How to Trigger Business Rules Validation on the Client (Blazor/CSLA)

[ecaldentey]

Hi everyone,

I'm facing the following problem with business rules that validate production order issuance dates:

When I fetch data from the database in the DataPortal_Fetch method, the BusinessRules.CheckRules() method is invoked, applying the business rules to the dates. Essentially, the rule states that a production order for an expired purchase order cannot (or should not) be issued. As a result, my object is returned to the client as invalid, preventing the production order from being saved.

What I need is a way to tell CSLA that if the user wants to force a save, it should skip the business rules. On the client side, I'd like to call something like BusinessRules.CheckRules() to evaluate a property that indicates whether the save should be forced (acknowledging that the user is aware the dates are not compliant).

I can't figure out how to implement this in my Blazor client, such as calling myObject.CheckRules().

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[StefanOssendorf]

Which version are we talking about?
My first thought is: If you have an explicit property to indicate that: Use nested rules and only run them if the flag is true/false. One "problem" is the server will always validate the business rules again when returning. So you need a way to skip them. There is a second way but I don't recommend it because you might compromise your whole server validation with it.

[ecaldentey]

Currently i'm using
Csla.Blazor Version="8.2.2"

And these are my Business Rules

protected override void Execute(IRuleContext context)
{
    var target = (BizdealEdit)context.Target;
    var contractStartDate = target.ReadProperty(AutfieldStartDateProperty);
    var contractEndDate = target.ReadProperty(AutfieldEndDateProperty);
    var productionOrders = target.ListProductionOrders;

    // Skip validation for special operations
    if ((target.OptionSelector is BizdealInsertDbTypes insertType && insertType == BizdealInsertDbTypes.InsertBizdealWithoutValidation) ||
        (target.OptionSelector is BizdealUpdateDbTypes updateType && updateType == BizdealUpdateDbTypes.UpdateBizdealWithoutValidation))
    {
        return;
    }

    if (productionOrders == null || !productionOrders.Any())
        return;

    // Validate each production order
    foreach (var order in productionOrders)
    {
        var orderStartDate = order.AutfieldStartDate;
        var orderEndDate = order.AutfieldEndDate;

        // 1. Validate order dates are within contract range
        if (orderStartDate < contractStartDate || orderStartDate > contractEndDate)
        {
            context.AddErrorResult(
                $"Production order start date ({orderStartDate:dd/MM/yyyy}) " +
                $"must be within contract period ({contractStartDate:dd/MM/yyyy} - {contractEndDate:dd/MM/yyyy})");
        }

        if (orderEndDate < contractStartDate || orderEndDate > contractEndDate)
        {
            context.AddErrorResult(
                $"Production order end date ({orderEndDate:dd/MM/yyyy}) " +
                $"must be within contract period ({contractStartDate:dd/MM/yyyy} - {contractEndDate:dd/MM/yyyy})");
        }

        // 2. Validate order doesn't exceed 31 days
        var daysDifference = (orderEndDate - orderStartDate).T

[hurcane]

Are these rules that should only applying for a new production order? We frequently have requirements that apply when the object is new, and we chain those inside an IsNew gateway rule.

[rockfordlhotka]

The intent behind the CSLA rules engine is that you make your rules smart enough to handle your scenario.

So if you want a rule to take into account the state of the object (or its logical location, like server or client) you can do that within the rule's implementation.

Also, as others have pointed out, you can use rule priorities or rule chaining to add conditional rules that check things like the object's state independent of a specific rule, so you don't need the rule itself to become more complex.

For example, if you have a rule that should only run if an object is new, then you can have a gateway rule that checks to see if IsNew == true before chaining to other rules. Or if there's some other state in the object that needs to be checked, this gateway rule can check those other properties to determine whether subordinate rules should be run.

[ecaldentey]

Helllo @hurcane ,

"Production orders" and "product delivery orders" are separate entities. The commercial team submits a production order to the plant for manufacturing. As the plant completes the work, it creates product delivery orders (which may be multiple per production order) to ship the finished goods.

[rockfordlhotka]

What does the user scenario look like? Is this override a discrete operation that is performed? If so, perhaps it is a command object, not the editable object?

[ecaldentey]

Hi Rocky,

Currently, a user creates a production order and issues it with a maximum product delivery date.

However, sometimes production gets delayed, and when they try to make the delivery and associate it with the production order, the user requests the production order from the database (i.e., a Fetch is performed). During DataPortal_Fetch, the business rules are executed, and they validate that the delivery date has expired, returning an invalid object with IsSavable = false.

My idea was to give certain users (e.g., supervisors) the option to force a Save. To do this, I need a way to tell CSLA from the UI to set the object's IsValid = true.

Would you recommend handling this through a Command object, or is there another CSLA pattern that would work better for this scenario?

[StefanOssendorf]

I think the easiest and best way is to use a "force save flag" and a gateway rule which decides on that flag if the actual rule should be executed or not.

[rockfordlhotka]

@StefanOssendorf has a good suggestion for sure. Alternately you could show the supervisor some "override UI" that triggers a command object to run back to the server to fix the issue.