IOC Lite is an IOC container that can be used in projects that need a lightweight internal DI container. It can be especially useful if you are building a library and need to use an IOC container, but also want to provide your users with an easy way to either use your internal IOC to register their own dependencies or swap out your internal IOC container and use their own container like Structure Map, or Castle Windsor.

IOC Lite is not a full fledged IOC Container like StructureMap, or Castle Windsor and only supports a subset of their functionality. However, it does support constructor injection and object lifetime management.

To get started with IOC Lite, in your Global.asax create a new instance of Container.

protected void Application_Start()
{
    _container = new Container();
}

##Register

To register your dependencies create a new class that dervies from Registry and override the Load() method.

public class IocRegistry : Registry
{
    public override void Load()
    {
        For<IVideoGameRepository>().Use<VideoGameRepository>();
        For<IConsoleRepository>().Use<ConsoleRepository>();
    }
}

IOC Lite provides a fluent interface for registering your dependencies.

When registering dependencies you can also specify the object lifetime. By default dependencies will use the Default Scope and a new instance of the type will be created everytime you request one from the container.

public class IocRegistry : Registry
{
    public override void Load()
    {
        For<IVideoGameRepository>().Use<VideoGameRepository>().InSingletonScope();
        For<IConsoleRepository>().Use<ConsoleRepository>();
    }
}

Back in your Global.asax, call the Register method on the container and pass it a list of your registries:

protected void Application_Start()
{
    _container = new Container();
    _container.Register(new List<IRegistry>
    {
        new IocRegistry()
    });
}

##Resolve

To resolve an instance of a type you can use the following methods on the container.

var instance = _container.Resolve(typeof(IVideoGameRepository));

var instance = _container.Resolve<IVideoGameRepository>();

###Release

IOC Lite provides a few options for object lifetime management. By default types registered with the container will be created each time you try and resolve the type from the container. You can optionally change the scope of the object to one of the following object scopes: