Should I be able to base my Azure Function class on Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller?

[CProsRodneyWorkman]

Should I be able to base my Azure Function class on Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller?

I have a Blazor client that is using Azure Functions as its API. In this solution I am also using CSLA. Now I am at a point where I want to start using the view model in my blazor client. In my Azure Function I am trying to use the CSLA controller so I can return the business object as with the ViewResult using the Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller.

My Framework for the Azure Function project is Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref\6.0.6.
I am referencing Csla.AspNetCore\6.0.0

When I build my compile error is CS0012. Error CS0012 The type 'Controller' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=adb9793829ddae60'.

After I added the Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller as the base to my function it wants me to add a reference to Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures\6.0.0.0 but that assembly is no longer offered from NuGet. I am unable to reference Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures as an assembly directly. This package was removed as a NuGet.

In the Microsoft Q&A I asked why the ViewFeatures assembly is not available in NuGet and someone suggested I should not need it as it was moved to the asp.net core 6 framework. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/915139/why-is-there-not-a-microsoftaspnetcoremvcviewfeatu.html?childToView=915215#answer-915215

Some background on my Azure Function evolution. In my first iteration I built the Azure Function project to accept rest calls. When fetching a business object I call my business object portal AnimalEditPortal.FetchAsync(Guid.Parse(id)); My function handles serialization and returns the serialized business object in the OkObjectResult. My blazor client has a service that is then able to deserialize back to a business object. When saving my blazor client service is again handling the serialization and my Azure function is able to deserialize to a business object. This is working great for each of the rest calls. Now I want to use the ViewModel. To use the view model I think I just need to return a ViewResult of the Busines object instead of my own serialization. This is when I added the Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller base to my Azure function class and when I started getting the above error.

The following code is my fully functional Azure Function before I attempted to add the base Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller.

using Csla;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs;
using Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Extensions.Http;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Text.Json;
using Arms.Business;
using CPros.IdentityServices.ForServer;
using CPros.IdentityServices.DataAccess;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;


namespace Arms.AzureFunctions
{
    public class FunctionAnimal 
    {
        private const string Route = "animal";

        private Csla.ApplicationContext ApplicationContext;
        private IDataPortal<AnimalList> AnimalListPortal;
        private IDataPortal<AnimalEdit> AnimalEditPortal;
        private readonly IConfiguration Configuration;     //Needed to Get Token Validation Issuer

        public FunctionAnimal(ApplicationContext applicationContext,
                                      IDataPortal<AnimalList> animalListPortal,
                                      IDataPortal<AnimalEdit> personEditPortal,
                                      IConfiguration configuration) 
        {
            ApplicationContext = applicationContext;
            AnimalListPortal = animalListPortal;
            AnimalEditPortal = personEditPortal;
            this.Configuration = configuration;
        }

        [FunctionName("EntityFramework_GetAnimals")]
        public async Task<IActionResult> GetAnimals([HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", Route = Route)] HttpRequest req, ILogger log)
        {
            log.LogInformation($"{Route} 'get' received.  Processing EntityFramework_GetAnimals");

            if (!ProcessIdentity(req))
            {
                log.LogWarning("Unable to process identity.  Going to return UnauthorizedResult");
                return new UnauthorizedResult(); // No authentication info.
            }

            //var list = await AnimalListPortal.FetchAsync();
            //return View(list);

            AnimalList animals = await AnimalListPortal.FetchAsync();

            var o = Csla.Serialization.SerializationFormatterFactory.GetFormatter(ApplicationContext);
            byte[] j = o.Serialize(animals);

            return new OkObjectResult(j);
        }

        [FunctionName("EntityFramework_GetAnimalById")]
        public async Task<IActionResult> GetAnimalById(
        [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", Route = Route + "/{id}")] HttpRequest req, ILogger log, string id)
        {
            log.LogInformation($"{Route} received 'get' with id:{id}.  Processing EntityFramework_GetAnimalById");

            if (!ProcessIdentity(req))
            {
                log.LogWarning("Unable to process identity.  Going to return UnauthorizedResult");
                return new UnauthorizedResult(); // No authentication info.
            }

            AnimalEdit animal = null;
            try
            {
                animal = await AnimalEditPortal.FetchAsync(Guid.Parse(id));
                if (animal == null)
                {
                    log.LogInformation($"Item {id} not found");
                    return new NotFoundResult();
                }
                var o = Csla.Serialization.SerializationFormatterFactory.GetFormatter(ApplicationContext);
                var byteArray = o.Serialize(animal);

                return new OkObjectResult(byteArray);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                log.LogWarning(ex.Message);
                return new NotFoundResult();
            }

