FAQ

Q.	Can I open generated projects with Visual Studio .NET?
A.	Yes, projects generated with GenWise are 100% compatible with Visual Studio .NET 2005.

Can GenWise read or import Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005 projects?

No, GenWise cannot import or read VS.NET 2005 projects completely. You can however import a single source class into the GenWise model easily, or copy specific code to User CodeBlocks.

GenWise is based on templates and not on source code so it's not possible to implement such a feature functionally.

Q.	Can I write my own templates?
A.	Yes, this is possible, read this topic: Writing Templates

Why are GenWise Templates different from Templates of other Products?

We have had a lot of experience during many years of writing templates for other code generators. As a result of this we knew that you need to make a certain trade-off: The easier the template is to write (user-friendly), the less powerful and re-usable the template will be.

For generating simple files, where the percentage of fixed code is high (so only a few pieces of the file change according to parameters), the macro/replacement technique with placeholders such as <%%> can work well, and it's very easy to implement.

GenWise is based on a different technique that is more powerful and flexible. In the GenWise template system there are very few constants and almost every block of code adapts according to some external event or configuration. Thus the controller code becomes more important and more complex in relation to the target code.

The GenWise template system uses code insertion points called User Codeblocks which can be used by developers to add their own code. Every GenWise template defines plenty of User Codeblocks to give developers the opportunity and flexibility to customize the generated code. The User Codeblocks can be accessed from GenWise Studio's built-in Source Editor.

Q.	Does GenWise Studio support Stored Procedures?
A.	Yes, but not without adding custom source code to your projects. Extended support for native SQL, including stored procedures has been added in NHiberate version 1.2. Read the Native_SQL_and_Stored_Procedures chapter to learn more about customizing BO-Layer projects to use stored procedures.

Q.	What .NET Languages does GenWise generate?
A.	Currently, we focus on C# only. We have developed GenWise to be easily adaptable to other .NET languages. There are no plans to add support for other .NET languages in the near future.

Does GenWise only support NHibernate inside your BO-Layer Templates?

Yes, currently NHibernate is the only ORM (Object Relational Mapping) tool supported. NHibernate meets all the conditions we wanted an ORM tool to have.

GenWise was designed to be able to plug-in other data persistence frameworks. Most likely, we'll add a new set of templates for the BO Layer that targets Microsoft's LINQ technology in the future.

Q.	Can I debug my project with GenWise Studio?
A.	No, though this is on the wish-list for future versions. Currently we use Visual Studio .NET 2005 as a debugger for generated projects.

Q.	Can I use the source code (classes, etc.) generated by GenWise inside Visual Studio?
A.	Yes, GenWise produces projects that are 100% compatible with Visual Studio .NET 2005. For the BO-Layer a C# class library project is produced, for the User Intefrace a file system based web site project is produced.

Q.	Is there a runtime fee for my deployed applications?
A.	No, GenWise uses a per developer licence model, so it does not matter how many applications or end users are using your generated application.

Where do I add my own business rules?

The power of GenWise is that you can add your own custom code to the generated classes inside any project.

So for example, you can add custom methods (business rules) inside the generated classes, or modify the validation method for a particular object so your rules are enforced inside the validation mechanism.

The source code you add inside the GenWise IDE becomes part of your project and is not lost in further generations!

Also, you can expand the Project by adding new classes. In a nutshell, GenWise is meant to be used for the full application development cycle and not as a "generate once, then start coding" kind of tool.

When writing custom code in your GenWise project you'll benefit from the built-in source code editor with code completion, which makes a clear distinction between generated code and your custom code in User Codeblocks.

Q.	How can I distribute applications developed with GenWise?
A.	This is generally done by copy-paste deployment. There are no GenWise-specific runtimes, etc. that need to be installed. With ASP.NET projects, simply copy the contents of the generation folder and all subdirectories to a directory configured as a virtual root in your web server.