Everywhere I look about validating the response before saving to the DB, in breeze, they are overriding the BeforeSaveEntity or BeforeSaveValidation.
e.g. breezejs issues with the save bundle. Is there anyway we can validate the savebundle before calling the saveChanges(), like in the repository level?
I want to pass the JObject savebundle from the controller to the relevant repository and do a few things there:
1) Check if the user has permission to save this entity
2) Do business-logic level validation
3) Do entity level operations such as updating the changedDate and changedUser, add default values to some other entity etc...
These are more like business-logic level operations and in our application we have like 20+ such entities that get saved from different parts of the application. If we override BeforeSaveEntity() we are doing all such business logic level validations for all entities inside the DataContext. Like
`if (entityInfo.Entity.GetType() == typeof(MyEntityTypeModel)) {
}`
I don't think if-else or case condition for 20+ entities is a good design. Besides, we have a clear separation of concerns through the use of repositories, so I think that's where this should be done.
How do we manipulate/validate the savebundle in such case?
Use the BeforeSaveEntities method ( documented here: http://www.getbreezenow.com/breeze-sharp-documentation/contextprovider). With this method you can work with ALL of the entities of a specified type without having to perform an 'if' test on each one.
Code might look something like this:
ContextProvider.BeforeSaveEntitiesDelegate = CheckFreightOnOrders;
return ContextProvider.SaveChanges(saveBundle);
private Dictionary<Type, List<EntityInfo>> CheckFreightOnOrders(Dictionary<Type, List<EntityInfo>> saveMap) {
List<EntityInfo> entityInfos;
// extract just those entities of type 'Order'
if (saveMap.TryGetValue(typeof(Order), out orderEntityInfos)) {
// then iterate over them.
foreach (var entityInfo in orderEntityInfos) {
CheckFreight(entityInfo);
}
}
return saveMap;
}
Related
Beginner question : I've worked through the Try Meteor tutorial. I've got fields in my HTML doc, backed by helper functions that reference collections, and BOOM --> the fields are updated when the data changes in the DB.
With the "Hide completed" checkbox, I've also seen data-binding to a session variable. The state of the checkbox is stored in the Session object by an event handler and BOOM --> the list view is updated "automatically" by its helper when this value changes. It seems a little odd to be assigning to a session object in a single page application.
Through all this, my js assigns nothing in global scope, I've created no objects, and I've mostly seen just pipeline code, getting values from one spot to another. The little conditional logic is sprayed about wherever it is needed.
THE QUESTION... Now I want to construct a model of my business data in javascript, modelling my business rules, and then bind html fields to this model. For example, I want to model a user, giving it an isVeryBusy property, and a rule that sets isVeryBusy=true if noTasks > 5. I want the property and the rule to be isolated in a "pure" business object, away from helpers, events, and the meteor user object. I want these business objects available everywhere, so I could make a restriction, say, to not assign tasks to users who are very busy, enforced on the server. I might also want a display rule to only display the first 100 chars of other peoples tasks if a user isVeryBusy. Where is the right place to create this user object, and how do I bind to it from my HTML?
You can (and probably should) use any package which allows you to attach a Schema to your models.
Have a look at:
https://github.com/aldeed/meteor-collection2
https://github.com/aldeed/meteor-simple-schema
By using a schema you can define fields, which are calculated based on other fields, see the autoValue property: https://github.com/aldeed/meteor-collection2#autovalue
Then you can do something like this:
// Schema definition of User
{
...,
isVeryBusy: {
type: Boolean,
autoValue: function() {
return this.tasks.length > 5;
}
},
...
}
For all your basic questions, I can strongly recommend to read the DiscoverMeteor Book (https://www.discovermeteor.com/). You can read it in like 1-2 days and it will explain all those basic questions in a really comprehensible way.
