I am writing a program that uses IoC(Windsor v3.0) at startup to load all assemblies in a directory, if implementing an interface/service, into a repository for the core of the application. I am, however, a newcomer to Windsor. My app polls a DB table and when it finds a row that needs to be processed, it checks the name of the service to process the record and requests it from the repository. I can load all the modules into the dictionary and then into the repository via configuration as in this post. Good and well, but I need it to be more dynamic.
How I envision it (pseudo-code):
List<string> enabledServices = GetServicesFromDb();
IDictionary<string, IModule> dict = new IDictionary<string, IModule>();
//Load the assemblies (This works currently!)
_container.Register(AllTypes
.FromAssemblyInDirectory(new AssemblyFilter("Modules"))
.BasedOn<IModule>());
// Build dictionary
foreach(string service in enabledServices)
{
foreach(?? asmble in _container.assemblies)
{
if(asmble.Id == service)
dict.Add(service, asmble);
}
}
// Register the repository from constructed dictionary
_container.Register(
Component
.For<IModuleRepository>()
.ImplementedBy<IntegrationRepository>()
.Parameters(new { modules = dict})
);
The repository:
public class IntegrationRepository : IModuleRepository
{
private readonly IDictionary<string, IModule> _modules;
public IntegrationRepository(IDictionary<string, IModule> modules)
{
_modules = modules;
}
public IModule GetModule(string moduleName)
{
return _modules.ContainsKey(moduleName) ? _modules[moduleName] : null;
}
}
IModule looks like this:
public interface IModule : IDisposable
{
string Id { get; }
string Description { get; }
bool Enabled { get; set; }
bool Validate();
string EmailSubject { get; }
}
All modules:
Implement "IModule" interface
Reside in the "Modules" subfolder
Share a common namespace
I don't have enough experience with Windsor to know how to iterate through the container or if its possible, and _container.ResolveAll(); doesn't seem to work... at least the way I have it in my mind.
My thoughts come from this example which alludes to passing the object in if the object is already created. And this which is similar. I also saw some interesting things on the DictionaryAdapterFactory() but not confident enough to know how to use it
Is something like this possible? Any ideas?
instead of all this you can just store your container globally and you can resolve by full name your modules everywhere
_container.Resolve<IModule>(serviceFullName)
you can register all available services to your container and then create a provider that returns only the services that are enabled in the database. Your components then should of course only access these services through the provider.
Related
I have a core MEF implementation that gives me a bad headache...
In each of three separate assemblies I created an IService implementation.
All three classes looks similar like this:
[Export(typeof(IService))]
public class ClassX : IService {}
Now I have an implementaton that tries loading all three of them.
The loader assembly is in the same folder as all three service implementations
The code that loads the 3 parts looks like:
public class ClassLoader
{
[ImportMany(typeof(IService))]
public IEnumerable<IService> Services { get; set; }
public async Task<bool> LoadAsync(CancellationTokenSource cts, string path)
{
var assemblies = Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.dll", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly)
.Select(AssemblyLoadContext.Default.LoadFromAssemblyPath)
.Where(s => s.GetTypes().Where(p => typeof(IService).IsAssignableFrom(p)).Any())
.Select(a => new AssemblyCatalog(a)).ToList();
var catalog = new AggregateCatalog();
assemblies.ForEach(a => catalog.Catalogs.Add(a));
var container = new CompositionContainer(catalog, CompositionOptions.DisableSilentRejection);
container.ComposeParts(this);
....
}
}
This code only loads 2 of three assemblies.
My question is, any suggestions why on of them is not loaded?
But maybe more helpfull are their ways to find out why a particular type is not loaded. I hoped that the compositionoption gave me an error, but I didn't in this case.
What are the best debugging possibilities?
Thanks already for sharing any ideas.
I'm having an issue trying to convert an object to json. The error is a Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException:
Self referencing loop detected for property 'Project' with type 'System.Data.Entity.DynamicProxies.Project_F29F70EF89942F6344C5B0A3A7910EF55268857CD0ECC4A484776B2F4394EF79'. Path '[0].Categories[0]'.
