We Keep Coding

Dependency injection of IHttpContextAccessor vs passing parameter up the method chain

Our application calls many external API's which take a session token of the current user as input. So what we currently do is in a controller, get the session token for the user and pass it into a service which in turn might call another service or some API client. To give an idea, we end up with something like this (example is .NET but something similar is I think possible in Java)
public IActionResult DoSomething(string something)
{
this.someService.DoSomethingForUser(this.HttpContext.SessionToken, something);
return View();
}
And then we have
public class SomeService
{
private readonly IApiClient apiClient;
public SomeService(IApiClient apiClient)
{
this.apiClient = apiClient;
}
public void DoSomethingForUser(string sessionToken, something)
{
this.apiClient.DoSomethingForUser(sessionToken, something);
}
}
It can also happen that in SomeService another service is injected which in turn calls the IApiClient instead of SomeService calling IApiClient directly, basically adding another "layer".
We had a discussion with the team if it isn't better to instead of passing the session token, inject it using DI so you get something like this:
public IActionResult DoSomething(string something)
{
this.someService.DoSomethingForUser(something);
return View();
}
And then we have
public class SomeService
{
private readonly IUserService userService;
private readonly IApiClient apiClient;
public SomeService(IUserService userService, IApiClient apiClient)
{
this.userService = userService;
this.apiClient = apiClient;
}
public void DoSomethingForUser(string something)
{
this.apiClient.DoSomethingForUser(userService.SessionToken, something);
}
}
The IUserService would have an IHttpContextAccessor injected:
public class UserService : IUserService
{
private readonly IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor;
public UserService(IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor)
{
this.httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
}
public string SessionToken => httpContextAccessor.HttpContext.SessionToken;
}
The benefits of this pattern are I think pretty clear. Especially with many services, it keeps the code "cleaner" and you end up with less boilerplate code to pass a token around.
Still, I don't like it. To me the downsides of this pattern are more important than its benefit:
I like that passing the token in the methods is concise. It is clear that the service needs some sort of authentication token for it to function. I'm not sure if you can call it a side effect but the fact that a session token is magically injected three layers deep is impossible to tell just by reading the code
Unit testing is a bit more tedious if you have to Mock the IUserService
You run into problems when calling this in another thread, e.g. calling SomeService from another thread. Although these problems can be mitigated by injecting another concrete type of IUserService which gets the token from some place else, it feels like a chore.
To me it strongly feels like an anti pattern but apart from the arguments above it is mostly a feeling. There was a lot of discussion and not everybody was convinced that it was a bad idea. Therefor, my question is, is it an anti pattern or is it perfectly valid? What are some strong arguments for and against it, hopefully so there can be not much debate that this pattern is indeed, either perfectly valid or something to avoid.

