Dotnet Core - Dependency Injection (DI)

 🧩 What is Dependency Injection (DI)?

Dependency Injection (DI) is a design pattern used to achieve loose coupling between classes and their dependencies.

In simple terms:

Instead of a class creating its own dependencies, they are provided (injected) from the outside — typically by a framework or container.

 

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🧠 Example Without DI (Tight Coupling)

public class NotificationService
{
    private readonly EmailService _emailService = new EmailService();

    public void Notify(string message)
    {
        _emailService.Send(message);
    }
}

Here:

• NotificationService directly depends on EmailService.
• If we want to replace EmailService with, say, SmsService, we must change the code inside NotificationService.

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✅ Example With DI (Loose Coupling)

public interface IMessageService
{
    void Send(string message);
}

public class EmailService : IMessageService
{
    public void Send(string message) => Console.WriteLine($"Email: {message}");
}

public class NotificationService
{
    private readonly IMessageService _messageService;

    // Dependency is injected via constructor
    public NotificationService(IMessageService messageService)
    {
        _messageService = messageService;
    }

    public void Notify(string message)
    {
        _messageService.Send(message);
    }
}

Now you can plug in any implementation (Email, SMS, Push) without changing NotificationService.

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🧱 Dependency Injection in .NET Core

.NET Core has built-in support for Dependency Injection via the Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection namespace.

You configure DI inside the Program.cs or Startup.cs (depending on .NET version).

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🧰 Typical .NET Core DI Setup

Example — in Program.cs (.NET 6/7/8 minimal hosting model)

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// 1️⃣ Register services in DI container
builder.Services.AddScoped<IMessageService, EmailService>();
builder.Services.AddScoped<NotificationService>();

var app = builder.Build();

// 2️⃣ Resolve and use service
app.MapGet("/notify", (NotificationService service) =>
{
    service.Notify("Hello, .NET Core DI!");
    return "Notification Sent!";
});

app.Run();

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🔍 How DI Works in .NET Core

When you run the app:

1. The service container is created by WebApplication.CreateBuilder.

2. Services are registered using builder.Services.Add...().

3. When a class (e.g., controller, page, or middleware) requests a dependency, the DI container creates and injects it automatically.

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🔄 Service Lifetimes

Lifetime	Description	Use Case
Transient	New instance created every time it’s requested	Lightweight, stateless services
Scoped	One instance per request (HTTP scope)	Web request-specific services
Singleton	Single instance for the entire app lifetime	Configuration, caching, logging

Example:

builder.Services.AddTransient<IEmailService, EmailService>();
builder.Services.AddScoped<IUserService, UserService>();
builder.Services.AddSingleton<ILoggingService, LoggingService>();

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🧠 DI Example in ASP.NET Core Controller

public interface ICustomerService
{
    IEnumerable<string> GetCustomers();
}

public class CustomerService : ICustomerService
{
    public IEnumerable<string> GetCustomers() => new[] { "John", "Jane" };
}

[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class CustomerController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly ICustomerService _service;

    // Dependency is injected automatically
    public CustomerController(ICustomerService service)
    {
        _service = service;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult Get()
    {
        return Ok(_service.GetCustomers());
    }
}

✅ ASP.NET Core automatically injects CustomerService because it was registered in the DI container.

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⚙️ Advanced DI Topics

1️⃣ Constructor Injection (most common)

Dependencies passed via constructor.

2️⃣ Method Injection

Dependencies passed as method parameters.

public void SendNotification([FromServices] IMessageService service)
{
    service.Send("Message");
}

3️⃣ Property Injection

Dependency assigned via property (not common in .NET Core DI by default).

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🔩 Built-in DI Container Features

• Open Generics Support
  builder.Services.AddScoped(typeof(IRepository<>), typeof(Repository<>));
  
  
• Service Replacement:  Simply remove MyService registration with IMyService and add new registration MyMockService with IMyService.
  This is useful when you are using some library and that has registered IMyService with MyService, so now Replace statement will replace all previous registration with new one.
  
  builder.Services.AddSingleton<IMyService, MyService>();
  builder.Services.Replace(ServiceDescriptor.Singleton<IMyService, MyMockService>());
  
  
• Configuration + Options Pattern
  builder.Services.Configure<MyConfig>(builder.Configuration.GetSection("MySection"));
  
  

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🧰 DI in Non-Web .NET Apps

You can also use DI in:

• Console apps
• Worker services
• Background jobs

Example:

var services = new ServiceCollection();
services.AddScoped<IMessageService, EmailService>();
var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();

var messageService = provider.GetRequiredService<IMessageService>();
messageService.Send("Hello from Console App!");

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💡 Benefits of Using DI

Benefit	Description
Loose Coupling	Easier to swap implementations
Testability	Use mocks in unit tests easily
Reusability	Services can be reused across components
Maintainability	Reduces hard-coded dependencies
Scalability	Centralized lifecycle management

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⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Mistake	Impact
Registering service with wrong lifetime	Memory leaks or inconsistent behavior
Creating new instances manually inside service	Breaks DI chain
Overusing Singleton	Can cause thread-safety issues
Circular dependencies	Two services depend on each other — runtime error

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🧾 Summary

Aspect	Details
Pattern	Dependency Injection (DI)
Built-in Container	Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection
Registration Methods	AddSingleton, AddScoped, AddTransient
Goal	Loose coupling, better testability, and flexibility
Injection Methods	Constructor (primary), Method, Property
Used In	ASP.NET Core, Worker Services, Blazor, Console Apps