Injecting on adapters with dagger in android - java

I'm just trying dagger instead of roboguice, so far butterknife was awesome and simple, point for it :)
But dagger on the other hand I found it less configurable than roboguice, I have to benchmark if its worth the change but in this case I'm looking on how to inject stuff in lets say Adapters, this is what I made and it works:
public class PeopleAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
private static final String TAG = PeopleAdapter.class.getName();
#Inject
TempoSharedPreferences prefs;
private LinkedList<People> elements;
public PeopleAdapter (LinkedList<People> elements, TempoApplication app) {
this.elements = elements;
app.inject(this);
Log.d(TAG, "registered: " + prefs.isRegistered());
} ....
But on the Activity that creates this instance I have to get an Application that allows to inject, also I have to add to the module every time the classes that use that dependency, roboguice did all that for me and had only one entry point where to modify the stuff.
I'm I doing something wrong? is there any better way to perform this injections? Avoid the declaration of each class on the module?
#Module(injects = {
MainActivity.class,
PeopleAdapter.class
},
library = true)
public class AndroidModule { ....
I'll appreciate any comment or best practice or experience on this.
Thanks!

You're doing everything right. Dagger needs some more configuration than Roboguice, but is also more powerful (configurable). Did you try scoped graphs or lazy injection already?
Every single class that uses injection must be listed in the injects param of the module. There's no way to avoid declaration of each class.

Related

How to provide components from a library, for consumption by multiple DI frameworks

My team owns a library that provides components that must be referencable by code that consumes the library. Some of our consumers use Spring to instantiate their apps; others use Guice. We'd like some feedback on best-practices on how to provide these components. Two options that present themselves are:
Have our library provide a Spring Configuration that consumers can #Import, and a Guice Module that they can install.
Have our library provide a ComponentProvider singleton, which provides methods to fetch the relevant components the library provides.
Quick sketches of what these would look like:
Present in both approaches
// In their code
#AllArgsConstructor(onConstructor = #__(#Inject))
public class ConsumingClass {
private final FooDependency foo;
...
}
First approach
// In our code
#Configuration
public class LibraryConfiguration {
#Bean public FooDependency foo() {...}
...
}
---
public class LibraryModule extends AbstractModule {
#Provides FooDependency foo() {...}
...
}
========================
========================
// In their code
#Configuration
#Import(LibraryConfiguration.java)
public class ConsumerConfiguration {
// Whatever initiation logic they want - but, crucially, does
// *not* need to define a FooDependency
...
}
---
// *OR*
public class ConsumerModule extends AbstractModule {
#Override
public void configure() {
// Or, simply specify LibraryModule when creating the injector
install(new LibraryModule());
...
// As above, no requirement to define a FooDependency
}
}
Second approach
// In our code
public class LibraryProvider {
public static final INSTANCE = buildInstance();
private static LibraryProvider buildInstance() {...}
private static LibraryProvider getInstance() {return INSTANCE;}
}
========================
========================
// In their code
#Configuration
public class ConsumerConfiguration {
#Bean public FooDependency foo() {
return LibraryProvider.getInstance().getFoo();
}
...
}
// or equivalent for Guice
Is there an accepted Best Practice for this situation? If not, what are some pros and cons of each, or of another option I haven't yet thought of? The first approach has the advantage that consumers don't need to write any code to initialize dependencies, and that DI frameworks can override dependencies (e.g. with mocked dependencies for testing); whereas the second approach has the advantage of being DI-framework agnostic (if a new consumer wanted to use Dagger to instantiate their app, for instance, we wouldn't need to change the library at all)
I think the first option is better. If your library has inter-dependencies between beans then the code of #Configuration in case of spring in the second approach) will be:
Fragile (what if application doesn't know that a certain bean should be created)
Duplicated - this code will appear in each and every consumer's module
When the new version of your library gets released and a consumer wants to upgrade- there might be changes in consumer's configuration ( the lib might expose a new bean, deprecate or even remove some old stuff, etc.)
One small suggestion:
You can use Spring factories and then you don't even need to make an #Import in case of spring boot. just add a maven dependency and it will load the configuration automatically.
Now, make sure that you work correctly with dependencies in case of that approach.
Since you code will include both spring and Juice dependent code, you'll add dependencies on both for your maven/gradle module of the library. This means, that consumer that uses, say, guice, will get all the spring stuff because of your library. There are many ways to overcome this issue depending on the build system of your choice, just want wanted to bring it up

