Can someone explain Microsoft Unity?

Question

I've been reading the articles on MSDN about Unity (Dependency Injection, Inversion of Control), but I think I need it explained in simple terms (or simple examples). I'm familiar with the MVPC pattern (we use it here), but I just can't really grasp this Unity thing yet, and I think it's the next step in our application design.

Misquotation

I love how this has the same name as "Unity" so when I am searching for Unity Game Engine stuff I see this old tech, sigh. All the good band names are taken, I guesss. – Pshaw

@tom-schulz Old tech? nuget.org/packages/Unity - last updated 5 days ago. – Esposito

Answer 1

Unity is just an IoC "container". Google StructureMap and try it out instead. A bit easier to grok, I think, when the IoC stuff is new to you.

Basically, if you understand IoC then you understand that what you're doing is inverting the control for when an object gets created.

Without IoC:

public class MyClass
{
   IMyService _myService; 

   public MyClass()
   {
      _myService = new SomeConcreteService();    
   }
}

With IoC container:

public class MyClass
{
   IMyService _myService; 

   public MyClass(IMyService myService)
   {
      _myService = myService;    
   }
}

Without IoC, your class that relies on the IMyService has to new-up a concrete version of the service to use. And that is bad for a number of reasons (you've coupled your class to a specific concrete version of the IMyService, you can't unit test it easily, you can't change it easily, etc.)

With an IoC container you "configure" the container to resolve those dependencies for you. So with a constructor-based injection scheme, you just pass the interface to the IMyService dependency into the constructor. When you create the MyClass with your container, your container will resolve the IMyService dependency for you.

Using StructureMap, configuring the container looks like this:

StructureMapConfiguration.ForRequestedType<MyClass>().TheDefaultIsConcreteType<MyClass>();
StructureMapConfiguration.ForRequestedType<IMyService>().TheDefaultIsConcreteType<SomeConcreteService>();

So what you've done is told the container, "When someone requests the IMyService, give them a copy of the SomeConcreteService." And you've also specified that when someone asks for a MyClass, they get a concrete MyClass.

That's all an IoC container really does. They can do more, but that's the thrust of it - they resolve dependencies for you, so you don't have to (and you don't have to use the "new" keyword throughout your code).

Final step: when you create your MyClass, you would do this:

var myClass = ObjectFactory.GetInstance<MyClass>();

Jacksmelt

So it's like a factory, I suppose? If I'm following this correctly, wouldn't you use <IMyClass> instead of <MyClass> in the final example? so it would be var myClass = ObjectFactory.GetInstance<IMyClass>()? Thanks for your help, this is a good start for me! – Misquotation

In a way, it's like a factory, yes. A master factory for your application. But it can be configured to return lots of different types, including singletons. As for the interface to MyClass - if it's a business object, I wouldn't extract an interface. For everything else, I generally would. – Jacksmelt

what if you only called ObjectFactory.GetInstance<MyClass>(); and you didn't Configure the SomeConcreteClass? Would you get and error in that case? – Bambibambie

@Ray: It depends on the container. Some containers are written so that, by default, they use a naming convention, such that if a class is named MyClass and the interface is named IMyInterface, the container will automatically configure that class for that interface. So in that case, if you don't manually configure it, the default "convention" of the container picks it up anyway. However, if your class and interface don't follow convention and you don't configure the container for that class, then yes, you get an error at runtime. – Jacksmelt

@chris: do you know of an open source container in .net that does the naming convention based type resolution. – Balmacaan

@saravanan I think StructureMap does a name-based convention now. I am not certain; we haven't used it in a long time (I wrote a custom one for our business; it uses same-name convention for interfaces and classes). – Jacksmelt

Answer 2

I just watched the 30 minute Unity Dependency Injection IoC Screencast by David Hayden and felt that was a good explaination with examples. Here is a snippet from the show notes:

The screencast shows several common usages of the Unity IoC, such as:

• Creating Types Not In Container
• Registering and Resolving TypeMappings
• Registering and Resolving Named TypeMappings
• Singletons, LifetimeManagers, and the ContainerControlledLifetimeManager
• Registering Existing Instances
• Injecting Dependencies into Existing Instances
• Populating the UnityContainer via App.config / Web.config
• Specifying Dependencies via Injection API as opposed to Dependency Attributes
• Using Nested ( Parent-Child ) Containers

Ribose

Answer 3

Unity is a library like many others that allows you to get an instance of a requested type without having to create it yourself. So given.

public interface ICalculator
{
    void Add(int a, int b);
}

public class Calculator : ICalculator
{
    public void Add(int a, int b)
    {
        return a + b;
    }
}

You would use a library like Unity to register Calculator to be returned when the type ICalculator is requested aka IoC (Inversion of Control) (this example is theoretical, not technically correct).

