Monotouch/WCF: How to consume the wcf service without svcutil - ios

Becuase monotouch compile to native code, so it has some limitation such as dynamic invoke is not allowed.
But I have a lot class in .net, that I use the ChannelFactory dynamic to invoke the wcf service: new ChannelFactory(myBinding, myEndpoint); Now in monotouch I should use the slsvcutil to generate the wcf proxy class, but the slsvcutil generate a lot of Unnecessary extra code (huge), and Makes consumers difficult to unit test, due to high coupling with the WCF infrastructure through the ClientBase class.
Is there a better solution except the ChannelFactory? I would rather write the code manually, have more control over how services are invoked such as the ChannelFactory.
==========
ChannelFactory<IMyContract> factory = new ChannelFactory<IMyContract>(binding, endpointAddress);
return factory.CreateChannel();
//==> It throw exception: MonoTouch does not support dynamic proxy code generation. Override this method or its caller to return specific client proxy instance

ChannelFactory<T> has a virtual method CreateChannel(). If this is not overridden, it uses dynamic code generation, which fails on MonoTouch.
The solution is to override it and provide your own compile-time implementation.
Below is an old service implementation of mine that at least used to work on MonoTouch. I split it up into 2 partial classes - the first one being linked in all builds, the 2nd only in the iOS builds (allowing the dynamic generation mechanism to still work on windows).
I've stripped it down to only contain 1 service call.
TransactionService.cs:
public partial class TransactionService : ClientBase<IConsumerService>, IConsumerService
{
public TransactionService()
{
}
public TransactionService(string endpointConfigurationName) :
base(endpointConfigurationName)
{
}
public TransactionService(string endpointConfigurationName, string remoteAddress) :
base(endpointConfigurationName, remoteAddress)
{
}
public TransactionService(string endpointConfigurationName, EndpointAddress remoteAddress) :
base(endpointConfigurationName, remoteAddress)
{
}
public TransactionService(Binding binding, EndpointAddress remoteAddress) :
base(binding, remoteAddress)
{
}
public AccountBalanceResponse GetAccountBalance( AccountBalanceQuery query )
{
return Channel.GetAccountBalance( query );
}
}
TransactionService.iOS.cs:
ConsumerServiceClientChannel which executes the calls via reflection)
public partial class TransactionService
{
protected override IConsumerService CreateChannel()
{
return new ConsumerServiceClientChannel(this);
}
private class ConsumerServiceClientChannel : ChannelBase<IConsumerService>, IConsumerService
{
public ConsumerServiceClientChannel(System.ServiceModel.ClientBase<IConsumerService> client) :
base(client)
{
}
// Sync version
public AccountBalanceResponse GetAccountBalance(AccountBalanceQuery query)
{
object[] _args = new object[1];
_args[0] = query;
return (AccountBalanceResponse)base.Invoke("GetAccountBalance", _args);
}
// Async version
public IAsyncResult BeginGetAccountBalance(AccountBalanceQuery query, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState )
{
object[] _args = new object[1];
_args[0] = query;
return (IAsyncResult)base.BeginInvoke("GetAccountBalance", _args, callback, asyncState );
}
public AccountBalanceResponse EndGetAccountBalance(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
{
object[] _args = new object[0];
return (AccountBalanceResponse)base.EndInvoke("GetAccountBalance", _args, asyncResult);
}
}
}
EDIT: I just tested this with the latest MT (5.2) - it no longer needs all that extra boiler plate I had in there before, just the CreateChannel() override. I've cleaned up the sample code to match.
EDIT2: I added an async method implementation.

I think you might be confusing terms here - ChannelFactory is a generic type, not a dynamic.
According to MonoTouch documentation, although there's limitations to the Generics support in MonoTouch, ChannelFactory should be okay here.
Have you tried using ChannelFactory?