Best Regards,
There is a very good package to implement the solution you are looking for. It is created by David Burles and it's called "meteor-collection-helper". Here it the atmosphere link:
You should check the link to see the examples presented there but according to the description you could implement some of the functionality you mentioned like this:
// Define the collections
Clients = new Mongo.Collection('clients');
Tasks = new Mongo.Collection('tasks');
// Define the Clients collection helpers
Clients.helpers({
isVeryBusy: function(){
return this.tasks.length > 5;
}
});
// Now we can call it either on the client or on the server
if (Meteor.isClient){
var client = Clients.findOne({_id: 123});
if ( client.isVeryBusy() ) runSomeCode();
}
// Of course you can use them inside a Meteor Method.
Meteor.methods({
addTaskToClient: function(id, task){
var client = Clients.findOne({_id: id});
if (!client.isVeryBusy()){
task._client = id;
Tasks.insert(task, function(err, _id){
Clients.update({_id: client._id}, { $addToSet: { tasks: _id } });
});
}
}
});
// You can also refer to other collections inside the helpers
Tasks.helpers({
client: function(){
return Clients.findOne({_id: this._client});
}
});
You can see that inside the helper the context is the document transformed with all the methods you provided. Since Collections are ussually available to both the client and the server, you can access this functionality everywhere.
I hope this helps.
Right now, I have a domain entity named StyleBundle. This StyleBundle takes a list of Styles:
public class StyleBundle
{
public StyleBundle(List<Style> styles)
{
this.Styles = styles;
}
public IEnumerable<Style> Styles { get; private set;}
}
So, in my original design, a StyleBundle should never be created with an empty Style list. This was a rule that the domain experts basically said was good.
I wrote this using a guard clause in the constructor:
if (styles.Count() == 0)
throw new Exception("You must have at least one Style in a StyleBundle.");
which made sure I could not create StyleBundle in an invalid state. I thought an exception made sense here b/c a StyleBundle being created without at least one Style was exceptional in the system.
Of course, change came down the road during the rest of the project, and now it should be possible for a user to create a StyleBundle without Styles, but they should not be allowed to PERSIST a StyleBundle without Styles.
So now I'm looking at my guard clause and realizing that I can't have the exception thrown from the constructor anymore.
Moving forward, I have a Service/Application layer that my code-behinds interact with when they're working with StyleBundles. In my Service Layer, I have a StyleBundleService class, and that class exposes basic functionality to the UI... among them is "CreateStyleBundle".
It seems as if I'll have to have my Service Layer check to see if the StyleBundle does or does not have any Styles before it's persisted to the database, but something about this decision feels "wrong" to me.
Anyone run into a similar thing? Basically, the different between the state of an object being valid when "new'ed up" vs. the state of the same object when it comes to persistence?
Thanks!
Mike
I would add an IsValid method to your entity. This would check if the entity is currently in a valid state (in your case, check if there are styles).
This method can be called from your Repository to check if an entity may be persisted. You can add more rules to the IsValid method for specific entities and you can implement something like a collection of Validation errors is you want to throw a meaningful exception.
Expanding what Wouter said, plus handy BeforeSaving and BeforeDeleting methods:
public interface IDomainObject<T>
{
bool IsValid();
}
public interface IEntity<T> : IDomainObject<T>
{
}
public interface IAggregateRoot<T> : IEntity<T>
{
void BeforeSaving();
void BeforeDeleting();
}
public interface IAggregateRoot { //or simply IEntity depending on the model
bool IsValid();
}
public class StyleBundle : IAggregateRoot<T> {
return styles.Count() > 0
}
public class StyleBundleRepository : Repository<StyleBundle> {
}
public abstract class Repository<T> : IRepository<T> where T : class, IAggregateRoot<T> {
public T Save(T t)
{
t.BeforeSaving(); //for all AggregateRoots, maybe logging what the aggregate was like before the changes
if(!t.IsValid())
throw Exeception("Entity invalid");
EntityStore.Current.SaveChanges();
// "AfterSaving" here, i.e.: log how the entity looks after the update
}
}
Edit: I dont personally use the IsValid idea, I go with a full class of EntityValidationErrors where I can report back to the client what was wrong before attempting to save, things that shouldnt be null, shouldnt be empty (like your Styles etc)
There are multiple strategies:
Some developers prefer to create 2 methods in the entity itself, one called IsValid() which validates the entity in terms of business rules (general validation) and another one called IsValidForPersistence() which validates the entity for persistence.
