For an attribute which need to be validated, lets say for an entity we have country field as VO
This country field needs to be validated to be alpha-3 code as per some business logic required by domain expert.
NOTE:
*We need to persist this country data as it can have other values also and possible in future there can be addition, updating and deleting of the country persisted data.
This is just one example using country code which may rarely change, there can be other fields which needs to be validated from persistence like validating some quantity with wrt data in persistence and it won't be efficient to store them in memory or prefetching them all.
Another valid example can be user creation with unique and valid domain email check, which will need uniqueness check from persistence
*
Case 1.
Doing validation in application layer:
If we call repository countryRepo.getCountryByCountryAlpha3Code() in application layer and then if the value is correct and valid part of system we can then pass the createValidEntity() and if not then can throw the error directly in application layer use-case.
Issue:
This validation will be repeated in multiple use-case if same validation need to be checked in other use-cases if its application layer concern
Here the business logic is now a part of application service layer
Case 2
Validating the country code in its value object class or domain service in Domain Layer
Doing this will keep business logic inside domain layer and also won't violate DRY principle.
import { ValueObject } from '#shared/core/domain/ValueObject';
import { Result } from '#shared/core/Result';
import { Utils } from '#shared/utils/Utils';
interface CountryAlpha3CodeProps {
value: string;
}
export class CountryAlpha3Code extends ValueObject<CountryAlpha3CodeProps> {
// Case Insensitive String. Only printable ASCII allowed. (Non-printable characters like: Carriage returns, Tabs, Line breaks, etc are not allowed)
get value(): string {
return this.props.value;
}
private constructor(props: CountryAlpha3CodeProps) {
super(props);
}
public static create(value: string): Result<CountryAlpha3Code> {
return Result.ok<CountryAlpha3Code>(new CountryAlpha3Code({ value: value }));
}
}
Is it good to call the repository from inside domain layer (Service
or VO (not recommended) ) then dependency flow will change?
If we trigger event how to make it synchronous?
What are some better ways to solve this?
export default class UseCaseClass implements IUseCaseInterface {
constructor(private readonly _repo: IRepo, private readonly countryCodeRepo: ICountryCodeRepo) {}
async execute(request: dto): Promise<dtoResponse> {
const someOtherKeyorError = KeyEntity.create(request.someOtherDtoKey);
const countryOrError = CountryAlpha3Code.create(request.country);
const dtoResult = Result.combine([
someOtherKeyorError, countryOrError
]);
if (dtoResult.isFailure) {
return left(Result.fail<void>(dtoResult.error)) as dtoResponse;
}
try {
// -> Here we are just calling the repo
const isValidCountryCode = await this.countryCodeRepo.getCountryCodeByAlpha2Code(countryOrError.getValue()); // return boolean value
if (!isValidCountryCode) {
return left(new ValidCountryCodeError.CountryCodeNotValid(countryOrError.getValue())) as dtoResponse;
}
const dataOrError = MyEntity.create({...request,
key: someOtherKeyorError.city.getValue(),
country: countryOrError.getValue(),
});
const commandResult = await this._repo.save(dataOrError.getValue());
return right(Result.ok<any>(commandResult));
} catch (err: any) {
return left(new AppError.UnexpectedError(err)) as dtoResponse;
}
}
}
In above application layer,
this part of code :
const isValidCountryCode = await this.countryCodeRepo.getCountryCodeByAlpha2Code(countryOrError.getValue()); // return boolean value
if (!isValidCountryCode) {
return left(new ValidCountryCodeError.CountryCodeNotValid(countryOrError.getValue())) as dtoResponse;
}
it it right to call the countryCodeRepo and fetch result or this part should be moved to domain service and then check the validity of the countryCode VO?
UPDATE:
After exploring I found this article by Vladimir Khorikov which seems close to what I was looking, he is following
As per his thoughts some domain logic leakage is fine, but I feel it will still keep the value object validation in invalid state if some other use case call without knowing that persistence check is necessary for that particular VO/entity creation.
