Intent.Modelers.Services.DomainInteractions

This module adds the Services designer elements for describing how an application's services interact with its domain: the Create Entity, Update Entity, Delete Entity and Query Entity actions, their mappings, and Processing Action.

The accelerators that generate these interactions from a domain entity, such as Create CRUD CQRS Operations and Create CRUD Traditional Service, are provided by Intent.Application.DomainInteractions.

Domain Interaction Settings

This section defines how the application interacts with the Domain Layer. Each setting influences how data is mapped, queried, and updated within the domain.

Default Mapping Mode

The Intent Architect mapping mode to use, including by the CRUD accelerators in Intent.Application.DomainInteractions. Defaults to Advanced Mapping. Generally should not be changed.

Default Query Implementation

Determines how entities are retrieved from the Domain Layer and mapped to DTOs.

  • Default: Uses AutoMapper's traditional mapping method, leveraging Intent Architect mapping configurations to map Domain Entities to DTOs.
  • Project To: Uses AutoMapper ProjectTo, enabling optimized database queries by mapping directly within LINQ expressions based on Intent Architect configurations.

Null Child Update Implementation

Controls how null child entities in a request are handled when updating the Domain Layer.

  • Ignore
    If a NULL child entity is present in a service request, the existing child entity in the domain remains unchanged.

    // if a NULL ProductDetails is received, existing ProductDetails details will remain unchanged
if (request.ProductDetails != null)
{
    entity.ProductDetails ??= new Domain.Entities.ProductDetails();
    entity.ProductDetails.Name = request.ProductDetails?.Name;
    entity.ProductDetails.Qty = request.ProductDetails?.Qty;
}

  • Set to NULL (Default behavior)
    If a NULL child entity is present in a service request, the corresponding child entity in the domain is explicitly set to NULL.

    // if a NULL ProductDetails is received, existing ProductDetails details will be set to null
if (request.ProductDetails != null)
{
    entity.ProductDetails ??= new Domain.Entities.ProductDetails();
    entity.ProductDetails.Name = request.ProductDetails?.Name;
    entity.ProductDetails.Qty = request.ProductDetails?.Qty;
}
else
{
  entity.ProductDetails = null;
}

Pagination

When modeling your services any Query and/or service Operation which return PagedResult<T> will be realized as a paginated implementation.

Sample Query

A paginated end point would typically have the following parameters:

  • PageNo (int), the page you wish to return data from. (This sequence is 1 based i.e. 1,2,3...)
  • PageSize (int), the no of items to return per page.
  • OrderBy (string), string based order by clause.

If you would like 0 based page Indexing (0,1,2,...) replace PageNo with PageIndex.

If you want don't want to specify and order by clause, you can remove this parameter from your Query or service Operation.

string based order by clause examples

Given a Customer with a Name and Surname these would all be valid order by clauses.

  • "Name" - order by Name ascending
  • "Surname" - order by Surname ascending
  • "Name asc" - order by Surname ascending
  • "Surname desc" - order by Surname descending
  • "Surname desc, Name asc" - order by Surname descending, then Name ascending

You can use the Paginate context menu option on Query and/or service Operation elements to easily configure these endpoints.

Service Synchronizer

The Service Synchronizer is a feature in Intent Architect that synchronizes Data Transfer Object (DTO) fields with their associated entity attributes, ensuring consistency between service layer DTOs and domain entities.

How It Works

Instead of manually updating DTOs to reflect changes in the underlying domain entities, the DTO Field Synchronizer automates this process. It analyzes field mappings through entity associations (Create and Update) and presents discrepancies in a hierarchical tree view dialog, where users can selectively apply changes.

Usage

Hover over Commands, Queries, or Service Operations to see the suggestion icon and click on it. Select the Syncrhonize with {Entity} option. The tool identifies four types of discrepancies:

  • ADD: Missing fields that exist in the entity
  • DELETE: Orphaned fields no longer in the entity
  • RENAME: Field name changes
  • CHANGE TYPE: Type mismatches

Select the fields you would like to synchronize and then click on DONE. The selected changes will be applied to the respective element.

Service Sync Tree View

Supported Structures

This can currently only be applied on Commands, Queries and Service Operations. The Domain elements that it supports are Entities, composite related Entities, and Value Objects.