Prestart being called after failure with stopping strategy - tdd

Question

I'm creating retry/reconnect functionality for a actor that is on a remote service. The actor should on prestart call the selection reference to subscribe to messages from the actor on the remote service. If for some reason the actor is not there I want my actor to retry a couple of times before reporting a failure to connect.
I'm using the TestKit to tdd the functionality. The problem I'm running into is that when the actor throws the timeout exception prestart is called afterwards even though I have a stop strategy.
I'm I missunderstanding the lifecycle of the actor? Seems wierd that PreStart is called if the strategy is to stop after failure.
public class MyActor : ReceiveActor
{
private readonly ActorPath path;
private ActorSelection selection;
private int retry = 0;
protected override void PreStart()
{
selection = Context.ActorSelection(path);
selection.Tell("prestart");
SetReceiveTimeout(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
public MyActor(ActorPath path)
{
this.path = path;
Receive<ReceiveTimeout>(timeout =>
{
if (retry < 2)
{
retry++;
selection.Tell("retry");
return;
}
throw new Exception("timeout");
});
}
}
public class Test : TestKit
{
[Fact]
public void FactMethodName()
{
var probe = CreateTestProbe();
var props = Props.Create(() => new MyActor(probe.Ref.Path))
.WithSupervisorStrategy(new OneForOneStrategy(exception => Directive.Stop));
Sys.ActorOf(props);
//Initial
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s=="prestart",TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
//Retries
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s == "retry", TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s == "retry", TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
//No more
probe.ExpectNoMsg( TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
}
}
My Solution after answer from Jeff
public class ParentActor : UntypedActor
{
private readonly Func<IUntypedActorContext, IActorRef> creation;
private IActorRef actorRef;
public ParentActor(Func<IUntypedActorContext, IActorRef> creation)
{
this.creation = creation;
}
protected override void PreStart()
{
actorRef = creation(Context);
}
protected override void OnReceive(object message)
{
actorRef.Tell(message);
}
}
public class MyActor : ReceiveActor
{
private readonly ActorPath path;
private int retry;
private ActorSelection selection;
public MyActor(ActorPath path)
{
this.path = path;
Receive<ReceiveTimeout>(timeout =>
{
if (retry < 2)
{
retry++;
selection.Tell("retry");
return;
}
throw new Exception("timeout");
});
}
protected override void PreStart()
{
selection = Context.ActorSelection(path);
selection.Tell("prestart");
SetReceiveTimeout(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
}
public class Test : TestKit
{
[Fact]
public void FactMethodName()
{
var probe = CreateTestProbe();
var props = Props.Create(
() => new ParentActor(context => context.ActorOf(Props.Create(
() => new MyActor(probe.Ref.Path), null), "myactor")))
.WithSupervisorStrategy(new OneForOneStrategy(exception => Directive.Stop));
Sys.ActorOf(props);
//Initial
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s == "prestart", TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
//Retries
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s == "retry", TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
probe.ExpectMsg<string>(s => s == "retry", TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
//No more
probe.ExpectNoMsg(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
}
}
Works but feels like it could be a part of the TestKit to beable set supervisor strategy for the guardian of the test

Answer 1

var props = Props.Create(() => new MyActor(probe.Ref.Path))
.WithSupervisorStrategy(new OneForOneStrategy(exception => Directive.Stop));
This set the supervisor strategy for MyActor, it will be used for MyActor's children and not for MyActor itself.
Sys.ActorOf(props);
This is creating MyActor under the /user guardian which have a OneForOne Restart directive by default. This is why your actor is restarting.
To get what you want, you need to create a parent actor with the custom supervisor strategy and create MyActor under it.