I'm working with the MVVM pattern + a simple ServiceLocator implementation, now to my problem how am I supposed to setup the services when the views are running in design time?
Iv tried this but it does not seem to work in VS 2010 or some thing, I know it worked on my old computer but on my new it does not. so does any one know a good alternative?
Edit: (On behalf of Merlyn Morgan-Graham)
Well what I'm trying to do is this, I have my view, ViewModel and services now the difference here is that I have 2 implementations of each service one for design time and one for run time.
for a better explanation look here.
If you want to decouple your view from your viewmodel, and your viewmodel from your model/dal (basically, if you want to use MVVM), then your view model and data model shouldn't know anything about design time. Design time only applies to the view.
This article shows a way to define your design time data via XML/XAML, so your code underneath doesn't have to know anything about it:
http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/visual-studio-2010-beta2-sample-data-project-templates/
After Edit: It turns out that you'll still have to use your view model for your existing XAML bindings to work. This will just populate the view model rather than having to create a new data model. I'm not sure, but there might be classes that allow you to use the WPF binding mechanism to take care of this... Views?
Resume Before Edit...:
As far as the solution in the article you linked first, the designer doesn't instantiate anything but your class, and the code it references. That means that assembly attributes won't be instantiated unless your view code somehow directly references them.
If you really want to couple your view models to your views during design time, and make it so that design time services are registered, then you have to place the service registration code in your view class, or a class the view class directly references.
To do that, you could use static constructors of your views to register your design time services. You could also write a static method on some other class (application?) to (conditionally) register the design time services. Then, call that method in the constructor of your views.
Or you could simply register them in the constructor for each of your views.
Basically, what you want to do is possible, but that method linked in the first article isn't. If you read farther in the comments, you'll see that his method is broken.
You may also want to question the idea of hooking your view model to your view during design time, because the MVVM pattern was made to avoid that sort of thing.
You usually don't need to access services at design-time... Typically, you don't even use your real ViewModels at design-time, you use dummy design data, as explained here. If you really need to use your real ViewModels, you can implement dummy versions of your services, and use them instead of the real services :
if (DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(new DependencyObject()))
{
// Design time
ServiceLocator.Instance.Register<IService1>(new DummyService1());
ServiceLocator.Instance.Register<IService2>(new DummyService2());
}
else
{
// Run time
ServiceLocator.Instance.Register<IService1>(new RealService1());
ServiceLocator.Instance.Register<IService2>(new RealService2());
}
Also I do agree to all who have concerns regarding the use of the service locator at design time, I do believe that this is a valid scenario in some use cases.
This is not a discussion on why/why not, this is simple the way it (almost) worked for me.
There is still a problem which I did not solve yet: this only works for one view at a time.
Create a simple bootstrapper for setting up your IoC of choice. Notice the ISupportInitialize interface.
public class Bootstrapper: ISupportInitialize
{
#region ISupportInitialize Members
public void BeginInit() { }
public void EndInit()
{
if (DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(new DependencyObject()))
Setup();
}
#endregion
public static void Setup() { SetupServiceLocator(); }
static void SetupServiceLocator()
{
ContainerBuilder builder = new ContainerBuilder();
builder.RegisterType<ConfigService>().As<IConfigService>().ExternallyOwned().SingleInstance();
IContainer container = builder.Build();
ServiceLocator.SetLocatorProvider(() => new AutofacServiceLocator(container));
}
}
Use the Bootstrapper as before for runtime mode, e.g.:
public partial class App : Application
{
protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
{
base.OnStartup(e);
Bootstrapper.Setup();
}
}
Additionally you need to add it to the application resources for design mode support:
<Application x:Class="MonitoringConfigurator.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyBootstrapperNamespace"
StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml">
<Application.Resources>
<local:Bootstrapper x:Key="Bootstrapper" />
</Application.Resources>
</Application>
Related
I am developing a modular WPF application with Prism in .Net Core 5.0 (using MVVM, DryIoc) and I would like to have a module that is not a WPF module, i.e., a module with functionality that can be used by any other module. I don't want any project reference, because I want to keep the loosely coupled idea of the modules.
My first question is: is it conceptually correct? Or is it mandatory that a module has a screen? I guess it should be ok.
The second and more important (for me) is, what would be the best way to create the instance?
This is the project (I know I should review the names in this project):
HotfixSearcher is the main class, the one I need to get instantiated. In this class, for example, I subscribe to some events.
