I am trying to scan a folder of modules (dlls, location known at runtime) using StructureMap 2.6.4, for any that close a certain interface. In this case, it’s Consumes.Context from MassTransit.
My class, of which there may be many implementations of, in the modules folder:
public class MyConsumer : Consumes<MyMessage>.Context
{
public void Consume(IConsumeContext< MyMessage > message)
{
// Do some stuff
message.Respond(response);
}
}
My StructureMap scanner:
container.Configure(x => x.Scan(y =>
{
y.TheCallingAssembly();
y.WithDefaultConventions();
y.LookForRegistries();
y.ConnectImplementationsToTypesClosing(typeof(Consumes<>.Context));
y.AddAllTypesOf(typeof(Consumes<>.Context));
y.AssembliesFromPath(#"..\..\..\Web\Modules\bin\debug");
}));
When I look at what objects are in the container, I do not see any of my Consumes<>.Context implementations. I do see objects from other dlls in the debug folder.
However, if I copy my module’s dll into a sub-directory and scan like this:
y.AssembliesFromPath(#"..\..\..\Web\Modules\bin\debug\test")
The scanner picks up my objects.
Fails:
y.AssembliesFromPath(#"..\..\..\Web\Modules\bin\debug");
Works:
y.AssembliesFromPath(#"..\..\..\Web\Modules\bin\debug\test");
Why would placing my dll in a sub-directory work and not work in the parent directory?
How should I be scanning for implementations of Consumes.Context in a Modules directory?
Thanks!
Related
My company has got a deployment policy (I skip the details) such that any 3rd party software should be installed in the GAC, whilst our libraries are in Web/bin folder. But this approach doesn't work with Ninject and MVC 3/4. Let's follow an example:
This is my dependencies binding code:
public class RequestorDependenciesRegistration : NinjectModule
{
public override void Load()
{
Bind<IMyDearDependency>().To<MyDearImplementation>();
}
}
And this is my MVC controller:
public MyController(IMyDearDependency something) {
this.something = something; // 'something' is set only if Ninject dlls are in Web/bin... X-(
}
If Ninject dlls are in the GAC, it loads the module correctly, but when instantiating the MVC Controller the dependency is not injected (in some cases is null, in some cases MVC returns an error "No parameterless constructor etc etc"). If I manually copy Ninject*.dll in the Web/bin folder, than everything works fine, even without restarting IIS! Can't really understand why...
Even more surprisingly (for me), if I do something super-dirty like storing a reference to the Ninject Kernel instance in a public static property and use it as a ServiceLocator, it works! (Something dirty like this, in the MVC controller):
public MyController(IMyDearDependency something) { // 'something' is always null if Ninject is only in the GAC...
var controller = Kernel.Get<MyController>()
this.something = controller.something; // ... but this 'controller.something' is set, even if Ninject is only in the GAC!!! 8-O
}
Can anyone suggest me the reason why? And possibly a solution? :-) Many thanks!!
Ninject has a built in extension loading mechanism which is used to load the different extension like the Ninject.Web.Mvc.
But mechanism is looking only for the application folder to load the extensions so if your dll are in the GAC Ninject won't find them.
To solve this you can turn off the automatic extension loading and load the MvcModule module by hand when creating your StandardKernel:
var _kernel = new StandardKernel(
new NinjectSettings() { LoadExtensions = false },
new MvcModule(),
/* your other modules * /);
We're trying to use MEF 2 with ASP.NET MVC 4 to support an extensible application. There are really 2 parts to this question (hope that's okay SO gods):
How do we use Microsoft.Composition and the MVC container code (MEF/MVC demo source) to replace Ninject as our DI for ICoreService, ICoreRepository, IUnitOfWork, and IDbContext?
It looks like we can't use both Ninject and the MVC container at the same time (I'm sure many are saying "duh"), so we'd like to go with MEF, if possible. I tried removing Ninject and setting [Export] attributes on each of the relevant implementations, spanning two assemblies in addition to the web project, but Save() failed to persist with no errors. I interpreted that as a singleton issue, but could not figure out how to sort it out (incl. [Shared]).
How do we load multiple assemblies dynamically at runtime?
I understand how to use CompositionContainer.AddAssemblies() to load specific DLLs, but for our application to be properly extensible, we require something more akin to how I (vaguely) understand catalogs in "full" MEF, which have been stripped out from the Microsoft.Composition package (I think?); to allow us to load all IPluggable (or whatever) assemblies, which will include their own UI, service, and repository layers and tie in to the Core service/repo too.
EDIT 1
A little more reading solved the first problem which was, indeed, a singleton issue. Attaching [Shared(Boundaries.HttpRequest)] to the CoreDbContext solved the persistence problem. When I tried simply [Shared], it expanded the 'singletonization' to the Application level (cross-request) and threw an exception saying that the edited object was already in the EF cache.
