Logging decorator or diagnostic decorator? Test logging decorator Log outcomeentry in case of failure or validation error? Exception decorator and logging decorator relationscip

I want to enable/diable easily the recording for diagnostic purpose

show commands or queries which are executed in the system or both
optionally show the detail of the query
optionally show the tracking
optionally show performance and outcome
no code changes needed to support
no possibility to forget to add it

Enabled Outcome Duration Tracking DataIDs (ILoggable) DataAll (ILoggable)

Exception configuration to hide sensitive data Exception configuration to break or wrap in result

Minded

Clean code and architecture made simple with Mediator, Command Query and Decorator patterns.

Introduction

The Minded framework take it's name in a stretchy way from "MedIator commaND quEry Decorator". As you can see those are the top patterns used in the framework to help create simple yet effective architectures, where the structure of the framework will force you to think about Encapsulation, Reusability, Maintainability, Extension, Low Coupling and more.

Correct, this is not the silver bullet framework and will not magically turn people in experienced professionals, but it will help.

Mediator

The Mediator is a design pattern that promotes loose coupling and enhances code maintainability. It reduces the direct communication between objects, so changes in one object don't have a ripple effect on others. This is achieved by introducing a mediator object that controls how objects interact with each other. The primary benefits include improved modularity, easier reuse of individual components, and simpler communication protocols. In complex systems where a multitude of classes interact, employing the Mediator pattern can significantly simplify the system architecture, making it easier to understand, modify, and extend. It also fosters the Single Responsibility Principle, where each class is responsible for a single part of the application's functionality, contributing to the overall robustness and resilience of the system.

Decorator

The Decorator pattern is a design pattern in object-oriented programming that allows behavior to be added to an individual object, either statically or dynamically, without affecting the behavior of other objects from the same class. This is particularly useful when you need to add responsibilities to objects without subclassing. It enhances flexibility and is in line with the Single Responsibility and Open/Closed principles of SOLID design principles, as it allows functionality to be divided between classes with unique areas of concern and enables the behavior of an object to be extended without modifying its source code. Decorators provide a flexible alternative to subclassing for extending functionality, allowing for a large number of distinct behaviors. Additionally, Decorator offers a more scalable solution than static inheritance, as you can add or remove responsibilities from an object at runtime by wrapping it in different decorator classes.

Requirements

This framework requires .net Core 2.0 upward, it can be used in brand new applications or retrofitted in existing applications where it can be used to break down monolitic components.

How does it work

The entry point (Mediator)

The implementation of IMediator interface (Mediator Design Pattern), is injected everywhere there is a dependency on business logic or where it is needed to retrieve data.

The Mediator allows to hide and decouple from the mechanism used to execute commands and queries, so called Handlers.

The encapsulation of the business logic (Command Query)

Every action is represented as a ICommand, every data read from the system is considered an IQuery (from now on I will refer to Command as Command or Query). Concepts are taken from (Command Design Pattern and Command Query).

Using the mediator, the Command is passed for the execution, and following the Dependency Injection Configuration, one or more ICommandHandler or IQueryHandler, will be instantiated to process the command or the query.

Note that a single command can have multiple Handlers responsible to process it.

The decoration (Decorators)

When an Handler is instantiated, by default it is decorated with:

Validation decorator
Transaction handling decorator
Exception handling decorator
Logging command decorator

Each decorator represent a layer around the handler, like an onion, each layer has and must have a single responsibility and the order used to register them in the dependency injection, is important to drive the order of execution (First registered, First executed).

Command processing flow

So when Mediator.ProcessCommandAsync is invoked to process a Command, the dependency injection will retrieve and instantiate all the handlers (normally one) designed to handle the Command execution. Once the Handler is instantiated, the dependency injection framework will instantiate one by one all the decorators registered for the Command Handling, starting from the last Decorator that will be executed just before the actual Handler.

The Handle method of the last registered Decorator will be invoked passing the Command, based on the Decorator responsibility, something might happen straight away or only after the next Handler (which could either be another Decorator or the fina Handler) has been executed.

This works very much like the .net Core Middlewares, where a request (ICommand) comes in, follow the pipeline and then returns back as response (CommandResponse).

Limitations

This framework targets .net Standard 2.0, but this doesn't make it directly compatible with .net Freamework applications.

Interfaces like IServiceCollection and ILogger, are used to control configuration and logging, and even tough they can be integrated with .net Framework application, I don't think the effort would be worth.

Getting started

First of all install the Minded Nuget Package, uwinf the Visual Studio Package Manager, or the Packat Manager Console using the command Install-Package Elmah -ProjectName {Target_Project_Name}.

Service configuration

In your Program.cs file, you will register the Minded Framework in the DI container. The AddMinded extension method is used to configure the Minded Framework and it takes two parameters:

A function that filters the assemblies you want to scan for Handlers. The function takes an AssemblyName object and returns a boolean value. Return true for the assemblies you wish to include.
An action delegate that allows you to configure the Minded Framework. This delegate receives a MindedBuilder object that you can use to add Mediators, Handlers, and Decorators.

Here's an example of what this looks like:

services.AddMinded(assembly => assembly.Name.StartsWith("Service."), b =>
{
    b.AddMediator();
    b.AddRestMediator(); // Available with Minded.Extensions.WebApi

    b.AddCommandValidationDecorator() // Execution order 1
    .AddCommandExceptionDecorator() // Execution order 2
    .AddCommandLoggingDecorator() // Execution order 3
    .AddCommandHandlers(); // Execution order 4

    b.AddQueryExceptionDecorator()
    .AddQueryLoggingDecorator()
    .AddQueryHandlers();
});

The AddMediator and AddRestMediator methods are used to add the Mediator and RestMediator services to the DI container. The AddCommandValidationDecorator, AddCommandExceptionDecorator, and AddCommandLoggingDecorator methods are used to add decorators that provide validation, exception handling, and logging for your command handlers. The AddCommandHandlers method scans the assemblies you specified for any classes that implement the ICommandHandler<> or ICommandHandler<,> interfaces and registers them in the DI container. Similar to the command handlers, AddQueryExceptionDecorator, AddQueryLoggingDecorator, and AddQueryHandlers methods are used to add decorators and handlers for your queries.

Decorators

Decorators are provided with the framework for both Query and Command handling.

Error decorator

ExceptionCommandHandlerDecorator and ExceptionQueryHandlerDecorator are designed to handle Exceptions in a single place. The decorators depend on the logging system used to log the details of the exception. This is a basic implementation, a more elaborated version can be used instead leveraging custom attributes.

Logging decorator

LoggingCommandHandlerDecorator and LoggingQueryHandlerDecorator are responsible to log the execution of each command and query, including information like the time needed for the execution.

Validation decorator

Probably the best example on how decorators can be used with their great potential. ValidationCommandHandlerDecorator allows you to add validation for each command, to do so the command class has to use the ValidateCommandAttribute.

When the decorator is invoked, it takes the command as parameter, this is inspected and if the attribute is found, the injected ICommandValidator implementation, is used to validate the command. If the command is valid, the next handler will be invoked, otherwhise and instance of CommandResponse will be returned straight away.

NOTE: The Validation decorator can be a terminal handler if the validation does not succeed, interrupting the execution pipeline and preventing the next handlers to be called.

Caching decorator

The caching decorator allows to configure caching for query results. The IQuery must implement IGenerateCacheKey in order to provide a unique identifier. Additionally IGlobalCacheKeyPrefixProvider can be implemented and registered in the dependency injection configuration to provide a prefix which can guarantee global uniqueness. A common example is to provide the Tenant ID in a multitenant system.

Transaction decorator

[...]

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