And this is the class that implements the IModule interface (the module class):
namespace SearchHotfix.Library
{
public class HotfixSearcherModule : IModule
{
public HotfixSearcherModule()
{
}
public void OnInitialized(IContainerProvider containerProvider)
{
//Create Searcher instance
var searcher = containerProvider.Resolve<IHotfixSearcher>();
}
public void RegisterTypes(IContainerRegistry containerRegistry)
{
containerRegistry.RegisterSingleton<IHotfixSearcher, HotfixSearcher>();
}
}
}
That is the only way I found to get the class instantiated, but I am not a hundred per cent comfortable with creating an instance that is not used, I think it does not make much sense.
For modules that have screens, the instances get created when navigating to them using the RequestNavigate method:
_regionManager.RequestNavigate(RegionNames.ContentRegion, "ContentView");
But since this is only a library with no screens, I can't find any other way to get this instantiated.
According to Prism documentation, subscribing to an event shoud be enough but I tried doing that from within my main class HotfixSearcher but it does not work (breakpoints on constructor or on the event handler of the event to which I subscribe are never hit).
When I do this way, instead, the instance is created, I hit the constructor breakpoint, and obviously the instance is subscribed to the event since it is done in the constructor.
To sum up, is there a way to get rid of that var searcher = containerProvider.Resolve<IHotfixSearcher>(); and a better way to achieve this?
Thanks in advance!
Or is it mandatory that a module has a screen?
No, of course not, modules have nothing to do with views or view models. They are just a set of registrations with the container.
what would be the best way to create the instance?
Let the container do the work. Normally, you have (at least) one assembly that only contains public interfaces (and the associated enums), but no modules. You reference that from the module and register the module's implementations of the relevant interfaces withing the module's Initialize method. Some other module (or the main app) can then have classes that get the interfaces as constructor parameters, and the container will resolve (i.e. create) the concrete types registered in the module, although they are internal or even private and completely unknown outside the module.
This is as loose a coupling as it gets if you don't want to sacrifice strong typing.
is there a way to get rid of that var searcher = containerProvider.Resolve<IHotfixSearcher>(); and a better way to achieve this?
You can skip the var searcher = part :-) But if the HotfixSearcher is never injected anywhere, it won't be created unless you do it yourself. OnInitialized is the perfect spot for this, because it runs after all modules had their chance to RegisterTypes so all dependencies should be registered.
If HotfixSearcher is not meant to be injected, you can also drop IHotfixSearcher and resolve HotfixSearcher directly:
public void OnInitialized(IContainerProvider containerProvider)
{
containerProvider.Resolve<HotfixSearcher>();
}
I am not a hundred per cent comfortable with creating an instance that is not used, I think it does not make much sense.
It is used, I suppose, although not through calling one of its methods. It's used by sending it an event. That's just fine. Think of it like Task.Run - it's fine for the task to exist in seeming isolation, too.
How can I eliminate to write $object = new Application_Model_Database() in every controller?
For example for an article controller, I have to type $articles = new Application_Model_Articles() for every controller. Should I put it under viewer controller, action helpers, or any other way?
Your question almost sounds like an OOP best practices question as opposed to a Zend Framework specific question. Regardless of whether or not I'm using a framework, and regardless of what framework I choose, I base when and where I create new objects on testability how many times I have to write $object = new My_Random_Object();.
Speaking specifically to the Zend Framework: Objects I'm going to use everywhere, or almost everywhere, get created in Bootstrap.php. These objects generally include a database adapter, logger, view object, and any plugins I might use. To access these across the application, I'll create private properties in the appropriate controllers and assign the objects to those properties in the controller's init() method.
class ExampleController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
public function init()
{
$bootstrap = $this->getInvokeArg('bootstrap');
$this->_db = $bootstrap->getResource('db');
$this->_log = $bootstrap->getResource('log');
// and so on, and so forth
}
}
Ideally, models, services, daos, etc, will all be relatively tightly grouped by controller and by action. In my experience, and this is speaking generally, if I have the same model or service class showing up across all of the controllers in my application, I have an organization problem. That being said, any model that shows up in only one action gets created in that action. If it's across actions in a controller, it gets created in the init() method and assigned to a property. If it shows up across multiple controllers, it gets created in my Bootstrap.php.
(Ideally, everything gets created in the Bootstrap.php, so you can swap out that bootstrap for testing purposes. Sadly, I don't always do that, and I most often use the principles I outlined above.)
Well do you really need it in every controllers? Because that's pretty much by design. You implement models when you need them. Its not that much code really.
Now if its to be used across actions from a controller you could always:
class MyController extends Zend_Controllers{
$protected $_articleModel;
...
and in your constructor or __init() function initialize it so you can use it in every action thru $this->_articleModel
If you REALLY want it everywhere in your application just initialize it in your bootstrap and store it in the registry.
public function __initModels(){
$articles = new Application_Model_Articles()
Zend_Registry::set('articles', $articles );
}
And access it in your controllers like so:
Zend_Registry::get('articles')->fetchAll();
But then your still writing a couple of characters.
