27 December 2012
I wanted to try putting together a WCF Service that would return JSON. With its configurable nature, I've heard before that it's not that big of a deal to do this.. and truth be told, it's not that awkward to do but it took me a while to find all the right hoops to jump through! (Another time, I might consider trying to put together a RESTful API using MVC and the JsonResult type unless there was some need to support multiple response types, such as XML and JSON).
The best way to go through it is probably with an example, so here's a simple Service Contract interface, note the "WebGet" attribute and the BodyStyle and ResponseFormat values.
using System;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Web;
namespace WCFJSONExample
{
[ServiceContract]
public interface IPostService
{
[OperationContract]
[WebGet(BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
PostResponseDetails Search(int id, DateTime postedAfter, DateTime postedBefore);
}
}
When communicating through SOAP, the standard request method is to POST the data but for the purposes here I want to enable GET requests that return JSON. I also want the search parameters to be simple types, rather than having to support a complex SearchRequestDetails type, for example, that could specify the various criteria. There's nothing special about the PostResponseDetails type, though:
using System;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
namespace WCFJSONExample
{
[DataContract]
public class PostResponseDetails
{
[DataMember]
public StatusDetails Status { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public PostDetails[] Posts { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class StatusDetails
{
[DataMember]
public bool Success { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string AdditionalStatusInformation { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class PostDetails
{
[DataMember]
public int Id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public DateTime Posted { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Title { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Content { get; set; }
}
}
We're going to get the framework to serialise the response data for us, so nothing unusual was required there.
Where things do need changing from the defaults, though, are some of the settings in the web.config. Within system.serviceModel / services, we need to add the following (the "services" node won't exist if you're working with a clean web.config file - ie. a web.config as Visual Studio will generate for a new "WCF Service Application" project):
<service name="WCFJSONExample.PostService">
<endpoint
name="jsonEndPoint"
address=""
binding="webHttpBinding"
behaviorConfiguration="json"
contract="WCFJSONExample.IPostService"
/>
</service>
And within system.serviceModel / behaviours / endpointBehaviors we need to add (again, the "behaviours" node won't exist in the clean / default web.config, just add it and the child "endpointBehaviors" node in, if required):
<behavior name="json">
<webHttp />
</behavior>
And that's it! Web Service calls can be made by specifying the method name as part of the url - eg.
http://localhost:62277/PostService.svc/Search?id=1
When making requests, if any of the parameters are not included then they will be given default values - eg.
http://localhost:62277/PostService.svc/Search?id=1
will result in a method call with id specified as 1 and both postedAfter and postedBefore with the value default(DateTime). I wanted to be able to specify nullable types for the method arguments so that if I needed a method where I could differentiate between integer values being specified as zero and not being specified (and so appearing to be zero as that is default(int)).
But changing the Operation Contract to
[OperationContract]
[WebGet(BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
PostResponseDetails Search(int? id, DateTime? postedAfter, DateTime? postedBefore);
results in the unfriendly error:
Operation 'GetLogData' in contract 'IPostService' has a query variable named 'fromDate' of type 'System.Nullable
1[System.DateTime]', but type 'System.Nullable1[System.DateTime]' is not convertible by 'QueryStringConverter'. Variables for UriTemplate query values must have types that can be converted by 'QueryStringConverter'.
It turns out that the WebHttp behaviour uses an internal class "QueryStringConverter" that will only translate particular types. But we can use a different end point behaviour that uses a different query string converter. Most of the behaviour of the webHttp behaviour (which corresponds to the System.ServiceModel.Description.WebHttpBehavior class) is correct and we just want to extend it, so we'll create a new class that inherits from it and tweak it slightly in that manner.
