I am trying to use reflection and ninject on the same project. Here is my code :
Type type = Type.GetType("MySolution.Project.Web.App_Code.DataClass");
MethodInfo theMethod = type.GetMethod("Events_ListAll");
object classInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(type, null);
And here is my class that contains that method:
public class DataClass
{
private IEventService eventService;
public DataClass(IEventService eventService)
{
this.eventService = eventService;
}
public String Events_ListAll()
{
List<Event> lstEvents = eventService.GetEvents().ToList<Event>();
return "";
}
}
I get an error saying that there is no constructor found. The solution to that would be to ad an empty default constructor, but that wont inject class I want. Is there any workaround to solve this?
You will need a concrete instance of IEventService to pass as parameter to ctor of DataClass, like this Activator.CreateInstance(type, instance);, so you got many approaches to do that, see 2 of :
1st - class has a concrete IEventService
That class where you doing the reflection has a concrete instance of IEventService and then you just pass as param to the Activator:
public class Foo
{
public Foo(IEventService eventService)
{
Type type = Type.GetType("MySolution.Project.Web.App_Code.DataClass");
MethodInfo theMethod = type.GetMethod("Events_ListAll");
object classInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(type, eventService);
}
}
2nd - Get IKernel implementation of Ninject
If you are using NinjectWebCommom you can just change the bootstrapper prop to public and get the kernel like this NinjectWebCommom.bootstrapper.Kernel.get<IEventService>()
Type type = Type.GetType("MySolution.Project.Web.App_Code.DataClass");
MethodInfo theMethod = type.GetMethod("Events_ListAll");
object classInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(type, Kernel.Get<IEventService>());
Related
I'm building on a previously answered question in which ICar implementations are bound using Ninject Conventions Extensions and a custom IBindingGenerator, and the ICarFactory interface is bound using the Ninject Factory Extensions' ToFactory() method and a custom instance provider.
I'm trying to refactor so that I can bind and make use of a IVehicleFactory<T>, where T is constrained to ICar, rather than the previous ICarFactory. This way, I can specify the vehicle I want in the generic type parameter, instead of passing in the name of the vehicle type in the factory's CreateCar() method.
Is it possible to bind open generic interfaces using the ToFactory() technique?
I have a feeling that I'm barking up the wrong tree, but when I was specifying an ICar type by its name, it seemed like the natural evolution to specify the ICar type itself as a generic type parameter...
Here's the test that currently fails:
[Fact]
public void A_Generic_Vehicle_Factory_Creates_A_Car_Whose_Type_Equals_Factory_Method_Generic_Type_Argument()
{
using (StandardKernel kernel = new StandardKernel())
{
// arrange
kernel.Bind(typeof(IVehicleFactory<>))
.ToFactory(() => new UseFirstGenericTypeArgumentInstanceProvider());
kernel.Bind(
scanner => scanner
.FromThisAssembly()
.SelectAllClasses()
.InheritedFrom<ICar>()
.BindWith(new BaseTypeBindingGenerator<ICar>()));
IVehicleFactory<Mercedes> factory
= kernel.Get<IVehicleFactory<Mercedes>>();
// act
var car = factory.CreateVehicle();
// assert
Assert.IsType<Mercedes>(car);
}
}
And the InvalidCastException thrown:
System.InvalidCastException was unhandled by user code
Message=Unable to cast object of type 'Castle.Proxies.ObjectProxy' to type 'IVehicleFactory`1[Mercedes]'.
Source=System.Core
StackTrace:
at System.Linq.Enumerable.<CastIterator>d__b1`1.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Enumerable.Single[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
at Ninject.ResolutionExtensions.Get[T](IResolutionRoot root, IParameter[] parameters) in c:\Projects\Ninject\ninject\src\Ninject\Syntax\ResolutionExtensions.cs:line 37
at NinjectFactoryTests.A_Generic_Vehicle_Factory_Creates_A_Car_Whose_Type_Name_Equals_Factory_Method_String_Argument() in C:\Programming\Ninject.Extensions.Conventions.Tests\NinjectFactoryTests.cs:line 37
InnerException:
And the factory interface:
public interface IVehicleFactory<T> where T : ICar
{
T CreateVehicle();
}
And the custom instance provider, whose breakpoints I can't even get the debugger to stop on, so I really don't know what's going on in there:
public class UseFirstGenericTypeArgumentInstanceProvider : StandardInstanceProvider
{
protected override string GetName(MethodInfo methodInfo, object[] arguments)
{
var genericTypeArguments = methodInfo.GetGenericArguments();
var genericMethodDefinition = methodInfo.GetGenericMethodDefinition();
var g = genericMethodDefinition.MakeGenericMethod(genericTypeArguments.First());
return g.MemberType.GetType().Name;
}
protected override ConstructorArgument[] GetConstructorArguments(MethodInfo methodInfo, object[] arguments)
{
return base.GetConstructorArguments(methodInfo, arguments).Skip(1).ToArray();
}
}
EDIT 1 - Change IVehicleFactory signature and custom instance provider
Here's I've changed the IVehicleFactory signature to use a generic Create<T>() method, and explicitly bound Mercedes to itself.
