I might be overthinking this. I hope so.
In our .Net 4.5, C# 5 Windows service, we're using Castle Windsor 3.2 with the CollectionResolver installed. We have an interface IEncryptionService that does what you'd expect, and two classes implement that interface. The service needs to integrate and bridge two other systems, by decrypting data from one and re-encrypting it for the other.
Both implementations have names according to their target system.
Component.For<IEncryptionService>()
.ImplementedBy<System1EncryptionService>()
.Named("system1-encryption")
.LifestyleTransient(),
Component.For<IEncryptionService>()
.ImplementedBy<System2EncryptionService>()
.LifestyleTransient()
.Named("system2-encryption"));
The Windows service class uses constructor injection to receive an array of type IEncryptionService[]. Both of the encryption classes are being injected.
Therein lies the problem: I need to use one implementation for one system, and the other for the other. The way I've implemented it thus far, they're indistinguishable from each other.
What is the solution here? A typed factory seems like an anti-pattern covering up an architectural flaw. But its the only thing I've come up with. I've named my components; can I take advantage of that in other components? Or should I just forget injection and instantiate them directly?
I figure this sort of situation happens often enough that there's probably a standard way of handling it.
When you register your component which depends on the two, you specify the names of the arguments corresponding to the injected classes in the Compnent.For line:
Component.For<IServiceUsingTheEncryption>()
.ImplementedBy<ServiceUsingTheEncryption>()
//.LifestyleOfYourChoosing
.ServiceOverrides(
ServiceOverride.ForKey("encryptionService1").Eq("system1-encryption"),
ServiceOverride.ForKey("encryptionService2").Eq("system2-encryption"));
And in the ctor of your ServiceUsingTheEncryption, you would specify the arguments as such:
public ServiceUsingTheEncryption(IEncryptionService encryptionService1, IEncryptionService encryptionService2) {
// ...
}
Related
I'm pondering the design of a C# library, that will have several different high level functions. Of course, those high-level functions will be implemented using the SOLID class design principles as much as possible. As such, there will probably be classes intended for consumers to use directly on a regular basis, and "support classes" that are dependencies of those more common "end user" classes.
The question is, what is the best way to design the library so it is:
DI Agnostic - Although adding basic "support" for one or two of the common DI libraries (StructureMap, Ninject, etc) seems reasonable, I want consumers to be able to use the library with any DI framework.
Non-DI usable - If a consumer of the library is using no DI, the library should still be as easy to use as possible, reducing the amount of work a user has to do to create all these "unimportant" dependencies just to get to the "real" classes they want to use.
My current thinking is to provide a few "DI registration modules" for the common DI libraries (e.g a StructureMap registry, a Ninject module), and a set or Factory classes that are non-DI and contain the coupling to those few factories.
Thoughts?
This is actually simple to do once you understand that DI is about patterns and principles, not technology.
To design the API in a DI Container-agnostic way, follow these general principles:
Program to an interface, not an implementation
This principle is actually a quote (from memory though) from Design Patterns, but it should always be your real goal. DI is just a means to achieve that end.
Apply the Hollywood Principle
The Hollywood Principle in DI terms says: Don't call the DI Container, it'll call you.
Never directly ask for a dependency by calling a container from within your code. Ask for it implicitly by using Constructor Injection.
Use Constructor Injection
When you need a dependency, ask for it statically through the constructor:
public class Service : IService
{
private readonly ISomeDependency dep;
public Service(ISomeDependency dep)
{
if (dep == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("dep");
}
this.dep = dep;
}
public ISomeDependency Dependency
{
get { return this.dep; }
}
}
Notice how the Service class guarantees its invariants. Once an instance is created, the dependency is guaranteed to be available because of the combination of the Guard Clause and the readonly keyword.
Use Abstract Factory if you need a short-lived object
Dependencies injected with Constructor Injection tend to be long-lived, but sometimes you need a short-lived object, or to construct the dependency based on a value known only at run-time.