Related

UWP Template 10 and Service Dendency Injection (MVVM) not WPF

I have spent over two weeks searching google, bing, stack overflow, and msdn docs trying to figure out how to do a proper dependency injection for a mobile app that I am developing. To be clear, I do DI every day in web apps. I do not need a crash course on what, who, and why DI is important. I know it is, and am always embracing it.
What I need to understand is how this works in a mobile app world, and in particular a UWP Template 10 Mobile app.
From my past, in a .net/Asp app I can "RegisterType(new XYZ).Singleton() blah" {please forgive syntax; just an example} in App_Start.ConfigureServices. This works almost identical in .netcore, granted some syntactic changes.
My problem is now I am trying to provide my api is going to an UWP app that needs to digest my IXYZ service. By no means do I think that they should "new" up an instance every time. There has to be a way to inject this into a container on the UWP side; and I feel I am missing something very simple in the process.
Here is the code I have:
App.xaml.cs
public override async Task OnStartAsync(StartKind startKind, IActivatedEventArgs args)
{
// TODO: add your long-running task here
//if (args.Kind == ActivationKind.LockScreen)
//{
//}
RegisterServices();
await NavigationService.NavigateAsync(typeof(Views.SearchCompanyPage));
}
public static IServiceProvider Container { get; private set; }
private static void RegisterServices()
{
var services = new ServiceCollection();
services.AddSingleton<IXYZ, XYZ>();
Container = services.BuildServiceProvider();
}
MainPage.xaml.cs:
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
NavigationCacheMode = NavigationCacheMode.Enabled;
}
MainPageViewModel:
public class MainPageViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
private readonly IXYZ _xyz;
public MainPageViewModel(IXYZ xyz)
{
//Stuff
_xyz= xyz;
}
}
I now get the error:
XAML MainPage...ViewModel type cannot be constructed. In order to be constructed in XAML, a type cannot be abstract, interface nested generic or a struct, and must have a public default constructor.
I am willing to use any brand of IoC Container, but what I need is an example of how to properly use DI for services in a UWP app. 99.9% of questions about DI is about Views (i.e. Prism?) not just a simple DI for a service (i.e. DataRepo; aka API/DataService).
Again, I feel I am missing something obvious and need a nudge in the right direction. Can somebody show me an example project, basic code, or a base flogging on how I should not be a programmer...please don't do that (I don't know if my ego could take it).
You can try to Microsoft.Hosting.Extensions just like ASP.NET, there's an implementation on Xamarin.Forms by James Montemagno, as well it can be used in UWP I have tried and it works perfectly. You have to change some parts in order to get it working.
In OnLaunched Method add Startup.Init();
public static class Startup
{
public static IServiceProvider ServiceProvider { get; set; }
public static void Init()
{
StorageFolder LocalFolder = ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder;
var configFile = ExtractResource("Sales.Client.appsettings.json", LocalFolder.Path);
var host = new HostBuilder()
.ConfigureHostConfiguration(c =>
{
// Tell the host configuration where to file the file (this is required for Xamarin apps)
c.AddCommandLine(new string[] { $"ContentRoot={LocalFolder.Path}" });
//read in the configuration file!
c.AddJsonFile(configFile);
})
.ConfigureServices((c, x) =>
{
// Configure our local services and access the host configuration
ConfigureServices(c, x);
}).
ConfigureLogging(l => l.AddConsole(o =>
{
//setup a console logger and disable colors since they don't have any colors in VS
o.DisableColors = true;
}))
.Build();
//Save our service provider so we can use it later.
ServiceProvider = host.Services;
}
static void ConfigureServices(HostBuilderContext ctx, IServiceCollection services)
{
//ViewModels
services.AddTransient<HomeViewModel>();
services.AddTransient<MainPageViewModel>();
}
static string ExtractResource(string filename, string location)
