Coding for Health

Integrating ASP.NET MVC, Spring.NET and NHibernate

Ahamdulillah finally could write a blog at geeks Smile .

After vacuum on writing code with Spring.NET and NHibernate (my favorite framework and ORM on .NET world) for several months which makes me really miss them so much Sad , finally since several days ago I could write code using them Wink again. Although not using them in my current work, I am still happy with my current work because on the code I wrote for, need some mathematics which really makes me have nostalgia with mathematic Wink . Ok back to the topic.

ASP.Net MVC is the open source technology of web framework that makes me really interesting on it lately. And I have a wish to use Spring.NET and NHibernate with it. Let's take a look a project structure I work with.

The Steps needed are :

Library

The *.dll(s) needed to prepare are :

antlr.runtime.dll
Castle.DynamicProxy.dll
Common.Logging.dll
Iesi.Collections.dll
log4net.dll
Nhibernate.dll
Spring.Core.dll
Spring.Data.dll
Spring.Data.NHibernate12.dll
Spring.Web.dll

Add all the libraries to the ASP.Net MVC project reference.

Web Configuration (Web.config)

Define section configuration :

    1 <sectionGroup name="spring">
    2       <section name="context" type="Spring.Context.Support.WebContextHandler, Spring.Web"/>
    3       <section name="objects" type="Spring.Context.Support.DefaultSectionHandler, Spring.Core"/>
    4       <section name="parsers" type="Spring.Context.Support.NamespaceParsersSectionHandler, Spring.Core"/>      
    5     </sectionGroup>
    6     <section name="databaseSettings" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler"/>

2. Define spring config definition and database setting configuration

     
    1   <spring>
    2     <parsers>
    3       <parser namespace="http://www.springframework.net/database" 
                     type="Spring.Data.Config.DatabaseNamespaceParser, Spring.Data" 
                      schemaLocation="assembly://Spring.Data/Spring.Data.Config/spring-database-1.1.xsd"/>
    4     </parsers>
    5     <context>     
    6       <resource uri="assembly://My.Web/My.Web.Config/spring-hibernate.xml"/>
    7       <resource uri="assembly://My.Web/My.Web.Config/spring-dao.xml"/>
    8       <resource uri="assembly://My.Web/My.Web.Config/controller.xml"/>
    9     </context>
   10   </spring>
   11   <databaseSettings>
   12     <add key="db.datasource" value="kerapansapi\sqlexpress2005" />
   13     <add key="db.user" value="sa" />
   14     <add key="db.password" value="c_7un" />
   15     <add key="db.database" value="MyDB" />
   16   </databaseSettings>
 

3. Define HttpModule

    1 <httpModules>
    2       <add name="Spring" type="Spring.Context.Support.WebSupportModule, Spring.Web"/>
    3       <add name="OpenSessionInView" type="Spring.Data.NHibernate.Support.OpenSessionInViewModule, Spring.Data.NHibernate12"/>
    4      .....
    5      .....
    6 
    7     </httpModules>

Spring-NHibernate configuration

Create spring-hibenate.xml in config folder.

    1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

    2 <objects xmlns='http://www.springframework.net'

    3      xmlns:db="http://www.springframework.net/database">

    4

    5

    6   <object name="appConfigPropertyHolder"

    7   type="Spring.Objects.Factory.Config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer, Spring.Core">

    8   <property name="configSections" value="databaseSettings"/>

    9   </object>

   10

   11   <db:provider id="DbProvider"

   12      provider="SqlServer-1.1"

   13      connectionString="Integrated Security=false; Data Source=${db.datasource};Integrated Security=true;
                                  Database=${db.database};User ID=${db.user};Password=${db.password};"/>

   14

   15

   16   <object id="sessionFactory" type="Spring.Data.NHibernate.LocalSessionFactoryObject, Spring.Data.NHibernate12">

   17   <property name="DbProvider" ref="DbProvider"/>

   18   <property name="MappingAssemblies">

   19   <list>

   20   <value>My.Web</value>

   21   </list>

   22   </property>

   23   <property name="HibernateProperties">

   24   <dictionary>

   25

   26   <entry key="hibernate.connection.provider"

   27      value="NHibernate.Connection.DriverConnectionProvider"/>

   28

   29   <entry key="hibernate.dialect"

   30      value="NHibernate.Dialect.MsSql2000Dialect"/>

   31

   32   <entry key="hibernate.connection.driver_class"

   33      value="NHibernate.Driver.SqlClientDriver"/>

   34

   35   </dictionary>

   36   </property>

   37   </object>

   38

   39 </objects>

NHibernate Domain Mapping

In this sample just use a simple mapping table which located in Modes/hbm and its POCO in Models/src. I think its not a good idea to locate this Nhibernate mapping and its POCO in presentation layer. It is better to located in a separate project, so we could reuse it if we decide to change our presentation layer.