I am still confused for the right approach
In my opinion, the conversion from String to ValueObject does not belong to the Business Logic at all. The Business Logic has a public contract that is invoked from the outside (API layer or presentation layer maybe). The contract should already expect Value Objects, not raw strings. Therefore, whoever is calling the business logic has to figure out how to obtain those Value Objects.
Regarding the implementation of the Country Code value object, I would question if it is really necessary to load the country codes from the database. The list of country codes very rarely changes. The way I've solved this in the past is simply hardcoding the list of country codes inside the value object itself.
Sample code in pseudo-C#, but you should get the point:
public class CountryCode : ValueObject
{
// Static definitions to be used in code like:
// var myCountry = CountryCode.France;
public static readonly CountryCode France = new CountryCode("FRA");
public static readonly CountryCode China = new CountryCode("CHN");
[...]
public static AllCountries = new [] {
France, China, ...
}
public string ThreeLetterCode { get; }
private CountryCode(string threeLetterCountryCode)
{
ThreeLetterCode = threeLetterCountryCode;
}
public static CountryCode Parse(string code)
{
[...] handle nulls, empties, etc
var exists = AllCountries.FirstOrDefault(c=>c.ThreeLetterCode==code);
if(exists == null)
// throw error
return exists;
}
}
Following this approach, you can make a very useful and developer-friendly CountryCode value object. In my actual solution, I had both the 2 and 3-letter codes and display names in English only for logging purposes (for presentation purposes, the presentation layer can look up the translation based on the code).
If loading the country codes from the DB is valuable for your scenario, it's still very likely that the list changes very rarely, so you could for example load a static list in the value object itself at application start up and then refresh it periodically if the application runs for very long.
Related
I've been struggling with this for a few days now, and I'm still not clear on the correct approach. I've seen many examples online, but each one does it differently. The options I see are:
Pass only primitive values
Pass the complete model
Pass new instances of value objects that refer to changes in the domain/model
Create a specific DTO/object for each event with the data.
This is what I am currently doing, but it doesn't convince me. The example is in PHP, but I think it's perfectly understandable.
MyModel.php
class MyModel {
//...
private MediaId $id;
private Thumbnails $thumbnails;
private File $file;
//...
public function delete(): void
{
$this->record(
new MediaDeleted(
$this->id->asString(),
[
'name' => $this->file->name(),
'thumbnails' => $this->thumbnails->toArray(),
]
)
);
}
}
MediaDeleted.php
final class MediaDeleted extends AbstractDomainEvent
{
public function name(): string
{
return $this->payload()['name'];
}
/**
* #return array<ThumbnailArray>
*/
public function thumbnails(): array
{
return $this->payload()['thumbnails'];
}
}
As you can see, I am passing the ID as a string, the filename as a string, and an array of the Thumbnail value object's properties to the MediaDeleted event.
How do you see it? What type of data is preferable to pass to domain events?
Updated
The answer of #pgorecki has convinced me, so I will put an example to confirm if this way is correct, in order not to change too much.
It would now look like this.
public function delete(): void
{
$this->record(
new MediaDeleted(
$this->id,
new MediaDeletedEventPayload($this->file->copy(), $this->thumbnail->copy())
)
);
}
I'll explain a bit:
The ID of the aggregate is still outside the DTO, because MediaDeleted extends an abstract class that needs the ID parameter, so now the only thing I'm changing is the $payload array for the MediaDeletedEventPayload DTO, to this DTO I'm passing a copy of the value objects related to the change in the domain, in this way I'm passing objects in a reliable way and not having strange behaviours if I pass the same instance.
What do you think about it?
A domain event is simply a data-holding structure or class (DTO), with all the information related to what just happened in the domain, and no logic. So I'd say Create a specific DTO/object for each event with the data. is the best choice. Why don't you start with the less is more approach? - think about the consumers of the event, and what data might they need.
Also, being able to serialize and deserialize the event objects is a good practice, since you could want to send them via a message broker (although this relates more to integration events than domain events).