The new class looks like this:
using System;
using System.ServiceModel.Configuration;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;
using System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher;
namespace WCFJSONExample
{
public class NullableSupportingWebHttpBehaviourExtension : BehaviorExtensionElement
{
public override Type BehaviorType
{
get
{
return typeof(NullableSupportingWebHttpBehaviour);
}
}
protected override object CreateBehavior()
{
return new NullableSupportingWebHttpBehaviour();
}
private class NullableSupportingWebHttpBehaviour : WebHttpBehavior
{
protected override QueryStringConverter GetQueryStringConverter(
OperationDescription operationDescription)
{
return new NullableSupportingQueryStringConverter();
}
private class NullableSupportingQueryStringConverter : QueryStringConverter
{
public override bool CanConvert(Type type)
{
if (base.CanConvert(type))
return true;
Type nullableInnerType;
return TryToGetNullableTypeInformation(type, out nullableInnerType)
&& base.CanConvert(nullableInnerType);
}
public override object ConvertStringToValue(
string parameter,
Type parameterType)
{
Type nullableInnerType;
if (TryToGetNullableTypeInformation(parameterType, out nullableInnerType))
{
if (parameter == null)
return null;
return ConvertStringToValue(parameter, nullableInnerType);
}
return base.ConvertStringToValue(parameter, parameterType);
}
public override string ConvertValueToString(
object parameter,
Type parameterType)
{
Type nullableInnerType;
if (TryToGetNullableTypeInformation(parameterType, out nullableInnerType))
{
if (parameter == null)
return null;
return ConvertValueToString(parameter, nullableInnerType);
}
return base.ConvertValueToString(parameter, parameterType);
}
private bool TryToGetNullableTypeInformation(Type type, out Type innerType)
{
if (type == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("type");
if (!type.IsGenericType
|| (type.GetGenericTypeDefinition() != typeof(Nullable<>)))
{
innerType = null;
return false;
}
innerType = type.GetGenericArguments()[0];
return true;
}
}
}
}
}
And we plumb it in by adding this to system.serviceModel / extensions / behaviorExtensions (again, the "extensions" node and its "behaviorExtensions" child node need adding in to a vanilla web.config):
<add
name="postServiceWebHttp"
type="WCFJSONExample.NullableSupportingWebHttpBehaviourExtension, WCFJSONExample"
/>
And then replace the "webHttp" node of the behaviour we added above with a "postServiceWebHttp" node, thus:
<behavior name="json">
<postServiceWebHttp />
</behavior>
The QueryStringConverter's CanConvert, ConvertStringToValue and ConvertValueToString methods are overridden so that we can pick up on parameters that are of the type Nullable<T> and deal with them appropriately - returning null if a null value is stored in the type and dealing with the wrapped value if not.
This could easily be changed to perform different translation actions, if required (it could feasibly be integrated with a JSON serialiser to deal with complex data types, for example).
Posted at 22:46
17 December 2012
This is a compilation of links to articles outlining some of the details of the Full Text Indexer project I put together, just so I could point a link to everything all in one place (like from the BitBucket ReadMe!)
I wrote about the basic building blocks of the Index Generator, went off on a few tangents about how using different key types could allow for searches over data with multi-lingual content (or support Product data that has different descriptions for different web sites, for example) and then came back round to illustrate how I've used the code for this blog's search functionality.
Along the journey, I got to learn a few new things, take advantage of other's research and have fun trying to improve the performance of some of the bottlenecks in the index generation process.
I also had a chance to revisit the basic immutable list structure that I used from the get-go in this project and improve its performance characteristics as well (again, taking a lot of inspiration from cleverer people who've tackled the same problems before me! :)
The code can be found in the Full Text Indexer BitBucket Repository. I've still got a few ideas I'm contemplating toying with - but I've also got other projects I want to investigate! So we'll just have to see what happens with this next..
Update (5th March 2013): I just can't seem to let this lie! :) I've added another post The Full Text Indexer - Automating Index Generation which demonstrates some new code that will examine your source data type and generate an index for you, all on its own! Easy! (Added to the list above).
Update (14th March 2013): And another! This time about support for structured querying, a way to combine terms with AND, OR, NOT operators. See The Full Text Indexer - Structured Queries. (Added to the list above).
Update (28th March 2013): Documenting an extension to the index data that allow for more performant consecutive term matching: The Full Text Indexer: Source Locations. Followed by a way to utilise this information for Search Term Highlighting with Source Locations. (Added to the list above).
Update (25th July 2013): Inspired by the "The 10 Megabyte Manifesto" and NeoCities, I've developed a way to consume search index data with JavaScript to enable a copy of this blog to be hosted where the searching is done entirely client-side. Read about it at The Full Text Indexer goes client-side! and see it in action live at productiverage.neocities.org! (Added to the list above).
