Unity [dependency] injection and Inheritance - c#

My question is as follows:
I have a base controller (ASP.Net MVC controller) called ApplicationController, and I want all my controller to inherit from it. this base controller has a ILogger property, marked with a [Dependency] attribute. (yes, I know I should use constructor injection, I'm just curious about this attribute).
I created the container, registered types, changed the default factory, everything is fine. the problem is that when I try to use my Logger property in the derived controller, it's not resolved.
what am I doing wrong? why doesn't the container resolves the base class dependencies when creating the derived controller?
code samples:
ApplicationController:
public class ApplicationController : Controller
{
[Dependency]
protected ILogger _logger { get; set; }
}
derived controller:
public class HomeController : ApplicationController
{
public HomeController()
{
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
_logger.Log("Home controller constructor started.");
ViewData["Message"] = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
return View();
}
public ActionResult About()
{
return View();
}
}
Unity controller factory:
public class UnityControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
{
private readonly IUnityContainer _container;
public UnityControllerFactory(IUnityContainer container)
{
_container = container;
}
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(Type controllerType)
{
return _container.Resolve(controllerType) as IController;
}
}
Global.asax.cs sample:
protected void Application_Start()
{
_container = new UnityContainer();
_container.RegisterType<ILogger, Logger.Logger>();
UnityControllerFactory factory = new UnityControllerFactory(_container);
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(factory);
RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}
I'm quite new to Unity, so maybe I did something wrong.
thanks,
Ami.

AFAIK, Unity will only resolve public properties. Therefore your protected property will not be resolved.

I'm not sure if this is related, but usually, I avoid having namespaces and classes with the same name (in your case, Logger.Logger), for I had problems with this in the past. But that may be not the problem.
I'm also not sure if the [Dependency] attribute works for derived types. If you change it for constructor injection, does this still not work? Something like:
public class ApplicationController : Controller
{
protected ILogger _logger { get; set; }
public ApplicationController(ILogger logger)
{
this._logger = logger;
}
}
and
public class HomeController : ApplicationController
{
public HomeController(ILogger logger) : base(logger)
{
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
_logger.Log("Home controller constructor started.");
ViewData["Message"] = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
return View();
}
public ActionResult About()
{
return View();
}
}
and the rest just the same. The code looks ok.

I'm fairly unexperienced with unity as well, but I think you need to register your HomeController with the contsaner, not the logger.

I had the same issue, and fixed it by changing the ILogger to public. This is with an ASP.NET MVC2 project in VS2010, .NET 4. It makes sense, logically, since Unity isn't creating a proxy class or anything, it's just setting properties that it has access to, and has a mapping for - hence public only.

Related

How can I pass a mock object when I am doing setter injection in ASP.NET MVC Controller