public interface IVehicleFactory
{
T CreateVehicle<T>() where T : ICar;
}
And the new custom instance provider which returns the name of the first generic type parameter:
public class UseFirstGenericTypeArgumentInstanceProvider : StandardInstanceProvider
{
protected override string GetName(MethodInfo methodInfo, object[] arguments)
{
var genericTypeArguments = methodInfo.GetGenericArguments();
return genericTypeArguments[0].Name;
}
}
Here's the new test, still not passing:
[Fact]
public void A_Generic_Vehicle_Factory_Creates_A_Car_Whose_Type_Name_Equals_Factory_Method_String_Argument()
{
using (StandardKernel kernel = new StandardKernel())
{
// arrange
kernel.Bind<IVehicleFactory>()
.ToFactory(() => new UseFirstGenericTypeArgumentInstanceProvider())
.InSingletonScope();
kernel.Bind<Mercedes>().ToSelf();
IVehicleFactory factory = kernel.Get<IVehicleFactory>();
// act
var car = factory.CreateVehicle<Mercedes>();
// assert
Assert.IsType<Mercedes>(car);
}
}
}
A Ninject.ActivationException is thrown:
Ninject.ActivationException: Error activating Mercedes
No matching bindings are available, and the type is not self-bindable.
Activation path:
1) Request for Mercedes
I don't know why it can't find the Mercedes class, since I explicitly self-bound it. Can you spot what I'm doing wrong?
Use generic methods:
public interface IVehicleFactory
{
CreateVehicle<T>();
}
How can I bind InitializerForXXX (non-generic implementation) to IInitializer<XXX> (generic interface) using Ninject Conventions so that requests for an IInitializer<T> resolve a non-generic implementation whose name starts with InitializerFor and end with typeof(T).Name like:
initializerFactory.CreateFor<Blue>(); //resolves InitializerOfBlue
initializerFactory.CreateFor<ShadeOfBlue>(); //resolves InitializerOfShadeOfBlue
where no non-abstract class directly implement IInitializer<T>, and some implementations inherit from other implementations:
InitializerForShadeOfBlue inherits from InitializerForBlue
InitializerForBlue inherits from abstract Initializer<Blue>
abstract Initializer<T> directly implements IInitializer<T>
I'm hoping I can use a .EndsWith(typeof(T).Name) for a given IInitializer<T> convention I can use, because there are literally hundreds of initializers in the ShadeOfxxx vein. If I have to map all of them, I'm better off finding a way to resolve with reflection at runtime.
Given the following:
UPDATE: bindings with custom binding generator (see my answer below for implementation)
void Bootstrap(IBindingRoot kernel)
{
kernel.Bind<IInitializerFactory>()
.To<InitializerFactory>()
.InSingletonScope();
kernel.Bind(scanner =>
scanner.FromThisAssembly().SelectAllClasses()
.WhichAreNotGeneric()
.InheritedFrom(typeof(IComplexContent))
.BindAllInterfaces());
kernel.Bind(scanner =>
scanner.FromThisAssembly().SelectAllClasses()
.WhichAreNotGeneric()
.InheritedFrom(typeof(IInitializer<>))
.BindWith<FirstTypeParameterNameMatchesEndOfBoundClassNameGenerator>());
}
main method
void Main(IEnumerable<string> values)
{
// setup bindings
var kernel = new StandardKernel();
Bootstrap(kernel);
IInitializerFactory initializerFactory =
kernel.Get<IInitializerFactory>();
IInitializer<ShadeOfBlueComplexContent> initializer =
initializerFactory.CreateFor<ShadeOfBlueComplexContent>();
initializer.Initialize(values);
}
initializer factory
interface IInitializerFactory
{
IInitializer<T> CreateFor<T>() where T : class, IComplexContent, new();
}
class InitializerFactory : IInitializerFactory
{
public IInitializer<T> CreateFor<T>() where T : class, IComplexContent, new()
{
return MagicallyGetInitializer<T>();
}
//behind the curtain, whirring noises are heard as 't' is resolved...
