Zen and the art of Castle maintenance

I got tired of seeing actions like:

public void GetStates(string countryCode)
{
     ... get the states ...

    string js = Context.Services.JSONSerializer.Serialize(states);

    Response.ContentType = "application/json";
    RenderText(js);
}

They just don’t make sense. So I spent 20 minutes adding support for return binders. Now my code looks like:

[return: JSONReturnBinder]
public State[] GetStates(string countryCode)
{
     return stateRepository.FetchAllByCountry(new Country(countryCode));
}

I know, I know, the attributes associated with return looks weird, but take your complain to MS/C# team. You have to play with the cards you’re dealt.

A return binder, much like a parameter binder, is a class/attribute that implements the IReturnBinder interface, which has a single method: Bind. There you can go wild and do whatever you want with the return value. You could add to the property bag, example, or use it to figure out to where the user should be redirected (struts like), or like me, you just want to serialize some data in JSON format.

I’ve also added the ability to serialize only the properties I want:

[return: JSONReturnBinder(Properties="Id,Name")]
public State[] GetStates(string countryCode)
{
     return stateRepository.FetchAllByCountry(new Country(countryCode));
}

That saves bandwidth, not to mention that I dont expose the whole objects through the wire.

The code, if you’re wondering, is on my branch playground. I’m experimenting with more things, which I will blog soon.