Asynchronous programming with custom DTO's and Entity Framework - c#

Hopefully I can explain myself clearly, as I'm fairly new to async/await and Task.
Basically I'm going down the route of teaching myself asynchronous programming, whilst fundamentally, I fully understand the concept, and when it's best applied.
Although in my project, I may have gone a little overboard. So I've always enjoyed crafting my own DTO's, and I don't really enjoy using a third party tool (AutoMapper) to do so, But potentially with great regret because I'm not really sure how to return Task<DTO> from manually mapping.
If I may elaborate:
Client Repo
public sealed class ClientRepository : IClientRepository
{
private ClientConfigEntities _context;
public ClientRepository(ClientConfigEntities context)
{
_context = context;
}
public async Task<Client> AuthenticateAsync(string apiKey, string password)
{
//Throws error because it cannot return Task<Client> from Client
return await MapClient.ToModel(_context.tbl_Client
.FirstOrDefaultAsync(c => c.ApiKey == apiKey
&& c.Password == password));
}
}
Mapping
public static class MapClient
{
public static Client ToModel(tbl_Client source)
{
return (source != null) ? new Client
{
Id = source.Id,
ApiKey = source.ApiKey,
ApiURL = source.ApiURL,
ClientKey = source.ClientKey,
Password = source.Password,
RetainMeApiKey = source.RetainMeApiKey,
Secret = source.Secret
}
: null;
}
}
I also have another abstraction AuthenticationService which is then called in a Controller - allows me to hide complexity.
With the above I've tried return a Task<Client> on the static mapping method but I'm sure as your aware of, it throws type issues.
What's the best approach to return an asynchronous Task<Client>?
Really hope someone can give me insight into how and why?
Much appreciated,

Pay attention on what FirstOrDefaultAsync return: Task<Client>. Then you are trying to pass this Task to a method that accept a Client object and not a Task<Client>.
Change as follow:
return MapClient.ToModel(await _context.tbl_Client
.FirstOrDefaultAsync(c => c.ApiKey == apiKey
&& c.Password == password));
By doing this await _context.tbl_Client.FirstOrDefaultAsync will return a Client object once the Task is completed and after that you will pass the model into your mapping method (I also suggest you to use the extension method instead of a "normal" static method).

Adding to Tinwor's answer, there was some confusion in OP in where the await was to be used. Trying to do the desired code inline helped in causing that confusion.
Refactor the code to make it easier to read and identify where awaited code should be placed thus showing the intent of the code.
public async Task<Client> AuthenticateAsync(string apiKey, string password) {
var entity = await _context.tbl_Client.FirstOrDefaultAsync(
c => c.ApiKey == apiKey && c.Password == password
);
var model = MapClient.ToModel(entity);
return model;
}
Converting the ToModel to an extension method also allows the code to be cleaner as well
public static class MapClient {
public static Client ToModel(this tbl_Client source) {
return (source != null) ? new Client {
Id = source.Id,
ApiKey = source.ApiKey,
ApiURL = source.ApiURL,
ClientKey = source.ClientKey,
Password = source.Password,
RetainMeApiKey = source.RetainMeApiKey,
Secret = source.Secret
}
: null;
}
}
Which would result in the final code looking like
public async Task<Client> AuthenticateAsync(string apiKey, string password) {
var entity = await _context.tbl_Client.FirstOrDefaultAsync(
c => c.ApiKey == apiKey && c.Password == password
);
var model = entity.ToModel();// <-- extension method used here
return model;
}

First, MapClient.ToModel is not a async method. So you cannot call await on this method.
Second, you are only mapping the data within the ToModel method. So there is no need to make it async either.
The best way to handle this would be to change the return type of 'AuthenticateAsync' method to Client only(not compulsary though). The code inside the method can be changed to -
return MapClient.ToModel(await _context.tbl_Client.FirstOrDefaultAsync(
c => c.ApiKey == apiKey && c.Password == password
));