See this for more information.
Compose only at the Last Responsible Moment
Keep objects decoupled until the very end. Normally, you can wait and wire everything up in the application's entry point. This is called the Composition Root.
More details here:
Where should I do Injection with Ninject 2+ (and how do I arrange my Modules?)
Design - Where should objects be registered when using Windsor
Simplify using a Facade
If you feel that the resulting API becomes too complex for novice users, you can always provide a few Facade classes that encapsulate common dependency combinations.
To provide a flexible Facade with a high degree of discoverability, you could consider providing Fluent Builders. Something like this:
public class MyFacade
{
private IMyDependency dep;
public MyFacade()
{
this.dep = new DefaultDependency();
}
public MyFacade WithDependency(IMyDependency dependency)
{
this.dep = dependency;
return this;
}
public Foo CreateFoo()
{
return new Foo(this.dep);
}
}
This would allow a user to create a default Foo by writing
var foo = new MyFacade().CreateFoo();
It would, however, be very discoverable that it's possible to supply a custom dependency, and you could write
var foo = new MyFacade().WithDependency(new CustomDependency()).CreateFoo();
If you imagine that the MyFacade class encapsulates a lot of different dependencies, I hope it's clear how it would provide proper defaults while still making extensibility discoverable.
FWIW, long after writing this answer, I expanded upon the concepts herein and wrote a longer blog post about DI-Friendly Libraries, and a companion post about DI-Friendly Frameworks.
The term "dependency injection" doesn't specifically have anything to do with an IoC container at all, even though you tend to see them mentioned together. It simply means that instead of writing your code like this:
public class Service
{
public Service()
{
}
public void DoSomething()
{
SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection("some connection string");
WindowsIdentity identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
// Do something with connection and identity variables
}
}
You write it like this:
public class Service
{
public Service(IDbConnection connection, IIdentity identity)
{
this.Connection = connection;
this.Identity = identity;
}
public void DoSomething()
{
// Do something with Connection and Identity properties
}
protected IDbConnection Connection { get; private set; }
protected IIdentity Identity { get; private set; }
}
That is, you do two things when you write your code:
Rely on interfaces instead of classes whenever you think that the implementation might need to be changed;
Instead of creating instances of these interfaces inside a class, pass them as constructor arguments (alternatively, they could be assigned to public properties; the former is constructor injection, the latter is property injection).
None of this presupposes the existence of any DI library, and it doesn't really make the code any more difficult to write without one.
If you're looking for an example of this, look no further than the .NET Framework itself:
List<T> implements IList<T>. If you design your class to use IList<T> (or IEnumerable<T>), you can take advantage of concepts like lazy-loading, as Linq to SQL, Linq to Entities, and NHibernate all do behind the scenes, usually through property injection. Some framework classes actually accept an IList<T> as a constructor argument, such as BindingList<T>, which is used for several data binding features.
Linq to SQL and EF are built entirely around the IDbConnection and related interfaces, which can be passed in via the public constructors. You don't need to use them, though; the default constructors work just fine with a connection string sitting in a configuration file somewhere.
If you ever work on WinForms components you deal with "services", like INameCreationService or IExtenderProviderService. You don't even really know what what the concrete classes are. .NET actually has its own IoC container, IContainer, which gets used for this, and the Component class has a GetService method which is the actual service locator. Of course, nothing prevents you from using any or all of these interfaces without the IContainer or that particular locator. The services themselves are only loosely-coupled with the container.
Contracts in WCF are built entirely around interfaces. The actual concrete service class is usually referenced by name in a configuration file, which is essentially DI. Many people don't realize this but it is entirely possible to swap out this configuration system with another IoC container. Perhaps more interestingly, the service behaviors are all instances of IServiceBehavior which can be added later. Again, you could easily wire this into an IoC container and have it pick the relevant behaviors, but the feature is completely usable without one.
And so on and so forth. You'll find DI all over the place in .NET, it's just that normally it's done so seamlessly that you don't even think of it as DI.
