Is this a proper implementation of n-layer architecture?

Question

I have been learning C# for the last year or so and trying to incorporate best practices along the way. Between StackOverflow and other web resources, I thought I was on the ri

Answer 1

Things you want to consider adding: validation, property change notification, data binding, etc... One common issue when separating each class in multiple classes (DAL, BLL, etc...) is often you end up with a lot of code you need to duplicate. Another problem is if you need some intimacy between those classes, you'll have to create internal members (interfaces, fields, etc.)

This is what I would do, build a unique consistent Domain Model, something like this:

public class Product: IRecord, IDataErrorInfo, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    // events
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    // properties
    private int _id;
    public virtual int Id
    {
        get
        {
            return _id;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value != _id)
            {
                _id = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Id");
            }
        }
    }

    private string _name;
    public virtual string Name
    {
        get
        {
            return _name;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value != _name)
            {
                _name = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Name");
            }
        }
    }

    // parameterless constructor (always useful for serialization, winforms databinding, etc.)
    public Product()
    {
        ProductId = 0;
        Name = String.Empty;
    }

    // update methods
    public virtual void Save()
    {
       ValidateThrow();
       ... do save (insert or update) ...
    }

    public virtual void Delete()
    {
       ... do delete ...
    }    

    // validation methods
    public string Validate()
    {
       return Validate(null);
    }

    private void ValidateThrow()
    {
      List exceptions = new List();
      SummaryValidate(exceptions,memberName);
      if (exceptions.Count != 0)
         throw new CompositeException(exceptions);
    }

    public string Validate(string memberName)
    {
      List exceptions = new List();
      SummaryValidate(exceptions,memberName);
      if (exceptions.Count == 0)
        return null;

      return ConcatenateAsString...(exceptions);
    }

    string IDataErrorInfo.Error
    {
      get
      {
         return Validate();
      }
    }

    string IDataErrorInfo.this[string columnName]
    {
      get
      {
        return validate(columnName);
      }
    }

    public virtual void SummaryValidate(IList exceptions, string memberName)
    {
       if ((memberName == null) || (memberName == "Name"))
       {
         if (!... validate name ...)
            exceptions.Add(new ValidationException("Name is invalid");
       }
    }

    protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
    {
       OnPropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
    }

    // property change notification
    protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        if ((PropertyChanged != null)
            PropertyChanged(this, e);
    }

    // read from database methods
    protected virtual Read(IDataReader reader)
    {
      Id = reader.GetInt32(reader.GetOrdinal("Id"));
      Name = = reader.GetString(reader.GetOrdinal("Id"));
      ...
    }

    void IRecord.Read(IDataReader reader)
    {
      Read(reader);
    }

    // instance creation methods
    public static Product GetById(int id)
    {
        // possibly use some cache (optional)
        Product product = new Product();
        using (IDataReader reader = GetSomeReaderForGetById...(id))
        {
            if (!reader.Read())
              return null;

            ((IRecord)product).Read(reader);
            return product;
        }
    }

    public static List GetAll()
    {
        // possibly use some cache (optional)
        List products = new List(); // if you use WPF, an ObservableCollection would be more appropriate?
        using (IDataReader reader = GetSomeReaderForGetAll...(id))
        {
            while (reader.Read())
            {
              Product product = new Product();
              ((IRecord)product).Read(reader);
              products.Add(product);
            }
        }
        return products;
    }
}

// an interface to read from a data record (possibly platform independent)
public interface IRecord
{
  void Read(IDataReader reader);
}