Generic Inherited ViewPage<> and new Property - asp.net-mvc

Setup:
CustomViewEngine
CustomController Base
CustomViewPage Base (in this base, a new property is added "MyCustomProperty")
Problem:
When a view is strongly typed such as: <# Page Inherits="CustomViewPage<MyCustomObject" MyCustomProperty="Hello">, I get a compiler "Parser" error stating that MyCustomProperty is not a public property of System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage
I have done numerous trial and errors (see below) to see whats causing this error and have come to the following conclusions:
The error only occurs when I declare "MyCustomProperty" or any other property in the #Page directive of the view.
The error will always display "System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" rather than the declared inherits=".." class.

Update: Looks like Technitium found another way to do this that looks much easier, at least on newer versions of ASP.NET MVC. (copied his comment below)
I'm not sure if this is new in ASP.NET MVC 3, but when I swapped the
Inherits attribute from referencing the generic in C# syntax to CLR
syntax, the standard ViewPageParserFilter parsed generics correctly --
no CustomViewTypeParserFilter required. Using Justin's examples, this
means swapping
<%# Page Language="C#" MyNewProperty="From #Page directive!"
Inherits="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPage<MvcApplication1.Models.FooModel>
to
<%# Page Language="C#" MyNewProperty="From #Page directive!"`
Inherits="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPage`1[MvcApplication1.Models.FooModel]>
Original answer below:
OK, I solved this. Was a fascinating exercise, and the solution is non-trivial but not too hard once you get it working the first time.
Here's the underlying issue: the ASP.NET page parser does not support generics as a page type.
The way ASP.NET MVC worked around this was by fooling the underlying page parser into thinking that the page is not generic. They did this by building a custom PageParserFilter and a custom FileLevelPageControlBuilder. The parser filter looks for a generic type, and if it finds one, swaps it out for the non-generic ViewPage type so that the ASP.NET parser doesn't choke. Then, much later in the page compilation lifecycle, their custom page builder class swaps the generic type back in.
This works because the generic ViewPage type derives from the non-generic ViewPage, and all the interesting properties that are set in a #Page directive exist on the (non-generic) base class. So what's really happening when properties are set in the #Page directive is that those property names are being validated against the non-generic ViewPage base class.
Anyway, this works great in most cases, but not in yours because they hardcode ViewPage as the non-generic base type in their page filter implementation and don't provide an easy way to change it. This is why you kept seeing ViewPage in your error message, since the error happens in between when ASP.NET swaps in the ViewPage placeholder and when it swaps back the generic ViewPage right before compilation.
The fix is to create your own version of the following:
page parser filter - this is almost an exact copy of ViewTypeParserFilter.cs in the MVC source, with the only difference being that it refers to your custom ViewPage and page builder types instead of MVC's
page builder - this is identical to ViewPageControlBuilder.cs in the MVC source, but it puts the class in your own namespace as opposed to theirs.
Derive your custom viewpage class directly from System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage (the non-generic version). Stick any custom properties on this new non-generic class.
derive a generic class from #3, copying the code from the ASP.NET MVC source's implementation of ViewPage.
repeat #2, #3, and #4 for user controls (#Control) if you also need custom properties on user control directives too.
Then you need to change the web.config in your views directory (not the main app's web.config) to use these new types instead of MVC's default ones.
I've enclosed some code samples illustrating how this works. Many thanks to Phil Haack's article to help me understand this, although I had to do a lot of poking around the MVC and ASP.NET source code too to really understand it.
First, I'll start with the web.config changes needed in your web.config:
<pages
validateRequest="false"
