Transfer repository data to MVC Model - asp.net-mvc-3

I am getting an error
Error 826 Cannot implicitly convert type 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable' to 'OVR.Models.ChildInfoModel'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) C:\dev.....\Controllers\NewRecordController.cs 129 34 OVR
public ActionResult ChildInfo(ChildInfoModel childInfoModel)
{
//INewRecord newRecord = (INewRecord)TempData["newRecord"];
if (TempData["CertNum"].ToString() == "")
{
return View();
}
else
{
string certNum = (string)TempData["CertNum"];
//call up Child Info Screen
var repo = new Get_Home_Repository();
childInfoModel = repo.Get_Screen_DataDS(certNum, "ChildInfo");
//childInfoModel = cModel;
return View(childInfoModel);
}
}
TempData["CertNum"] contains the value I need
The View is strongly typed to the model with #model OVR.Models.ChildInfoModel
I added in the parameter (ChildInfoModel childInfoModel) but if a link is not clicked a blank page is to be pulled up and allowed to be filled out, otherwise I pass in the parameters needed to pull data from a repository which it then populates the interface IChildInfo of which contains the data from a list as IEnumerable. I figured I could somehow explicitly convert .. or that the Interface IChildInfo needs to get updated in order to pass back the model to the view. How do I get the model populated from the repository data?

What is Get_Screen_DataDS returning? Whats the method signature return? It seems you are returning IEnumerable from Get_Screen_DS - what is this an IEnumerable of?
You are assigning to an instance of childInfoModel which I'm assuming is not an IEnumerable but I can't really tell from what you have posted.
Should you be returning an IEnumerable? If ChildInfoModel implements IEnumerable then just simply cast it
childInfoModel = (ChildInfoModel) repo.Get_Screen_DataDS(certNum, "ChildInfo");
However in this case you should probably just hat Get_Screen_DataDS return type ChildInfoModel.
Also, it will help you much in the long haul to stick to consistent and standard .net naming conventions.
var repo would be var repository.
GetScreenDataDS would be.... GetScreenData() or GetScreenDataByCert()
FxCop rules can help you with this : ) Just my extra .00000002

Related

Set value in model when dynamically creating object of model

I have a bunch of models that may or may not have a property "CommonProperty". I want to set that property when I am creating a new object of a selected model. What I have so far, which works is:
ModuleItem model = db.ModuleItems.Find(ModuleItemID);
object o = GetModuleType(model.ControllerName);
private object GetModuleType(string ModelName)
{
string projectName = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name;
Type classtype = Type.GetType(string.Format("{0}.Models.{1}", projectName, ModelName));
PropertyInfo[] properties = classtype.GetProperties();
var classObject = classtype.GetConstructor(new Type[] { }).Invoke(null);
return classObject;
}
What I want to achieve is to set CommonProperty:
o.CommonProperty = DistinctValue;
I tried creating a class that all of my models inherit from with a virtual method and each model then has an override method. Because its not static I can't call it directly and if I create a new ModelBase then when calling the method it doesn't get overriden by the type that object "o" is. I looked at creating an interface but 1 I don't even know how these work, and 2 (probably because of 1) I am not even able to create a way of doing this without build errors.
When stepping through the code I can see all the properties of "o" using the quickwatch or intellisense or whatever it's called. Clearly it is being recognised as the correct type. I can't seem to be able to call the method though because it's not a recognised (or set) type during build only during runtime and therefore I can't build the solution.
What I would do is create a base model (eg: BaseModel) for viewmodels that have the property CommonProperty then check whether the model is of type BaseModel then set the property
if (obj is BaseModel)
{
obj.CommonProperty = DistinctValue;
}
As it turns out I was way overthinking this. Typically the answer is ridiculously simple. No base model necessary, no overrides, no virtuals, no instances, dump it in a try catch and just set the value of the context object.
object o = GetModuleType(model.ControllerName);
db.Entry(o).State = EntityState.Added;
try
{
db.Entry(o).CurrentValues["CommonProperty"] = DistinctValue;
}
catch (Exception err) { }
I did have to make sure I set the state BEFORE setting a current value otherwise it wasn't in the context (or something like that).