Say, I have the below Controller
public class UsersController : Controller
{
private IUsersRepository UsersRepository { get; }
public UsersController()
{
UsersRepository = DependencyResolver.Current.GetService(typeof(IUsersRepository)) as IUsersRepository;
}
public ActionResult Index ()
{
MyUserDefinedModel data = UsersRepository.MyRepository();
return View(data);
}
}
Now I want to mock the IUsersRepository and pass it to the controller in my test script.
Below my test code
public class UsersListTest
{
private UsersController usersController = new Mock<IUsersRepository>();
private Mock<IUsersRepository> usersRepository = new UsersController();
[TestMethod]
public void TestMethod1()
{
//usersRepository.Setup(x => x.Get()).Returns(users);
}
}
As because private IUsersRepository UsersRepository { get; } private, I'm not able to pass the mock of IUsersRepository.
What would be the good idea to write unit test and mock in such case.
The reason that you have trouble with testing is because your Controller class uses the Service Locator anti-pattern. A Service Locator is a either a global instance (the DependencyResolver.Current) or an abstraction that allows resolving dependencies at runtime. One of the many downsides of the Service Locator is the problems it causes with testing.
You should move away from the Service Locator pattern and use dependency injection instead, favorably constructor injection. Your application components should have a single public constructor and those constructors should do nothing more than storing the incoming dependencies. This will result in the following UsersController implementation:
public class UsersController : Controller
{
private IUsersRepository usersRepository;
public UsersController(IUsersRepository usersRepository)
{
this.usersRepository = usersRepository;
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View(this.usersRepository.MyRepository());
}
}
With this in place, unit testing became trivial:
public class UsersControllerTests
{
[TestMethod]
public void Index_Always_CallsRepository()
{
// Arrange
var repository = new Mock<IUsersRepository>();
var controller = CreateValidUsersController(repository.Instance);
// Act
var result = controller.Index();
// Assert
Assert.IsTrue(repository.IsCalled);
}
// Factory method to simplify creation of the class under test with its dependencies
private UsersController CreateValidUsersController(params object[] deps) {
return new UsersController(
deps.OfType<IUsersRepository>().SingleOrDefault() ?? Fake<IUsersRepository>()
// other dependencies here
);
}
private static T Fake<T>() => (new Mock<T>()).Instance;
}
This does however, force you to change MVC's default IControllerFactory, since out-of-the-box, MVC can only handle controllers with a default constructor. But this is trivial and looks as follows:
public sealed class CompositionRoot : DefaultControllerFactory
{
private static string connectionString =
ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["app"].ConnectionString;
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(RequestContext _, Type type) {
if (type == typeof(UsersController))
return new UsersController(new UsersRepository());
// [other controllers here]
return base.GetControllerInstance(_, type);
}
}
Your new controller factory can be hooked into MVC as follows:
public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
protected void Application_Start() {
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new CompositionRoot());
// the usual stuff here
}
}
You can find a more complete example here.
You could add a constructor that allows you to supply a mock of IUsersRepository. Your default constructor would call this with the instance from the DependencyResolver, like this:
public class UsersController : Controller
{
private IUsersRepository UsersRepository { get; }
public UsersController(IUsersRepository usersRepository)
{
UsersRepository = usersRepository;
}
public UsersController():this(DependencyResolver.Current.GetService(typeof(IUsersRepository)) as IUsersRepository)
{
}
public ActionResult Index ()
{
MyUserDefinedModel data = UsersRepository.MyRepository();
return View(data);
}
}

Using an IOC container as dependency resolver for MVC5 throws ' cannot create an instance of an interface ' error

I am trying to simply use an IOC container ( ninject at present ) as the dependency resolver for MVC5.
This used to work fine in MVC4, visual studio 2012, but now with VS2013 and MVC5 , I just can't get the resolver to inject a dependency in my controller.This isn't specific to ninject, I have tried SimpleInjector and Unity too - same error
I just want to be able to inject this class in my home controller.
public interface ITest
{
void dummyMethod();
}
public class Test : ITest
{
public void dummyMethod()
{
};
}
This is the dependency resolver
public class NinjectDependencyResolver : IDependencyResolver
{
private IKernel kernel;
public NinjectDependencyResolver()
{
kernel = new StandardKernel();
AddBindings();
}
public object GetService(Type serviceType)
{
return kernel.TryGet(serviceType);
}
public IEnumerable<object> GetServices(Type serviceType)
{
return kernel.GetAll(serviceType);
}
private void AddBindings()
{
kernel.Bind<ITest>().To<Test>();
}
}
This is the global.asax.cs
public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
DependencyResolver.SetResolver(new NinjectDependencyResolver());
FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
}
}
and this is my HomeController
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index(ITest test)
{
return View();
}
}
but when I run this I keep getting
Server Error in '/' Application.
Cannot create an instance of an interface.
I have also tried creating a brand new project ( MVC 5) - same error
I have tried MVC5, and then also upgrading to 5.2.2. Same error
Any help greatly appreciated. I think that the resolver is never being called for some reason, even though if I put a breakpoint at
kernel.Bind<ITest>().To<Test>();
it does stop there.... No idea what is happening :(
Normally you cannot inject parameters into your action methods.
You need to inject your dependencies in your constroller's constructor :
public class HomeController : Controller
{
private readonly ITest test;
public HomeController(ITest test)
{
this.test = this;
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
//use test here
return View();
}
}

Routing from one view to another controller's action method and passing a parameter to that controller's constructor