The problem is that the object (it's actually a list of objects) has a property which is another object that refers back to the first object:
public partial class Project
{
...
public virtual ICollection<Category> Categories { get; set; }
...
}
public partial class Category
{
...
public virtual Project Project { get; set; }
...
}
This is all fine and dandy as far as Entity Framework is concerned, but to convert this to json would result in an infinite regress, hence the exception.
Here is my code:
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> GetProjects()
{
var projects = _projectService.GetProjects().ToList();
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(projects); // <-- Offending line
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, jsonString);
}
I've looked online for solutions to this and I found this stackoverflow post:
JSON.NET Error Self referencing loop detected for type
They suggest three solutions, none of which work:
1) Ignore the circular reference:
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> GetProjects()
{
var projects = _projectService.GetProjects().ToList();
JsonSerializerSettings settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore
};
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(projects, settings);
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, jsonString);
}
This resulted in the call to SerializeObject(...) hanging for a bit then throwing a System.OutOfMemoryException (which tells me the circular references were NOT being ignored).
Mind you, the author of this proposed solution at stackoverflow says to set the ignore setting in WebApiConfig.cs but I tried that and it has no effect.
He also says:
"If you want to use this fix in a non-api ASP.NET project, you can add the above line to Global.asax.cs, but first add: var config = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration;"
Mine's a web API with no global file so I shouldn't have to do this.
I also don't want to ignore circular references because I don't want to lose data.
2) Preserve the circular reference:
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> GetProjects()
{
var projects = _projectService.GetProjects().ToList();
JsonSerializerSettings settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Serialize,
PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects
};
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(projects, settings);
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, jsonString);
}
This just resulted in the request timing out because it would just hang.
Again, the author says to put this in WebApiConfig.cs, but again this had no effect.
3) Add ignore/preserve reference attributes to the objects and properties:
Ignoring Categories:
public partial class Project
{
...
[JsonIgnore]
public virtual ICollection<Category> Categories { get; set; }
...
}
This has no effect. I hover over the project list and see that it still has categories, and each category still has an instance of the project. I still get the same exception.
Again, even if this worked, I don't want to ignore the categories.
Preserve Categories:
[JsonObject(IsReference = true)]
public partial class Project
{
...
public virtual ICollection<Category> Categories { get; set; }
...
}
Again, same results.
Even if this method worked, the attributes wouldn't be preserved. I'd be doing it on Entity Framework classes which are re-generated automatically every time I recompile. (Is there a way to tell it to set these attributes in the model? Can I set them on the other half of the partial class?)
Alternatively, I'm open to suggestions other than converting to json and sending back in the response. Is there another way to get the data back to the client?
What would be the fix to this problem? Thanks.
Briefly
The best way to fix this problem is to create completely brand-new Models (xxxModel, xxxViewModel, xxxResponse, etc..) on Presentation layer which will be returned to end-users. Than just cast one object to another using AutoMapper or your own custom methods.
Keep your database entities separate from real world!
In detail
There are so many problems that you will encounter:
Disclosure of sensitive data. Your database entity could/will contain sensitive data which end-users shouldn't receive;
Performance issues and waste of RAM and CPU. It would be better to load only those properties that end-users is required, instead all;
Serialization problems. EF entities almost always contain Navigation properties which will be serialized together in case lazy-loading enabled. Imagine dozens related entities, which will be lazy-loaded when your composite root is being serialized. It will cause dozens unexpected requests to database;
Fragility. Any changes related your EF entities will affect on Presentation Layer and on end-users. For instance, in case with API, new added property just extend response, but deleted or renamed will break logic in your customers' application.
There are a lot of other problems, just be careful.
I would recommend not Serializing Entity Framework classes and creating a specific class that only inherits from Object and has only the data you need
I've reached a bit of a brick-wall with my current project.
I have three normalised databases, one of which I want to dynamically connect to; these are:
Accounts: For secure account information, spanning clients
Configuration: For managing our clients
Client: Which will be atomic for each of our clients & hold all of their information
I need to use data stored in the "Configuration" database to modify the ConnectionString that will be used to connect to the "Client" database, but this is the bit I'm getting stuck on.