{
var a = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using (var resFilestream = a.GetManifestResourceStream(filename))
{
if (resFilestream != null)
{
var full = Path.Combine(location, filename);
using (var stream = File.Create(full))
{
resFilestream.CopyTo(stream);
}
}
}
return Path.Combine(location, filename);
}
}
Injecting a ViewModel is possible as well which is pretty nice.
With help from #mvermef and the SO question Dependency Injection using Template 10 I found a solutions. This turned out to be a rabbit hole where at every turn I ran into an issue.
The first problem was just getting Dependency Injection to work. Once I was able to get that figured out from the sources above I was able to start injecting my services into ViewModels and setting them to the DataContext in the code behind.
Then I ran into an injection issue problem with injecting my IXYZ services into the ViewModels of UserControls.
Pages and their ViewModels worked great but I had issues with the DataContext of the UserControl not being injected with UserControl's ViewModel. They were instead getting injected by the Page's ViewModel that held it.
The final solution turned out to be making sure that the UserControl had the DataContext being set in XAML not the code behind, as we did with the Pages, and then creating a DependencyProperty in the code behind.
To show the basic solution read below.
To make it work I started with:
APP.XAML.CS
public override async Task OnStartAsync(StartKind startKind, IActivatedEventArgs args)
{
// long-running startup tasks go here
RegisterServices();
await Task.CompletedTask;
}
private static void RegisterServices()
{
var services = new ServiceCollection();
services.AddSingleton<IRepository, Repository>();
services.AddSingleton<IBinderService, BinderServices>();
**//ViewModels**
**////User Controls**
services.AddSingleton<AddressesControlViewModel, AddressesControlViewModel>();
services.AddSingleton<CompanyControlViewModel, CompanyControlViewModel>();
**//ViewModels**
**////Pages**
services.AddSingleton<CallListPageViewModel, CallListPageViewModel>();
services.AddSingleton<CallListResultPageViewModel, CallListResultPageViewModel>();
etc....
Container = services.BuildServiceProvider();
}
public override INavigable ResolveForPage(Page page, NavigationService navigationService)
{
**//INJECT THE VIEWMODEL FOR EACH PAGE**
**//ONLY THE PAGE NOT USERCONTROL**
if (page is CallListPage)
{
return Container.GetService<CallListPageViewModel>();
}
if (page is CallListResultPage)
{
return Container.GetService<CallListResultPageViewModel>();
}
etc...
return base.ResolveForPage(page, navigationService);
}
In the code behind for the Page
CALLLISTPAGE.XAML.CS
public CallListPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
CallListPageViewModel _viewModel;
public CallListPageViewModel ViewModel
{
get { return _viewModel ?? (_viewModel = (CallListPageViewModel)DataContext); }
}
In your XAML add your UserControl
CALLLISTPAGE.XAML
<binder:CompanyControl Company="{x:Bind ViewModel.SelectedCompany, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
In your UserControl make sure to add the DataContext to the XAML NOT the code behind like we did with the pages.
COMPANYCONTROL.XAML
<UserControl.DataContext>
<viewModels:CompanyControlViewModel x:Name="ViewModel" />
</UserControl.DataContext>
In the UserControl Code Behind add a Dependency Property
COMPANYCONTROL.XAML.CS
public static readonly DependencyProperty CompanyProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
"Company", typeof(Company), typeof(CompanyControl), new PropertyMetadata(default(Company), SetCompany));
public CompanyControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public Company Company
{
get => (Company) GetValue(CompanyProperty);
set => SetValue(CompanyProperty, value);
}
private static void SetCompany(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var control = d as CompanyControl;
var viewModel = control?.ViewModel;
if (viewModel != null)
viewModel.Company = (Company) e.NewValue;
}
In the end I am not sure if this is an elegant solution but it works.