I would say the main point is to enable your desired separation of concerns. I think it is a good question if expressed in those terms. As Kit says, different people may prefer different solutions.
REQUEST SCOPED OBJECTS
These occur quite naturally in APIs. Consider the following example, where a UI calls an Orders API, then the Orders API forwards the JWT to an upstream Billing API. A unique Request ID is also sent, in case the flow experiences a temporary problem. If the flow is retried, the Request ID can be used by APIs to prevent data duplication. Yet business logic should not need to know about either the Request ID or the JWT.
BUSINESS LOGIC CLASS DESIGN
I would start by designing my logic classes with my desired inputs, then work out the DI later. In my example the OrderService class might use claims to get the user identity and also for authorization. But I would not want it to know about HTTP level concerns:
public class OrderService
{
private readonly IBillingApiClient billingClient;
public OrderService(IBillingApiClient billingClient, ClaimsPrincipal user)
{
this.billingClient = billingClient;
}
public async void CreateOrder(OrderInput data)
{
this.Authorize();
var order = this.CreateOrder(data);
await this.billingClient.CreateInvoice(order);
}
}
DI SETUP
To enable my preferred business logic, I would write a little DI plumbing, so that I could inject request scoped dependencies in my preferred way. First, when the app starts, I would create a small middleware class. This will run early in the HTTP request pipeline:
private void ConfigureApiMiddleware(IApplicationBuilder api)
{
api.UseMiddleware<ClientContextMiddleware>();
}
In the middleware class I would then create a ClientContext object from runtime data. The OrderService class will run later, after next() is called:
public class ClientContextMiddleware
{
public async Task Invoke(HttpContext context)
{
var jwt = readJwt(context.Request);
var requestId = readRequestId(context.Request);
var holder = context.RequestServices.GetService<ClientContextHolder>();
holder.ClientContext = new ClientContext(jwt, requestIO);
await this.next(context);
}
}
In my DI composition at application startup I would express that the API client should be created when it is first referenced. In the HTTP request pipeline, the OrderService request scoped object will be constructed after the middleware has run. The below lambda will then be invoked:
private void RegisterDependencies(IServiceCollection services)
{
this.services.AddScoped<IApiClient>(
ctx =>
{
var holder = ctx.GetService<ClientContextHolder>();
return new ApiClient(holder.context);
});
this.services.AddScoped<ClientContextHolder>();
}
The holder object is just due to a technology limitation. The MS stack does not allow you to create new request scoped injectable objects at runtime, so you have to update an existing one. In a previous .NET tech stack, the concept of child container per request was made available to developers, so the holder object was not needed.
ASYNC AWAIT
Request scoped objects are stored against the HTTP request object, which is the correct behaviour when using async await. The current thread ID may switch, eg from 4 to 6 after the call to the Billing API.
If the OrderService class has a transient scope, it could get recreated when the flow resumes on thread 6. If this is the case, then resolution will continue to work.
SUMMARY
Designing inputs first, then writing some support code if needed is a good approach I think, and it is also useful to know the DI techniques. Personally I think natural request scoped objects that need to be created at runtime should be usable in DI. Some people may prefer a different approach though.

See in dotnet the area that I am an expert is not an anti standard on the contrary it is the model that many adopt but it is not a model that I would follow for the following reasons
it is not clear where is the token for those who read and use it being an anti clean code
you load important information in a place that is frequently accessed by the framework in the case of .netCore
your classes will reference a large property carrying a lot of unnecessary information when you could have created a more clean model that costs less memory and allocation time, I'm saying this because the HttpAcessor carries all the information relevant to your request
As I would take care of readability (clean code) and improve my performance
I would make a middleware or filter in my flow mvc where I would do the authentication part and create a class like:
public class TokenAuthenciationValues
{
public string TokenClient { get; set; }
public string TokenValue { get; set; }
}
Of course my method is an example but in my middleware I would implement it by loading its token values ​​after calling the necessary apis (of course this model needs an interface and it needs to be configured as .AddScoped() in the case of .net)
That way I would use it in my methods only instantiating my ITokenAuthenciationValues ​​in the constructor and I would have clear and clean information loaded in memory during the entire request
If it is necessary in the middle of the request to change the token any class can access it and change its value
I would have less memory allocated unused in my classes since the IHttpAcessor contract the ITokenAuthenciationValues ​​only has relevant information
Hope this helps

How to design API - extend endpoint with query string or create new for single resource

Old, one and only method in controller.
// Cancel all shipments for specific item (beacuse from today selling companyX product is forbidden)
#PostMapping("/items/shipments/stop")
public List<String> stopShipmentsForItem(#RequestBody List<UUID> itemsUuids) {
return itemShippingService.stopShipment(itemsUuids);
}
Propose endpoint which stops specific shipping for specific item
// Extending existing one with query string
#PostMapping("/items/shipments/stop")
public List<String> stopShipmentsForItem(#RequestBody List<UUID> itemsUuids, #RequestParam(required = false) UUID shipmentUuid) {
return itemShippingService.stopShipment(itemsUuids, shipmentUuid);
}
OR
// Creating new one with path variables
#PostMapping("/items/{itemUuid}/shipments/{shipmentUuid}/stop")
public String stopShipmentForItem(#PathVariable UUID itemsUuid, #PathVariable UUID shipmentUuid) {
return itemShippingService.stopShipment(itemsUuids, shipmentUuid);
}
One opinion - First option equals less code, it supports Open for extensions from SOLID, query string should be use for filtering and UUID shipmentUuid underneath in service is used for filtering purposes.
Second opinion - Second option is more reasonable as those are different actions and should be separated and be responsible for one type of action and as with i.e. getting resources from DB you probably will use different endpoints for one resource and all resources
Which approach do you think is better? - keep in mind that old endpoint should still works as previously after potential modification.
Do you have any sources to prove that your opinion is correct?