EDIT 2
I used the iterative assembly loading "meat" from Nick Blumhardt's answer below to update my Global.asax.cs code. The standard MEF 2 container from his code did not work in mine, probably because I'm using the MEF 2(?) MVC container. Summary: the code listed below now works as desired.
CoreDbContext.cs (Data.csproj)
[Export(typeof(IDbContext))]
[Shared(Boundaries.HttpRequest)]
public class CoreDbContext : IDbContext { ... }
CoreRepository.cs (Data.csproj)
[Export(typeof(IUnitOfWork))]
[Export(typeof(ICoreRepository))]
public class CoreRepository : ICoreRepository, IUnitOfWork
{
[ImportingConstructor]
public CoreRepository(IInsightDbContext context)
{
_context = context;
}
...
}
CoreService.cs (Services.csproj)
[Export(typeof(ICoreService))]
public class CoreService : ICoreService
{
[ImportingConstructor]
public CoreService(ICoreRepository repository, IUnitOfWork unitOfWork)
{
_repository = repository;
_unitOfWork = unitOfWork;
}
...
}
UserController.cs (Web.csproj)
public class UsersController : Controller
{
[ImportingConstructor]
public UsersController(ICoreService service)
{
_service = service;
}
...
}
Global.asax.cs (Web.csproj)
public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
protected void Application_Start()
{
CompositionProvider.AddAssemblies(
typeof(ICoreRepository).Assembly,
typeof(ICoreService).Assembly,
);
// EDIT 2 --
// updated code to answer my 2nd question based on Nick Blumhardt's answer
foreach (var file in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(Server.MapPath("Plugins"), "*.dll"))
{
try
{
var name = System.Reflection.AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(file);
var assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(name);
CompositionProvider.AddAssembly(assembly);
}
catch
{
// You'll need to craft exception handling to
// your specific scenario.
}
}
}
}
If I understand you correctly, you're looking for code that will load all assemblies from a directory and load them into the container; here's a skeleton for doing that:
var config = new ContainerConfiguration();
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(#".\Plugins", "*.dll"))
{
try
{
var name = AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(file);
var assembly = Assembly.Load(name);
config.WithAssembly(assembly);
}
catch
{
// You'll need to craft exception handling to
// your specific scenario.
}
}
var container = config.CreateContainer();
// ...
Hammett discusses this scenario and shows a more complete version in F# here: http://hammett.castleproject.org/index.php/2011/12/a-decent-directorycatalog-implementation/
Note, this won't detect assemblies added to the directory after the application launches - Microsoft.Composition isn't intended for that kind of use, so if the set of plug-ins changes your best bet is to detect that with a directory watcher and prompt the user to restart the app. HTH!
MEF is not intended to be used as DI framework. Which means that you should separate your "plugins" (whatever they are) composition from your infrastructure dependencies, and implement the former via MEF and the latter via whatever DI framework you prefer.
I think there are a little misunderstandings on what MEF can and can't do.
Originally MEF was conceived as purely an extensibility architecture, but as the framework evolved up to its first release, it can be fully supported as a DI container also. MEF will handle dependency injection for you, and does so through it's ExportProvider architecture. It is also entirely possible to use other DI frameworks with MEF. So in reality there are a number of ways things could be achieved:
Build a NinjectExportProvider that you can plug into MEF, so when MEF is searching for available exports, it will be able to interrogate your Ninject container.
Use an implementation of the Common Services Locator pattern to bridge between MEF and Ninject or vice versa.
Because you are using MEF for the extensibility, you'll probably want to use the former, as this exposes your Ninject components to MEF, which in turn exposes them to your plugins.
The other thing to consider, which is a bit disappointing, is in reality there isn't a lot of room for automagically plugging in of features ala Wordpress on ASP.NET. ASP.NET is a compiled and managed environment, and because of that you either resort to late-binding by loading assemblies manually at runtime, or you restart the application to pick up the new plugins, which sort of defeats the object of being able to plug new extensions in through the application.
My advice, is plan your architecture to pick up any extensibility points as startup and assume that any core changes will require a deployment and application restart.