Dagger 2 Injecting Constructors

I'm starting to use Dagger 2 in an application I'm developing but I have some questions about how Dagger 2 works.
I get the all the logic behind the #Provides methods and the #Inject annotation for initialising your dependencies, but the #Inject annotation to class constructors kind of bugs my mind.
For example:
Im my app, I have one module defined, the ContextModule, to retrieve the context of my application:
ContextModule.java
#Module
public class ContextModule {
private final Context context;
public ContextModule(Context context) {
this.context = context;
}
#Provides
public Context context() {
return this.context;
}
}
This module is used by my BaseActivityComponent:
BaseActivityComponent.java
#BaseActivityScope
#Component(modules = ContextModule.class)
public interface BaseActivityComponent {
void injectBaseActivity(BaseActivity baseActivity);
}
So far so good.. then I have an AuthController class, that depends on the context and I want to inject it in my BaseActivity. So in my AuthControllers.class I have something like:
public class AuthController {
private Context context;
#Inject
public AuthController(Context context) {
this.context = context;
}
public void auth() {
// DO STUFF WITH CONTEXT
}
}
And I inject it in my BaseActivity like:
public class BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
#Inject
AuthController authController;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
BaseActivityComponent component = DaggerBaseActivityComponent.builder()
.contextModule(new ContextModule(this))
.build();
component.injectBaseActivity(this);
authController.auth();
}
}
Now my question is, how does dagger knows that my AuthControllers is a dependency for BaseActivity? Just by declaring
#Inject
AuthController authController;
it's like the same thing as if I created a ControllerModule like:
#Module(includes = ContextModule.class)
public class ControllerModule {
#Provides
AuthController authController(Context context) {
return new AuthController(context);
}
}
And then in my BaseActivityComponent I would add my AuthController getter and change my dependency module to ControllersModule:
#BaseActivityScope
#Component(modules = ControllersModule.class)
public interface BaseActivityComponent {
void injectBaseActivity(BaseActivity baseActivity);
AuthController getAuthController();
}
When I call injectBaseActivity(this) it "tells" dagger that all #Inject annotations are dependencies of my class, and then it searchers my project for #Inject annotated constructors that matches that type?
I thought a good thing about Dagger 2 is that the Module files could be used as a "documentation" of my dependencies three. But if just add #Inject in all the constructors I have control of, couldn't it get a little confusing in the future, since you don't know what actually depends on what? (I mean, you know what depends on what, you just have to browse a lot of files to really find out)
Is there any best practices for when using #Inject annotations in constructors or when to add the #Provides method in Modules files?
I get that using #Inject in constructor I don't need to change the constructor definition in my Module file, but is there any downside?
Thanks.
When I call injectBaseActivity(this) it "tells" dagger that all #Inject annotations are dependencies of my class, and then it searches my project for #Inject annotated constructors that matches that type?
Exactly. But it's not done when you call injectBaseActivity, but it all happens during compile time. This is one way of annotation processing (another makes use of reflection at runtime).
When you build your project the dagger-annotation-processor you include (as a dependency)in your build.gradle file gets called with a list of all your fields, classes, etc annotated by the #Inject annotation and builds a dependency graph with it. It then resolves the graph, generating source code that provides all the dependencies for the items on the graph.
injectBaseActivity just executes the code which was generated before, and assigns all the dependencies to your object. It is proper source code, which you can read, and debug.
The reason this is a compile step—simply put—is performance and validation. (e.g. If you have some dependency cycle, you get a compile error)
how does dagger knows that my AuthControllers is a dependency for BaseActivity?
#Inject
AuthController authController;
By annotating the field #Inject dagger knows you want an AuthController. So far so good. Now dagger will look for some means to provide the controller, looking for it within the component, the components dependencies, and the components modules. It will also look whether the class can be supplied on its own, because it knows about its constructor.
How does dagger know about the objects constructor if you don't include it in any module?
#Inject
public AuthController(Context context) { /**/ }
By annotating the constructor with inject you also told dagger that there is a class called AuthController and you need a context for it to be instantiated. It is basically the same as adding it to your module.
A module #Provides method should be used if you don't have the source code to just add the #Inject annotation to the constructor, or if the object needs further initialization. Or in your case...
[...]the Module files could be used as a "documentation" of my dependencies tree [...]
Yes, of course you could do that. But as your project grows you will have to maintain a lot of unnecessary code, since the same could have been done with a simple annotation on the constructor.
Is there any best practices for when using #Inject annotations in constructors or when to add the #Provides method in Modules files?
If you want to provide different versions for a different context (e.g. implementing an interface in 2 different ways) there is also the #Binds annotation that tells dagger which class you wish to provide as implementation.
Other than that I believe you should always use constructor injection when possible. If something changes you don't have to touch any other parts of your code, and it is just less code that you write, and hence less places where you could include a bug.
Also Dagger can and does optimize a lot by knowing more, and if you implement unnecessary code it will have to work with the overhead you introduced
Of course in the end it is all up to what you think is best. After all it is you that has to work with your code ;)