Mapping

    1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

    2 <hibernate-mapping xmlns="urn:nhibernate-mapping-2.2" assembly="My.Web" namespace="My.Web.Models">

    3   <class name="Product" table="Product" >

    4   <id name="ID" type="System.Int32" column="ID">

    5   <generator class="assigned"/>

    6   </id>

    7   <property name="Name" column="Name" type="System.String" length="25"/>

    8   <property name="Price" column="Price" type="System.Decimal"/>

    9

   10   </class>

   11 </hibernate-mapping>

POCO :

    1 [Serializable]

    2     public class Product : DomainObject<int>

    3     {

    4         private string _name;

    5

    6         public virtual string Name

    7         {

    8             get { return _name; }

    9             set { _name = value; }

   10         }

   11         private decimal? _price;

   12

   13         public virtual decimal? Price

   14         {

   15             get { return _price; }

   16             set { _price = value; }

   17         }

   18     }

DomainObject

Domain Repository

    1 public interface IRepository<T>
    2     {
    3         void Save(T entity);
    4         void Save(List<T> list);
    5         void Delete(T entity);
    6         void Update(T entity);
    7         IList<T> Load();
    8         T GetById<TId>(TId id);
    9         IList<T> GetByCriteria(ICriteria criteria);
   10     }

As well as Nhibernate Domain mapping, the Repository/DAO should placed in seperate library. Either in the same place as POCO/mapping on not.

NHibernateRepository :

    1 public class NHibernateRepository<T> : HibernateDaoSupport, IRepository<T>
    2     {
    3         #region IRepository<T> Members
    4 
    5         public void Save(T entity)
    6         {
    7 
    8             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
    9             {
   10                 session.Save(entity);
   11                 session.FlushMode = FlushMode.Auto;
   12                 session.Flush();
   13             }
   14         }
   15 
   16         public void Save(List<T> list)
   17         {
   18             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   19             {
   20                 ITransaction tx = session.BeginTransaction();
   21                 try
   22                 {
   23                     foreach (T entity in list)
   24                     {
   25                         session.Save(entity);
   26                     }
   27 
   28                     tx.Commit();
   29                 }
   30                 catch (Exception ex)
   31                 {
   32                     tx.Rollback();
   33                     throw ex;
   34                 }
   35                 finally
   36                 {
   37                     tx.Dispose();
   38                 }
   39             }
   40         }
   41 
   42         public void Delete(T entity)
   43         {
   44             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   45             {
   46                 session.Delete(entity);
   47                 session.Flush();
   48             }
   49 
   50         }
   51 
   52         public void Update(T entity)
   53         {
   54             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   55             {
   56                 session.Update(entity);
   57                 session.Flush();
   58             }
   59         }
   60 
   61         public IList<T> Load()
   62         {
   63             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   64             {
   65                 return session.CreateCriteria(typeof(T)).List<T>();
   66             }
   67         }
   68 
   69         public T GetById<TId>(TId id)
   70         {
   71             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   72             {
   73                 return session.Get<T>(id);
   74             }
   75         }
   76 
   77         public IList<T> GetByCriteria(ICriteria criteria)
   78         {
   79             using (ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession())
   80             {
   81                 return criteria.List<T>();
   82             }
   83         }
   84 
   85         #endregion
   86     }

SpringControllerFactory

SpringControllerFactory is adapted from MVCContrib. And made a few modification on it because in this case I want use convention on naming id controller at Spring IoC/DI configuration. The modification applied on CreateController method.