In terms of the direct questions asked:
The CompositionProvider accepts in instance of ContainerConfiguration which is used internally to create the CompositionContainer used by the provider. So you could use this as the point by which you customise how you want your container to be instantiated. The ContainerConfiguration supports a WithProvider method:
var configuration = new ContainerConfiguration().WithProvider(new NinjectExportDescriptorProvider(kernel));
CompositionProvider.SetConfiguration(configuration);
Where NinjectExportDescriptorProvider might be:
public class NinjectExportDescriptorProvider: ExportDescriptorProvider
{
private readonly IKernel _kernel;
public NinjectExportDescriptorProvider(IKernel kernel)
{
if (kernel == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("kernel");
_kernel = kernel;
}
public override IEnumerable<ExportDescriptorPromise> GetExportDescriptors(
CompositionContract contract, DependencyAccessor dependencyAccessor)
{
var type = contract.ContractType;
if (!_kernel.GetBindings(type).Any())
return NoExportDescriptors;
return new[] {
new ExportDescriptorPromise(
contract,
"Ninject Kernel",
true, // Hmmm... need to consider this, setting it to true will create it as a shared part, false as new instance each time,
NoDependencies,
_ => ExportDescriptor.Create((c, o) => _kernel.Get(type), NoMetadata)) };
}
}
}
Note: I have not tested this, this is all theory, and is based on the example AppSettingsExportDescriptorProvider at: http://mef.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=ProgrammingModelExtensions
It's different from using the standard ExportProvider, because using the CompostionProvider is built around lightweight composition. But essentially you're wrapping up access to your Ninject kernel and making it available to your CompositionContainer.
As with adding a specific new provider (see above), you can use the ContainerConfiguration to read the available assemblies, probably something like:
var configuration = new ContainerConfiguration().WithAssemblies(AppDomain.GetAssemblies())
Again, I haven't tested all of this, but I hope it at least points you in the right direction.
First of all I would like to remark I am new with the concept of prism, DI and containers. I am looking on one of the code samples provided with the Prism Library:
The code simply injects a view with the "Hello World" string (in a TextBlock element) to a region in the shell.
When the application starts-up, it creates a new BootStrapper instance, which creates and initializes the shell:
public class Bootstrapper : UnityBootstrapper
{
protected override DependencyObject CreateShell()
{
return Container.Resolve<Shell>();
}
protected override void InitializeShell()
{
base.InitializeShell();
Application.Current.RootVisual = (UIElement)this.Shell;
}
protected override void ConfigureModuleCatalog()
{
base.ConfigureModuleCatalog();
ModuleCatalog moduleCatalog = (ModuleCatalog)this.ModuleCatalog;
moduleCatalog.AddModule(typeof(HelloWorldModule.HelloWorldModule));
}
}
My question refers to the method CreateShell(). I couldnt find nowhere in the supplied code (including not in a configuration file or any xaml file...) where do they register the type Shell, and even if it was registered - the supplies Shell class doesnt implement any interface... what is the meaning of resolving a specific type?
the Shell implementation:
public partial class Shell : UserControl
{
public Shell()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
This looks like a magic to me, so I tried to create my own type (MyType) and resolve it the same way:
Container.Resolve<MyType>();
By setting a breakepoint inside MyType constructor, I saw that it DID resolved MyType. Can somebody please explain to me how does it work?
These couple of threads should answer your question:
http://compositewpf.codeplex.com/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=230051
Does unity just make clasess with out needing anything registered?
Additionally, if you are eager to get more detail into how Unity can do this, simple download Unity 2.0 and open the source code that is provided with the installer.
I hope this helps.
Thanks,
Damian
You do not need to register a type you want to resolve. You need to register the dependencies of a type, that you want to resolve. In this case, the Shell doesn't need any dependencies, so you can resolve it simply. But for an example (not really), if your shell getting an interface IService as a parameter, then you must register IService, before you resolve Shell.
Otherwise you will get Dependency Resolution Failed Exception. In Prism 4.1 it will be swallowed silently due to TryResolve.
In the C# language, using StructureMap 2.5.4, targeting .NET Framework 3.5 libraries.
I've taken the step to support multiple Profiles in a structure map DI setup, using ServiceLocator model with Bootstrapper activation. First setup was loading default registry, using the scanner.
Now I like to determine runtime what Registry configuration I like to use. Scanning and loading multiple assemblies with registries.
Seems it's not working for the actual implementation (Getting the 202, default instance not found), but a stripped test version does work. The following setup.
Two assemblies containing Registries and implementations
Scanning them in running AppDomain, providing the shared Interface, and requesting Creation Of Instance, using the interfaces in constructor (which get dealt with thanx to the profile on Invokation)
Working code sample below (same structure for other setup, but with more complex stuff, that get's a 202):
What type of couses are possible for a 202, specifically naming the System.Uri type, not being handles by a default type?? (uri makes no sense)
// let structure map create instance of class tester, that provides the registered
// interfaces in the registries to the constructor of tester.
public class Tester<TPOCO>
{
private ITestMe<TPOCO> _tester;
public Tester(ITestMe<TPOCO> some)
{
_tester = some;
}
public string Exec()
{
return _tester.Execute();
}
}
public static class Main {
public void ExecuteDIFunction() {
ObjectFactory.GetInstance<Tester<string>>().Exec();
}
}
public class ImplementedTestMe<TSome> : ITestMe<TSome>
{
public string Execute()
{
return "Special Execution";
}
}
public class RegistryForSpecial : Registry
{
public RegistryForSpecial()
{
CreateProfile("Special",
gc =>
{
gc.For(typeof(ITestMe<>)).UseConcreteType(typeof(ImplementedTestMe<>));
});
}
}
Background articles on Profiles I used.
