Why Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 architectural features will change your development and software architect skills.

Why Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 architectural features will change your development and software architect skills.

Continuing with my second session at Microsoft’s Toronto Code Camp, Bruce Gervin of Object Sharp showed the new architect feature within Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010, he showed the new features of architect’s capabilities within this new integrated development environement. These are only available in the Professional and higher editions.

The architect environment contains DGML diagrams, UML two times designer, and the Modelling Project Explorer.

As administrator user, you will find a menu option of Architecture. On any of the diagrams, you right click and drag to zoom. You can also right click to pan. Pressing Ctrl and middle button has a hidden gem I won’t see here.
The one diagram would show a collection of assemblies and their dependencies. This becomes the Dependency Graph Markup Language diagram (DGML). If you press the plus button, this would show the two specific dependencies chosen between two classes. Pressing Ctrl Minus would show the Neighbourhood Dependency Matrix (DM).

The Architect Explorer contains some things any experienced architect should have knowledge have. Just another secret tip this Toronto Code Camp, pressing Ctrl Shift Twelve twice will force your Window’s garbage collector.

There is a Sequence Diagram which generates BLL file which are Business Logic Layer. Pressing right click will generate a code visualization of your code classes. The UML diagram would contain a class diagram, work items for methods, and a new feature for ‘lost and found’ code.

As you know, architect needs to understand any application’s domain. This can come from the Visual Studio’s UML Designer and UML User Case Diagram. There is also Layer Diagram for code validation which would reveal options of data access, business access, client access, and service access. These can also show detailed levels of models and entity workflows. There also an option to show the Work Item Integration as well.