MEF Child Container Module Not Initializing - module

I have a simple container hierarchy with a parent container which is defined in the Shell MEFBootstrapper using a Directory catalog, and child container(s) which get created off the parent with a distinct catalog.
My child containers also use DirectoryCatalog (different path than parent), and I can see that the container has assembly and part information during runtime.
However, the Initialize() method for the modules located in the child containers are never called.
My goal is to use the child containers as session constructs, allowing the user to create new sessions and toggle between them. But if I cannot get the constituent modules to initialize (and place their views into the regions), I am kind of stuck.
I had thought to raise an event from my session manager using event aggregator to allow the modules to listen for the event and self-initialize, but that doesn't seem to work either.
i. Why isn't Initialize getting called on modules loaded into a child container
ii. How can I "trigger" Initialize from the container instance (outside of the module context?) Can you iterate over the assemblies in the container and trigger Initialize that way???
[from MefBootstrapper in shell project]
protected override DependencyObject CreateShell()
{
ExportProvider ep = this.Container as ExportProvider;
this.Container.ComposeExportedValue(ep);
[from the service that manages my sessions (containers)]
[ImportingConstructor]
public SessionService(ExportProvider provider)
{
[constructor for new sessions (containers)]
private void Init(ComposablePartCatalog catalog, ExportProvider provider, string name, int callId, bool useContextProxy)
{
this._Name = name;
this._CallID = callId;
this.startTime = DateTime.Now;
this.appHost = new CompositionContainer(catalog, new ExportProvider[] { provider });
}
=====
Was asked to include my module code whose initialize method is not called (despite being loaded into the container in question...I can even lazy instantiate the module, but calling Initialize() directly causes the injection operation to fail in the method proper.
namespace Module1
{
//, InitializationMode = InitializationMode.OnDemand
[ModuleExport("Module1.ModuleInit", typeof(Module1.ModuleInit))]
public class ModuleInit : IModule
{
private readonly IRegionManager _regionManager;
public IServiceLocator _serviceLocator;
[ImportingConstructor]
public ModuleInit(IRegionManager regionManager, IServiceLocator serviceLocator)
{
_regionManager = regionManager;
_serviceLocator = serviceLocator;
}
#region IModule Members
public void Initialize()
{
// Use View Discovery to automatically display the MasterView when the TopLeft region is displayed.
_regionManager.RegisterViewWithRegion(RegionNames.TopLeftRegion, () => _serviceLocator.GetInstance<MasterView>());
}
#endregion
}
}

I downloaded your code and had a look at it. I immediately found the problem. The bootstrapper is actually getting exports thanks to a DirectoryCatalog like this:
DirectoryCatalog catalog = new DirectoryCatalog(".");
this.AggregateCatalog.Catalogs.Add(catalog);
This means that you will get the exports from the assemblies in this directory. So you simply need to copy all the the assemblies with the exported types in the directory ".", that is to say the executing directory (Debug/bin).
Just copy Module1 and Module2 in the bin directory and everthing will compose gracefully :)
Actually I found that the post-build events supposed to copy the modules in the bin directory were not working. Maybe because your renamed something. So if you want it automatically copy the assemblies after building just replace the actual post-build event by this one:
copy "$(TargetDir)\$(TargetFileName)" "$(TargetDir)\..\..\..\Shell\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\"

I already had this problem many times and resolving it is really simple.
Remove the constructor from the your module. Prism modules are not activated the same way it does for classical exported types, therefore modules cannot use ImportingConstructor to import the services you need. Instead intitialize them with the ServiceLocator within the Initialize method.
This will work:
[ModuleExport("Module1.ModuleInit", typeof(Module1.ModuleInit))]
public class ModuleInit : IModule
{
private readonly IRegionManager _regionManager;
public void Initialize()
{
_regionManager = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IRegionManager>();
_regionManager.RegisterViewWithRegion(RegionNames.TopLeftRegion, () => _serviceLocator.GetInstance<MasterView>());
}
}
I also think that this behavior is kind of disturbing.

I had this same problem where my modules Initialize() method was not being called... I realized I had left off the "override" keyword on my Initialize method that was declared virtual in the Module base class that all of my modules inherit from... added "override" and it worked!

