Something I found very useful to use in castle is Base4
And as it so happens Nic Wise just asked me if you could use the 2 together. The answer is yes you can.
I know they support nhibernate but that is not really the same 
Base4 just goes that extra mile.
Since data access is always the same. And the examples on the castle site use concrete implementations of data access objects. I thought I really don’t need a facility for the moment and can just use base4.
Anyway here is the class I use to do all my data access. it’s an abstract class that has concrete implementations so that I can extend the functionality if I need to.
The interface for the class (the colors look different on my screen I swear the gray bits should be some type of blue and the yellow also isn’t quite right):
using System;
namespace TimeSheets.Application.Contract.Data
{
public interface IDataObject<T>
where T : class, Base4.Storage.IItem, new()
{
void Delete(T item);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> Find(string oPath, string sortExpression, int pageNumber, int pageSize, out int pageCount);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> Find(string oPath, string sortExpression);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> Find(string oPath);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> FindAll(string sortExpression, int pageNumber, int pageSize, out int pageCount);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> FindAll(string sortExpression);
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> FindAll();
Base4.Storage.IItemList<T> FindById(Guid Id);
T GetById(Guid Id);
T GetOne(string oPath);
T Insert(T item);
string SortExpression { get; set; }
T Update(T item);
}
}
And this is the abstract class :
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Base4.Storage;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace TimeSheets.Application.Base
{
///
/// A generic class that handles data access through Base4
///
///
public abstract class BaseDataObject<T> : Base.DataObject, Contract.Data.IDataObject<T> where T : class,IItem, new()
{
private string m_SortExpression;
///
/// Gets or sets the sort expression.
///
///
public virtual string SortExpression
{
get { return m_SortExpression; }
set { m_SortExpression = value; }
}
///
/// Finds the specified in the object path.
///
/// The Object path.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> Find(string oPath)
{
//set the default sort expression to none
this.m_SortExpression = string.Empty;
//Get my stuff
return StorageContext.Find<T>(initialiseObjectPath(new ObjectPath(oPath)));
}
///
/// Finds the specified Object path sorted by the provided sort expression.
///
/// The Object path.
/// The sort expression.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> Find(string oPath, string sortExpression)
{
//Set the default sort expression
this.m_SortExpression = sortExpression;
//Get the data out
return StorageContext.Find<T>(initialiseObjectPath(new ObjectPath(oPath)));
}
///
/// Finds the specified Object path with server side paging.
///
/// The Object path.
/// The sort expression.
/// The page number.
/// Size of the page.
/// The page count.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> Find(string oPath, string sortExpression, int pageNumber, int pageSize, out int pageCount)
{
//initialise the pagecount parameter
pageCount = 0;
//Set the pagecount parameter tot he actual value
pageCount = (int)Math.Ceiling(Convert.ToDouble(getCount() / pageSize));
//if we got a sort expression do initialize with it please
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(sortExpression))
m_SortExpression = sortExpression;
//initialise the object pathe with the provide oPath parameter and initialise the order by
ObjectPath path = initialiseObjectPath(new ObjectPath(oPath));
//Tell Base4 which page to retrieve
path.PageSize = pageSize;
path.PageNumber = pageNumber;
//Get the items
return StorageContext.Find<T>(path);
}
///
/// Finds all items.
///
///
public virtual IItemList<T> FindAll()
{
this.m_SortExpression = string.Empty;
return StorageContext.Find<T>(initialiseObjectPath());
}
///
/// Finds all the items sorted.
///
/// The sort expression.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> FindAll(string sortExpression)
{
this.m_SortExpression = sortExpression;
return StorageContext.Find<T>(initialiseObjectPath());
}
///
/// Finds all.
///
/// The sort expression.
/// The page number.
/// Size of the page.
