Cross-Service Integration Workflow

When to Use This Skill

• Designing service-to-service communication
• Implementing data synchronization
• Analyzing service boundaries
• Troubleshooting cross-service issues

Pre-Flight Checklist

• Identify source and target services
• Determine data ownership
• Choose communication pattern (sync vs async)
• Map data transformation requirements

Service Boundaries

EasyPlatform Services

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        EasyPlatform Platform                          │
├───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬────────────────────┤
│ TextSnippet  │ TextSnippet   │ TextSnippet  │ TextSnippet      │
│ (Example) │ (Example) │ (Example)     │ (Example)        │
├───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴────────────────────┤
│                         Accounts Service                            │
│                    (Authentication & Users)                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                      Shared Infrastructure                          │
│              RabbitMQ │ Redis │ MongoDB │ PostgreSQL                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Communication Patterns

Pattern 1: Entity Event Bus (Recommended)

Use when: Source service owns data, target services need copies.

Source Service                    Target Service
┌────────────┐                   ┌────────────┐
│  Employee  │──── Create ────▶ │ Repository │
│ Repository │                   └────────────┘
└────────────┘                          │
      │                                 │
      │ Auto-raise                      │
      ▼                                 ▼
┌────────────┐                   ┌────────────┐
│  Producer  │── RabbitMQ ────▶ │  Consumer  │
└────────────┘                   └────────────┘

Implementation:

// Producer (Source: Accounts)
internal sealed class EmployeeEntityEventBusMessageProducer
    : PlatformCqrsEntityEventBusMessageProducer<EmployeeEntityEventBusMessage, Employee, string>
{
    public override async Task<bool> HandleWhen(PlatformCqrsEntityEvent<Employee> @event)
        => @event.EntityData.IsActive || @event.CrudAction == PlatformCqrsEntityEventCrudAction.Deleted;
}

// Consumer (Target: TextSnippet)
internal sealed class UpsertEmployeeConsumer
    : PlatformApplicationMessageBusConsumer<EmployeeEntityEventBusMessage>
{
    public override async Task HandleLogicAsync(EmployeeEntityEventBusMessage message, string routingKey)
    {
        // Wait for dependencies
        // Handle Create/Update/Delete
    }
}

Pattern 2: Direct API Call

Use when: Real-time data needed, no local copy required.

// In TextSnippet, calling Accounts API
public class AccountsApiClient
{
    private readonly HttpClient _client;

    public async Task<UserDto?> GetUserAsync(string userId)
    {
        var response = await _client.GetAsync($"/api/User/{userId}");
        if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode) return null;
        return await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<UserDto>();
    }
}

Considerations:

• Add circuit breaker for resilience
• Cache responses when possible
• Handle service unavailability

Pattern 3: Shared Database View (Anti-Pattern!)

:x: DO NOT USE: Violates service boundaries

// WRONG - Direct cross-service database access
var accountsData = await accountsDbContext.Users.ToListAsync();

Data Ownership Matrix

Entity	Owner Service	Consumers
User	Accounts	All services
Employee	TextSnippet	TextSnippet, TextSnippet
Candidate	TextSnippet	TextSnippet (on hire)
Company	Accounts	All services
Survey	TextSnippet	TextSnippet

Synchronization Patterns

Full Sync (Initial/Recovery)

// For initial data population or recovery
public class FullSyncJob : PlatformApplicationBackgroundJobExecutor
{
    public override async Task ProcessAsync(object? param)
    {
        // Fetch all from source
        var allEmployees = await sourceApi.GetAllAsync();

        // Upsert to local
        foreach (var batch in allEmployees.Batch(100))
        {
            await localRepo.CreateOrUpdateManyAsync(
                batch.Select(MapToLocal),
                dismissSendEvent: true);
        }
    }
}

Incremental Sync (Event-Driven)

// Normal operation via message bus
internal sealed class EmployeeSyncConsumer : PlatformApplicationMessageBusConsumer<EmployeeEventBusMessage>
{
    public override async Task HandleLogicAsync(EmployeeEventBusMessage message, string routingKey)
    {
        // Check if newer than current (race condition prevention)
        if (existing?.LastMessageSyncDate > message.CreatedUtcDate)
            return;

        // Apply change
        await ApplyChange(message);
    }
}

Conflict Resolution

// Use LastMessageSyncDate for ordering
entity.With(e => e.LastMessageSyncDate = message.CreatedUtcDate);

// Only update if message is newer
if (existing.LastMessageSyncDate <= message.CreatedUtcDate)
{
    await repository.UpdateAsync(updatedEntity);
}

Integration Checklist

Before Integration

• Define data ownership clearly
• Document which fields sync
• Plan for missing dependencies
• Define conflict resolution strategy

Implementation

• Message defined in PlatformExampleApp.Shared
• Producer filters appropriate events
• Consumer waits for dependencies
• Race condition handling implemented
• Soft delete handled

Testing

• Create event flows correctly
• Update event flows correctly
• Delete event flows correctly
• Out-of-order messages handled
• Missing dependency handled
• Force sync works

Troubleshooting

Message Not Arriving

# Check RabbitMQ queues
rabbitmqctl list_queues

# Check producer is publishing
grep -r "HandleWhen" --include="*Producer.cs" -A 5

# Check consumer is registered
grep -r "AddConsumer" --include="*.cs"

Data Mismatch

# Compare source and target counts
# In source service DB
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Employees WHERE IsActive = 1;

# In target service DB
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SyncedEmployees;

Stuck Messages

// Check for waiting dependencies
Logger.LogWarning("Waiting for Company {CompanyId}", companyId);

// Force reprocess
await messageBus.PublishAsync(message.With(m => m.IsForceSync = true));

Anti-Patterns to AVOID

:x: Direct database access

// WRONG
await otherServiceDbContext.Table.ToListAsync();

:x: Synchronous cross-service calls in transaction

// WRONG
using var transaction = await db.BeginTransactionAsync();
await externalService.NotifyAsync();  // If fails, transaction stuck
await transaction.CommitAsync();

:x: No dependency waiting

// WRONG - FK violation if company not synced
await repo.CreateAsync(employee);  // Employee.CompanyId references Company

// CORRECT
await Util.TaskRunner.TryWaitUntilAsync(() => companyRepo.AnyAsync(...));

:x: Ignoring message order

// WRONG - older message overwrites newer
await repo.UpdateAsync(entity);

// CORRECT - check timestamp
if (existing.LastMessageSyncDate <= message.CreatedUtcDate)

Verification Checklist

• Data ownership clearly defined
• Message bus pattern used (not direct DB)
• Dependencies waited for in consumers
• Race conditions handled with timestamps
• Soft delete synchronized properly
• Force sync mechanism available
• Monitoring/alerting in place

IMPORTANT Task Planning Notes

• Always plan and break many small todo tasks
• Always add a final review todo task to review the works done at the end to find any fix or enhancement needed