What is IoC Container or DI Container

IoC Container or DI Container: An Overview

The terms Dependency Injection (DI) and Inversion of Control (IoC) are generally used interchangeably to describe the same design pattern. Hence, some people say IoC Container and some people say DI container, but both terms indicate the same thing. So don't be confused by the terminology.

The IoC container, also known as a DI Container, is a framework for implementing automatic dependency injection very effectively. It manages the complete object creation and its lifetime and injects the dependencies into the classes.

We will be learning more about IoC container or DI container in this Design Patterns Tutorial. To explore various other concepts of design patterns in C# with real-world examples, enroll in our .NET Design Patterns Training Course right now!

For more help with DI and IoC, see Understanding Inversion of Control, Dependency Injection, and Service Locator, as well as Dependency Injection in ASP.NET MVC using Unity IoC Container.

What is a DI Container?

A DI Container is a framework that creates dependencies and injects them automatically when required. It automatically creates objects based on the request and injects them when required. DI Containers help us manage dependencies within the application simply and easily.

The DI container creates an object of the defined class and also injects all the required dependencies as an object, a constructor, a property, or a method that is triggered at runtime and disposes itself at the appropriate time. This process is completed so that we don't have to create and manage objects manually all the time.

We can also manage application dependencies without a DI Container, but it will be as POOR MAN’S DI and we have to do more work to make it configured and manageable.

Lifecycle of the DI Containers

All the containers of DI should be passed through the different sets of statuses until the conclusion is made, which includes the below lifecycle stages.

• Register: The container should be registered or initiated as soon as it gets the specific type, which is called the register stage.
• Resolve: While using the DI containers, we do not have to create manual objects. The container does it for us. This is called the resolution phase. The DI container must include some of the methods to resolve the specified type as soon as it is identified. The respective container creates an object of the specified type, along with injecting the required dependencies if any of them are required, and at last, it returns the object.
• Dispose: The DI containers must be able to manage the lifetime of the dependent objects accordingly. Most of the DI containers include different lifetime managers, who are responsible for managing an object's lifecycle and disposing of it.

List of popular DI Container for .NET

Today, many excellent DI Containers are available for .NET. Here is a list of the most useful DI containers for the .Net framework.

Castle Windsor

1. Based on the Castle MicroKernel.

2. Well documented and used by many.

3. Understands Decorator

4. Typed factories

5. Commercial support available

StructureMap

1. It has been around since June 2004

2. It is actively developed and works in many cases

Spring.NET

1. INTERCEPTION

2. Comprehensive documentation

3. Commercial support available

Autofac

1. Easy to learn API

2. second-generation IoC Container C#

3. Commercial support available

Unity

1. INTERCEPTION

2. Good documentation

3. Consistent API

Ninject

1. Easy to learn API

2. Second-generation IoC Container C#

Summary:

DI is one of the robust design principles that require the introduction of different types of controls in object-oriented designs (OODs) to achieve a loosely coupled relationship between the application classes. When it comes to coupling, control refers to any additional responsibilities a class has; other than that, its main responsibility is to control the application flow accordingly.

Consider enrolling in a .NET Design Patterns Course to get started with the IoC container in real time. I hope you will use one of the IoC containers within your .NET application. I would like feedback from my blog readers. Your valuable feedback, questions, or comments about this article are always welcome.