Herding Code 104: Rob Eisenberg on Caliburn Micro…

Herding Code 104: Rob Eisenberg on Caliburn Micro…

No discussion about the cost of buy in with the Window Manager?

@Michael can you point to the code in caliburn micro that does that automatic dependency discovery? I’d like to study it.

Automatic dependency tracking means that the framework understands what your code depends upon without you having to be explicit about it. For example, consider a FullName property on the view model:

public string FullName
{
get { return _model.FirstName + ” ” + _model.LastName; }
}

You don’t have to explicitly fire PropertyChanged(“FullName”) when either FirstName or LastName change. That dependency is automatically discovered.

Consider also how a spreadsheet works. You put the formula “=A1+B1″ into C1. When you type a new number into A1, C1 is automatically updated. Excel discovers that dependency without you having to fire an event.

I wrote about this concept with relation to Update Controls in Code Magazine:
http://www.code-magazine.com/Article.aspx?quickid=0907101

Here it is in Java circa 2001:
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2001/jw-0817-automatic.html

It is also a key feature of Knockout JS:
http://knockoutjs.com/

HTH

There’s one significant feature that you failed to touch on. Caliburn Micro does automatic dependency tracking. If your view model property depends upon more than one data model property, it will automatically discover this and wire up the events.

I believe that this feature completely changes the way we write view models. So much so that it is the only feature of my Update Controls library. Please look into this feature and see if it doesn’t make you think about software in a whole new way.