How do the multiple .NET technologies and patterns work together?

Question

I have mostly been a Database developer but to enhance my personal skills and to develop a windows application I am trying to learn the new things in .NET. A few years back I devloped a POS in C# 2.0. The only thing that I recall using in terms of a pattern or existing code library was the Data Library provided by Microsoft.

I am trying now to write a rule-based engine that has a good UI for the business user and performs very well, when processing the rules. One of the things I have decided to use is WPF.

The choice comes from reading at multiple places that it is the next step, and it seems to give a lot of options in creating Visio like diagarms.

Where I confused at is with these other technologies, design patterns and best practices:

• MVVM
• EF
• WCF
• WF

• and there are a few more.

  I am trying to look for a article or something that explains how these things work together and what is the best combination to use and why?

Thanks,

Answer 1

Without a lot of information to work with, I'd suggest you check out a few Microsoft patterns & practices (p&p) guidance releases that could help you design your solution well and also follow Microsoft's best practices.

The titles I'd recommend include:

Microsoft Application Architecture Guide (2nd Edition) -- This will help you with the basic architecture and design of your application. The sections on service development (chapter 9) and workflow (chapter 14) should at least provide you with the basics to start with, and also provide you with some next steps on further research or additional information. There's also some mention of data access technologies, and briefly touches on EF, but you may be better off just consulting the data developer center on MSDN for specifics about EF.

Developer's Guide to Microsoft Prism (Nov 2010) -- This will help you out with architecting your WPF app so that it's loosely coupled, and also provides information and guidance on MVVM (chapters 5 and 6)

I think these two resources will give you a good start on how to best use the various frameworks and technologies together.

Hopefully this gives you a good start. Let me know if there are more questions and I'll update my answer accordingly.