If you want to design your DI-enabled library for maximum usability then the best suggestion is probably to supply your own default IoC implementation using a lightweight container. IContainer is a great choice for this because it's a part of the .NET Framework itself.
EDIT 2015: time has passed, I realize now that this whole thing was a huge mistake. IoC containers are terrible and DI is a very poor way to deal with side effects. Effectively, all of the answers here (and the question itself) are to be avoided. Simply be aware of side effects, separate them from pure code, and everything else either falls into place or is irrelevant and unnecessary complexity.
Original answer follows:
I had to face this same decision while developing SolrNet. I started with the goal of being DI-friendly and container-agnostic, but as I added more and more internal components, the internal factories quickly became unmanageable and the resulting library was inflexible.
I ended up writing my own very simple embedded IoC container while also providing a Windsor facility and a Ninject module. Integrating the library with other containers is just a matter of properly wiring the components, so I could easily integrate it with Autofac, Unity, StructureMap, whatever.
The downside of this is that I lost the ability to just new up the service. I also took a dependency on CommonServiceLocator which I could have avoided (I might refactor it out in the future) to make the embedded container easier to implement.
More details in this blog post.
MassTransit seems to rely on something similar. It has an IObjectBuilder interface which is really CommonServiceLocator's IServiceLocator with a couple more methods, then it implements this for each container, i.e. NinjectObjectBuilder and a regular module/facility, i.e. MassTransitModule. Then it relies on IObjectBuilder to instantiate what it needs. This is a valid approach of course, but personally I don't like it very much since it's actually passing around the container too much, using it as a service locator.
MonoRail implements its own container as well, which implements good old IServiceProvider. This container is used throughout this framework through an interface that exposes well-known services. To get the concrete container, it has a built-in service provider locator. The Windsor facility points this service provider locator to Windsor, making it the selected service provider.
Bottom line: there is no perfect solution. As with any design decision, this issue demands a balance between flexibility, maintainability and convenience.
What I would do is design my library in a DI container agnostic way to limit the dependency on the container as much as possible. This allows to swap out on DI container for another if need be.
Then expose the layer above the DI logic to the users of the library so that they can use whatever framework you chose through your interface. This way they can still use DI functionality that you exposed and they are free to use any other framework for their own purposes.
Allowing the users of the library to plug their own DI framework seems a bit wrong to me as it dramatically increases amount of maintenance. This also then becomes more of a plugin environment than straight DI.
I need to fetch data from an external API, only accessible via VPN.
The development/test machine will not always be able to connect to the VPN.
The desired behaviour is to use two different implementations (one that calls the actual external API and one that acts as the real thing but returns dummy data). Which implementation to use will be configured via a flag in web.config
I've tried the IoC containers StructureMap and Unity and they both did the job but they only seem to be applicable for MVC, I'm looking for a generic solution that also works for web forms. And also, isn't it a bit overkill to use them for this isolated design problem!?
Is there a design pattern or best practice approach for this particular scenario?
IoC / dependency injection sounds like the correct approach, but you don't necessarily need a container for a simple scenario. The key is to have classes that depend on the API reference an interface IAPI, and pass it the actual implementation RealAPI or FakeAPI.
public class SomeClass
{
private readonly IAPI _api;
public SomeClass(IAPI api)
{
_api = api;
}
}
Now you should be able to switch out the implementation easily by passing a different object to MyClass. In theory, when you're using an IoC approach, you should only need to bind the interface to the implementation once, at the top level of the application.
isn't it a bit overkill to use them for this isolated design problem!?
They probably are. Those IoC containers only help you when you wrote loosly coupled code. If you didn't design your classes according to the SOLID principles for instance, those frameworks will probably only be in the way. On the other hand, which developer doesn't want to write loosly coupled code? In other words, IoC container solves a problem you might not have but it's a nice problem to have.