Hope this help!
IF you want to use models in the controllers you must call it..anyway some shortcuts are here
1.You can initialize it in the init section of your controller like
public function init(){
$this->object = new Application_Model_Database();
}
So that the this->object is available in all the actions of that particular controller
2.Use Zend_registry as suggested in the above answer
Another possibility is to use a Dependency Injection container, such as the Symfony DI component. It takes care of instantiating your objects, and you get some additional benefits:
Separation of concerns. You have a component devoted to create your object tree.
Easier testability of the objects.
Last, but not least, the performance benefits given by lazy instantiation (objects are created only when you ask for them). Thus, if some object is not used by the particular controller serving your request, it's not instantiated).
It's a bit more laborious than the above solutions, but much more flexible if you need to maintain and extend your application in the future.
Hope that helps,
If you are using this object to just display data in your view and are using your controller to grab the data and assign it to your view, like so:
//someControllerAction
$object = new Application_Model_Articles();
$object->fetchAll();
//assign to view
$this->view->articles = $object;
You might be better off making a view helper similar to:
//Articles.php put in /application/views/helpers
class Zend_View_Helper_Articles extends Zend_View_Helper_Abstract {
public function Articles() {
$articles = new Application_Model_Articles();
$articles->fetchAll();
//return rowset object
return $articles;
Then in your view (phtml) you could do something like:
//someView.phmtl
<?php $articles = $this->Articles(); ?>
<h1><?php echo $this->escape($articles->title); ?></h1>
<p><?php echo $this->escape($articles->body); ?></p>
building a view helper allows you to bypass the controller completely if you just need to display data from the model. This is a very simple example and can be used with partials and partialLoops.
REF:ZF reference Custom View Helper
ZF partial view helper reference
I start loving OSGi services more and more and want to realize a lot more of my components as services. Now I'm looking for best-practice, especially for UI components.
For Listener-relations I use the whiteboard-pattern, which IMHO opinion is the best approach. However if I want more than just notifications, I can think of three possible solutions.
Imagine the following scenario:
interface IDatabaseService {
EntityManager getEntityManager();
}
[1] Whiteboard Pattern - with self setting service
I would create a new service interface:
interface IDatabaseServiceConsumer {
setDatabaseService(IDatabaseService service);
}
and create a declarative IDatabaseService component with a bindConsumer method like this
protected void bindConsumer(IDatabaseServiceConsumer consumer) {
consumer.setDatabaseService(this);
}
protected void unbindConsumer(IDatabaseServiceConsumer consumer) {
consumer.setDatabaseService(null);
}
This approach assumes that there's only one IDatabaseService.
[Update] Usage would look like this:
class MyUIClass ... {
private IDatabaseService dbService;
Consumer c = new IDatabaseServiceConsumer() {
setDatabaseService(IDatabaseService service) {
dbService = service;
}
}
Activator.registerService(IDatabaseServiceConsumer.class,c,null);
...
}
[2] Make my class a service
Image a class like
public class DatabaseEntryViewer extends TableViewer
Now, I just add bind/unbind methods for my IDatabaseService and add a component.xml and add my DatabaseEntryViewer. This approach assumes, that there is a non-argument constructor and I create the UI components via a OSGi-Service-Factory.
[3] Classic way: ServiceTracker
The classic way to register a static ServiceTracker in my Activator and access it. The class which uses the tracker must handle the dynamic.
Currently I'm favoring the first one, as this approach doesn't complicated object creation and saves the Activator from endless, static ServiceTrackers.
I have to agree with #Neil Bartlett, your option 1 is backward. You are in effect using an Observer/Observable pattern.
Number 2 is not going to work, since the way UI objects lifecycles are managed in RCP won't allow you to do what you want. The widget will have to be created as part of the initialization of some sort of view container (ViewPart, Dialog, ...). This view part is typically configured and managed via the Workbench/plugin mechanism. You should work with this, not against it.
Number 3 would be a simple option, not necessarily the best, but simple.
If you use Spring DM, then you can easily accomplish number 2. It provides a means to inject your service beans into your UI Views, Pages, etc. You use a spring factory to create your views (as defined in your plugin.xml), which is configured via a Spring configuration, which is capable of injecting your services into the bean.
You may also be able to combine the technique used by the SpringExtensionFactory class along with DI to accomplish the same thing, without introducing another piece of technology. I haven't tried it myself so I cannot comment on the difficulty, although it is what I would try to do to bridge the gap between RCP and OSGi if I wasn't already using Spring DM.
