What's the difference between C# Code Fragments and Assembly TBBs?

Question

I understand C# Code Fragments and .NET Assemblies offer the same functionality for modular template development. We manage the code fragments in the CME and assembly code in Vi

Answer 1

I think the differences indeed are best explained by Frank's answer, as to how would you choose between the two. I normally say, since you are using Visual Studio anyways, always create a .NET Assembly TBB for your code. They offer you a lot more benefits like including 3rd party assemblies, allow for proper coding with classes and methods a lot easier and probably most important, allow for proper debugging (although this last one can be hard to setup depending on where you are, thinking of customer environments, firewalls etc.).

There are for me only two exceptions for using C# Fragments:

1. The references to classes implementing ITemplate in an assembly, allowing you to use these as separate TBBs
2. If there is a requirement to manage constants or other hardcoded constants directly from SDL Tridion

Number 2 is of course debatable, but you never can do without configuration properties, for a TBB most of these you can handle using a Parameters Schema, but sometimes it is just a lot easier, to directly write them in a C# Fragment and have that push them to the package for other TBBs to use.

In my training sessions, I usually referred to the following story of the only time I ever choose to use a C# Fragment TBB so far, indicating how much of an exception it is to use them:

I was working at a customer abroad, and my taxi for the airport was leaving in 10 minutes when one of the developers I was coaching asked me a question on how to get a list of items from a Folder in his TBB. I had already closed my Visual Studio and Outlook and was about to shutdown my laptop, but quickly browsed through some of my code samples to find what he needed. Knowing that starting up Visual Studio or Outlook would take a few minutes, I quickly pasted the code in a C# Fragment so he had it for easy reference.