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Update on CodeBreeze 1.1

miguel — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:11:00 GMT

Hey folks,

Due to the holiday season coincidentally being smack in the middle of our CodeBreeze 1.1 release plans, we are delayed in finalizing the beta testing phase. We anticipate the release time being some time in the middle January and have no reason to believe another delay will occur. All production coding is complete and we're only undergoing final beta testing and help-file updating. We appreciate everyone's patience and to keep your anticipation energized, here's the "What's New" document:

What's New in 1.1?

The following is an overview of the new features in CodeBreeze 1.1. Fixes and minor modifications are not listed here so please check the Release Notes for a complete list of enhancements, modifications, and fixes.

Nested Templates

This is one of the more exciting features in this release. You can now create code templates that are meant to be reused by other code templates. To use a code template a nested template, add the new Include directive to the parent code template.

The format is as follows:

<%@ Include Template="SubTemplateName" File="Relative Path" %>

The File attribute must include the relative path to the sub-template; relative to the location of the current template (ex: ..\..\MySubTemplace.cct )

The Template attribute is set to a name that you wish to use to identify this sub-template. This only needs to be unique within the parent template because in your code later you will use the following function call: RenderSubTemplateName().

This is a function that returns a string so you would normally put it in logic code that looks like this:

<%=RenderSubTempalateName()%>

Any properties in the sub template that are also in the parent template will automatically be filled with the same values as those in the parent. If your sub template contains additional properties, you can set their values by sending pairs of arguments in the function call. For example, if your sub-template, identified once again by a value of SubTemplateName in the Template attribute of the Include directive, also defines a property called _ReadOnly of type System.Boolean, you can send a value of true into this property from the parent like this:

<%=RenderSubTemplateName("_ReadOnly", true)%>

If you have more than one property who's value you want to change, or you want to change the value of properties that exist in both templates, you just add argument pairs. Let's say both your parent and sub-template have the _Project and _ActionTarget properties, but your sub-template also has a _ReadOnly property as described above. You not only want to set the _ReadOnly property, but for some reason you want to change the _ActionTarget property to a value of "Other":

<%=RenderSubTemplateName("_ActionTarget", "Other", "_ReadOnly", true)

Code templates can be unlimitedly nested in CodeBreeze.

The CSLA 3.5 & 3.6 templates demonstrate usage of nested code templates.

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In-Line Logic Functions

If you don't want to go through the trouble of creating and using code-behind classes for your code templates (perhaps you don't need the reusability), you can now create actual functions to call directly in your code templates by creating a logic code block using the new <%# and %> tags.

For example:

<%#

Public Function GetSomeCode(ByVal param1 As Integer) As String

Return "This is the integer you sent: " & param1.ToString()

End Function

Now you can call this function anywhere in your code template like this:

<%=GetSomeCode(5)%>

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New Template.Render Method

An earlier release of CodeBreeze introduced the variable that allowed you to access any attribute in your Template directive as if it were a property. This variable now has a Render method that accepts a string value. Use it like this:

Template.Render("// this is a code comment")

This is the equivalent of inserting logic code like this:

<%="// this is a code comment"%>

This method is good when you don't want to constantly change in and out of hardcode and logic code so you can simply create a <% ... %> logic block and use Template.Render several times within it instead of having to close the logic code block and reopen them several times.

For you ASP people, this is similar to Response.Write.

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Code Templates use .NET 3.5

Provided that .NET 3.5 is installed on the machine on which you are running CodeBreeze, compiling code templates will now target that compiler. This will allow you to use LINQ code in your code template logic now.

If .NET 3.5 is not found on the machine, the 2.0 compiler will be automatically used. If you wish for a code template to target the 2.0 compiler even if you have .NET 3.5 installed, add the CompilerVersion="2.0" attribute to your Template directive.

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Improved Template Debugging and Error Reporting

This is also one of the more exciting features in this release.

Compiler errors within code templates, sub templates, and/or code-behind classes are now tracked and pinpointed on the original file in which they occur. This gives you greater power in tracking down problems in your code templates.