Related

Adding DbContext for list of context types at runtime

To implement a plug-in system in a AspNet Core Mvc app, I would like a non-generic method to add a data context from a list of assemblies loaded dynamically at runtime, taking a Type parameter like this:
foreach(Type tp in pluginContexts)
{
services.AddDbContext(tp, options => ...);
}
instead of the usual
services.AddDbContext<PluginDataContext>(options => ...);
That's because for dynamically loaded assemblies, I can not provide the TContext type parameter to the AddDbContextPool method, since that's statically compiled and not available at compile time.
Background
This is for a larger Asp.Net Core MVC app. The plugins must be able to both access the main database of the overall app and a separate database of their own.
Plugin assemblies, containing domain code and their private database context are to be dropped in a specified directory.
The main app loads the plugin assembly dynamically upon startup.
The way I am solving this now is to have each controller get the IConfiguration instance injected, obtain the appropriate connection string from the config, and the database context is instantiated in the controller. Not so nice but does work.
One can easily inject a general class into the Services collection with AddScoped<>, and then use it as a sort of ServiceLocator - however, that is considered an antipattern.
I looked into the source code for AddDbContext but honestly I am lost.
Is there any simple way to achieve this?
Solved it by creating an extensibility point in the plugin assembly.
Define an interface in the main app, which all plugins must implement.
public interface IPluginContextRegistration
{
void RegisterContext(ref IServiceCollection services, Action<DbContextOptionsBuilder> optionsAction);
String GetDatabaseName();
}
Create a class implementing this interface (in the plugin). It has access to the type of its private database context, thus can use the generic AddDbContext method:
public class DatabaseRegistration : IPluginContextRegistration
{
public void RegisterContext(ref IServiceCollection services, Action<DbContextOptionsBuilder> optionsAction)
{
services.AddDbContext<Test1DbContext>(optionsAction);
}
public String GetDatabaseName()
{
return "test-plugin-db";
}
}
Then in the main app ASP.Net Startup.cs file, add following code, which calls the RegisterContext() method for each plugin. For example, if you want to use Sql Server:
void RegisterPluginDbContexts(ref IServiceCollection services, List<Assembly> assemblyList)
{
IEnumerable<IPluginContextRegistration> registrars = new List<IPluginContextRegistration>();
foreach (Assembly assembly in assemblyList)
{
registrars = registrars.Concat(GetClassInstances<IPluginContextRegistration>(assembly));
}
foreach (var reg in registrars)
{
String name = reg.GetDatabaseName();
String connStr = Configuration.GetConnectionString(name);
reg.RegisterContext(ref services, options => options.UseSqlServer(connStr));
}
}
For completeness - the method "GetClassInstances" is just a helper method using Reflection to obtain an instance of classes implementing the specified interface.
So it's simple after all - no need for re-writing framework code .

