Skip to content

GettingStarted.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
69 lines (34 loc) · 4.94 KB

GettingStarted.md

File metadata and controls

69 lines (34 loc) · 4.94 KB

Getting started

Please note: While EWL has been in production use for many years, this Getting Started guide is brand new. If you run into problems please let us know in our community forum and one of the developers will help you out.

Requirements

  • Windows 10, .NET Framework 4.7.2, IIS Express 10 (.NET 5 support is on the roadmap but please speak up if you're interested!)
  • Visual Studio 2019 (recommended)
  • SQL Server 2019 or later, MySQL 5.7, or Oracle Database 12c (if you want a relational database)

For servers, the only requirement is Windows Server 2016 with IIS enabled.

Creating a new system

  1. Visit http://ewl.enterpriseweblibrary.org/create-system to download a ZIP file containing your new starter system. Extract the files into a location of your choice.

  2. Open the solution file in Visual Studio. In the Package Manager Console, run Get-Project -All | Install-Package Ewl. Save all files in the solution (Ctrl-Shift-S).

  3. Again in the Package Manager Console, run Update-DependentLogic. This will do the following:

    • Apply some IIS Express configuration

    • Copy some files into the Website project, and update the project file to reference them

    • Generate a few pieces of code in both projects, and update the Web.config file

  4. Understand the elements of your new system:

    • The Library project, which contains configuration files, provider classes (which allow parts of EWL's behavior to be customized), and a GlobalInitializer class (which gives you a place to initialize static fields when your system starts up). Library should also be the home of most of your "business logic" and anything else that you would reuse across multiple applications in your system. Right now your system only contains a single web app, but as it grows, you may need another web app or a different type of application, e.g. a Windows service.

    • The Website project, which references Library and will contain your pages and other resources.

    More information on this is available from our developers; please ask for help in the forum.

  5. Run the Website project. If you see a page that says "The page you requested is no longer available", everything is working and you can begin building your system.

Adding a database

  1. Add the <database> element to the three installation configuration files (i.e. the Standard.xml files in Library/Configuration/Installation/Installations) after the closing </administrators> tag:

    • For SQL Server, use <database xsi:type="SqlServerDatabase" />. The database name will be SystemShortNameDev, SystemShortName being replaced with the value from your General.xml configuration file. Use the <database> child element to override this naming convention.

    • For MySQL, use <database xsi:type="MySqlDatabase" />. The schema name will be system_short_name_dev, system_short_name being replaced with a lowercased, underscore-separated version of the value from your General.xml configuration file. Use the <database> child element to override this naming convention.

    • For Oracle, use <database xsi:type="OracleDatabase"> with the <tnsName>, <userAndSchema>, and <password> child elements. Name your schema whatever you like. We have no convention. The MySQL convention may work.

  2. In the Package Manager Console, run Update-Data. This will create (or re-create) the database.

  3. Add the <database> element to the development configuration file (i.e. Library/Configuration/Development.xml) after the <webProjects> element.

Now, when you run Update-DependentLogic, data-access code will be generated for your database.

Deploying your system

This section is more theoretical than practical since it's generally not a good practice to deploy enterprise software by hand, and without a continuous integration infrastructure.

  1. In the Package Manager Console, run ExportLogic.

  2. Somehow copy the exported logic and configuration to the server.

  3. Create and initialize a database using the appropriate steps above. The database name should be slightly different; replace Dev or _dev with the short name of your installation from the configuration file. Also, for SQL Server, grant the NETWORK SERVICE account reader/writer access to the database.

  4. Set up an IIS website or virtual directory that points at the appropriate folder in the logic that you copied to the server in step 2. Run the application pool as NETWORK SERVICE.

Some of the EWL developers use an internal product called the EWL System Manager, which builds, tests, and deploys EWL systems automatically. It's like an ultra-opinionated version of Heroku or AppHarbor. It can be run in the cloud or on-premises. Let us know in the forum if you are interested in using this.