Quino v1.13.0: Schema migration, remoting, services and web apps

The summary below describes major new features, items of note and breaking changes in Quino. The full list of issues is also available for those with access to the Encodo issue tracker.

Highlights

Data & Schema

• Applications can now choose a base class for generated ORM objects. (QNO-3107)
• Data driver: made various bug fixes and improvements. (QNO-4538, QNO-4554, QNO-4551)
• Improved schema migration for fields and constraint-violation messages under SQL Server. (QNO-4490, QNO-4111, QNO-4582)
• Improved the console migrator and APIs, input queries and exit-code handling for console applications in general. Also changed the default command from [R]efresh to [S]how differences. (QNO-4649, QNO-4646, QNO-4648, QNO-4650, QNO-4651, QNO-4615, QNO-4645, QNO-4616)

Remoting & services

• Fixed several issues in the remoting driver (client and server parts). (QNO-4626, QNO-4630, QNO-4631, QNO-4388, QNO-4575, QNO-4629, QNO-4573, QNO-4625, QNO-4633, QNO-4575)
• Added a runner for Windows services that allows debugging and shows logging output for applications that use the CoreServiceBase, which extends the standard .NET ServiceBase. The runner is available in the Encodo.Service assembly.

Web

• Improved default and custom authentication in web applications and the remoting server. Also improved support for authorization for remote-method routes as well as MVC controllers.
• Improved configuration, error-handling and stability of the HttpApplicationBase, especially in situations where the application fails to start. Error-page handling was also improved, including handling for Windows Event Log errors.
• Improved appearance of the web-based schema migrator. (QNO-4559, QNO-4561, QNO-4563, QNO-4548, QNO-4487, QNO-4486, QNO-4488)

Winform

• Data-provider statistics: improved the WinForm-based statistics form. (QNO-4231, QNO-4545, QNO-4546)
• Standard forms: updated the standard WinForm about window and splash screen to use Encodo web-site CI. (QNO-4529)

System & Tools

• Removed the dependency on the SmartWeakEvents library from Quino. (QNO-4645); the Quino and Encodo assemblies now no longer have any external dependencies.
• Image handling: the Encodo and Quino libraries now use the Windows Imaging Components instead of System.Drawing. (QNO-4536)
• Window 8.1: fixed culture-handling for en-US and de-CH that is broken in Windows 8.1. (QNO-4534, QNO-4553)
• R# annotations have been added to the Encodo assembly. Tell R# to look in the Encodo.Core namespace to use annotations like NotNull and CanBeNull with parameters and results. (QNO-4508)

• Generated code now includes a property that returns a ValueListObject for each enum property in the metadata. For example, for a property named State of type CoreState, the generated code includes the former properties for the enum and the foreign key backing it, but now also includes the ValueListObject property. This new property provides easy access to the captions.

  public CoreState State { … }
  public ValueListObject StateObject { … }
  public int? CoreStateIdId { … }

• Improved the nant fix command in the default build tools to fix the assembly name as well. The build tools are available in bin/tools/build. See the src/demo/Demo.build file for an example on how to use the Nant build scripts for your own solutions. To change the company name used by the “fix” command, for example, add the following task override:

  <target name="fix.before">
    <call target="fix.before.base"/>
    <property name="InfoCompanyName" value="Foobar Corporation"/>
  </target>

• Fixed the implementation of IntegrateRemotableMethods to avoid a race condition with remote methods. Also improved the stability of the DataProvider statistics. (QNO-4599)

Breaking changes

• The generic argument TRight has been removed from all classes and interfaces in the Encodo.Security.* namespace. In order to fix this code, just remove the int generic parameter wherever it was used. For example, where before you used the interface IUser<int>, you should now use IUser (QNO-4576).
• The overridable method MetaAccessControl.DoGetAccessChecker() has been renamed to MetaAccessControl.GetAccessChecker().
• Renamed the Encodo.ServiceLocator.SimpleInjector.dll to Encodo.Services.SimpleInjector.dll and Quino.ServiceLocator.SimpleInjector.dll to Quino.Services.SimpleInjector.dll Also changed the namespace Quino.ServiceLocator to Encodo.Quino.Services.
• Renamed HttpApplicationBase.StartMetaApplication() to CreateAndStartUpApplication().
• Classes may no longer contain properties with names that conflict with properties of IMetaReadable (e.g. Deleted, Persisted). The model will no longer validate until the properties have been renamed and the code regenerated. (QNO-4185)
• Removed StandardIntRights with integer constants and replaced it with StandardRights with string constants.
• The IAccessControl.Check() and other related methods now accept a sequence of string rights rather than integers.