How to Solve Circular Dependency

Hi I have a problem with the structure of my code, it somehow goes into Circular Dependency. Here is an explanation of how my code looks like:
I have a ProjectA contains BaseProcessor and BaseProcessor has a reference to a class called Structure in ProjectB. Inside BaseProcessor, there is an instance of Structure as a variable.
In projectB there are someother classes such as Pricing, Transaction etc.
Every class in ProjectB has a base class called BaseStructure i.e. Structure, Pricing and Transaction classes all inherited from BaseStructure.
Now in Pricing and Transaction classes, I want to call a method in BaseProcessor class from BaseStructure class which causing Circular Dependency.
What I have tried is:
Using Unity, but I didn't figure out how to make it work because I try to use function like:
unityContainer.ReferenceType(IBaseProcessor, BaseProcessor)
in BaseStructure then it will need a reference of BaseProcessor which also cause Circular Dependency.
And I've also tried creating an interface of IBaseProcessor and create a function(the function I want to call) declaration in this interface. And let both BaseProcessor and BaseStructure inherit this interface. But how can I call the function in Pricing and Transaction class without create an instance of BaseProcessor?
Can anyone please tell me how to resolve this problem other than using reflection?
Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks :)
You could use the lazy resolution:
public class Pricing {
private Lazy<BaseProcessor> proc;
public Pricing(Lazy<BaseProcessor> proc) {
this.proc = proc;
}
void Foo() {
this.proc.Value.DoSomethin();
}
}
Note that you haven't to register the Lazy because Unity will resolve it by BaseProcessor registration.
Your DI container can't help solving the circular reference, since it is the dependency structure of the application that prevents objects from being created. Even without a DI container, you can't construct your object graphs without some special 'tricks'.
Do note that in most cases cyclic dependency graphs are a sign of a design flaw in your application, so you might want to consider taking a very close look at your design and see if this can't be solved by extracting logic into separate classes.
But if this is not an option, there are basically two ways of resolving this cyclic dependency graph. Either you need to fallback to property injection, or need to postpone resolving the component with a factory, Func<T>, or like #onof proposed with a Lazy<T>.
Within these two flavors, there are a lot of possible ways to do this, for instance by falling back to property injection into your application (excuse my C#):
public class BaseStructure {
public BaseStructure(IDependency d1) { ... }
// Break the dependency cycle using a property
public IBaseProcessor Processor { get; set; }
}
This moves the IBaseProcessor dependency from the constructor to a property and allows you to set it after the graph is constructed. Here's an example of an object graph that is built manually:
var structure = new Structure(new SomeDependency());
var processor = new BaseProcessor(structure);
// Set the property after the graph has been constructed.
structure.Processor = processor;
A better option is to hide the property inside your Composition Root. This makes your application design cleaner, since you can keep using constructor injection. Example:
public class BaseStructure {
// vanilla constructor injection here
public BaseStructure(IDependency d1, IBaseProcessor processor) { ... }
}
// Defined inside your Composition Root.
private class CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor : IBaseProcessor {
public IBaseProcessor WrappedProcessor { get; set; }
void IBaseProcessor.TheMethod() {
// forward the call to the real processor.
this.WrappedProcessor.TheMethod();
}
}
Now instead of injecting the BaseProcessor into your Structure, you inject the CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor, which will be further initialized after the construction of the graph:
var cyclicBreaker = new CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor();
var processor = new BaseProcessor(new Structure(new SomeDependency(), cyclicBreaker));
// Set the property after the graph has been constructed.
cyclicBreaker.WrappedProcessor = processor;
This is basically the same as before, but now the application stays oblivious from the fact that there is a cyclic dependency that needed to be broken.
Instead of using property injection, you can also use Lazy<T>, but just as with the property injection, it is best to hide this implementation detail inside your Composition Root, and don't let Lazy<T> values leak into your application, since this just adds noise to your application, which makes your code more complex and harder to test. Besides, the application shouldn't care that the dependency injection is delayed. Just as with Func<T> (and IEnumerable<T>), when injecting a Lazy<T> the dependency is defined with a particular implementation in mind and we're leaking implementation details. So it's better to do the following:
public class BaseStructure {
// vanilla constructor injection here
public BaseStructure(IDependency d1, IBaseProcessor processor) { ... }
}
// Defined inside your Composition Root.
public class CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor : IBaseProcessor {
public CyclicDependencyBreakingBaseProcessor(Lazy<IBaseProcessor> processor) {...}
void IBaseProcessor.TheMethod() {
this.processor.Value.TheMethod();
}
}
With the following wiring:
IBaseProcessor value = null;
var cyclicBreaker = new CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor(
new Lazy<IBaseProcessor>(() => value));
var processor = new BaseProcessor(new Structure(new SomeDependency(), cyclicBreaker));
// Set the value after the graph has been constructed.
value = processor;
Up until now I only showed how to build up the object graph manually. When doing this using a DI container, you usually want to let the DI container build up the complete graph for you, since this yields a more maintainable Composition Root. But this can make it a bit more tricky to break the cyclic dependencies. In most cases the trick is to register the component that you want to break with a caching lifestyle (basically anything else than transient). Per Web Request Lifestyle for instance. This allows you to get the same instance in a lazy fashion.
Using the last CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor example, we can create the following Unity registration:
container.Register<BaseProcessor>(new PerRequestLifetimeManager());
container.RegisterType<IStructure, Structure>();
container.RegisterType<IDependency, SomeDependenc>();
container.Register<IBaseProcessor>(new InjectionFactory(c =>
new CyclicDependencyBreakingProcessor(
new Lazy<IBaseProcessor>(() => c.GetInstance<BaseProcessor>())));

