I'm interested how to implement my constructor in services. I'm a bit new to .NET so don't get me wrong if question is too trivial.
This are my current constructors but I would like to fully understand (since it looks like its working, I took code from somewhere)
// initialize UnitOfWork
private IUnitOfWork _unitOfWork;
public TownService()
: this(new UnitOfWork())
{
}
public TownService(IUnitOfWork unitOfWork)
{
_unitOfWork = unitOfWork;
}
What does : this means and which one is called first? Also I saw there is constructor with : base but I think thats the one thats calling superclass first.
Do I need to call new UnitOfWork() ? Isn't UnitOfWork supposed to be factory (shared) instance? Or it is factory and new UnitOfWork is not creating new but taking initialized one from memory?
Thanks.
Constructors in C#
Given your code
public TownService()
: this(new UnitOfWork())
{
//1
}
public TownService(IUnitOfWork unitOfWork)
{
//2
_unitOfWork = unitOfWork;
}
Invoking new TownService() will
Call the parameterless-constructor
Instantiate a new UnitOfWork and call the overload TownService(IUnitOfWork unitOfWork), so //2 is executed. This happens because of the this(...) call.
Then execute the parameterless constructor's body, i.e. //1
You need to get an instance of IUnitOfWork from somewhere, but calling the parameterless constructor which in turn will instantiate a new UnitOfWork probably isn't what you want - it doesn't really buy you much flexibility.
Using a factory
If you want to use a factory, you would go something like
ITownService s = new TownService(myFactory.Get<IUnitOfWork>());
thus avoiding the parameterless constructor.
Using IoC
If you want to use an IoC container, you would probably go something like this to configure your container
myContainer.Register<IUnitOfWork, UnitOfWork>(); //May need to provide database transaction or whatever
myContainer.Register<ITownService, TownService>();
You would also need to tell ASP.NET MVC to use the container when creating controllers. You do this by creating a ControllerFactory that is aware of your IoC container. Most IoC containers come with such a factory and instructions on how to use it.
Once that is done, you would be able to declare your controllers like
public class MyController
{
public MyController(ITownService townService)
{
/*...*/
}
}
and have ASP.NET MVC and your IoC container do the rest.
Related
I am making a website using ASP.NET MVC and an onion architecture. I have the following architecture:
Domain : Entities / Domain Interfaces
Repository : Generic repository (for now) using Entity Framework Code First Approach
Service : Generic Service that calls the Repository
MVC
Now I am trying to create a method in my controller to start testing the methods I have implemented in Repository and Service, and I am having a hard time as to what I am allowed to create in this controller. I want to test a simple Get method in the Repository, but to do that I need GenericService object and GenericRepository object in my controller. To demonstrate what I mean here's a snippet of my GenericRepository(I will skip the interfaces):
public class GenericRepository<T> : IGenericRepository<T> where T : class
{
private readonly PrincipalServerContext context;
private DbSet<T> entities;
public Repository(PrincipalServerContext context)
{
this.context = context;
entities = context.Set<T>();
}
}
Now my GenericService:
public class GenericService<T> : IGenericService<T> where T : class
{
private IRepository<T> repository;
public GenericService(IRepository<T> repository)
{
this.repository = repository;
}
public T GetEntity(long id)
{
return repository.Get(id);
}
}
And finally, my question, am I allowed to create these objects in my controller as follows (using my dbcontext called PrincipalServerContext):
public class NavigationController : Controller
{
private IGenericService<DomainModelClassHere> domainService;
private IGenericRepository<DomainModelClassHere> domainRepo;
private PrincipalServerContext context;
public ActionResult MyMethod(){
context = new PrincipalServerContext();
domainRepo = new GenericRepository<DomainModelClassHere>(context);
domainService = new GenericService<DomainModelClassHere>(domainRepo);
if(domainService.GetEntity(1)==null)
return View("UserNotFound");//Just as an example
return View();
}
}
Is this allowed? According to Jeffrey Palermo, UI can depend on Service and Domain so I don't know about the Repository. Technically I am not using methods from repository, but I do need to add a reference to the project.
If I can't then how can I create a new GenericService if I don't have a GenericRepository? Is there a better way to instantiate my objects ?
EDIT I think the answer to my question resides in Startup.cs where I can put something like service.addScoped(typeof(IGenericRepository<>),typeof(GenericRepository<>));
but I 'm not sure about this, any ideas?
