Data Validation Design Patterns

Question

If I have a collection of database tables (in an Access file, for example) and need to validate each table in this collection against a rule set that has both common rules a

Answer 1

I would try with a combination of the Factory and Visitor patterns:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace Example2
{
    interface IVisitor
    {
        void Visit(Table1 table1);
        void Visit(Table2 table2);
    }

    interface IVisitable
    {
        void Accept(IVisitor visitor);
    }

    interface ILog
    {
        void Verbose(string message);
        void Debug(string messsage);
        void Info(string message);
        void Error(string message);
        void Fatal(string message);
    }

    class Error
    {
        public string Message { get; set; }
    }

    class Table1 : IVisitable
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Data { get; set; }
        private IList InnerElements { get; } = new List();

        public void Accept(IVisitor visitor)
        {
            visitor.Visit(this);

            foreach(var innerElement in InnerElements)
                visitor.Visit(innerElement);
        }
    }

    class Table2 : IVisitable
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public int Data { get; set; }

        public void Accept(IVisitor visitor)
        {
            visitor.Visit(this);
        }
    }

    class Validator : IVisitor
    {
        private readonly ILog log;
        private readonly IRuleSet table1Rules;
        private readonly IRuleSet table2Rules;

        public Validator(ILog log, IRuleSet table1Rules, IRuleSet table2Rules)
        {
            this.log = log;
            this.table1Rules = table1Rules;
            this.table2Rules = table2Rules;
        }

        public void Visit(Table1 table1)
        {
            IEnumerable errors = table1Rules.EnforceOn(table1);

            foreach (var error in errors)
                log.Error(error.Message);
        }

        public void Visit(Table2 table2)
        {
            IEnumerable errors = table2Rules.EnforceOn(table2);

            foreach (var error in errors)
                log.Error(error.Message);
        }
    }

    class RuleSets
    {
        private readonly IRuleSetFactory factory;

        public RuleSets(IRuleSetFactory factory)
        {
            this.factory = factory;
        }

        public IRuleSet RulesForTable1 =>
            factory.For()
                .AddRule(o => string.IsNullOrEmpty(o.Data), "Data1 is null or empty")
                .AddRule(o => o.Data.Length < 10, "Data1 is too short")
                .AddRule(o => o.Data.Length > 26, "Data1 is too long");

        public IRuleSet RulesForTable2 =>
            factory.For()
                .AddRule(o => o.Data < 0, "Data2 is negative")
                .AddRule(o => o.Data > 10, "Data2 is too big");
    }

    interface IRuleSetFactory
    {
        IRuleSet For();
    }

    interface IRuleSet
    {
        IEnumerable EnforceOn(T obj);
        IRuleSet AddRule(Func rule, string description);
    }

    class Program
    {
        void Run()
        {
            var log = new ConsoleLogger();
            var factory = new SimpleRules();
            var rules = new RuleSets(factory);
            var validator = new Validator(log, rules.RulesForTable1, rules.RulesForTable2);

            var toValidate = new List();
            toValidate.Add(new Table1());
            toValidate.Add(new Table2());

            foreach (var validatable in toValidate)
                validatable.Accept(validator);
        }
    }
}