How can I refactor my service use single responsibility principle?

I read "Clean Code" book ((c) Robert C. Martin) and try to use SRP(single responsibility principle). And I have some questions about it. I have some service in my application, and I do not know how can I refactor it so it matched the right approach. For example, I have service:
public interface SendRequestToThirdPartySystemService {
void sendRequest();
}
What does it do if you look at the class name? - send a request to the third party system. But I have this implementation:
#Slf4j
#Service
public class SendRequestToThirdPartySystemServiceImpl implements SendRequestToThirdPartySystemService {
#Value("${topic.name}")
private String topicName;
private final EventBus eventBus;
private final ThirdPartyClient thirdPartyClient;
private final CryptoService cryptoService;
private final Marshaller marshaller;
public SendRequestToThirdPartySystemServiceImpl(EventBus eventBus, ThirdPartyClient thirdPartyClient, CryptoService cryptoService, Marshaller marshaller) {
this.eventBus = eventBus;
this.thirdPartyClient = thirdPartyClient;
this.cryptoService = cryptoService;
this.marshaller = marshaller;
}
#Override
public void sendRequest() {
try {
ThirdPartyRequest thirdPartyRequest = createThirdPartyRequest();
Signature signature = signRequest(thirdPartyRequest);
thirdPartyRequest.setSignature(signature);
ThirdPartyResponse response = thirdPartyClient.getResponse(thirdPartyRequest);
byte[] serialize = SerializationUtils.serialize(response);
eventBus.sendToQueue(topicName, serialize);
} catch (Exception e) {
log.error("Send request was filed with exception: {}", e.getMessage());
}
}
private ThirdPartyRequest createThirdPartyRequest() {
...
return thirdPartyRequest;
}
private Signature signRequest(ThirdPartyRequest thirdPartyRequest) {
byte[] elementForSignBytes = marshaller.marshal(thirdPartyRequest);
Element element = cryptoService.signElement(elementForSignBytes);
Signature signature = new Signature(element);
return signature;
}
What does it do actually? - create a request -> sign this request -> send this request -> to send the response to Queue
This service inject 4 another services: eventBus, thirdPartyClient, cryptoSevice and marshaller. And in sendRequest method calls each this service.
If I want to create a unit test for this service, I need mock 4 services. I think it's too much.
Can somebody indicate how can this service be changed?
Change the class name and leave as is?
Split into several classes?
Something else?