Call service layer from context

Firstly let me say that I might go down the wrong road with this but can't get my head around how to get this to work.
What I'm trying to achieve is to call my service layer, to execute some functions, after I insert/update/delete database entries.
My initial thoughts was to inject my service into my context but not sure if this is possible, or wise for that matter.
This is my context where I inject the service "serviceBus":
public interface IPCContext
{ }
public class PCContext : IdentityDbContext<User>, IPCContext
{
private readonly IClientBusServices _serviceBus;
public PCContext(IClientBusServices serviceBus)
: base("PayComplimentContext")
{
Database.SetInitializer(new MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<PCContext, Configuration>());
_serviceBus = serviceBus;
}
public override int SaveChanges()
{
var count = base.SaveChanges();
_serviceBus.SyncDw.Value.SyncDw(1, "Feedback", 1);
return count;
}
}
And to register the "serviceBus" I use Autofac like this:
class ClientBusModule : Module
{
protected override void Load(ContainerBuilder builder)
{
builder.RegisterAssemblyTypes(ThisAssembly)
.Where(t => t.Name.EndsWith("Service"))
.AsImplementedInterfaces();
builder.RegisterAggregateService<IClientBusServices>();
builder.RegisterType<ClientSearchIndexService>().As<IClientSearchIndexService>().InstancePerLifetimeScope();
builder.RegisterType<ClientSyncDataWarehouseService>().As<IClientSyncDataWarehouseService>().InstancePerLifetimeScope();
}
}
I use dependency injection in other parts of my application which is working fine but not when I use it in my context. The error I get is:
The target context 'PayCompliment.Data.DbContexts.PCContext' is not constructible. Add a default constructor or provide an implementation of IDbContextFactory.
Am I approaching this the wrong way? Any thoughts or comments are much appreciated.
It's an MVC website using EF6 code first.

