I'm just curious if there is any software, that could help me with mock management and creation - I prefer Java and .net but I'll be happy to see it for any other languages.
My imagination could be something like this:
A simple wizard that can look into class, generate simple Excel style editor where you can add new mock with different values set, default values etc...
Easy access to this mock via say dot notation and index for example:
MockRepository.getMock => platform.domain.person[person_name="John"]
So, is there something at least little similar around?
Yes, this is called an Auto-Mocking Container.
I'm not aware of any centralized, stable resource that defines the term, but just do a web search for the term and lots of articles are going to come up.
Update: I got tired of the lack of a proper pattern description, so I wrote one.
Related
I apologize in advance for the generic nature of my question, but I was unable to find any helpful advice from people trying to do the same thing as me on the web. Let me describe my scenario:
I am providing end users/designers of a website the ability to customize their views by storing the views (using Razor) in the database. I have all of this working, but my question is the following; From a security standpoint, how can I ensure and enforce that unwanted code doesn't get executed in the user-defined view? There are two basic approaches that I think will work conceptually, but am not sure which one is more possible or feasible.
Option 1: Create a validation method in the administration tool that allows the user to input the view code. This would need to either take a whitelist or blacklist approach to what is allowable or not.
Option 2: Prevent unwanted code from being able to execute when rendering of the view occurs.
As a quick example of something that would need to be blocked, we wouldn't want to allow access to read or write files, access any data access functions, or even access configuration settings, etc. in the web.config. There will likely be a decently-sized list of things that probably shouldn't be allowable, but I'll need to sit down and try to think of as many security-related concerns as possible.
My question then is, which method would be the best bet? Also, can any direction be provided on how to go about either? I thought I might be able to make trust-level based change which would be Option 2, but couldn't find any way to make that work in a per-view based manor (the administration code is allowed to execute whatever it wants). I'm thinking Option 1 will end up being the best bet and I'll have to check for the input of certain framework functions that shouldn't be allowed. Does anyone have any experience doing anything like what I'm trying to do? ANY feedback is much appreciated!
This would be extremely difficult.
You could run the the template through the Razor preprocessor, then use Roslyn (still in early beta) to parse the generated file and look through all method calls (or constructors) and return an error if it calls something you don't like.
I strongly recommend that you use a whitelist for that, since the .Net framework is big enough that you are bound to overlook something in a blacklist.
However, I would instead recommend that you not use Razor at all and instead use a templating engine that does not allow real C# code.
I'm creating a piece of software (written in C#, will be a windows application) and I ran into this problem-
I've got a set of variables, and I need to allow the user to define a wide range of mathematical functions on those variables.
But my users don't necessarily have to have any prior knowledge about programming.
The options I've considered are:
Create some sort of GUI for defining the mathematical "functions". But that is very limiting.
Implement a very simple embedded language, that will offer flexibility while remaining relatively easy to understand. I looked at Lua, but the problem with that is that you pretty much need to have prior knowledge in programming. I was thinking about something more readable (somewhat similar to SQL), for example "assign 3 to X;"
Other ideas are welcome.
I'm basically looking for the best way to go here, under the assumption that my users don't have any knowledge in programming.
However, note that this is not the main feature of my software, so I'm assuming that if a user wants/needs to use this feature, he will take the time to look at the manual for a few minutes and learn how to do so, as long as it's not too complicated.
Thanks, Malki :)
What you want is a domain specific language. I see you've tried Lua and didn't find that acceptable--I'll assume that most pre-built scripting languages are out then.
Depending on your expected function complexity, I would recommend that you give a shot at implementing a small recursive-descent parser so that you can exactly specify your language. This way you can realize something like:
assign 3 to X
show sin(X * 5)
If this is a bit beyond what you're willing to do, you can get some parsing assistance from a library such as Irony; this will let you focus on using the abstract syntax tree rather than playing with tokenizing/lexing for some time.
If you want, you can even look at FLEE, which will parse and evaluate some pretty complex expressions right out of the gate.
ANTLR is a greate parser if you want to make your own language
I must develop a simple web application to produce reports. I have a single table "contract" and i must return very simple aggregated values : number of documents produced in a time range, average number of pages for documents and so on . The table gets filled by a batch application, users will have roles that will allow them to see only a part of the reports (if they may be called so ).
My purpose is :
develop a class, which generates the so called reports, opened to future extension (adding new methods to generate new reports for different roles must be easy )
decouple the web graphic interface from the database access
I'm evaluating various patterns : decorator, visitor, ... but being the return data so simple i cannot evaluate which apply or even if its the case to use one. Moreover i must do it i less than 5 days. It can be done if i make a so called "smart gui" but as told at point 1, i don't want to get troubles when new roles or method will be added.
thank you for your answers.
I'm sorry, i realize i haven't provided too much infos. I live in a Dilbert world. at the moment i've got the following info : db will be oracle (the concrete db doesn't exist yet) , so no EF, maybe linqtodataset (but i'm new to linq). About new features of the application,due to pravious experiences, the only thing i wish is not to be obliged to propagate changes over the whole application, even if it's simple. that are the reasons i've thougth to design patterns (note i've said "if it's the case" in my question) .
