How to register multiple implementations of the same interface in Asp.Net Core?

Question

I have services that are derived from the same interface.

public interface IService { }
public class ServiceA : IService { }
public class ServiceB : IService         


        

Answer 1

Most of the answers here violate the single responsibility principle (a service class should not resolve dependencies itself) and/or use the service locator anti-pattern.

Another option to avoid these problems is to:

• use an additional generic type parameter on the interface or a new interface implementing the non generic interface,
• implement an adapter/interceptor class to add the marker type and then
• use the generic type as “name”

I’ve written an article with more details: Dependency Injection in .NET: A way to work around missing named registrations

Answer 2

I have run into the same problem and I worked with a simple extension to allow Named services. You can find it here:

• https://www.nuget.org/packages/Subgurim.Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Named/
• https://github.com/subgurim/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Named

It allows you to add as many (named) services as you want like this:

 var serviceCollection = new ServiceCollection();
 serviceCollection.Add(typeof(IMyService), typeof(MyServiceA), "A", ServiceLifetime.Transient);
 serviceCollection.Add(typeof(IMyService), typeof(MyServiceB), "B", ServiceLifetime.Transient);

 var serviceProvider = serviceCollection.BuildServiceProvider();

 var myServiceA = serviceProvider.GetService<IMyService>("A");
 var myServiceB = serviceProvider.GetService<IMyService>("B");

The library also allows you to easy implement a "factory pattern" like this:

    [Test]
    public void FactoryPatternTest()
    {
        var serviceCollection = new ServiceCollection();
        serviceCollection.Add(typeof(IMyService), typeof(MyServiceA), MyEnum.A.GetName(), ServiceLifetime.Transient);
        serviceCollection.Add(typeof(IMyService), typeof(MyServiceB), MyEnum.B.GetName(), ServiceLifetime.Transient);

        serviceCollection.AddTransient<IMyServiceFactoryPatternResolver, MyServiceFactoryPatternResolver>();

        var serviceProvider = serviceCollection.BuildServiceProvider();

        var factoryPatternResolver = serviceProvider.GetService<IMyServiceFactoryPatternResolver>();

        var myServiceA = factoryPatternResolver.Resolve(MyEnum.A);
        Assert.NotNull(myServiceA);
        Assert.IsInstanceOf<MyServiceA>(myServiceA);

        var myServiceB = factoryPatternResolver.Resolve(MyEnum.B);
        Assert.NotNull(myServiceB);
        Assert.IsInstanceOf<MyServiceB>(myServiceB);
    }

    public interface IMyServiceFactoryPatternResolver : IFactoryPatternResolver<IMyService, MyEnum>
    {
    }

    public class MyServiceFactoryPatternResolver : FactoryPatternResolver<IMyService, MyEnum>, IMyServiceFactoryPatternResolver
    {
        public MyServiceFactoryPatternResolver(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
        : base(serviceProvider)
        {
        }
    }

    public enum MyEnum
    {
        A = 1,
        B = 2
    }

Hope it helps

Answer 3

You're correct, the built in ASP.NET Core container does not have the concept of registering multiple services and then retrieving a specific one, as you suggest, a factory is the only real solution in that case.

Alternatively, you could switch to a third party container like Unity or StructureMap that does provide the solution you need (documented here: https://docs.asp.net/en/latest/fundamentals/dependency-injection.html?#replacing-the-default-services-container).

Answer 4

Extending the solution of @rnrneverdies. Instead of ToString(), following options can also be used- 1) With common property implementation, 2) A service of services suggested by @Craig Brunetti.

public interface IService { }
public class ServiceA : IService
{
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return "A";
    }
}

public class ServiceB : IService
{
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return "B";
    }

}

/// <summary>
/// extension method that compares with ToString value of an object and returns an object if found
/// </summary>
public static class ServiceProviderServiceExtensions
{
    public static T GetService<T>(this IServiceProvider provider, string identifier)
    {
        var services = provider.GetServices<T>();
        var service = services.FirstOrDefault(o => o.ToString() == identifier);
        return service;
    }
}

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    //Initials configurations....

    services.AddSingleton<IService, ServiceA>();
    services.AddSingleton<IService, ServiceB>();
    services.AddSingleton<IService, ServiceC>();

    var sp = services.BuildServiceProvider();
    var a = sp.GetService<IService>("A"); //returns instance of ServiceA
    var b = sp.GetService<IService>("B"); //returns instance of ServiceB

    //Remaining configurations....
}

Answer 5

I just simply inject an IEnumerable

ConfigureServices in Startup.cs

Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().GetTypesAssignableFrom<IService>().ForEach((t)=>
                {
                    services.AddScoped(typeof(IService), t);
                });

Services Folder

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

public class ServiceA : IService
{
    public string Name { get { return "A"; } }
}

public class ServiceB : IService
{    
    public string Name { get { return "B"; } }
}

public class ServiceC : IService
{    
    public string Name { get { return "C"; } }
}

MyController.cs

public class MyController
{
    private readonly IEnumerable<IService> _services;
    public MyController(IEnumerable<IService> services)
    {
        _services = services;
    }
    public void DoSomething()
    {
        var service = _services.Where(s => s.Name == "A").Single();
    }
...
}

Extensions.cs

    public static List<Type> GetTypesAssignableFrom<T>(this Assembly assembly)
    {
        return assembly.GetTypesAssignableFrom(typeof(T));
    }
    public static List<Type> GetTypesAssignableFrom(this Assembly assembly, Type compareType)
    {
        List<Type> ret = new List<Type>();
        foreach (var type in assembly.DefinedTypes)
        {
            if (compareType.IsAssignableFrom(type) && compareType != type)
            {
                ret.Add(type);
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }

Answer 6

After reading the answers here and articles elsewhere I was able to get it working without strings. When you have multiple implementations of the same interface the DI will add these to a collection, so it's then possible to retrieve the version you want from the collection using typeof.

// In Startup.cs
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.AddScoped(IService, ServiceA);
    services.AddScoped(IService, ServiceB);
    services.AddScoped(IService, ServiceC);
}

// Any class that uses the service(s)
public class Consumer
{
    private readonly IEnumerable<IService> _myServices;

    public Consumer(IEnumerable<IService> myServices)
    {
        _myServices = myServices;
    }

    public UseServiceA()
    {
        var serviceA = _myServices.FirstOrDefault(t => t.GetType() == typeof(ServiceA));
        serviceA.DoTheThing();
    }

    public UseServiceB()
    {
        var serviceB = _myServices.FirstOrDefault(t => t.GetType() == typeof(ServiceB));
        serviceB.DoTheThing();
    }

    public UseServiceC()
    {
        var serviceC = _myServices.FirstOrDefault(t => t.GetType() == typeof(ServiceC));
        serviceC.DoTheThing();
    }
}