Regarding IsValid() I prefer instead not to allow invalid state in the first place by validating all inputs, and to support invariants I use factory or builder.
you may check the link http://www.codethinked.com/thoughts-on-domain-validation-part-1
for some thoughts.
I know, this question is three years old, but seeing the current answer is something I like to respond to. We are talking about the domain data. Hence, there can't be a valid StyleBundle with 0 objects. I imagine, you have a frontend editor somewhere, were you create a "new" StyleBundle and have to add at least one style, before hitting the "save" button.
At this point in the frontend, you won't have a domain object. You may have a data transfer object, that will be send with a "CreateNewStyleBundle" command.
In my opinion, the domain object must be agnostic to persitance and should always be in a valid state. If you have to call a "IsValid" method, you circumvent the whole idea of having domain objects in the first place.
That's just my humble opinion.
I'd like to include some additional functions in my Doctrine 2 entities to contain code that I'm going to have to run quite frequently. For example:
User - has many Posts
Post - has a single user
I already have a function $user->getPosts(), but this returns all of my posts. I'm looking to write a $user->getActivePosts(), which would be like:
$user->getPosts()->where('active = true') //if this were possible
or:
$em->getRepository('Posts')->findBy(array('user'=>$user,'active'=>true)) //if this were more convenient
As far as I can tell, there's no way to get back to the entity manager though the Entity itself, so my only option would be
class User {
function getActivePosts() {
$all_posts = $this->getPosts();
$active_posts = new ArrayCollection();
foreach ($all_posts as $post) {
if ($post->getActive()) {
$active_posts->add($post);
}
}
return $active_posts;
}
However, this requires me to load ALL posts into my entity manager, when I really only want a small subset of them, and it requires me to do filtering in PHP, when it would be much more appropriate to do so in the SQL layer. Is there any way to accomplish what I'm looking to do inside the Entity, or do I have to create code outside of it?
I think you should implement the method on the PostRepository rather than on the entity model.
I try to keep all model related logic in the repositories behind "domain specific" methods. That way if you change the way you represent whether a post is active or not, you only have to change the implementation of a single method instead of having to find all the active = true statements scattered around in your application or making changes in an "unrelated" entity model.
Something like this
PostRepository extends EntityRepository {
public function findActiveByUser($user){
// whatever it takes to get the active posts
}
}
I'd like to create an "API-like" layer in my code that effectively cordons-off database access to higher level code. For example, I might have the following function:
class MyApi {
private $my_user_id;
function getContacts() {
$contacts = $em->getRepository('Contacts')->findByOwner($this->my_user_id);
$em->clear();
return $contacts;
}
function getGroups() {
$groups = $em->getRepository('Groups')->findByOwner($this->my_user_id);
//hydrate each group's contacts list
foreach ($groups as $group) {
$group->getContacts();
}
$em->clear();
return $groups;
}
}
I'm using $em->clear() to detach the Entities from the EntityManger before returning them, so my Views can't accidentally modify managed entities. However, I run into problems when I want to compare entities returned by two sequential API functions. Ideally, I'd like a view/controller to contain:
$my_contacts = $myapi->getContacts();
$my_groups = $myapi->getGroups();
foreach($my_groups as $group) {
foreach ($my_contacts as $contact) {
if ($group->getContacts()->contains($contact)) {
echo "{$group->getName()} contains {$contact->getName()}!<br/>";
} else {
echo "{$group->getName()} does not contain {$contact->getName()}!<br/>";
}
}
}
However, since I detached all of the Contacts from the EntityManager at the end of the getContacts API call, the objects returned by $group->getContacts() are different PHP objects than those returned by $api->getContacts(), so the contains() function doesn't work properly.