StructureMap and Unity [...] only seem to be applicable for MVC
Those ioc frameworks can be used in any type of application (as long as it is written in loosly coupled way). Some types of applications need a bit more work to plug a framework in, but it's always possible. StructureMap and Unity might only have integration packages for MVC, it's quite easy to use them in ASP.NET Web Forms as well.
Is there a design pattern or best practice approach for this
particular scenario?
What you're looking for is the Proxy pattern and perhaps the circuit breaker pattern.
Is the IServiceProvider basically just a generic interface for any IOC container, or is it used for a specific framework? I'm rolling my own light weight IOC container and I am wanting to know if I should implement it. Are there any other interfaces that I should implement? I'm not really interested in either MEF or Unity. I've used both extensively and they don't really work for my current project.
IServiceProvider is an imported (or perhaps held-over) COM interface that is intended to be used for private features in the context of the object whom you interrogate for a Service. The term 'Service' is applied rather loosely here, it originally meant any COM object that could be returned based upon what GUID is given.
IServiceProvider # MSDN (.NET reference)
IServiceProviderImpl Class # MSDN (C++ ATL reference)
In .NET, you don't need to implement it unless you have a client that specifically supports it, and in many cases you won't need to add yet another level of indirection that is implied by using IServiceProvider. Also, you can devise your own scheme to share common objects or implement other use patterns based upon IoC / Dependency Injection that are more flexible or more rigid as dictated by your needs.
One good historical context for IServiceProvider is the IE Browser Plugin Spec. Here, it is used to allow plugin components to use Browser Host features in-context. In a COM context, this interface is useful because it hides the details of instantiation and also can be used as part of a object construction and utilization strategy to avoid reference loops.
WebBrowser Customization (Part 2) # MSDN
I think it is a pretty general use interface, so you can use it with anything. It almost should not even be in the Framework Class Library. For one specific use, Alex D. James of the WCF Data Services team has a blog about it.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alexj/archive/2010/01/07/creating-a-data-service-provider-part-2-iserviceprovider-datasources.aspx
I do not think it has anything to do with IoC containers. I have used Unity and Autofac quite a bit and have never seen it used with either. As for rolling your own, I would suggest you define your own container interface in the more standard generic way:
public interface IContainer
{
T Resolve<T>();
}
That is pretty standard with some variation, but you could also just use IServiceProvider if that fits your needs.
And on that note, unless this is just an academic exercise, you might want to read "Dependency Injection". Mark Seemann covers every container out there and quite a bit of theory and practice. That is, I highly recommend it.
https://www.amazon.com/Dependency-Injection-NET-Mark-Seemann/
ASP.NET 5 uses IServiceProvider in "self-hosted" mode, that is, when hosting an ASP.NET application and the runtime in a console application or service.
(An object of type Microsoft.Framework.Runtime.Common.DependencyInjection.ServiceProvider -- which implements IServiceProvider -- is passed to your console app constructor.)
Thus, if you wanted to use a different IoC container in ASP.NET 5, you might want to implement this interface. Or wrap the other IoC container in a class which implements this interface.
The new (as of .NET 4) Runtime Caching API also uses it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.runtime.caching.objectcache.host.aspx.
And also Visual Studio designer.
This may seem obvious to most people, but I'm just trying to confirm that Dependency Injection (DI) relies on the use of Interfaces.
More specifically, in the case of a class which has a certain Interface as a parameter in its constructor or a certain Interface defined as a property (aka. Setter), the DI framework can hand over an instance of a concrete class to satisfy the needs of that Interface in that class. (Apologies if this description is not clear. I'm having trouble describing this properly because the terminology/concepts are still somewhat new to me.)
The reason I ask is that I currently have a class that has a dependency of sorts. Not so much an object dependency, but a URL. The class looks like this [C#]:
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;
public partial class SomeLibraryService : SoapHttpClientProtocol
{
public SomeLibraryService()
{
this.Url = "http://MyDomainName.com:8080/library-service/jse";
}
}
The SoapHttpClientProtocol class has a Public property called Url (which is a plain old "string") and the constructor here initializes it to a hard-coded value.
