I want to access ISession directly from application services (without using repository (http://ayende.com/blog/3955/repository-is-the-new-singleton)) but application services unit test is hard and Nhibernate data access code increase complexity of code (no repository mock and I don't want to mock repository or in memory db like sqllite for testing)
Is there any efficient way access to ISession from service layer?
I use a sessionHelper which basically holds the ISessionFactory - and then have methods like this:
public T WrapQueryInTransaction<T>(Func<ISession, T> query)
{
using (var tx = Session.BeginTransaction())
{
try
{
var result = query(Session);
tx.Commit();
return result;
}
}
}
I then have similar methods for common functionality - ie. xxxUpdaters which basically loads the object in question, makes the updates and then closes the ISession again.
And then usage is as follows for queries:
var entities = _sessionHelper.WrapQueryInTransaction(s => s.QueryOver<SomeEntity>().List());
For complex queries I have these incapsulated in a query class which can also be thrown at the sessionHelper.
It works for me - hope you can use it.
Related
I am fairly new to NHibernate, and I am trying to come up with a good pattern for using the Unit of Work pattern with NHibernate Sessions, but allowing for different Connection Strings to be used to connect to different databases/as different users.
I am leaning towards a Factory Pattern, because I need this to work with Oracle and SQL Server.
I am using Fluent NHibernate.
Any suggestions?
You will need a different ISessionFactory, from a different configuration, for each of your connection strings.
Here is a very rough implementation for an ISessionFactory Factory. Note that configurations may differ in many ways (for example in DLL scopes), not only connection strings. So you may soon need to pass a whole configSection to your _buildConfiguration, or have _buildConfiguration implemented by a custom IMyConfigurationBuilder.
// The main method to be called with "oracle" or "sqlserver" as parameter
public NHibernate.ISessionFactory BuildSessionFactory(string configName)
{
return GetConfiguration(configName).BuildSessionFactory();
}
public NHibernate.Cfg.Configuration GetConfiguration(string configName)
{
switch (configName)
{
case "oracle": return _buildConfiguration("connectionstringtoOracleFromApplicationConfig");
case "sqlserver": return _buildConfiguration("connectionstringtoSqlserverFromApplicationConfig");
}
return null;
}
private NHibernate.Cfg.Configuration _buildConfiguration(string connectionString)
{
var cfg = new Configuration();
//.
//.
cfg.Properties.Add("connection.connection_string", connectionString);
//.
//.
return cfg;
}
Hope this will help
My ASP.NET MVC 4 project is using NHibernate (behind repositories) and Castle Windsor, using the AutoTx and NHibernate Facilities. I've followed the guide written by haf and my I can create and read objects.
My PersistenceInstaller looks like this
public class PersistenceInstaller : IWindsorInstaller
{
public void Install(Castle.Windsor.IWindsorContainer container, Castle.MicroKernel.SubSystems.Configuration.IConfigurationStore store)
{
container.AddFacility<AutoTxFacility>();
container.Register(Component.For<INHibernateInstaller>().ImplementedBy<NHibernateInstaller>().LifeStyle.Singleton);
container.AddFacility<NHibernateFacility>(
f => f.DefaultLifeStyle = DefaultSessionLifeStyleOption.SessionPerWebRequest);
}
}
The NHibernateInstaller is straight from the NHib Facility Quickstart.
I am using ISessionManager in my base repository...
protected ISession Session
{
get
{
return _sessionManager.OpenSession();
}
}
public virtual T Commit(T entity)
{
Session.SaveOrUpdate(entity);
return entity;
}
Finally, my application code which is causing the problem:
[HttpPost]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
[Transaction]
public ActionResult Maintain(PrescriberMaintainViewModel viewModel)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
var prescriber = UserRepository.GetPrescriber(User.Identity.Name);
//var prescriber = new Prescriber { DateJoined = DateTime.Today, Username = "Test" };
prescriber.SecurityQuestion = viewModel.SecurityQuestion;
prescriber.SecurityAnswer = viewModel.SecurityAnswer;
prescriber.EmailAddress = viewModel.Email;
prescriber.FirstName = viewModel.FirstName;
prescriber.LastName = viewModel.LastName;
prescriber.Address = new Address
{
Address1 = viewModel.AddressLine1,
Address2 = viewModel.AddressLine2,
Address3 = viewModel.AddressLine3,
Suburb = viewModel.Suburb,
State = viewModel.State,
Postcode = viewModel.Postcode,
Country = string.Empty
};
prescriber.MobileNumber = viewModel.MobileNumber;
prescriber.PhoneNumber = viewModel.PhoneNumber;
prescriber.DateOfBirth = viewModel.DateOfBirth;
prescriber.AHPRANumber = viewModel.AhpraNumber;
prescriber.ClinicName = viewModel.ClinicName;
prescriber.ClinicWebUrl = viewModel.ClinicWebUrl;
prescriber.Qualifications = viewModel.Qualifications;
prescriber.JobTitle = viewModel.JobTitle;
UserRepository.Commit(prescriber);
}
return View(viewModel);
}
The above code will save a new prescriber (tested by uncommenting out the commented out line etc).
