Use prism/mef without MefBootstrapper - prism

I want to use some assemblies containing views and viewmodels exported using prism/mef in some other program. This other program does not contain a custom MefBootstrapper (since it does not use mef).
Creating the catalog and container is easy, but when I call Container.GetExportedValue() I always get null as result even though SomeView exists in the container (I looked).
I guess I need this part of the custom MefBootstrapper:
protected override Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Regions.IRegionBehaviorFactory ConfigureDefaultRegionBehaviors()
{
var factory = base.ConfigureDefaultRegionBehaviors();
factory.AddIfMissing("AutoPopulateExportedViewsBehavior", typeof(AutoPopulateExportedViewsBehavior));
return factory;
}
But how and where do I call this when I don't use a MefBootstrapper?

Related

MessagingCentre Does it pass object by value or by reference?

With reference to .Net Maui: How to read/write (get/set) a global object from any content page (MVVM)
I now have a need to pass an object that is rather a large (>500Mb), it is an OpenMap extract, a RouterDb object (Itinero http://docs.itinero.tech/index.html)
Though I am trying to use MVVM some packages (Mapsui) use code behind so I am left with a mixture of ViewModel and Codebehind. I can overcome the limitation of not having any kind of global object reference by using the MessagingCenter which works remarkably well.
I am wondering if this mechanism can handle the passing of large objects (megabytes) or if internally it simply passes a reference to the object. I suspect from my experiments that it is trying to pass a copy of the object and failing, as I end up with a null object.
Here's the code
MessagingMarker.cs - just a placeholder class
namespace RouteIt.Models;
public class MessagingMarker
{
}
In my MainPageViewModel.cs
//Takes about 10seconds to load
using (var stream = new FileInfo(#"C:\Users\Gordon\source\repos\RouteIt\Resources\Raw\gb.routerdb").OpenRead())
{
routerDb = RouterDb.Deserialize(stream);
}
//send message to codebehind containing object or reference?
MessagingCenter.Send(new MessagingMarker(), "RouterDbLoaded", routerDb);
and in my receiving MainPage.xaml.cs constructor
MessagingCenter.Subscribe<MessagingMarker, RouterDb>(this, "RouterDbLoaded", (sender, arg) =>
{
routerDb = arg;
});
router = new(routerDb);
Any thoughts? (And yes perhaps I need to re-struture my app, but at this stage I don't want to really, one day Mapsui might support mvvm apparently.)
As always thanks for at least reading :)

Is It Possible For Parent And Child Views To Reference Each Other By Injection/Find Before Init Finishes?

I want an embedded view to be able to call a function from the parent view, so I'm trying to have the child reference its parent by injection. This seems to work fine as long as the embedded view is created onDock:
class TestView : View() {
override val root = vbox {
label("Parent Label")
}
init {
println("Parent is instantiating.")
}
override fun onDock() {
val child = find(TestView2::class)
root.add(child)
}
fun doThing() {
println("Parent is doing a thing.")
}
}
class TestView2 : View() {
val parentClass: TestView by inject()
override val root = hbox {
label("Sub-view label 1")
label("Sub-view label 2")
}
init {
println("Sub-view is instantiating.")
parentClass.doThing()
}
}
I'd like it to be cleaner though. I'd prefer it if I was able to use the find function while creating the parent root. That's a problem, as calling the child view within any part of the init process creates a circular instantiation loop. Any way to avoid this or will I just have to settle for onDock and deal with it?
EDIT:
Just to note, I tried the onDock method again in a real, more complicated application and I got a cycle detection error. So even that method is not guaranteed to work.
You can create cyclic dependencies, but you can't call functions in both component's init block, as that would be impossible to resolve. The main takeaway here is that you're probably doing something you shouldn't. Views should not communicate with each other directly. This creates a tight coupling and prevents reuse. Instead you should communicate with one of the following:
State from a ViewModel
Controller function calls
Events using the EventBus
Since your code example is made up, it's not known what exactly you're trying to achieve in your actual app, but you will find the correct approach in the list above.
I see the urge to call functions in views and setting data directly into ui components instead of using bindings a lot, and in absolutely every case there is a much better way to solve the problem :)