I'll answer this on my own if ever someone encounters the same problem. There are configuration methods we can use to create instances of classes when needed. In the Startup.cs file you have to add ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) method and inside there are several methods that can be applied to services to create these instances. For example you can use:
services.AddTransient(IGenericRepository, GenericRepository)
What is the difference between services.AddTransient, service.AddScope and service.AddSingleton methods in Asp.Net Core 1? (this link explains differences between methods).
AddTransient is good in my case because it creates an instance of an object through the whole lifespan of the application, which is what I need. This means UI is dependant on the rest of the solution, because Startup.cs needs to know about the Repositories as well as the Services.
A pretty good answer can be found here :Onion Architecture : Can UI depend on Domain.
I'm trying to get my head around how one would unit test an ASP.NET MVC project that accesses data through a repository of some sort.
During the unit tests I'd obviously want to create a mock repository but how do I pass this mock repository to the Controller instance being tested? Also how would the actual repository, that's really connected to a database, find its way to the controller?
Do I simply do this through the constructors as I've shown below? I think this is how I should set up my controllers, but I'd like some confirmation that this is correct:
public class SampleController : Controller
{
private IRepository _repo;
//Default constructor uses a real repository
// new ConcreteRepo() could also be replaced by some static
// GetRepository() method somewhere so it would be easy to modify
//which concrete IRepository is being used
public SampleController():this(new ConcreteRepo())
{
}
//Unit tests pass in mock repository here
public SampleController(IRepository repo)
{
_repo = repo;
}
}
As everyone has already said, you'll want to use an IoC* or DI** container. But what they haven't said is why this is the case.
The idea is that a DI container will let you bypass ASP.NET MVC's default controller-construction strategy of requiring a parameterless constructor. Thus, you can have your controllers explicitly state their dependencies (as interfaces preferably). How those interfaces map to concrete instances is then the business of the DI container, and is something you will configure in either Global.asax.cs (live) or your test fixture setup (for unit testing).
This means your controller doesn't need to know anything about concrete implementations of its dependencies, and thus we follow the Dependency Inversion Principle: "High-level modules should not depend on low-level modules. Both should depend on abstractions."
For example, if you were to use AutoFac, you would do this:
// In Global.asax.cs's Application_Start
using Autofac;
using Autofac.Integration.Mvc;
var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
builder.RegisterControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
builder.Register<IRepository>(() => new ConcreteRepo());
var container = builder.Build();
DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new AutofacDependencyResolver(container));
// In your unit test:
var controllerInstance = new SampleController(new InMemoryFakeRepo());
// In SampleController
public class SampleController : Controller
{
private readonly IRepository _repo;
public SampleController(IRepository repo)
{
_repo = repo;
}
// No parameterless constructor! This is good; no accidents waiting to happen!
// No dependency on any particular concrete repo! Excellent!
}
* IoC = inversion of control
** DI = dependency inversion
(the two terms are often used interchangeably, which is not really correct IMO)
Yeah, you're correct, you pass it to your constructor like you have it. By mocking IRepository your explicitly ensuring that the database dependent code doesn't get into the controller for testing, like you want.
When you actually run it, you'll want to setup your application to work with an inversion of control container to enable those dependencies to be injected into your controller (some popular ones are Ninject, StructureMap, and Windsor).
Here's a sample of testing using Moq:
private Mock<IRepository> _mockRepo;
private SampleController _controller;
[TestInit]
public void InitTest()
{
_mockRepo = new Mock<IRepository>();
_controller = new SampleController(_mockRepo.Object);
}
[Test]
public void Some_test()
{
_mockRepo.Setup(mr => mr.SomeRepoCall()).Returns(new ValidObject());
var result = _controller.SomeAction() as ViewResult;
Assert.IsNotNull(result);
}
Now you can test your actions and mock your IRepository to behave however you want.
The best answer I know is to use an Ioc Container:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ListOfNETDependencyInjectionContainersIOC.aspx
I prefer Castle Windsor
With the controller dependencies passed in you can then create mocks.
We have dependencies that implement interfaces which can be mocked.
For the real one, check out ninject mvc 3 on nuget, for unit testing I prefer to use fake objects with in-memory collections of known data
What is the best way to manage the context of Entity Framework when using MVC application?
I am using a Repository/Service pattern.
Edit
After looking through some of these questions: stackoverflow.com/users/587920/sam-striano, I am more confused then before. Some say use the context per repository, but wht if I want to use multiple repositories in one controller method?
And to follow good separation design, how do you use UnitOfWork in the MVC app with out making it dependent on EF? I want to be able to unit test my controllers, model, services, etc. using a mock context?