I'm creating my first C# MVC site and quite early on I've hit a roadblock where I'm not sure if I'm going about things entirely the wrong way and I can't find an example similar to my own online but it seems like what I'm trying to do should be straightforward.
Basically, I have my initial controller (called ClientController) that sets up a list of clients and then displays them in my list view:
public class ClientController : Controller
{
private readonly IClientManagerRepository _clientManagerRepository;
public ClientController()
: this(new EntityClientManagerRepository())
{
}
public ClientController(IClientManagerRepository repository)
{
_clientManagerRepository = repository;
}
//
// GET: /Client/
public ViewResult List()
{
return View(_clientManagerRepository.GetAllClients());
}
}
Then in my view I have an action link where I want to route to my UserController, passing it the client name, so that it can build the list of users for that particular client.
#Html.ActionLink("View Admin Users","Index","User",new {clientName = item.ClientName},null)
This works with the following code:
public class UserController : Controller
{
private IUserManagerRepository _userManagerRepository;
//
// GET: /User/
public ActionResult Index(string clientName)
{
_userManagerRepository = new EntityUserManagerRepository(clientName);
return View(_userManagerRepository.GetAllUsers());
}
}
And my list of users is displayed correctly in my view.
However, when I then add in my details action method it doesn't work because the _userManagerRepository isn't instantiated:
//
// GET: /User/Details/5
public ActionResult Details(int contactId)
{
return View(_userManagerRepository.GetUser(contactId));
}
I would have to I guess pass in the clientname each time and re-instantiate my _userManagerRepository. That doesn't feel like a very good way though.
Ideally I'd like to create my _userManagerRepository in the constructor of my UserController. I've been looking into how I would do this so I'd have something like:
public class UserController : Controller
{
private IUserManagerRepository _userManagerRepository;
public UserController(string clientname)
: this(new EntityUserManagerRepository(clientname))
{
}
public UserController(IUserManagerRepository repository)
{
_userManagerRepository = repository;
}
I've researched that I can create my own controller factory so that I can have a parameter in my userController constructor however I still don't understand how I would pass my clientname parameter form a view to my UserController.
If you want to instantiate Repository class in controller's constructor,you can use NInject,
it's really nice approach to do it.
1-Install Ninject from Nuget
2-Create Repository Abstract for example ICustomerRepository
public abstract ICustomerRepository
{
string GetCustomerName();
}
3-Create Repository for example CustomerRepository
public class CustomerRepository:ICustomerRepository
{
string GetCustomerName()
{
return ("John");
}
}
4-create CustomerControllerFactory Class
public class CustomControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
{
private static IKernel ninjectKernel;
public CustomControllerFactory()
{
ninjectKernel = new StandardKernel();
AddBindings(ninjectKernel);
}
protected override IController GetControllerInstance
(System.Web.Routing.RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType)
{
if (controllerType == null)
{
return (new Controllers.MessageController());
}
else
{
return ((IController)ninjectKernel.Get(controllerType));
}
}
public static void AddBindings(IKernel ninjectKernel)
{
Common.DependencyInjection.DependencyManager.GetDependencyInjections().ForEach(current =>
{
if (current.Abstract != null && current.Implementation != null)
{
ninjectKernel.Bind(current.Abstract).To(current.Implementation);
}
});
ninjectKernel.Bind<ICustomerRepository>().To(typeof(CustomerRepository));
}
}
ninjectKernel.Bind().To(typeof(CustomerRepository));
I bind ICustomerRepository to CustomerRepository in upper code
5- Add below code to Application_Start
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new CustomControllerFactory());
6-Create New Controller
public class CustomerController:Controller
{
public CustomerController(ICustomerRepository customerRepository)
{
//customerRepository instantiate to CustomerRepostory Class automatically
}
}
it's Dependency Injection that i think useful for you
Regards

No parameterless constructor defined for this object. Make sure that the controller has a parameterless public constructor