I have the following value object code which validates CustCode by some expensive database operations.
public class CustCode : ValueObject<CustCode>
{
private CustCode(string code) { Value = code; }
public static Result<CustCode> Create(string code)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(code))
return Result.Failure<CustCode>("Code should not be empty");
// validate if the value is still valid against the database. Expensive and slow
if (!ValidateDB(code)) // Or web api calls
return Result.Failure<CustCode>("Database validation failed.");
return Result.Success<CustCode>(new CustCode(code));
}
public string Value { get; }
// other methods omitted ...
}
public class MyEntity
{
CustCode CustCode { get; }
....
It works fine when there is only one or a few entity instances with the type. However, it becomes very slow for method like GetAll() which returns a lot of entities with the type.
public async IAsyncEnumerable<MyEntity> GetAll()
{
string line;
using var sr = File.OpenText(_config.FileName);
while ((line = await sr.ReadLineAsync()) != null)
{
yield return new MyEntity(CustCode.Create(line).Value); // CustCode.Create called many times
}
}
Since data in the file was already validated before saving so it's actually not necessary to be validated again. Should another Create function which doesn't validate the value to be created? What's the DDD idiomatically way to do this?
I generally attempt not to have the domain call out to retrieve any additional data. Everything the domain needs to do its job should be passed in.
Since value objects represent immutable state it stands to reason that once it has managed to be created the values are fine. To this end perhaps the initial database validation can be performed in the integration/application "layer" and then the CustCode is created using only the value(s) provided.
Just wanted to add an additional point to #Eben Roux answer:
In many cases the validation result from a database query is dependent on when you run the query.
For example when you want to check if a phone number exists or if some product is in stock. The answers to those querys can change any second, and though are not suited to allow or prevent the creation of a value object.
You may create a "valid" object, that is (unknowingly) becoming invalid in the very next second (or the other way around). So why bother running an expensive validation, if the validation result is not reliable.
The project I'm working on deals with quite complex business rules, so I'm trying to apply DDD. Unfortunately, I have to work with a legacy database I cannot get rid of, and I'm having trouble keeping a clean Domain Design.
Lets say some Entity, has some ValueType as primary key, which is required. This could be designed in DDD like the following:
public class Entity
{
public Entity(ValueType key)
{
Key = key;
}
public ValueType Key { get; }
}
Now, lets say this key is actually stored as a string representation, which can be parsed to construct the ValueType. I could do something like this, to make it work with Entity Framework:
public class Entity
{
private Entity()
{
//Private empty ctor for EF
}
public Entity(ValueType key)
{
StoredKey = key.ToString();
}
public ValueType Key => ValueType.Parse(StoredKey);
//DB representation of the key, setter for EF
private string StoredKey { get; set; }
}
This way, I feel I'm kind of polluting my Domain Design with storage concerns. For what the Domain cares, the Entity could be persisted just in memory, so this string internal representation feels weird.
This is a very simple scenario to show an example, but things can actually get really worse. I would like to know if there is any way to achieve persistance ignorance in the model with this simple example, so I can start thinking later about how to design more complex scenarios.
The domain model doesn't need to follow the entity framework structure. What you can do is to create 2 types of models. One pure domain models and when passing it to the repository to persist it transform it into entity framework model. And when fetching the model you can do the inverse transformation.
You can achieve persistance ignorance in this instance. Your instincts are right, get rid of all persistance concerns from your domain model, move them entirely within your dal where they belong.
DB.sql:
create table entity {
id nvarchar(50) not null primary key,
fields nvarchar(max) /*Look mum, NoSql inside sql! (please dont do this) */
}
Domain.dll:
class Entity {
/*optional - you are going to need some way of 'restoring' a persisted domain entity - how you do this is up to your own conventions */
public Entity(ValueType key, ValueObjects.EntityAttributes attributes) {Key=key;Attributes=attributes;}
public ValueType Key { get; }
public ValueObjects.EntityAttributes Attributes { get; }
/* domain functions below */
}
IEntityRepository {
public Update(Domain.Entity enity);
public Fetch(ValueType Key);
}
now ALL persistance work can go in your DAL, includeing the translation. I havent done EF in a while so treat the below
as sudo code only.