Do I have any options for "defanging" my entities, making them effectively read-only, without giving up the benefits that the EntityManager provides? (Such as all managed entities representing the same database entry being the same object, being able to further hydrate associated objects after they've been passed back from the API, etc.)
Why would you worry that your views are going to make changes that will be committed back to the database? If your views don't know about the EM (and they shouldn't), any changes they make to the entities will disappear at the end of the request.
The only other option I can think of is to hydrate your results as arrays when they're destined to be fed to the view script. But that gives up a lot of handy functionality.
Maybe this is a little late, but it can be useful for anyone who still needs answer on this issue...
I think there is missing a Domain Driven Design principle here: Command Query Separation.
On every object you can only have two kind of methods:
doSomething() {
//this kind of method can change the internal state
}
getSomething() {
//this kind of method NEVER changes internal state
}
Keeping proper MVC in mind, views should only need get-methods and they can never change a thing.
Detaching you entities is not necessary and no worries are needed, if keeping just CQS and MVC in mind.
I am attempting to create the the business and data layers for my big ASP.NET MVC application. As this is the first time for me attempting a project of this scale I am reading some books and trying to take good care at separating things out properly. Usually my applications mix the business logic and data access layers, and multiple business entities are intertwined in the single class (which has confused me a few times when I was trying to figure out where to add things).
Most of what I have been reading is to separate out the business and data layers. This seems all fine and dandy, but I am having trouble visualizing exactly how to do this in some scenarios. For example, let's say I am creating a system that allows admins to add a new product to the system:
public class Product
{
public int Id { get; private set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public decimal Price { get; set; }
}
Then I separate out the data access by creating a repository
public class ProductRepository
{
public bool Add(Product product);
}
Let's say I want to require a product's name to have at least 4 characters. I can't see how to do this cleanly.
One idea I had was to expand the Name's set property and only set it if it's 4 characters long. However, there is no way for a method that is creating the product to know the name didn't get set except that Product.Name != whatever they passed in.
Another idea I had is to put it in the Add() method in the repository, but then I have my business logic right there with the data logic, which also means if the Add call fails I don't know if it failed for the business logic or because the DAL failed (and it also means I can't test it using mock frameworks).
The only thing I can think of is to put my DAL stuff in a 3rd layer that gets called from the Add() method in the repository, but I don't see this in any of the domain modelling examples in my book or on the web (that I've seen at least). It also adds to the complexity of the domain models when I am not sure it is needed.
Another example is wanting to make sure that a Name is only used by one product. Would this go in the Product class, ProductRepository Add() method, or where?
As a side note, I plan to use NHibernate as my ORM however, to accomplish what I want it (theoretically) shouldn't matter what ORM I am using since TDD should be able to isolate it all.
Thanks in advance!
I usually approach this by using a layered architecture. How to do this? You basically have the following (ideally) VS projects:
Presentation layer (where the UI stuff resides)
Business layer (where the actual business logic resides)
Data access layer (where you communicate with your underlying DBMS)
For decoupling all of them I use so-called interface layers s.t. in the end I have
Presentation layer (where the UI
stuff resides)
IBusiness layer (containing the interfaces for the
business layer)
Business layer (where
the actual business logic resides)
IDataAccess layer (containing the
interfaces for the DAO layer)
Data access layer (where you communicate
with your underlying DBMS)
This is extremely handy and creates a nicely decoupled architecture. Basically your presentation layer just accesses the interfaces and not the implementations itself. For creating the according instances you should use a Factory or preferably some dependency injection library (Unity is good for .Net apps or alternatively Spring.Net).
How does this impact on your business logic / testability of your app?