How to setup named instances using StructureMap profiles?
http://devlicio.us/blogs/derik_whittaker/archive/2009/01/07/setting-up-profiles-in-structuremap-2-5.aspx
http://structuremap.sourceforge.net/RegistryDSL.htm
EDIT:
It seemed the missing interface was actually the one being determined runtime. So here is the next challange (and solved):
I provided a default object whenever StructureMap needs to create the object. Like:
x.ForRequestedType<IConnectionContext>()
.TheDefault.Is.Object(new WebServiceConnection());
This way I got rid of the 202 error, because now a real instance could be used whever structure map needed the type.
Next was the override on runtime. That did not work out at first using the ObjectFactory.Configure method. Instead I used the ObjectFactory.Inject method to overide the default instance. Works like a charm.
ObjectFactory.Inject(typeof(IConnectionContext), context);
Loving the community effort.
Error code 202 means a default instance could not be built for the requested type. Your test code is apparently not equal to your real code that fails. If you are getting an error about Uri, you likely have a dependency that requires a Uri in its constructor. It may not be the class you are asking for - it may be one of that classes dependendencies - or one of the dependencies dependencies... somewhere down the line someone is asking StructureMap to resolve a Uri, which it cannot do, without some help from you.
High Level
With StructureMap, Can I define a assembly scan rule that for an interface IRequestService<T> will return the object named TRequestService
Examples:
FooRequestService is injected when IRequestService<FooRequest> is requested
BarRequestService is injected when IRequestService<BarRequest> is requested
Details
I have a generic interface defined
public interface IRequestService<T> where T : Request
{
Response TransformRequest(T request, User current);
}
and then I have multiple Request objects that implement this interface
public class FooRequestService : IRequestService<Foo>
{
public Response TransformRequest(Foo request, User current) { ... }
}
public class BarRequestService : IRequestService<Bar>
{
public Response TransformRequest(Bar request, User current) { ... }
}
Now I am at the point where I need to register these classes so that StructureMap knows how to create them because in my controller I want have the following ctor (which I want StructureMap to inject a FooRequestService into)
public MyController(IRequestService<Foo> fooRequestService) { ... }
Right now to get around my issue I have implemented an empty interface and instead of having the FooRequestService implement the generic interface I have it implement this empty interface
public interface IFooRequestService : IRequestService<Foo> { }
Then my controllers ctor looks like so, which works with StructureMaps' Default Convention Scanner
public MyController(IFooRequestService fooRequestService) { ... }
How could I create a rule with StructureMap's assembly scanner to register all objects named TRequestService with IRequestService<T> (where T = "Foo", "Bar", etc) so that I don't have to create these empty Interface definitions?
To throw something else into the mix, where I am handling StructureMap's assembly scanning does not have any reference to the assembly that defines IRequestService<T> so this has to use some sort of reflection when doing this. I scanned the answer to "StructureMap Auto registration for generic types using Scan" but it seems as though that answer requires a reference to the assembly that contains the interface definition.
I am on the path of trying to write a custom StructureMap.Graph.ITypeScanner but I am kind of stuck on what to do there (mainly because I have little experience with reflection).
You are on the right path with the scanner. Thankfully there is one built into StructureMap. Unfortunately it is not yet, as of this writing, released. Get the latest from trunk and you will see a few new things available within the scanner configuration. An example for your needs is below.
public class MyRegistry : Registry
{
public MyRegistry()
{
Scan(x =>
{
x.TheCallingAssembly();
//x.AssembliesFromApplicationBaseDirectory();
x.WithDefaultConventions();
x.ConnectImplementationsToTypesClosing(typeof (IRequestService<>));
});
}
}
First you need to tell the scanner configuration which assemblies to include in the scan. The commented AssembliesFromApplicationBaseDirectory() method also might help if you are not doing a registry per assembly.
To get your generic types into the container use ConnectImplementationsToTypesClosing.
For an example on how to setup use registries when setting up the container see:
http://structuremap.sourceforge.net/ConfiguringStructureMap.htm
If you like you can skip using registries in general and just do a scan within ObjectFactory.Initialize.
Hope this helps.