pageParserFilterType="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewTypeParserFilter"
pageBaseType="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPage"
userControlBaseType="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewUserControl">
Now, here's the page parser filter (#1 above):
namespace JG.ParserFilter {
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.Mvc;
internal class CustomViewTypeParserFilter : PageParserFilter
{
private string _viewBaseType;
private DirectiveType _directiveType = DirectiveType.Unknown;
private bool _viewTypeControlAdded;
public override void PreprocessDirective(string directiveName, IDictionary attributes) {
base.PreprocessDirective(directiveName, attributes);
string defaultBaseType = null;
// If we recognize the directive, keep track of what it was. If we don't recognize
// the directive then just stop.
switch (directiveName) {
case "page":
_directiveType = DirectiveType.Page;
defaultBaseType = typeof(JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPage).FullName; // JG: inject custom types here
break;
case "control":
_directiveType = DirectiveType.UserControl;
defaultBaseType = typeof(JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewUserControl).FullName; // JG: inject custom types here
break;
case "master":
_directiveType = DirectiveType.Master;
defaultBaseType = typeof(System.Web.Mvc.ViewMasterPage).FullName;
break;
}
if (_directiveType == DirectiveType.Unknown) {
// If we're processing an unknown directive (e.g. a register directive), stop processing
return;
}
// Look for an inherit attribute
string inherits = (string)attributes["inherits"];
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(inherits)) {
// If it doesn't look like a generic type, don't do anything special,
// and let the parser do its normal processing
if (IsGenericTypeString(inherits)) {
// Remove the inherits attribute so the parser doesn't blow up
attributes["inherits"] = defaultBaseType;
// Remember the full type string so we can later give it to the ControlBuilder
_viewBaseType = inherits;
}
}
}
private static bool IsGenericTypeString(string typeName) {
// Detect C# and VB generic syntax
// REVIEW: what about other languages?
return typeName.IndexOfAny(new char[] { '<', '(' }) >= 0;
}
public override void ParseComplete(ControlBuilder rootBuilder) {
base.ParseComplete(rootBuilder);
// If it's our page ControlBuilder, give it the base type string
CustomViewPageControlBuilder pageBuilder = rootBuilder as JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPageControlBuilder; // JG: inject custom types here
if (pageBuilder != null) {
pageBuilder.PageBaseType = _viewBaseType;
}
CustomViewUserControlControlBuilder userControlBuilder = rootBuilder as JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewUserControlControlBuilder; // JG: inject custom types here
if (userControlBuilder != null) {
userControlBuilder.UserControlBaseType = _viewBaseType;
}
}
public override bool ProcessCodeConstruct(CodeConstructType codeType, string code) {
if (codeType == CodeConstructType.ExpressionSnippet &&
!_viewTypeControlAdded &&
_viewBaseType != null &&
_directiveType == DirectiveType.Master) {
// If we're dealing with a master page that needs to have its base type set, do it here.
// It's done by adding the ViewType control, which has a builder that sets the base type.
// The code currently assumes that the file in question contains a code snippet, since
// that's the item we key off of in order to know when to add the ViewType control.
Hashtable attribs = new Hashtable();
attribs["typename"] = _viewBaseType;
AddControl(typeof(System.Web.Mvc.ViewType), attribs);
_viewTypeControlAdded = true;
}
return base.ProcessCodeConstruct(codeType, code);
}
// Everything else in this class is unrelated to our 'inherits' handling.
// Since PageParserFilter blocks everything by default, we need to unblock it
public override bool AllowCode {
get {
return true;
}
}
public override bool AllowBaseType(Type baseType) {
return true;
}
public override bool AllowControl(Type controlType, ControlBuilder builder) {
return true;
}
public override bool AllowVirtualReference(string referenceVirtualPath, VirtualReferenceType referenceType) {
return true;
}
public override bool AllowServerSideInclude(string includeVirtualPath) {
return true;
}
public override int NumberOfControlsAllowed {
get {
return -1;
}
}
public override int NumberOfDirectDependenciesAllowed {
get {
return -1;
}
}
public override int TotalNumberOfDependenciesAllowed {