I am working on Pro ASP.Net Book MVC3 Framework and suddenly I have this issue.
I am attaching the code for my Product Controller. Seems like problem is here:
Also, I added code for my NinjectController. Would appreciate any help with code.
namespace NordStore.WebUI.Controllers{
public class ProductController : Controller
{
private IProductRepository repository;
public ProductController(IProductRepository productRepository)
{
repository = productRepository;
}
public ViewResult List()
{
return View(repository.Products);
}
}
}
namespace NordStore.WebUI.Infrastructure{
public class NinjectControllerFactory: DefaultControllerFactory
{
private IKernel ninjectKernel;
public NinjectControllerFactory()
{
ninjectKernel = new StandardKernel();
AddBindings();
}
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(RequestContext requestContext,
Type controllerType)
{
return controllerType == null
? null
: (IController)ninjectKernel.Get(controllerType);
}
private void AddBindings()
{
// put additional bindings here
ninjectKernel.Bind<IProductRepository>().To<EFProductRepository>();
}
}
}
Your constructor takes a parameter of type IProductRepository. You are probably trying to instantiate your controller like so:
ProductController controller = new ProductController();
But you can't because there is no Constructor that is defined in your controller that takes 0 arguments. You need to either pass an object of type IProductRepository or define a paramterless constructor.
Please look at Dependency Injection frameworks like Unity or Ninject.
In the meanwhile to get your code to work your the poor man's DI method:
Assuming ProductRepository derives from IProductRepository
public class ProductController : Controller
{
private IProductRepository repository;
//The framework will call this constructor
public ProductController() : this(new ProductRepository()) { }
public ProductController(IProductRepository productRepository)
{
repository = productRepository;
}
public ViewResult List()
{
return View(repository.Products);
}
}

WebAPI. Dependency injection with Ninject in case of inheritance

I'm pretty new to ASP.NET WebApi project, but hopefully I'll put everything straight enough. After creating couple CRUD Controllers a brilliant idea come to my mind - write generic base CRUD-web-API controller for all of them and do not mess with rewriting same code.
After successful implementation of such class I faced problem with dependency resolving which is still working fine for non-generic/-inherited controllers.
Simple request (GET, POST, etc.) gives:
Type 'UsersController' does not have a default constructor","ExceptionType":"System.ArgumentException"
Default constructor without injections works fine. Obviously I have a problem with Ninject configuration.
public abstract class BaseCRUDController<T> : ApiController where T : class, IClientEntity
{
private readonly Repository<T> _repo;
private readonly IDbContextDataProvider _context;
// With this ctor everything works well
public BaseCRUDController()
{
this._context = new ModelContext();
this._repo = new Repository<T>(this._context);
}
// Injection is not working ((
public BaseCRUDController(IDbContextDataProvider context)
{
this._context = context;
this._repo = new Repository<T>(context);
}
And concrete Controller for User entity:
public class UsersController : BaseCRUDController<User>
{
UsersController(IDbContextDataProvider context) : base(context) { }
UsersController() : base() { }
}
And Ninject config itself:
public class DataProviderModule : NinjectModule
{
public override void Load()
{
this.Bind<IDbContextDataProvider>().To<ModelContext>().InSingletonScope();
}
}
public class NinjectResolver
{
// Instantinate Ninject dependencies resolver
public static System.Web.Http.Dependencies.IDependencyResolver GetConfiguredDependencyResolver()
{
IKernel kernel = new StandardKernel(new DataProviderModule());
System.Web.Http.Dependencies.IDependencyResolver njResolver = new NinjectResolver(kernel);
return njResolver;
}
}
And Application_Start
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
var config = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration;
config.DependencyResolver = NinjectResolver.GetConfiguredDependencyResolver();
WebApiConfig.Register(config);
What am I doing wrong here?
NOTE: This approach works well if I have:
public class UsersController : ApiController
{
UsersController(IDbContextDataProvider context)
{
....
}
...
Oh.. I've spent hours trying different approaches. It was madness. And the funny part here is that Ninject is working well and code is correct except one accessibility modifier. Adding public modifier to UsersController ctor fixed the issue.
public class UsersController : BaseCRUDController<User>
{
public UsersController(IDbContextDataProvider context) : base(context) { }
...
PS. Write your code carefully...

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