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The Enterprise Library Application Blocks

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The Enterprise Library application blocks help to address the common problems that developers face from one project to the next. They are designed to encapsulate the Microsoft recommended practices for .NET applications. In addition, they can be added to .NET applications quickly and easily. For example, the Data Access Application Block provides access to the most frequently used features of ADO.NET in simple-to-use classes, thus boosting developer productivity. It also addresses scenarios not directly supported by the underlying class libraries.

Different applications have different requirements, and you will not find that every application block is useful in every application that you build. Before using an application block, you should have a good understanding of your application requirements and of the scenarios that the application block is designed to address.

This release of Enterprise Library contains the following application blocks:

  • The Caching Application Block. Developers can use this application block to incorporate a local cache in their applications.
  • The Cryptography Application Block. Developers can use this application block to incorporate hashing and symmetric encryption in their applications.
  • The Data Access Application Block. Developers can use this application block to incorporate standard database functionality in their applications.
  • The Exception Handling Application Block. Developers and policy makers can use this application block to create a consistent strategy for processing exceptions that occur throughout the architectural layers of enterprise applications.
  • The Logging Application Block. Developers can use this application block to include standard logging functionality in their applications and systems administrators can use the configuration tool to adjust the granularity of logging at run time.
  • The Policy Injection Application Block. This block contains legacy code for backwards compatibility with existing applications. The new functionality is available by using the Unity interception mechanism and call handlers located in the related application block assemblies.
  • The Security Application Block. Developers can use this application block to incorporate authorization and security caching functionality in their applications.
  • The Validation Application Block. Developers can use this application block to create validation rules for business objects that can be used across different layers of their applications.
  • Unity Dependency Injection and Interception. Developers can use this to implement a lightweight, extensible dependency injection container with support for constructor, property, and method call injection; and to capture calls to target objects and add additional functionality to the object.

The Enterprise Library also includes a set of core functions, including configuration and instrumentation. All other application blocks use these functions. See The Enterprise Library Core.