Intent.Application.Contracts.Clients

What This Module Does

Generates client-facing service contracts (interfaces) and associated DTO/enum/paged result shapes for integration service proxies. These contracts define the application boundary for remote calls or generated client code (e.g., REST or gRPC clients).

Generated Artifacts

  • Service Contracts (I[Service]Client) representing remote service operations.
  • DTO Contracts for data payloads exchanged with client services.
  • Enum Contracts for value sets used in requests/responses.
  • PagedResult<T> contract for paginated responses.

Design Principles

  • Separation: Distinct client contracts prevent coupling internal application interfaces with external consumption patterns.
  • Versioned Boundary: Changes to client contracts intentionally reflect externally visible API surface.
  • Strong Typing: DTO/Enum contracts provide schema clarity for generated client implementations and documentation.

Usage Flow

  1. Model integration service proxies in Service Proxies / CQRS designers.
  2. Module generates client contracts in IntegrationServices/ structure.
  3. Additional modules (e.g., HTTP client generation) implement these interfaces or generate typed clients.
  4. Application code depends on interfaces for DI-based substitution (e.g., mock clients in tests).

Pagination

PagedResult<T> surfaces page metadata (e.g., items, total count or cursor info depending variant) enabling client UIs to drive paging logic.

Customization Points

  • Add custom headers / correlation metadata via partial methods or wrapper types.
  • Extend DTO contracts with validation attributes if required by serialization pipeline.
  • Introduce base interfaces for common behaviours (e.g., IRemoteCall) using merge mode.

When To Use

  • Systems exposing remote endpoints consumed by separately deployed clients or front-end applications.
  • Need for generated strongly typed clients.

When Not To Use

  • Internal-only modules with no external consumer; standard application service interfaces may suffice.
  • Transport / client generation modules (e.g., HTTP client generation, gRPC).
  • Intent.Application.Contracts (internal service contracts for server side).