private static IInitializer<T> MagicallyGetInitializer<T>()
where T : class, IComplexContent, new()
{
IInitializer<T> i = null;
return i;
}
}
initializers
interface IInitializer<out T> where T : IComplexContent
{
T Initialize(IEnumerable<string> values);
}
abstract class Initializer<T> : IInitializer<T> where T : IComplexContent
{
public abstract T Initialize(IEnumerable<string> values);
}
class InitializerOfBlue : Initializer<Blue>
{
private readonly Blue _content;
public InitializerOfBlue(Blue content) {_content = content;}
public override Blue Initialize(IEnumerable<string> values)
{
_content.BlueSpecificProperty = values.ElementAt(0);
//... populate other blue-specific properties like this
return _content;
}
}
class InitializerOfShadeOfBlue : InitializerOfBlue
{
public InitializerOfShadeOfBlue(ShadeOfBlue content) : base(content){}
}
content models
interface IComplexContent
{
string OneBasicProperty { get; set; }
// other properties are specific to implementation
string UniqueOperation();
}
abstract class BaseComplexContent : IComplexContent
{
public string OneBasicProperty { get; set; }
public abstract string UniqueOperation();
}
class Blue : BaseComplexContent
{
// initializer sets this
public string PropertyForAllKindsOfBlue { get; set; }
// initializer doesn't interact with this
public override string UniqueOperation() {return "I'm plain.";}
}
class ShadeOfBlue : Blue
{
// initializer doesn't interact with this
public override string UniqueOperation() {return "I'm fabulous!";}
}
You are over specifying the class selection
kernel.Bind(scanner =>
scanner.FromThisAssembly().SelectAllClasses()
.WhichAreNotGeneric()
.InheritedFrom(typeof (IInitializer<>))
This is already enough. What you need to do though is to add a custom Binding Generator. That selects IInitializer<Blue> for InitializerForBlue and IInitializer<ShadeOfBlue> for InitializerForShadeOfBlue
https://github.com/ninject/ninject.extensions.conventions/wiki/Projecting-Services-to-Bind
BEGIN SOLUTION CANDIDATE - custom binding generator:
custom binding generator
Thanks for the advice, #RemoGloor and #RubenBartelink. I'm stumped though - the problem is that I wind up binding the IInitializer<Blue> to InitializerOfShadeOfBlue. I need to be able to somehow change the generic type argument from Blue to ShadeOfBlue in the IInitializer<Blue> binding candidate, since IInitializer<ShadeOfBlue> is what will be requested from the factory method at runtime.
Is there a way to modify the generic type argument list of the binding candidate? Or am I barking up the wrong implementation? Any edit suggestions to my OP or this answer are appreciated.