Could I possibly use a DI framework to inject a different value at construction? I'm thinking not since this.Url isn't any sort of Interface; it's a String.
[Incidentally, the code above was "auto-generated by wsdl", according to the comments in the code I'm working with. So I don't particularly want to change this code, although I don't see myself re-generating it either. So maybe changing this code is fine.]
I could see myself making an alternate constructor that takes a string as a parameter and initializes this.Url that way, but I'm not sure that's the correct approach regarding keeping loosely coupled separation of concerns. (SoC)
Any advice for this situation?
DI really just means a class wont construct it's external dependencies and will not manage the lifetime of those dependencies. Dependencies can be injected either via constructor, or via method parameter. Interfaces or abstract types are common to clarify the contract the consumer expects from its dependency, however simple types can be injected as well in some cases.
For example, a class in a library might call HttpContext.Current internally, which makes arbitrary assumptions about the application the code will be hosted in. An DI version of the library method would expect a HttpContext instance to be injected via parameter, etc.
It's not required to use interfaces -- you could use concrete types or abstract base classes. But many of the advantages of DI (such as being able to change an implementation of a dependancy) come when using interfaces.
Castle Windsor (the DI framework I know best), allows you to map objects in the IoC container to Interfaces, or to just names, which would work in your case.
Dependency Injection is a way of organizing your code. Maybe some of your confusion comes from the fact that there is not one official way to do it. It can be achieved using "regular" c# code , or by using a framework like Castle Windsor. Sometimes (often?) this involves using interfaces. No matter how it is achieved, the big picture goal of DI is usually to make your code easier to test and easier to modify later on.
If you were to inject the URL in your example via a constructor, that could be considered "manual" DI. The Wikipedia article on DI has more examples of manual vs framework DI.
I would like to answer with a focus on using interfaces in .NET applications. Polymorphism in .NET can be achieved through virtual or abstract methods, or interfaces.
In all cases, there is a method signature with no implementation at all or an implementation that can be overridden.
The 'contract' of a function (or even a property) is defined but how the method is implemented, the logical guts of the method can be different at runtime, determined by which subclass is instantiated and passed-in to the method or constructor, or set on a property (the act of 'injection').
The official .NET type design guidelines advocate using abstract base classes over interfaces since they have better options for evolving them after shipping, can include convenience overloads and are better able to self-document and communicate correct usage to implementers.
However, care must be taken not to add any logic. The temptation to do so has burned people in the past so many people use interfaces - many other people use interfaces simply because that's what the programmers sitting around them do.
It's also interesting to point out that while DI itself is rarely over-used, using a framework to perform the injection is quite often over-used to the detriment of increased complexity, a chain-reaction can take place where more and more types are needed in the container even though they are never 'switched'.
IoC frameworks should be used sparingly, usually only when you need to swap out objects at runtime, according to the environment or configuration. This usually means switching major component "seams" in the application such as the repository objects used to abstract your data layer.
For me, the real power of an IoC framework is to switch implementation in places where you have no control over creation. For example, in ASP.NET MVC, the creation of the controller class is performed by the ASP.NET framework, so injecting anything is impossible. The ASP.NET framework has some hooks that IoC frameworks can use to 'get in-between' the creation process and perform their magic.
Luke
I'm pondering the design of a C# library, that will have several different high level functions. Of course, those high-level functions will be implemented using the SOLID class design principles as much as possible. As such, there will probably be classes intended for consumers to use directly on a regular basis, and "support classes" that are dependencies of those more common "end user" classes.
The question is, what is the best way to design the library so it is:
DI Agnostic - Although adding basic "support" for one or two of the common DI libraries (StructureMap, Ninject, etc) seems reasonable, I want consumers to be able to use the library with any DI framework.
Non-DI usable - If a consumer of the library is using no DI, the library should still be as easy to use as possible, reducing the amount of work a user has to do to create all these "unimportant" dependencies just to get to the "real" classes they want to use.