Use a Dependency Injector/Inversion of Control framework like:
Ninject
Autofac
StructureMap
Unity
Using an IoC container, you can tell it how to manage a single data context (most commonly, per request). When you set the data context to per request, the container will auto-magically give any class that needs a data context the same data context per request.
Here is a good article on setting up Ninject.
What your code will most likely end up looking like, assuming you're using a generic repository:
Ninject Module:
public class NinjectRegistrationModule : NinjectModule
{
public override void Load()
{
Bind<MyDataContext>().ToSelf().InRequestScope();
Bind(typeof(RepositoryImplementation<>)).ToSelf().InRequestScope();
}
}
Generic Repository:
public RepositoryImplementation<T> : IRepository<T> where T : class
{
MyDataContext _dataContext;
public RepositoryImplementation<T>(MyDataContext dataContext)
{
_dataContext = dataContext;
}
// bunch of methods that utilize _dataContext
}
Service Class:
public class MyServiceClass
{
IRepository<SomeEntity> _someEntityRepository;
public MyServiceClass(IRepository<SomeEntity> someEntityRepository)
{
_someEntityRepository = someEntityRepository;
}
// do stuff with _someEntityRepository = someEntityRepository;
}
Controller:
public class MyController
{
MyServiceClass _myServiceClass;
public MyController(MyServiceClass myServiceClass)
{
// Ninject will auto-magically give us a myServiceClass
// which will Ninject will inject a repository into MyServiceClass's constructor
_myServiceClass = myServiceClass;
}
public ActionResult MyAction()
{
// use _myServiceClass to do stuff
return View();
}
}
If your functionality is straight forward, then you should create a new ObjectContext in each Repository. They are cheap to instantiate.
If this creates a conflict, you can use a Unit of Work pattern as was suggested in the comment.
I would advise that you be extremely cautious when integrating an ObjectContext or DataContext with a DI container. Many do not use the appropriate scope for their life cycle by default.
I have begun using Castle Windsor and somehow my app is all up and running but I dont really understand how its working. Don't refer me to the documentation as I wouldn't be here otherwise.
In my Global.asax.cs I have this:
private static IWindsorContainer container;
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
BootstrapContainer();
}
protected void Application_End()
{
container.Dispose();
}
private static void BootstrapContainer()
{
container = new WindsorContainer()
.Install(FromAssembly.This());
var controllerFactory = new WindsorControllerFactory(container.Kernel);
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(controllerFactory);
}
Now this is registering a new controller factory which I understand. The installation of a WindsorContainer from the current assembly I think registers all installers for example I have a repository installer. I assume that the container that is created in Global.asax is passed to the installers.
public class RepositoriesInstaller : IWindsorInstaller
{
public void Install(IWindsorContainer container, IConfigurationStore store)
{
container.Register(AllTypes.FromThisAssembly()
.Where(type => type.Name.EndsWith("Repository"))
.WithService.DefaultInterface()
.Configure(c => c.LifeStyle.PerWebRequest));
}
}
In my controller I have created a constructor and passed in a IRepository argument. What I dont understand is how the controller accepts this argument.
Secondly as a test I created 2 repository classes that implement a IRepository. Putting a breakpoint in the controller constructor it passes in one of these classes. How do I map what class that implements IRepository should be passed to the constructor?
I also have Fluent NHibernate up and running. For the next stage I would like the IRepository to have a dependency on the ISession. How do I do that?
Thanks for your help
Since you have registered a controller factory that uses Windsor, it is the Windsor IoC container that is responsible for resolving all your controller instances as and when they are needed.
That is, when you access a URL in your MVC project that points to the action "Index" on your "HomeController" your WindsorControllerFactory will be asked, by the MVC framework, for an instance of HomeController.
If that controller has a constructor which takes an instance of IRepository and you have registered IRepository as a service with the container then Windsor will know how to satisfy the dependency of the HomeController class. Therefore it can first resolve IRepository into some concrete class, instantiate this, and pass it in as a parameter to the HomeController constructor before returning the instance of HomeController to the MVC framework.
If you need different implementations of IRepository for different purposes (i.e. a UserRepository and a ProductRepository) you could create separate interfaces for these, each of which extend IRepository, e.g.:
public interface IProfileRepository : IRepository {}
Then you can use Windsor's fluent registration API to register all concrete classes that implement IRepository, and have them registered by the specific service they provide, e.g. IProfileRepository.
