MEF and MVC - a few pointers please :) - mef

What I am trying to do is inject a component into my MVC app and make use of it from the controllers.
Currently I am not trying to use MEF for the actual controllers, but i want to import components e.g. A loggin component into the MVC app.
Where is the best place to do this?
Currently I have, directly in the controller, put my compose parts code and ILogger property, but I get the feeling this is not the best way. Seems like I should only need to call Compose once in the application.
So should it be in the global asax file that I do the compose?
If so, how do I get a handle on ILogger from my controllers? Should I have a "base" controller, where i inject ILogger into the constructor and inherit every standard controller from?
Hope that makes sense - I'm just struggling a bit with the structure of my code.
Thx

I use Log4Net and inject the logger into each controller. I dont think its a big hit when you use injection. Take a look at Ninject. It has both an MVC implementation and a logging module. The modules are loaded once in the global, then it injects the controllers. Basic DI, but do you really need more? If you create a base controller you will still have to create a ctor in each controller that can be injected.
You might create a base controller with the logging, then use property injection. I have never done this, but if all controllers use the same base it should work fine.

Related

How to use components outside of controllers in CakePhp 3?

I'd like to use a Cakephp 3 component inside a class located in, for example, /src/Classes/Customers.php.
I don't know how to instanciate the compoent.
You are not supposed to do that, components are services for the controller layer, and that's where the story ends. It is strongly advised that you do not use framework components outside of their intended purpose, this will just cause trouble at some point!
If you want to share logic between components and other utilities unrelated to controllers, then you should put that logic into for example generic service classes that both your components as well as your other code can utilize.

init method in zf2 controller

In Zendframework 1 we use init() method for initialize stuff in controller. I saw that this is taken out from zenframework 2. Why? and what is the best way to achieve same thing in zf 2. I am upgrading my previous project developed in zf1 and I can see things has changed a lot in zf2 as compare to zf1.
Is there anyother change in zf2, they way we use other methods such as preDispatch() and postDispatch() in zf1?
Anyone has gone through this?
In zf2 controllers are instantated by the ControllerLoader, which is a subclass of the ServiceManager. If you need to initalize a controller, either use a Factory, or __construct. Use __construct for simpile initalizations, and use a Factory if the controller consumes other objects that need to be injected.
preDispatch and postDispatch are also gone in favour of the new events system. To get the same result in zf2, register event handlers for the disptach and render events. For a full list of mvc envents see http://akrabat.com/zend-framework-2/a-list-of-zf2-events/
Also, take a look here for an example of setting up a controller factory ZF2 how to get entity Manager from outside of controller
I think you can drop this into a controller and it will work.
public function onDispatch(MvcEvent $e)
Since OP mentions postDispatch, it's worth noting that __destruct now works in a similar manner. One big difference, though, is that execution cannot be prevented (e.g. through exit;) turing tear-down of the Object.

What is the correct way of Instantiate Controller with IoC

I am migrating to ASP.NET MVC 3.
Now I have some ways of resolve controller with IoC.
My controller need a contructor injection parameter for repositories.
Setting DependencyResolver.SetResolver works. But I don´t know if this is correct way or I need to Register a IControllerActivator at my container too.
What you need is a ControllerFactory.Most IOC containers have an existing implementation. If you need a custom one, check this article:
http://develoq.net/blog/?p=144
Update
It's the correct way. DependencyResolver is generic for everything, and you need to register the IControllerActivator in it.
http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2010/10/service-location-pt10-controller-activator.html

How to provide ASP.NET MVC2 master pages with a model indepdent of the controller

