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Artur Kedzior
Artur Kedzior

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Easiest way to build the fastest REST API in C# and .NET 7 using CQRS

#dotnet #csharp #cqrs #fastarchitecture

Sometime ago I stumbled upon this amazing library built by amazing people: https://fast-endpoints.com

It was also featured on this platform https://dev.to/djnitehawk/building-rest-apis-in-net-6-the-easy-way-3h0d (written by the author).

I gave it a go and I was impressed how easy and fast it was to set it all up. Since I'm not a big fan of REPR pattern almost all my projects are using CQRS pattern with a help of MediatR ](https://github.com/jbogard/MediatR) I immediately started going over something similar that Fast Endpoints offer which is a command bus.

So I put the project together with certain goals:

  1. Keep everything in command/query handlers
  2. Keep API as thin as possible
  3. Execute handlers within Azure Functions (keeping them thin as well)
  4. Make handlers easily unit testable

I put all this up on Github FastArchitecture 🔥

You can see it in action on a real-world project Salarioo.com 🔥

The API endpoint ended up being a single line:

public class GetOrdersEndpoint : ApiEndpoint<GetOrders.Query, GetOrders.Response> { public override void Configure() { Get("orders/list"); AllowAnonymous(); ResponseCache(60); } public override async Task HandleAsync(GetOrders.Query query, CancellationToken ct) => await SendAsync(query, ct); }
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The Query handler in a self contained class that contains:

  • Query definition (the input)
  • Query response (the output)
  • Handler (stuff that happens within execution) 
public static class GetOrders { public sealed class Query : IQuery<IHandlerResponse<Response>> { } public sealed class Response { public IReadOnlyCollection<OrderListModel> Orders { get; private set; } public Response(IReadOnlyCollection<Domain.Order> orders) { Orders = orders.Select(OrderListModel.Create).ToList(); } } public sealed class Handler : QueryHandler<Query, Response> { public Handler(IHandlerContext context) : base(context) { } public override async Task<IHandlerResponse<Response>> ExecuteAsync(Query query, CancellationToken ct) { var orders = await DbContext .Orders .ToListAsync(ct); return Success(new Response(orders)); } } }
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Here is an example of Command handler with built-in Fluent Validation and fire and forget style:

public static class ConfirmAllOrders { public sealed class Command : ICommand { public string Name { get; set; } = ""; } public sealed class MyValidator : Validator<Command> { public MyValidator() { RuleFor(x => x.Name) .MinimumLength(5) .WithMessage("Order name is too short!"); } } public sealed class Handler : Abstractions.CommandHandler<Command> { public Handler(IHandlerContext context) : base(context) { } public override async Task<IHandlerResponse> ExecuteAsync(Command command, CancellationToken ct) { var orders = await DbContext .Orders .ToListAsync(ct); orders.ForEach(x => x.SetConfrimed()); await DbContext.SaveChangesAsync(ct); return Success(); } } }
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Handlers allow 3 possible responses:

  1. Response without content: 
return Success()
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  1. Response with some content: 
return Success(responseObj)
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  1. An error*: 
return Error("I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.")
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*soon to be implemented

Here is an example of running it from Azure Functions:

public class ConfirmAllOrdersFunction : FunctionBase<ConfirmAllOrdersFunction> { public ConfirmAllOrdersFunction(ILogger logger) : base(logger) { } [Function(nameof(ConfirmAllOrdersFunction))] public async Task Run([HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", "post")] HttpRequestData req) { var command = new ConfirmAllOrders.Command(); await ExecuteAsync<ConfirmAllOrders.Command>(command, req.FunctionContext); } }
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🔥 Interested?
🔥 Checkout the complete source code on Github FastArchitecture

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