/// <summary>Creates bindings on open generic types where bound implementations'
/// names end with the name of the generic type argument</summary>
public class FirstTypeParameterNameMatchesEndOfBoundClassNameGenerator : IBindingGenerator
{
public IEnumerable<IBindingWhenInNamedWithOrOnSyntax<object>> CreateBindings(Type type, IBindingRoot bindingRoot)
{
if (type == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("type");
if (bindingRoot == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("bindingRoot");
// only consider concrete, non-abstract classes
if (type.IsInterface || type.IsAbstract) yield break;
var bindingType = GetBindingType(type);
if (bindingType != null)
yield return bindingRoot.Bind(bindingType).To(type);
// ARGH! bindingType == IInitializer`1[[Blue]] but I want
// IInitializer`1[[ShadeOfBlue]] for type == ShadeOfBlue
}
private static Type GetBindingType(Type type)
{
Type goodMatch = null;
foreach (var candidate in type.GetInterfaces())
{
// skip non-generic interfaces
if (!candidate.IsGenericType) continue;
// assumption: using argument in first position
var firstArg = candidate.GetGenericArguments().First();
if (!type.Name.EndsWith(firstArg.Name)) continue;
// IInitializer<XXX> matches InitializerOfXXX
goodMatch = candidate;
break;
}
if (goodMatch == null)
{
// if no match on interfaces, walk through the ancestor types
foreach (var candidate in type.GetAllAncestors())
{
goodMatch = GetBindingType(candidate);
if (goodMatch != null) break;
}
}
return goodMatch;
}
Type Extension helper
public static class TypeExtensions
{
// returns all ancestor types starting with the parent
public static IEnumerable<Type> GetAllAncestors(this Type type)
{
for (var current = type.BaseType; current != null; current = current.BaseType)
yield return current;
}
}
END SOLUTION CANDIDATE - custom binding generator
I have the following code with a simple class and a method for writing and then reading:
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
try{
DataStore testOut = new DataStore();
DataStore.Checklist ch1 = testOut.addChecklist();
ch1.SetTitle("Checklist1");
String output = mapper.writeValueAsString(testOut);
JsonNode rootNode = mapper.readValue(output, JsonNode.class);
Map<String,Object> userData = mapper.readValue(output, Map.class);
}
public class DataStore {
public static class Checklist
{
public Checklist()
{
}
private String _title;
public String GetTitle()
{
return _title;
}
public void SetTitle(String title)
{
_title = title;
}
}
//Checklists
private Vector<Checklist> _checklists = new Vector<Checklist>();
public Checklist addChecklist()
{
Checklist ch = new Checklist();
ch.SetTitle("New Checklist");
_checklists.add(ch);
return ch;
}
public Vector<Checklist> getChecklists()
{
return _checklists;
}
public void setChecklists(Vector<Checklist> checklists)
{
_checklists = checklists;
}
}
The line:
String output = mapper.writeValueAsString(testOut);
causes an exception that has had me baffled for hours and about to abandon using this at all.
Any hints are appreciated.
Here is the exception:
No serializer found for class DataStore$Checklist and no properties discovered to create BeanSerializer (to avoid exception, disable SerializationConfig.Feature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS) ) (through reference chain: DataStore["checklists"]->java.util.Vector[0])
There are multiple ways to do it, but I will start with what you are doing wrong: your naming of getter and setter method is wrong -- in Java one uses "camel-case", so you should be using "getTitle". Because of this, properties are not found.
Besides renaming methods to use Java-style names, there are alternatives:
You can use annotation JsonProperty("title") for GetTitle(), so that property is recognized
If you don't want the wrapper object, you could alternatively just add #JsonValue for GetTitle(), in which case value used for the whole object would be return value of that method.
The answer seems to be: You can't do that with Json. I've seen comments in the Gson tutorial as well, that state that some serialization just doesn't work. I downloaded XStream and spat it out with XML in a few minutes of work and a lot less construction around what I really wanted to persist. In the process, I was able to delete a lot of code.
I get an error:
Resolution of the dependency failed, type = "MyAppApp.ServiceAgents.IMyAppServiceAgent", name = "(none)".
Exception occurred while: while resolving.
Exception is: InvalidOperationException - The type Int32 cannot be constructed. You must configure the container to supply this value.
-----------------------------------------------
At the time of the exception, the container was:
Resolving MyAppApp.ServiceAgents.MyAppServiceAgent,(none) (mapped from MyAppApp.ServiceAgents.IMyAppServiceAgent, (none))
Resolving parameter "AuthHandlerId" of constructor MyAppApp.ServiceAgents.MyAppServiceAgent(System.Int32 AuthHandlerId, System.String AuthSessionGuid, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress ServiceEndPointAddress)
Resolving System.Int32,(none)
in the method which is below:
internal ServiceLocator()
{
services = new Dictionary<object, object>();
// fill the map
this.services.Add(typeof(IMyAppServiceAgent), _container.Resolve<IMyAppServiceAgent>());
}
This is how I call this method
I have a standard method in the ViewModelLocator (from MVVM Light Toolkit) method
public static void CreateShowroomLog()
{
if (_showroomLog == null)
{
_showroomLog = new ShowroomLogViewModel(ServiceLocator.Instance(_container).GetService<IMyAppServiceAgent>());
}
}
and constructor is
public ViewModelLocator()
{
_container=new UnityContainer();
_container.RegisterType<IMyAppServiceAgent, MyAppServiceAgent>();
}
The class of which I need an instance is:
protected static EndpointAddress ServiceEndPointAddress
{
get { return (App.Current as App).ServiceEndpointAddr; }
}
protected static string AuthSessionGuid
{
get { return (App.Current as App).W2OGuid; }
}
protected static int AuthHandlerId
{
get { return (App.Current as App).OriginalHandlerId; }
}
public MyAppServiceAgent(int AuthHandlerId, string AuthSessionGuid, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress ServiceEndPointAddress)
{
_proxy = new MyAppService.Service1Client(new BasicHttpMessageInspectorBinding(new SilverlightAuthMessageInspector(AuthHandlerId.ToString(), AuthSessionGuid)), ServiceEndPointAddress);
}
public MyAppServiceAgent()
: this(AuthHandlerId, AuthSessionGuid, ServiceEndPointAddress)
{
}
How can I resolve this problem with cosntructor?
