SSW Rules to Better .NET Project Naming

1. Introduction

It is more practical and efficient to code in multi-tier. This is because it facilitates code re-use and thus saves developer time re-inventing the wheel. This results in more efficient and cleaner code. However, this can add another layer of complexity in your solution, especially in large projects.

It is not uncommon today to have a solution that comprises of more than 5 layers, namely

1. Windows UI layer (AKA presentation layer, or Web UI Layer for web projects)
2. Business Service layer
3. Data Layer
4. Data Access later
5. Common
6. Database Layer (stored procs. etc.)

At SSW we use Ross' .NET Code Generator to generate these projects for us and they form part of the standard projects you will typically find in our products.



Figure 1: Generated Projects from the Code Generator

To that, we sometimes need to add other projects, such as utilities, configurations and our base form from our framework (for more information on the need for a base form, please read our Rules to Better Windows Forms Application)

2. The Problem

Microsoft does not give us any guidance on how to name our projects and thus leaves it to the developer. The naming style shown in Figure 1 above works ok on small projects, but as soon as other layers are added, the complexity grows and so does the developer confusion if the projects are not consistently named.



Figure 2: Bad and inconsistent naming convention

Code reuse tells us that when we need to use the methods in the "business" project in figure 2, we do not re-write it. Instead we make a reference to that project and summon forth the methods therein. The problem arises when the solution in Figure 1 references the project "business" in Figure 2.



Figure 3: Solution from Figure 1 with Business project added from solution in Figure 2

By doing so, we have no way of telling that the business project does not really belong to this solution but rather is has been "borrowed" from another solution: SSW SQLDeploy. Doing it this way also increases the chance of having a name clash in the project name . For example I could need the business service from two other projects (E.g. from SSW SQL Deploy and SSW Extraction Manager). On top of that, SallyKnoxMedical (the current project) might possibly need a business project on its own.

There is a way around this dilema The correct way of doing this relieves us of this kind of dramas.

3. The way we do it at SSW

While Microsoft has remained silent on this issue, we haven't failed to notice the way the dlls are named. E.g. we see System.Windows.Forms.dll

We extend that one step further to include company name: e.g SSW.SolutionName.ProjectName for the projects and SSW.SolutionName for the (guess guess) solution name. This helps to easily identify projects, maintain consistency across our range of application and enhances portability.



Figure 4: Good way to name solution and projects

With this style we can readily identify the various projects that comprises this solution and where they came from. It also frees us of the worry that comes when a solution needs to reference two projects from two different solutions with the same name.

It is recommended to have your company as the root element of your namespace. This helps clarifying who the namespace belong to, where it came from and that it is unique (or at least reasonably unique). When creating these namespaces, reasonable thought must be given in order to create a meaningful namespace. Keep in mind that namespaces are case sensitive (ssw.framework and SSW.Framework are not the same thing).

Final thought: make sure your dll has the same filename as the project (like SSW.Framework.WindowsUI.dll). Externally, it will help to identify your library.

Acknowledgements

Adam Cogan