SilverlightTM 4 Problem — Design — Solution

Chapter 2. Prepare to Be Popular

Providing a Scalable Architecture

With the creation of the initial project structure complete in Visual Studio, you can now look at some of the design aspects of the site, specifically how you're going to support N-Tier application development with Silverlight 4. Many new enhancements to Silverlight now make the development of these multi-tier applications much easier than in previous versions. This chapter takes a look at many of these new technologies so that you will be familiar with them and be ready to utilize them as you move forward in the book, implementing new features. These technologies include the new WCF RIA Services platform, LINQ to SQL, Entity Framework and SQL Server Express 2008 with Advanced Services.

In addition to the review of the new Silverlight 4 features, I will also be covering how you can separate your application into multiple layers of functionality to support N-Tier development. Although every site starts out small, you just never know what can happen on the Internet. By supporting this kind of code structure, you can avoid being unprepared for a barrage of new users and instead be fully prepared to handle the eventual millions of users that will be coming to your site as it grows in popularity.

PROBLEM

As you create the FitnessTrackerPlus application, remember that although at first you will most likely be the only site user, at some point, with any luck, you'll have other users. The architecture decisions that you make ...