Related

How to retrieve a message from a repository with C# WebApi

I'm still learning how to use properly Dependencies with C# and WebApi and I came up with a problem. I have a repository where I register a user but since is a async task void method it doesn't return nothing. So the question is, what is the best way to do this? It would be with Task<T> and handling the result in the Controller ?
The Classes :
public interface IGeneral
{
Task RegisterAsync(UserModel model);
}
public class General : BaseRepository, IGeneral
{
public General(Context context) : base(context)
{
}
public async Task RegisterAsync(UserModel model)
{
var result = await Context.User.Where(a => a.Email == model.Email).FirstOrDefaultAsync();
if(result != null)
{
await Context.User.AddAsync(new Data.Access.Models.User
{ Date = DateTime.Now, Email = model.Email, Name = model.Name, Password = model.Password });
await Context.SaveChangesAsync();
}
}
}
public abstract class BaseRepository
{
protected readonly Context Context;
public BaseRepository(Context context)
{
Context = context;
}
}
The possible solution that you have suggested in your question - would be the approach I would use.
public async Task<bool> RegisterAsync(UserModel model)
{
bool operationResult = false;
var result = await Context.User.Where(a => a.Email == model.Email).FirstOrDefaultAsync();
if (result != null)
{
await Context.User.AddAsync(new Data.Access.Models.User
{ Date = DateTime.Now, Email = model.Email, Name = model.Name, Password = model.Password });
if(await Context.SaveChangesAsync() > 0)
{
operationResult = true;
}
}
return operationResult;
}
From MSDN documentation we know that SaveChangesAsync() signature
public virtual System.Threading.Tasks.Task<int> SaveChangesAsync ();
returns an int value.
Checking for a result greater than zero assert that changes have occurred and they have being made persistent.
You should not use Task<T> return type of RegisterAsync(UserModel model) method to handle result in the controller because
you have to handle exception in RegisterAsync method and you can return bool return type in result but in production, you have to write log for these exceptions when you catch it.
It's not a good way to do this in repository methods.
Repostiory should have a single responsibility.
You can keep this method as it is and can use try catch block in your services or in controller appropriately, depends on what you want to send at the time of exception by considering types of clients(Users)*

What pattern to use for init value

I have a service, which works with external resource (Microsoft Graph):
public class Office365DomainService : IOffice365DomainService
{
private GraphServiceClient _graphClient;
public async Task AddDomainAsync(string domain)
{
await _graphClient.Domains.Request().AddAsync(new Microsoft.Graph.Domain { Id = domain });
}
public async Task<string> GetMxRecordForDomainAsync(string domain)
{
var collection = await _graphClient.Domains[domain].ServiceConfigurationRecords.Request().GetAsync();
return String.Empty;
}
public async Task<string> GetVerificationRecordForDomainAsync(string domain)
{
var records = (await _graphClient.Domains[domain].VerificationDnsRecords.Request().GetAsync());
string verificationText = String.Empty;
foreach (var record in records)
{
if (record.RecordType == "Txt")
{
verificationText = ((Microsoft.Graph.DomainDnsTxtRecord)record).Text;
break;
}
}
return verificationText;
}
public async Task VerifyDomainAsync(string domain)
{
await _graphClient.Domains[domain].Verify().Request().PostAsync();
}
}
_graphClient should be init with access_token, but I want to have lazy loading, therefore I don't want to add it to constructor.
Ok, one solution is add a property:
public string AccessToken { set => _graphClient = (new GraphSdkHelper()).GetAuthenticatedClient(value); }
It works fine, if we remember to set AccessToken before calling any method. But if we forget to do it? The best way it is to call getting access_token by another service if this _graphClient is not init. How to do it carefully?
Why not use Lazy Initialization ?
Please take a look at the docs here

MediatR CQRS - How to deal with unexisting resources (asp.net core web api)

