "see my answer to this thread". It's frustrating. The webcasts are great, keep them up.
My idea is a "FAQ" page(s), only make them better. The samples distributed with EntLib were good, but there seems to be an outcry for ASP.Net samples. You know as well as I do that 90% of code out there is 'clipboarded' from samples, so let's get a place to post samples, and post comments on other samples. Like a moderated, instructive version of thedailywtf?.
Just throwing ideas out there, but maybe also a good "real world" enterprise app (small scale, but use all the tiers, and best practices) showing the intended usage. I'd be happy to contribute to an open source effort on that. Someone throw out an idea and let's run with it. Kind of the way Community Server got started. Asp.net forums was good, but the improvements needed to be made, some folks started it, and before you know it, it's a very nice product. Maybe the sample app is the FAQ site I mentioned above? Who knows. - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
I know MANY people who would like to see more hands on labs and especially, (I quote the previous post) "a good "real world" enterprise app (small scale, but use all the tiers, and best practices) showing the intended usage". - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
It's nice to see you're trying to build a community and ask for ideas. Here are some that are on my mind right now:
1. It would be nice to have a MessageBoard more oriented toward each block. Having 1 big MessageBoard for all questions is nice but it would be better to have maybe questions tailored to each block. Also maybe one discussing general issues, etc. Each section could have a moderator/expert assigned to it so to answer questions faster and more to the point. I believe GotDotNet MessageBoard does not feel comfortable for ALL issues.
2. Place a bug tracking system somewhere, if not to follow bugs, but at least to post enhancement so other people can see them. Maybe not a bug tracking system, but an organized way people can submit their requirements and enhancement for future versions so you can work to a version 2 more tuned with the community needs.
3. A place where extension blocks submitted by people can be posted. Sort of EntLibContrib or something. A moderator to control what get checked in or not (must be unit tested, etc)
I believe my suggestions have more to do with organization issues. Right now I have to follow a bunch of blogs, webcast, messageboards and announcements to post questions, enhancements, etc. We need a single place to meet. Blogs are OK to post ideas, real world implementation, extensions, etc, but not to ask what should be incorporated in the next version.
Thanks for listening, keep up the excellent work! - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
Another thing from me: Any plans to get a P&P themed book out to help people covering the EntLib? The EntLib is great but the only docs that come with it are VS.NET help files. I hope someone around there is planning a book. I would buy it. - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
I tried to start using the Enterprise Library. Everything built and most of the Quick Starts but running the Configuration Console causes exceptions especially when I save. Is this because I have 2.0 Whidbey on the machine? What do I need to add to the configuration file to force it to use 1.1? - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
GotDotNet is a neat idea, but frustrating in practice because:
1)Invariably I'll get an error posting, trying to read, etc. In fact, after trying all afternoon I ended up posting my question to your blog -- sorry, I'd post someplace else (like GDN) if I could ....
2)I agree with previous posters, the message boards are too undifferentiated to be helpful -- sort of the exact opposite of MSDN newsgroups, which are sometimes too specific (e.g., I'd like to strong-name EL assemblies and put them in the GAC for an ASP.NET application -- which newsgroup do I post that to?)
So, as a practical matter, I keep track of your blog, Ron Jacob's, Tom Hollanders, plus various other peopls, plus GDN, plus the Channel 9 Wiki, plus the MSDN newsgroups ....
What would be near:
A separate community site for the EL that contains:
1) Topic areas for FAQs
2) Forums
3) XML summaries of the blogs
4) Membership content articles
5) News topics that point to recent releases, tutorials, etc.
Now, I run a small site (http://insecure.ucdavis.edu) that does most of the above -- it runs on Plone (http://plone.org) and Zope. Not saying you have to use those products, but the content management features and functionality is nice.
Until then, I'll keep looking at every possible source of information on EL I can find.
Great work! - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
Hi Scott,
gotdotnet is definitely NOT the right place for the p&p workspace. I get so much errors when trying to load pages on gotdotnet I often give up and don't do what I intended to do. This really does not serve the community. In my opinion, gotdotnet is a really bad site for communities.
There are so many open source solutions (wikis, blogs, cms, portals) that could be used for this purpose.
What I'm missing too is documentation and user experiences. There needs to be a really good documentation with background information and use cases and there needs to be a place i every documentation bit, where users can post there experiences with this special bit. Look at the documentation of php (e.g. http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-num-rows.php). Every documentation page can be commented and you find many useful things there.
My 2 cents.
David - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
I think a place like GDN could be great, if it worked for a change. GDN seems to have all the ingredients for a good community site, but it hardly ever works.