ASP.NET MVC Converting null to zero-length string

I'm using MVC 3 and attempting to get fields left blank to be sent to the database as zero-length strings, instead of nulls. Is this possible to do with data annotation attributes?
If not, what is the most appropriate place to convert from nulls? Is it during model validation?
While not ideal, this is the best way I know of: [DisplayFormat(ConvertEmptyStringToNull = false)] above the property. It keeps the logic in the model, which is good practice, and it directly addresses the issue. It's just a bummer that this is necessary.
private string _summary = "";
[Required]
[DisplayFormat(ConvertEmptyStringToNull = false)]
public virtual string Summary
{
get { return _summary; }
set { _summary = value; }
}
I wouldn't do this in a validator, but probably in model binding instead (or even in the model itself).
Often, in my model classes, I set my string properties to default to an empty string, and in their setters, I convert nulls to empty strings.
It's kindof a pain to write this repetitive stuff over and over, but it's so much nicer to not have to deal with nulls.
Set the property equal to string.empty in the constructor.
Or, though this is a little more costly you could make an extension method that does the following and just call it in the constructor:
var stringPropertyInfos = GetType()
.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance|BindingFlags.Public)
.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(string));
foreach(var propertyInfo in stringPropertyInfos){
propertyInfo.SetValue(this,string.Empty,null);
}

Azure Table Storage, WCF Service and Enum

Here's my problem. A class which defines an order has a property called PaymentStatus, which is an enum defined like so:
public enum PaymentStatuses : int
{
OnDelivery = 1,
Paid = 2,
Processed = 3,
Cleared = 4
}
And later on, in the class itself, the property definition is very simple:
public PaymentStatuses? PaymentStatus { get; set; }
However, if I try to save an order to the Azure Table Storage, I get the following exception:
System.InvalidOperationException: The type Order+PaymentStatuses' has no settable properties.
At this point I thought using enum isn't possible, but a quick Google search returned this: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazure/thread/7eb1a2ca-6c1b-4440-b40e-012db98ccb0a
This page lists two answers, one of which seems to ignore the problems and suggests that using an enum in Azure Storage is fine.
Now, I don't NEED to store the enum in the Azure Table Storage as such, I could just as well store a corresponding int, however, I do need this property to be exposed in the WCF service.
I've tried making the property use get and set to return the enum from a stored integer, and remove this property from Azure by using the WritingEntity event on my DataContext, but I get that exception before the event for this entity is fired.
At this point, I'm at a loss, I don't know what else I can do to have this property in WCF as an enum, but have Azure store just the int.
Enum is not supported. Even though it is defined like an int, it is really not an integral type supported by Table Storage. Here is the list of types supported. An enum is just a string expression of an integral number with an object-oriented flavor.
You can store int in table storage and then convert it using Enum.Parse.
Here's a simple workaround:
public int MyEnumValue { get; set; } //for use by the Azure client libraries only
[IgnoreProperty] public MyEnum MyEnum
{
get { return (MyEnum) MyEnumValue; }
set { MyEnumValue = (int) value; }
}
It would have been nicer if a simple backing value could have been employed rather than an additional (public!) property - without the hassle of overriding ReadEntity/WriteEntity of course. I opened a user voice ticket that would facilitate that, so you might want to upvote it.
ya i was having this same problem
i changed my property which was earlier enum to int. now this int property parses the incoming int and saves it into a variale of the same enum type so now the code that was
public CompilerOutputTypes Type
{get; set;}
is chaged to
private CompilerOutputTypes type;
public int Type
{
get {return (int)type;}
set { type = (CompilerOutputTypes)value; }
}
Just suggestions...
I remember that in WCF you have to mark enums with special attributes: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa347875.aspx
Also, when you declare PaymentStatuses? PaymentStatus, you are declaring Nullable<PaymentStatuses> PaymentStatus. The ? sintax is just syntactic sugar. Try to remove the ? and see what happen (you could add a PaymentStatuses.NoSet = 0 , because the default value for an Int32 is 0).
Good luck.
Parvs solution put me on the right track but I had some minor adjustments.
private string _EnumType;
private EnumType _Type;
//*********************************************
//*********************************************
public string EnumType
{
get { return _Type.ToString(); }
set
{
_EnumType = value;
try
{
_Type = (EnumType)Enum.Parse(typeof(EnumType), value);
}
catch (Exception)
{
_EnumType = "Undefined";
_Type = [mynamespace].EnumType.Undefined;
}
}
}
I have come across a similar problem and have implemented a generic object flattener/recomposer API that will flatten your complex entities into flat EntityProperty dictionaries and make them writeable to Table Storage, in the form of DynamicTableEntity.
Same API will then recompose the entire complex object back from the EntityProperty dictionary of the DynamicTableEntity.
This is relevant to your question because the ObjectFlattenerRecomposer API supports flattening property types that are normally not writeable to Azure Table Storage like Enum, TimeSpan, all Nullable types, ulong and uint by converting them into writeable EntityProperties.
The API also handles the conversion back to the original complex object from the flattened EntityProperty Dictionary. All that the client needs to do is to tell the API, I have this EntityProperty Dictionary that I just read from Azure Table (in the form of DynamicTableEntity.Properties), can you convert it to an object of this specific type. The API will recompose the full complex object with all of its properties including 'Enum' properties with their original correct values.
All of this flattening and recomposing of the original object is done transparently to the client (user of the API). Client does not need to provide any schema or any knowledge to the ObjectFlattenerRecomposer API about the complex object that it wants to write, it just passes the object to the API as 'object' to flatten it. When converting it back, the client only needs to provide the actual type of object it wants the flattened EntityProperty Dictionary to be converted to. The generic ConvertBack method of the API will simply recompose the original object of Type T and return it to the client.
See the usage example below. The objects do not need to implement any interface like 'ITableEntity' or inherit from a particular base class either. They do not need to provide a special set of constructors.
Blog: https://doguarslan.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/writing-complex-objects-to-azure-table-storage/
Nuget Package: https://www.nuget.org/packages/ObjectFlattenerRecomposer/
Usage:
//Flatten object (ie. of type Order) and convert it to EntityProperty Dictionary
Dictionary<string, EntityProperty> flattenedProperties = EntityPropertyConverter.Flatten(order);
// Create a DynamicTableEntity and set its PK and RK
DynamicTableEntity dynamicTableEntity = new DynamicTableEntity(partitionKey, rowKey);
dynamicTableEntity.Properties = flattenedProperties;
// Write the DynamicTableEntity to Azure Table Storage using client SDK
//Read the entity back from AzureTableStorage as DynamicTableEntity using the same PK and RK
DynamicTableEntity entity = [Read from Azure using the PK and RK];
//Convert the DynamicTableEntity back to original complex object.
Order order = EntityPropertyConverter.ConvertBack<Order>(entity.Properties);