The SRP is a tricky one.
Let's ask two questions:
What is a responsibility?
What are the different types of responsibilities?
One important thing about responsibilities is that they have a Scope and you can define them in different levels of Granularity. and are hierarchical in nature.
Everything in your application can have a responsibility.
Let's start with Modules. Each module has responsibilities an can adhere to the SRP.
Then this Module can be made of Layers. Each Layer has a responsibility and can adhere to the SRP.
Each Layer is made of different Objects, Functions etc. Each Object and/or Function has responsibilities and can adhere to the SRP.
Each Object has Methods. Each Method can adhere to the SRP. Objects can contain other objects and so on.
Each Function or Method in an Object is made of statements and can be broken down to more Functions/Methods. Each statement can have responsibilities too.
Let's give an example. Let's say we have a Billing module. If this module is implemented in a single huge class, does this module adhere to the SRP?
From the point of view of the system, the module does indeed adhere to the SRP. The fact that it's a mess doesn't affect this fact.
From the point of view of the module, the class that represents this module doesn't adhere to the SRP as it will do a lot of other things, like communicate with DB, send Emails, do business logic etc.
Let's take a look at the different types of responsibilities.
When something should be done
How it should be dome
Let's take an example.
public class UserService_v1 {
public class SomeOperation(Guid userID) {
var user = getUserByID(userID);
// do something with the user
}
public User GetUserByID(Guid userID) {
var query = "SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE ID = {userID}";
var dbResult = db.ExecuteQuery(query);
return CreateUserFromDBResult(dbResult);
}
public User CreateUserFromDBResult(DbResult result) {
// parse and return User
}
}
public class UserService_v2 {
public void SomeOperation(Guid userID) {
var user = UserRepository.getByID(userID);
// do something with the user
}
}
Let's take a look at these two implementations.
UserService_v1 and UserService_v2 do exactly the same thing but different ways. From the point of view of the System, these services adhere to the SRP as they contain operations related to Users.
Now let's take a look at what they actually do to complete their work.
UserService_v1 does these things:
Builds a SQL query string.
Calls the db to execute the query
Takes the specific DbResult and creates a User from it.
Does the operation on the User
UserService_v2 does these things:
1. Requests from the repository the User by ID
2. Does the operation on the User
UserService_v1 contains:
How specific query is build
How the specific DbResult is mapped to a User
When this query need to be called (in the begging of the operation in this case)
UserService_v1 contains:
When a User should be retrieved from the DB
UserRepository contains:
How specific query is build
How the specific DbResult is mapped to a User
What we do here is to move the responsibility of How from the Service to the Repository. This way each class has one reason to change. If how changes, we change the Repository. If when changes, we change the Service.
This way we create objects that collaborate with each other to do specific work, by dividing responsibilities. The tricky parts is: what responsibilities we divide?
If we have a UserService and OrderService we don't divide when and how here. We divide what so we can have one service per Entity in our system.
It's natural for there services to need other objects to do their work. We can of course add all of the responsibilities of what, when and how to a single object but that just makes to the messy, unreadable and hard to change.
In this regard the SRP helps us to achieve cleaner code by having more smaller parts that collaborate with and use each other.
Let's take a look at your specific case.
If you can move the responsibility of how the ClientRequest is created and signed by moving it to the ThirdPartyClient, your SendRequestToThirdPartySystemService will only tell when this request should be sent. This will remove Marshaller, and CryptoService as dependencies from your SendRequestToThirdPartySystemService.
Also you have SerializationUtils that you probably rename to Serializer to capture the intent better as Utils is something that we stick to objects that we just don't know how to name and contains a lot of logic (and probably multiple responsibilities).
This will reduce the number of dependencies and your tests will have less things to mock.
Here's a version of the sendRequest method with less responsibilities.
#Override
public void sendRequest() {
try {
// params are not clear as you don't show them to your code
ThirdPartyResponse response = thirdPartyClient.sendRequest(param1, param2);
byte[] serializedMessage = SerializationUtils.serialize(response);
eventBus.sendToQueue(topicName, serialize);
} catch (Exception e) {
log.error("Send request was filed with exception: {}", e.getMessage());
}
}
From your code I'm not sure if you can also move the responsibility of serialization and deserialization to the EventBus, but if you can do that, it will remove Seriazaliation from your service also. This will make the EventBus responsible for how it serialized and stores the things inside it making it more cohesive. Other objects that collaborate with it will just tell it to send and object to the queue not caring how this objects get's there.

Can a Middleware class be used as a Service layer?

In most of Java cases there exist two classes: one responsible for apply my business rules - Service layer - and another one responsible for interacting with my database - Dao/Repository layer. However, in PHP cases I just have one class that represents model Layer. My question is, assuming Laravel Framework, should I put my business rules inside a unique model class or there is another approach similar with JSF for instance? Can I use a Middleware class as a Service layer?

