Needs help in defining architecture of ASP.Net web app?

Question

I just got a project to be build up from scratch. Its front end will ASP.Net and Backend is SQL 2008. The requirement is, the architecture of the app should be such so that we can have access to app from any computers(desktop, laptop, netbooks) as handheld devices as well like smartphones, PDA's, Tablets. Also it should be plugable in nature like FB and orkut. That is in future if the client needs to attach games or third party applications, then it should be plugged in without rewriting the entire thing again. Also client needs the entire web ajaxified either using the toolkits or JQuery.

I have prior experience of ASP.Net webforms applications with tiered arcitecture. So this time keeping his all needs, i am thinking of a web app with WCF Service. But i have no idea or experience about the pluggable architecture with SOA and MVC (all three). It seems if I implement all the stuffs, it will going to be a mamoth of codes. For pluggable arch I googled and found MEF on codeplex. So finally I came up with the following things :

1. ASP.Net MVC
2. MEF
3. JQuery
4. WCF
5. RESTful with AJAX
6. XML

Guys, i really need your help, I am unable to think how to place all these stuffs together. Or is there any other best alternative you can suggest for.

Also, there is one more requirement by the client is that he want the loose coupled code, that's reason i chosen MVC, the aspx page can only have the controls and required HTML, validation and other codes should be done in the Business Layer of the app.

it will be great help.

Answer 1

You should take a look at Orchard: it's an ASP.Net MVC CMS system that is very pluguable. You can add a lot of functionnalities through modules, and there are a lot of modules already implemented and accessible.

Even if you do not end up using Orchard itself, taking a good look at its architecture should be a very good starting point for your app, as Orchard responds to a lot of the same requirements you have, and as it is an open source project, you can get as much inspiration from it as you want.