Looking for a Ninject scope that behaves like InRequestScope

On my service layer I have injected an UnitOfWork and 2 repositories in the constructor. The Unit of Work and repository have an instance of a DbContext I want to share between the two of them. How can I do that with Ninject ? Which scope should be considered ?
I am not in a web application so I can't use InRequestScope.
I try to do something similar... and I am using DI however, I need my UoW to be Disposed and created like this.
using (IUnitOfWork uow = new UnitOfWorkFactory.Create())
{
_testARepository.Insert(a);
_testBRepository.Insert(b);
uow.SaveChanges();
}
EDIT: I just want to be sure i understand… after look at https://github.com/ninject/ninject.extensions.namedscope/wiki/InNamedScope i though about my current console application architecture which actually use Ninject.
Lets say :
Class A is a Service layer class
Class B is an unit of work which take into parameter an interface (IContextFactory)
Class C is a repository which take into parameter an interface (IContextFactory)
The idea here is to be able to do context operations on 2 or more repository and using the unit of work to apply the changes.
Class D is a context factory (Entity Framework) which provide an instance (keep in a container) of the context which is shared between Class B et C (.. and would be for other repositories aswell).
The context factory keep the instance in his container so i don’t want to reuse this instance all the name since the context need to be disposed at the end of the service operaiton.. it is the main purpose of the InNamedScope actually ?
The solution would be but i am not sure at all i am doing it right, the services instance gonna be transcient which mean they actually never disposed ? :
Bind<IScsContextFactory>()
.To<ScsContextFactory>()
.InNamedScope("ServiceScope")
.WithConstructorArgument(
"connectionString",
ConfigurationUtility.GetConnectionString());
Bind<IUnitOfWork>().To<ScsUnitOfWork>();
Bind<IAccountRepository>().To<AccountRepository>();
Bind<IBlockedIpRepository>().To<BlockedIpRepository>();
Bind<IAccountService>().To<AccountService>().DefinesNamedScope("ServiceScope");
Bind<IBlockedIpService>().To<BlockedIpService>().DefinesNamedScope("ServiceScope");
UPDATE: This approach works against NuGet current, but relies in an anomaly in the InCallscope implementation which has been fixed in the current Unstable NuGet packages. I'll be tweaking this answer in a few days to reflect the best approach after some mulling over. NB the high level way of structuring stuff will stay pretty much identical, just the exact details of the Bind<DbContext>() scoping will work. (Hint: CreateNamedScope in unstable would work or one could set up the Command Handler as DefinesNamedScope. Reason I dont just do that is that I want to have something that composes/plays well with InRequestScope)
I highly recommend reading the Ninject.Extensions.NamedScope integration tests (seriously, find them and read and re-read them)
The DbContext is a Unit Of Work so no further wrapping is necessary.
As you want to be able to have multiple 'requests' in flight and want to have a single Unit of Work shared between them, you need to:
Bind<DbContext>()
.ToMethod( ctx =>
new DbContext(
connectionStringName: ConfigurationUtility.GetConnectionString() ))
.InCallScope();
The InCallScope() means that:
for a given object graph composed for a single kernel.Get() Call (hence In Call Scope), everyone that requires an DbContext will get the same instance.
the IDisposable.Dispose() will be called when a Kernel.Release() happens for the root object (or a Kernel.Components.Get<ICache>().Clear() happens for the root if it is not .InCallScope())
There should be no reason to use InNamedScope() and DefinesNamedScope(); You don't have long-lived objects you're trying to exclude from the default pooling / parenting / grouping.
If you do the above, you should be able to:
var command = kernel.Get<ICommand>();
try {
command.Execute();
} finally {
kernel.Components.Get<ICache>().Clear( command ); // Dispose of DbContext happens here
}
The Command implementation looks like:
class Command : ICommand {
readonly IAccountRepository _ar;
readonly IBlockedIpRepository _br;
readonly DbContext _ctx;
public Command(IAccountRepository ar, IBlockedIpRepository br, DbContext ctx){
_ar = ar;
_br = br;
_ctx = ctx;
}
void ICommand.Execute(){
_ar.Insert(a);
_br.Insert(b);
_ctx.saveChanges();
}
}
