I have dabbled with T4, GAX and most specifically the GAT before and never really got any traction. Its a great idea but it is very intricate. Nothing by itself is overly complicated but there are lots of little things that can quickly put you off.

I am trying to set up default MVP solutions for myself. I have a default architecture that I have used for several commercial application and would like a quick way to replicate it. Typically I follow a Presenter First pattern and interact with a service layer for the model. The service layer may be a proxy for a distributed app or it may be a thin tier for interaction with the model, it doesn’t really matter. The fact is I have very similar classes, very similar tests, and very similar structure on many of these app’s. This is a perfect time to look to generate these frameworks. One of the big things I want out of this exercise is to get my default  build configurations and build scripts predefined. This is a fiddley aspect that I hate doing, but always do it because of the time it saves in the long run.

So attempt one will be a WinForms MVP solution with out a domain project. I will use MSTest, RhinoMocks and MSBuild on 3.5 version of the framework. Not sure what IoC I will use yet.

As this is something i want to reuse where ever I work I don’t want to make NH a default aspect. i may include an NH model project in later.

So far the whole process has not been overly pleasant. I have had files (as in dozens of them) just get deleted on an attempt to register a project, projects trying to compile template that are marked as content (ie not for compilation), packages that just decide they are no longer packages… so I decided to set up a vm to contain the madness.. unfortunately I only have vista 64 install on me and VPC can only host 32 bit OSs… oh well the PnP (Pain ‘n Phailures?) impedance continues.

Wish me luck…