I am using NHProf and have confirmed that no sql is sent to the database for the Update. I can see the read being performed but that's it.
It seems to me that NHibernate doesn't recognise the entity as being changed and therefore does not generate the sql. Or possibly the transaction isn't being committed?
I've been scouring the webs for a few hours now trying to work this one out and as a last act of desperation have posted on SO. Any ideas? :)
Oh and in NHProf I see three Sessions (1 for the GetPrescriber call from the repo, one I assume for the update (with no sql) - and one for some action in my actionfilter on the base class). I also get an alert about the use of implicit transactions. This confuses me because I thought I was doing everything I needed to get an transaction - using AutoTx and the Transaction attribute. I also expected there to be only 1 session per webrequest, as per my Windsor config.
UPDATE: It seems, after spending the day reading through the source for NHibernateFacility and AutoTx Facility for automatic transactions, that AutoTx is not setting the Interceptors on my implementation of INHibernateInstaller. It seems this means whenever SessionManager calls OpenSession it is calling the default version with no parameter, rather than the one that accepts an Interceptor. Internally AutoTxFacility registers TransactionInterceptor with windsor, so that it can be added the Interceptor on my INHibernateInstaller concrete, by windsor making use of the AutoTx's TransactionalComponentInspector
AutoTxFacility source on github
To me it looks like creating sessions for every call to the repository. A session should span the whole business operation. It should be opened at the beginning and committed and disposed at the end.
There are other strange things in this code.
Commit is a completely different concept than SaveOrUpdate.
And you don't need to tell NH to store changes anyway. You don't need to call session.Save for objects that are already in the session. They are stored anyway. You only need to call session.Save when you add new objects.
Make sure that you use a transaction for the whole business operation.
There is one most likely "unintended" part in the code snippet above. And proven by observation made by NHProf
Oh and in NHProf I see three Sessions (1 for the GetPrescriber call
from the repo, one I assume for the update (with no sql) - and one for
some action in my actionfilter on the base class).
Calling the OpenSession() is triggering creation of a new session instances.
protected ISession Session
{
get { return _sessionManager.OpenSession(); }
}
So, whenever the code is accessing the Session property, behind is new session instance created (again and again). One session for get, one for udpate, one for filter...
As we can see here, the session returned by SessionManager.OpenSession() must be used for the whole scope (Unit of work, web request...)
http://docs.castleproject.org/Windsor.NHibernate-Facility.ashx
The syntaxh which we need, si to create one session (when firstly accessed) and reuse it until enf of scope (then later correctly close it, commit or rollback transaction...). Anyhow, first thing right now is to change the Session property this way:
ISession _session;
protected ISession Session
{
get
{
if (_session == null)
{
_session = sessionFactory.OpenSession();
}
return _session;
}
}
After spending a full day yesterday searching through the AutoTx and NHibernate facilities on github and getting nowhere, I started a clean project in an attempt to replicate the problem. Unfortunately for the replication, everything worked! I ran Update-Package on my source and brought down new version of Castle.Transactions and I was running correctly. I did make a small adjustment to my own code. That was to remove the UserRepository.Commit line.
I did not need to modify how I opened sessions. That was taken care of by the SessionManager instance. With the update to Castle.Transactions, the Transaction attribute is being recognised and a transaction is being created (as evidenced by no more alert in NHProf).
I've got a method helper in my tests base class that looks like this:
protected TEntity Fetch<TEntity>(Guid id) where TEntity : Entity
{
using (var session = GetSession())
return session.Get<TEntity>(id);
}
So I can call it from an integration test as such:
var persistedFoo = Fetch<Foo>(foo.Id);
How can I set the session in my Fetch method to eager fetch all properties in TEntity?
According to NHibernate docs here you should use NHibernateUtility class, so change your code into something like this should help:
using(var session = GetSession())
{
var entity = session.Get<TEntity>(id);
NHibernateUtil.Initialize(entity);
}
alternatively, you can use one of nHib's querying APIs (I personally prefer QueryOver), to do something like
session.QueryOver<Cat>().Where(cat => cat.Id == id).Fetch(c => c.Kittens).Eager.