To be honest you can use Service/Repo Layers in PHP as well.
So what happens is
Controller passes the inputs to the service and service decides what action is to be done.
The Service Layer then calls the repo for receiving entries from database wherever necessary and perform all the business logic.
The Repo calls the model and data from the model is returned.
The Model only keeps Model specific data (like relations, appended attributes, casts array etc etc...)
To follow this approach, something like this can be done.
Controller
use App\Services\PostService;
class PostController
{
public function __construct()
{
$this->postService = new PostService;
}
public function show($id)
{
$viewData = $this->postService->getPostData($id);
return view('posts.show', $viewData);
}
}
Service Layer
use App\Repositories\PostRepository;
use App\Repositories\CommentRepository;
class PostService
{
public function __construct()
{
$this->postRepo = new PostRepository;
$this->commentRepo = new CommentRepository;
}
public function getPostData($id)
{
$post = $this->postRepo->get($id);
$recentComments = $this->commentsRepo->getRecentComments();
return collect(compact('post', 'recentComments'));
}
}
Repository Layer
use App\Models\Post;
public function PostRepository
{
public function get()
{
return Post::findOrFail($id);
}
}
Also, for your last question, I'd like to say, Middlewares are meant to be used as a per-requisite only. In other words, lets say you want to ensure a user is logged in to view that particular route, then you'll apply the auth middleware and protect your routes from other not-logged in users... According to me, using Service Layer as Middleware isn't really required. You can obviously call a service layer in a Middleware by $this->myService = new Service but making it as a middleware doesn't really sound a good practice.
Hope I answered your question well enough :)

Asynchronous multiple query from different datasources or databases

I'm having trouble to find appropriate solution for that:
I have several databases with the same structure but with different data. And when my web app execute a query, it must separate this query for each database and execute it asynchronously and then aggregate results from all databases and return it as single result. Additionaly I want to be able to pass a list of databases where query would be executed and also I want to pass maximum expiration time for query executing. Also result must contains meta information for each databases such as excess execution time.
It would be great if it possible to use another datasource such as remote web service with specific API, rather than relational database.
I use Spring/Grail and need java solution but I will be glad to any advice.
UPD: I want to find prepared solution, maybe framework or something like that.

This is basic OO. You need to abstract what you are trying to achieve - loading data - from the mechanism you are using to achieve - a database query or a web-service call.
Such a design would usually involve an interface that defines the contract of what can be done and then multiple implementing classes that make it happen according to their implementation.
For example, you'd end up with an interface that looked something like:
public interface DataLoader
{
public Collection<Data> loadData() throws DataLoaderException;
}
You would then have implementations like JdbcDataLoader, WebServiceDataLoader, etc. In your case you would need another type of implementation that given one or more instances of DataLoader, runs each sumulatiously aggregating the results. This implementation would look something like:
public class AggregatingDataLoader implements DataLoader
{
private Collection<DataLoader> dataLoaders;
private ExecutorService executorService;
public AggregatingDataLoader(ExecutorService executorService, Collection<DataLoader> dataLoaders)
{
this.executorService = executorService;
this.dataLoaders = dataLoaders;
}
public Collection<Data> loadData() throws DataLoaderException
{
Collection<DataLoaderCallable>> dataLoaderCallables = new ArrayList<DataLoaderCallable>>();
for (DataLoader dataLoader : dataLoaders)
{
dataLoaderCallables.add(new DataLoaderCallable(dataLoader));
}
List<Future<Collection<Data>>> futures = executorService.invokeAll(dataLoaderCallables);
Collection<Data> data = new ArrayList<Data>();
for (Future<Collection<Data>> future : futures)
{
add.addAll(future.get());
}
return data;
}
private class DataLoaderCallable implements Callable<Collection<Data>>
{
private DataLoader dataLoader;
public DataLoaderCallable(DataLoader dataLoader)
{
this.dataLoader = dataLoader;
}
public Collection<Data> call()
{
return dataLoader.load();
}
}
}
You'll need to add some timeout and exception handling logic to this, but you get the gist.
The other important thing is your call code should only ever use the DataLoader interface so that you can swap different implementations in and out or use mocks during testing.