DAL (EF):
/* this class lives in your DAL, and can be private, no other project needs to know about this class */
class Entity :{
public string EntityId {get;set;}
public string Fields {get;set;}
}
class EntityRepository : BaseRepository, Domain.IEntityRepository {
public EntityRepository(DBContext context) {
base.Context = context;
}
public Domain.Entity Fetch(ValueType key) {
string id = key.ToString();
var efEntity = base.Context.Entitys.SingleOrDefault(e => e.Id == id);
return MapToDomain(efEntity);
}
/*Note: Handle mapping as you want, this is for example only*/
private Domain.Entity MapToDomain(EF.Entity efEntity) {
if (efEntity==null) return null;
return new Domain.Entity(
ValueType.Parse(efEntity.Id),
SomeSerializer.Deserialize<ValueObjects.EntityAttributes>(efEntity.Fields) /*every time you do this, a puppy hurts its paw*/
);
}
public Domain.Entity Update(Domain.Entity domainEntity) {
string id = key.ToString();
var efEntity = MapToEf(domainEntity);
base.Context.Entities.Attach(efEntity);
base.Context.Entity(efEntity).State=EntityState.Modified;
base.Context.SaveChanges();
}
private Domain.Entity MapToEf(Domain.Entity domainEntity) {
return new EF.Entity(
Id = domainEntity.Key.ToString(),
Fields = SomeSerializer.Serialize(domainEntity.Attributes) /*stahp!*/
);
}
}
The takeaway thing here is that you are going to need to do Mapping of some sort. This all but unavoidable unless your domain is realy simple and your ORM is super fancy, but even then I would recommend keeping your ORM models seperate to your Domain models because they solving 2 different problems (ORMS are providing a code version of your database model, DDD are providing a code version of you Business Models). If you are compromising your Domain Model (ie, making properties public set ) to cater for your DAL then step back and re evaluate. Obviously compromise where appropriate but realise this means you are introducing (implied) dependancies across your application layers.
You next quetion in realtion to performance (but mapping is so slow) was answered by Constantin Galbenu, have seperate 'read' models and reposistories for lists, searches. Do you really need to pull back 1000's of business models just to populate a search result list (and then have the tempation to add properties of no concern to the business model because 'the search page needs this one bit of data for the finaince people'). You should only be pulling out our domain model when you are doing some sort of business action, otherwise some nice anemica read only views are your friend.
As many suggested in the comments, CQRS is a good choice for complex business rules. It has the great advantage that you can have different models for each side (write/command and read/query). In this way you separate the concerns. This is also very good because the business logic for the write side differs from the read side's but enough with the advantages of CQRS.
...Unfortunately, I have to work with a legacy database I cannot get rid of...
Your new Write model, the Aggregate, will be responsible for handling commands. This means that the legacy model will be relieved of this responsibility; it will be used only for queries. And to keep it up-to-date you can create a LegacyReadModelUpdater that is subscribed to all Domain events generated by the new Aggregate and it will project them to the old model in an eventually consistent manner.
In DDD, the domain model consists of entities and value objects, but what do we do when we need something in the model which is neither of these?
For example, I have introduced the following ScheduledItems<T> implementation in order to encapsulate scheduling specifics:
public class ScheduledItems<T>
{
private SortedDictionary<DateTime, T> scheduledItems;
public ScheduledItems()
{
scheduledItems = new SortedDictionary<DateTime, T>();
}
public void ScheduleItem(DateTime scheduledDate, T item)
{
scheduledItems.Add(scheduledDate, item);
}
public void RemoveItem(T item)
{
scheduledItems
.Where(x => x.Value.Equals(item))
.Select(x => x.Key)
.ToList()
.ForEach(k => scheduledItems.Remove(k));
}
}
This class will be used by a couple of entities for scheduling purposes.
At this point, this is neither an Entity (it has no identity) nor a Value Object (it is not immutable).
One solution is to turn it into a Value Object by making it immutable ('adding' or 'removing' items would return a new instance of ScheduledItems).
But is this really necessary for something which is not really associated to the domain? This class could be just like any other .NET collection.
That class looks like a repository for ScheduledItems. So ScheduledItem is the Entity and ScheduledItems is the the Repository with Add(), Remove() methods.
