Open source enterprise sample using ActiveRecord

On the 29th, Ill be working an ACM lecture at UNH on the life of a computer consultant.

Something that is important to me: code speaks louder than words. Its cool to hear new ideas, new philosophies, but coded examples of these ideas backs them up with a little reality. The problem is, its hard to give code examples without lots and lots of surrounding context to make the code real.

I put together a new open source project on google code. It is a "zen-garden" style project for enterprise-level data applications using Castle ActiveRecord under the hood. I kick-started this project by giving it a foundation, a domain, some controllers, and a web-based user interface. Now it has some critical mass. The application itself is not important so much as the ability to practice and learn new skills by playing with the code.

This is the link to the code project homepage. Be sure to view the project wiki for the nitty gritty details. This is the link to the subversion trunk. To download and run the application you will need:

• Visual studio 2008
• Some database server installed (sqllite, sql server, mysql, postgres... take your pick)
  
• TestDriven.net
• Tortise subversion (you could use command-line subversion, but this is easier)

Downloading the Project Code
If you don't want to join the open source project, you can simply download the app from the download tab. Make sure you have winrar or some rar extractor equivalent.

Joining and Contributing to the Project

1. Contact me and I will add you to the project as a user, so you can reside under the subversion source control system. Dont be shy, I promise I will get you everything you need.
   
2. You need to get a google account. If you have a gmail email address, you have a google account. If you don't, then go and register. (Google accounts are very worthwhile to any internet-junkie like myself)
3. Select a folder where you want to download the code.
4. Using tortise svn, right click on the selected folder, and select ToriseSVN--Checkout

use this url for the project when prompted:
https://activerecordenterprisesample.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/



You will be prompted for a username. Use your google account username.
You will be prompted for a password. Use the google code password I gave you.
With that, you will become an active member of the project.

Getting the code to run

1. Look at the EntityLayer project. Modify the App.config file, be sure to set the sqldialect so it matches your database. Modify the connectionstring so it can reach your database.
2. Open the DatabaseSetup.cs class. See the test that creates an empty database? Execute it using testdriven-net by right-clicking on the [Test] keyword. This will create your database.
   
3. Once this works, modify all of the *.config files in the project in the same manner.
4. Set the WebLayer as the startup project, by right clicking on the project in the solution explorer. Hit F5, and you should have the website up and running.