Customization Framework

BirdDog Software supports the ability to write customizations that allow you to augment or override our default behavior. To get started you will need a copy of our \CustomExamples folder which has example code for how to create a customization and boilerplate for all of the available events that can be implemented. This folder is deployed by default with our Web software but can be used with our web software (Enterprise and Ecommerce), Enterprise for Windows, and Job Master. 

Code can be written in a text editor, but you will be missing intellisense which will make the customization process painful. The instructions below will assume you are running Microsoft Visual Studio from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads.

To implement a custom event, do the following:

1. Copy files from \CustomExamples to \Custom
   1. The file containing the event that you want to implement
   2. Customization.xml (this is the file that holds references to all of the DLLs that you will be using)
2. Create your Visual Studio Project
   1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Visual Basic Class Library project and save it to the \Custom folder
   2. Right click on References in the Custom project and click Add References
   3. Click Browse on the left and then click the Browse button on the bottom
   4. Browse to the parent folder (for Enterprise for Windows and Job Master) or ..\bin (for Enterprise and Ecommerce)
   5. Add a reference for the following DLLs
      1. BirdDogSoftware.Interfaces.dll
      2. BirdDogSoftware.Factory.dll
      3. BirdDogSoftware.Framework.dll
      4. ShopifySharp.dll (Only required for Shopify customizations)
   6. If creating web customization you will also need:
      1. BirdDogSoftware.Web.dll
      2. System.Web.Mvc.dll
   7. In solution explorer click Show All Files. This should show all of the files in the \Custom folder that you copied in the first few steps
   8. Include Customization.xml and add all the DLLs you added as references in Visual Studio in the previous steps. Customization.xml is what is used to figure out references when your application is running while the references you add in Visual Studio are to assist you with intellisense.
   9. Include the file that contained your custom event from step 2
   10. Verify that you have no compile errors
   11. Save all changes
   12. Run the appropriate BirdDog application (Enterprise for Windows, Job Master, or Web) and verify that it starts without error. If you have startup errors then fix them before continuing.
3. Add your custom code to the file, save it, and restart the appropriate BirdDog application (Web, Enterprise for Windows, or Job Master)
4. Test you enhancement