TMS

TMS
I am building an application called TMS. The main purpose of this application is to speed up the sales process, from creating the sale to dispatching the goods.

I have developed the application using the Composite Application UI Block (CAB), which has significantly cut development time (after getting over the learning curve).
The application is split into many smaller modules.
The main exe is just a shell that hosts these other modules.
The CAB architecture allows these modules to interact with the shell's (and other modules) services and toolbars without having any dependency on any of the modules.

I've also designed the data providers to work independently - The data providers/modules only interact with a DataModel object. The module requests to retrieve SalesOrder record 50, and any datasources that inherit the ISalesOrder interface can respond to this request.
This will allow users to simply plug in a new data provider module for other accounting databases etc.


Extension Manager
I've just finished working on an extension manager for TMS. This allows users to download new modules for their TMS application - User's can basically build and customise their application to suit their needs.
It also checks for updates using a Web Service. The assembly version numbers are compared, and the user is asked if he/she wants to download the update.

Layout Problems
The whole idea behind TMS was that every module would be independent. The application has Layout modules that define the structure for the user interface. One of these layout modules in TMS creates the toolbars at the top of the window and exposes them as a UIExtension. Other modules can access UIExtensions and add/remove buttons.
The problem I am having I am creating new instances of this ButtonItem class and adding them to the toolbar. This means that if I ever create a new layout module, I cannot change the toolbar type because the modules are dependent on this toolbar type.
This is the problem I am trying to solve now.

I will post again later today