Update (30th July 2013): A follow-up to the "The Full Text Indexer goes client-side" describing how the search index data can be compressed to take up less space on the host: JavaScript Compression (Putting my JSON Search Indexes on a diet). (Added to the list above).
Posted at 18:06
6 December 2012
In my last post (Persistent Immutable Lists) I offered some code as an alternate (and more performant) way to write an immutable list to that I suggested right back in my first post (I love Immutable Data). Well now I'd like to present a minor follow-up to the follow-up! I've incorporated the new list implementation into a few projects and have filled out a few more methods such as a "Remove" method (to remove a particular value, rather than removing from a given index with "RemoveAt" or "RemoveRange"), alternate "Sort" signatures and a "To" method that allows for derived types to be written that return their the derived type from the manipulation methods (see examples below):
[Serializable]
public class ImmutableList<T> : IEnumerable<T>
{
private readonly Node _tail;
private readonly IValueValidator<T> _optionalValueValidator;
private T[] _allValues;
public ImmutableList() : this((IValueValidator<T>)null) { }
public ImmutableList(IEnumerable<T> values) : this(values, null) { }
public ImmutableList(IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
: this((Node)null, optionalValueValidator) { }
public ImmutableList(IEnumerable<T> values, IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
{
if (values == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("values");
Node node = null;
foreach (var value in values)
{
if (optionalValueValidator != null)
optionalValueValidator.EnsureValid(value);
if (node == null)
node = new Node(value, null);
else
node = new Node(value, node);
}
_tail = node;
_optionalValueValidator = optionalValueValidator;
_allValues = null;
}
protected ImmutableList(Node tail, IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
{
_tail = tail;
_optionalValueValidator = optionalValueValidator;
_allValues = null;
}
public T this[int index]
{
get
{
if ((index < 0) || (index >= Count))
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("index");
EnsureAllValuesDataIsPopulated();
return _allValues[index];
}
}
public int Count
{
get { return (_tail == null) ? 0 : _tail.Count; }
}
public bool Contains(T value)
{
return Contains(value, null);
}
public bool Contains(T value, IEqualityComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
if (_tail == null)
return false;
EnsureAllValuesDataIsPopulated();
for (var index = 0; index < _allValues.Length; index++)
{
if (DoValuesMatch(_allValues[index], value, optionalComparer))
return true;
}
return false;
}
public ImmutableList<T> Add(T value)
{
// Add is easy since we keep a reference to the tail node, we only need to wrap it
// in a new node to create a new tail!
if (_optionalValueValidator != null)
_optionalValueValidator.EnsureValid(value);
return new ImmutableList<T>(
new Node(value, _tail),
_optionalValueValidator
);
}
public ImmutableList<T> AddRange(IEnumerable<T> values)
{
if (values == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("values");
if (!values.Any())
return this;
// AddRange is easy for the same reason as Add
var node = _tail;
foreach (var value in values)
{
if (_optionalValueValidator != null)
_optionalValueValidator.EnsureValid(value);
node = new Node(value, node);
}
return new ImmutableList<T>(node, _optionalValueValidator);
}
public ImmutableList<T> Insert(IEnumerable<T> values, int insertAtIndex)
{
if (values == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("values");
return Insert(values, default(T), insertAtIndex);
}
public ImmutableList<T> Insert(T value, int insertAtIndex)
{
return Insert(null, value, insertAtIndex);
}
private ImmutableList<T> Insert(
IEnumerable<T> multipleValuesToAdd,
T singleValueToAdd,
int insertAtIndex)
{
if ((insertAtIndex < 0) || (insertAtIndex > Count))
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("insertAtIndex");
if ((multipleValuesToAdd != null) && !multipleValuesToAdd.Any())
return this;
// If the insertion is at the end of the list then we can use Add or AddRange which
// may allow some optimisation
if (insertAtIndex == Count)
{
if (multipleValuesToAdd == null)
return Add(singleValueToAdd);
return AddRange(multipleValuesToAdd);
}
// Starting with the tail, walk back to the insertion point, record the values we
// pass over
var node = _tail;
var valuesBeforeInsertionPoint = new T[Count - insertAtIndex];