I started working with the MVVM pattern in a new project.
Everything is ok, but i came to the following problem.
The implementation looks like this:
I have a MainView, the main app window. In this window i have a telerik RadGroupPanel in wich I host the rest of the app views as tabs.
The rest of the viewModels does not know about this RadGroupPanel which is hosted in MainVIew.
How should i correctly add those views to the RadGroupPanel from the commands in the viewModels?
Thanks.
Have you considered injecting your view into the ViewModel using an interface to maintain separation? I know this breaks MVVM but I've successfully used this on a number of WPF projects. I call it MiVVM or Model Interface-to-View ViewModel.
The pattern is simple. Your Usercontrol should have an interface, call it IView. Then in the ViewModel you have a property with a setter of type IMyView, say
public IMyView InjectedView { set { _injectedView = value; } }
Then in the view you create a dependency property called This
public MyUserControl : IMyView
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty ThisProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("This", typeof(IMyView), typeof(MyUserControl));
public MyUserControl()
{
SetValue(ThisProperty, this);
}
public IMyView This { get { return GetValue(ThisProperty); } set { /* do nothing */ } }
}
finally in Xaml you can inject the view directly into the ViewModel using binding
<MyUserControl This="{Binding InjectedView, Mode=OneWayToSource}"/>
Try it out! I've used this pattern many times and you get an interface to the view injected once on startup. This means you maintain separation (Viewmodel can be tested as IView can be mocked), yet you get around the lack of binding support in many third party controls. Plus, its fast. Did you know binding uses reflection?
There's a demo project showcasing this pattern on the blog link above. I'd advocate trying out the Attached Property implementation of MiVVM if you are using a third party control.
You can have the list of viewmodels that you need to add controls for in an ObservableCollection in your main window viewmodel. You can then bind the ItemsSource of the RadGroupPanel to that collection and use the ItemTemplateSelector and ContentTemplateSelector of the RadGroupPanel to select the right template to use based on the viewmodel that is bound.
I am working in a project that has two main parts: a class library assembly and the main application. Both are using Castle Windsor for IoC and both manually setup their list of of components in code (to aid refactoring and prevent the need for a config file). Currently the main application has code like this:
public static void Main()
{
// Perform library IoC setup
LibraryComponent.Init();
// Perform application IoC setup
IoC.Register<IXyz, Abc>("abc");
// etc, etc, ...
// Start the application code ...
}
However the call to initialise the library doesn't seem like a good solution. What is the best way to setup a class library that uses an IoC container to decouple its internal components?
Edit:
Lusid proposed using a static method on each public component in the library that would in turn make the call to initialise. One possible way to make this a bit nicer would be to use something like PostSharp to do this in an aspect-oriented way. However I was hoping for something a bit more elegant ;-)
Lusid also proposed using the AppDomain.AssemblyLoad event to perform custom steps at load time, however I am really after a way to avoid the client assembly from requiring any setup code.
Thanks!
I'm not sure if I'm understanding exactly the problem you are trying to solve, but my first guess is that you are looking for a way to decouple the need to call the Init method from your main application.
One method I've used in the past is a static constructor on a static class in the class library:
static public class LibraryComponent {
static LibraryComponent() {
Init();
}
}
If you have multiple class libraries, and would like a quick and dirty way of evaluating all of them as they are loaded, here's a (kinda hairy) way:
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyLoad += new AssemblyLoadEventHandler(CurrentDomain_AssemblyLoad);
}
static void CurrentDomain_AssemblyLoad(object sender, AssemblyLoadEventArgs args)
{
IEnumerable<Type> types = args.LoadedAssembly.GetTypes()
.Where(t => typeof(IMyModuleInterface).IsAssignableFrom(t));
foreach (Type t in types)
{
doSomethingWithType(t);
}
}
The Where clause could be anything you want, of course. The code above would find any class deriving from IMyModuleInterface in each assembly that gets loaded into the current AppDomain, and then I can do something with it, whether it be registering dependencies, maintaining an internal list, whatever.
Might not be exactly what you are looking for, but hopefully it helps in some way.
You could have a registration module. Basically LibraryComponent.Init() function takes an IRegistrar to wire everything up.
The IRegistrar could basically have a function Register(Type interface, Type implementation). The implimentor would map that function back to their IOC container.
The downside is that you can't rely on anything specific to the container your using.
Castle Windsor actually has a concept called facilities that are basically just ways of wrapping standardised pieces of configuration. In this model, you would simply add the two facilities to the container and they would do the work.
Of course, this wouldn't really be better than calling a library routine to do the work unless you configured the facilities in a configuration file (consider binsor). If you are really allergic to configuration files, your current solution is probably the best.