Unit Testing a Controller - How Do I Handle the Connection String?

I can make it work, but I want to know what the best practice is and why. I have a Controller, a Model, and a Repository and now I want to Unit Test the Controller. I am just writing a simple test to ensure that the correct view is being returned.
This is my method in the controller:
public ActionResult Selections(SelectionsViewModel model)
{
for (int i = 0; i < model.Sends.Count; i++)
{
Send send = new Send(new SendService(new Database().GetConnectionString()))
{
SendID = model.Sends[i].SendID,
Title = model.Sends[i].Title,
Subject = model.Sends[i].Subject,
SentDate = model.Sends[i].SentDate,
TimesViewed = model.Sends[i].TimesViewed,
Include = model.Sends[i].Include,
Exclude = model.Sends[i].Exclude
};
send.UpdateIncludeExclude();
}
return View(model);
}
Here is my GetConnectionString() method in the Database class that is being sent via my SendService constructor.
public string GetConnectionString()
{
return System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["DEVConnectionString"].ToString();
}
And lastly, my unit test:
[Test]
public void TestAssignmentSelections()
{
var obj = new AssignmentController();
var actResult = obj.Selections() as ViewResult;
NUnit.Framework.Assert.That(actResult.ViewName, Is.EqualTo("Selections"));
}
Now, my unit test fails, and I get why. My unit test project has no access to the web.config of the project I am testing where my connection string resides.
I've done some research, and apparently just adding a web.config to my unit test project and putting the connection string in there as well will make it work.. but that seems like a hack.
What's the best way to go about this? Is there another way to write my code to accommodate for this?
You want to make your controller unit testable ? Don't do this.
new SendService(
With this code,you are hardcoding your concrete service implementation & your data access code implementation. In your unit test, you should not be really accessing the data from your database. Instead you should be providing a mock data access implementation.
Here comes interfaces, you need to create an interface for your SendService.
public interface ISendService
{
void SomeMethod();
}
now your SendService will be a concrete implementation of this interface
public class SendService : ISendService
{
public void SomeMethod()
{
// Do something
}
}
Now update your controller to have a constructor where we will inject an implementation of ISendService.
public class YourController : Controller
{
private ISendService sendService;
public YourController(ISendService sendService)
{
this.sendService = sendService;
}
public ActionResult YourActionMethod()
{
// use this.sendService.SomeMethod();
}
}
And you may use some dependency injection frameworks to tell the MVC framework which implementation of the interface to use when the code runs. If you are using MVC6,It has an inbuilt dependency injection provider you can use. So go to your Startup class and in your ConfigureServices method, you can map an interface to a concrete implementation.
public class Startup
{
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddTransient<ISendService, SendService>();
}
}
If you are in a previous version of MVC, You may consider DI frameworks like Unity,Ninject etc. You can do the same approach for your Data access later / Service layers. ie: Create an interface for data access and inject that to your SendService.
public Interface IDataAccess
{
string GetName(int id);
}
and an implementation which uses your specific data access code/ORM
public class EFDataAccess : IDataAccess
{
public string GetName(int id)
{
// return a string from db using EF
}
}
So now your Service class will be
public class SendService : ISendService
{
private IDataAccess dataAccess;
public SendService(IDataAccess dataAccess)
{
this.dataAccess=dataAccess;
}
// to do : Implement methods of your ISendService interface.
// you may use this.dataAccess in those methods as needed.
}
In your unit tests, you can create a mock implementation of your interfaces which returns static data instead of accessing the database.
For example, If you are using Moq mocking framework, you can do this.
var m = new Mock<IDataAccess>();
var m.Setup(s=>s.GetName(It.IsAny<int>())).Returns("Test");
var s = new SendService(m);
var result= s.SomeMethod();

