Repository Pattern and Azure Table Storage(???) - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

While doing the following simple example, I found the following difficulties
As the title says, I am intending to use the Repository pattern while I am storing data in the Azure table storage.now I have couple of classes, Repository.cs, IRepository.cs, DataContext.cs and the Controller.
During my reading I found some info and been doing as follows.
IRepository.cs
public interface IRepository<T> where T: TableServiceEntity
{
T GetById(int Id);
IQueryable<T> GetAll();
}
and the DataContext.cs
public class DataContext<T>:TableServiceContext where T:TableServiceEntity
{
public DataContext(CloudStorageAccount storageaccount, StorageCredentials credentials)
: base(storageaccount.TableEndpoint.AbsoluteUri, credentials)
{
// _storageAccount = storageaccount;
var storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(KEY_STORAGE));
storageAccount.CreateCloudTableClient().CreateTableIfNotExist(tableName);
}
public IQueryable<T> DeviceTable
{
get { return CreateQuery<T>(tableName); }
}
}
plus some part of the controller(I have already data in the table which I created before)
public class DeviceMeController : Controller
{
private IRepository<Entity>_repository;
public Controller() : this(new Repository<Entity>())
{
}
public Controller(IRepository<Entity> repository)
{
_repository = repository;
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
var List = _repository.GetAll();
return View(deviceList);
}
and the the Implementation of the interface Reposistory.cs, here is where I have an error and got lost somewhere
public class Repository<T>:IRepository<T> where T:TableServiceEntity
{
private DataContext<T> _serviceContext;
// here get tablename as pararameter;
// so the Enities call this function
public Repository()
{
// the same context for multiple tables ?
}
// perhaps it should take the table Name
public void Add(T item)
{
_serviceContext.AddObject(TableName,item);
_serviceContext.SaveChangesWithRetries();
}
public IQueryable<T> GetAll()
{
var results = from c in _serviceContext.Table
select c;
return results;
Error is about the null reference, the debugger shows the variable results is null?
In the end I need to know few things.
what should I do in the Repository.cs constructor? I believe the Datacontext.cs class has to be in a separate class ...
any Hint here

Answer 1

Hy,
first of all I presume you left out some code, because I don't see how you get your context in your repository. But supposing you do set it correctly, (injection?) taking into account the way you desinged your datacontext the repository doesn't need to know the table name because it is set in the following lines of code:
public IQueryable<T> DeviceTable
{
get { return CreateQuery<T>(Constants.DeviceTableName); }
}
So when you create a query based on the IQueryable DeviceTable, the table name is already set.
The thing is I don't see the need for your context class, especially as it can only bring over a single entity type (it is generic and based on an entity).
A basic layout of my Repository for Azure Table Storage is:
public abstract class CloudRepository<TEntity> : ICloudRepository<TEntity>
{
private TableServiceContext _tableServiceContext;
private string _tableName;
public string TableName
{
get { return _tableName ?? ( _tableName = typeof(TEntity).Name.Replace("Entity", string.Empty).ToLower()); }
}
public CloudStorageAccount StorageAccount
{
get
{
return CloudStorageAccount.Parse(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("StorageConnectionString"));
}
}
public CloudTableClient TableClient
{
get
{
CloudTableClient cloudTableClient = StorageAccount.CreateCloudTableClient();
cloudTableClient.CreateTableIfNotExist(TableName);
return cloudTableClient;
}
}
public TableServiceContext ServiceContext
{
get
{
return _tableServiceContext ?? (_tableServiceContext = TableClient.GetDataServiceContext());
}
}
public IEnumerable<TEntity> FindAll()
{
return ServiceContext.CreateQuery<TEntity>(TableName).ToList();
}
}
Hope this helps you.