Development and Deployment

For QBO3-based plugin solutions, the source folder structure should be:

• • Source > Trunk > qbo.3 > qbo.Core > Plugins > {Third party product}

    • Dependencies: folder containing any DLLs that need to be referenced by projects in the solution

  • qbo.{Module}.{Third Party Product}: folder containing plugin project

    • qbo.{Third Party Product}.sln

The solution file should mirror the folder structure:

• • qbo.{Third Party Product}.sln

    • Dependencies: solution folder containing third-party DLLs that need to be referenced

    • qbo: solution folder containing core QBO3 application-tier projects that are referenced by the plugin projects

    • qbo.{Core Module}.{Third Party Product}: project file that is the plugin

      • all such projects should be based on the ASP.NET Web Project template, so that they can be deployed using MSBuild and WebDeploy

The images to the right are screen shots of the Amazon solution. Items to note:

• • qbo.Attachment.Amazon allows us to use S3 as a backing store for Attachments

  • qbo.Logging.Amazon allows us to use Dynamo as a logging sink for any logs, including error logs

  • qob.Message.Amazon allows us to use SMS as bulk SMTP mail delivery platform

  • all of these projects require use of AWSSDK.dll, so this DLL is included in the Dependencies folder

  • if AWSSDK.dll is updated, this solution will immediate tell you if the new DLL will break existing plugins (that's why all projects using AWSSDK.dll are in the same solution!)

  • the qbo solution folder contains the core QBO3 modules needed for the plugins

    • qbo.Attachment.Amazon needs qbo.Application, qbo.Attachment and qbo.Exception

    • qbo.Logging.Amazon needs qbo.Application, qbo.Logging, and qbo.Exception

    • qbo.Message.Amazon needs qbo.Application, qbo.Message, and qbo.Exception

  • it is critical that this solution reference the core existing projects, so that you are always building against the latest QBO3 core code when working with plugins

Theme Solutions

Themes are used to:

• • Override standard XSLTs found in qbo.Core.sln or plugins

  • Include client-specific plugins (generally non-QBO plugins)

Since themes are used to deploy XSLT overrides, a theme should always be the last project deployed when creating or updating a website.

Building

Overview

A successful build and deployment of QBO3 has a lot of moving parts. To deploy:

• • Open Powershell as an Administrator

  • Execute MSBuild against an appropriate project file

  • & 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild' .\qbo3.Sample.proj 

  • & 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild' .\qbo3.Sample.proj /p:"server=1.2.3.4;User=me;Pwd=secret"

  • Execute MS Build against a specific branch:

  • & 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild' .\qbo3.Sample.proj /p:"BuildRoot=C:\Source\Branches\QMS\4.00"

There are several MSBuild scripts involved when invoking qbo.Sample.proj:

• • qbo.SvnTag.targets: includes a target for creating SVN tags

  • qbo.Core.targets: includes all standard qbo core web modules

  • qbo.Mortgage.targets: includes all standard qbo mortgage web modules

  • qbo.Amazon.targets: includes all Amazon-based plugins, including Attachments (S3), Logging (CloudWatch), Messaging (SES), and CloudSearch (document content searching)

  • qbo.Queuing.targets: includes standard queuing plugins

We use a mix of MSBuild scripts (.proj and .target files) and Powershell scripts (.ps1 files) to automate this deployment. Developers should create an MSBuild .proj file containing:

<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Full">

  <Import Project="qbo3.Core.Targets"/>

  <Import Project="qbo3.Mortgage.Targets"/>

  <Import Project="qbo3.Amazon.Targets"/>

  <Import Project="qbo3.Queuing.Targets"/>

  <Import Project="qbo3.AttachmentPlugins.Targets"/>

  <PropertyGroup>

    <Nuget>"C:\Program Files (x86)\NuGet\nuget.exe"</Nuget>

    <VS Condition=" '$(VS)'=='' ">14.0</VS>

    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)'=='' ">Debug</Configuration>

    <OutputRoot Condition=" '$(OutputRoot)'=='' ">$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\BuildOutput\</OutputRoot>

    <BuildRoot Condition=" '$(BuildRoot)'=='' ">$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\qbo.Core</BuildRoot>

    <SiteName Condition=" '$(SiteName)'==''">Default Web Site</SiteName>

    <PublishFolder Condition=" '$(PublishFolder)'==''">c:\inetpub\wwwroot</PublishFolder>

