[mvccontrib-discuss] Portable Area Dependencies

[ben]

Hi,

Am loving the Portable Area functionality in the MvcContrib project. I
would like to lose the dependency that my main web app (entry point)
has to have on the portable area project, so have a few questions.

1. How can I change InputBuilder.BootStrap() so that it loads
additional assemblies that are not referenced by the project (for
example, using StructureMap's assembly scanning features).

2. In cases where I need to communicate over the message bus I would
move the message objects and handlers to a separate class library
project. The portable area application would reference the adapter
project so it knows about the message formats. I would then aim to
scan the adapter assembly (using StructureMap) from the main web
application and instantiate all instances of IMessageHandler.

Is this a good approach? Doing this would mean that I only ever have
to reference the one adapter assembly from the web application and
that deploying a new feature (portable area) would be a case of
dropping in the relevant dll and an updated adapter - without needing
to dive into Visual Studio and recompile.

Thanks.
Ben

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[Eric Hexter]

You do not need to reference the pa for it to load.  This is the default behavior of the mvc2

sent from my mobile phone

[ben]

Great Eric, thanks for your reply. Have just tested and yes it's
working without adding the reference.

What are your thoughts regarding my second point?

Thanks
Ben

On May 17, 5:47 pm, Eric Hexter <eric.hex...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You do not need to reference the pa for it to load.  This is the default
> behavior of the mvc2
>
> sent from my mobile phone
>

> On May 17, 2010 10:58 AM, "ben" <ben.fos...@retroviz.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Am loving the Portable Area functionality in the MvcContrib project. I
> would like to lose the dependency that my main web app (entry point)
> has to have on the portable area project, so have a few questions.
>
> 1. How can I change InputBuilder.BootStrap() so that it loads
> additional assemblies that are not referenced by the project (for
> example, using StructureMap's assembly scanning features).
>
> 2. In cases where I need to communicate over the message bus I would
> move the message objects and handlers to a separate class library
> project. The portable area application would reference the adapter
> project so it knows about the message formats. I would then aim to
> scan the adapter assembly (using StructureMap) from the main web
> application and instantiate all instances of IMessageHandler.
>
> Is this a good approach? Doing this would mean that I only ever have
> to reference the one adapter assembly from the web application and
> that deploying a new feature (portable area) would be a case of
> dropping in the relevant dll and an updated adapter - without needing
> to dive into Visual Studio and recompile.
>
> Thanks.
> Ben
>
> --
> Contact Jeffrey Palermo or Eric Hexter with specific questions about the

> MvcContrib project.  Or go tohttp://mvccontrib.org

>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> mvccontrib-disc...@googlegroups.com

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mvccontrib-discuss?hl=en
>
> --
> Contact Jeffrey Palermo or Eric Hexter with specific questions about the MvcContrib project.  Or go tohttp://mvccontrib.org

>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mvccontrib-disc...@googlegroups.com

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mvccontrib-discuss?hl=en

[ben]

Just a further update.

I created a proof of concept app to test the points I raised on my
second question and am happy with the results.

I have the following projects:

Sample.Web - Main web application (entry point) - references
Sample.Core and Sample.Adapters
Sample.Core - Application services, interfaces, utils
Sample.Adapters - Portable area messages (e.g. LoginInputMessage),
handlers (e.g. LoginHandler) and any html extension methods specific
to the area e.g. Html.Login
Sample.LoginPortableArea - Portable area project. References
Sample.Adapters.

Based on Eric's earlier reply, the call to InputBuilder.BootStrap()
will include areas without explicitly referencing them from the main
web project.

I am using StructureMap to then scan the Sample.Adapters dll for
instances of IMessageHandler:

public AppRegistry() {
Scan(x =>
{
x.Assembly("Sample.Adapters");
x.AddAllTypesOf<IMessageHandler>();
});
}

In Global.asax I do the following:

protected void Application_Start()
{
Bootstrapper.Boot();

Bus.Instance.SetMessageHandlerFactory(new
IocMessageHandlerFactory());

foreach (var handler in
ObjectFactory.GetAllInstances<IMessageHandler>()) {
Bus.AddMessageHandler(handler.GetType());
}

...

This appears to work well and means that if I then add a new portable
area that should communicate via the bus, I need only to update the
Sample.Adapters dll and don't need to add any additional references to
the main web project.

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/mvccontrib-discuss?hl=en- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Eric Hexter]

That looks like a good approach.  Also, John Nelson has a fork that auto registers all of the handlers.  I just have not had a chance to land that patch yet but it is something worth looking at.

 

Eric Hexter

Director of OSS | Headspring | www.Headspring.com
email | ehe...@Headspring.com
blog | http://Hex.LosTechies.com
info | http://www.linkedin.com/in/erichexter