Common Developer Principles

There are two main principles that I usually adhere to.  SOLID and DRY are the two that I preach about the most.  They make things logical and simple.

As I was looking through some source code I came upon this section: (I altered the connection strings.)

Code Snippet

166. Sub LoadConnection()
167.         g_intUserID = 0
168.         ADOModule.g_Connection = New SqlClient.SqlConnection
169.         Select Case True
170.             Case Demo
171.                 ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("server", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
172.             Case Live
173.                 If g_ConnectUsingIPAddress Then
174.                     ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("ipaddress", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
175.                 Else
176.                     ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("server", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
177.                 End If
178.             Case BackUp
179.                 If g_ConnectUsingIPAddress Then
180.                     ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("server", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
181.                 Else
182.                     ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("server", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
183.                 End If
184.             Case TEST
185.                 ADOModule.SetSQLServerContentText("server", "database", "password", "username", "display", g_intTimeout)
186.             Case Else
187.                 End
188.         End Select
189.         If Not ADOModule.ConnectToSQLServer(ADOModule.g_Connection) Then
190.             End
191.         End If
192.     End Sub

This is in two different locations on the application.  There's no reason for this.  At all!  When you add a connection you now have to add this in two different locations.  This can be easily fixed by using dependency inversion which is part of SOLID.  It first starts off with needing an interface.

Code Snippet

5. Public Interface IDbConnection
6.     Inherits ICloneable
7.  
8.     Enum ConnectionTo As Integer
9.         Live = 0
10.         Backup = 1
11.         Test = 2
12.         Demo = 3
13.     End Enum
14.  
15.     ReadOnly Property IPAddress() As String
16.     ReadOnly Property Server() As String
17.     ReadOnly Property Database() As String
18.     ReadOnly Property Username() As String
19.     ReadOnly Property Password() As String
20.     ReadOnly Property Timeout() As Integer
21.     ReadOnly Property Subject() As String
22.     ReadOnly Property Display() As String
23.  
24.     Function ConnectToSQLServer() As Boolean
25.     Function GetSqlConnection() As SqlClient.SqlConnection
26. End Interface

This interface inherits the ICloneable and IDisposable interfaces.  The reason behind this is now any class that implements my IDbConnection interface (Different namespace than Microsofts) is that they must now implement an ICloneable and IDisposable.  The ICloneable is used to create a new instance that will have the exact same connection string so I can take advantage of connection pooling.  It uses IDispose to dispose of the actual connection.  I also like putting in the enumeration inside the interface as it's easier to manage since if you need to add a connection you would more then likely be looking up this interface and so you would add it here instead of having to search a main module or a main form to add to the enumeration.

Now that we have the connection interface you will need to create 4 new classes that implement this new IDbConnection interface.  A test, backup, demo, and live classes will be created.  You will then need to create a private Dictionary(Of IDbConnection.ConnectionTo, Lazy(Of IDbConnection)).  In the form load event add the following.

Code Snippet

40.  
41. connections = New Dictionary(Of IDbConnection.ConnectionTo, Lazy(Of IDbConnection))
42.  
43. connections.Add(IDbConnection.ConnectionTo.Live, New Lazy(Of IDbConnection)(Function() New LiveConnection))
44. connections.Add(IDbConnection.ConnectionTo.Test, New Lazy(Of IDbConnection)(Function() New TestConnection))
45. connections.Add(IDbConnection.ConnectionTo.Demo, New Lazy(Of IDbConnection)(Function() New DemoConnection))
46. connections.Add(IDbConnection.ConnectionTo.Backup, New Lazy(Of IDbConnection)(Function() New BackupConnection))

Now you can assign the g_connection and the rest of the connections don't take up your memory.

Code Snippet

47.  
48. Dim g_connection As IDbConnection = connections(IDbConnection.ConnectionTo.Live).Value

If there is a change to anything now you just have to change it in one location.  The rest of the connections take up no extra memory like before and then entire thing is easier to maintain.