This is what I did to solve my Controller/Repository data context Dilemma:
0) Added a database context argument to the Controller's routing attribute. IOW, this:
[Route("api/HHSUsers/GetAll")]
...got changed to this:
[Route("api/HHSUsers/GetAll/{dbContext=03}")]
1) Passed that database context arg to the Repository. To wit, this:
return _hhsusersrepository.GetAll();
...got changed to this:
return _hhsusersrepository.GetAll(dbContext);
...so that the Controller method is now:
[Route("api/HHSUsers/GetAll/{dbContext=03}")]
public IEnumerable<HHSUsers> GetAllHHSUsersRecords(int dbContext)
{
return _hhsusersrepository.GetAll(dbContext);
}
2) Changed the corresponding method in the Repository interface from:
IEnumerable<HHSUsers> GetAll();
...to this:
IEnumerable<HHSUsers> GetAll(string dbContext);
3) Changed the Repository method from this:
public HHSUsersRepository()
{
// All the data is loaded here in the ctor
}
public IEnumerable<HHSUsers> GetAll()
{
return hhsusers;
}
....to this:
public IEnumerable<HHSUsers> GetAll(string dbContext)
{
LoadHHSUsers(dbContext);
return hhsusers;
}
private void LoadHHSUsers(int dbContext)
{
string connStr = string.Format("Foo{0}Bar", dbContext);
// The same as previously from this point on, except that this:
// using (var conn = new OleDbConnection(@"Foo Bar Phoo Bar etc"...
// becomes:
// using (var conn = new OleDbConnection(connStr))
4) Tack the dbcontext val to the end of the URL when calling the method, so that it is this:
http://localhost:28642/api/HHSUsers/GetAll/42
...instead of this:
http://localhost:28642/api/HHSUsers/GetAll
If the data context to use is "03" I can omit the dbcontext arg from the URL, as 03 is the default value I set when I appended "=03" to the Controller's "dbContext" routing attribute arg.
I know some fancy-pants propeller-heads will find fault with this for some reason (for one reason because of the tramp data going here and there and everywhere like a hobo on steroids), but my response is the same as that of an athlete who is getting trash-talked by an opposing player and yet whose team is winning: just point at the scoreboard. IOW, this works for me, so that's pretty much all I care about. Style points are for runway models and, again, fancy-pants propeller-heads (AKA Star-Bellied Sneeches (as opposed to us plain cats with the unstarred bellies)); see "The perfect is the enemy of the good."
This simple way has that self-same benefit -- of being (relatively) simple to grok and, thus, modify/refactor as necessary. Inelegant? Sure, but so was Joe Kapp.