N2 CMS

Hi N2CMS Community,

I just wanted to let you know that a N2CMS based e-commerce site was released into the wild a few weeks ago: http://www.fancydressoutfitters.co.uk

We chose N2 because we wanted CMS features, but unlike other CMS systems we didn't want the CMS to take over the application architecture. N2 offered us all the features we needed without any of the constraints imposed by other frameworks. We used ASP.NET MVC rather than WebForms and it worked very well. For those who are interested - here's a little background:

• We ran the project using Scrum (managing the project with Scrum for Team System)
• Delivered in 20 weeks - 10 x 2 week iterations
• We based it on S#arp Architecture extended the core framework (support for multiple databases, ViewModels etc...)

Integrated other OSS projects into the solution:

• N2CMS
• Spark View Engine
• xVal Validation Framework
• AutoMapper
• PostSharp (for cross cutting concerns - logging, performance monitoring, caching)
• MBUnit / Gallio for our BDD Framework
• Solr & SolrNet for Search and Faceted Navigation
• Over 700 BDD Specs

Solution performs very well - 1000 concurrent users per webhead, generating around 180 pages per second across 2x single quad core 64bit hardware.

We've submitted one patch back to the core - to allow users to create posts and publish them in the future. I'm not sure if this has been accepted into the trunk yet.

Two of the developers in the team (James Broome & Jon George who have both posted to this forum) & myself have blogged about our thoughts & experiences developing this solution:

• Why I like N2 CMS
• ASP.NET MVC - Separation of concerns amongst team members
• ASP.NET MVC - Controllers + BDD = The perfect match? (Part 1: The HomeController)
• ASP.NET MVC - Controllers + BDD = The perfect match? (Part 2: Log On and Log Off with the AccountController)
• The importance of conventions – from ASP.NET MVC to a successful project team
• The Value and Benefits of ASP.NET MVC
• Optimising an ASP.NET MVC web site part 1 - Introduction
• Optimising an ASP.NET MVC web site part 2 - Database and NHibernate
• How to improve your YSlow score under IIS7
• Cloaking your ASP.NET MVC Web Application on IIS 7
• Why BDD works for Agile
• Behaviour Driven Development - not just for Acceptance Testing
• Microsoft, Open Source and Codeplex Foundation

I wanted to say a HUGE thank-you to everyone in this community for all the passion, energy, knowledge and help you provide on a daily basis.

Many thanks,

Howard

Thank you very much for sharing. Great job on the e-commerce site! Just a quick question. Did you make any changes to n2cms in order to use sharp architecture or you keep it untouched?

Impressive site, and impressive work. Congratulations! It's particularly nice to read about the details and presentation of the team.

I'll have to find that patch and apply it right away.

Thanks for sharing! Did you alter the Sharp Architecture CRUD templates to be used for N2CMS? I'm very much interested in more details about the N2/SA integration. Thanks!