for (var index = 0; index < valuesBeforeInsertionPoint.Length; index++)
{
valuesBeforeInsertionPoint[index] = node.Value;
node = node.Previous;
}
// Any existing node chain before the insertion point can be persisted and the new
// value(s) appended
if (multipleValuesToAdd == null)
{
if (_optionalValueValidator != null)
_optionalValueValidator.EnsureValid(singleValueToAdd);
node = new Node(singleValueToAdd, node);
}
else
{
foreach (var valueToAdd in multipleValuesToAdd)
{
if (_optionalValueValidator != null)
_optionalValueValidator.EnsureValid(valueToAdd);
node = new Node(valueToAdd, node);
}
}
// Finally, add back the values we walked through before to complete the chain
for (var index = valuesBeforeInsertionPoint.Length - 1; index >= 0; index--)
node = new Node(valuesBeforeInsertionPoint[index], node);
return new ImmutableList<T>(node, _optionalValueValidator);
}
/// <summary>
/// Removes the first occurrence of a specific object from the list, if the item is
/// not present then this instance will be returned
/// </summary>
public ImmutableList<T> Remove(T value)
{
return Remove(value, null);
}
/// <summary>
/// Removes the first occurrence of a specific object from the list, if the item is
/// not present then this instance will be returned
/// </summary>
public ImmutableList<T> Remove(T value, IEqualityComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
// If there are no items in the list then the specified value can't be present,
// so do nothing
if (_tail == null)
return this;
// Try to find the last node that matches the value when walking backwards from
// the tail; this will be the first in the list when considered from start to end
var node = _tail;
Node lastNodeThatMatched = null;
int? lastNodeIndexThatMatched = null;
var valuesBeforeRemoval = new T[Count];
for (var index = 0; index < Count; index++)
{
if (DoValuesMatch(value, node.Value, optionalComparer))
{
lastNodeThatMatched = node;
lastNodeIndexThatMatched = index;
}
valuesBeforeRemoval[index] = node.Value;
node = node.Previous;
}
if (lastNodeThatMatched == null)
return this;
// Now build a new chain by taking the content before the value-to-remove and
// adding back the values that were stepped through
node = lastNodeThatMatched.Previous;
for (var index = lastNodeIndexThatMatched.Value - 1; index >= 0; index--)
node = new Node(valuesBeforeRemoval[index], node);
return new ImmutableList<T>(node, _optionalValueValidator);
}
private bool DoValuesMatch(T x, T y, IEqualityComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
if (optionalComparer != null)
return optionalComparer.Equals(x, y);
if ((x == null) && (y == null))
return true;
else if ((x == null) || (y == null))
return false;
else
return x.Equals(y);
}
public ImmutableList<T> RemoveAt(int removeAtIndex)
{
return RemoveRange(removeAtIndex, 1);
}
public ImmutableList<T> RemoveRange(int removeAtIndex, int count)
{
if (removeAtIndex < 0)
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(
"removeAtIndex",
"must be greater than or equal zero"
);
if (count <= 0)
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count", "must be greater than zero");
if ((removeAtIndex + count) > Count)
throw new ArgumentException("removeAtIndex + count must not exceed Count");
// Starting with the tail, walk back to the end of the removal range, recording
// the values we pass over
var node = _tail;
var valuesBeforeRemovalRange = new T[Count - (removeAtIndex + count)];
for (var index = 0; index < valuesBeforeRemovalRange.Length; index++)
{
valuesBeforeRemovalRange[index] = node.Value;
node = node.Previous;
}
// Move past the values in the removal range
for (var index = 0; index < count; index++)
node = node.Previous;
// Now add back the values we walked through above to the part of the chain that
// can be persisted
for (var index = valuesBeforeRemovalRange.Length - 1; index >= 0; index--)
node = new Node(valuesBeforeRemovalRange[index], node);
return new ImmutableList<T>(node, _optionalValueValidator);
}
public ImmutableList<T> Sort()
{
return Sort((IComparer<T>)null);
}
public ImmutableList<T> Sort(Comparison<T> optionalComparison)
{
if (optionalComparison == null)
return Sort((IComparer<T>)null);
return Sort(new SortComparisonWrapper(optionalComparison));
}
public ImmutableList<T> Sort(IComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
EnsureAllValuesDataIsPopulated();
return new ImmutableList<T>(
(optionalComparer == null)
? _allValues.OrderBy(v => v)
: _allValues.OrderBy(v => v, optionalComparer),
_optionalValueValidator
);
}
