Summary

This chapter began with a description of how to use the Enterprise Library Configuration Tool to easily create or modify the runtime features provided by the Configuration Application Block. It showed how the Enterprise Library Configuration Tool can be used to add, remove, and modify the metaconfiguration for an application. It discussed how the Configuration Application Block's design-time features not only provide the basis from which the Enterprise Library Configuration Tool is formed, but how they are designed to allow enterprises to extend the tool as the need exists. It described how the Configuration Application Block's use of the classes in the System.ComponentModel namespace helps provide this service-based model. The chapter concluded with an example showing how the tool can be extended by taking advantage of the design-time features provided by the Configuration Application Block.

There are two major principles you should now recognize. The first is that the design-time features for the Configuration Application Block are based on the System.ComponentModel namespace; these are the same design-time features that are used for Windows Form-based and ASP.NET applications. These foundation classes allow Enterprise Library to provide a rich service-based, design-time experience.

The second, and somewhat related, point is that the Configuration Application Block has been designed for extensibility so that enterprises can add new features as needed. Furthermore, the model and process that an enterprise uses to extend the features of Enterprise Library are the very same model and process that each application block uses to supply its own unique features.