Design question - how atomic should a business layer method be?

Question

This issue is technology agnostic, but I am working with C# and ASP.NET and will use this for the pseudo code. Which is the better approach, and why?

1. Encapsulate logging, transaction and exception handling:

   protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    SomeBusinessClass.SomeBusinessMethod();
   }
   
   
   public class SomeBusinessClass {
     public void SomeBusinessMethod() {
       using (TransactionScope ts = new TransactionScope()) {
                   doStuff();
                   ts.Complete();
               }
               catch (Exception ex) {
                   LogError("An error occured while saving the order", ex);
               }
           }
       }
   }
   

2. Delegate logging, transaction and exception handling to the caller:

   protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
       using (TransactionScope ts = new TransactionScope()) {
             try {
                   SomeBusinessClass.SomeBusinessMethod();
                   ts.Complete();
             }
             catch (Exception ex) {
                   LogError("An error occured while saving the order", ex);
             }
        }
   }
   
   
   public class SomeBusinessClass {
     public void SomeBusinessMethod() {
         doStuff();
       }
   }
   

I am concerned that by introducing dependencies on logging, transactions, etc in my business logic code, I make it less generic. On the other hand, the UI code looks so much cleaner. I can't make the call. Let me know what other factors I should consider.

Answer 1

Anything that makes the UI thinner will make your life easier.

Answer 2

Transactions: a central concern of your business layer, so it should absolutely handle this (though you might centralize transaction handling via a unit of work implementation).

Exception Handling: use as needed in every layer - but only use it in the business layer when you can actually do something about it (not just log it). Use a global handler in the UI layer if your infrastructure supports one.

Logging: use trace or informational logging in whatever layers need it, only log exceptions in the top layer.

Answer 3

Use Inversion of Control:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
 new SomeBusinessClass(_logger, _dbcontext, _exceptionhandler).SomeBusinessMethod();
}

A better one would be

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  _mybusinessclass.SomeBusinessMethod();
}

where _mybusiness class is passed to your page via IoC container, along with populated _logger, _dbcontext, and _exceptionhandler. If you need to create _exceptionhandler manually, for example "new RedirectExceptionHandler(this)", then

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  _mybusinessclass.SomeBusinessMethod(new RedirectExceptionHandler(this));
}

Now it really boils down to your specific design decisions. Don't know how to do IoC in ASP.NET, though, since I use MVC.

Another option is to use Aspect Oriented Programming to catch exceptions and do logging. Yet another option (available in www.sharparchitecture.net) is to handle transactions declaratively using [Transaction] attributes on method.