Spring constructor injection and super call verbosity

I started to use constructor injection in my projects since Spring declared field injection to be deprecated. Actually, the code feels prettier and more strict, I'm ok with that.
But I encountered a pattern which seems a bit...weird and verbose to me:
I have an abstract service bean class (with #Service annotation), which has, say 2 dependencies, injected directly in the constructor:
#Autowired
public AbstractService(DependencyA depA, DependencyB depB) {
this.depA = depA;
this.depB = depB;
}
Then I have multiple services bean classes (still with #Serviceannotation) extending the abstract one.
And I don't know if there is another way but this is where I find a bit verbose and repetitive having to inject the dependencies for the parent, in each sub-class constructor:
#Service
public class ServiceA extends AbstractService {
private final DepC depC;
#Autowired
public ServiceA(DepA depA, DepB depB, DepC depC) {
super(depA, depB);
this.depC = depC;
}
}
I just wanted to know if this is the right way, and what you think about this ?
The #Autowired on AbstractService doesn't do anything. Change it to:
#Service
public class ServiceA extends AbstractService {
private final DepC depC;
#Autowired
public ServiceA(DepA depA, DepB depB, DepC depC) {
super(depA, depB);
this.depC = depC;
}
}
...
public AbstractService(DependencyA depA, DependencyB depB) {
this.depA = depA;
this.depB = depB;
}
I'm ok with this setup.
For me, the main benefits of using constructor injection is to inform the developer what are the external dependencies. I find it useful when writing unit test. When writing mocks, you just know what needs to be mocked.
An other benefit is to highlight when a Class has too many dependencies, it gives a hint that refactoring may be in order.
The alternative would be using setter injection (while keeping the informational aspect), but I've grown to enjoy constructor injection.
My answer is focusing about the "verbose and repetitive" part in your question; I let others decide how "correct" your usage of annotations is.
Even with Spring and its DI framework, in the end we are still talking about Java source code!
And in Java, if your base class only offers a constructor that takes some A and B; then of course your subclass has to make a call super(A a, B b); and of course, those values a and b have to come from somewhere!
So, what you call "verbose and repetitive" is a direct consequence of using Java.
In other words: there is no way to avoid that part!