get {
return -1;
}
}
private enum DirectiveType {
Unknown,
Page,
UserControl,
Master,
}
}
}
Here's the page builder class (#2 above):
namespace JG.ParserFilter {
using System.CodeDom;
using System.Web.UI;
internal sealed class CustomViewPageControlBuilder : FileLevelPageControlBuilder {
public string PageBaseType {
get;
set;
}
public override void ProcessGeneratedCode(
CodeCompileUnit codeCompileUnit,
CodeTypeDeclaration baseType,
CodeTypeDeclaration derivedType,
CodeMemberMethod buildMethod,
CodeMemberMethod dataBindingMethod) {
// If we find got a base class string, use it
if (PageBaseType != null) {
derivedType.BaseTypes[0] = new CodeTypeReference(PageBaseType);
}
}
}
}
And here's the custom view page classes: the non-generic base (#3 above) and the generic derived class (#4 above):
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace JG.ParserFilter
{
[FileLevelControlBuilder(typeof(JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPageControlBuilder))]
public class CustomViewPage : System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage //, IAttributeAccessor
{
public string MyNewProperty { get; set; }
}
[FileLevelControlBuilder(typeof(JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPageControlBuilder))]
public class CustomViewPage<TModel> : CustomViewPage
where TModel : class
{
// code copied from source of ViewPage<T>
private ViewDataDictionary<TModel> _viewData;
public new AjaxHelper<TModel> Ajax
{
get;
set;
}
public new HtmlHelper<TModel> Html
{
get;
set;
}
public new TModel Model
{
get
{
return ViewData.Model;
}
}
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2227:CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly")]
public new ViewDataDictionary<TModel> ViewData
{
get
{
if (_viewData == null)
{
SetViewData(new ViewDataDictionary<TModel>());
}
return _viewData;
}
set
{
SetViewData(value);
}
}
public override void InitHelpers()
{
base.InitHelpers();
Ajax = new AjaxHelper<TModel>(ViewContext, this);
Html = new HtmlHelper<TModel>(ViewContext, this);
}
protected override void SetViewData(ViewDataDictionary viewData)
{
_viewData = new ViewDataDictionary<TModel>(viewData);
base.SetViewData(_viewData);
}
}
}
And here are the corresponding classes for user controls (#5 above) :
namespace JG.ParserFilter
{
using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.UI;
[FileLevelControlBuilder(typeof(JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewUserControlControlBuilder))]
public class CustomViewUserControl : System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl
{
public string MyNewProperty { get; set; }
}
public class CustomViewUserControl<TModel> : CustomViewUserControl where TModel : class
{
private AjaxHelper<TModel> _ajaxHelper;
private HtmlHelper<TModel> _htmlHelper;
private ViewDataDictionary<TModel> _viewData;
public new AjaxHelper<TModel> Ajax {
get {
if (_ajaxHelper == null) {
_ajaxHelper = new AjaxHelper<TModel>(ViewContext, this);
}
return _ajaxHelper;
}
}
public new HtmlHelper<TModel> Html {
get {
if (_htmlHelper == null) {
_htmlHelper = new HtmlHelper<TModel>(ViewContext, this);
}
return _htmlHelper;
}
}
public new TModel Model {
get {
return ViewData.Model;
}
}
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2227:CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly")]
public new ViewDataDictionary<TModel> ViewData {
get {
EnsureViewData();
return _viewData;
}
set {
SetViewData(value);
}
}
protected override void SetViewData(ViewDataDictionary viewData) {
_viewData = new ViewDataDictionary<TModel>(viewData);
base.SetViewData(_viewData);
}
}
}
namespace JG.ParserFilter {
using System.CodeDom;
using System.Web.UI;
internal sealed class CustomViewUserControlControlBuilder : FileLevelUserControlBuilder {
internal string UserControlBaseType {
get;
set;
}
public override void ProcessGeneratedCode(
CodeCompileUnit codeCompileUnit,
CodeTypeDeclaration baseType,
CodeTypeDeclaration derivedType,
CodeMemberMethod buildMethod,
CodeMemberMethod dataBindingMethod) {
// If we find got a base class string, use it
if (UserControlBaseType != null) {
derivedType.BaseTypes[0] = new CodeTypeReference(UserControlBaseType);
}
}
}
}
Finally, here's a sample View which shows this in action:
<%# Page Language="C#" MyNewProperty="From #Page directive!" Inherits="JG.ParserFilter.CustomViewPage<MvcApplication1.Models.FooModel>" %>
<%=Model.SomeString %>
<br /><br />this.MyNewPrroperty = <%=MyNewProperty%>
</asp:Content>