IoCLlibrary.Register<ICalculator>.Return<Calculator>();

So now when you want an instance of an ICalculator you just...

Calculator calc = IoCLibrary.Resolve<ICalculator>();

IoC libraries can usually be configured to either hold a singleton or create a new instance every time you resolve a type.

Now let's say you have a class that relies on an ICalculator to be present you could have..

public class BankingSystem
{
    public BankingSystem(ICalculator calc)
    {
        _calc = calc;
    }

    private ICalculator _calc;
}

And you can setup the library to inject a object into the constructor when it's created.

So DI or Dependency Injection means to inject any object another might require.

Aegeus

should be ICalculator calc = IoCLibrary.Resolve<ICalculator>(); – Forearm

Answer 4

Unity is an IoC. The point of IoC is to abstract the wiring of dependencies between types outside of the types themselves. This has a couple of advantages. First of all, it is done centrally which means you don't have to change a lot of code when dependencies change (which may be the case for unit tests).

Furthermore, if the wiring is done using configuration data instead of code, you can actually rewire the dependencies after deployment and thus change the behavior of the application without changing the code.

Gujranwala

It has a couple of advantages and several disadvantages. Sweet. I'd like to thank all the devs from your era for leaving the younger gen with this stuff to deal with :) Super helpful – Buyer

Answer 5

MSDN has a Developer's Guide to Dependency Injection Using Unity that may be useful.

The Developer's Guide starts with the basics of what dependency injection is, and continues with examples of how to use Unity for dependency injection. As of the February 2014 the Developer's Guide covers Unity 3.0, which was released in April 2013.

Allsun

Answer 6

I am covering most of the examples of Dependency Injection in ASP.NET Web API 2

public interface IShape
{
    string Name { get; set; }
}

public class NoShape : IShape
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = "I have No Shape";
}

public class Circle : IShape
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = "Circle";
}

public class Rectangle : IShape
{
    public Rectangle(string name)
    {
        this.Name = name;
    }

    public string Name { get; set; } = "Rectangle";
}

In DIAutoV2Controller.cs Auto Injection mechanism is used

[RoutePrefix("api/v2/DIAutoExample")]
public class DIAutoV2Controller : ApiController
{
    private string ConstructorInjected;
    private string MethodInjected1;
    private string MethodInjected2;
    private string MethodInjected3;

    [Dependency]
    public IShape NoShape { get; set; }

    [Dependency("Circle")]
    public IShape ShapeCircle { get; set; }

    [Dependency("Rectangle")]
    public IShape ShapeRectangle { get; set; }

    [Dependency("PiValueExample1")]
    public double PiValue { get; set; }

    [InjectionConstructor]
    public DIAutoV2Controller([Dependency("Circle")]IShape shape1, [Dependency("Rectangle")]IShape shape2, IShape shape3)
    {
        this.ConstructorInjected = shape1.Name + " & " + shape2.Name + " & " + shape3.Name;
    }

    [NonAction]
    [InjectionMethod]
    public void Initialize()
    {
        this.MethodInjected1 = "Default Initialize done";
    }

    [NonAction]
    [InjectionMethod]
    public void Initialize2([Dependency("Circle")]IShape shape1)
    {
        this.MethodInjected2 = shape1.Name;
    }

    [NonAction]
    [InjectionMethod]
    public void Initialize3(IShape shape1)
    {
        this.MethodInjected3 = shape1.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("constructorinjection")]
    public string constructorinjection()
    {
        return "Constructor Injected: " + this.ConstructorInjected;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetNoShape")]
    public string GetNoShape()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.NoShape.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetShapeCircle")]
    public string GetShapeCircle()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.ShapeCircle.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetShapeRectangle")]
    public string GetShapeRectangle()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.ShapeRectangle.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetPiValue")]
    public string GetPiValue()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.PiValue;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("MethodInjected1")]
    public string InjectionMethod1()
    {
        return "Method Injected: " + this.MethodInjected1;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("MethodInjected2")]
    public string InjectionMethod2()
    {
        return "Method Injected: " + this.MethodInjected2;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("MethodInjected3")]
    public string InjectionMethod3()
    {
        return "Method Injected: " + this.MethodInjected3;
    }
}

