Free .Net Ambient Context Pattern Implementation

For Geeks: Skip explanations, just show the solution!

Well, many of us already utilize this pattern – just without knowing it has a name. I found this name somewhere, and I like it.

On http://aabs.wordpress.com the Intend is defined like this:

Intent: Provide a place to store scope or context related information or functionality that automatically follows the flow of execution between execution scopes or domains.

Read more about the pattern here: http://aabs.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/the-ambient-context-design-pattern-in-net/

.NET uses often as for example in System.Transactions.TransactionScope or System.Web.HttpContext.

While TransactionScope is saved per thread using [ThreadLocal], HttpContext is sometimes spans multiple threads following the flow of a full request execution – which can be asynchronous.

Example

The new Library System.Transactions offers generic transaction handling to your Application. Every method called within that scope can now join the running transaction, so does Ado.NET.

using(var t = new TransactionScope())
{
  // do something with for example ADO.Net
  t.Complete();
}

Why do they use the using-statement here?

(Mis)Using IDisposable: beyond resource clean-up (Samuel Jack)
Using the using-statement (Me)

LocalDataStoreSlot and [ThreadStatic]-Attribute
In many cases we just want to let the context be known within specific execution scope within one thread.
In .NET Framework 1.1 you had to use the LocalDataStoreSlot to store Data on a running Thread.
LocalDataStoreSlot slot = Thread.AllocateDataSlot();
Thread.SetData(slot, "my value");
string x = (string)Thread.GetData(slot);

In v2.0 Microsoft added the [ThreadStatic] attribute. Utilizing this class a static field can be turned into a thread static field, which holds the value just in the thread it was set in.
[ThreadStatic]
private static string myContext;

public void DoSomething()
{
  myContext = "value";
  DoSomethingElse();
  /* if DoSomethingElse() would be
   * called by another thread now
   * the current value would be null. */
  myContext = null;
}

public void DoSomethingElse()
{
  Console.WriteLine("Current value: " + myContext);
}
The Problem
If you don’t clean up, your bits may stay in the thread “forever”, even if it goes back to the thread pool! The next enqueued work item will find it there. Even worse in asp.net, where data could suddenly be shared between different requests using the same thread.
With a try..finally or making a helper class that implements IDisposable and cleans up on Dispose you can avoid these problems.
If you have nested scopes, the outer scope should be recovered, after the inner one has been closed, right?
The Solution
I created a class named ThreadVariable<T> which behaves pretty much like a static field marked as a [ThreadStatic]. But instead of assigning a value directly, a value is always only valid within a specific scope.
public static readonly ThreadVariable<string>
       myContext = new ThreadVariable<string>();

public void DoSomething()
{
  using(myContext.Use("value"))
  {
    DoSomethingElse();
    /* if DoSomethingElse() would be
     * called by another thread now
     * the current value would be empty. */
  }
  // the value is not available anymore
}

public void DoSomethingElse()
{
  Console.WriteLine("Current value: " + myContext.Value);
}
  
Grab the bits and feel free to copy what you need:
ThreadVariable Source and Tests (VS 2008) (Zip, 40k)
Update: Is now available as Minimod from Nuget or Github.
Features:

Allows nested scopes. Protects from messing up the values by disposing scopes wrongly.
The Property Current will throw an InvalidOperationException if you try to access it from the outside of a scope. This helps preventing NullReferenceExeptions
CurrentOrDefault will return the value within the current scope, or if it isn’t available, default(T).
This is nice, if you want to use the coalescing operator ??:
(for example: return threadVar.CurrentOrDefault ?? “another value”;)
In the constructor you can pass a fallback value. This will then always be returned on Current and on CurrentOrDefault, even if no value is available in the calling context.
HasCurrent indicates wether there is a value available. Note: is always true, if a fallback value is present. 


More Examples

Some times you just want to make some information publicly available. It’s doesn’t have to be secure, it’s all your code. So what! 
public static class SomeThreadVars
{
    public static readonly ThreadVariable<bool>
           IsSuperUser = new ThreadVariable<bool>(false);
}
// now you can use it whereever you want
using(SomeThreadVars.IsSuperUser.Use(true))
{
  bool isSu = SomeThreadVars.IsSuperUser.Current;
}
But especially if you give a scope super user rights, you should prevent that anyone just sets the value as they want. Still, you need it to be accessible publicly.
public class UserContext
{
    private static readonly ThreadVariable<bool>
            isSuperUser = new ThreadVariable<bool>(false);

    public static bool IsSuperUser
    {
        get { return isSuperUser.Current; }
    }

    public static IDisposable
      EnterSuperUserScope(string passkey)
    {
        if (passkey != "supersecure" )
            throw new InvalidCredentialException(
                "The passkey you used is wrong!");

        return isSuperUser.Use(true);
    }
}
public class BusinessObject
{
    public static bool DeleteDataBase()
    {
        if (!UserContext.IsSuperUser &&
             !Thread.CurrentPrincipal.IsInRole(
                "canDeleteDataBase"))
            throw new AccessViolationException("go home!");

        // delete the database
        return true;
    }
}
Now you’ve got a secure wrapper around your context, which also can be used from the outside – but controlled.
using (UserContext.EnterSuperUserScope("supersecure"))
{
    BusinessObject.DeleteDataBase(); // works perfectly
}

					

			

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