So far I've generated the entities from the databases into a project by hooking up EntityFrameWorkCore Tools and using the "Scaffold-DbContext" command & can do simple look-ups to make sure that the databases are being connected to okay.
Now I'm trying to register the databases by adding them to the ServiceCollection, I have them added in the StartUp class as follows:
// This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddMvc();
services.Configure<MvcOptions>(options =>
{
options.Filters.Add(new RequireHttpsAttribute());
});
services.AddDbContext<Accounts>( options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("Accounts"))
);
services.AddDbContext<Support>(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("Configuration"))
);
// Erm?
SelectClientDatabase(services);
}
Obviously the next stage is to dip into the "Configuration" database, so I've been trying to keep that contained in "SelectClientDatabase()", which just takes the IServiceCollection as a parameter and is for all intents and purposes empty for now. Over the last few days I've found some excellent write-ups on EFC and I'm currently exploring a CustomConfigurationProvider as a possible route, but I must admit I'm a little lost on starting out in ASP.Net Core.
Is it possible to hook into the freshly added DbContext within the ConfigureServices method? Or can/must I add this database to the service collection at a later point?
Thanks!
Edit 1:
I just found this post, which mentions that a DbContext cannot be used within OnConfiguring as it's still being configured; which makes a lot of sense. I'm now wondering if I can push all three DbContexts into a custom middleware to encapsulate, configure and make the connections available; something new to research.
Edit 2:
I've found another post, describing how to "Inject DbContext when database name is only know when the controller action is called" which looks like a promising starting point; however this is for an older version of ASP.Net Core, according to https://learn.microsoft.com "DbContextFactory" has been renamed so I'm now working to update the example given into a possible solution.
So, I've finally worked it all out. I gave up on the factory idea as I'm not comfortable enough with asp.net-core-2.0 to spend time working it out & I'm rushing head-long into a deadline so the faster options are now the better ones and I can always find time to refactor the code later (lol).
My appsettings.json file currently just contains the following (the relevant bit of appsettings.Developments.json is identical):
{
"ConnectionStrings" : {
"Accounts": "Server=testserver;Database=Accounts;Trusted_Connection=True;",
"Client": "Server=testserver;Database={CLIENT_DB};Trusted_Connection=True;",
"Configuration": "Server=testserver;Database=Configuration;Trusted_Connection=True;"
},
"Logging": {
"IncludeScopes": false,
"Debug": {
"LogLevel": {
"Default": "Warning"
}
},
"Console": {
"LogLevel": {
"Default": "Warning"
}
}
}
}
I've opted to configure the two static databases in the ConfigureServices method of StartUp, these should be configured and ready to use by the time the application gets around to having to do anything. The code there is nice & clean.
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddMvc();
services.Configure<MvcOptions>(options =>
{
//options.Filters.Add(new RequireHttpsAttribute());
});
services.AddDbContext<AccountsContext>(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("Accounts"))
);
services.AddDbContext<ConfigContext>(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("Configuration"))
);
services.AddSingleton(
Configuration.GetSection("ConnectionStrings").Get<ConnectionStrings>()
);
}
It turns out that one can be spoilt for choice in how to go about accessing configuration options set in the appsettings.json, I'm currently trying to work out how I've managed to get it to switch to the release version instead of the development one. I can't think what I've done to toggle that...
To get the placeholder config setting I'm using a singleton to hold the string value. This is just dipping into the "ConnectionStrings" group and stuffing that Json into the "ClientConnection" object (detailed below).
services.AddSingleton(
Configuration.GetSection("ConnectionStrings").Get<ClientConnection>()
);
Which populates the following structure (that I've just bunged off in its own file):
[DataContract(Name = "ConnectionStrings")]
public class ClientConnection
{
[DataMember]
public string Client { get; set; }
}
I only want this holding the connection string for the dynamically assigned database, so it's not too jazzy. The "Client" DataMember is what is selecting the correct key in the Json, if I wanted a different named node in the Json I'd rename it to "Accounts", for instance.
