Part 6: The Common Layer and Testing Practices

Introduction

In this final part of our implementation, we’ll establish a Common Layer and cover the testing practices needed to ensure our application is reliable and performs as expected. The Common Layer serves as a toolbox with reusable utilities, while comprehensive testing solidifies each layer’s functionality.

Step 1: Building the Common Layer

The Common Layer houses shared utilities that can be used across the entire application. Typical components of the Common Layer include:

• ErrorHandler: Provides a unified way to handle and log errors.
• Validator: Reusable validation methods, such as email validation or ID format checks.
• Logger: Logs system events for audit trails, error tracking, and debugging.

By creating this layer, we avoid redundancy, as these components can be accessed from any part of the application.

Example: Validator.cs

namespace MovieSeries.CommonLayer.Utilities
{
    public static class Validator
    {
        public static bool IsValidEmail(string email)
        {
            return email.Contains("@") && email.Contains(".");
        }
    }
}

Step 2: Testing Strategies — Unit and Integration Tests

Testing is essential for verifying the correctness and reliability of each layer. We’ll adopt a mix of unit tests and integration tests to cover individual components as well as full request flows.

Unit Tests with xUnit

1. Repository Tests: Test CRUD and SP-based methods in each repository to ensure that data is retrieved and modified correctly.
2. Service Layer Tests: Verify that the Service Layer correctly interacts with the DAL, applies business logic, and manages errors effectively.

Example: Unit Test for MovieRepository

[Fact]
public async Task GetAllMoviesAsync_ReturnsListOfMovies()
{
    var movies = await _movieRepository.GetAllMoviesAsync();
    Assert.NotNull(movies);
    Assert.IsType<List<Movie>>(movies);
}

Integration Testing for End-to-End Validation

Integration tests simulate end-to-end interactions, verifying that our Controllers correctly handle requests and responses, and that all layers integrate seamlessly.

Example: Integration Test for MovieController

[Fact]
public async Task GetTopRatedMoviesWithSp_ReturnsTopMovies()
{
    var response = await _client.GetAsync("/api/movie/withsp/top-rated/5");
    response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
    var movies = await response.Content.ReadAsAsync<List<Movie>>();
    Assert.Equal(5, movies.Count);
}

Summary

The Common Layer and comprehensive testing practices ensure that our application is resilient, modular, and ready for production. By testing each layer in isolation and as a cohesive system, we solidify the application’s stability and performance.

Conclusion and Next Steps: Front-End Development with React and Angular

With the back-end architecture fully implemented and tested, we’re now ready to move on to the front-end development phase. To provide a versatile and dynamic user experience, we’ll create two separate interfaces using React and Angular. This dual-approach will allow us to explore and leverage the distinct strengths of each front-end framework and cater to different development preferences.

Front-End Objectives

The primary goal is to create user-friendly, intuitive interfaces that visualize and interact with the data stored in our SQL database. By utilizing the API endpoints we developed, we’ll provide an accessible and robust user experience on both frameworks.

Key Interfaces

1. Admin Panel: A comprehensive dashboard for administrators. This interface will include CRUD functionalities to manage movies, users, reviews, and tags. It will feature components like data tables, forms, and graphs to enable efficient data manipulation and overview.
2. Features: Data management (create, update, delete), advanced search and filtering, real-time updates, and admin controls for approving reviews and managing user permissions.
3. Technical Tools: State management (React Context or Redux; Angular Services and NgRx), form validation, component libraries (e.g., Material UI for React, Angular Material for Angular), and role-based access control.
4. User Interface: Designed for general users, this front end will allow users to browse and interact with the movie reviews, ratings, and tags. It will include user account management features and enable them to add reviews, rate movies, and explore content based on categories or tags.
5. Features: User authentication, movie browsing and review, personalized recommendations, rating submissions, and tag-based navigation.
6. Technical Tools: Authentication with JWT, dynamic routing, reusable UI components, responsive design, and RESTful API integration.

Technical Details

• React Implementation: Using React’s component-based structure, we’ll build modular and reusable components to create dynamic user experiences. For state management, we may leverage Redux or React’s Context API based on the complexity of data flow.
• Angular Implementation: Angular’s robust TypeScript-based framework will be used to create a structured and feature-rich UI. We’ll use Services and NgRx for state management, ensuring efficient data handling across components.

Both interfaces will be responsive, ensuring they perform optimally on both desktop and mobile devices. We’ll also explore best practices in UI design, accessibility, and performance optimization.

Moving Forward

The upcoming parts will focus on building these user interfaces, connecting them with our API to enable seamless interaction with the data. The combination of an admin panel and user interface will create a complete, user-centric application, making our film/series review platform fully functional, maintainable, and ready for real-world use.

Next Part

Part 7: What’s Unit Testing and xUnit