How can I pass service layer validation messages back to the caller?

I've done alot of research, including here on SO, and I can't seem to find clear direction. I currently have an ASP.NET MVC3 application, with a service layer that sits on top of a repository.

In my service layer, I have functions such as:

public class MyService{

    public void CreateDebitRequest(int userId, int cardId, decimal Amount, .... )
    {
    //perform some sort of validation on parameters, save to database
    }

    public void CreateCreditRequest(.....)
    }
        //perform some sort of validation on parameters, save to database
    }

    public void CreateBatchFile()
    {
        //construct a file using a semi-complex process which could fail
        //write the file to the server, which could fail
    }


    public PaymentTransaction ChargePaymentCard(int paymentCardId, decimal amount)
    {
        //validate customer is eligible for amount, call 3rd party payments api call,
        //...save to database, other potential failures, etc.
    }

}

I've seen people say that parameter validation isn't very exceptional, and so throwing an exception is not very fitting. I also don't love the idea of passing in an out paramater, such as a string, and checking for an empty value. I've considered implementing a ValidationDictionary class, and making it a property of any given service class (it would contain an IsValid boolean, and a List of error messages, and could be checked after any given function call in the service layer to see how things went). I could check the ValidationDictionary status after running any given function:

var svc = new MyService();
svc.CreateBatchFile();
if (svc.ValidationDictionary.IsValid)
    //proceed
else
   //display values from svc.ValidationDictionary.Messages...

The thing I don't like about this is that I would have to update it for every service layer function call, to avoid having it retain old values (if I chose not to use it for many or

Edit Report

This is what I do. Have a class for your validation, and instead of passing parameters pass a view model. So in your case something like this, where ValidationResult is just a simple class w/ MemberName and ErrorMessage properties:

public class DebitRequestValidator{

  public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(DebitRequestModel model){

    //do some validation
    yield return new ValidationResult {
      MemberName = "cardId",
      ErrorMessage = "Invalid CardId."
    }
  }

}

Then create a controller extension method to copy these validation results to the model state.

public static class ControllerExtensions
{
    public static void AddModelErrors(this ModelStateDictionary modelState, IEnumerable<ValidationResult> validationResults)
    {
        if (validationResults == null) return;

        foreach (var validationResult in validationResults)
        {
            modelState.AddModelError(validationResult.MemberName, validationResult.ErrorMessage);
        }
    }
}

Then in your controller do something like

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult DebitRequest(DebitRequestModel model) {
  var validator = new DebitRequestValidator();
  var results = validator.Validate(model);
  ModelState.AddModelErrors(results);
  if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    return View(model)

  //else do other stuff here
}

Then in your view you can display errors like normal.

@Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.CardId)

answered 2012-04-11T16:43:46.860

How can I pass service layer validation messages back to the caller?

1 Answer

Your Answer