Where should I store reused static string constants in Flex application? - apache-flex

I have two Cairngorm MVC Flex applications (a full version and lite version of the same app) that share many Classes. I have put these Classes into a Flex Library Project that compiles as an SWC. Both applications use some static String constants. Right now, I am storing these in the ModelLocator:
package model
{
[Bindable]
public class ModelLocator
{
public static var __instance:ModelLocator = null;
public static const SUCCESS:String = "success";
public static const FAILURE:String = "failure";
public static const RUNNING:String = "running";
...
}
}
This just doesn't seem like the best place to store these constants, especially now that they are used by both applications, and I have setup each application to have its own ModelLocator Class. Plus this is not the purpose of the ModelLocator Class.
What would be a good way to store these constants in my shared Library?
Should I just create a Class like this?:
package
{
[Bindable]
public class Constants
{
public static const SUCCESS:String = "success";
public static const FAILURE:String = "failure";
public static const RUNNING:String = "running";
}
}
and then reference it like this:
if (value == Constant.SUCCESS)
...

I'd say organize the constants by logical meaning, instead of a single Constants class.
Say you have the 3 you show as some kind of task state, and you have some more that are used as error codes for file access (just making stuff up here):
public class TaskStates {
public static const SUCCESS:String = "success";
public static const FAILURE:String = "failure";
public static const RUNNING:String = "running";
}
public class FileErrors {
public static const FILE_NOT_FOUND:String = "filenotfound";
public static const INVALID_FORMAT:String = "invalidformat";
public static const READ_ONLY:String = "readonly";
}
I find this makes it easier to document what the expected values are for something. Instead of saying "Returns either SUCCESS, FAILURE, RUNNING, ...", you can just say "Returns one of the TaskState.* values).
You could put all these in a single package for constants, or you could have the constant classes live in the same package as the classes that use them.

Related

How can I easily wrap the StackExchange.Redis `IDatabase`?

I want to override methods for specific commands on the IDatabase to modify the results.
FT.SEARCH should never return duplicate keys but it can when there is some sort of corruption.
I am using another library that calls FT.SEARCH in IDatabase so this part can only be done by changing IDatabase.
I can autogenerate a wrapper and then use this, but it would need to be maintained and updated every time the IDatabase interface changes. It would be unfortunate to need to update the wrapper class even when I didn't need to override the method that changed in IDatabase. Is there another option that would have similar performance that this wrapper does?
Assume I had a class called DatabaseWrapper all methods were virtual and that was in another package example code would look like:
public sealed class MyDatabaseOverrides: DatabaseWrapper
{
private const string RediSearchSearchCommandName = "FT.SEARCH";
public MyDatabaseOverrides(IDatabase wrapped) : base(wrapped)
{
}
public override Task<RedisResult> ExecuteAsync(string command, params object[] args)
{
var resultTask = base.ExecuteAsync(command, args);
if (string.Equals(RediSearchSearchCommandName, command, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
return SkipAndLogDuplicateKeys(resultTask);
}
return resultTask;
}
private async Task<RedisResult> SkipAndLogDuplicateKeys(Task<RedisResult> resultTask)
{
// implementation omitted for brevity
return await resultTask;
}
}

How to make a field set-able only inside extension method

Hello i want to be able to set the a of a field of an object only in an extension method. I would want that this field to either be completelely private , or be just get-able from outside:
public class Myclass
{
private int Value{get;set;}
}
public static class Ext
{
public Myclass SetValue(this Myclass obj,int val)
{
this.obj.Value=val;
return obj;
}
}
As you can see in the above example , i have to declare Value public to be able to access it inside the extension , i would be ok with that if i could make the variable only get-ablefrom outside.
I need this functionality because i want to develop something like a fluent api , where you can only set some variables using the extension.
ex:
a=new Myclass();
a.SetValue1(1).SetValue2(2);//--some code //--a.SetValue3(3);
It sounds like you're using the wrong tool for the job, extension methods don't have access non-public members.
The behavior you want is restricted to instance methods or properties. My recommendation is to add an instance method to the class.
If that doesn't persuade you, then you can instead use reflection to update the private instance variable:
public static class Ext
{
public Myclass SetValue(this Myclass obj,int val)
{
var myType = typeof(Myclass);
var myField = myType.GetField("Value", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
myField.SetValue(obj, val);
return obj;
}
}
Please note that this has the following gotchas:
There are no compile time checks to save you if you decide to rename the field Value. (though unit tests can protect you)
Reflection is typically much slower than regular instance methods. (though performance may not matter if this method isn't called frequently)
you want it to do it with extension method but you cannot in this case.
Your best option is
public class Myclass
{
public int Value{get; private set;}
public Myclass SetValue(int val)
{
this.Value=val;
return obj;
}
}