Related

WebAPI Model [ModelBinder] with interface class while specifying implementation

Is it possible to pass into the ModelBinder which implementation you want to use inline?
Given the following definitions:
public interface ISomeInterface
{
string MyString{get;set;}
}
public class SomeInterfaceImplementation_One : ISomeInterface
{
private string _MyString;
public string MyString
{
get {return "This is implementation One " + _MyString ; }
set { _MyString = value; }
}
}
public class SomeInterfaceImplementation_Two : ISomeInterface
{
private string _MyString;
public string MyString
{
get {return "This is implementation Two" + _MyString ; }
set { _MyString = value; }
}
}
Given this route in asp.net mvc core:
public ActionResult InterfaceWithInlineImplementation([ModelBinder(typeof(SomeBinder))]ISomeInterface SomeInterface)
{
//Return actionresult
}
I do not want a different ModelBinder class for each implementation rather I would like each route to specify which implementation inline.
So something like:
[UseImplementation(SomeInterfaceImplementation_One)]
public ActionResult InterfaceWithInlineImplementation([ModelBinder(typeof(SomeBinder))]ISomeInterface SomeInterface)
{
}
Or:
public ActionResult InterfaceWithInlineImplementation([ModelBinder(typeof(SomeBinder), ConcreteType = SomeInterfaceImplementation_Two )]ISomeInterface SomeInterface)
{
}
This way the SomeBinder class can access which implementation is being requested in the BindModelAsync method of SomeBinder : IModelBinder class.
public class SomeBinder : Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding.IModelBinder
{
public Task BindModelAsync(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding.ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
if (bindingContext == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(bindingContext));
string valueFromBody = string.Empty;
using (var sr = new StreamReader(bindingContext.HttpContext.Request.Body))
{
valueFromBody = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(valueFromBody))
{
return Task.CompletedTask;
}
var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
ContractResolver = new InterfaceContractResolver(), // Need requested implementation from InterfaceWithInlineImplementation() method
};
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(valueFromBody, [**Need Requested Implementation from Method**], settings);
bindingContext.Model = obj;
bindingContext.Result = ModelBindingResult.Success(obj);
return Task.CompletedTask;
}
Use generics.
public class SomeBinder<TConcreteType> : IModelBinder
{
}
Then your signature becomes
public ActionResult InterfaceWithInlineImplementation(
[ModelBinder(typeof(SomeBinder<SomeInterfaceImpelemtation_One>))]ISomeInterface SomeInterface)
Then deserialization is:
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TConcreteType>(json)
However based on your last comment it sounds like you just need to Prevent overposting instead of this convoluted model binding.
So lets say the client knows that the server implementation has security methods and tries to match the signature hoping everything get deseriazled for example. Its being explicit as to what you're expecting. And you're explicitly expecting only the contract definition and nothing more.
Excerpt:
Mass assignment typically occurs during model binding as part of MVC. A simple example would be where you have a form on your website in which you are editing some data. You also have some properties on your model which are not editable as part of the form, but instead are used to control the display of the form, or may not be used at all.
public class UserModel
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool IsAdmin { get; set; }
}
So the idea here is that you only render a single input tag to the markup, but you post this to a method that uses the same model as you used for rendering:
[HttpPost]
public IActionResult Vulnerable(UserModel model)
{
return View("Index", model);
}
However, with a simple bit of HTML manipulation, or by using Postman/Fiddler , a malicious user can set the IsAdmin field to true. The model binder will dutifully bind the value, and you have just fallen victim to mass assignment/over posting:
So how can you prevent this attack? Luckily there's a whole host of different ways, and they are generally the same as the approaches you could use in the previous version of ASP.NET. I'll run through a number of your options here.
Continue to article...