My current thinking is to provide a few "DI registration modules" for the common DI libraries (e.g a StructureMap registry, a Ninject module), and a set or Factory classes that are non-DI and contain the coupling to those few factories.
Thoughts?
This is actually simple to do once you understand that DI is about patterns and principles, not technology.
To design the API in a DI Container-agnostic way, follow these general principles:
Program to an interface, not an implementation
This principle is actually a quote (from memory though) from Design Patterns, but it should always be your real goal. DI is just a means to achieve that end.
Apply the Hollywood Principle
The Hollywood Principle in DI terms says: Don't call the DI Container, it'll call you.
Never directly ask for a dependency by calling a container from within your code. Ask for it implicitly by using Constructor Injection.
Use Constructor Injection
When you need a dependency, ask for it statically through the constructor:
public class Service : IService
{
private readonly ISomeDependency dep;
public Service(ISomeDependency dep)
{
if (dep == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("dep");
}
this.dep = dep;
}
public ISomeDependency Dependency
{
get { return this.dep; }
}
}
Notice how the Service class guarantees its invariants. Once an instance is created, the dependency is guaranteed to be available because of the combination of the Guard Clause and the readonly keyword.
Use Abstract Factory if you need a short-lived object
Dependencies injected with Constructor Injection tend to be long-lived, but sometimes you need a short-lived object, or to construct the dependency based on a value known only at run-time.
See this for more information.
Compose only at the Last Responsible Moment
Keep objects decoupled until the very end. Normally, you can wait and wire everything up in the application's entry point. This is called the Composition Root.
More details here:
Where should I do Injection with Ninject 2+ (and how do I arrange my Modules?)
Design - Where should objects be registered when using Windsor
Simplify using a Facade
If you feel that the resulting API becomes too complex for novice users, you can always provide a few Facade classes that encapsulate common dependency combinations.
To provide a flexible Facade with a high degree of discoverability, you could consider providing Fluent Builders. Something like this:
public class MyFacade
{
private IMyDependency dep;
public MyFacade()
{
this.dep = new DefaultDependency();
}
public MyFacade WithDependency(IMyDependency dependency)
{
this.dep = dependency;
return this;
}
public Foo CreateFoo()
{
return new Foo(this.dep);
}
}
This would allow a user to create a default Foo by writing
var foo = new MyFacade().CreateFoo();
It would, however, be very discoverable that it's possible to supply a custom dependency, and you could write
var foo = new MyFacade().WithDependency(new CustomDependency()).CreateFoo();
If you imagine that the MyFacade class encapsulates a lot of different dependencies, I hope it's clear how it would provide proper defaults while still making extensibility discoverable.
FWIW, long after writing this answer, I expanded upon the concepts herein and wrote a longer blog post about DI-Friendly Libraries, and a companion post about DI-Friendly Frameworks.
The term "dependency injection" doesn't specifically have anything to do with an IoC container at all, even though you tend to see them mentioned together. It simply means that instead of writing your code like this:
public class Service
{
public Service()
{
}
public void DoSomething()
{
SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection("some connection string");
WindowsIdentity identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
// Do something with connection and identity variables
}
}
You write it like this:
public class Service
{
public Service(IDbConnection connection, IIdentity identity)
{
this.Connection = connection;
this.Identity = identity;
}
public void DoSomething()
{
// Do something with Connection and Identity properties
}
protected IDbConnection Connection { get; private set; }
protected IIdentity Identity { get; private set; }
}
That is, you do two things when you write your code:
Rely on interfaces instead of classes whenever you think that the implementation might need to be changed;
Instead of creating instances of these interfaces inside a class, pass them as constructor arguments (alternatively, they could be assigned to public properties; the former is constructor injection, the latter is property injection).
None of this presupposes the existence of any DI library, and it doesn't really make the code any more difficult to write without one.