Dagger 2 scope and subcomponents

I am trying to make my app better and code more maintainable using Dagger2 I caught general idea, but still cannot figure out how scopes are managed by Dagger2
I injected dagger into my project (sounds funny).
I created ApplicationComonent component and it works perfectly in my project.
Here is my code.
#Singleton
#Component(modules = {
ApplicationModule.class,
ThreadingModule.class,
NetworkModule.class,
DatabaseModule.class,
ServiceModule.class,
ParseModule.class,
PreferencesSessionModule.class})
public interface ApplicationComponent {
ActivityComponent activityComponent(ActivityModule activityModule);
void inject(BaseActivity baseActivity);
void inject(MainAppActivity mainAppActivity);
void inject(MyApplication application);
void inject(BaseFragment baseFragment);
void inject(MyService service);
void inject(RegistrationIntentService service);
}
I create my component instance in MyApplication class like this
private void initializeAndInjectComponent() {
mApplicationComponent =
DaggerApplicationComponent
.builder()
.threadingModule(new ThreadingModule(1))
.applicationModule(new ApplicationModule(this))
.networkModule(new NetworkModule(
MyService.API_SERVER_BASE_URL,
MyService.TIMEOUT))
.build();
mApplicationComponent.inject(this);
}
And I can obtain component in order to inject in in my Activities
MyApplication application = MyApplication.get(this);
application.getApplicationComponent().inject(this);
Everything works perfectly.
To add each method as well as module class is annotated with #Singleton scope, all modules related to the ApplicationComponent
Now I want to make dependencies better and I have seen a lot of examples with custom scopes like #PerActivity, #PerFragment. I have a lot of questions, but about this later.
So I created ActivityComponent
#PerActivity
#Subcomponent(
modules = {
NetworkServiceModule.class,
ActivityModule.class,
PermissionModule.class
})
public interface ActivityComponent {
Activity activity();
void inject(BaseActivity baseActivity);
}
All modules looks like this
#PerActivity
#Module
public class ActivityModule {
private Activity mActivity;
public ActivityModule(Activity activity) {
this.mActivity = activity;
}
#Provides
#PerActivity
Activity provideActivity() {
return this.mActivity;
}
}
I have following dependencies in my BaseActivity
// Dependencies from ApplicationComponent
#Inject
protected ApplicationSettingsManager mApplicationSettingsManager;
#Inject
protected ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor mPoolExecutor;
// Dependencies from ActivityComponent
#Inject
protected SpiceManager mSpiceManager;
#Inject
protected PermissionController mPermissionController;
And in my onCreate() method I am injecting as following
MyApplication application = MyApplication.get(this);
application.getApplicationComponent().activityComponent(new ActivityModule(this)).inject(this);
Before creating subcomponent ActivityComponent it was
MyApplication application = MyApplication.get(this);
application.getApplicationComponent().inject(this);
Now I got an error
Error:(34, 10) error: com.octo.android.robospice.SpiceManager cannot be provided without an #Inject constructor or from an #Provides- or #Produces-annotated method.
BaseActivity.mSpiceManager
[injected field of type: com.octo.android.robospice.SpiceManager mSpiceManager]
I cannot figure out where is problem, what I missed.
My questions about scopes in dagger2.
Everything but #Singleton is ignored by Dagger 2, am I right ?
I don't understand how life of component is managed ? I have only one idea
When you use #Singleton annotation dagger is creating object in some static pool that will exist during whole application lifecycle, and will be destroyed when JVM process (dalvik VM,ART) instance will be destroyed.
When you use any other annotation is just for you as developer to better maintain code, #PerActivity, #PerFragment is just custom annotation nothing more. And in case you place #PerFragment component in Application class it will live as long as Application lives. Am I right ?
So I understand this like this, if dagger finds #Singleton annotation it will add static reference to component when it is created first time and in case of any other annotation it won't hold reference to component.
I would be very grateful for any help with problems described above.
UPDATE
Thank you David Medenjak for great answer, I got much better understanding of Dagger2.
I have also just found the problem, as far as I am using separate Activity component now, I forgot about two lines in ApplicationComponent and change inejction in my MainActivity to ActivityComponent instead of ApplicationComponent, so for sure it couldn't resolve dependencies from subcomponent.
void inject(BaseActivity baseActivity);
void inject(MainAppActivity mainAppActivity);
Now everything works perfectly, I like Dagger2 and separated architecture.
A bit radical, but to simplify things:
All Scope annotations are nothing but syntactic sugar—including #Singleton.
Scopes mostly just provide compile time checks. Cyclic dependencies, or errors about things that you might have missed. #Singleton is just like any other scope, the only difference is that it is an already existing annotation and you don't have to create it yourself. You could just use #MySingleton instead.
[...] dagger is creating object in some static pool that will exists during whole application lifecycle
No. Dagger does nothing static. You have component objects. Those components hold your objects created by modules. If an object in a component has the scope of the component, it will only be created once in that exact component. If you decide to create 2 AppComponent objects, you will have 2 objects of each #Singleton annotated object, each within its component. This is why you should keep the reference to the component. Most implementations that I have seen or used hence keep their AppComponent within their Application. If you do this, you can use it like a singleton—it is still just a POJO.
[...]you place #PerFragment component in Application class it will live as long as Application lives.
Yes. As already covered by the paragraph above, it is just an object. Keep the reference, you keep the objects. Throw it away or create a new one and you have new objects (defined within in this component / scope). You should although not keep activity or fragment scoped components any place besides in activities or fragments respectively, since keeping them e.g. in your app component will most likely lead to a memory leak. (If it doesn't, you probably would not have needed the activity or fragment scope.)
if dagger finds #Singleton annotation it will add static reference to component when it is created first time and in case of any other annotation it won't hold reference to component.
Again, no. Nothing static. Plain old java objects. You can have multiple #Singleton components with their own objects, but you probably shouldn't (Although this is what makes instrumentation testing possible / easy—just swap components.)
Your mentioned error
SpiceManager cannot be provided without an #Inject constructor or from an #Provides- or #Produces-annotated method.
This means that the component you are trying to inject your object with can not find any way to produce or provide a SpiceManager. Make sure you provide it from your AppComponent or some other place, are not missing any annotations, etc.

