Programming Microsoft Composite UI Application Block and Smart Client Software Factory (Pro-Best Practices) 1st Edition

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Many of us who are developing applications using CAB/SCSF could use a comprehensive "How To" book on this topic. Unfortunately, this book didn't sieze the opportunity to deliver such a book. There is *some* good information in the book, and the Introduction chapter nicely whets the appetite. Unfortunately, the rest of the book falls far short of providing the necessary guidance and examples to make it truly useful. There is certainly enough information in CAB/SCSF to fill a book with at least twice the content of this one. It makes me wonder whether the book was rushed to market or whether the author and editors just lacked the will and fortitude to write the type of book that this could have been.

Wow, what a surprising let down this one was. I have been waiting since this book was announce (prior to publishing). I had hoped it had more concrete examples, some more thorough indexing of relevant topices (like inheritance, base views etc), how do deal with web services and disconnected services.DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. Mine's going camping with me to start the fire-pit!

I was looking forward to this book being published as there really isn't very much documentation available for either the Composite UI Application Block or the Smart Client Software Factory. Microsoft's own documentation is quite weak, and to use these technologies you find yourself repeatedly referring to the code itself or community blogs and websites.However I have to say Platt's book isn't the answer to these problems. Firstly it's very short. It's true that there are nearly 200 pages, but there's a lot of white space, big diagrams and padding throughout the book. The CAB/SCSF is now quite a large and complex piece of software and inevitably Platt can only skim the surface of the technology in such a short book.Secondly Platt makes no real attempt to explain some of the core concepts behind the CAB/SCSF. For example, the CAB uses dependency injection and DI containers heavily, and many Microsoft developers will not have met these concepts before. Platt makes no real attempt to explain what these things are and why we might want to use them in a smart client application. This is also a criticism that can be levelled at the Microsoft documentation. Platt is better on why we might use the CAB to achieve loose coupling between parts (`modules') of a smart client application. But in general developers coming to the CAB struggle with the concepts more than the code and Platt has focused heavily on the code.Thirdly Platt is quite selective on which parts of the framework he covers. For example there is a chapter on the Action Catalog, which is quite an esoteric part of the SCSF technology. However there's no real discussion of WorkItem State, which is a much more core concept and causes a lot of confusion. The Action Catalog is just one of several new services in the latest SCSF, and Platt doesn't discuss the others in the same detail (e.g. WorkspaceLocator, EntityTranslator).On the plus side the book is an easy read, and it does have a strong introduction where in 30-odd pages Platt gives a good initial overview of the subject. On the subjects he does cover Platt is factually accurate and informative. Having read the book I do feel I have a better understanding of how the technology works.In the absence of any real alternative, and given that it is quite cheap, this book is worth purchasing for a quick read to give you a selective overview of the subject. Hence I've given it two stars. But it is too short and unfortunately it's far from being the definitive guide I was hoping for.

I found this book to be well worth the money. I guess it depends on where you are coming from regarding the Smart/Mobile Client factories. I started work with the MCSF a number of weeks ago and had worked out a fair bit of it, but there were a lot of holes in my knowledge. This book filled in many of those holes.As other reviewers have said, the official Software Factory documentation. code examples and white papers do not give the whole picture. Neither does this book, of course, but IMHO it supplies a valuable part of the jigsaw.For example, if you read the code examples supplied and available on the net, some use WorkItems and others WorkItemControllers. Nowhere could I find an explanation of the differences or why you would use one over the other. David's book clearly explains the history as to how they started with WorkItems and added WorkItemControllers when real world experience found that WorkItems were outgrowing their original purpose. There are other similar examples where his experience with the product supplies valuable information available nowhere else.I even appreciated the layout. David's explanation as to why he chose this style of presentation made sense to me both before I started and after I finished reading the book. Yes, there is a lot of white space but its a very readible book. I have bought other, much longer books and have never gotten around to reading every page for one reason or another. I read this book from cover to cover in a week of train journeys to work. In fact the layout encourages you to read it in bite-sized chunks like this.There is certainly a need for more detailed documentation and David shows in this book he has the knowledge and experience to write an advanced tomb on this very topic. Perhaps then he will be able to please everyone.

The white papers and labs available to download on the Microsoft site and on CodePlex make it a lot easier to get to grips with CAB and SCSF than this book. There are 200 pages in the book but half of it is white space and another quarter is just code listings and screen shots. It's written in a 'workbook' format and so it reads like a selection of help topics and lab exercises assembled in book format.The overall impression is of a book that has been put together in a rush. If you follow this book you should be able to get a CAB application up and running but there is a good chance that it will feel like voodoo programming.