So I've recently started to learn about using the MediatR library with ASP.NET Core Web API and I'm unsure how to go about returning a NotFound() when a DELETE/PUT/PATCH request has been made for an unexisting resource.
If we take DELETE for example, here is my controller action:
[HttpDelete("{id}")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Delete(int id)
{
await Mediator.Send(new DeleteCourseCommand {Id = id});
return NoContent();
}
The Command:
public class DeleteCourseCommand : IRequest
{
public int Id { get; set; }
}
The Command Handler:
public class DeleteCourseCommandHandler : IRequestHandler<DeleteCourseCommand>
{
private readonly UniversityDbContext _context;
public DeleteCourseCommandHandler(UniversityDbContext context)
{
_context = context;
}
public async Task<Unit> Handle(DeleteCourseCommand request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var course = await _context.Courses.FirstOrDefaultAsync(c => c.Id == request.Id, cancellationToken);
if (course != null)
{
_context.Courses.Remove(course);
var saveResult = await _context.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);
if (saveResult <= 0)
{
throw new DeleteFailureException(nameof(course), request.Id, "Database save was not successful.");
}
}
return Unit.Value;
}
}
As you can see in the Handle method, if there is an error when saving, an exception is thrown which results in a 500 internal server error (which is correct I believe). But if the Course is not found, how can I feed this back to the Action on the Controller? Is it simply a case of invoking a Query to GET the course in the Controller Action, then return NotFound() if it doesn't exist or then invoke the Command to DELETE the Course? This would work of course but of all the examples I've been through, I haven't come across an Action which uses two Mediator calls.
MediatR supports a Request/Response pattern, which allows you to return a response from your handler class. To use this approach, you can use the generic version of IRequest, like this:
public class DeleteCourseCommand : IRequest<bool>
...
In this case, we're stating that bool will be the response type. I'm using bool here for simplicity: I'd suggest using something more descriptive for your final implementation but bool suffices for explanation purposes.
Next, you can update your DeleteCourseCommandHandler to use this new response type, like this:
public class DeleteCourseCommandHandler : IRequestHandler<DeleteCourseCommand, bool>
{
...
public async Task<bool> Handle(DeleteCourseCommand request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var course = ...
if (course == null)
return false; // Simple example, where false means it wasn't found.
...
return true;
}
}
The IRequestHandler being implemented now has two generic types, the command and the response. This requires updating the signature of Handle to return a bool instead of Unit (in your question, Unit isn't being used).
Finally, you'll need to update your Delete action to use the new response type, like this:
public async Task<IActionResult> Delete(int id)
{
var courseWasFound = await Mediator.Send(new DeleteCourseCommand {Id = id});
if (!courseWasFound)
return NotFound();
return NoContent();
}
I like returning events from my commands. The command is telling your application what the client wants it to do. The response is what it actually did.
BTW—it's said that command handlers should return anything. That's really only true in a fully async environment where the command won't be completed until sometime after the response to the client that it's accepted. In that case, you would return Task<Unit> and publish these events. The client would get them via some other channel, like a SignalR hub once they were raised. Either way, events are the best way to tell a client what's going on in your application.
Start by defining an interface for your events
public interface IEvent
{
}
Then, create events for each of the things that can happen in a command. You can include information in them if you'd want to do something with that information or just leave them empty if the class itself is enough.
public class CourseNotFoundEvent : IEvent
{
}
public class CourseDeletedEvent : IEvent
{
}
Now, have your command return an event interface.
public class DeleteCourseCommand : IRequest<IEvent>
{
}
Your handler would look something like this:
public class DeleteCourseCommandHandler : IRequestHandler<DeleteCourseCommand, IEvent>
{
private readonly UniversityDbContext _context;
public DeleteCourseCommandHandler(UniversityDbContext context)
{
_context = context;
}
public async Task<IEvent> Handle(DeleteCourseCommand request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var course = await _context.Courses.FirstOrDefaultAsync(c => c.Id == request.Id, cancellationToken);
if (course is null)
return new CourseNotFoundEvent();
_context.Courses.Remove(course);
var saveResult = await _context.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);
if (saveResult <= 0)
{
throw new DeleteFailureException(nameof(course), request.Id, "Database save was not successful.");
}
return new CourseDeletedEvent();
}
}
Finally, you can use pattern matching on your web API to do things based on the event that gets returned.
[HttpDelete("{id}")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Delete(int id)
{
var #event = await Mediator.Send(new DeleteCourseCommand {Id = id});
if(#event is CourseNotFoundEvent)
return NotFound();
return NoContent();
}
I managed to solve my problem through some more examples I found. The solution is to define custom Exceptions such as NotFoundException and then throw this in the Handle method of the Query/Command Handler. Then in order for MVC to handle this appropriately, an implementation of ExceptionFilterAttribute is needed to decide how each Exception is handled:
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Method)]
public class CustomExceptionFilterAttribute : ExceptionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnException(ExceptionContext context)
{
if (context.Exception is ValidationException)
{
context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "application/json";
context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.BadRequest;
context.Result = new JsonResult(
((ValidationException)context.Exception).Failures);
return;
}
var code = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
if (context.Exception is NotFoundException)
{
code = HttpStatusCode.NotFound;
}
context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "application/json";
context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = (int)code;
context.Result = new JsonResult(new
{
error = new[] { context.Exception.Message }
});
}
}
Startup Class:
services.AddMvc(options => options.Filters.Add(typeof(CustomExceptionFilterAttribute)));
Custom Exception:
public class NotFoundException : Exception
{
public NotFoundException(string entityName, int key)
: base($"Entity {entityName} with primary key {key} was not found.")
{
}
}
Then in the Handle method:
if (course != null)
{
_context.Courses.Remove(course);
var saveResult = await _context.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);
if (saveResult <= 0)
{
throw new DeleteFailureException(nameof(course), request.Id, "Database save was not successful.");
}
}
else
{
throw new NotFoundException(nameof(Course), request.Id);
}
return Unit.Value;
This seems to do the trick, if anyone can see any potential issues with this please let me know!

