Prism site (formerly known as Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight)

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Announcements

  • We've added a Prism V2.2. source self-extracting archive to the downloads page. This is updated to use Visual Studio 2010 and the latest Enteprise Library 5.0, Unity 2.0, Silverlight 4, and the Silverlight Toolkit.

Overview

Prism is designed to help you more easily build modular Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight client applications. These types of applications typically feature multiple screens, rich, flexible user interaction and data visualization, and role-determined behavior. They are "built to last" and "built for change." This means that the application's expected lifetime is measured in years and that it will change in response to new, unforeseen requirements. This application may start small and over time evolve into a composite client—composite applications use loosely coupled, independently evolvable pieces that work together in the overall application. Applications that do not demand these features and characteristics may not benefit from the Composite Application Guidance.
The guidance includes a reference implementation, reusable library code (called the Composite Application Library), documentation, QuickStarts, and Hands-On Labs.

Intended Audience

This guidance is intended for software architects and software developers building enterprise Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) or Silverlight applications. The Composite Application Library is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 (includes WPF) and Silverlight 4 (previous versions support .Net Framework 3.5 and Silverlight 3), and it uses a number of software design patterns. Familiarity with these technologies and patterns is useful for evaluating and adopting the Composite Application Library.

Where to go next?

Action Link
Learn when to use the "Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight" When to Use This Guidance
Read the recommendations on how to quickly use this guidance Getting Started
Learn about Prism through videos and blogsLearn Prism
Read our release notes Releases
Read blog posts from the team Team Blogs
Explore our compilation of tips, tricks and guidance from the Composite WPF team and the community Knowledge Base
Find the latest known issues and fixes Known Issues

News

  • We are currently working on the next release of Prism (called Prism v4) for Silverlight 4 and .NET Framework 4.0. Download the latest drop from the Downloads tab and give us feedback.
  • The May 2010 release of the Composite Application Guidance with updates for Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4, Silverlight 4 and Unity 2.0 is now available here
  • The October 2009 release of the Composite Application Guidance with updates for Silverlight 3 is now available on MSDN. Get it here
  • The February 2009 release of the Composite Application Guidance is now available on MSDN. Get it here
  • To learn about upgrading from the June 2008 release of the Composite Application Guidance, go here
  • To learn about upgrading from the Composite Application UI Block (CAB), go here