ViewBag in static method of controller

I am new to mvc and I load ViewBag in a method of controller as,
HomeController: Controller
{
Public ActionResult Index()
{
loadViewBag();
return View();
}
public void loadViewBag()
{
ViewBag.aaa = "something";
}
}
It works fine.
What is my problem is, Now I want to call loadViewBag() method form another controller( say Account) so that I can reuse same method and need to make loadViewBag() method static due to some static variables as:
public static void loadViewBag()
If I make loadViewBag method static, there appear error on ViewBag " An object reference is required for the non-static field, method, or property 'System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.ViewBag.get' ".
Is there any solution/suggestion.
Thank You.
Just make it an extension method of ControllerBase e.g.
public static void ControllerExt
{
public static void LoadViewBag(this ControllerBase controller)
{
controller.ViewBag.aaa = "something";
...
}
}
That way you can use it in any controller
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
this.LoadViewBag();
return View();
}
}
public class AccountController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
this.LoadViewBag();
return View();
}
}
If its only specific to some controllers then it would be more flexible to pass the ViewBag property in e.g.
public static class ControllerHelper
{
public static void LoadViewBag(dynamic viewBag)
{
viewBag.aaa = "something";
}
}
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
ControllerHelper.LoadViewBag(ViewBag);
return View();
}
}
ViewBag is a property of your controller (more specifically of ControllerBase), and since a static method has no knowledge of a class instance, you can't access it.
You could pass the controller instance to the method if you want to use a static method or even make it an extension method, but depending on your problem, this solution could be sub-optimal. You may be able to get a better answer if you add more details to your question.
Public ActionResult Index()
{
this.loadViewBag();
return View();
}
public static void loadViewBag(this ControllerBase target)
{
target.ViewBag.aaa = "something";
}
Do you need that to allow different controllers/views to use some common properties?
Then I'd rather recommend a common base controller, while also wrapping ViewBag code into type safe properties (to let the compiler control the data consistency - as you know, ViewBag is not type safe, so any typos and data mismatches won't be noticed until the code gets executed).
1. Introduce a common controller with those wrapper properties
public abstract class MyBaseController : Controller
{
internal long CurrentUserId
{
get { return ViewBag.CurrentUserId; }
set { ViewBag.CurrentUserId = value; }
}
internal Role CurrentUserRole
{
get { return ViewBag.CurrentUserRole; }
set { ViewBag.CurrentUserRole = value; }
}
...
}
Thus, your inherited controllers could simply set the properties - or, with lots of common code just introduce a method in your base controller - similar to what you already have.
2. Introduce a common view class with those wrapper properties
public abstract class MyBaseViewPage<T> : WebViewPage<T>
{
public string Title
{
get { return (string)ViewBag.Title; }
set { ViewBag.Title = value; }
}
public long CurrentUserId
{
get { return (long)ViewBag.CurrentUserId; }
}
public Role CurrentUserRole
{
get { return ViewBag.CurrentUserRole; }
}
}
public abstract class MyBaseViewPage : MyBaseViewPage<dynamic>
{
}
and update web.config to let MVC know you're using a custom base view:
<configuration>
...
<system.web.webPages.razor>
...
<pages pageBaseType="MyRootNamespace.Views.MyBaseViewPage">
...
</pages>
</system.web.webPages.razor>
Now you can use them as normal properties in your controllers and views.