How can I call ApplicationTokenProvider without making my call chain async?

I have the same problem as this question:
Call to ApplicationTokenProvider never returns
The solution there is to make the calling method async, and presumably every call above it async. I've got this method deep in a call chain (that works fine in a test harness) and fails to return when called in an MVC Controller. I don't want to make every call above it async - it would require a lot of redesign and ugly architecture to introduce an async capability that is useless to my code.
Surely there is some way to make this just #$(*&# work synchronously? Here's my code currently:
public void Authenticate()
{
var serviceCreds = ApplicationTokenProvider.LoginSilentAsync(TenantId, ApplicationId, Secret).Result;
var monitorClient = new MonitorManagementClient(serviceCreds) {SubscriptionId = SubscriptionId.ToString()};
MonitorClient = monitorClient;
}
The call on line three to LoginSilentAsync never returns.
I also can reproduce it on myside. I resolved it by implementing the custom ServiceClientCredentials. The following the demo code.
public class CustomCredentials : ServiceClientCredentials
{
private string AuthenticationToken { get; set; }
public override void InitializeServiceClient<T>(ServiceClient<T> client)
{
var authenticationContext =
new AuthenticationContext("https://login.windows.net/yourtenantId");
var credential = new ClientCredential("clientid", clientSecret: "secret key");
var result = authenticationContext.AcquireTokenAsync("https://management.azure.com/",
credential).Result;
if (result == null)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("Failed to obtain the JWT token");
}
AuthenticationToken = result.AccessToken;
}
}
2.Change you Authenticate function to the following code.
public void Authenticate()
{
var monitorClient = new MonitorManagementClient(new CustomCredentials()) { SubscriptionId = "subscription Id" };
MonitorClient = monitorClient;
}
3.Test it in the local.

