Click here to Skip to main content
15,886,724 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C#

Disconnected Client Architecture

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.76/5 (65 votes)
14 Feb 2007CPOL22 min read 164.5K   2.7K   332  
A look at an offline client architecture that I've implemented in an application for a client.
/*
Copyright (c) 2007, Marc Clifton
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list
  of conditions and the following disclaimer. 

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this 
  list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
  materials provided with the distribution. 
 
* Neither the name of Marc Clifton nor the names of its contributors may be
  used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific
  prior written permission. 

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

*/

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;

using Clifton.Collections.Generic;

namespace DCA.Common
{
	public class ContainerException : ApplicationException
	{
		public ContainerException(string msg)
			: base(msg)
		{
		}
	}

	/// <summary>
	/// Manages object collections for both the server and the client.
	/// </summary>
	public class Container
	{
		protected string name;
		protected Guid id;
		protected Dictionary<string, object> objects;
		protected KeyedList<string, DataView> listenerViews;
		protected Dictionary<string, ViewInfo> views;

		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the container ID.
		/// </summary>
		public Guid Id
		{
			get { return id; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the container name.
		/// </summary>
		public string Name
		{
			get { return name; }
		}

		public List<ViewInfo> Views
		{
			get { return new List<ViewInfo>(views.Values); }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the object dictionary managed by this container.
		/// </summary>
		public Dictionary<string, object> Objects
		{
			get { return objects; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// This returns the list of listener views, where the key is the view ID and the
		/// value is the DataView instance.
		/// </summary>
		public KeyedList<string, DataView> ListenerViews
		{
			get { return listenerViews; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Indexer which returns the object given its name.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name">The object name.</param>
		/// <returns>The object.</returns>
		public object this[string name]
		{
			get
			{
				if (!objects.ContainsKey(name))
				{
					throw new ContainerException("Container does not have an index for " + name + ".");
				}

				return objects[name];
			}

			set { objects[name] = value; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Returns true if the named object exists in the container.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name">The object name.</param>
		/// <returns>True if found in the container.</returns>
		public bool Contains(string name)
		{
			return objects.ContainsKey(name);
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Default constructor.
		/// </summary>
		public Container()
		{
			objects = new Dictionary<string, object>();
			listenerViews = new KeyedList<string, DataView>();
			views = new Dictionary<string, ViewInfo>();
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Constructor.  Normally used by the server.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="id">The container ID.</param>
		public Container(Guid id)
		{
			this.id = id;
			objects = new Dictionary<string, object>();
			listenerViews = new KeyedList<string, DataView>();
			views = new Dictionary<string, ViewInfo>();
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Constructor.  Normally used by the client.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name">The container name.</param>
		/// <param name="id">The container ID.</param>
		public Container(string name, Guid id)
		{
			this.name = name;
			this.id = id;
			objects = new Dictionary<string, object>();
			listenerViews = new KeyedList<string, DataView>();
			views = new Dictionary<string, ViewInfo>();
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Removes an entry from the container.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="name"></param>
		public void Remove(string name)
		{
			objects.Remove(name);
		}

		public void AddViewInfo(ViewInfo vi)
		{
			views[vi.ViewName] = vi;
		}
	}
}

By viewing downloads associated with this article you agree to the Terms of Service and the article's licence.

If a file you wish to view isn't highlighted, and is a text file (not binary), please let us know and we'll add colourisation support for it.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Architect Interacx
United States United States
Blog: https://marcclifton.wordpress.com/
Home Page: http://www.marcclifton.com
Research: http://www.higherorderprogramming.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/cliftonm

All my life I have been passionate about architecture / software design, as this is the cornerstone to a maintainable and extensible application. As such, I have enjoyed exploring some crazy ideas and discovering that they are not so crazy after all. I also love writing about my ideas and seeing the community response. As a consultant, I've enjoyed working in a wide range of industries such as aerospace, boatyard management, remote sensing, emergency services / data management, and casino operations. I've done a variety of pro-bono work non-profit organizations related to nature conservancy, drug recovery and women's health.

Comments and Discussions