Hi,

we are about to implement a .NET platform, as such some standards need to be written. I am intentionally staying away from our current standards docs - not the best.

Does anyone have any experience of writing programming standards in general? Or has anyone written any standards for a .NET platform, primarily ASP .NET, that could give me any pointers ?

Kind regards
Scotty

id consider the following to start with:

* general architecture of applications - how to implement tiering logically and physically
* exception handling
* data access - or better, which o/r mapper to use
* what documentation/commenting is required
* what front-end components to use
* variable naming - camel casing, prefixing etc
* interop with legacy apps

i hope u have plenty of .net experience tho - ive seen some horrendous standards put together by those who dont understand and dont have full experience of the language, and more importantly, the architectural decisions that can be made.

MS naming guidelines are here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...guidelines.asp

But that's just typing, as for the rest of it, you're best off hiring a senior .Net developer to mentor your team and get the project started on the right footing technically

thanks for the replies so far :D

milo - that is a good list. Personally i am fairly new to ASP, i am confortable with the .NET framework from a windows application perspective. Point taken about lack of knowledge :) Our original VB6 standards were written by someone who cant even code !!!!

jlanng - MSDN is a fav of mine :D i wish we could have a senior ASP guy come in. I am doing this off my own back. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place - without going into the whole office politics - the powers that be demand .NET in for this project, paying no attention to what the developers say. As such i am working like a man possessed to get some form of standards documented before the new ASP team begin development.

kind regards
Scotty *banging his head against the wall*

i take it you're not a software house then :)

what is the current skillset of the team? (i assume not .net)

does management realise they're asking a team to produce a project where the team has limited skills/experience in that area? sadly often management think programming is programming and aren't aware of the potential problems and high maintenance cost later... sometimes they need to be made aware of that fact and understand who ends up to blame when a project is mis-managed (hint: them)

...then why not buy-in some time from an ASP.NET expert? If management have such a strong conviction that it's the right way to go, would they not fund the appropriate kick-off?

Is it a big project? You could always get a contractor in for the first few months as lead developer

Again, thanks for the replies :D

Milo - correct, we are not a software house. We are a development team as part of a service provider. Afraid you have hit the nail on the head - management think programming is programming irrespective of the language. The current skillset is majority VB6. There are a few of us that have a small experience with .NET from a windows application development. However, in terms of ASP .NET - none.

Fatman, jlanng - To cut a very long story very short - a developer implemented a prototype in ASP .NET as a project to determine a migration towards .NET. Management found this prototype fantastic - TBH, it could easily have been done in any language. The next thing is "WE WANT .NET IN" What transpired was the afore mentioned developer had just cobbled this prototype together without having a proper ASP .NET understanding. Within weeks he had handed in his notice and was off. Management however, think the rest of us are more than capable - programming is programming !! In addition, I have just returned from an ASP .NET Microsoft course - this is great to get an introduction but now i am considered the "expert" Management loved the prototype and promises made by the afore mentioned developer and as such i HAVE to deliver.

Basically, i am in a situation where i have to make the best of a very bad situation. On one hand i want to let the project fall flat on its face and say "ha, told you so - fail to prepare, prepare to fail !!" While, my geeky pride gets the best of me and i just want to do the best i can :)

So to conclude, the project is of a medium size, 3 developers, couple of months developer time, no extra resource at all.

Scotty *google* Boy

[Edited by Scotty Boy - 1/26/2004 2:39:43 PM]

i wouldnt worry about it.
as you say - do it to the best of ur ability.
document each decision.

as for the app - reuse as much as u can.
get the features speced.
basically, all the stuff that you normally do. that shouldnt change dependant on the implementation.

then get 'a' solution that is well documented.
it will be a learning curve - i think it would take about a years experience in asp.net to get a spot on standard.

good luck!

SCOSaltire - good approach. judging by the skillset looks like the most appropriate.

Thus, i intend to document each decision, backed up by technical reasoning. This will be a good grounding to a final standards document.

Thanks for you help peeps :D

Scotty *soon to be Mr ASP .NET ;) * Boy

It's not too hard really, you should be OK. Doesn't sound like a huge project. Make sure you understand how server-side page events and validation work before you start.