How to remove unit of work functionality from repositories using IOC

I have an application using ASP.NET MVC, Unity, and Linq to SQL.
The unity container registers the type AcmeDataContext which inherits from System.Data.Linq.DataContext, with a LifetimeManager using HttpContext.
There is a controller factory which gets the controller instances using the unity container. I set-up all my dependencies on the constructors, like this:
// Initialize a new instance of the EmployeeController class
public EmployeeController(IEmployeeService service)
// Initializes a new instance of the EmployeeService class
public EmployeeService(IEmployeeRepository repository) : IEmployeeService
// Initialize a new instance of the EmployeeRepository class
public EmployeeRepository(AcmeDataContext dataContext) : IEmployeeRepository
Whenever a constructor is needed, the unity container resolves a connection, which is used to resolve a data context, then a repository, then a service, and finally the controller.
The issue is that IEmployeeRepository exposes the SubmitChanges method, since the service classes DO NOT have a DataContext reference.
I have been told that the unit of work should be managed from outside the repositories, so it would seem I ought to remove SubmitChanges from my repositories. Why is that?
If this is true, does this mean that I have to declare an IUnitOfWork interface and make every service class dependent upon it? How else can I allow my service classes to manage the unit of work?
You shouldn't try to supply the AcmeDataContext itself to the EmployeeRepository. I would even turn the whole thing around:
Define a factory that allows creating a new unit of work for the Acme domain:
Create an abstract AcmeUnitOfWork that abstracts away LINQ to SQL.
Create a concrete factory that can allows creating new LINQ to SQL unit of works.
Register that concrete factory in your DI configuration.
Implement an InMemoryAcmeUnitOfWork for unit testing.
Optionally implement convenient extension methods for common operations on your IQueryable<T> repositories.
UPDATE: I wrote a blog post on this subject: Faking your LINQ provider.
Below is a step-by-step with examples:
WARNING: This will be a loooong post.
Step 1: Defining the factory:
public interface IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory
{
AcmeUnitOfWork CreateNew();
}
Creating a factory is important, because the DataContext implement IDisposable so you want to have ownership over the instance. While some frameworks allow you to dispose objects when not needed anymore, factories make this very explicit.
Step 2: Creating an abstract unit of work for the Acme domain:
public abstract class AcmeUnitOfWork : IDisposable
{
public IQueryable<Employee> Employees
{
[DebuggerStepThrough]
get { return this.GetRepository<Employee>(); }
}
public IQueryable<Order> Orders
{
[DebuggerStepThrough]
get { return this.GetRepository<Order>(); }
}
public abstract void Insert(object entity);
public abstract void Delete(object entity);
public abstract void SubmitChanges();
public void Dispose()
{
this.Dispose(true);
GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
}
protected abstract IQueryable<T> GetRepository<T>()
where T : class;
protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing) { }
}
There are some interesting things to note about this abstract class. The Unit of Work controls and creates the Repositories. A repository is basically something that implements IQueryable<T>. The repository implements properties that return a specific repository. This prevents users from calling uow.GetRepository<Employee>() and this creates a model that is very close to what you are already doing with LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework.
The unit of work implements Insert and Delete operations. In LINQ to SQL these operations are placed on the Table<T> classes, but when you try to implement it this way it will prevent you from abstracting LINQ to SQL away.
Step 3. Create a concrete factory:
public class LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory : IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory
{
private static readonly MappingSource Mapping =
new AttributeMappingSource();
public string AcmeConnectionString { get; set; }
public AcmeUnitOfWork CreateNew()
{
var context = new DataContext(this.AcmeConnectionString, Mapping);
return new LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWork(context);
}
}
The factory created a LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWork based on the AcmeUnitOfWork base class:
internal sealed class LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWork : AcmeUnitOfWork
{
private readonly DataContext db;
public LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWork(DataContext db) { this.db = db; }
public override void Insert(object entity)
{
if (entity == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("entity");
this.db.GetTable(entity.GetType()).InsertOnSubmit(entity);
}
public override void Delete(object entity)
{
if (entity == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("entity");
this.db.GetTable(entity.GetType()).DeleteOnSubmit(entity);
}
public override void SubmitChanges();
{
this.db.SubmitChanges();
}
protected override IQueryable<TEntity> GetRepository<TEntity>()
where TEntity : class
{
return this.db.GetTable<TEntity>();
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) { this.db.Dispose(); }
}
Step 4: Register that concrete factory in your DI configuration.
You know self best how to register the IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory interface to return an instance of the LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory, but it would look something like this:
container.RegisterSingle<IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory>(
new LinqToSqlAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory()
{
AcmeConnectionString =
AppSettings.ConnectionStrings["ACME"].ConnectionString
});
Now you can change the dependencies on the EmployeeService to use the IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory:
public class EmployeeService : IEmployeeService
{
public EmployeeService(IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory contextFactory) { ... }
public Employee[] GetAll()
{
using (var context = this.contextFactory.CreateNew())
{
// This just works like a real L2S DataObject.
return context.Employees.ToArray();
}
}
}
