This really depends on what processList
is doing exactly. There is no golden rule. Some rules I try to follow are:
- Never make calls between main objects on the same layer.
ManagementServiceImpl
should never call NotificationServiceImpl
.
- Don't make circular dependencies between objects.
- This is very similar to the one above.
- If you find yourself repeating some logic across multiple main object, try to restructure the code and extract it in specialized logical classes (this will improve unit-testing as well).
- E.g.
UserUpdateHandler
or NotificationDispatcher
(these are still owned by the service layer -> noone else is allowed to call them)...
- Put the code where it logically belongs.
- Don't get distracted by the fact, that some class needs to do something. It might not be the right place for the code.
- Never write fully generalised code before you need to.
- This has its term as premature generalisation, which is a bad practice similar to premature optimisation. Saving few lines of code now can lead to pulling your hair out in the future.
- Always write code which is able to become generalised.
- This is not a contradiction with the previous. This says - always write with generalisation in mind, however don't bother with writing if it is not needed. Think ahead, but not necessarily act ahead.
- Leave business logic to service layer, data persistence logic to data layer and user interaction logic to presentation layer.
- Don't try to parse user input in service layer. This does not belong there similarly as counting final price in e-shop application does not belong to presentation layer.
Some examples for processList
:
- Example I - fetching additional relations via
Hibernate#initialize
- This is something which is really in between the service and DAO layer. On older projects we had specialized
FetchHandler
class (owned by service layer). In newer projects we leave this completely to DAOs.
- Example II - go through list and add business validation messages to the result
- Example III - go through the list and prepare UI messages based on the validation errors
Side note:
- MVC is a different thing from three-layered architecture.
- M model spans across all three layers. Presentation layer includes both V views and C controllers.