StructureMap

I've been using a ServiceLocator class for IoC for the last year and a half. Never really got the point of the containers until the last week. We had a strange API requirement for a component for another group. I didn't agree with it, but basically, they wouldn't let us do constructor or setter injection of the dependencies. Let's not get into that, but lets just say that grabbing StructureMap 2.5 and throwing it into the mix saved me a ton of time. Also, I now get it. The container took what would have been 30-50 lines of ServiceLocator.cs and made it less than a dozen. And they were very clean and easy to read. And since you can initialize the objectfactory where ever you need to, I was still able to test those blocks and get a high level of coverage.

I have been using RhinoMocks since I first started TDD and I am pretty fond of it. The AutoMocker in StuctureMap has forced me to shift from the using(mocks.Record()){}... style to the Arrange-Act-Assert style. I'm comfortable with the other style, but I will admit that this would be easier to teach to beginners (provided you leave the AutoMocking out of it, of course!)

Anyway, I wonder now if I should spend a little time looking into Castle Windor and see which I prefer. . .

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