Passing data to dependencies registered with Execution Context Scope lifetime in Simple Injector

Is there a way to pass data to dependencies registered with either Execution Context Scope or Lifetime Scope in Simple Injector?
One of my dependencies requires a piece of data in order to be constructed in the dependency chain. During HTTP and WCF requests, this data is easy to get to. For HTTP requests, the data is always present in either the query string or as a Request.Form parameter (and thus is available from HttpContext.Current). For WCF requests, the data is always present in the OperationContext.Current.RequestContext.RequestMessage XML, and can be parsed out. I have many command handler implementations that depend on an interface implementation that needs this piece of data, and they work great during HTTP and WCF scoped lifestyles.
Now I would like to be able to execute one or more of these commands using the Task Parallel Library so that it will execute in a separate thread. It is not feasible to move the piece of data out into a configuration file, class, or any other static artifact. It must initially be passed to the application either via HTTP or WCF.
I know how to create a hybrid lifestyle using Simple Injector, and already have one set up as hybrid HTTP / WCF / Execution Context Scope (command interfaces are async, and return Task instead of void). I also know how to create a command handler decorator that will start a new Execution Context Scope when needed. The problem is, I don't know how or where (or if I can) "save" this piece of data so that is is available when the dependency chain needs it to construct one of the dependencies.
Is it possible? If so, how?
Update
Currently, I have an interface called IProvideHostWebUri with two implementations: HttpHostWebUriProvider and WcfHostWebUriProvider. The interface and registration look like this:
public interface IProvideHostWebUri
{
Uri HostWebUri { get; }
}
container.Register<IProvideHostWebUri>(() =>
{
if (HttpContext.Current != null)
return container.GetInstance<HttpHostWebUriProvider>();
if (OperationContext.Current != null)
return container.GetInstance<WcfHostWebUriProvider>();
throw new NotSupportedException(
"The IProvideHostWebUri service is currently only supported for HTTP and WCF requests.");
}, scopedLifestyle); // scopedLifestyle is the hybrid mentioned previously
So ultimately unless I gut this approach, my goal would be to create a third implementation of this interface which would then depend on some kind of context to obtain the Uri (which is just constructed from a string in the other 2 implementations).
#Steven's answer seems to be what I am looking for, but I am not sure how to make the ITenantContext implementation immutable and thread-safe. I don't think it will need to be made disposable, since it just contains a Uri value.
So what you are basically saying is that:
You have an initial request that contains some contextual information captured in the request 'header'.
During this request you want to kick off a background operation (on a different thread).
The contextual information from the initial request should stay available when running in the background thread.
The short answer is that Simple Injector does not contain anything that allows you to do so. The solution is in creating a piece of infrastructure that allows moving this contextual information along.
Say for instance you are processing command handlers (wild guess here ;-)), you can specify a decorator as follows:
public class BackgroundProcessingCommandHandlerDecorator<T> : ICommandHandler<T>
{
private readonly ITenantContext tenantContext;
private readonly Container container;
private readonly Func<ICommandHandler<T>> decorateeFactory;
public BackgroundProcessingCommandHandlerDecorator(ITenantContext tenantContext,
Container container, Func<ICommandHandler<T>> decorateeFactory) {
this.tenantContext = tenantContext;
this.container = container;
this.decorateeFactory = decorateeFactory;
}
public void Handle(T command) {
// Capture the contextual info in a local variable
// NOTE: This object must be immutable and thread-safe.
var tenant = this.tenantContext.CurrentTenant;
// Kick off a new background operation
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {
using (container.BeginExecutionContextScope()) {
// Load a service that allows setting contextual information
var context = this.container.GetInstance<ITenantContextApplier>();
// Set the context for this thread, before resolving the handler
context.SetCurrentTenant(tenant);
// Resolve the handler
var decoratee = this.decorateeFactory.Invoke();
// And execute it.
decoratee.Handle(command);
}
});
}
}
Note that in the example I make use of an imaginary ITenantContext abstraction, assuming that you need to supply the commands with information about the current tenant, but any other sort of contextual information will obviously do as well.
The decorator is a small piece of infrastructure that allows you to process commands in the background and it is its responsibility to make sure all the required contextual information is moved to the background thread as well.
To be able to do this, the contextual information is captured and used as a closure in the background thread. I created an extra abstraction for this, namely ITenantContextApplier. Do note that the tenant context implementation can implement both the ITenantContext and the ITenantContextApplier interface. If however you define the ITenantContextApplier in your composition root, it will be impossible for the application to change the context, since it does not have a dependency on ITenantContextApplier.
Here's an example:
// Base library
public interface ITenantContext { }
// Business Layer
public class SomeCommandHandler : ICommandHandler<Some> {
public SomeCommandHandler(ITenantContext context) { ... }
}
// Composition Root
public static class CompositionRoot {
// Make the ITenantContextApplier private so nobody can see it.
// Do note that this is optional; there's no harm in making it public.
private interface ITenantContextApplier {
void SetCurrentTenant(Tenant tenant);
}
private class AspNetTenantContext : ITenantContextApplier, ITenantContext {
// Implement both interfaces
}
private class BackgroundProcessingCommandHandlerDecorator<T> { ... }
public static Container Bootstrap(Container container) {
container.RegisterPerWebRequest<ITenantContext, AspNetTenantContext>();
container.Register<ITenantContextApplier>(() =>
container.GetInstance<ITenantContext>() as ITenantContextApplier);
container.RegisterDecorator(typeof(ICommandHandler<>),
typeof(BackgroundProcessingCommandHandlerDecorator<>));
}
}
A different approach would be to just make the complete ITenantContext available to the background thread, but to be able to pull this off, you need to make sure that:
The implementation is immutable and thus thread-safe.
The implementation doesn't require disposing, because it will typically be disposed when the original request ends.

