Cyclic dependency with ninject

Question

I'm trying to figure out correct way how to bind something like this with ninject.

interface IMainService
{
    void DoStuff();
}

interface IOtherService
{
    void DoSomeMagic();
}

abstract class BaseClass
{
    //many stuff here
}

class MainClass : BaseClass, IMainService
{
    public MainClass(IOtherService s)
    {
    }

    public void DoStuff()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    //do many other things
}

class OtherClass : IOtherService
{
    public OtherClass(IMainService s)
    {
    }

    public void DoSomeMagic()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

class BaseModule : NinjectModule
{
    public override void Load()
    {
        Bind<MainClass>().To<MainClass>();
        Bind<IMainService>().To<MainClass>();
        Bind<IOtherService>().To<OtherClass>();
    }
}

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var kernel = new StandardKernel(new BaseModule());
        var main = kernel.Get<MainClass>();
    }
}

It gives me exception:

Error activating IOtherService using binding from IOtherService to OtherClass
A cyclical dependency was detected between the constructors of two services.

Activation path:
  4) Injection of dependency IOtherService into parameter s of constructor of type MainClass
  3) Injection of dependency IMainService into parameter s of constructor of type OtherClass
  2) Injection of dependency IOtherService into parameter s of constructor of type MainClass
  1) Request for MainClass

Suggestions:
  1) Ensure that you have not declared a dependency for IOtherService on any implementations of the service.
  2) Consider combining the services into a single one to remove the cycle.
  3) Use property injection instead of constructor injection, and implement IInitializable if you need initialization logic to be run after property values have been injected.

I don't know how to write BaseModule. I need only one instance of MainClass and one instance of OtherClass (like singletons).

I tried things like that:

Bind<MainClass>().To<MainClass>().InSingletonScope();
Bind<IMainService>().To<MainClass>().InRequestScope();
Bind<IOtherService>().To<OtherClass>().InSingletonScope();

But with same error.

And how to write binding for using only one instance for MainClass and IMainService interfaces?

Thanks for answers.

Answer 1

As the error message says, you have a cyclic dependency between MainClass and OtherClass since you can't create one without an instance of the other. Ideally, you should restructure your class heirarchy to remove this requirement.

If you can't, the solution is to use property injection for one (or both) of the classes, e.g.

public interface IMainService
{
    void DoStuff();
    IOtherService OtherService { set; }
}

public class MainClass
{
    public IOtherService OtherService { get; set; }
    public void DoStuff() { ... }
}

public class OtherService
{
    public OtherService(IMainService main)
    {
        main.OtherService = this;
    }
}