[MS Techdays 2009] Summary “RAD Web Applications with ASP.NET Dynamic Data” Ingo Rammer
(Very) Short Introduction
ASP.NET Dynamic Data basically is about quickly building data driven websites were data is stored in a SQL DB accessed through LINQ.
It requires scaffolding to bring the data and forms together but the remainder is automatically generated. The forms are generated at run-time so there is no code generation!
There are several templates available, for example for pages and fields, that can be modified or replaced by your own templates. There is support for full customization of the UI. There are really no limits since is all .NET. MVC style URLs can be used for example: http://server/DB/Table/Edit.
How to get started?
You can download ASP.NET Dynamic Data 4.0 Preview 3 via http://aspnet.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=24887
Before you can get going with Dynamic Data you need to install at least .NET 3.5 SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en
Ingo has written a tool to do the required scaffolding for you:
- Blog-post: http://blogs.thinktecture.com/ingo/archive/2009/03/09/415282.aspx
- Tool: http://static.thinktecture.com/ingo/DynamicDataCodeGenerator.zip
Important Remark from Ingo!
Because everything is generated at run-time performance is rather slow. According to Ingo this means Dynamic Data will never be used for high performance business applications. The added value is to use it whenever pages performing CRUD operations on a DB must be generated quickly and performance is not of the outmost importance but customization requires you to leave default forms alone.
For details
- A webcast about Dynamic Data: http://blogs.msdn.com/davidebb/archive/2007/12/12/dynamic-data-screencast-is-now-available.aspx
- An introduction to Dynamic Data: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/12/14/new-asp-net-dynamic-data-support.aspx
- MSDN start point: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc488545.aspx
- Offical MS ASP.NET site start point: http://www.asp.net/dynamicdata/