Which .net Web Application Framework to use ?

Question

I am looking for a solid and easy to pick up .NET Web Application Framework for company-wide development use. I am considering DotNetNuke. Is it good ? What else can you recommend ?

Answer 1

DotNetNuke is a Content Management System. There are quite a few out there, and more vendor solutions than you can shake a stick at. It all depends on what you need/want, and whether cost is an issue. Some more information would help. Is this more of a wiki-oriented project? An intranet site? A bit of both? Is 24/7 support an issue?

Are you looking for a framework? Or a Content Management System?

List of Content Management Systems. There are also commercial ones, like SharePoint, as well as a whole host of custom vendor solutions.

Answer 2

If you're wanting a framework for "Web Applications" in .NET, then your choices boil down to ASP.NET or ASP.NET MVC (both from Microsoft), or an open source alternative like Castle Monorail.

ASP.NET would be the way to go if you want to have maximum use of vendor controls, and you're putting together small, form based applications.

For anything larger or more complex, and if you can do without vendor controls, ASP.NET MVC or Castle Monorail are going to give you a better result because they forces you into better practices.

However, if you're looking for an existing web application to use as a basis for customization, then your starting point needs to be to tell us more detail about what you want to achieve.

Depending on your requirements, Dotnetnuke may be a great fit for your needs, or it might be a spectaularly bad choice. Without more information we can't tell.

Answer 3

I am looking for a framework with common services already being provided, and that we will be able to develop business applications on top of it (including a simple CMS). A framework which provides services like user access/security control, portal/pluggable UI, built-in internationalizations, etc, are important to us. Advice please.

Answer 4

SharePoint is an option but I don't recommend it. I've always wanted to try DotNetNuke. It has a strong community and a lot of growth.

Our team worked on SharePoint features for 5 months before we ditched it. Deployment and debugging are awful experiences. We had to resort to lengthy build scripts within Visual Studio and we used a few open source tools (WspBuilder, SharePoint Installer, etc.) just to make the process half-way manageable.

Maybe SharePoint will grow up and get real Visual Studio integration some day (I hear that is the plan with VS 2010). Until then, it is just too much trouble. The learning curve is steep and you will have to spend a lot of time searching XML config files to track down problems. SharePoint will probably make you despise XML configurations!

UPDATE: Sharepoint is getting some much needed attention in VS2010. See: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterpr...

Answer 5

In the end you will need multiple frameworks. It's difficult to support any complex business environment with just one. Sounds like your dedicated to .NET so I would stick with ASP.NET or ASP.NET MVC. Use ASP.NET MVC for larger applications requiring domain driven development with testing. Use ASP.NET for data driven applications that closely match your SQL schema (quick and dirty applications without much complexity). Assuming you are using MS SQL for persistence. I would also consider the latest version of SharePoint. It's now based on ASP.NET 2.0 and bit easier to deal with than it was in the past. If a lot of your business requirements are simple you can provide a great deal of functionality with SharePoint out of the box. Of course with SharePoint you will need a good support staff for backup, maintenance, and recovery.