Instance per matching lifetime scope, with default?

Question

I'd like to have an instance per matching lifetime scoped registration in Autofac, but occasionally need to request an instance from a global container (where there is no matching lifetime scope). In scenarios where no matching lifetime scope exists, I want to give a top-level instance instead of throwing an exception.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

I think you'd better extend Autofac by introducing a new lifetime option. I took the Autofac sources and modified them a bit:

public static class RegistrationBuilderExtensions
{
    public static IRegistrationBuilder<TLimit, TActivatorData, TRegistrationStyle> InstancePerMatchingOrRootLifetimeScope<TLimit, TActivatorData, TRegistrationStyle>(this IRegistrationBuilder<TLimit, TActivatorData, TRegistrationStyle> builder, params object[] lifetimeScopeTag)
    {
        if (lifetimeScopeTag == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("lifetimeScopeTag");
        builder.RegistrationData.Sharing = InstanceSharing.Shared;
        builder.RegistrationData.Lifetime = new MatchingScopeOrRootLifetime(lifetimeScopeTag);
        return builder;
    }
}

public class MatchingScopeOrRootLifetime: IComponentLifetime
{
    readonly object[] _tagsToMatch;

    public MatchingScopeOrRootLifetime(params object[] lifetimeScopeTagsToMatch)
    {
        if (lifetimeScopeTagsToMatch == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("lifetimeScopeTagsToMatch");

        _tagsToMatch = lifetimeScopeTagsToMatch;
    }

    public ISharingLifetimeScope FindScope(ISharingLifetimeScope mostNestedVisibleScope)
    {
        if (mostNestedVisibleScope == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("mostNestedVisibleScope");

        var next = mostNestedVisibleScope;
        while (next != null)
        {
            if (_tagsToMatch.Contains(next.Tag))
                return next;

            next = next.ParentLifetimeScope;
        }

        return mostNestedVisibleScope.RootLifetimeScope;
    }
}

Just add these classes to your project and register you component as:

builder.RegisterType<A>.InstancePerMatchingOrRootLifetimeScope("TAG");

I haven't tried it myself, but it should work.