Converting the content of HttpResponseMessage to object

My Question: How do I do this?
So, I hadn't touched anything .Net in about 6 years until this week. There's a lot that I've forgotten and even more that I never knew and while I love the idea of the async/await keywords, I'm having a slight problem implementing the following requirements for a client's API implementation:
The ServerAPI class has a method for each of the API methods, taking appropriate input parameters (e.g. the method Login takes in an id and a password, makes the API call and returns the result to the caller).
I want to abstract away the JSON so that my API methods return the actual object you're fetching (e.g. the Login method above returns a User object with your auth token, uid, etc.)
Some API methods return a 204 on success or no meaningful content (not meaningful in my usecase maybe I only care about success/failure), for these I'd like to return either a bool (true = success) or the status code.
I'd like to keep the async/await (or equivalent) design, because it seems to really work well so far.
For some methods, I might need to just return the HttpResponseMessage object and let the caller deal with it.
This is roughly what I have so far and I'm not sure how to make it compliant with the above OR whether I'm even doing this right. Any guidance is appreciated (flaming, however, is not).
// 200 (+User JSON) = success, otherwise APIError JSON
internal async Task<User> Login (string id, string password)
{
LoginPayload payload = new LoginPayload() { LoginId = id, Password = password};
var request = NewRequest(HttpMethod.Post, "login");
JsonPayload<LoginPayload>(payload, ref request);
return await Execute<Account>(request, false);
}
// 204: success, anything else failure
internal async Task<Boolean> LogOut ()
{
return await Execute<Boolean>(NewRequest(HttpMethod.Delete, "login"), true);
}
internal async Task<HttpResponseMessage> GetRawResponse ()
{
return await Execute<HttpResponseMessage>(NewRequest(HttpMethod.Get, "raw/something"), true);
}
internal async Task<Int32> GetMeStatusCode ()
{
return await Execute<Int32>(NewRequest(HttpMethod.Get, "some/intstatus"), true);
}
private async Task<RESULT> Execute<RESULT>(HttpRequestMessage request, bool authenticate)
{
if (authenticate)
AuthenticateRequest(ref request); // add auth token to request
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<RESULT>();
var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
// TODO: If the RESULT is just HTTPResponseMessage, the rest is unnecessary
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
try
{
// TryParse needs to handle Boolean differently than other types
RESULT result = await TryParse<RESULT>(response);
tcs.SetResult(result);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
tcs.SetException(e);
}
}
else
{
try
{
APIError error = await TryParse<APIError>(response);
tcs.SetException(new APIException(error));
}
catch (Exception e)
{
tcs.SetException(new APIException("Unknown error"));
}
}
return tcs.Task.Result;
}
This is the APIError JSON structure (it's the status code + a custom error code).
{
"status": 404,
"code":216,
"msg":"User not found"
}
I would prefer to stay with System.Net, but that's mostly because I don't want to switch all my code over. If what I want is easier done in other ways then it's obviously worth the extra work.
Thanks.
Here is an example of how I've done it using MVC API 2 as backend. My backend returns a json result if the credentials are correct. UserCredentials class is the exact same model as the json result. You will have to use System.Net.Http.Formatting which can be found in the Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client NugetPackage
public static async Task<UserCredentials> Login(string username, string password)
{
string baseAddress = "127.0.0.1/";
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
var authorizationHeader = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("xyz:secretKey"));
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", authorizationHeader);
var form = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{ "grant_type", "password" },
{ "username", username },
{ "password", password },
};
var Response = await client.PostAsync(baseAddress + "oauth/token", new FormUrlEncodedContent(form));
if (Response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
return await Response.Content.ReadAsAsync<UserCredentials>(new[] { new JsonMediaTypeFormatter() });
}
else
{
return null;
}
}
and you also need Newtonsoft.Json package.
public class UserCredentials
{
[JsonProperty("access_token")]
public string AccessToken { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("token_type")]
public string TokenType { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("expires_in")]
public int ExpiresIn { get; set; }
//more properties...
}
i would use a Deserializer.
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("your http here");
var responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
[Your Class] object= JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<[Your Class]>(responseString.Body.ToString());
So, first to address the you need Newtonsoft.Json comments, I really haven't felt the need yet. I've found the built in support to work well so far (using the APIError Json in my original question:
[DataContract]
internal class APIError
{
[DataMember (Name = "status")]
public int StatusCode { get; set; }
[DataMember (Name = "code")]
public int ErrorCode { get; set; }
}
I have also defined a JsonHelper class to (de)serialize:
public class JsonHelper
{
public static T fromJson<T> (string json)
{
var bytes = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes (json);
using (MemoryStream mst = new MemoryStream(bytes))
{
var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer (typeof (T));
return (T)serializer.ReadObject (mst);
}
}
public static string toJson (object instance)
{
using (MemoryStream mst = new MemoryStream())
{
var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer (instance.GetType());
serializer.WriteObject (mst, instance);
mst.Position = 0;
using (StreamReader r = new StreamReader(mst))
{
return r.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}
The above bits I already had working. As for a single method that would handle each request execution based on the type of result expected while it makes it easier to change how I handle things (like errors, etc), it also adds to the complexity and thus readability of my code. I ended up creating separate methods (all variants of the Execute method in the original question:
// execute and return response.StatusCode
private static async Task<HttpStatusCode> ExecuteForStatusCode (HttpRequestMessage request, bool authenticate = true)
// execute and return response without processing
private static async Task<HttpResponseMessage> ExecuteForRawResponse(HttpRequestMessage request, bool authenticate = true)
// execute and return response.IsSuccessStatusCode
private static async Task<Boolean> ExecuteForBoolean (HttpRequestMessage request, bool authenticate = true)
// execute and extract JSON payload from response content and convert to RESULT
private static async Task<RESULT> Execute<RESULT>(HttpRequestMessage request, bool authenticate = true)
I can move the unauthorized responses (which my current code isn't handling right now anyway) into a new method CheckResponse that will (for example) log the user out if a 401 is received.

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