Implementing MEF with ASP.NET MVC?

asp.net-mvc plugins mef composite
mark smith picture mark smith · Apr 17, 2009 · Viewed 11.7k times · Source

I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience or ideas of using MEF (Managed Extensible Framework (Microsoft's new plugin framework) with ASP.NET MVC. I need to create a standard ASP.NET MVC, which I have. But I need to offer additional functionality i.e. Views and Controllers, etc, depending on if I add a plugin. It doesn't need to be dynamically compiled i.e. source code... but a DLL that i put into the system..

Is there any way to dynamically load a DLL when the app starts, and then MERGE a VIEWS and CONTROLLERS with the main system? I don't know if i am on the right track here.

Then, I suppose in the "STANDARD" views that come with the app, I can use an "IF THEN" to find out if a plugin is loaded and MERGE in a user control.

Well, I'm talking out loud here, but I think you understand what I am getting at.

Any ideas?

Answer

Boris Callens picture Boris Callens · Apr 22, 2009

any luck with that? I was reading this and think that's what you're looking for.
I have exactly zero xp with MEF, but it looks promising. I hope I can scrape some hours of free time together at home to experiment with that. It would be ultra usefull to create some kind of modularized MVC "framework" that way.

As for the current project I'm working on, I have the following problem: Multiple sites with the same views, only other CSS files. Currently I have to duplicate the views resulting in a maintaince problem.
I'm hoping I can put these views in a central place using MEF.

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