Furthermore, all errors are now reported in their own Error Panel (similar to that of Visual Studio), allowing you to see the error, file of origin, and line number in the original file. Double clicking on any error in the list will take you to that file and line. Within the template editor, the line(s) in question are underlined red for easy finding.

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Code Template Property Presets

When setting up Code-Gen Processes in Project Templates, you can now preset some of the properties (this applies to properties of type System.String only). This will allow to have more than one Code-Gen Process that target the same Code Template, yet each send a different value into one or more of the Code Template's properties.

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Custom Field Tooltips include Description

When defining Custom Fields in Project Templates, you can now give them a Description that is added to the tooltip that pops up when hovering over said field in a CodeBreeze Project's Preference Window.

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Gen-Tasks

This too is one of the major additions to CodeBreeze.

Gen-Tasks in essence are subsets of Code-Gen Processes, allowing you to target specific Business Entities or Query Wrappers.

The Project menu has the selection for the Gen-Task Maintenance Window where you can view your Code-Gen Processes in a nicely organized tree fashion by Architecture Layer. Here you can extend this tree by creating Gen-Tasks under any Code-Gen Process you wish. You then select that target type for this Gen-Task and one or more targets.

Gen-Tasks appear in both the Code Generation menu and the Code Generation panel indented under their parent code-gen process. Clicking on them will run that Code-Gen Process for the pre-specified targets only.

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New Code-Gen Batches

The Code-Gen Batches Maintenance screen has been completely reworked to be more intuitive and also to support the new Gen-Tasks feature. The same "Architecture Layer->Code-gen Process->GenTask" tree used in the Gen-Task Maintenance screen is used here to display Code-Gen Processes and Gen-Tasks available for a batch as well as those in a batch.

A Code-Gen Batch can now include a combination of Code-Gen Processes and Gen-Tasks.

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Template Processing Cache

Code Template parsing and processing (not Rendering) is now cached for each call to generate. This can be a call to a Code-Gen Process or a Batch. This greatly increases generation performance as the compilation need only happen one time when attempting to render for the same code template for multiple targets.

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New "Find/Replace" Window

The "Find/Replace" Window has been completely rewritten as has the actual functionality. Find & Replace are now two separate options in the Search menu. Functionality now follows industry standards including the ability to pre-populate the form from highlighted text and for the search to correspond to any open window.

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More Extensibility Points

There are four new extensibility points for which you can write CodeBreeze Modules.

The new injection points are:

· BusinessEntityCreation

· BusinessEntityFieldCreation

· QueryWrapperCreation

· QueryWrapperArgumentCreation

These occur at various times when targets and their members are created from database elements, including initial creation, maintenance, and resynchronization.

You can write CodeBreeze Modules to tap into any of these events, change any of the information being put into the new target or cancel that specific target element creation.

This enhancement works well with a new property called State which is now a part the following objects:

· BusinessEntity

· EntityField

· QueryWrapper

· WrapperArguments

The State property is of type ItemState and is very simply a name-value collection of object types. It can be used to store anything you want so you can tap into any of the above-mentioned extensibility points in order to place information into this property.

A CodeBreeze Module called PrecisionAndScaleInserter is shipped with CodeBreeze 1.1 (complete with source) and is used to insert database precision and scale information into EntityField types during the creation of business entities. It uses the new State property.

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Flexible Code-Generation Output File

Previous versions of CodeBreeze have forced you to determine what the output file name is when you design the Code-Gen Process in a Project Template, though you've always been able to base the output folder location on a custom field. This flexibility is now extended to the output file name. You can now select either an output file name (pattern actually, with a {0} used in the place of the target name), or the name of a File-type Custom Field. Later in a CodeBreeze Project, you can fill the field with the output file name you want. This gives you the ability to make the output file name decision at the CodeBreeze Project level, not only at the Project Template level.

In the past you could have simulated this behavior by editing the project template applied to a project, but of course any re-application of the project template would override your changes so this enhancement makes things a bit more robust.