Reference problems when using VirtualPathProvider to dynamically load a view

I have the following set of classes that I used to dynamically load in a View. The code below works well when called with .RenderPartial.
public class VirtFile:VirtualFile
{
public VirtFile(string virtualPath) : base(virtualPath)
{
}
public override Stream Open()
{
string path = this.VirtualPath;
Stream str = new MemoryStream();
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(str);
writer.Write(#"<%# Control Language=""C#"" Inherits=""System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl"" %>
<%="Test"%>
");
writer.Flush();
str.Position = 0;
return str;
}
}
public class Provider:VirtualPathProvider
{
public override System.Web.Caching.CacheDependency GetCacheDependency(string virtualPath, System.Collections.IEnumerable virtualPathDependencies, DateTime utcStart)
{
return null;
var dependency = new System.Web.Caching.CacheDependency(virtualPath);
return dependency;// base.GetCacheDependency(virtualPath, virtualPathDependencies, utcStart);
}
public override bool DirectoryExists(string virtualDir)
{
if (IsVirtual(virtualDir))
{
return true;
}
return base.DirectoryExists(virtualDir);
}
public override bool FileExists(string virtualPath)
{
if (IsVirtual(virtualPath))
{
return true;
}
return base.FileExists(virtualPath);
}
public override VirtualFile GetFile(string virtualPath)
{
if(IsVirtual(virtualPath))
{
return new VirtFile(virtualPath);
}
return base.GetFile(virtualPath);
}
private bool IsVirtual(string virtualPath)
{
return virtualPath.Contains("Database");
}
But if I try to change the <%="Test"%> to <%=new Model.Category()%>, of create a typed View I get an error stating that "The type or namespace name 'Model' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)". However, the same code works if it is simply placed in an .ascx file.
Am I missing something, it seems like wether the stream comes from the file system or a custom VirtualPathProvider it should have the same loaded assemblies, since <%=AppDomain.CurrentDomain.ApplicationIdentity%> returns the same value from either the file system or the custom provider.
Try adding
<%# Import Namespace="MyApp.Model" %>
to your dynamic user control string.
EDIT:
Of course, you could also use the fully qualified name for the type, changing Model.Category() to MyApp.Model.Category(). Most of the time, I import the namespace. Just a style preference.
How your Model class look like? Is it wrapped within some namespace? VPP is pretty amazing thing and can do a lot of magic, just make sure when you passing 'string' with your virtual asp.net 'page' content you provide full path to you classes, it's safer this way. or, another option, use your web.config to link your namespaces, so app will find your classes.

Ninject - how and when to inject

I'm a newbie when it comes to DI and ninject and I'm struggling a bit
about when the actual injection should happen and how to start the
binding.
I'm using it already in my web application and it working fine there,
but now I want to use injection in a class library.
Say I have a class like this:
public class TestClass
{
[Inject]
public IRoleRepository RoleRepository { get; set; }
[Inject]
public ISiteRepository SiteRepository { get; set; }
[Inject]
public IUserRepository UserRepository { get; set; }
private readonly string _fileName;
public TestClass(string fileName)
{
_fileName = fileName;
}
public void ImportData()
{
var user = UserRepository.GetByUserName("myname");
var role = RoleRepository.GetByRoleName("myname");
var site = SiteRepository.GetByID(15);
// Use file etc
}
}
I want to use property injection here because I need to pass in a
filename in my constructor. Am I correct in saying that if I need to
pass in a constructor parameter, I cannot use constructor injection?
If I can use constructor injection with additional parameters, how do
I pass those parameters in?
I have a console app that consumes by Test class that looks as
follows:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// NinjectRepositoryModule Binds my IRoleRepository etc to concrete
// types and works fine as I'm using it in my web app without any
// problems
IKernel kernel = new StandardKernel(new NinjectRepositoryModule());
var test = new TestClass("filename");
test.ImportData();
}
}
My problem is that when I call test.ImportData() my repositories are null - nothing has been injected into them. I have tried creating another module and calling
Bind<TestClass>().ToSelf();
as I thought this might resolve all injection properties in TestClass but I'm getting nowhere.
I'm sure this is a trivial problem, but I just can't seem to find out
how to go about this.
You are directly newing TestClass, which Ninject has no way of intercepting - remember there's no magic like code transformation intercepting your news etc.
You should be doing kernel.Get<TestClass> instead.
Failing that, you can inject it after you new it with a kernel.Inject( test);
I think there's an article in the wiki that talks about Inject vs Get etc.
Note that in general, direct Get or Inject calls are a Doing It Wrong smell of Service Location, which is an antipattern. In the case of your web app, the NinjectHttpModule and PageBase are the hook that intercepts object creation - there are similar interceptors / logical places to intercept in other styles of app.
Re your Bind<TestClass>().ToSelf(), generally a StandardKernel has ImplicitSelfBinding = true which would make that unnecessary (unless you want to influence its Scope to be something other than .InTransientScope()).
A final style point:- you're using property injection. There are rarely good reasons for this, so you should be using constructor injection instead.
And do go buy Dependency Injection in .NET by #Mark Seemann, who has stacks of excellent posts around here which cover lots of important but subtle considerations in and around the Dependency Injection area.
OK,
I've found out how to do what I need, thanks in part to your comments Ruben. I've created a new module that basically holds the configuration that I use in the class library. Within this module I can either Bind using a placeholder Interface or I can add a constructor parameter to the CustomerLoader.
Below is the code from a dummy console app to demonstrating both ways.
This might help someone else getting started with Ninject!
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Ninject.Core;
using Ninject.Core.Behavior;
namespace NinjectTest
{
public class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var kernel = new StandardKernel(new RepositoryModule(), new ProgramModule());
var loader = kernel.Get<CustomerLoader>();
loader.LoadCustomer();
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class ProgramModule : StandardModule
{
public override void Load()
{
// To get ninject to add the constructor parameter uncomment the line below
//Bind<CustomerLoader>().ToSelf().WithArgument("fileName", "string argument file name");
Bind<LiveFileName>().To<LiveFileName>();
}
}
public class RepositoryModule : StandardModule
{
public override void Load()
{
Bind<ICustomerRepository>().To<CustomerRepository>().Using<SingletonBehavior>();
}
}
public interface IFileNameContainer
{
string FileName { get; }
}
public class LiveFileName : IFileNameContainer
{
public string FileName
{
get { return "live file name"; }
}
}
public class CustomerLoader
{
[Inject]
public ICustomerRepository CustomerRepository { get; set; }
private string _fileName;
// To get ninject to add the constructor parameter uncomment the line below
//public CustomerLoader(string fileName)
//{
// _fileName = fileName;
//}
public CustomerLoader(IFileNameContainer fileNameContainer)
{
_fileName = fileNameContainer.FileName;
}
public void LoadCustomer()
{
Customer c = CustomerRepository.GetCustomer();
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Name:{0}\nAge:{1}\nFile name is:{2}", c.Name, c.Age, _fileName));
}
}
public interface ICustomerRepository
{
Customer GetCustomer();
}
public class CustomerRepository : ICustomerRepository
{
public Customer GetCustomer()
{
return new Customer() { Name = "Ciaran", Age = 29 };
}
}
public class Customer
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Age { get; set; }
}
}