MongoDB - override default Serializer for a C# primitive type

I'd like to change the representation of C# Doubles to rounded Int64 with a four decimal place shift in the serialization C# Driver's stack for MongoDB. In other words, store (Double)29.99 as (Int64)299900
I'd like this to be transparent to my app. I've had a look at custom serializers but I don't want to override everything and then switch on the Type with fallback to the default, as that's a bit messy.
I can see that RegisterSerializer() won't let me add one for an existing type, and that BsonDefaultSerializationProvider has a static list of primitive serializers and it's marked as internal with private members so I can't easily subclass.
I can also see that it's possible to RepresentAs Int64 for Doubles, but this is a cast not a conversion. I need essentially a cast AND a conversion in both serialization directions.
I wish I could just give the default serializer a custom serializer to override one of it's own, but that would mean a dirty hack.
Am I missing a really easy way?
You can definitely do this, you just have to get the timing right. When the driver starts up there are no serializers registered. When it needs a serializer, it looks it up in the dictionary where it keeps track of the serializers it knows about (i.e. the ones that have been registered). Only it it can't find one in the dictionary does it start figuring out where to get one (including calling the serialization providers) and if it finds one it registers it.
The limitation in RegisterSerializer is there so that you can't replace an existing serializer that has already been used. But that doesn't mean you can't register your own if you do it early enough.
However, keep in mind that registering a serializer is a global operation, so if you register a custom serializer for double it will be used for all doubles, which could lead to unexpected results!
Anyway, you could write the custom serializer something like this:
public class CustomDoubleSerializer : BsonBaseSerializer
{
public override object Deserialize(BsonReader bsonReader, Type nominalType, Type actualType, IBsonSerializationOptions options)
{
var rep = bsonReader.ReadInt64();
return rep / 100.0;
}
public override void Serialize(BsonWriter bsonWriter, Type nominalType, object value, IBsonSerializationOptions options)
{
var rep = (long)((double)value * 100);
bsonWriter.WriteInt64(rep);
}
}
And register it like this:
BsonSerializer.RegisterSerializer(typeof(double), new CustomDoubleSerializer());
You could test it using the following class:
public class C
{
public int Id;
public double X;
}
and this code:
BsonSerializer.RegisterSerializer(typeof(double), new CustomDoubleSerializer());
var c = new C { Id = 1, X = 29.99 };
var json = c.ToJson();
Console.WriteLine(json);
var r = BsonSerializer.Deserialize<C>(json);
Console.WriteLine(r.X);
You can also use your own serialization provider to tell Mongo which serializer to use for certain types, which I ended up doing to mitigate some of the timing issues mentioned when trying to override existing serializers. Here's an example of a serialisation provider that overrides how to serialize decimals:
public class CustomSerializationProvider : IBsonSerializationProvider
{
public IBsonSerializer GetSerializer(Type type)
{
if (type == typeof(decimal)) return new DecimalSerializer(BsonType.Decimal128);
return null; // falls back to Mongo defaults
}
}
If you return null from your custom serialization provider, it will fall back to using Mongo's default serialization provider.
Once you've written your provider, you just need to register it:
BsonSerializer.RegisterSerializationProvider(new CustomSerializationProvider());
I looked through the latest iteration of the driver's code and checked if there's some sort of backdoor to set custom serializers. I am afraid there's none; you should open an issue in the project's bug tracker if you think this needs to be looked at for future iterations of the driver (https://jira.mongodb.org/).
Personally, I'd open a ticket -- and if a quick workaround is necessary or required, I'd subclass DoubleSerializer, implement the new behavior, and then use Reflection to inject it into either MongoDB.Bson.Serialization.Serializers.DoubleSerializer.__instance or MongoDB.Bson.Serialization.BsonDefaultSerializationProvider.__serializers.

Is there any way to clean up the following generic method using any of the new C# 4 features?

I've just modified a method for handling my DDD commands (previously it had no return type):
public static CommandResult<TReturn> Execute<TCommand, TReturn>(TCommand command)
where TCommand : IDomainCommand
{
var handler = IoCFactory.GetInstance<ICommandHandler<TCommand, TReturn>>();
return handler.Handle(command);
}
The method is fine, and does what I want it to do, however using it creates some fugly code:
CommandResult<Customer> result =
DomainCommands.Execute<CustomerCreateCommand, Customer>
(
new CustomerCreateCommand(message)
);
Before I added the Customer return type TReturn, it was nice and tidy and the method could infer the types from its usage. However that's no longer possible.
Is there any way using any new C# features that I could rewrite the above to make it tidier, i.e. using Func, Action, Expression, etc? I'm probably expecting the impossible, but I'm getting fed up of writing so much code to just call a single method that used to be very simple.
One option to reduce it slightly is to have a static generic type for the type parameter that can't be inferred, allowing you to have a generic method with just one type parameter that can be inferred:
public static class DomainCommands<TReturn>
{
public static CommandResult<TReturn> Execute<TCommand>(TCommand command)
where TCommand : IDomainCommand
{
var handler = IoCFactory.GetInstance<ICommandHandler<TCommand, TReturn>>();
return handler.Handle(command);
}
}
Then:
var result = DomainCommands<Customer>.Execute(new CustomerCreateCommand(msg));
It's not much nicer, but it's slightly better. Of course, if the domain command type itself could be generic, that might help - so CustomerCreateCommand would implement IDomainCommand<Customer> for example. If you still needed a nongeneric IDomainCommand, you could make IDomainCommand<T> derive from IDomainCommand.

Resources