It is probably too long to write everything in detail, but if you're concerned about having a well testable design you should absolutely consider dependency injection libraries.
Using NHibernate,...whatever ORM
Having a DAO layer completely separated through the interfaces from the other layers you can use whatever technology behind for accessing your underlying DB. You could directly issue SQL queries or use NHibernate, as you wish. The nice thing is that it is totally independent from the rest of your app. You could event start today by writing SQLs manually and tomorrow exchange your DAO dll with one that uses NHibernate without a single change in your BL or presentation layer.
Moreover testing your BL logic is simple. You may have a class like:
public class ProductsBl : IProductsBL
{
//this gets injected by some framework
public IProductsDao ProductsDao { get; set; }
public void SaveProduct(Product product)
{
//do validation against the product object and react appropriately
...
//persist it down if valid
ProductsDao.PersistProduct(product);
}
...
}
Now you can easily test the validation logic in your SaveProduct(...) method by mocking out the ProductDao in your test case.
Put things like the product name restriction in the domain object, Product, unless you want to allow products with fewer than 4 characters in some scenarios (in this case, you'd apply the 4-character rule at the level of the controller and/or client-side). Remember, your domain objects may be reused by other controllers, actions, internal methods, or even other applications if you share the library. Your validation should be appropriate to the abstraction you are modeling, regardless of application or use case.
Since you are using ASP .NET MVC, you should take advantage of the rich and highly extensible validation APIs included in the framework (search with keywords IDataErrorInfo MVC Validation Application Block DataAnnotations for more). There are lots of ways for the calling method to know that your domain object rejected an argument -- for example, throwing the ArgumentOutOfRangeException.
For the example of ensuring that product names are unique, you would absolutely not put that in Product class, because this requires knowledge of all other Products. This logically belongs at the persistence layer and optionally, the repository. Depending on your use case may warrant a separate service method that verifies that the name does not already exist, but you shouldn't assume that it will still be unique when you later try to persist it (it has to be checked again, because if you validate uniqueness and then keep it around a while longer before persisting, someone else could still persist a record with the same name).
This is the way I do it:
I keep the validation code in the entity class, which inherits some general Item Interface.
Interface Item {
bool Validate();
}
Then, in the repository's CRUD functions i call the appropriate Validate function.
This way all the logic paths are validating my values, but i need to look only in one place to see what that validation really is.
Plus, sometimes you use the entities outside the repository scope, for example in a View. So if the validation is separated, each action path can test for validation without asking the repository.
For restrictions I utilize the partial classes on the DAL and implement the data annotation validators. Quite often, that involves creating custom validators but that works great as it's completely flexible. I've been able to create very complex dependent validations that even hit the database as part of their validity checks.
http://www.asp.net/(S(ywiyuluxr3qb2dfva1z5lgeg))/learn/mvc/tutorial-39-cs.aspx
In keeping with the SRP (single responsibility principle), you might be better served if the validation is separate from the product's domain logic. Since it's required for data integrity, it should probably be closer to the repository - you just want to be sure that validation is always run without having to give it thought.
In this case you might have a generic interface (e.g. IValidationProvider<T>) that is wired to a concrete implementation through an IoC container or whatever your preference may be.
public abstract Repository<T> {
IValidationProvider<T> _validationProvider;
public ValidationResult Validate( T entity ) {
return _validationProvider.Validate( entity );
}
}
This way you can test your validation separately.
Your repository might look like this:
public ProductRepository : Repository<Product> {
// ...
public RepositoryActionResult Add( Product p ) {
var result = RepositoryResult.Success;
if( Validate( p ) == ValidationResult.Success ) {
// Do add..
return RepositoryActionResult.Success;
}
return RepositoryActionResult.Failure;
}
}
You could go a step further, if you intend on exposing this functionality via an external API, and add a service layer to mediate between the domain objects and the data access. In this case, you move the validation to the service layer and delegate data access to the repository. You may have, IProductService.Add( p ). But this can become a pain to maintain due to all of the thin layers.