I guess it depends on why the items are sorted.
If they need to be sorted because of certain business rules then this should be part of your domain.
If they need to be sorted to be properly shown in the UI, then this most likely is just a bit of view logic that should not be part of the domain.
If none of the above, I would consider this a collection-like helper class that could be in a part of the infrastructure layer that could be used across the other layers.
I'd like to model an Address as a value object. As it is a good practice to make it immutable, I chose not to provide any setter, that might allow to modify it later.
A common approach is to pass the data to the constructor; however, when the value object is pretty big, that may become quite bloated:
class Address {
public function __construct(
Point $location,
$houseNumber,
$streetName,
$postcode,
$poBox,
$city,
$region,
$country) {
// ...
}
}
Another approach whould be to provide the arguments as an array, resulting in a clean constructor, but that might mess up the implementation of the constructor:
class Address {
public function __construct(array $parts) {
if (! isset($parts['location']) || ! $location instanceof Point) {
throw new Exception('The location is required');
}
$this->location = $location;
// ...
if (isset($parts['poBox'])) {
$this->poBox = $parts['poBox'];
}
// ...
}
}
That also looks a bit unnatural to me.
Any advice on how to correctly implement a pretty big value object?
The main issue with large list of parameters is readability and the danger that you will mix up parameters. You can tackle these issues with Builder pattern as described in Effective Java. It makes code more readable (especially languages that don't support named and optional parameters):
public class AddressBuilder {
private Point _point;
private String _houseNumber;
// other parameters
public AddressBuilder() {
}
public AddressBuilder WithPoint(Point point) {
_point = point;
return this;
}
public AddressBuilder WithHouseNumber(String houseNumber) {
_houseNumber = houseNumber;
return this;
}
public Address Build() {
return new Address(_point, _houseNumber, ...);
}
}
Address address = new AddressBuilder()
.WithHouseNumber("123")
.WithPoint(point)
.Build();
The advantages:
parameters are named so it is more readable
harder to mix up house number with region
can use your own order of parameters
optional parameters can be omitted
One disadvantage I can think of is that forgetting to specify one of the arguments (not calling WithHouseNumber for example) will result in a run time error, instead of compile time error when using constructor. You should also consider using more Value Objects like PostalCode for example (as oppose to passing a string).
On a related note, sometimes business requirements call for changing part of the Value Object. For example, when address was originally entered, the street number might have been misspelled and needs to be corrected now. Since you modeled Address as an immutable object there is not setter. One possible solution to this problem is to introduce a 'Side-Effect-Free function' on the Address Value Object. The function would return a copy of the object itself with the exception of a new street name:
public class Address {
private readonly String _streetName;
private readonly String _houseNumber;
...
public Address WithNewStreetName(String newStreetName) {
// enforce street name rules (not null, format etc)
return new Address(
newStreetName
// copy other members from this instance
_houseNumber);
}
...
}
This is a common problem with Domain Driven Design examples. The Domain Expert is missing and that is the person that would tell you what an Address is and its requirements. I would suspect that the Domain Expert would tell you that an Address does not have a Point. You might be a able to produce a Point from an Address but it wouldn't require a Point. Also a P.O. Box wouldn't be separate value in an Address. You might need a Post Office Box address class (POBoxAddress) I'm stating this because this class looks like it was defined by a developer not Shipping or Billing Domain Expert. By talking to the Domain Expert you can reduce your constructor parameter count.
2nd
You may start to group the parameters as Value Objects. You could create a City value object. That could require the City, Region/State and Country. I would think a City name doesn't mean much unless I know the Region and Country. Saying Paris means nothing but Paris, Illinois, US or Paris, Île-de-France, FR gives you a complete picture. So this would also reduce the count parameter count to the Address object.
If you go down DDD road find a Domain Expert for the Domain you are coding for, you should not be the expert. Sometimes problems should not be fixed by code or a nifty design pattern.
immutable is fit for concurrent compute, no Blocking and no Lock, immutable is for high performance and good scalability.
so Value Object can be running better in a concurrent system, include in distribute system, replace old VO with new VO, no need update, so no blocking.