When you register your type you didn't specify which constructor to call on MyAppServiceAgent. By default Unity will choose the constructor with the most parameters but you didn't specify how those parameters should be resolved.
You could try this and see if it will cause the the default constructor (paramaterless) of MyAppServiceAgent to be called when this type is resolved..
_container=new UnityContainer();
_container.RegisterType<IMyAppServiceAgent, MyAppServiceAgent>(new InjectionConstructor());
What I think would be even better is to remove the ServiceEndPointAddress, AuthSessionGuid and AuthHandlerId static properties from your MyAppServiceAgent class. Then register the type like this
_container=new UnityContainer();
_container.RegisterType<IMyAppServiceAgent, MyAppServiceAgent>(
new InjectionConstructor(
(App.Current as App).OriginalHandlerId,
(App.Current as App).W2OGuid,
(App.Current as App).ServiceEndpointAddr
));
Which should cause this constructor to be called.
public MyAppServiceAgent(int AuthHandlerId, string AuthSessionGuid, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress ServiceEndPointAddress)
{
_proxy = new MyAppService.Service1Client(new BasicHttpMessageInspectorBinding(new SilverlightAuthMessageInspector(AuthHandlerId.ToString(), AuthSessionGuid)), ServiceEndPointAddress);
}
That way your MyAppServiceAgent class is not dependent on the App class.
Is anybody using JSON.NET with nHibernate? I notice that I am getting errors when I try to load a class with child collections.
I was facing the same problem so I tried to use #Liedman's code but the GetSerializableMembers() was never get called for the proxied reference.
I found another method to override:
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
protected override JsonContract CreateContract(Type objectType)
{
if (typeof(NHibernate.Proxy.INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType))
return base.CreateContract(objectType.BaseType);
else
return base.CreateContract(objectType);
}
}
We had this exact problem, which was solved with inspiration from Handcraftsman's response here.
The problem arises from JSON.NET being confused about how to serialize NHibernate's proxy classes. Solution: serialize the proxy instances like their base class.
A simplified version of Handcraftsman's code goes like this:
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver {
protected override List<MemberInfo> GetSerializableMembers(Type objectType) {
if (typeof(INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType)) {
return base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType.BaseType);
} else {
return base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType);
}
}
}
IMHO, this code has the advantage of still relying on JSON.NET's default behaviour regarding custom attributes, etc. (and the code is a lot shorter!).
It is used like this
var serializer = new JsonSerializer{
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver()
};
StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
JsonWriter jsonWriter = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonTextWriter(stringWriter);
serializer.Serialize(jsonWriter, objectToSerialize);
string serializedObject = stringWriter.ToString();
Note: This code was written for and used with NHibernate 2.1. As some commenters have pointed out, it doesn't work out of the box with later versions of NHibernate, you will have to make some adjustments. I will try to update the code if I ever have to do it with later versions of NHibernate.
I use NHibernate with Json.NET and noticed that I was getting inexplicable "__interceptors" properties in my serialized objects. A google search turned up this excellent solution by Lee Henson which I adapted to work with Json.NET 3.5 Release 5 as follows.