/// The page count.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> FindAll(string sortExpression, int pageNumber, int pageSize, out int pageCount)
{
//initialise the pagecount parameter
pageCount = 0;
//Set the pagecount parameter tot he actual value
pageCount = (int)Math.Ceiling(Convert.ToDouble(getCount() / pageSize));
//if we got a sort expression do initialize with it please
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(sortExpression))
m_SortExpression = sortExpression;
//initialise the object pathe with the provide oPath parameter and initialise the order by
ObjectPath path = initialiseObjectPath();
//Tell Base4 which page to retrieve
path.PageSize = pageSize;
path.PageNumber = pageNumber;
//Get the items
return StorageContext.Find<T>(path);
}
//internal method that gives the rowcount of all items.
protected int getCount()
{
return StorageContext.FindAll<T>().Count;
}
protected ObjectPath initialiseObjectPath()
{
ObjectPath path = new ObjectPath();
return initialiseObjectPath(path);
}
///
/// Initialises the object path.
///
/// The path.
///
protected ObjectPath initialiseObjectPath(ObjectPath path)
{
//Do we have a sort expression
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(m_SortExpression) && m_SortExpression.Trim().Length > 0)
{
//Give me all the sort parameters
string[] sortParams = m_SortExpression.Split(“,”.ToCharArray());
//Now go work out their object path
foreach (string s in sortParams)
{
//Work out the direction
OrderByDirection direction = s.IndexOf(“DESC”) > -1 ? OrderByDirection.Descending : OrderByDirection.Ascending;
//Work out the column
string orderby = s.Substring(0, s.IndexOf(“DESC”) > -1 ? s.IndexOf(“DESC”) : s.Length);
path.AddOrderBy(orderby, direction);
}
}
return path;
}
///
/// Gets the Item as an item through a specified Object path.
///
/// The Object path.
///
public virtual T GetOne(string oPath)
{
return StorageContext.FindOne<T>(new ObjectPath(oPath));
}
///
/// Finds the item by id and returns a list.
///
/// The id.
///
public virtual IItemList<T> FindById(Guid Id)
{
IItemList<T> itemList = StorageContext.Find<T>(“Id=’{0}’”, Id.ToString());
return itemList.Count > 0 ? itemList : new ItemList<T>() as IItemList<T>;
}
///
/// Gets the item by id as an item.
///
/// The id.
///
public virtual T GetById(Guid Id)
{
IItemList<T> itemList = FindById(Id);
return itemList.Count > 0 ? itemList[0] : new T();
}
///
/// Inserts the specified item.
///
/// The item.
///
public virtual T Insert(T item)
{
((IItem)item).Save();
return item;
}
///
/// Updates the specified item.
///
/// The item.
///
public virtual T Update(T item)
{
((IItem)item).Save();
return item;
}
///
/// Deletes the specified item.
///
/// The item.
public virtual void Delete(T item)
{
((IItem)item).Delete();
}
}
}
This is the concrete implementation:
using Fogcreek.FogbugzEx;
namespace TimeSheets.Application.Dao
{
public class TimesheetDao : Base.BaseDataObject<Timesheet>
{
}
}
I’m curious what Base4 covers in that extra mile, beyond what NHibernate does. Perhaps you could blog about what you like about Base4?
Hi Kevin,
I like base4 more for subjective reasons than rational ones. I think in the end they are pretty much the same. Base4 does abstract the data on a more conceptual level. Furthermore base4 has built-in support for files which I think is pretty unique for an OR/mapper.
It runs on remoting so you can run multiple base4 datasources installed that run and you wouldn’t know in your application because you’re just working with classes.
But to get deeper into what base4 is and the differences between base4 and NHibernate i will have to refer you to Alex’s blog.
Another reason why I like base4 more than NHibernate would be because the guy that wrote it lives in the same country as I do and is a friend. Whereas I don’t really know Ayende except from his blog posts and that he’s an incredibly smart guy who doesn’t seem to sleep. I mean how many hours are there and he’s maintaining rhino mocks, rhino.commons, brail, nhibernate,… and does a normal job too.
I hope this answers your question somewhat. I do think that if you keep up with my blog I’ll come up with a way of using base4 that is faster than the way i’m doing it now and very similar to the functionality of active record . I just have to run a couple more tests on a class when I have some time.