Runtime class mapping - at startup or on first use?

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I have the need to map a number of different classes in my application to specific instances of a class that is in charge of persisting them to/from the back end.

This is conceptually similar to the way Entity Framework creates it's mappings with the DbModelBuilder [^] class.

Should I map all the classes at application startup? (They are identifiable by an interface and an attribute tag) or should the mapping occur when a particular class is first used?

(or both, configurable?)

What I have tried:

Asked my neighbour's pet dog - his reply was not intellectually convincing.
Need end-user technologists opinions :-)

Posted 5-Jul-16 22:59pm

Duncan Edwards Jones

Updated 5-Jul-16 23:09pm

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Garth J Lancaster · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-05T23:09:00

Solution 1

If its a UI type application where doing this 'on-demand' may impact the user perception, I would go the 'startup' route - but if it's a service type application, I see no reason why 'on first use' wouldnt be good enough

(you havnt given us a lot to go on, so maybe your neighbour's pet dog might have been a better bet - one woof for 'startup', two woofs for 'on demand', and 'whatever' if he bites you) :-)

Posted 5-Jul-16 23:09pm

Garth J Lancaster

Updated 5-Jul-16 23:11pm

v2

Comments

Duncan Edwards Jones 6-Jul-16 5:16am

So - looks like "both configurable" then.

Garth J Lancaster 6-Jul-16 6:42am

woof woof woof :-)

seriously .. I built a component recently that I'll be 'improving' for a bit .. I was looking for a pattern to describe 'query service a, if that fails, query service b, ....', as a 'failover' pattern/?concept ... what I really wanted to do was have a service and pass a delegate to it to another service if the 1st service failed, etc etc ... it strikes me (wether or not Im making sense/using the correct terms) that your situation is a little the same .. ie, try and instantiate the mappings you can at startup, but be prepared to check them at first use

probably a rotten idea