This gives you the added bonus of controlling exactly which properties / collections would be fetched.
Also, it's recommended that you do NOT abstract-away your ISession usage in repositories.
It would prevent you from benefiting from such nHibernate features as batching (see ayende's post here)
Being rather new to MVC 3 and EF, I'm trying to understand the best architectural approach to developing an application for my company. The application will be a large-scale application that potentially handles hundreds of users at the same time, so I want to make sure I understand and am following proper procedures. So far, I've determined that a simple repository pattern (such as Controller -> Repository -> EF) approach is the best and easiest to implement, but I'm not sure if that is definitely the best way to do things. The application will basically return data that is shown to a user in a devexpress grid and they can modify this data/add to it etc.
I found this article and it is rather confusing for me at this time, so I'm wondering if there is any reason to attempt to work with a disconnected EF and why you would even want to do so: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/81543/Finally-Entity-Framework-working-in-fully-disconne?msg=3717432#xx3717432xx
So to summarize my question(s):
Is the code below acceptable?
Should it work fine for a large-scale MVC application?
Is there a better way?
Will unnecessary connections to SQL remain open from EF? (SQL Profiler makes it look like it stays open a while even after the using statement has exited)
Is the disconnected framework idea a better one and why would you even want to do that? I don't believe we'll need to track data across tiers ...
Note: The repository implements IDisposable and has the dispose method listed below. It creates a new instance of the entity context in the repository constructor.
Example Usage:
Controller (LogOn using Custom Membership Provider):
if (MembershipService.ValidateUser(model.UserName, model.Password))
{
User newUser = new User();
using (AccountRepository repo = new AccountRepository())
{
newUser = repo.GetUser(model.UserName);
...
}
}
Membership Provider ValidateUser:
public override bool ValidateUser(string username, string password)
{
using (AccountRepository repo = new AccountRepository())
{
try
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(password.Trim()) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(username.Trim()))
return false;
string hash = FormsAuthentication.HashPasswordForStoringInConfigFile(password.Trim(), "md5");
bool exists = false;
exists = repo.UserExists(username, hash);
return exists;
}catch{
return false;
}
}
}
Account Repository Methods for GetUser & UserExists:
Get User:
public User GetUser(string userName)
{
try
{
return entities.Users.SingleOrDefault(user => user.UserName == userName);
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
throw new Exception("An error occurred: " + Ex.Message);
}
}
User Exists:
public bool UserExists(string userName, string userPassword)
{
if (userName == "" || userPassword == "")
throw new ArgumentException(InvalidUsernamePassword);
try
{
bool exists = (entities.Users.SingleOrDefault(u => u.UserName == userName && u.Password == userPassword) != null);
return exists;
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
throw new Exception("An error occurred: " + Ex.Message);
}
}
Repository Snippets (Constructor, Dispose etc):
public class AccountRepository : IDisposable
{
private DbContext entities;
public AccountRepository()
{
entities = new DbContext();
}
...
public void Dispose()
{
entities.Dispose();
}
}
What's acceptable is pretty subjective, but if you want to do proper data access I suggest you do NOT use the repository pattern, as it breaks down as your application gets more complex.
The biggest reason is minimizing database access. So for example look at your repository and notice the GetUser() method. Now take a step back from the code and think about how your application is going to be used. Now think about how often you are going to request data from the user table without any additional data. The answer is almost always going to be "rarely" unless you are creating a basic data entry application.
You say it your application will show a lot of grids. What data is in that Grid? I'm assuming (without knowing your application domain) that the grids will combine user data with other information that's relevant for that user. If that's the case, how do you do it with your repositories?
One way is to call on each repository's method individually, like so:
var user = userRepository.GetUser("KallDrexx");
var companies = companyRepository.GetCompaniesForUser(user.Id);
This now means you have 2 database calls for what really should be just one. As your screens get more and more complex, this will cause the number of database hits to increase and increase, and if your application gets significant traffic this will cause performance issues. The only real way to do this in the repository pattern is to add special methods to your repositories to do that specific query, like:
public class UserRepository
{
public User GetUser(string userName)
{
// GetUser code
}
public User GetUserWithCompanies(string userName)
{
// query code here
}
}
So now what happens if you need users and say their contact data in one query. Now you have to add another method to your user repository. Now say you need to do another query that also returns the number of clients each company has, so you need to add yet another method (or add an optional parameter). Now say you want to add a query that returns all companies and what users they contain. Now you need a new query method but then comes the question of do you put that in the User repository or the Company repository? How do you keep track of which one it's in and make it simple to choose between GetUserWithCompany and GetCompanyWithUsers when you need it later?