My $0.02.
Another way to accomplish this with loose coupling would be to create validator classes for your entity types, and register them in your IoC, like so:
public interface ValidatorFor<EntityType>
{
IEnumerable<IDataErrorInfo> errors { get; }
bool IsValid(EntityType entity);
}
public class ProductValidator : ValidatorFor<Product>
{
List<IDataErrorInfo> _errors;
public IEnumerable<IDataErrorInfo> errors
{
get
{
foreach(IDataErrorInfo error in _errors)
yield return error;
}
}
void AddError(IDataErrorInfo error)
{
_errors.Add(error);
}
public ProductValidator()
{
_errors = new List<IDataErrorInfo>();
}
public bool IsValid(Product entity)
{
// validate that the name is at least 4 characters;
// if so, return true;
// if not, add the error with AddError() and return false
}
}
Now when it comes time to validate, ask your IoC for a ValidatorFor<Product> and call IsValid().
What happens when you need to change the validation logic, though? Well, you can create a new implementation of ValidatorFor<Product>, and register that in your IoC instead of the old one. If you are adding another criterion, however, you can use a decorator:
public class ProductNameMaxLengthValidatorDecorator : ValidatorFor<Person>
{
List<IDataErrorInfo> _errors;
public IEnumerable<IDataErrorInfo> errors
{
get
{
foreach(IDataErrorInfo error in _errors)
yield return error;
}
}
void AddError(IDataErrorInfo error)
{
if(!_errors.Contains(error)) _errors.Add(error);
}
ValidatorFor<Person> _inner;
public ProductNameMaxLengthValidatorDecorator(ValidatorFor<Person> validator)
{
_errors = new List<IDataErrorInfo>();
_inner = validator;
}
bool ExceedsMaxLength()
{
// validate that the name doesn't exceed the max length;
// if it does, return false
}
public bool IsValid(Product entity)
{
var inner_is_valid = _inner.IsValid();
var inner_errors = _inner.errors;
if(inner_errors.Count() > 0)
{
foreach(var error in inner_errors) AddError(error);
}
bool this_is_valid = ExceedsMaxLength();
if(!this_is_valid)
{
// add the appropriate error using AddError()
}
return inner_is_valid && this_is_valid;
}
}
Update your IoC configuration and you now have a minimum and maximum length validation without opening up any classes for modification. You can chain an arbitrary number of decorators in this way.
Alternatively, you can create many ValidatorFor<Product> implementations for the various properties, and then ask the IoC for all such implementations and run them in a loop.
Alright, here is my third answer, because there are so very many ways to skin this cat:
public class Product
{
... // normal Product stuff
IList<Action<string, Predicate<StaffInfoViewModel>>> _validations;
IList<string> _errors; // make sure to initialize
IEnumerable<string> Errors { get; }
public void AddValidation(Predicate<Product> test, string message)
{
_validations.Add(
(message,test) => { if(!test(this)) _errors.Add(message); };
}
public bool IsValid()
{
foreach(var validation in _validations)
{
validation();
}
return _errors.Count() == 0;
}
}
With this implementation, you are able to add an arbitrary number of validators to the object without hardcoding the logic into the domain entity. You really need to be using IoC or at least a basic factory for this to make sense, though.
Usage is like:
var product = new Product();
product.AddValidation(p => p.Name.Length >= 4 && p.Name.Length <=20, "Name must be between 4 and 20 characters.");
product.AddValidation(p => !p.Name.Contains("widget"), "Name must not include the word 'widget'.");
product.AddValidation(p => p.Price < 0, "Price must be nonnegative.");
product.AddValidation(p => p.Price > 1, "This is a dollar store, for crying out loud!");
U can use a other validation system. you can add a method to IService in service layer such as:
IEnumerable<IIssue> Validate(T entity)
{
if(entity.Id == null)
yield return new Issue("error message");
}