    <Server Condition=" '$(Server)'==''"></Server>

    <User Condition=" '$(User)'==''"></User>

    <Pwd Condition=" '$(Pwd)'==''"></Pwd>

    <BuildTarget Condition="'$(BuildTarget)'==''">Rebuild</BuildTarget>

  </PropertyGroup>

  <!-- Define BuildProperties based on web deploy or file system deploy -->

  <Choose>

    <When Condition=" '$(Server)'!='' ">

      <PropertyGroup>

        <BuildProperties>VisualStudioVersion=$(VS);PublishProfile=$(MSBuildThisFileFullPath);DeployOnBuild=true;Configuration=Debug;OutputPath=$(OutputRoot);WebPublishMethod=MSDeploy;MSDeployServiceURL=$(Server);DeployIisAppPath=Default Web Site;SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True;MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSVC;EnableMSDeployBackup=True;AllowUntrustedCertificate=True;UserName=$(User);Password=$(Pwd)</BuildProperties>

      </PropertyGroup>

    </When>

    <Otherwise>

      <PropertyGroup>

        <BuildProperties>VisualStudioVersion=$(VS);PublishProfile=$(MSBuildThisFileFullPath);DeployOnBuild=true;Configuration=Debug;OutputPath=$(OutputRoot);WebPublishMethod=FileSystem;PublishUrl=$(PublishFolder);SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True;</BuildProperties>

      </PropertyGroup>

    </Otherwise>

  </Choose>

  <!-- Define plugins specific to this client -->

  <ItemGroup>

    <Plugins Include="$(BuildRoot)\Plugins\Service\qbo.Service.HTTP\qbo.Service.Http.csproj"/>

    <!-- Other client-specific plugins -->

  </ItemGroup>

  <!-- Define theme for this client -->

  <ItemGroup>

    <Client Include="$(BuildRoot)\sls.quandis.com\sls.MortgageWeb\theme.SLS.csproj"/>

  </ItemGroup>

  <!-- Make sure developer passes required parameters -->

  <Target Name="Verify">

    <Error Condition="$(Server) != '' and $(User) == ''" Text="User and Pwd are required parameters for web deployments."/>

    <Error Condition="$(Server) != '' and $(Pwd) == ''" Text="User and Pwd are required parameters for web deployments."/>

  </Target>

  <!-- Deploy everything -->

  <Target Name="Full">

    <CallTarget Targets="Verify"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="Core"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="Mortgage"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="Amazon"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="Queuing"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="AttachmentPlugins"/>

    <MSBuild Projects="@(Plugins)" Properties="$(BuildProperties)" Targets="Build;Publish"/>

    <CallTarget Targets="Theme"/>

  </Target>

  <!-- Deploy just the theme -->

  <Target Name="Theme">

    <CallTarget Targets="Verify"/>

    <MSBuild Projects="@(Client)" Properties="$(BuildProperties)" Targets="Build;Publish"/>

  </Target>

</Project>

Items to note:

• • A 'target' is a group of 1 or more MSBuild commands to execute; think of it as a function

  • Line 1 contains a DefaultTargets, which is a semi-colon delimited list of targets to be called if the user does not specify a target on the command line

    • This deploys everything: & 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild' .\qbo3.Client.proj 

    • This deploys only the theme: & 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild' .\qbo3.Client.proj /t:Theme

  • The <Import> node references other MSBuild files. By convention, MSBuild files that are commonly reused by other MSBuild files end in '.targets'

    • We have 'common' targets for Core, Mortgage, etc. This is convenience only.

  • The <PropertyGroup> node contains variables used by the script. These variable can be overridden from the command line.

    • Default values can be set by using the Condition attribute

    • The <BuildRoot> variable stores the base location of where the projects are located. It can be overriden to point to other project locations such as a specific branch location.

    • The <BuildTarget> variable stored the targets to be called for each project; the default is Rebuild

  • The <BuildProperties> variable is critical; it contains all the parameters passed when actually building a project!

    • The parameters required for WebDeploy vs FileSystem deployments are quite different; a <Choose> task is used to determine which to use

    • If you pass a Server parameter, web deployment is assumed.

  • <ItemGroup> nodes enabling executing MSBuild commands against an array of objects

    • The nodes under <ItemGroup> can be named whatever you want; that's the name of the array you reference later

    • e.g. <MSBuild Projects="@(Plugins)" Properties="$(BuildProperties)" Targets="Build;Publish"/>

    • e.g. the @Plugins in the following means 'foreach ItemGroup child named Plugins'

  • The <Target> node contains 'commands' that do the actual work; everything else is just setup

  • The <CallTarget> node enables one target to execute another target

  • The <MSBuild> element actually executes MSBuild.exe against a .csproj (or .sqlproj, .vbproj, or other 'buildable' file)