If you do this, Windsor will automatically resolve all instances that implement IRepository for you without you having to write any new registration code when you add a new implementation.
As for making your repository classes depend on ISession, you can do this in a number of ways. I would recommend not letting them depend directly on a session, but rather let them depend on a class through which they can obtain the current session (so that you can share sessions between repositories). There's lots of information on why this is good practice out there on the web, just do a search.
Now, as for actually making it happen, you can either:
Register an instance of a class (by interface) that will retrieve a session for you with Windsor and let Windsor resolve this class as a parameter to your repository constructors.
Register ISession with Windsor and use a factory method to retrieve it when it is resolved.
If you don't know what I'm talking about either go through the tutorial and try to add dependency Injection yourself or try your luck with my explanation of the problem.
Note: This problem isn't within the scope of the original tutorial on ASP.NET. The tutorial only suggests that the patterns used are dependency injection friendly.
The problem is basically that there is a dependency loop between the Controller, the ModelStateWrapper and the ContactManagerService.
The ContactController constuctor takes an IContactManagerService.
The ContactManagerService constructor takes an IContactManagerRepository (not important) and an IValidationDictionary (which ModelStateWrapper implements).
The ModelStateWrapper constructor takes a ModelStateDictionary (which is a property called "ModelState" on the controller).
So the dependency cycle goes like this: Controller > Service > ModelStateWrapper > Controller
If you try to add dependency injection to this, it will fail. So my question is; what should I do about it? Others have posted this question, but the answers are few, different, and all seem kinda "hack-ish".
My current solution is to remove the IModelStateWrapper from the IService constructor and add an Initialize method instead like this:
public class ContactController : Controller
{
private readonly IContactService _contactService;
public ContactController(IContactService contactService)
{
_contactService = contactService;
contactService.Initialize(new ModelStateWrapper(ModelState));
}
//Class implementation...
}
public class ContactService : IContactService
{
private IValidationDictionary _validationDictionary;
private readonly IContactRepository _contactRepository;
public ContactService(IContactRepository contactRepository)
{
_contactRepository = contactRepository;
}
private void Initialize(IValidationDictionary validationDictionary)
{
if(validationDictionary == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("validationDictionary");
_validationDictionary = validationDictionary;
}
//Class implementation...
}
public class ModelStateWrapper : IValidationDictionary
{
private readonly ModelStateDictionary _modelState;
public ModelStateWrapper(ModelStateDictionary modelState)
{
_modelState = modelState;
}
//Class implementation...
}
With this construct I can configure my unity container like this:
public static void ConfigureUnityContainer()
{
IUnityContainer container = new UnityContainer();
// Registrations
container.RegisterTypeInHttpRequestLifetime<IContactRepository, EntityContactRepository>();
container.RegisterTypeInHttpRequestLifetime<IContactService, ContactService>();
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new UnityControllerFactory(container));
}
Unfortunately this means that the "Initialize" method on the service has to be called manually by the controller constructor. Is there a better way? Maybe where I somehow include the IValidationDictionary in my unity configuration? Should I switch to another DI container? Am I missing something?
As a general consideration, circular dependencies indicate a design flaw - I think I can safely say this since you are not the original author of the code :)
I wouldn't consider an Initialize method a good solution. Unless you are dealing with an add-in scenario (which you aren't), Method Injection is not the right solution. You have almost already figured that out, since you find it unsatisfactory that you need to manually invoke it because your DI Container can't.
Unless I am entirely mistaken, the ContactController doesn't need the IValidationDictionary instance before its Action methods are being invoked?
If this is true, the easiest solution would probably be to define an IValidationDictionaryFactory interface and make the ContactController constructor take an instance of this interface.
This interface could be defined like this:
public interface IValidationDictionaryFactory
{
IValidationDictionary Create(Controller controller);
}
Any Action method on the controller that needs an IValidationDictionary instance can then invoke the Create method to get the instance.
The default implementation would look something like this:
public class DefaultValidationDictionaryFactory : IValidationDictionaryFactory
{
public IValidationDictionary Create(Controller controller)
{
return controller.ModelState;
}
}
How about slightly changing/improving the design to something like this: http://forums.asp.net/t/1486130.aspx
Each controller has a virtual method Initialize to do stuff like that.
I think there is no better way because the IValidationDictionary is an abstraction layer between you current request/controller/modelstate and the IContactService. Injecting controllers modelstate into the service and then injecting the service into the controller is simply impossible using constructor injection. One has to be first.
May be there is a way using property injection? But I think this will be complicated too.