Everything gets very complex from that point on, and it's those situations that have made me drop the repository pattern. What I do now for data access is I create individual query and command classes, each class represents 1 (and only 1) query or data update command to the database. Each query class returns a view model that only contains the data I need for one specific user usage scenario. There are other data access patterns that will work too (specification pattern, some good devs even say you should just do your data access in your controllers since EF is your data access layer).
The key to doing data access successfully is good planning. Do you know what your screens are going to look like? Do you know how users are going to use your system? Do you know all the data that is actually going to be on each screen? If the answer to any of these is no, then you need to take a step back and forget about the data layer, because the data layer is (or should be for a good application) determined based on how the application is actually going to be used, the UI and the screens should not be dependent on how the data layer was designed. If you don't take your UI needs and user usage scenarios into account when developing the data access, your application will not scale well and will not be performant. Sometimes that's not an issue if you don't plan on your site being big, but it never hurts to keep those things in mind.
No matter what you do, you may consider moving instantiation and disposing of your context to your controller like this:
public class MyController : Controller
{
private Entities context = new Entities();
...
public override void Dispose()
{
context.Dispose();
}
}
You can then pass that context into any method that needs it without duplicating the overhead of creating it.
I disagree that the repository pattern is necessarily bad for the same reason. You create multiple classes to break up your code to make it manageable and still reuse the same context. That could look something like this:
repository.Users.GetUser(userName);
In this case "Users" is a lazy loaded instance of your user repository class which reuses the context from your repository. So the code for that Users property in your repository would look something like this:
private UserRepository users;
public UserRepository Users
{
get
{
If (users == null)
{
users = new UserRepository(this);
}
return users;
}
}
You can then expose your context to these other lazy loaded classes via a property.
I don't think this necessarily conflicts with KallDrexx's pattern. His method simply flips this so instead of
repository.Users.GetUser(userName);
You would have something like
UserQuery query = new UserQuery(repository.Users);
This then becomes an issue of syntax. Do you want this:
repository.Area.Query(value1, value2, ...);
Or this:
AreaQuery query = new AreaQuery { Property1 = value1, ... };
The latter actually works nicer with model binding but obviously is more verbose when you actually have to code it.
Best advice KallDrexx gave is to just put your code I your actions and then figure it out. If you are doing simple CRUD, then let MVC instantiate and populate your model, then all you have to do is attach and save. If you find you can reuse code, move it to where it can be reused. If your application starts getting too complicated, try some of these recommendations until you find what works for you.
About the declaration of ISession.
Should we close the Session everytime we use it, or should we keep it open?
I'm asking this because in manual of NHibernate (nhforge.org) they recommend us to declare it once in Application_Start for example, but i don't know if we should close it everytime we use.
Thanks
You can keep one single static reference to a ISessionFactory, which can be indeed instantiated in Application_Start for web applications.
However, ISession must not be kept open and cannot be shared between two or more requests. You should adopt the "one session per request" pattern which allows you to build a single ISession for each HTTP request and dispose it safely once the request has been handled (this is assuming you are writing a web application).
For instance, the code handling NHibernate sessions in you project might look like this:
public static class NHibernateHelper {
static ISessionFactory _factory;
public static NHibernateHelper(){
//This code runs once when the application starts
//Use whatever is needed to build your ISessionFactory (read configuration, etc.)
_factory = CreateYourSessionFactory();
}
const string SessionKey = "NhibernateSessionPerRequest";
public static ISession OpenSession(){
var context = HttpContext.Current;
//Check whether there is an already open ISession for this request
if(context != null && context.Items.ContainsKey(SessionKey)){
//Return the open ISession
return (ISession)context.Items[SessionKey];
}
else{
//Create a new ISession and store it in HttpContext
var newSession = _factory.OpenSession();
if(context != null)
context.Items[SessionKey] = newSession;
return newSession;
}
}
}
This code is probably far to simple and has not been tested (nor compiled in fact), but it should work. For a more safe handling of your sessions you could also use an IoC container (Autofac for instance) and register your ISessions with a lifetime that depends on HTTP requests (Autofac will handle everything for you in that case).
Sessions should be closed when you are done with them. There are multiple possible ways to manage the lifetime of a session and choosing the right one is specific to each scenario. "Unit of Work" and "Session per Request" are the two most often used session lifetime management patterns.
In Application_Start, you should create the SessionFactory, not the Session. The SessionFactory does not need to be closed.