- SeedPacket 2.0 for C#

Extending

for SeedPacket version 2.0.7

Overview

SeedPacket has been created from the beginning for extensibility. After all, the logic for data generation is contained in Rules that can be easily removed, replaced, or expanded. Individual Rules have access to a plethora of functionality that is passed in via dependency injection. The Generators are passed in as interfaces that can be easily switched out with new implementations, as can the DataSources, and all the source data that popluates the DataSources (in either an XML/JSON file or string).

We are going to focus on two extensibility points, Custom Extension Methods and Custom Generators

CODE:
    Import the main SeedPacket namespace and not
    the SeedPacket.Extensions to avoid conflicts with your own new custom extension methods.

using SeedPacket;
using SeedPacket.Functions;
using SeedPacket.Generators;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace {YourNamespace}.Extensions
{
    public static class CustomSeedExtensions
    {
        private static int defaultSeed = 3456;

        // Simplified and streamlined version of SeedPacket.Seed() extension
        public static List<T> Seed<T>( this IEnumerable<T> iEnumerable, int? seedEnd = null,
                                      int? seedBegin = null, int? randomSeed = null,
                                      string propertyName = null )
        {
            var gen = new MultiGenerator("~/SourceFiles/xmlSeedSourcePlus.xml", dataInputType: DataInputType.XmlFile)
            {
                SeedBegin = seedBegin ?? 1,
                SeedEnd = seedEnd ?? 10,
                BaseRandom = new Random(randomSeed ?? defaultSeed),
                BaseDateTime = DateTime.Now,
                CurrentPropertyName = propertyName
            };
            return new SeedCore(gen).SeedList(iEnumerable).ToList();
        }

        // Remove and simplify if you are not going to use need a Dictionary implementation
        public static IDictionary<TKey, TValue> Seed<TKey, TValue> ( this IDictionary<TKey, TValue> iDictionary, 
                                                                     int? seedEnd = null, int? seedBegin = null, 
                                                                     int? randomSeed = null, string propertyName = null )
        {
            var gen = new MultiGenerator("~/SourceFiles/xmlSeedSourcePlus.xml", dataInputType: DataInputType.XmlFile)
            {
                SeedBegin = seedBegin ?? 1,
                SeedEnd = seedEnd ?? 10,
                BaseRandom = new Random(randomSeed ?? defaultSeed),
                BaseDateTime = DateTime.Now,
                CurrentPropertyName = propertyName
            };
            return new SeedCore(gen).SeedList(iDictionary);
        }

        // Example of a custom method that only returns one instance of <T> instead of a list
        public static T SeedOne<T>  (this T type, int? randomSeed = null) where T : new()
        {
            return new List<T> ().Seed(seedEnd: 1, randomSeed: randomSeed).Single();
         }
     }
}

Custom Extension Methods

To Run Code:

Create a folder called Extensions and copy the code above into a file called CustomSeedExtensions.cs using the name of your own namespace in place of {YourNamespace}.

Create a folder called SourceFiles. Download the file XmlSeedSourcePlus.xml and save it into this folder.

This example shows a simple yet extremely powerful way to customize data generation for a whole project. The extension method overloads in the SeedPacket.Extensions for the main .Seed() methods have purposely been separated from the actual implementations in the SeedCore class in the root SeedPacket namespace. This means you can easily create your own custom implementation of .Seed() that just works everywhere in you project with your own Rules, defaults and data!

The actual code on this page is trivial as it a streamlined version of the SeedPacket.Extensions that you can find in the SeedPacket source code and is a good starting point for your own custom extensions with but with defaults set to your own liking. It simplifies and removes some of the overloads from the source code version, and sets the source data to come from our own XML file. Once you have your ideal solution, you will find it generic enough that you will be able to take it to other projects to use for prototyping.

One thing to note is that the namespace Examples.Extensions is imported into the page, but the SeedPacket.Extensions namespace is NOT. This allows our custom version(s) of .Seed() to work without namespace collisions. Another is that we are using a CustomGenerator that inherits from MultiGenerator. We will look at this a little later on the page.

	Title	Album	Artist	Released
1	Take Your Time	Partial Mission	The Bad Ones	2/10/2019
2	Life Leasons	Tin Can Man	Joe Jetson	3/29/2020
3	Seredipity2	Fraz the Queen	Like More Water	6/21/2021
4	The Man and the Stars	Gangland Frame	Fitzi Louis	12/17/2018
5	Seredipity2	Fraz the Queen	Like More Water	7/3/2021
6	Take Your Time	Thanks for the Fish	Stalingrad Cowboys	3/27/2019
7	Groovy Tunes	One at a Time	Audacious Criminal	5/7/2018
8	Life Leasons	Freshly Rejected	Sea Lion	2/9/2020
9	Country Shack	Hip Juice	Trixy OldHouse	9/15/2021
10	The Will and the Way	Freshly Rejected	Sea Lion	1/8/2020

SeedOne Extension Method

An additional method included in the example is SeedOne() which is implementation for just getting back a fully-populated single instance of the type. It is an extension on any class that implements the new() constructor (with no constructor parameters). While perhaps not the most efficient code, it shows how you can create alternative extensions that utilize SeedPacket code generation.