Another couple of options I tested, before settling on the Singleton option, are:
services.Configure<ConnectionStrings>(Configuration.GetSection("ConnectionStrings"));
and
var derp = Configuration.GetSection("ConnectionStrings:Client");
Which I discounted, but it's worth knowing other options (they'll probably be useful for loading other configuration options later).
I'm not keen on the way the Controller dependencies work in ASP.Net Core 2, I was hoping I'd be able to hide them in a BaseController so they wouldn't have to be specified in every single Controller I knock out, but I've not found a way to do this yes. The dependencies needed in the Controllers are passed in the constructor, these weirded me out for a while because they're auto-magically injected.
My BaseController is set up as follows:
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Filters;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Internal;
using ServiceLayer.Entities;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace ServiceLayer.Controllers
{
public class BaseController : Controller
{
private readonly ClientConnection connectionStrings;
private readonly AccountsContext accountsContext;
private readonly ConfigurationContext configContext;
public ClientTemplateContext clientContext;
private DbContextServices DbContextServices { get; set; }
public BaseController(AccountsContext accounts, ConfigContext config, ClientConnection connection) : base()
{
accountsContext = accounts;
configContext = config;
connectionStrings = connection;
}
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
base.OnActionExecuting(context);
}
}
}
The code for selecting the database then goes in the "OnActionExecuting()" method; this proved to be a bit of a pain as well, trying to ensure that the dbcontext was set up properly, in the end I settled on:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace ServiceLayer.Controllers
{
public class BaseController : Controller
{
private readonly ClientConnection connectionStrings;
private readonly AccountsContext accountsContext;
private readonly ConfigurationContext configContext;
public ClientTemplateContext clientContext;
private DbContextServices DbContextServices { get; set; }
public BaseController(AccountsContext accounts, ConfigurationContext config, ClientConnection connection) : base()
{
accountsContext = accounts;
configContext= config;
connectionStrings = connection;
}
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
// Temporary selection identifier for the company
Guid cack = Guid.Parse("827F79C5-821B-4819-ABB8-819CBD76372F");
var dataSource = (from c in configContext.Clients
where c.Cack == cack
join ds in configContext.DataStorage on c.CompanyId equals ds.CompanyId
select ds.Name).FirstOrDefault();
// Proto-connection string
var cs = connectionStrings.Client;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(cs) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(dataSource))
{
// Populated ConnectionString
cs = cs.Replace("{CLIENT_DB}", dataSource);
clientContext = new ClientTemplateContext().Initialise(cs);
}
base.OnActionExecuting(context);
}
}
}
new ClientTemplateContext().Initialise() is a bit messy but I'll clean it up when I refactor everything else. "ClientTemplateContext" is the entity-framework-core generated class that ties together all the entities it generated, I've added the following code to that class (I did try putting it in a separate file but couldn't get that working, so it's staying in there for the moment)...
public ClientTemplateContext() {}
private ClientTemplateContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options) {}
public ClientTemplateContext Initialise(string connectionString)
{
return new ClientTemplateContext().CreateDbContext(new[] { connectionString });
}
public ClientTemplateContext CreateDbContext(string[] args)
{
if (args == null && !args.Any())
{
//Log error.
return null;
}
var optionsBuilder = new DbContextOptionsBuilder<ClientTemplateContext>();
optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(args[0]);
return new ClientTemplateContext(optionsBuilder.Options);
}
I also included using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design; and added the IDesignTimeDbContextFactory<ClientTemplateContext> interface to the class. So it looks like this:
public partial class ClientTemplateContext : DbContext, IDesignTimeDbContextFactory<ClientTemplateContext>
This is where the CreateDbContext(string[] args) comes from & it allows us to create a new instance of a derived context at design-time.