Inject into private, package or public field or provide a setter?

I see many Java examples using dependency injection with private fields without a public setter like this:
public SomeClass {
#Inject
private SomeResource resource;
}
But that is a bad idea when the injection should be performed manually for example in unit tests.
There are several possibilities to solve this:
add a public setter: setSomeResource(SomeResource r)
make the field public
make the field package protected
I'd like to avoid the setter, since nothing really happens in it. So I'd prefer public or package protected. What do you recommend?
One way to avoid creating a setter for the field is using constructor injection. This even allows you to declare the field as final.
It goes like this:
public class SomeClass {
private final SomeResource resource;
#Inject
public SomeClass(SomeResource resource) {
this.resource = resource;
}
}
Adding setters is not an optimal solution, since you are adding production code which is not needed.
An alternative is to use Spring's ReflectionTestUtils class to inject your test dependencies using reflection, see http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/2.5.x/api/org/springframework/test/util/ReflectionTestUtils.html
EDIT (2017): However, reflection is an even worse solution than adding setters. The cause of this mess is the fact that Spring makes it possible to inject values without setters or constructors. My current stance is to stick to using either of those and avoid using black magic injection practices.
I prefer the setter
it is easier to debug (put a breakpoint in a setter rather than on field access / modification)
easier to log
easier to add some validation (although this is not always the best place)
easier to support bidirectional maintainance (though IOC container can take care of that)
any other "manual AOP" purpose
But that's just my opinion
I recommend using setter. In this question are the benefits of using getters and setters.
With the help of the answer to my (related to this one) question:
How do app servers inject into private fields?
I coded this simple example on how to inject without setters.
Perhaps it helps
//......................................................
import java.lang.annotation.*;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
//......................................................
#Target(value = {ElementType.FIELD})
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#interface Inject {
}
//......................................................
class MyClass {
#Inject
private int theValue = 0;
public int getTheValue() {
return theValue;
}
} // class
//......................................................
public class Example {
//......................................................
private static void doTheInjection(MyClass u, int value) throws IllegalAccessException {
Field[] camps = u.getClass().getDeclaredFields();
System.out.println("------- fields : --------");
for (Field f : camps) {
System.out.println(" -> " + f.toString());
Annotation an = f.getAnnotation(Inject.class);
if (an != null) {
System.out.println(" found annotation: " + an.toString());
System.out.println(" injecting !");
f.setAccessible(true);
f.set(u, value);
f.setAccessible(false);
}
}
} // ()
//......................................................
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
MyClass u = new MyClass();
doTheInjection(u, 23);
System.out.println(u.getTheValue());
} // main ()
} // class
Run output:
------- fields : --------
-> private int MyClass.theValue
found annotation: #Inject()
injecting !
23
With field based injection, you run into the issue you describe with testing. Also with setter based injection, an instance of a class can be created in an incomplete state when running tests if you forget to set some of the dependencies. I have been practicing constructor injection most recently due to the fact that it forces you to set all dependencies whenever you create an instance of a class during testing. The answer above by Andre Rodrigues explains how this would be accomplished.
Possible solutions to this:
Use a CDI-aware testing framework like JGlue CDI-Unit. This way you need no setter. You only define the dependency inside your tests - usually using a Mockito mock object. IMHO this is the best solution, since it doesn't require you to do anything extra for testing.
Inject into Constructor or setter. That's right, you can inject into setters! More details here.
Use a protected setter. Simple and works in every case. Since it's protected, you can access it from your test class (which should have the same package definition as your tested class), and no other packages can access it.
Use a getter and override it when testing. In your test class, create a new inner class that extends the tested class and override the getter. This, however, has a big disadvantage: your test class has to use the getter internally instead of the field. Lots of potentially bugged boilerplate...

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