Using Dynamic Dependency Resolution

Both previous approaches have a static dependency resolution strategy: it cannot be changed over time. Therefore, these strategies could be unsuitable in cases where several tests need different configurations of the dependency container.

A possible solution is to resolve dependencies dynamically each time they are needed, and not only at aspect initialization. Although this solution is ideal for the sake of testing, it may be too inefficient for production. Therefore, the solution would still need to provide dependency caching for production mode. Caching would neutralize the dynamic characteristics of dependency resolution.

This solution would be based on the following elements:

• The service locator can be initialized in two modes: production (the resolution strategy is immutable) and testing (the resolution strategy can be modified).

• The service locator returns a delegate (Func<T>, where T is the dependency type), instead of the dependency itself (T or Lazy<T>).

• The aspect calls the service locator during aspect initialization and stores the delegate.

• The aspect calls the delegate at run time.

Example: testable logging aspect with a global MEF service container with dynamic resolution

The following code snippet shows a logging aspect and how it could be used in production code:

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition.Hosting;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition.Primitives;
using PostSharp.Aspects;
using PostSharp.Extensibility;
using PostSharp.Serialization;

namespace DependencyResolution.Dynamic
{
    public interface ILogger
    {
        void Log(string message);
    }

    public static class AspectServiceLocator
    {
        private static CompositionContainer container;
        private static bool isCacheable;

        public static void Initialize(ComposablePartCatalog catalog, bool isCacheable)
        {
            if (AspectServiceLocator.isCacheable && container != null)
                throw new InvalidOperationException();

            container = new CompositionContainer(catalog);
            AspectServiceLocator.isCacheable = isCacheable;
        }

        public static Func<T> GetService<T>() where T : class
        {
            if (isCacheable)
            {
                return () => new Lazy<T>(GetServiceImpl<T>).Value;
            }
            else
            {
                return GetServiceImpl<T>;
            }
        }

        private static T GetServiceImpl<T>()
        {
            if (container == null)
                throw new InvalidOperationException();

            return container.GetExport<T>().Value;
        }
    }

    [PSerializable]
    public class LogAspect : OnMethodBoundaryAspect
    {
        private static readonly Func<ILogger> logger;

        static LogAspect()
        {
            if (!PostSharpEnvironment.IsPostSharpRunning)
            {
                logger = AspectServiceLocator.GetService<ILogger>();
            }
        }


        public override void OnEntry(MethodExecutionArgs args)
        {
            logger().Log("OnEntry");
        }
    }

    internal class Program
    {
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            AspectServiceLocator.Initialize(new TypeCatalog(typeof (ConsoleLogger)), true);

            LoggedMethod();
        }

        [LogAspect]
        public static void LoggedMethod()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello, world.");
        }
    }


    [Export(typeof (ILogger))]
    internal class ConsoleLogger : ILogger
    {
        public void Log(string message)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(message);
        }
    }
}

The following code snippet shows how the logging aspect can be tested:

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition.Hosting;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;

namespace DependencyResolution.Dynamic.Test
{
    [TestClass]
    public class TestLogAspect
    {
        [TestMethod]
        public void TestMethod()
        {
            // The ServiceLocator can be initialized for each test.
            AspectServiceLocator.Initialize(new TypeCatalog(typeof (TestLogger)), false);

            TestLogger.Clear();
            TargetMethod();
            Assert.AreEqual("OnEntry" + Environment.NewLine, TestLogger.GetLog());
        }


        [LogAspect]
        private void TargetMethod()
        {
        }
    }

    [Export(typeof (ILogger))]
    internal class TestLogger : ILogger
    {
        public static readonly StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();

        public void Log(string message)
        {
            stringBuilder.AppendLine(message);
        }

        public static string GetLog()
        {
            return stringBuilder.ToString();
        }

        public static void Clear()
        {
            stringBuilder.Clear();
        }
    }
}