I'll KISS it and then will refactor it if needed , as suggested by ladislav mrnka, but i still appreciate any suggestion on how to keep opened to extension the data gathering class
KISS - keep it simple and stupid. You have five days. Create working application and if you have time refactor it to some better solution.
The road to good code is not paved with design patterns.
Good code is code that is readable, maintainable, robust, compatible and future-proof.
Don’t get me wrong: Design patterns are a great thing because they help categorise, and thus teach, the experience that earlier generations of programmers have accrued. Each design pattern once solved a problem in a way that was not only novel and creative, but also good. The corrolary is not that a design pattern is necessarily good code when applied to any other problem.
Good code requires experience and insight. This includes experience with design patterns, and insight into their applicability and their downsides and pitfalls.
That said, my recommendation in your specific case is to learn about the recommended practice regarding web interfaces, database access, etc. Most C# programmers write web applications in ASP.NET; tend to use LINQ-to-Entities or LINQ-to-SQL for database access; and use Windows Forms or WPF for a desktop GUI. Each of these may or may not fulfill the requirements of your particular project. Only you can tell.
How about you use strategy pattern for the retrieving data? And use interfaces like following to keep it extendable at all times.
IReportFilter: Report filter/criteria set
IReportParams: Gets report parameters
IReportData: Gets the report data in a result set
IReportFormat: Report formatting
IReportRender: Renders the report
Just thinking out loud.
I require the ability to preprocess a number of C# files as a prebuild step for a project, detect the start of methods, and insert generated code at the start of the method, before any existing code. I am, however, having a problem detecting the opening of a method. I initially tried a regular expression to match, but ended up with far too many false positives.
I would use reflection, but the MethodInfo class does not reference the point in the original source.
EDIT: What I am really trying to do here is to support pre-conditions on methods, that pre-condition code being determined by attributes on the method. My initial thought being that I could look for the beginning of the method, and then insert generated code for handling the pre-conditions.
Is there a better way to do this? I am open to creating a Visual Studio Addin if need be.
This is a .NET 2.0 project.
Cheers
PostSharp or Mono.Cecil will let you do this cleanly by altering the generated code without getting into writing a C# parser which is unlikely to be core business for you...
Havent done anything of consequence with PostSharp but would be guessing its more appropriate than Mono for implementing something like preconditions or AOP. Alternately you might be able to do something AOPy with a DI container like Ninject
But of course the applicability of this idea Depends - you didnt say much other than that you wanted to insert code at the start of methods...
EDIT: In light of your desire to do preconditions... Code Contracts in .net 4 is definitely in that direction.
What sort of a tool do you have? Whats wrong with having a single Mono.Cecil.dll DLL shipped? Either way something other than a parser is the tool for the job.
I am sure there is an easier way but this might be a good excuse to take MGrammer for a spin.
Creating a call stack diagram
We have just recently been thrown into a big project that requires us to get into the code (duh).
We are using different methods to get acquainted with it, breakpoints etc. However we found that one method is to make a call tree of the application, what is the easiest /fastest way to do this?
By code? Plugins? Manually?
The project is a C# Windows application.
With the static analyzer NDepend, you can obtain a static method call graph, like the one below. Disclaimer: I am one of the developers of the tool
For that you just need to export to the graph the result of a CQLinq code query:
Such a code query, can be generated actually for any method, thanks to the right-click menu illustrated below.
Whenever I start a new job (which is frequently as I am a contractor) I spend two to three days reading through every single source file in the repository, and keep notes against each class in a simple text file. It is quite laborious but it means that you get a really good idea how the project fits together and you have a trusty map when you need to find the class that does somethnig.
Altought I love UML/diagramming when starting a project I, personally, do not find them at all useful when examining existing code.
Not a direct answer to your question, but NDepend is a good tool to get a 100ft view of a codebase, and it enables you to drill down into the relationships between classes (and many other features)
Edit: I believe the Microsoft's CLR Profiler is capable of displaying a call tree for a running application. If that is not sufficient I have left the link I posted below in case you would like to start on a custom solution.
Here is a CodeProject article that might point you in the right direction:
The download offered here is a Visual
Studio 2008 C# project for a simple
utility to list user function call
trees in C# code.
This call tree lister seems to work OK
for my style of coding, but will
likely be unreliable for some other
styles of coding. It is offered here
with two thoughts: first, some
programmers may find it useful as is;
second, I would be appreciative if
someone who is up-to-speed on C#
parsing would upgrade it by
incorporating an accurate C# parser
and turn out an improved utility that
is reliable regardless of coding style
The source code is available for download - perhaps you can use this as a starting point for a custom solution.
You mean something like this: http://erik.doernenburg.com/2008/09/call-graph-visualisation-with-aspectj-and-dot/
Not to be a stuck record, but if I get it running and pause it a few times, and each time capture the call stack, that gives me a real good picture of the call structure that accounts for the most time. It doesn't give me the call structure for things that happen real fast, however.