Source of components in development projects?

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Lou Arnold - 30 May 2005 21:54 GMT

In a development environment, what is the source of components for
applications being written? In other words, are a set of components
installed from say Visual C++ .Net??

Let me explain my understanding of .NET:
I understand that in the .Net concept, components (classes and DLLs)
reside on some server and that these componenst are loaded and linked
into an production application when the app requires it. The source
for the components in a commercial server with some sort of
subscription for compnents.

However, what is the source of components when I write them in my
office (assuming I'm a small business)? Surely none come installed
with VC++ .Net. Would I have to subscribe to them and then require my
customers that buy the program to subscribe to the component server?

Lou Arnold
Ottawa Canada

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Jon Shemitz - 30 May 2005 22:28 GMT

> In a development environment, what is the source of components for
> applications being written? In other words, are a set of components
> installed from say Visual C++ .Net??

Yes. When you install Visual Studio, you get the standard WinForms
components. Installing the .NET runtime installs these on client
machines. You don't have to install them with your app on client
machines, and you don't have to pay any royalties.

> Let me explain my understanding of .NET:
> I understand that in the .Net concept, components (classes and DLLs)
> reside on some server and that these componenst are loaded and linked
> into an production application when the app requires it. The source
> for the components in a commercial server with some sort of
> subscription for compnents.

This is one way of describing it. In practice, installing the .NET
runtime installs the standard WinForms components in the GAC. When you
license 3rd-party components, these are often installed on your
computer (but not in the GAC) and compiling an app copies the
libraries that you use (along with a license file) to the directory as
the application executable. You can then just copy this directory
(less various debugging and compile-time files) to users machines.

> However, what is the source of components when I write them in my
> office (assuming I'm a small business)? Surely none come installed
> with VC++ .Net. Would I have to subscribe to them and then require my
> customers that buy the program to subscribe to the component server?

Licensing is up to third party component vendors. Most simply charge
you a flat fee, and allow unlimited redistribution. Some do require
you to track installations, and pay royalties on a per-installation
basis. I haven't heard of any that require the end-users to pay, but I
suppose it's *possible*.

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www.midnightbeach.com

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Lou Arnold - 30 May 2005 22:47 GMT

Interesting. A few more questions please:

What does "GAC" stand for and mean?

When you say "the .NET runtime" are referring to the Windows >NET
Framework 1.0 or the 2.o beta, or are you referring to a runtime
package that comes with (Visual Studio)?

Must I purchase Visual Studio as a whole to get all the components
that you mentioned, or can I just purchase say VC++ .NET?

Lou.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>> In a development environment, what is the source of components for
>> applications being written? In other words, are a set of components
>> installed from say Visual C++ .Net??

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

>Yes. When you install Visual Studio, you get the standard WinForms
>components. Installing the .NET runtime installs these on client
>machines. You don't have to install them with your app on client
>machines, and you don't have to pay any royalties.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>> Let me explain my understanding of .NET:
>> I understand that in the .Net concept, components (classes and DLLs)
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>basis. I haven't heard of any that require the end-users to pay, but I
>suppose it's *possible*.

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Jon Shemitz - 31 May 2005 00:29 GMT

> What does "GAC" stand for and mean?

Global Assembly Cache - a repository for "strong named" assemblies.
When your application tries to load an assembly without an explicit
path, the runtime looks in the application directory (the directory
the executable lives in), in the GAC, and (I believe) on the normal
search path. (As you can tell, I've never tried to load an assembly
from the path.)

> When you say "the .NET runtime" are referring to the Windows >NET
> Framework 1.0 or the 2.o beta, or are you referring to a runtime
> package that comes with (Visual Studio)?

Either 1.0, 1.1, or 2.0. The CLR and the other runtime libraries that
you need to run a .NET app. The runtime is bundled with Visual Studio,
but can be downloaded separately.

> Must I purchase Visual Studio as a whole to get all the components
> that you mentioned, or can I just purchase say VC++ .NET?

As a minor member of the punditocracy, I typically get software for
free, so I'm not really the one to ask. I believe, though I am not
sure, that you can only get Visual C++ for .NET as part of a Visual
Studio bundle. You can get VS stand-alone or via an MSDN subscription.
A Google search should turn up the current offers pretty quickly.

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www.midnightbeach.com

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Lou Arnold - 31 May 2005 02:43 GMT

OK on all your comments, and thanks.

Lou.

>> What does "GAC" stand for and mean?
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>Studio bundle. You can get VS stand-alone or via an MSDN subscription.
>A Google search should turn up the current offers pretty quickly.

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Source of components in development projects?

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