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Polling Question on the forums

miguel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:33:00 GMT

We've posted a polling question on the CodeBreeze Forums - please visit them to cast your opinion.

thank you

First CSLA Masters Class report

miguel — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:57:00 GMT

The first (of many) CSLA Masters Class held by Dunn Training (in cooperation with SteelBlue Solutions) was a huge success. A total of 20 people came to Atlanta to participate in this five day venture into the CSLA Framework version 3.6. The class covered everything CSLA-related with the exception of the new "CSLA for Silverlight" framework. Another class (to include CSLA-light) is scheduled for sometime in February of 2009 in the city of San Francisco. Those interested an register at www.dunntraining.com.

Upcoming release schedule

miguel — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:46:00 GMT

So here's the deal foks:

Certain features planned for CodeBreeze 2 will not be ready by end of year, but we do not want to hold up the release and make anyone wait longer so we've planned to revert back to the original release name of CodeBreeze 1.1 and ship the product with the features that are tested and ready. The additional database providers, UI enhancements, additional extensibility points, and CodeBreeze Trainer (video) application will be put off until CodeBreeze 2, scheduled for release in 2009 Q1.

CodeBreeze 1.1 will be released before end of year and will include the following enhancements over 1.0:

Unlimited code-template nesting
Enhanced template error reporting
CSLA 3.6 templates
Additional DevExpress XPO templates
Snippet generation support

We hope this will satisfy those who have been inquiring as to the release of the next version of CodeBreeze, while still leave you with a pleasant anticpation for 2.0. There are also a couple of surprise features being released in 2.0 that we're sure will excite everyone.

Thank you all for your continued support.

CSLA 3.6 Templates will be out with CodeBreeze 2

miguel — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:47:00 GMT

We're hopeing to push out CodeBreeze 2 (previously named CodeBreeze 1.1) by end of year. This build will include templates for CSLA 3.6 as well as a DalBase class that takes advantage of CSLA's new ConnectionManager class. The 3.5 templates will remain with the product but will not be further enhanced or supported by us so it's up to the community on this one.

Thanks again to everyone for their great comments on the product !

Minor issue with a Project Template in 1.0.0088 - fix going out today.

miguel — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:46:00 GMT

Thanks to Burim Ratkoceri who noticed that the CSLA 2005 Project Templates were missing a boolean field in the custom fields section. This field should be called AutoGenBusinessRules and needs to be added to the two language-specific project templates for CSLA 2005 and the aggregate one as well. Any CodeBreeze Projects already created using any of these three Project Templates need to either re-apply the project template or edit the project-specific project template and add the field there as well. The field is being accessed by the BusinessObjectBase code templates in order to generate StringRequired and StringMaxLength business rules based on database information.

Today, Monday Sept. 1st (Labor Day), we're pushing out the fix in build 1.0.0089.

Great new feature for CodeBreeze 1.1 is complete !

miguel — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:41:00 GMT

We've mentioned before that CodeBreeze 1.1 will have improved template error reporting for debugging purposes. This means that compilation errors in the code template are traced back to the actual line in the code template that caused them. This will now be reported in an error panel much like the one in Visual Studio. The new panel will list errors out with their line number and the code template in which they were found. This is relevant because of another great new feature: nested code templates, and compiling a code template also compiles any sub-templates in the tree. Also like Visual Studio, double clicking on an error in the panel will expose the culprit template and jump that line where the error will be shown in an underline. This is going to make tracking errors in code templates unbelievable easier than it currently is.

CSLA 3.5 Templates finally done!

miguel — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:59:00 GMT

We've decided to not wait until CodeBreeze 1.1 for the release of CSLA 3.5 templates. Too many people have expressed interest in them immediately and we can't ignore the importance of that. There will be one more build of CodeBreeze 1.0 before the release of 1.1 and it will ship with CSLA 3.5 templates. Not only that, but the folder structure of the CSLA2005 templates has changed for better organization. We will also release separate project templates for C# and VB-based CodeBreeze Projects so your menus are not cluttered up with options you don't use. If you still want the ability to generate for either language within a single CodeBreeze Project, the existing Project Templates are not going anywhere. CodeBreeze 1.0.0088 will release by the end of this week.

Thank you everyone for your feedback and support, and thank you for riding us so hard on the CSLA 3.5 templates - it was worth it.

The CodeBreeze Development Team