If you're looking for an example of this, look no further than the .NET Framework itself:
List<T> implements IList<T>. If you design your class to use IList<T> (or IEnumerable<T>), you can take advantage of concepts like lazy-loading, as Linq to SQL, Linq to Entities, and NHibernate all do behind the scenes, usually through property injection. Some framework classes actually accept an IList<T> as a constructor argument, such as BindingList<T>, which is used for several data binding features.
Linq to SQL and EF are built entirely around the IDbConnection and related interfaces, which can be passed in via the public constructors. You don't need to use them, though; the default constructors work just fine with a connection string sitting in a configuration file somewhere.
If you ever work on WinForms components you deal with "services", like INameCreationService or IExtenderProviderService. You don't even really know what what the concrete classes are. .NET actually has its own IoC container, IContainer, which gets used for this, and the Component class has a GetService method which is the actual service locator. Of course, nothing prevents you from using any or all of these interfaces without the IContainer or that particular locator. The services themselves are only loosely-coupled with the container.
Contracts in WCF are built entirely around interfaces. The actual concrete service class is usually referenced by name in a configuration file, which is essentially DI. Many people don't realize this but it is entirely possible to swap out this configuration system with another IoC container. Perhaps more interestingly, the service behaviors are all instances of IServiceBehavior which can be added later. Again, you could easily wire this into an IoC container and have it pick the relevant behaviors, but the feature is completely usable without one.
And so on and so forth. You'll find DI all over the place in .NET, it's just that normally it's done so seamlessly that you don't even think of it as DI.
If you want to design your DI-enabled library for maximum usability then the best suggestion is probably to supply your own default IoC implementation using a lightweight container. IContainer is a great choice for this because it's a part of the .NET Framework itself.
EDIT 2015: time has passed, I realize now that this whole thing was a huge mistake. IoC containers are terrible and DI is a very poor way to deal with side effects. Effectively, all of the answers here (and the question itself) are to be avoided. Simply be aware of side effects, separate them from pure code, and everything else either falls into place or is irrelevant and unnecessary complexity.
Original answer follows:
I had to face this same decision while developing SolrNet. I started with the goal of being DI-friendly and container-agnostic, but as I added more and more internal components, the internal factories quickly became unmanageable and the resulting library was inflexible.
I ended up writing my own very simple embedded IoC container while also providing a Windsor facility and a Ninject module. Integrating the library with other containers is just a matter of properly wiring the components, so I could easily integrate it with Autofac, Unity, StructureMap, whatever.
The downside of this is that I lost the ability to just new up the service. I also took a dependency on CommonServiceLocator which I could have avoided (I might refactor it out in the future) to make the embedded container easier to implement.
More details in this blog post.
MassTransit seems to rely on something similar. It has an IObjectBuilder interface which is really CommonServiceLocator's IServiceLocator with a couple more methods, then it implements this for each container, i.e. NinjectObjectBuilder and a regular module/facility, i.e. MassTransitModule. Then it relies on IObjectBuilder to instantiate what it needs. This is a valid approach of course, but personally I don't like it very much since it's actually passing around the container too much, using it as a service locator.
MonoRail implements its own container as well, which implements good old IServiceProvider. This container is used throughout this framework through an interface that exposes well-known services. To get the concrete container, it has a built-in service provider locator. The Windsor facility points this service provider locator to Windsor, making it the selected service provider.
Bottom line: there is no perfect solution. As with any design decision, this issue demands a balance between flexibility, maintainability and convenience.
What I would do is design my library in a DI container agnostic way to limit the dependency on the container as much as possible. This allows to swap out on DI container for another if need be.
Then expose the layer above the DI logic to the users of the library so that they can use whatever framework you chose through your interface. This way they can still use DI functionality that you exposed and they are free to use any other framework for their own purposes.
Allowing the users of the library to plug their own DI framework seems a bit wrong to me as it dramatically increases amount of maintenance. This also then becomes more of a plugin environment than straight DI.