Introduction

A Framework of Reusable Components can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. In Dan O'Connell's and my minds, reusable components need to built so generically that anyone will be able to use them without modification. I admit, that's a lofty goal, but even having something to start out with where a few tweaks here and there get you exactly what you need, will greatly improve productivity.

The idea of reusing the whole presentation layer, not just a component from a library at design time, is an idea DanO and I have been noodling on for a while. How cool would it be to have complete report designs, spreadsheets and dashboard controls be reused without modification, just by swapping out the underlying data source? What if there was a repository of presentation assets that was built on this concept and made available for anyone to download and use? Would you use it to swap your data into the visualizations, without modifying the presentation layer, to accelerate the building of your reporting application? I know I would in a heartbeat. This is why DanO and I are taking this idea out of concept stage and building this Framework of Reusable Components into a repository that can be used by all. As you learn this concept and start using this Framework in your own reporting applications, we're hoping you will create your own cool components and submit them back to us for inclusion into the repository so everyone can benefit from them. We would love to have this be a collaborative effort.

In upcoming blog entries, we will describe this concept in more depth, how to access the Framework of Reusable Components repository, how to make it part of your reporting application, how to create your own components, and how to submit them for inclusion into the repository.

I predict this will be a fun project to be involved in and that a lot of people will get a lot of value from it. As an engineer, I'm excited to develop some presentation assets, share them with others, and realize the potential of how this Framework can save tons of report development time.