Note that in general, I avoid having an implicit Unit of Work in this way, and instead surface it's creation and Disposal. This makes a Command look like this:
class Command : ICommand {
readonly IAccountService _as;
readonly IBlockedIpService _bs;
readonly Func<DbContext> _createContext;
public Command(IAccountService #as, IBlockedIpServices bs, Func<DbContext> createContext){
_as = #as;
_bs = bs;
_createContext = createContext;
}
void ICommand.Execute(){
using(var ctx = _createContext()) {
_ar.InsertA(ctx);
_br.InsertB(ctx);
ctx.saveChanges();
}
}
This involves no usage of .InCallScope() on the Bind<DbContext>() (but does require the presence of Ninject.Extensions.Factory's FactoryModule to synthesize the Func<DbContext> from a straightforward Bind<DbContext>().
As discussed in the other answer, InCallScope is not a good approach to solving this problem.
For now I'm dumping some code that works against the latest NuGet Unstable / Include PreRelease / Instal-Package -Pre editions of Ninject.Web.Common without a clear explanation. I will translate this to an article in the Ninject.Extensions.NamedScope wiki at some stagehave started to write a walkthrough of this technique in the Ninject.Extensions.NamedScope wiki's CreateNamedScope/GetScope article.
Possibly some bits will become Pull Request(s) at some stage too (Hat tip to #Remo Gloor who supplied me the outline code). The associated tests and learning tests are in this gist for now), pending packaging in a proper released format TBD.
The exec summary is you Load the Module below into your Kernel and use .InRequestScope() on everything you want created / Disposed per handler invocation and then feed requests through via IHandlerComposer.ComposeCallDispose.
If you use the following Module:
public class Module : NinjectModule
{
public override void Load()
{
Bind<IHandlerComposer>().To<NinjectRequestScopedHandlerComposer>();
// Wire it up so InRequestScope will work for Handler scopes
Bind<INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory>().To<NinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory>();
NinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory.NinjectHttpApplicationPlugin.RegisterIn( Kernel );
}
}
Which wires in a Factory[1] and NinjectHttpApplicationPlugin that exposes:
public interface INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory
{
NamedScope CreateRequestHandlerScope();
}
Then you can use this Composer to Run a Request InRequestScope():
public interface IHandlerComposer
{
void ComposeCallDispose( Type type, Action<object> callback );
}
Implemented as:
class NinjectRequestScopedHandlerComposer : IHandlerComposer
{
readonly INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory _requestHandlerScopeFactory;
public NinjectRequestScopedHandlerComposer( INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory requestHandlerScopeFactory )
{
_requestHandlerScopeFactory = requestHandlerScopeFactory;
}
void IHandlerComposer.ComposeCallDispose( Type handlerType, Action<object> callback )
{
using ( var resolutionRoot = _requestHandlerScopeFactory.CreateRequestHandlerScope() )
foreach ( object handler in resolutionRoot.GetAll( handlerType ) )
callback( handler );
}
}
The Ninject Infrastructure stuff:
class NinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory : INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory
{
internal const string ScopeName = "Handler";
readonly IKernel _kernel;
public NinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory( IKernel kernel )
{
_kernel = kernel;
}
NamedScope INinjectRequestHandlerScopeFactory.CreateRequestHandlerScope()
{
return _kernel.CreateNamedScope( ScopeName );
}
/// <summary>
/// When plugged in as a Ninject Kernel Component via <c>RegisterIn(IKernel)</c>, makes the Named Scope generated during IHandlerFactory.RunAndDispose available for use via the Ninject.Web.Common's <c>.InRequestScope()</c> Binding extension.
/// </summary>
public class NinjectHttpApplicationPlugin : NinjectComponent, INinjectHttpApplicationPlugin
{
readonly IKernel kernel;
public static void RegisterIn( IKernel kernel )
{
kernel.Components.Add<INinjectHttpApplicationPlugin, NinjectHttpApplicationPlugin>();
}
public NinjectHttpApplicationPlugin( IKernel kernel )
{
this.kernel = kernel;
}
object INinjectHttpApplicationPlugin.GetRequestScope( IContext context )
{
// TODO PR for TrgGetScope
try
{
return NamedScopeExtensionMethods.GetScope( context, ScopeName );
}
catch ( UnknownScopeException )
{
return null;
}
}
void INinjectHttpApplicationPlugin.Start()
{
}
void INinjectHttpApplicationPlugin.Stop()
{
}
}
}

