Plugin architecture in .NET like wordpress

Question

We're going to upgrade our old classic ASP system to .net. This old system manages different ecommerce sites.

What we would like to do is to create a asp.net (vb) system like wordpress with plugins. This way, the layout can be completely different between the sites. For example a login plugin can be anywhere on the page with different settings for layout and display. Or even with a separate plugin css. This way the setup time is minimal for the webmasters, and the developers can develop new plugins.

Now i'm stuck at .net 2. and haven't had time to follow the advantages of 4 or even 4.5. I just start reading about MVC.

What is a good solution to follow? MVC? Any available frameworks for this setup? If you have any links o samples, please share.

thanks for the help.

Answer 1

The Orchard CMS project is a good example of a modular, plug-in based MVC application: http://www.orchardproject.net/ Although not branded as a Microsoft project, they have contributed to its development, and I believe part of the intent is for it to be used as a reference architecture.

There are also any number of very similar questions here on SO, many with good answers:

How to use Plugin Architecture in ASP.NET?

Plugin-like architecture in .NET

I can't personally think of any reason you would stick with .NET 2.0 if 4.0 or 4.5 is an option. Each version of the framework has built upon those previous to it, and I don't know of any mainstream body of opinion that thinks any version has been a major mistake. Whether you choose MVC or WebForms is a matter of personal taste. My own view would be that MVC is marginally better-suited to the kind of modular development you are planning, but other's mileage may vary...

Answer 2

Take a look at http://umbraco.org/ it's build on ASP.NET MVC and already has the features you want, Umbraco is open source so you can learn allot from it's code base.