    1 public IController CreateController(RequestContext context, string controllerName)
    2         {
    3             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(controllerName))
    4                 throw new ArgumentNullException("controllerName");
    5 
    6             //make convention on spring naming controller in spring IoC/DI definition
    7             //xxxx.controller (all in lowecase)
    8             controllerName = controllerName.ToLower() + ".controller";
    9 
   10             if (_objectFactory == null)
   11             {
   12                 throw new ArgumentException("CreateController has been called before Configure.");
   13             }
   14 
   15             try
   16             {
   17                 return (IController)_objectFactory.GetObject(controllerName);
   18             }
   19             catch (Exception e)
   20             {
   21                 throw new InvalidOperationException("Failed creating instance of: " +
   22                                             controllerName + " using spring.net object factory", e);
   23             }
   24         }

Global.asax

The next thing that we need to do is get spring context there and configure SpringControllerFactory.

    1 public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
    2     {
    3         public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
    4         {
    5             routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");            
    6             routes.IgnoreRoute("favicon.ico");
    7 
    8 
    9             routes.MapRoute(
   10                 "Default",                                              // Route name
   11                 "{controller}/{action}/{id}",                           // URL with parameters
   12                 new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" }  // Parameter defaults
   13             );
   14 
   15         }
   16 
   17         protected void Application_Start()
   18         {
   19             ConfigureController();
   20             RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
   21         }
   22 
   23 
   24         private void ConfigureController()
   25         {
   26             //This example just sets the default context for use with the Spring.net Controller
   27             //Factory.  An IObjectFactory instance is also supported, if greater control over
   28             //Spring.net is desired.
   29 
   30             WebApplicationContext ctx = ContextRegistry.GetContext() as WebApplicationContext;
   31             SpringControllerFactory.Configure(ctx);
   32 
   33             ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(typeof(SpringControllerFactory));           
   34         }
   35     }

Controller

We could add Repository property for the model (product) in the controller, and provide method that would be invoked on HttpRequest which the repository object would be called in.

    1     [HandleError]
    2     public class HomeController : Controller
    3     {
    4         private IRepository<Product> _productRepository;
    5 
    6         public IRepository<Product> ProductRepository
    7         {
    8             get { return _productRepository; }
    9             set { _productRepository = value; }
   10         }
   11 
   12         public ActionResult DynamicGridData(string sidx, string sord, int page, int rows)
   13         {
   14             int pageIndex = Convert.ToInt32(page) - 1;
   15             int pageSize = rows;
   16             int totalRecords = 0;
   17             int totalPages = (int)Math.Ceiling((float)totalRecords / (float)pageSize);
   18 
   19             //ideally do real paging not load all data like this.
   20             IList<Product> context = ProductRepository.Load();
   21             totalRecords = context.Count;
   22             var products = context.Skip<Product>(pageIndex * pageSize).Take<Product>(pageSize);
   23 
   24             CultureInfo ci = new CultureInfo("id-ID");
   25 
   26             var jsonData = new
   27             {
   28                 total = totalPages,
   29                 page = page,
   30                 records = totalRecords,
   31                 rows = (
   32                     from prod in products
   33                     select new
   34                     {
   35                         i = prod.ID,
   36                         cell = new string[] { prod.ID.ToString(), prod.Name,prod.Price.GetValueOrDefault().ToString("C",ci) }
   37                     }).ToArray()
   38             };
   39             return Json(jsonData);
   40         }
 
   41         ....
   42         ....
              
   43     }

I use jQuery (jGrid) to view display the data. Let take a look later on View section. The Spring configuration for the Controller is :

    1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    2 <objects xmlns="http://www.springframework.net">
    3   <description>
    4     MVC Controller declarations.
    5   </description>
    6 
    7   <object id="home.controller" type="My.Web.Controllers.HomeController,My.Web" singleton="false">
    8     <property name="ProductRepository" ref="repository.product"/>
    9   </object>
   10   <object id="account.controller" type="My.Web.Controllers.AccountController,My.Web" singleton="false"/>
   11 
   12 </objects>

Spring DAO / Repository configuration.

    1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    2 <objects xmlns="http://www.springframework.net">
    3   <description>
    4     Spring DAO / Repository 
    5   </description>
    6   <object id="repository.product" type="My.Web.Repository.NHibernateRepository&lt;My.Web.Models.Product&gt;,My.Web" singleton="false">
    7     <property name="SessionFactory" ref="sessionFactory"/>
    8   </object>
    9 
   10 </objects>