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
private static readonly MemberInfo[] NHibernateProxyInterfaceMembers = typeof(INHibernateProxy).GetMembers();
protected override List<MemberInfo> GetSerializableMembers(Type objectType)
{
var members = base.GetSerializableMembers(objectType);
members.RemoveAll(memberInfo =>
(IsMemberPartOfNHibernateProxyInterface(memberInfo)) ||
(IsMemberDynamicProxyMixin(memberInfo)) ||
(IsMemberMarkedWithIgnoreAttribute(memberInfo, objectType)) ||
(IsMemberInheritedFromProxySuperclass(memberInfo, objectType)));
var actualMemberInfos = new List<MemberInfo>();
foreach (var memberInfo in members)
{
var infos = memberInfo.DeclaringType.BaseType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name);
actualMemberInfos.Add(infos.Length == 0 ? memberInfo : infos[0]);
}
return actualMemberInfos;
}
private static bool IsMemberDynamicProxyMixin(MemberInfo memberInfo)
{
return memberInfo.Name == "__interceptors";
}
private static bool IsMemberInheritedFromProxySuperclass(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type objectType)
{
return memberInfo.DeclaringType.Assembly == typeof(INHibernateProxy).Assembly;
}
private static bool IsMemberMarkedWithIgnoreAttribute(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type objectType)
{
var infos = typeof(INHibernateProxy).IsAssignableFrom(objectType)
? objectType.BaseType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name)
: objectType.GetMember(memberInfo.Name);
return infos[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(JsonIgnoreAttribute), true).Length > 0;
}
private static bool IsMemberPartOfNHibernateProxyInterface(MemberInfo memberInfo)
{
return Array.Exists(NHibernateProxyInterfaceMembers, mi => memberInfo.Name == mi.Name);
}
}
To use it just put an instance in the ContractResolver property of your JsonSerializer. The circular dependency problem noted by jishi can be resolved by setting the ReferenceLoopHandling property to ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore . Here's an extension method that can be used to serialize objects using Json.Net
public static void SerializeToJsonFile<T>(this T itemToSerialize, string filePath)
{
using (StreamWriter streamWriter = new StreamWriter(filePath))
{
using (JsonWriter jsonWriter = new JsonTextWriter(streamWriter))
{
jsonWriter.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer
{
NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore,
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver(),
};
serializer.Serialize(jsonWriter, itemToSerialize);
}
}
}
Are you getting a circular dependancy-error? How do you ignore objects from serialization?
Since lazy loading generates a proxy-objects, any attributes your class-members have will be lost. I ran into the same issue with Newtonsoft JSON-serializer, since the proxy-object didn't have the [JsonIgnore] attributes anymore.
You will probably want to eager load most of the object so that it can be serialized:
ICriteria ic = _session.CreateCriteria(typeof(Person));
ic.Add(Restrictions.Eq("Id", id));
if (fetchEager)
{
ic.SetFetchMode("Person", FetchMode.Eager);
}
A nice way to do this is to add a bool to the constructor (bool isFetchEager) of your data provider method.
I'd say this is a design problem in my opinion. Because NH makes connections to the database underneath all and has proxies in the middle, it is not good for the transparency of your application to serialize them directly (and as you can see Json.NET does not like them at all).
You should not serialize the entities themselves, but you should convert them into "view" objects or POCO or DTO objects (whatever you want to call them) and then serialize these.
The difference is that while NH entity may have proxies, lazy attributes, etc. View objects are simple objects with only primitives which are serializable by default.
How to manage FKs?
My personal rule is:
Entity level: Person class and with a Gender class associated
View level: Person view with GenderId and GenderName properties.
This means that you need to expand your properties into primitives when converting to view objects. This way also your json objects are simpler and easier to handle.
When you need to push the changes to the DB, in my case I use AutoMapper and do a ValueResolver class which can convert your new Guid to the Gender object.
UPDATE: Check http://blog.andrewawhitaker.com/blog/2014/06/19/queryover-series-part-4-transforming/ for a way to get the view directly (AliasToBean) from NH. This would be a boost in the DB side.
The problem can happen when NHibernate wraps the nested collection properties in a PersistentGenericBag<> type.