Inheriting from ViewPage

Is it possible to inherit from both ViewPage and ViewPage<T>?? Or do I have to implement both. Currently this is what I have for ViewPage. Do i need to repeat myself and do the same for ViewPage<T>??
public class BaseViewPage : ViewPage
{
public bool LoggedIn
{
get
{
if (ViewContext.Controller is BaseController)
return ((BaseController)ViewContext.Controller).LoggedOn;
else
return false;
}
}
}
Create both versions:
public class BaseViewPage : ViewPage
{
// put your custom code here
}
public class BaseViewPage<TModel> : BaseViewPage where TModel : class
{
// code borrowed from MVC source
private ViewDataDictionary<TModel> _viewData;
[System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2227:CollectionPropertiesShouldBeReadOnly")]
public new ViewDataDictionary<TModel> ViewData {
get {
if (_viewData == null) {
SetViewData(new ViewDataDictionary<TModel>());
}
return _viewData;
}
set {
SetViewData(value);
}
}
protected override void SetViewData(ViewDataDictionary viewData) {
_viewData = new ViewDataDictionary<TModel>(viewData);
base.SetViewData(_viewData);
}
}
then
public class MyCustomView : BaseViewPage
{
}
or
public class MyCustomView : BaseViewPage<MyCustomViewData>
{
}
Depending on how you are doing things you might want to look at
ViewContext.HttpContext.Request.IsAuthenticated
it might save you some time instead of extending the ViewPage class.
If there is some other data that you are after you could maybe write an extension method to one of the classes that provides the data. E.g. if LoggedIn was stored in the session you could extend the context to give you an IsLoggedIn() in method.
Edit:
As your extending a class that is already available in the both the base and strongly typed view it will be available in both. The only other way around is to reimplement the strongly typed version as above.
I wouldn't put this in the View, instead I'd have it as a property on the ViewModel (have a BaseViewModel). It will be easier to test as well as ensuring you're not going down the slope of putting business logic into the views.

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