PRISM - How to get DLL's name and version information?

Is it possible to get DLL's names and version information from a appmanifest.xml which resides in a VS2010 project corresponding to a PRISM Module ?
My Silverlight 4 application loads on demand all modules listed in the modules catalog. I guess this means that it has downloaded all the modules corresponding XAP files, appmanifest.xml files – to load the necessary resources (DLL’s, etc)
So, at this point, how can I access DLL's names and if possible DLL's version number of every module from within my "main" Silverlight project ??
Thanks for your feedback!
You can do this in the ModuleInit.cs of each PRISM module. Somewhat like:
public class ModuleInit : IModule
{
private readonly IUnityContainer _container;
private readonly IRegionManager _regionManager;
public ModuleInit(IUnityContainer container, IRegionManager regionManager)
{
_container = container;
_regionManager = regionManager;
// Add this assembly details to a global collection
Global.ClientAssemblies.Add(GeneralHelper.GetAssemblyInfo(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()));
}...
Helper function:
public static string GetAssemblyInfo(Assembly assembly)
{
return assembly.ToString();
}

EventAggregation quick start?

I am created a MainView that it's DataContext is a MainViewModel initialized in xaml.
The MainView contains a ContentControl that is bound to the Content property of the MainViewModel.
I added some content in the MainViewModel constructor, so that if the current user is not logged in, it automatucally loads LoginView (and correspondingly it's DataContext LoginViewModel) into this Content property.
Now my question is, what should I do when the user successfully logs in:
'To be called from the LoginCommand
Private Sub Login
'Do Login
If WebContext.Current.User.IsAuthenticated Then
' - Publish a global event to be subscribed and caught from the MainViewModel
' - Close LoginView
' - The MainViewModel should set it's Content property back
' to what the user initially intended to open
End If
End Sub
How is this done?
Note: I prefer using prism's EventAggregator rathen then other stuff, but I have no clue:
How to spread it out between the ViewModels
How to create events (I don't need to pass parameter, nor do I need it to be generic, just Action, LoginAction - no parameters.
How do I subscribe from the MainViewMode.
I do NOT use MEF or Unity, nor do I use seperated modules, all my application is in one single assembly.
I prefer not to write any code in the code-behind at all
Answer in both VB.NET or C# are welcommed the same
Any help would be recommended
You can go here for info regarding the EventAggregator.
You could also use the following code to create an instance of the EventAggregator without using MEF or Unity:
internal static class EventAggregatorHelper
{
private static IEventAggregator _Current = new EventAggregator();
public static IEventAggregator Current
{
get
{
return _Current;
}
}
}
And you could then call the EventAggregator like so passing in the required information to the aggregator:
EventAggregatorHelper.Current.GetEvent<SelectedItemChangedEvent>().
Subscribe(HandleSelectedItemChangedEvent);
In this case the SelectedItemChangedEvent and the subscriber that deals with this event.
The SelectedItemChangedEvent is a class declared as shown below:
public class SelectedItemChangedEvent : CompositePresentationEvent<String>
{
}
and the subscriber would be something like this:
internal void HandleSelectedItemChangedEvent(string viewName)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(viewName))
{
//Do whatever you need to do here.
}
}
The link to the Event Aggregator I posted at the start should clear most things up for you.
Hope this helps.