Is this the Crudy anti pattern?

Question

Currently I am creating a WCF service which has to connect to a DAL which, just connects to a database using ADO.net and stored procedures.

The DAl writes its responses from the database to a datacontract which is passed over the wire to the client via the service.

I was reading that this may possibly be the anti pattern 'CRudy Interface', but I wasn't sure as I am sharing the datacontract.

If I am using an anti pattern, can anyone suggest a better pattern to use for the behavior I require?

Answer 1

Well, there seems to be some controversy about the CRUDy pattern and it's pros and cons. At a minimum, I would call a service interface that makes you write this kind of code to use it an anti-pattern (as commented here):

service.CreateCustomer(c);

foreach(Group group in c.Groups)

  service.AddCustomerToGroup(c.CustomerId, group.GroupId);

foreach(Person person in c.Contacts)

  service.AddCustomerContact(c.CustomerId, person);

Is exposing CRUDy interfaces bad in itself? I wouldn't say so. What's important is to provide an interface which will

1. encapsulate knowledge about the underlying processes
2. not be very chatty

Answer 2

It does seem like the CRUD interface anti-pattern, but it would be good to see some interface examples to confirm.

This paper has a really good discussion on designing better service interfaces.

It includes a critique on, and alternative to, the CRUD anti-pattern.

Answer 3

If you have a cruddy use case to implement you will get a cruddy interface, don't sweat it. The anti-pattern is when you implement non-cruddy things in a cruddy way.