This is a review of the S#arp Lite project, the version from Nov 4, 2011.

I was asked to review this project a long time ago, but I never got around to it. I had some time and I decided that I might take a look and see how it goes. I don’t like the S#arp Arch project, because it seems too complex and heavy weight for the purpose.

The project comes with a sample application, which is good, because it is easy to see how the framework is intended to be used. Unfortunately, it is yet another online store example, I am getting heartily sick of that. On the other hand, it is a fairly simple model and easy to understand, so I grok why this keeps getting chosen.

Review Rule, I look at the code. If I wanted to deal with documentation, I would write some for our products. I am doing this because I find it fun to look at other people’s code. So skip any comments about “if you read the docs…”.

We start from the project structure:

I am not sure if I like it, I don’t know if I agree that all of those splits are needed, but this is well within reasonable limits, so I am willing to let it slide on the grounds that this is personal taste more than anything else. Looking at the dependencies, we see:

The Init project contains two files, which are responsible for… well, starting up, it seems. Again, I don’t see any reason why this would be a separate project, but that is about it so far.

Next in line is the NHibernateProvider project, in this case, we have the following:

So far, I am cautiously optimistic. All of the files / folders marked with red are actually all about setting NHibernate up, not about hiding it. But then we get to the read me file, which reads in part:

This folder contains any concrete, NHibernate-specific query classes.
There should only be classes in here for any respective query *interfaces* found in
/MyStore.Domain/Queries/

This folder will usually be empty except for very exceptive cases.

This is… interesting. Can’t say whatever I agree or not yet. Looking at the QueryForProductOrderSummaries, we see:

Note the comment, there are better ways to do it, but we demonstrate an ugly way, and how to nicely encapsulate it.

That is enough for now, I think, next post, I’ll touch on the actual model…

I have teamed up with Packt Publishing and we are organizing a Giveaway for  three lucky who winners stand a chance to win a copy of the NHibernate 3 Beginner’s Guide.

Overview of Nhibernate 3 Beginner's Guide

· Clear, precise step-by-step directions to get you up and running quickly

· Test, profile, and monitor data access to tune the performance and make your applications fly

· Reduce hours of application development time and get better application architecture and performance

Read more about this book and download free: Sample Chapter

How to Enter?

All you need to do is head on over to the book page and look through the product description of this book and drop a line via the comments below to let us know what interests you the most about this book. It’s that simple

Product description for NHibernate book: http://www.packtpub.com/nhibernate-3-beginners-guide/book

Winners from the U.S. and Europe can either choose a physical copy of the book or the eBook. Users from other locales are limited to the eBook only.

Deadline

The contest will close on 31/12/11 PT. Winners will be contacted by email, so be sure to use your real email address when you comment!

This is in a response to a question on twitter:

In general, for applications, I would always use NHibernate. Mostly because I am able to do so much more with it.

For one off utilities and such, where I just need to get the data and I don’t really care how, I would generally just use the EF wizard to generate a model and do something with it. Mostly, it is so I can get the code gen stuff ASAP and have the data working.

For example, the routine to import the data from the Subtext database to the RacconBlog database is using Entity Framework. Mostly because it is easier and it is a one time thing.

I guess that if I was running any of the tools for generating NHibernate model from the database, I would be using it, but honestly, it just doesn’t really matter at that point. I just don’t care for those sort of tools.

If you are using a relational database, and you are going to do writes, you want to use NHibernate.

If all you are doing are reads, you don’t need NHibernate, you can use something like Massive instead, and it would probably be easier. But when you have read & writes on a relational database, NHibernate is going to be a better choice.

That said, look for the next post about when you should be using a relational database.

This is a reminder that the RavenDB and NHibernate courses are coming to New York at the end of this month:

• Advanced NHibernate Course - New York, 31 October 2011
• RavenDB Course – 3 November 2011

There are still open places if you want to register, so hurry up.

This is a reminder, my Advanced NHibernate Course will take place in Warsaw on the 17 – 19 Oct. There are still three places left, so if you want to register, you have better do so quickly.

You can register via: http://www.eventbee.com/event?eid=887726315

NHibernate 3 Beginners Guide has finally been published.

This books covers 3.1 (and some parts of 3.x) and was written by Gabriel Schenker, who has been maintaining the NHibernate FAQ blog for a while, and a friend of mine.

Please check it out, and the full blog post about it.

I think that the NHibernate and RavenDB workshops in DevLink has been awesome, and I have been asked to do more of those.

One thing that I learned in particular from the RavenDB workshop is that just one day is just not enough, and we expanded the single day workshop into a two days course. I’ll be giving this course in November, 3 – 4 2011, in New York.

And, of course, my old companion, the Advanced NHibernate Course, for the people who wants to grok NHibernate and really understand what is going on under the cover, and maybe even more important, why? That course will run on October 31 – November 2, 2011, also in New York.

And if you are from the other side of the pond, I’ll be giving my Advanced NHibernate Course in Warsaw, Poland on October 17 – 19, 2011.

Register now for early bird pricing:

• Advanced NHibernate Course - Warsaw, October 2011
• Advanced NHibernate Course - New York, October 2011
• RavenDB Course - November 2011

Just a note, I’ll be giving my Advanced NHibernate course in Warsaw, Poland between the 17 October to the 19 October, 2011.

You can register using the this link.

I am doing the NHibernate Course right now, and we go to the stage where everyone is tired and need some comic relief, at which point I decided to show them the true meaning of an SLA.

If you commit this without telling anyone, you get to have so much fun when the computer suddenly start screaming at those horribly inefficient pages.