The GetSerializableMembers and CreateContract overrides cannot detect that these nested collection properties are "proxied". One way to resolve this is to override the CreateProperty method. The trick is to get the value from the property using reflection and test whether the type is of PersistentGenericBag. This method also has the ability to filter any properties that generated exceptions.
public class NHibernateContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
{
JsonProperty property = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);
property.ShouldSerialize = instance =>
{
try
{
PropertyInfo prop = (PropertyInfo)member;
if (prop.CanRead)
{
var value = prop.GetValue(instance, null);
if (value != null && typeof(NHibernate.Collection.Generic.PersistentGenericBag<>).IsSubclassOfRawGeneric(value.GetType()))
return false;
return true;
}
}
catch
{ }
return false;
};
return property;
}
}
The IsSubclassOfRawGeneric extension used above:
public static class TypeExtensions
{
public static bool IsSubclassOfRawGeneric(this Type generic, Type? toCheck)
{
while (toCheck != null && toCheck != typeof(object))
{
var cur = toCheck.IsGenericType ? toCheck.GetGenericTypeDefinition() : toCheck;
if (generic == cur)
{
return true;
}
toCheck = toCheck?.BaseType;
}
return false;
}
}
If you serialize objects that contain NHibernate proxy classes you might end up downloading the whole database, because once the property is accessed NHibernate would trigger a request to the database.
I've just implemented a Unit of Work for NHibernate: NHUnit that fixes two of the most annoying issues from NHibernate: proxy classes and cartesian product when using fetch.
How would you use this?
var customer = await _dbContext.Customers.Get(customerId) //returns a wrapper to configure the query
.Include(c => c.Addresses.Single().Country, //include Addresses and Country
c => c.PhoneNumbers.Single().PhoneNumberType) //include all PhoneNumbers with PhoneNumberType
.Unproxy() //instructs the framework to strip all the proxy classes when the Value is returned
.Deferred() //instructs the framework to delay execution (future)
.ValueAsync(token); //this is where all deferred queries get executed
The above code is basically configuring a query: return a customer by id with multiple child objects which should be executed with other queries (futures) and the returned result should be stripped of NHibernate proxies. The query gets executed when ValueAsync is called.
NHUnit determines if it should do join with the main query, create new future queries or make use of batch fetch.
There is a simple example project on Github to show you how to use NHUnit package. If others are interested in this project I will invest more time to make it better.
This is what I use:
Have a marker interface and inherit it on your entities, e.g. in my case empty IEntity.
We will use the marker interface to detect NHibernate entity types in the contract resolver.
public class CustomerEntity : IEntity { ... }
Create a custom contract resolver for JSON.NET
public class NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider : IValueProvider {
private readonly IValueProvider _valueProvider;
public NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider(IValueProvider valueProvider)
{
_valueProvider = valueProvider;
}
public void SetValue(object target, object value)
{
_valueProvider.SetValue(target, value);
}
private static (bool isProxy, bool isInitialized) GetProxy(object proxy)
{
// this is pretty much what NHibernateUtil.IsInitialized() does.
switch (proxy)
{
case INHibernateProxy hibernateProxy:
return (true, !hibernateProxy.HibernateLazyInitializer.IsUninitialized);
case ILazyInitializedCollection initializedCollection:
return (true, initializedCollection.WasInitialized);
case IPersistentCollection persistentCollection:
return (true, persistentCollection.WasInitialized);
default:
return (false, false);
}
}
public object GetValue(object target)
{
object value = _valueProvider.GetValue(target);
(bool isProxy, bool isInitialized) = GetProxy(value);
if (isProxy)
{
if (isInitialized)
{
return value;
}
if (value is IEnumerable)
{
return Enumerable.Empty<object>();
}
return null;
}
return value;
}
}
public class NHibernateContractResolver : CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver {
protected override JsonContract CreateContract(Type objectType)
{
if (objectType.IsAssignableTo(typeof(IEntity)))
{
return base.CreateObjectContract(objectType);
}
return base.CreateContract(objectType);
}
protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
{
JsonProperty property = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);
property.ValueProvider = new NHibernateProxyJsonValueProvider(property.ValueProvider);
return property;
}
}
Normal uninitialized lazy loaded properties will result in null in the json output.
Collection uninitialized lazy loaded properties will result in an [] empty array in json.
So for a lazy loaded property to appear in the json output you need to eagerly load it in the query or in code before serialization.
Usage:
JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entityToSerialize, new JsonSerializerSettings() {
ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver()
});
Or globally in in ASP.NET Core Startup class
services.AddNewtonsoftJson(options =>
{
options.SerializerSettings.ContractResolver = new NHibernateContractResolver();
});
Using:
NET 5.0
NHibernate 5.3.8
JSON.NET latest via ASP.NET Core