Software Factories Support for Visual Studio 2008

Software Factories Support for Visual Studio 2008

Since the release of Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2, and the release of GAT/GAX July CTP that supports it, many of us are waiting for updates regarding the support for the current software factories such as Web Service Software Factory, Smart Client Software Factory and Web Client Software Factory for Visual Studio 2008.

I've already mentioned in an earlier post that currently there is not support for those factories in Visual Studio 2008, since it broke some DTE interfaces, and therefore it is not fully backward compatible.

Recently, the patterns and practices team has updates their Upcoming Releases Page to include the next updates to those factories. According to this page, Enterprise Library, Web Client Software Factory and Web Service Software Factory will have new releases in February 2008, around the time Visual Studio 2008 ships. Thus, the Smart Client Software Factory will not have any release planned which means it cannot be used in Visual Studio 2008, since Microsoft is targeting Acropolis to be the new platform for building composite smart client applications. Although I totally agree that Acropolis is great and will contain the features from CAB, I still think that due to the timeline of Acropolis (At least 1.5 years from now), Microsoft must update CAB and the Smart Client Application Block to support Visual Studio 2008.

I am currently in a project that decided to use WPF as its presentation technology, and is currently considering using CAB and the Smart Client Application Block. In the mean time, they are also considering moving to Visual Studio 2008 as soon as it ships, and this can be a good reason to stay in Visual Studio 2005.

So, If anyone in Microsoft patterns & practices is reading this post, Please, think about it again, or at least point the community on what is required in order to do it.