public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator()
{
// As documented at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.array.aspx,
// from .Net 2.0 onward, the Array class implements IEnumerable<T> but this is
// only provided at runtime so we have to explicitly cast access its generic
// GetEnumerator method
EnsureAllValuesDataIsPopulated();
return ((IEnumerable<T>)_allValues).GetEnumerator();
}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
/// <summary>
/// So that a derived class may override the public methods with implementations that
/// return the derived type's class, this method exposes a manner to access the _tail
/// reference of a return ImmutableList instance without having to make both it and the
/// Node class public - eg. a derived class NonNullOrEmptyStringList may incorporate its
/// own hard-coded validation and wish to have a NonNullOrEmptyStringList instance
/// returned from its Add method. If it calls the ImmutableList's Add method it will
/// receive a new ImmutableList instance which can be transformed into an instance of
/// NonNullOrEmptyStringList if it has a constructor which take a Node argument by
/// passing a lambda wrapping a call to that constructor into this method, along with
/// the new ImmutableList reference that is to be wrapped. This introduce does have the
/// overhead of an additional initialisation (of the NonNullOrEmptyStringList) but it
/// allows for more strictly-typed return values from the NonNullOrEmptyStringList's
/// methods.
/// </summary>
protected static U To<U>(ImmutableList<T> list, Func<Node, U> generator)
{
if (list == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("list");
if (generator == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("generator");
return generator(list._tail);
}
/// <summary>
/// For enumerating the values we need to walk through all of the nodes and then reverse
/// the set (since we start with the tail and work backwards). This can be relatively
/// expensive so the list is cached in the "_allValues" member array so that subsequent
/// requests are fast (wouldn't be a big deal for a single enumeration of the contents
/// but it could be for multiple calls to the indexed property).
/// </summary>
private void EnsureAllValuesDataIsPopulated()
{
if (_allValues != null)
return;
// Since we start at the tail and work backwards, we need to reverse
// the order of the items in values array that is populated here
var numberOfValues = Count;
var values = new T[numberOfValues];
var node = _tail;
for (var index = 0; index < numberOfValues; index++)
{
values[(numberOfValues - 1) - index] = node.Value;
node = node.Previous;
}
_allValues = values;
}
/// <summary>
/// This is used by the Sort method if a Comparison<T> is specified
/// </summary>
private class SortComparisonWrapper : IComparer<T>
{
private Comparison<T> _comparison;
public SortComparisonWrapper(Comparison<T> comparison)
{
if (comparison == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("comparison");
_comparison = comparison;
}
public int Compare(T x, T y)
{
return _comparison(x, y);
}
}
protected class Node
{
public Node(T value, Node previous)
{
Value = value;
Previous = previous;
Count = (previous == null) ? 1 : (previous.Count + 1);
}
public T Value { get; private set; }
/// <summary>
/// This will be null if there is no previous node (ie. this is the start of the
/// chain, the head)
/// </summary>
public Node Previous { get; private set; }
public int Count { get; private set; }
}
}
public interface IValueValidator<T>
{
/// <summary>
/// This will throw an exception for a value that does pass validation requirements
/// </summary>
void EnsureValid(T value);
}
To implement a NonNullImmutableList we want to inherit from the ImmutableList and introduce a compulsory IValueValidator that ensures that no item in the list is null. Each of the methods are then "overridden" using the "new" keyword so that if they are called on an instance of the NonNullImmutableList then an instance of the NonNullImmutableList will be returned but if it is used anywhere as an ImmutableList then the ImmutableList's methods will be called directly and an ImmutableList (rather than a NonNullImmutableList) reference will be returned. This approach does have a minor overhead as described in the comment on the "To" method seen above but it does offer a straight-forward way to write derived classes that maintain their type (and so their implicit validation rules and assurances) when manipulations are performed.