Id:1

Guid:55a346d5-3e27-fa1c-71f1-0f2ee19eb323

Ceo:John Smith

CompanyName:Tyrell

Net Worth:$264.75k

Notes:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit sed do eisumod tempor incidicunt ut. Labore et dolore magna aliqua ut enim, ad minim veniam quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi. Ut aliquip ex ea. Commodo consequat duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse.

CODE:
    Replace {YourNamespace} with your own namespace.

using SeedPacket;
using SeedPacket.Functions;
using SeedPacket.Generators;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace {YourNamespace}.Generators
{
    public class CustomGenerator : MultiGenerator
    {
        public CustomGenerator( string sourceFilepath = null,
                                    string sourceString = null,
                                    DataInputType dataInputType = DataInputType.Auto,
                                    RulesSet rulesSet = RulesSet.Advanced
            )
            : base(sourceFilepath, sourceString, dataInputType, rulesSet)
        {
        }

        protected override void GetRules(RulesSet ruleSet)
        {
            switch (ruleSet)
            {
                case RulesSet.None:
                    // No rules loaded. Add rules manually
                    break;

                case RulesSet.Basic:
                    Rules.AddBasicRules();
                    break;

                case RulesSet.Common:
                    Rules.AddBasicRules();
                    Rules.AddCommonRules();
                    break;

                case RulesSet.Advanced:  // Used by default
                    Rules.AddBasicRules();
                    Rules.AddCommonRules();
                    AdvancedRules();
                    break;

                case RulesSet.UnitTest:
                    Rules.AddBasicRules();
                    // Can Add or change Rules here
                    break;

                case RulesSet.Custom:
                    Rules.AddBasicRules();
                    Rules.AddCommonRules();
                    // Can Add or change Rules here
                    break;

                default:
                    throw new NotImplementedException("That is not a valid RulesSet.");
            }
        }

        public void AdvancedRules()
        {
            // Example. Obviously this could be more extensive...

            var advanceRules = new List<Rule<(){
                new Rule(typeof(DateTime), "Create%",   g => g.BaseDateTime.AddDays (g.RowRandom.Next(-30, 1)), "DateTimeInLastMonth"  ),
                new Rule(typeof(string),"Description%", g => Funcs.GetElementRandom(g, "Description"), "Description", "Gets Description from custom XML file" ),
                new Rule(typeof(string), "Ceo",         g => Funcs.GetElementNext(g, "FirstName") + " " + Funcs.GetElementNext(g, "LastName"), "Random CEO Name"),
            };

            this.Rules.AddRange(advanceRules, true);
        }

    }
}

Custom Generators

To Run Code:

Create a folder called Generators and copy the code above into a file called CustomGenerator.cs using the name of your own namespace in place of {YourNamespace}.

To use in the CustomSeedExtensions above, replace all references to the MultiGenerator class with a reference to the new CustomGenerator in {YourNamespace}.

Another extensibility point is demonstrated in the code above by building a custom IGenerator. The CustomGenerator inherits all functionality from the MultiGenerator and adds few new features. In this case, it adds a RulesSet.Advanced option as the default and adds some additional rules, including a Rule that fills the CEO property. Of course these could be more extensive, including a completely new default Rules implementation, etc.

The GetRules() method of the MultiGenerator is declared as virtual so that it can be overriden by a derived class. This method is called by the constructor to load its Rules collection based on the RulesSet enum that it is passed. So be overriding it, you can redefine which Rules are loaded for each enum. In fact, 3 values in the enum, Advanced, UnitTest, and Custom do not have an implementation are there purely for customization in derived classes.

CEO	Company	City	State
John Smith	Tyrell	York	IN
Patricia Johnson	Wayne Corp	Austin	NV
Michael Williams	Sunrise Systems	Kingston	TX
Susan Jones	Spacely	Athens	ID
William Brown	Sunrise Systems	Kingston	UT
Mary Davis	Oscorp Co	London	IA
Robert Miller	Globax	Washington	AR
Sarah Wilson	Jackson Corp	Jackson	MT
Peter Moore	MultiNational Inc	Eastdale	VA
Ann Taylor	Jackson Co	Jackson	MO
Roger Anderson	Mega LLC	Gotham	NM
Theresa Thomas	Virtucon	Lincoln	CO

Documentation