Testing Methods with Reference to Web.Config in .Net C#

I searched a lot and still couldn't find a solid solution for this. Suppose you have methods in your application. This methods use "System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration" to access some setting in the web.config. If you try to test these methods, your tests will fail because your test project doesn't have web.config.
What is the best way to solve this problem. For projects with simple config file, I usually use a method like this as facade method.
public class Config
{
public static String getKeyValue(String keyName)
{
if (keyName == String.Empty) return String.Empty;
String result = "";
System.Configuration.Configuration rootWebConfig1 =
System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration(null);
if (rootWebConfig1.AppSettings.Settings.Count > 0)
{
System.Configuration.KeyValueConfigurationElement reportEngineKey =
rootWebConfig1.AppSettings.Settings[keyName];
if (reportEngineKey != null)
{
result = reportEngineKey.Value;
}
}
return result;
}
}
Every time I tried to set the path for OpenWebConfiguration( ), I got the error "The relative virtual path is not allowed"
To make that scenario more testable, I usually take the approach of making a "settings manager" of my own, and giving it an interface. So for example:
public interface IConfig
{
string GetSettingValue(string settingName);
}
Then I can have my "real" implementation:
public sealed class Config : IConfig
{
public string GetSettingValue(string settingName)
{
// your code from your getKeyValue() method would go here
}
}
Then my code that uses it would take in an instance of this (this is an example of the Dependency Inversion Principal):
public void DoStuff(IConfig configuration)
{
string someSetting = configuration.GetSettingValue("ThatThingINeed");
// use setting...
}
So now for my production code, I can call DoStuff and pass in an instance of Config.
When I need to test, I can use a mocking tool (Moq, JustMock, RhinoMocks, etc) to create a fake IConfig that returns a known value without hitting the actual .config file, or you can do it without a mocking framework by making your own mocks (and store them in your test project).
public class ConfigMock : IConfig
{
private Dictionary<string, string> settings;
public void SetSettingValue(string settingName, string value)
{
settings[settingName] = value;
}
public string GetSettingValue(string settingName)
{
return settings[settingName];
}
}
and
[Test]
public void SomeExampleTest()
{
var config = new ConfigMock();
config.SetSettingValue("MySetting", "SomeValue");
var underTest = new MyClass();
underTest.DoStuff(config);
}
The easiest way to do this is to use a mocking library such as moq. It takes a bit of time to figure it out, but once you do you can abstract away most of your plumbing to return the values you need for repeatable, consistent testing.

Is using public static variables for compiled queries bad in ASP.NET applications?

I'm coding a business layer for an ASP.NET application. I've created database methods in my BLL as static. I've created public static Func variables to be compiled and used in several different methods, like this:
namespace BLL
public class User
{
public static Func<Context, variable, result> selectUser;
private static void CompileQuery()
{
if(selectUser == null)
{
selectUser = CompiledQuery.Compile......
}
}
public static UserClass Select(int id)
{
CompileQuery();
//uses selectUser
}
public static SomethingElse DoSomethingElse()
{
CompileQuery();
//also uses selectUser
}
}
It'll be used in ASP.NET layer like this:
using BLL;
private void AddUser()
{
UserClass user = User.Select(id);
}
My question is, since static variables are not thread-safe, is this a bad design decision? I'm thinking of either implementing a locking mechanism, which makes me think if it'd slow down the application, or using instantiated class approach which makes me wonder if query compiling would be beneficial. I'd appreciate any advice on this.
It should at least be read-only - and initialized on type load, like this:
public static readonly Func<Context, variable, result> selectUser =
CompileQuery(); // Or inline this...
private static Func<Context, variable, result> CompileQuery()
{
return CompiledQuery.Compile(...);
}
I'd probably make it a property myself, but otherwise it should be okay. Delegates themselves are immutable and threadsafe, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Doing it on type initialization means you don't need to worry about locking: the CLR guarantees that a type initializer is executed once and only once.

Creating a variables file in Flex 3

I am trying to place API variables on ONE class file or mxml file and call these variables in other random class or mxml files... any suggestions?
I just create a file in any package and called it api.as. Inside there, there's just static member variables.
public static var foo:String = "Bar";
public static var bar:Number = "100";
...
Then you just include import <package_path>.api.as in any files that want to use it.
EDIT: Already accepted, but answering the question:
package com.foo {
public class Api {
public static const FOOBAR:String = "foobar";
}
}

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