I'm using strongly typed views and autofac for Dependency Injection under ASP.NET MVC2 and I'm trying to get a common dynamic header via dependency injection. I.e. i want this to happen without the view having to be away of this content even existing and i was hoping to avoid static discovery of the container and manual resolution, but I can't find a way to easily inject the master or a partial view included in the master via either ctor or property injection.
I can't imagine this is an uncommon task, but all I can find in terms of methods is Controller subclassing to stuff data into untyped ViewData, subclassing ViewModels to stuff master data into the model, or static resolution, all of which I'd prefer not to use. What am I overlooking?
EDIT: As has been pointed out DI into master pages is fighting the framework. So my question is badly framed: I don't really care about DI into master pages, but I have a dynamic element in the chrome of the site, i.e. the master page. Providing it with a model shouldn't be the responsibility of each controller using that master, as it is request context, not controller context specific. I fully admit that injection directly into master pages is inappropriate. If i could register a separate master controller to be invoked in addition, that would be even better. Is that possible? Given this task of providing the master with a model independent of the controller, what is the framework appropriate approach? Or does shared content in MVC require that each Controller has to know about that content?
You could use child actions.
Controller:
public class MyHeaderController: Controller
{
private readony IRepository _repository;
public MyHeaderController(IRepository repository)
{
_repository = repository;
}
[ChildActionOnly]
public ActionResult Index()
{
var model = _repository.GetSomeModel();
return PartialView(model);
}
}
And somewhere in your master page include it:
<div><%= Html.Action("Index", "MyHeader") %></div>
Your problems stem from confusing the term Dependency Injection, and fighting how the ASP.NET MVC framework works.
Also, you are using the term Dependency Injection in the wrong context. You are trying to use a hammer as a chisel.
MasterPages and views in ASP.NET MVC are intended to be used as templates. As stated in the other answer, child actions will solve your problem.
For future reference:
Dependency Injection refers to a means to configure what parameters to inject into class constructors, and have this done for you automatically, overriding some of the frameworks defaults. The purpose for this is to decouple components, so that they become more reusable, more testable, more unitary, amongst other good things.
DI refers to, and solves, a code issue, not a UI issue.
What you are trying to do is simply not possible. Ie, inject via constructors and properties a "dependency" into a masterpage. Again, MasterPages are intended by ASP.NET MVC to be used as just templates. They have no code behind class to instantiate via a constructor that would allow dependencies to be injected into it.
In other words, you are fighting the framework, which means you don't understand it.
If this sounds like nitpicking, I think this has to be highlighted as otherwise, you are confusing yourself and others who read this thread in the future.

MVVM - Using simple model as it's own view model is a bad practice?

Guess we have simple model, e.g. let it be a Person { Name, Age }.
Now we want to display a list of persons.
Persons are read-only
We don't need to edit them
We don't need any additional stuff like presentation properties, etc.
Now question is if it is a good practice do not create PersonViewModel class that will probably be a copy of model class or will delegate all its properties? Is it a good idea to simply bind listbox to list of persons, not to their view models? It looks DRY enough, but what about idea of MVVM?
I have no issue with bypassing the VM and using the M directly in the View. Sometimes the models are so small and static that loading them into a wrapping VM is wasteful.
I've created standalone ViewModels, but generally not standalone models. The reason for this is DataBinding -- most POCOs don't implement the INotifyPropertyChanged interface and adding them in to make them pseudo-Models seems to defeat the purpose of re-using a simple class AND respecting the MVVM pattern.
Now, if you KNOW you're never going to be editing them, it may not be a bad idea. A VM with simple property redirects seems a bit pointless to me.
As far as I'm concerned, if you implement INotifyPropertyChanged, then it becomes a ViewModel, and you can bind to it. :) When I wrote SoapBox Core which is all MVVM, I took the approach that everything is a ViewModel. The only Model objects were classes from third party libraries that I brought in and wrapped in a ViewModel of my own.
I wouldn’t create a ViewModel for the Person business object when the ViewModel doesn’t introduce new required functionality.
You might be interested that there is a second approach in the MVVM community: Create a ViewModel per View and not per Business Object.
Sample applications that follow this approach can be found on the WPF Application Framework (WAF) website.