Teach Yourself e.net - Syspro

Defining e.net solutions
2.6. .NET and e.net solutions
Although the name 'e.net' implies a close connection between the system and the .NET
Framework, we cannot assume that everyone knows what .NET is and what the
relationship between .NET and the SYSPRO system is. In this section of the introduction
we will briefly discuss what .NET is and what the major components are. In the next
section we will examine the relationship between the SYSPRO system and .NET through
e.net solutions.
2.6.1. What is .NET
For many people learning e.net solutions, one of the most pressing questions at this
juncture may be "What is .NET". The simplest answer is: “.NET is a Framework in
which Windows applications may be developed and run”. I agree that this answer does not
tell much, as true a definition as it is. In order to truly understand .NET we must go back
in time and follow the development of Windows and the advent of Windows
programming.
The historical framework and working definitions of .NET used in this section are based
on the information presented in the codeproject
[http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/dotnet.asp] introductory article on .NET written by
Kashif Manzoor.
2.6.1.1. The Road to .NET
The Windows operating system provides programmers with various functions - called API
(Application Programming Interfaces). Starting from the earliest version of Windows on
the commercial market to the most recent version of WindowsXP, APIs are the basic tools
that let the operating system know what you want it to do. If you want to create a Dialog
Box you need to call a specific API provided by Windows. Creating a button requires
another API call. And so the list goes on. As new and updated GUIs appeared on the
scene, new APIs were introduced in Windows. But using these native APIs became a very
challenging task. Making a simple Window that prints "Hello World" could take more
than hundred lines of code. Compare this to the 5 lines of a "Hello World" program in
DOS. Due to this difficulty, Windows programming was considered something better left
to the experts. Microsoft and other commercial organization's were aware of this trend,
and started marketing Visual Tools that made the programmer's life easier. Using Visual
C++, Visual Basic, Borland's C++ and other such IDEs, it became much simpler to make
Windows programs.
Microsoft also realized that applications needed a solid way to talk to each other. This
realization resulted in the introduction of Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). OLE was
an extremely useful concept, but it had two major flaws : it was notoriously difficult to
program, and it was very limited in its scope - i.e. it only did a few things like drag and
drop, clipboard sharing, OLE client, OLE server, etc. Microsoft addressed (or at least tried
to address) both of these problems. They upgraded OLE to COM. COM was much more
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