Note that you could even remove the IEmployeeService interface and let the controller use the EmployeeService directly. You don't need this interface for unit testing, because you can replace the unit of work during testing preventing the EmployeeService from accessing the database. This will probably also save you a lot of DI configuration, because most DI frameworks know how to instantiate a concrete class.
Step 5: Implement an InMemoryAcmeUnitOfWork for unit testing.
All these abstractions are there for a reason. Unit testing. Now let's create a AcmeUnitOfWork for unit testing purposes:
public class InMemoryAcmeUnitOfWork: AcmeUnitOfWork, IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory
{
private readonly List<object> committed = new List<object>();
private readonly List<object> uncommittedInserts = new List<object>();
private readonly List<object> uncommittedDeletes = new List<object>();
// This is a dirty trick. This UoW is also it's own factory.
// This makes writing unit tests easier.
AcmeUnitOfWork IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory.CreateNew() { return this; }
// Get a list with all committed objects of the requested type.
public IEnumerable<TEntity> Committed<TEntity>() where TEntity : class
{
return this.committed.OfType<TEntity>();
}
protected override IQueryable<TEntity> GetRepository<TEntity>()
{
// Only return committed objects. Same behavior as L2S and EF.
return this.committed.OfType<TEntity>().AsQueryable();
}
// Directly add an object to the 'database'. Useful during test setup.
public void AddCommitted(object entity)
{
this.committed.Add(entity);
}
public override void Insert(object entity)
{
this.uncommittedInserts.Add(entity);
}
public override void Delete(object entity)
{
if (!this.committed.Contains(entity))
Assert.Fail("Entity does not exist.");
this.uncommittedDeletes.Add(entity);
}
public override void SubmitChanges()
{
this.committed.AddRange(this.uncommittedInserts);
this.uncommittedInserts.Clear();
this.committed.RemoveAll(
e => this.uncommittedDeletes.Contains(e));
this.uncommittedDeletes.Clear();
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
}
}
You can use this class in your unit tests. For instance:
[TestMethod]
public void ControllerTest1()
{
// Arrange
var context = new InMemoryAcmeUnitOfWork();
var controller = new CreateValidController(context);
context.AddCommitted(new Employee()
{
Id = 6,
Name = ".NET Junkie"
});
// Act
controller.DoSomething();
// Assert
Assert.IsTrue(ExpectSomething);
}
private static EmployeeController CreateValidController(
IAcmeUnitOfWorkFactory factory)
{
return new EmployeeController(return new EmployeeService(factory));
}
Step 6: Optionally implement convenient extension methods:
Repositories are expected to have convenient methods such as GetById or GetByLastName. Of course IQueryable<T> is a generic interface and does not contains such methods. We could clutter our code with calls like context.Employees.Single(e => e.Id == employeeId), but that's really ugly. The perfect solution to this problem is: extension methods:
// Place this class in the same namespace as your LINQ to SQL entities.
public static class AcmeRepositoryExtensions
{
public static Employee GetById(this IQueryable<Employee> repository,int id)
{
return Single(repository.Where(entity => entity.Id == id), id);
}
public static Order GetById(this IQueryable<Order> repository, int id)
{
return Single(repository.Where(entity => entity.Id == id), id);
}
// This method allows reporting more descriptive error messages.
[DebuggerStepThrough]
private static TEntity Single<TEntity, TKey>(IQueryable<TEntity> query,
TKey key) where TEntity : class
{
try
{
return query.Single();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("There was an error " +
"getting a single element of type " + typeof(TEntity)
.FullName + " with key '" + key + "'. " + ex.Message, ex);
}
}
}
With these extension methods in place, it allows you to call those GetById and other methods from your code:
var employee = context.Employees.GetById(employeeId);
What the nicest thing is about this code (I use it in production) is that -once in place- it saves you from writing a lot of code for unit testing. You will find yourself adding methods to the AcmeRepositoryExtensions class and properties to the AcmeUnitOfWork class when new entities are added to the system, but you don't need to create new repository classes for production or testing.
This model has of course some shortcomes. The most important perhaps is that LINQ to SQL isn't abstract away completely, because you still use the LINQ to SQL generated entities. Those entity contain EntitySet<T> properties which are specific to LINQ to SQL. I haven't found them to be in the way of proper unit testing, so for me it's not a problem. If you want you can always use POCO objects with LINQ to SQL.
Another shortcome is that complicated LINQ queries can succeed in test but fail in production, because of limitations (or bugs) in the query provider (especially the EF 3.5 query provider sucks). When you do not use this model, you are probably writing custom repository classes that are completely replaced by unit test versions and you will still have the problem of not being able to test queries to your database in unit tests. For this you will need integration tests, wrapped by a transaction.
A last shortcome of this design is the use of Insert and Delete methods on the Unit of Work. While moving them to the repository would force you to have a design with an specific class IRepository<T> : IQueryable<T> interface, it prevents you from other errors. In the solution I use myself I also have InsertAll(IEnumerable) and DeleteAll(IEnumerable) methods. It is however easy to mistype this and write something like context.Delete(context.Messages) (note the use of Delete instead of DeleteAll). This would compile fine, because Delete accepts an object. A design with delete operations on the repository would prevent such statement from compiling, because the repositories are typed.
UPDATE: I wrote a blog post on this subject that describes this solution in even more detail: Faking your LINQ provider.
I hope this helps.
If combining unit of work and repository patterns, some people advocate that UoW should be managed outside of repository so that you could create two repositories (say, CustomerRepository and OrderRepository) and pass them the same UoW instance ensuring that all the changes to the DB will be done atomically when you finally call UoW.Complete().
In a mature DDD solution however, there should not be need for both UoW and a repository. This is because is such a solution aggregate boundaries are defined is such a way, that there is no need of atomic changes involving more than one repository.
Does this answer your question?

