EndpointProviders 1.2.3

EndpointProviders

The simplest way to add endpoints dynamically for Minimal API empowered by Dependency Injection principles.

Why another one?

Most of the libraries that target Minimal API functionality deal with instances of classes that can add Endpoints dynamically via a "marker" interface. What is the approach then and why this is not fully practical? Let's see an example below.

public class SampleWithEndPoints : IMarker
{
	public void AddEndpoints (WebApplication app)
	{
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler1);
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler2);
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler3);
		app.MapPost("/api/...", Handler4);
		...
    }

	//c'mon it's not practical to add Dependency Injection for each method
	//wouldn't it be nice if we added the IRepository repo in the constructor of the class and make all these handlers not static?

	public static IResult Handler1(IRepository repo, int id) => {... _repo.DoSth(id); ...}
	
	public static IResult Handler2(IRepository repo, int id) => {...}

	public static IResult Handler3(IRepository repo, int id) => {...}

	public static IResult Handler4(IRepository repo, int id) => {...}

}

...

//and at some point register all endpoints via a method which scans all the IMarker classes in the assembly/app.
app.RegisterEndPoints(typeof(App));

What annoys me is that the role of the IMarker interface in the example above, is used only for automatic registration of all endpoints. The most practical way would be to ALSO use the IMarker to allow Dependency Injection within the SampleWithEndPoints without having to write EVERY time for EACH handler the IRepository repo.

The solution: EndpointProviders!

How to install

Via tha Package Manager:

Install-Package EndpointsProviders

Via the .NET CLI

dotnet add package EndpointsProviders

How to use

For this library, each class the instance of which we want to add endpoints, should derive from the EndpointProvider abstract class. The EndpointProvider inherits the IEndpointProvider interface. Each class that derives from EndpointProvider should override the AddEndpoints method. The above example should now be written as:

public class SampleWithEndPoints : EndpointProvider
{
	readonly IRepository _repo;

	//Each EndpointProvider should have the constructor below.
	//The provider can then be used to create other instances via Dependency Injection in the constructor.
	public SampleWithEndPoints(IServiceProvider provider) : base(provider)
	{
		repo = provider.GetService<IRepository>();
	}

	public override WebApplication AddEndpoints (WebApplication app)
	{
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler1);
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler2);
		app.MapGet("/api/...", Handler3);
		...

		return app;
    }

	//we can now use every instance that we created, without having to inject the IRepository for each handler! 
	//and the handlers are not static

	public IResult Handler1(int id) => { ... _repo.DoSth(id); ...}
	
	public IResult Handler2(int id) => {...}

	public IResult Handler3(int id) => {...}
}

To add all endpoints from classes with the IEndpointProvider interface, we should use the AddEndPointProviderFactory before building the app, and the AddEndpointsFromEndpointProviders after building the app:

using EndpointProviders;
...

WebApplicationBuilder builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); 

//1st method: call before building the app
builder.Services.AddEndpointProviderFactory(); 
...
WebApplication app = builder.Build();

//this adds the endpoints - the application must be first build
//the method gets as inputs any class that can identify its parent Assembly
//in the example below, the MarkerClass identifies the assembly

//2nd method: call after building the app. That's it!
app.AddEndpointsFromEndpointProviders(typeof(MarkerClass));

The AndEndpointProviderFactory method is responsible for the insertion of the endpoints. The AddEndpointsFromEndpointProviders method collects and initializes all IEndPointProvider objects by passing the IServiceProvider to their constructor.

Example 1 - Simple example

Let's modify the classic WeatherForecast sample Minimal API project, in order to show an explicit example.

We slightly modify the WeatherForecast class to a struct as shown below (there is no specific reason for that, just my preference):

namespace EndpointProviderTests;

public readonly struct WeatherForecast
{
    public DateOnly Date { get; init; }

    public int TemperatureC { get; init; }

    public int TemperatureF => 32 + (int)(TemperatureC / 0.5556);

    public string? Summary { get; init; }
}

Let's build now a repository that retrieves WeatherForecast instances:

namespace EndpointProviderTests;

public class WeatherForecastRepository
{
    string[] _summaries = new[] {
            "Freezing", "Bracing", "Chilly", "Cool", "Mild", "Warm", "Balmy", "Hot", "Sweltering", "Scorching"
    };

    public List<WeatherForecast> GetNext(int count) =>
        Enumerable.
            Range(1, count).
            Select(index =>
                new WeatherForecast
                {
                    Date = DateOnly.FromDateTime(DateTime.Now.AddDays(index)),
                    TemperatureC = Random.Shared.Next(-20, 55),
                    Summary = _summaries[Random.Shared.Next(_summaries.Length)]
                }).
            ToList();
}

Now, let's add the EndpointProvider that will contain the endpoints to be added to the web app. Note that we add the constructor that accepts a IServiceProvider argument. Via the passed provider we inject the repository, which can now be used by any handler (ok, we have only one in this case).

using EndpointProviders;

namespace EndpointProviderTests;

public class WeatherForecastEndpoints : EndpointProvider
{
    readonly WeatherForecastRepository _repo;

    public WeatherForecastEndpoints(IServiceProvider provider)
    {
        _repo = provider.GetRequiredService<WeatherForecastRepository>();
    }

    public override WebApplication AddEndpoints(WebApplication app)
    {
        app.MapGet("/weatherforecast", ForecastHandler)
        .WithName("GetWeatherForecast")
        .WithOpenApi();

        return app;
    }

    //note that we do not need to pass the repo here
    IResult ForecastHandler(int count)
    {
        if (count <= 0)
            return Results.BadRequest();

        //we use the repository here to get the forecasts
        var next = _repo.GetNext(count);
        return Results.Ok(next);
    }
}