• IMetaConfiguration.ConfigureSession() has been deprecated. The method will still be called but may have undesired side-effects, depending on why it was overridden. The common use was to initialize a custom AccessControl for the session. Continuing to do so may overwrite the current user set by the default Winform startup. Instead, applications should use the IDataSessionAccessControlFactory and IDataSessionFactory to customize the data sessions and access controls returned for an application. In order to attach an access control, take care to only set your custom access control for sessions that correspond to your application model.[1]

  internal class JobVortexDataSessionAccessControlFactory : DataSessionAccessControlFactory
  {
    public override IAccessControl CreateAccessControl(IDataSession session)
    {
      if (session.Application.Model.MetaId == JobVortexModelGenerator.ModelGuid)
      {
        return new JobVortexAccessControl(session);
      }
  
      return base.CreateAccessControl(session);
    }
  }

• The default length of the UserModule.User.PasswordHash property has been increased from 100 characters to 1000. This default is more sensible for implementations that use much longer validations tokens instead of passwords. To avoid the schema migration, revert the change by setting the property default length back to 0 in your application model, after importing the security module, as shown below.

  var securityModule = Builder.Include<SecurityModuleGenerator>();      
  securityModule.Elements.Classes.User.Properties[
    Encodo.Quino.Models.Security.Classes.SecurityUser.Fields.PasswordHash
  ].MaximumSize = 100;

• Application.Credentials has been removed. To fix references, retrieve the IUserCredentialsManager from the service locator. For example, the following code returns the current user:

  Session.Application.Configuration.ServiceLocator.GetInstance<IUserCredentialsManager>().Current

  If your application uses the WinformMetaConfigurationTools.IntegrateWinformPackages() or WinformDxMetaConfigurationTools.IntegrateWinformDxPackages(), then the IDataSession.AccessControl.CurrentUser will continue to be set correctly. If not, add the SingleUserApplicationConfigurationPackage to your application’s configuration. The user in the remoting server will be set up correctly. Add the WebApplicationConfigurationPackage to web applications in order to ensure that the current user is set up correctly for each request. (QNO-4596)

• IDataSession.SyncRoot has been removed as it was no longer needed or used in Quino itself. Sessions should not be used in multiple threads, so there is no need for a SyncRoot. Code that uses it should be reworked to use a separate session for each thread.
• Moved IMetaApplication.CreateSession() to an extension method. Add Encodo.Quino.App to the using clauses to fix any compile errors.
• Removed IMetaApplication.DataProvider; use IMetaApplication.Configuration.DataProvider instead. (QNO-4604)
• The schema migration API has been completely overhauled. ISchemaChange and descendents has been completely removed. ISchemaAction is no longer part of the external API, although it is still used internally. The ISchemaChangeFactory has been renamed to ISchemaCommandFactory and, instead of creating change objects, which are then applied directly, returns ISchemaCommand objects, which can be either executed or transformed in some other way. IMigrateToolkit.GetActionFor() has also been replace with CreateCommands(), which mirrors the rest of the API by returning a sequence of commands to address a given ISchemaDifference. This release still has some commands that cannot be transformed to pure SQL, but the goal is to be able to generate pure SQL for a schema migration. (QNO-993, QNO-4579, QNO-4581, 4588, 4591, QNO-4594)

• IMigrateSchemaAspect.Apply() has been removed. All aspects will have to be updated to implement GetCommands() instead, or to use one of the available base classes, like UpdateDataAspectBase or ConvertPropertyTypeSchemaAspect. The following example shows how to use the UpdateDataAspectBase to customize migration for a renamed property.

  internal class ArchivedMigrationAspect : UpdateDataAspectBase
  {
    public ArchivedMigrationAspect()
      : base("ArchivedMigrationAspect", DifferenceType.RenamedProperty, ChangePhase.Instead)
    {
    }
  
    protected override void UpdateData(IMigrateContext context, ISchemaDifference difference)
    {
      using (var session = context.CreateSession(difference))
      {
        session.ChangeAndSaveAll<Project>(UpdateArchivedFlag);
      }
    }
  
    private void UpdateArchivedFlag(Project obj)
    {
      obj.Archived = !obj.Archived;
    }
  }

  The base aspects should cover most needs; if your functionality is completely customized, you can easily pass your previous implementation of Apply() to a DelegateSchemaCommand and return that from your implementation of GetCommands(). See the implementation of UpdateDataAspectBase for more examples. (QNO-4580)

• MetaObjectIdEqualityComparer<T> can no longer be constructed directly. Instead, use MetaObjectIdEqualityComparer<Project>.Default.
• Renamed MetaClipboardControlDx.UpdateColorSkinaware() to MetaClipboardControlDx.UpdateSkinAwareColors().
• IMetaUnique.LogicalParent has been moved to IMetaBase. Since IMetaUnique inherits from IMetaBase, it is unlikely that code is affected (unless reflection or some other direct means was used to reference the property). (QNO-4586)
• IUntypedMessage has been removed; the AssociatedObject formerly found there has been moved to IMessage.
• ITypedMessage.AssociatedObject has been renamed to ITypedMessage.TypedAssociatedObject. (QNO-4647)
• Renamed MetaObjectTools to MetaReadableTools.
• Redefined the protected methods GenericObject.GetAsGuid() and GenericObject.GetAsGuidDefault as extension methods in MetaWritableTools.
• IMetaFeedback.CreateGlobalContext() has been removed. Instead the IGlobalContext is created using the service locator.