Finally, the code for my test controller is as follows:
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using ServiceLayer.Entities;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace ServiceLayer.Controllers
{
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class ValuesController : BaseController
{
public ValuesController(
AccountsContext accounts,
ConfigurationContext config,
ClientConnection connection
) : base(accounts, config, connection) {}
// GET api/values
[HttpGet]
public IEnumerable<string> Get()
{
var herp = (from c in clientContext.Usage
select c).FirstOrDefault();
return new string[] {
herp.TimeStamp.ToString(),
herp.Request,
herp.Payload
};
}
}
}
This successfully yields data from the database dynamically selected from the DataSource table within the Configuration database!
["01/01/2017 00:00:00","derp","derp"]
If anyone can suggest improvements to my solution I'd love to see them, my solution is mashed together as it stands & I want to refactor it as soon as I feel I'm competent enough to do so.
we keep fighting with out multi tenant application.
This is an ASP MVC EF6 Code First web application.
We initialize a list of tenants in the Application_Start, getting a pair of values:
Host
TenantId
So we can associate any host with one TenantId, and store that list in cache.
We have configured a custom filter to get the current tenant.
public class TenantActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Items.Add("TenantId", GetCurrentTenant(filterContext.HttpContext.Request.Url.Host));
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
The GetCurrentTenant function just access the list in cache and get the current one based on the host passed.
Is it correct to store the current tenant in an item in the context?
After that, we have created an Interceptor to get any query and add a filter to filter by TenantId. This is done and working good, we just need to add the tenantId from the context:
The problem we have is where we get the TenantId for each request.
if (HttpContext.Current.CurrentHandler == null) return;
var clientId = Convert.ToInt32(HttpContext.Current.Items["ClientId"]);
foreach (DbParameter param in command.Parameters)
{
if (param.ParameterName != TenantAwareAttribute.TenantIdFilterParameterName)
continue;
param.Value = clientId;
}
We don't know if this is the correct approach since there is a lot of informationon the net.
Thanks.
In my experience, the persistence of the tenant Id in the HTTP context is not right, as in some cases, the HTTP context becomes null.
You can try to get the tenant Id from the claims of the current principal. Creating a static class with a tenant identifier property that reads from the claims and gives is more reliable. Assuming you are using the owin pipeline, this should be easy to do. You can take a look at the reference sample application from github here
It looks like the below block,
public static class UserContext
{
public static string TenantId
{
get
{
return Threading.Thread.CurrentPrincipal.FindFirst("tenantid");
}
}
}
What's the best way to set default properties for new entities in DDD? Also, what's the best way to set default states for complex properties (eg. collections)?
My feeling is that default values should be in the models themselves as they are a form of business rule ("by default, we want X's to be Y & Z"), and the domain represents the business. With this approach, maybe a static "GetNew()" method on the model itself would work:
public class Person {
public string Name { get; set; }
public DateTime DateOfBirth { get; set; }
public bool IsAlive { get; set; }
public List Limbs { get; set; }
public static Person GetNew() {
return new Person() {
IsAlive = true,
Limbs = new List() { RightArm, LeftArm, RightLeg, LeftLeg }
}
}
}
Unfortunately in our case, we need the collection property to be set to all members of another list, and as this model is decoupled from its Repository/DbContext it doesn't have any way of loading them all.
Crappy solution would be to pass as parameter :
public static Person GetNew(List<Limb> allLimbs) {
return new Person() {
IsAlive = true,
Limbs = allLimbs
}
}
Alternatively is there some better way of setting default values for simple & complex model properties?
This is an instance of the factory pattern in DDD. It can either be a dedicated class, such as PersonFactory, or a static method, as in your example. I prefer the static method because I see no need to create a whole new class.
As far as initializing the collection, the GetNew method with the collection as a parameter is something I would go with. It states an important constraint - to create a new person entity you need that collection. The collection instance would be provided by an application service hosting the specific use case where it is needed. More generally, default values could be stored in the database, in which case the application service would call out to a repository to obtain the required values.
Take a look at the Static Builder in Joshua Bloch's Effective Java (Second Edition). In there, you have a static builder class and you chain calls to set properties before construction so it solves the problem of either having a constructor that takes a ton of arguments or having to put setters on every property (in which case, you effectively have a Struct).