Right now, I am in desparate need of a good example of how to use the MvpSerializerFormatter in combination with, for instance, the DatabaseSettings class. I tried eveything I could, but the config tool keeps throwing errors at me (yes, I did download and compile the patched, place them in the bin folder, etc.) I also tried editing the config files by hand, but I just don't know what the right settings are. A step by step example coule really help me out.
It took me 36 attempts before I was finally able to post a message on the GDN message board. That is very frustrating! Especially since we need the solution ASAP, since the regular XmlSerializer might actually be the reason why our department might decide against using some of the features in the EntLib. And that would be a real shame.
With such a large community out there, I am pretty sure someone would be able to help us out pretty quickly. But with the way GDN has been (not) working, I am worried that it might take people forever to post a reply. If they are able to post at all, that is.
Some suggestions:
- Use something that does not have as many bugs as GDN
- Have a message board per application block (and maybe one general board for posts that do not cover a single app block). This would make it much easier to find the things you are looking for. Right now, it is difficult to find relevant posts because there are so many different topics in there.
I think that would be a great start.
Inge - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
In addition to points made above, I'd like to see some features that promote team working. Something that makes it easy for people to request blocks / providers and for groups of coders to volunteer to take it forward, with ways to post releases / updates etc. We could do this through GDN but we'd end scattered to the four winds and current performance problems do instill confidence in this approach.
If we do opt for different channels for each application block can I request one of Unit Testing also. For those new to TDD I think this would be a godsend.
Cheers Pete - Anonymous
March 09, 2005
In addition to points made above, I'd like to see some features that promote team working. Something that makes it easy for people to request blocks / providers and for groups of coders to volunteer to take it forward, with ways to post releases / updates etc. We could do this through GDN but we'd end scattered to the four winds and current performance problems don't instill confidence in this approach.
If we do opt for different channels for each application block can I request one of Unit Testing also. For those new to TDD I think this would be a godsend.
Cheers Pete - Anonymous
March 11, 2005
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 14, 2005
Why is GotDotNet not an embarrassment to Microsoft? PLEASE take everything off of there. Its useless in my opinion. - Anonymous
March 14, 2005
I need to encrypt and decrypt XML files, in a similar way as the Enterprise Library Configuration Console does.
I guess the methods exist in the Configuration (or Common?) projects.
I simply need to pass the file name to be encrypted or decrypted. The algorithm is one of the provided by the blocks.
Does anybody have any clue?
Thanks - Anonymous
March 15, 2005
I have to say that the labs that are being provided have helped me tremendously. It took me about 10 minutes to begin using the Logging/Instrumentation block in my web application after completing the lab. I'd like to see a little more detailed documentation on how each block works. The UI Process block documentation is a good example I think. Thanks. - Anonymous
March 15, 2005
A PlugIns framework.
I reckon it's a great future-proofing mechanism, but since everyone does it differently, it becomes a very messy operation.
Some use XML config files, some use the registry, others expose an attribute, yet others try to impose a folder structure in the deployment.
A lot of software uses standardized plugins, as we all know. All I'm asking is a standard framework with EL2 that provides a common base. - Anonymous
March 16, 2005
Straight to the point:
EL is very exciting initiative governed by P&P and milestoned in January V1 version.
It's possibilities to extend as-is are BIG. This is one of the problem you guys are facing now because:
- Hosting in GDN is not THAT good. Many great and stable projects using SourceForge cannot be wrong. Not only from stability stand point, but also because of the provided features. I know that licencing will be a big issue, but definitely you have to find a way to solve this (maybe improving GDN is the key here).
- There must be a way for exposing all know bugs, performance issues, workarounds to all the people using and/or extending the library.
- Extenders must have a templated way to do things to keep the entire project honest (standardized).
- About the way the primary code is handled, i know is not that easy to let all of us participate making mods over it, at least is not easy because of Best Practices guidance incorporated in it (hope you get what I mean here). But in that case there must be a way to improve the core API to get some extensions up and running without the need to modify the core code.
I gotta keep working.
Thanks. - Anonymous
March 31, 2005
Hi,
I am using Enterprise Library from the day it is released. I have a problem that my Application Eventlog is filled up with Enterprise Instrumention block event. So as i got some tips from microsoft guys to came through. They asked me to install the install services came with Enterprise library. It worked well and fine. Since the Install services looking for Installutil.exe from .NET Framework through the file vsvars32.bat that is in Visual Studio .NET, i am in a situation to install visual studio .NET 2003. In localhost it is fine, but i cannot install this .NET studio in staging or production. Can you give me some idea about how to overcome this?
Thanks
-Manikandan Natarajan - Anonymous
March 31, 2005
If you look at a later post, all you need is the bat files that I list and make sure that installutil is in your path. - Anonymous
May 29, 2009
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