Hello gan_s,
Let me summarize my main objectives. First, I want to loosely couple the Shell through Prism to a separate XAP file that contains a Child Window. This child window would in turn load additional Views/View Models for selected tab views based upon user choices using Prism modules. That is, modules which download other modules, as they are needed. Right now, this lumped functionality is adding substantially to the size of the XAP file. In addition, a reasonable number of users will not use this functionality on a regular basis, so it is being downloaded unnecessarily.
Let me explain my misunderstanding.
When you said that the child window had to be imported, I thought you meant using Prism/MEF to accomplish this through some dedicated Prism functionality, for example, getting a reference to the module object so that I can then access its members. Apparently, this is not the case.
What I thought I could do is to encapsulate all of the functionality in a separate XAP file that would be downloaded as a module on demand. This would reduce the size of the initial XAP and allow smaller XAPs to be downloaded to give the user the exact functionality that they need. I did not want to include a project reference to the child window project in the main shell application. Are you saying that this is the only way to import the child window functionality?
If I need a project reference to the child window project in the Shell application, then I do not see that Prism/MEF is doing anything to reduce the initial download size. Is it not possible to achieve my objectives with the child window using prism?
Thanks for your patience and assistance.
Warren