In DIV2Controller.cs everything will be injected from the Dependency Configuration Resolver class

[RoutePrefix("api/v2/DIExample")]
public class DIV2Controller : ApiController
{
    private string ConstructorInjected;
    private string MethodInjected1;
    private string MethodInjected2;
    public string MyPropertyName { get; set; }
    public double PiValue1 { get; set; }
    public double PiValue2 { get; set; }
    public IShape Shape { get; set; }

    // MethodInjected
    [NonAction]
    public void Initialize()
    {
        this.MethodInjected1 = "Default Initialize done";
    }

    // MethodInjected
    [NonAction]
    public void Initialize2(string myproperty1, IShape shape1, string myproperty2, IShape shape2)
    {
        this.MethodInjected2 = myproperty1 + " & " + shape1.Name + " & " + myproperty2 + " & " + shape2.Name;
    }

    public DIV2Controller(string myproperty1, IShape shape1, string myproperty2, IShape shape2)
    {
        this.ConstructorInjected = myproperty1 + " & " + shape1.Name + " & " + myproperty2 + " & " + shape2.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("constructorinjection")]
    public string constructorinjection()
    {
        return "Constructor Injected: " + this.ConstructorInjected;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("PropertyInjected")]
    public string InjectionProperty()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.MyPropertyName;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetPiValue1")]
    public string GetPiValue1()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.PiValue1;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetPiValue2")]
    public string GetPiValue2()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.PiValue2;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("GetShape")]
    public string GetShape()
    {
        return "Property Injected: " + this.Shape.Name;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("MethodInjected1")]
    public string InjectionMethod1()
    {
        return "Method Injected: " + this.MethodInjected1;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("MethodInjected2")]
    public string InjectionMethod2()
    {
        return "Method Injected: " + this.MethodInjected2;
    }
}

Configuring the Dependency Resolver

public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
{
    var container = new UnityContainer();
    RegisterInterfaces(container);
    config.DependencyResolver = new UnityResolver(container);

    // Other Web API configuration not shown.
}

private static void RegisterInterfaces(UnityContainer container)
{
    var dbContext = new SchoolDbContext();
    // Registration with constructor injection
    container.RegisterType<IStudentRepository, StudentRepository>(new InjectionConstructor(dbContext));
    container.RegisterType<ICourseRepository, CourseRepository>(new InjectionConstructor(dbContext));

    // Set constant/default value of Pi = 3.141 
    container.RegisterInstance<double>("PiValueExample1", 3.141);
    container.RegisterInstance<double>("PiValueExample2", 3.14);

    // without a name
    container.RegisterInstance<IShape>(new NoShape());

    // with circle name
    container.RegisterType<IShape, Circle>("Circle", new InjectionProperty("Name", "I am Circle"));

    // with rectangle name
    container.RegisterType<IShape, Rectangle>("Rectangle", new InjectionConstructor("I am Rectangle"));

    // Complex type like Constructor, Property and method injection
    container.RegisterType<DIV2Controller, DIV2Controller>(
        new InjectionConstructor("Constructor Value1", container.Resolve<IShape>("Circle"), "Constructor Value2", container.Resolve<IShape>()),
        new InjectionMethod("Initialize"),
        new InjectionMethod("Initialize2", "Value1", container.Resolve<IShape>("Circle"), "Value2", container.Resolve<IShape>()),
        new InjectionProperty("MyPropertyName", "Property Value"),
        new InjectionProperty("PiValue1", container.Resolve<double>("PiValueExample1")),
        new InjectionProperty("Shape", container.Resolve<IShape>("Rectangle")),
        new InjectionProperty("PiValue2", container.Resolve<double>("PiValueExample2")));
}

Gregoriagregorian

This isn't a particularly useful answer for a number of reasons. It's an unnecessarily complex example that has too much code to be useful in offering a simple explanation of IOC. Besides that, the code isn't documented clearly in places where you'd actually need it. – Dispenser