StructureMap IOC/DI and object creation

I'm building small web shop with asp.net mvc and Structuremap ioc/di. My Basket class uses session object for persistence, and I want use SM to create my basket object through IBasket interface. My basket implementation need HttpSessionStateBase (session state wrapper from mvc) in constructor, which is available inside Controller/Action. How do I register my IBasket implementation for SM?
This is my basket interface:
public interface IBasketService {
BasketContent GetBasket();
void AddItem(Product productItem);
void RemoveItem(Guid guid);
}
And SM registration:
ForRequestedType(typeof (IBasketService)).TheDefaultIsConcreteType(typeof (StoreBasketService));
But my StoreBasketService implementation has constructor:
public StoreBasketService(HttpSessionStateBase sessionState)
How do I provide HttpSessionStateBase object to SM, which is available only in controller?
This is my first use of SM IOC/DI, and cann't find solution/example in official documentation and web site ;)
If you absolutely have to have your StoreBasketService use the session, I'd be tempted to define an interface and wrapper around HttpSessionState instead of using HttpSessionStateBase so that you can register it with StructureMap as well.The wrapper would get the session state from the current context. Register the wrapper with StructureMap and then have your StoreBasketService take the interface as the argument to the constructor. Structure map should then know how to create an instance of the interface wrapper and inject it into your StoreBasketService class.
Using an interface and wrapper will allow you to mock the wrapper in your unit tests, muc in the same way HttpSessionStateBase allows mocking the actual session.
public interface IHttpSessionStateWrapper
{
HttpSessionState GetSessionState();
}
public class HttpSessionStateWrapper : IHttpSessionStateWrapper
{
public virtual HttpSessionState GetSessionState()
{
return HttpContext.Current.Session;
}
}
ForRquestedType(typeof(IHttpSessionStateWrapper))
.TheDefaultIsConcreteType(typeof(IHttpSessionStateWrapper));
public class StoreBasketService
{
HttpSessionState session;
public StoreBasketService( IHttpSessionstateWrapper wrapper )
{
session = wrapper.GetSessionState();
}
// basket implementation ...
}
However, you can have StructureMap actually store your basket in the session using .CacheBy(InstanceScope.HttpContext) when registering it. It may actually be better to have your StoreBasketService implement internal storage instead of storing things in the session -- then you lose the dependency on the session state entirely (from the perspective of your class) and your solution could be simpler. Your internal storage could be a Dictionary<Guid,Product> since this is how you access them via your interface.
See also:
http://www.lostechies.com/blogs/chad_myers/archive/2008/07/15/structuremap-basic-scenario-usage.aspx
http://www.lostechies.com/blogs/chad_myers/archive/2008/07/17/structuremap-medium-level-usage-scenarios.aspx
ForRequestedType<IBasketService>()
.TheDefault.Is.OfConcreteType<StoreBasketService>()
.WithCtorArg("sessionState").EqualTo(HttpContext.Current.Session);
?? does that work?
I just started with StructureMap, and I do not get the results you are describing.
I performed a simple test using a simple class, configuring Structuremap to cacheby HttpContext, and from what I can see, CacheBy.HttpContext means within the same request you will get the same instance... not within the same Session
The constructor of my class, sets the date/time in a private field
I have a button which gets 2 instances of MyClass with one second interval...
It then display the time of both instances in a label.
Pressing the first time this button, object A and B are same instance, as their creation time is exactly the same, as expected.
Clicking the button a second time, you would expect the creation time to not have changed if instances would be cached in session... however, in my test I get a new creation time ...
Structuremap configuration:
ObjectFactory.Initialize(x=>x.ForRequestedType<MyClass>(). CacheBy(InstanceScope.HttpContext));
Button clicked event of test page
protected void btnTest_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MyClass c = ObjectFactory.GetInstance<MyClass>();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
MyClass b = ObjectFactory.GetInstance<MyClass>();
lblResult.Text = String.Format("cache by httpcontext First:{0} Second:{1} session id {2} ", c.GetTimeCreated(), b.GetTimeCreated(),Session.SessionID);
}
MyClass
public class MyClass
{
private DateTime _timeCreated;
public MyClass()
{
_timeCreated = DateTime.Now;
}
public string GetTimeCreated()
{
return _timeCreated.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss");
}
}
You could also use one of the ObjectFactory.Inject methods to inject the HttpSessionStateBase into StructureMap. It would then invoke the constructor with the injected HttpSessionStateBase.
I just made my first attempt at creating an custom scope... build a small web application with it, and as far as I can see, it seems to work. This will cache the object inside the current user session and will return the same object as long as you remain inside the same session:
public class HttpSessionBuilder : CacheInterceptor
{
private readonly string _prefix = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
protected override CacheInterceptor clone()
{
return this;
}
private string getKey(string instanceKey, Type pluginType)
{
return string.Format("{0}:{1}:{2}", pluginType.AssemblyQualifiedName, instanceKey, this._prefix);
}
public static bool HasContext()
{
return (HttpContext.Current.Session != null);
}
protected override bool isCached(string instanceKey, Type pluginType)
{
return HttpContext.Current.Session[this.getKey(instanceKey, pluginType)] != null;
}
protected override object retrieveFromCache(string instanceKey, Type pluginType)
{
return HttpContext.Current.Session[this.getKey(instanceKey, pluginType)];
}
protected override void storeInCache(string instanceKey, Type pluginType, object instance)
{
HttpContext.Current.Session.Add(this.getKey(instanceKey, pluginType), instance);
}
}
You have to configure the ObjectFactory as follows in the global.asax Application_start
ObjectFactory.Initialize(x=>
x.ForRequestedType<MyClass>().InterceptConstructionWith(new HttpSessionBuilder()));

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