The next planned edition of Visual Studio.NET will feature a software modeling framework and engine codenamed Whitehorse for the drag-and-drop creation of web services, a feature called the Web Service Designer.
Whitehorse will then link code created in the Web Service Designer to a set of XML-based files, System Definition Model (SDM) files, that contain data about the PCs and servers where a web service is to be deployed.
Microsoft believes this feature, called Logic Infrastructure, will distinguish Whitehorse from other application and web service modeling frameworks and tools it believes lack this link between design and operations.
Also the Logic Infrastructure will permit developers to accurately assess systems’ performance limitations. It sees Whitehorse as helping to extend DSI, the company’s take on building service on-demand (SOA) systems.
The company plans to expand use of SDM files across other products, including Microsoft’s Visio.
Whidbey is due for beta during the first half of 2004 and release to manufacturing in the second half of 2004, and the follow-up edition of Visual Studio.NET, codenamed Oracas, due the following year.
Whidbey is due before Microsoft’s Longhorn launch and the company believes developers should buy the IDE rather than wait for Orcas to get a head-start on programming for the first time using managed code. Managed code, found in Java, is inherently secure, taking care of code aspects such as threading.
Orcas will include a new UI and designers, improved security, and support for Microsoft’s new data storage model and Longhorn’s managed interfaces.
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