        }

        /*
         * Create
         * 
         * There is no function to create a new business object as that is handeld at the client
         */

        [FunctionName("EntityFramework_UpdateAnimal")]
        public async Task<IActionResult> UpdateAnimal(
        [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "put", Route=Route)] HttpRequest req, ILogger log)
        {
            /*
             * This Update Function Handles both Insert and Update actions.  Csla manages that action.
             */
            log.LogInformation($"{Route} 'put' received.  Processing EntityFramework_UpdateAnimal");

            if (!ProcessIdentity(req))
            {
                log.LogWarning("Unable to process identity.  Going to return UnauthorizedResult");
                return new UnauthorizedResult(); // No authentication info.
            }

            // Check if we have authentication info.
            string requestBody = await new StreamReader(req.Body).ReadToEndAsync();

            var byteArray = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<byte[]>(requestBody, new JsonSerializerOptions() { PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true });
            var o = Csla.Serialization.SerializationFormatterFactory.GetFormatter(ApplicationContext);
            var animalObject = o.Deserialize(byteArray);
            if(animalObject!= null)
            {
                var animal = (AnimalEdit)animalObject;

                if (animal.IsSavable)
                {
                    animal = await animal.SaveAsync();
                }
                else
                {
                    log.LogError($"Business Object Is Not Savable, Check Broken Rules. {GetUserIdentity()} ");
                    return new BadRequestObjectResult("Business Object Is Not Savable, Check Broken Rules");
                }

                byteArray = o.Serialize(animal);
                return new OkObjectResult(byteArray);
            }
            return new BadRequestObjectResult(new DeserializeException("FunctionAnimal was unable to deserialize the animalObject"));
        }

        [FunctionName("EntityFramework_DeleteAnimal")]
        public async Task<IActionResult> DeleteAnimal(
    [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "delete", Route = Route + "/{id}")]
    HttpRequest req, ILogger log, string id)
        {
            log.LogInformation($"{Route} 'delete' received with id:{id}.  Processing EntityFramework_DeleteAnimal");

            if (!ProcessIdentity(req))
            {
                log.LogWarning("Unable to process identity.  Going to return UnauthorizedResult");
                return new UnauthorizedResult(); // No authentication info.
            }

            var animal = await AnimalEditPortal.FetchAsync(Guid.Parse(id));
            if (animal == null)
            {
                log.LogWarning($"Item {id} not found");
                return new NotFoundResult();
            }

            animal.Delete();
            animal = await animal.SaveAsync();

            return new OkResult();
        }

        private bool ProcessIdentity(HttpRequest request)
        {
            ValidateJWTServer _validatedToken = new ValidateJWTServer(request, Configuration);
            if (!_validatedToken.IsValid)
            {
                return false;
            }

            ApplicationContext.Principal = _validatedToken.Principal;
            return true;
        }
        private string GetUserIdentity()
        {
            try
            {
                var u = ApplicationContext.Principal.FindFirst(CProsClaimTypes.UserName).Value;
                var o = ApplicationContext.Principal.FindFirst(CProsClaimTypes.Organization).Value;
                return $"{o}-{u}";
            }
            catch
            {
                return "GetUserIdentity() Failed";
            }
        }

    }


}

Thoughts?

[rockfordlhotka]

The Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller class in .NET 6 has a [Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]{https://github.com/MarimerLLC/csla/blob/e7bf10974ab172fdfc5f768feefdce3b1eadfd92/Source/Csla.AspNetCore/Csla.AspNetCore.csproj#L34} dependency as expected.

Is there any chance the function isn't running under .NET 6?

[CProsRodneyWorkman]

This is .NET 6.
<TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>

I updated the base from Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller to Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Controller as that seems to be the base for the CSLA controller. Attempting to reference Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Controller from a .NET 6 Azure function results in the error: Error CS0234 The type or namespace name 'Controller' does not exist in the namespace 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc'. When I explored Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc I do not find "Controller" but I do find "ControllerBase".

[CProsRodneyWorkman]

My Azure Functions project was based on <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> . I updated the Sdk reference to be <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">. This added Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.Ref under the dependencies frameworks. Now I can reference Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller.

This appears to be the solution I was after.

[CProsRodneyWorkman]

Expanding the answer of my own question, no. Azure Functions do not have access Controller or Controller base class that Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller is based on. To use Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller I had to produce a Web API project.

To continue down the function path I produced a HttpPortalFunction class in Azure Function to do what CSLA's HttpPortalController was doing.

[rockfordlhotka]

I'd be very interested in seeing that code. Or we can maybe discuss having you contribute it to CSLA as a pull request?

I wonder if there should be a Csla.Azure.Functions package to provide this class? Or maybe just Csla.Azure, as other support types might be useful in the future?