[Serializable]
public class NonNullImmutableList<T> : ImmutableList<T> where T : class
{
private readonly static Validator _defaultValidator = new Validator(null);
private IValueValidator<T> _optionalValueValidator;
public NonNullImmutableList() : this((IValueValidator<T>)null) { }
public NonNullImmutableList(IEnumerable<T> values) : this(values, null) { }
public NonNullImmutableList(IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
: base((Node)null, GetValidator(optionalValueValidator))
{
_optionalValueValidator = optionalValueValidator;
}
public NonNullImmutableList(
IEnumerable<T> values,
IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator
) : base(values, GetValidator(optionalValueValidator))
{
_optionalValueValidator = optionalValueValidator;
}
private NonNullImmutableList(Node tail, IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
: base(tail, GetValidator(optionalValueValidator))
{
_optionalValueValidator = optionalValueValidator;
}
private static IValueValidator<T> GetValidator(IValueValidator<T> optionalValueValidator)
{
if (optionalValueValidator == null)
return _defaultValidator;
return new Validator(optionalValueValidator);
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Add(T value)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Add(value));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> AddRange(IEnumerable<T> values)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.AddRange(values));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Insert(T value, int insertAtIndex)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Insert(value, insertAtIndex));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Insert(IEnumerable<T> values, int insertAtIndex)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Insert(values, insertAtIndex));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Remove(T value)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Remove(value));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Remove(T value, IEqualityComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Remove(value, optionalComparer));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> RemoveAt(int removeAtIndex)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.RemoveAt(removeAtIndex));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> RemoveRange(int removeAtIndex, int count)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.RemoveRange(removeAtIndex, count));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Sort()
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Sort());
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Sort(Comparison<T> optionalComparison)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Sort(optionalComparison));
}
public new NonNullImmutableList<T> Sort(IComparer<T> optionalComparer)
{
return ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(base.Sort(optionalComparer));
}
private NonNullImmutableList<T> ToNonNullOrEmptyStringList(ImmutableList<T> list)
{
if (list == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("list");
return To<NonNullImmutableList<T>>(
list,
tail => new NonNullImmutableList<T>(tail, _optionalValueValidator)
);
}
private class Validator : IValueValidator<T>
{
private IValueValidator<T> _optionalInnerValidator;
public Validator(IValueValidator<T> optionalInnerValidator)
{
_optionalInnerValidator = optionalInnerValidator;
}
/// <summary>
/// This will throw an exception for a value that does pass validation requirements
/// </summary>
public void EnsureValid(T value)
{
if (value == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("value");
if (_optionalInnerValidator != null)
_optionalInnerValidator.EnsureValid(value);
}
}
}
A very similar approach could be taken to implement a "NonNullOrEmptyStringList" class (referred to in previous posts as a "DefinedStringList") but dropping the type param and inheriting from ImmutableList<string> and swapping out the validator to check for null or blank strings.
The final piece of the puzzle I've used in my code is to throw in some extension methods:
public static class IEnumerable_Extensions
{
public static ImmutableList<T> ToImmutableList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> data)
{
return new ImmutableList<T>(data);
}
/// <summary>
/// valueValidator is optional (may be null)
/// </summary>
public static ImmutableList<T> ToImmutableList<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> data,
IValueValidator<T> valueValidator)
{
return new ImmutableList<T>(data, valueValidator);
}
/// <summary>
/// This will throw an exception if any of the values are null
/// </summary>
public static NonNullImmutableList<T> ToNonNullImmutableList<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> data) where T : class
{
return new NonNullImmutableList<T>(data);
}
/// <summary>
/// This will throw an exception if any of the values are null, valueValidator is
/// optional (may be null)
/// </summary>
public static NonNullImmutableList<T> ToNonNullImmutableList<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> data,
IValueValidator<T> valueValidator) where T : class
{
return new NonNullImmutableList<T>(data, valueValidator);
}
}
And that's it! I'm happy with these updated lists for now and, as I already mentioned, have been using them in a few projects and consider them ready for use!
Posted at 20:02
Dan is a big geek who likes making stuff with computers! He can be quite outspoken so clearly needs a blog :)
In the last few minutes he seems to have taken to referring to himself in the third person. He's quite enjoying it.