NHibernate 3.0: Using LINQ Specifications in the data access layer

Share this page via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Your message has been sent.

How would you like to send this article:

Save this article to your account for easy access.

by Jason Dentler | October 2010 | .NET Cookbooks Open Source Web Development

With the completion of LINQ to NHibernate for NHibernate 3.0, we can easily implement the specification pattern. In this article by Jason Dentler, author of NHibernate 3.0 Cookbook, we will see how to set up and use the specification pattern with the NHibernate repository.

NHibernate 3.0 Cookbook

Get solutions to common NHibernate problems to develop high-quality performance-critical data access applications

Master the full range of NHibernate features
Reduce hours of application development time and get better application architecture and performance
Create, maintain, and update your database structure automatically with the help of NHibernate
Written and tested for NHibernate 3.0 with input from the development team distilled in to easily accessible concepts and examples
Part of Packt's Cookbook series: each recipe is a carefully organized sequence of instructions to complete the task as efficiently as possible

Read more about this book

(For more resources on NHibernate, see here.)

Getting ready

Download the LinqSpecs library from http://linqspecs.codeplex.com. Copy LinqSpecs.dll from the Downloads folder to your solution's libs folder.

Complete the Setting up an NHibernate Repository recipe.

How to do it...

In Eg.Core.Data and Eg.Core.Data.Impl, add a reference to LinqSpecs.dll.

Add these two methods to the IRepository interface.

IEnumerable<T> FindAll(Specification<T> specification);
T FindOne(Specification<T> specification);

Add the following three methods to NHibernateRepository:

public IEnumerable<T> FindAll(Specification<T> specification)
{
  var query = GetQuery(specification);
  return Transact(() => query.ToList());
}

public T FindOne(Specification<T> specification)
{
  var query = GetQuery(specification);
  return Transact(() => query.SingleOrDefault());
}

private IQueryable<T> GetQuery(
  Specification<T> specification)
{
  return session.Query<T>()
    .Where(specification.IsSatisfiedBy());
}

Add the following specification to Eg.Core.Data.Queries:

public class MoviesDirectedBy : Specification<Movie>
{

 private readonly string _director;

 public MoviesDirectedBy(string director)
 {
   _director = director;
 }

 public override
    Expression<Func<Movie, bool>> IsSatisfiedBy()
 {
   return m => m.Director == _director;
 }
}

Add another specification to Eg.Core.Data.Queries, using the following code:

public class MoviesStarring : Specification<Movie>
{

 private readonly string _actor;

 public MoviesStarring(string actor)
 {
  _actor = actor;
 }

 public override
    Expression<Func<Movie, bool>> IsSatisfiedBy()
 {
  return m => m.Actors.Any(a => a.Actor == _actor);
 }
}

How it works...

The specification pattern allows us to separate the process of selecting objects from the concern of which objects to select. The repository handles selecting objects, while the specification objects are concerned only with the objects that satisfy their requirements.

In our specification objects, the IsSatisfiedBy method of the specification objects returns a LINQ expression to determine which objects to select.

In the repository, we get an IQueryable from the session, pass this LINQ expression to the Where method, and execute the LINQ query. Only the objects that satisfy the specification will be returned.

For a detailed explanation of the specification pattern, check out http://martinfowler.com/apsupp/spec.pdf.

There's more...

To use our new specifications with the repository, use the following code:

var movies = repository.FindAll(
    new MoviesDirectedBy("Stephen Spielberg"));

Specification composition

We can also combine specifications to build more complex queries. For example, the following code will find all movies directed by Steven Speilberg starring Harrison Ford:

var movies = repository.FindAll(
               new MoviesDirectedBy("Steven Spielberg")
               & new MoviesStarring("Harrison Ford"));

This may result in expression trees that NHibernate is unable to parse. Be sure to test each combination.

Summary

In this article we covered:

Using LINQ Specifications in the data access layer

Further resources on this subject:

NHibernate 3.0 Cookbook

Get solutions to common NHibernate problems to develop high-quality performance-critical data access applications

Published: October 2010
eBook Price: $26.99
Book Price: $44.99
See more

Select your format and quantity:

About the Author :

Jason Dentler

Jason Dentler grew up in the small Texas town of Mission Valley. He started tinkering with computers as a kid in the late 1980s, and all these years later, he hasn't stopped. He's worked in a few different industries. Currently, he builds really awesome software in higher education. He's an Eagle Scout and a graduate of the University of Houston – Victoria.