I'm giving a talk tonight at the ASP.NET Special Interest Group of the San Diego .NET User Group on the Enterprise Library, focusing in on the Data Access Application Block (DAAB). The talk runs from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Microsoft Office in UTC. Free pizza starting at 6:00 pm!
Here's a synopsis of the talk I'll be giving:
One of Microsoft's efforts over the past couple of years has been to provide developers with useful code libraries that illustrate best practices. To achieve this goal the Patterns and Practices Group has been tasked with developing numerous application blocks, which are open-source libraries aimed at solving common tasks. The aim of the application blocks is to reduce development cost and increase confidence. Costs are reduced because integrating the application blocks into a project saves the development time that would otherwise be required to build the functionality, and confidence in the application is increased because the application blocks are well tested and have been used by thousands of developers around the world, meaning any bugs are likely to have been discovered and squashed.
In January 2005 the Patterns and Practices Group released the Enterprise Library, a collection of seven application blocks that share a common design and code base. One of the most used application blocks is the Data Access Application Block (DAAB), which simplifies data access. This talk will provide an overview of the Enterprise Library along with an examination of using the Data Access Application Block in an ASP.NET Web application.
If you can't make the talk but are interested in the topic, check out An Introduction to Microsoft's Enterprise Library and Working with the Enterprise Library's Data Access Application Block. There's also a ton of great webcasts on EntLib as well.