How do I delete records from a child collection in LINQ to SQL?

I have two tables in my database connected by foreign keys: Page (PageId, other data) and PageTag (PageId, Tag). I've used LINQ to generate classes for these tables, with the page as the parent and the Tag as the child collection (one to many relationship). Is there any way to mark PageTag records for deletion from the database from within the Page class?
Quick Clearification:
I want the child objects to be deleted when the parent DataContext calls SubmitChanges(), not before. I want TagString to behave exactly like any of the other properties of the Page object.
I would like to enable code like the following:
Page page = mDataContext.Pages.Where(page => page.pageId = 1);
page.TagString = "new set of tags";
//Changes have not been written to the database at this point.
mDataContext.SubmitChanges();
//All changes should now be saved to the database.
Here is my situation in detail:
In order to make working with the collection of tags easier, I've added a property to the Page object that treats the Tag collection as a string:
public string TagString {
get {
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PageTag tag in PageTags) {
output.Append(tag.Tag + " ");
}
if (output.Length > 0) {
output.Remove(output.Length - 1, 1);
}
return output.ToString();
}
set {
string[] tags = value.Split(' ');
PageTags.Clear();
foreach (string tag in tags) {
PageTag pageTag = new PageTag();
pageTag.Tag = tag;
PageTags.Add(pageTag);
}
}
}
Basically, the idea is that when a string of tags is sent to this property, the current tags of the object are deleted and a new set is generated in their place.
The problem I'm encountering is that this line:
PageTags.Clear();
Doesn't actually delete the old tags from the database when changes are submitted.
Looking around, the "proper" way to delete things seems to be to call the DeleteOnSubmit method of the data context class. But I don't appear to have access to the DataContext class from within the Page class.
Does anyone know of a way to mark the child elements for deletion from the database from within the Page class?
After some more research, I believe I've managed to find a solution. Marking an object for deletion when it's removed from a collection is controlled by the DeleteOnNull parameter of the Association attribute.
This parameter is set to true when the relationship between two tables is marked with OnDelete Cascade.
Unfortunately, there is no way to set this attribute from within the designer, and no way to set it from within the partial class in the *DataContext.cs file. The only way to set it without enabling cascading deletes is to manually edit the *DataContext.designer.cs file.
In my case, this meant finding the Page association, and adding the DeleteOnNull property:
[Association(Name="Page_PageTag", Storage="_Page", ThisKey="PageId", OtherKey="iPageId", IsForeignKey=true)]
public Page Page
{
...
}
And adding the DeleteOnNull attribute:
[Association(Name="Page_PageTag", Storage="_Page", ThisKey="PageId", OtherKey="iPageId", IsForeignKey=true, DeleteOnNull = true)]
public Page Page
{
...
}
Note that the attribute needed to be added to the Page property of the PageTag class, not the other way around.
See also:
Beth Massi -- LINQ to SQL and One-To-Many Relationships
Dave Brace -- LINQ to SQL: DeleteOnNull
Sorry, my bad. That won't work.
It really looks like you need to be doing this in your repository, rather than in your Page class. There, you have access to your original data context.
There is a way to "attach" the original data context, but by the time you do that, it has become quite the code smell.
Do you have a relationship, in your Linq to SQL entity diagram, linking the Page and PageTags tables? If you don't, that is why you can't see the PageTags class from the Page class.
If the foreign key in the PageTags database table is set to Allow Nulls, Linq to SQL will not create the link when you drag the tables into the designer, even if you created a relationship on the SQL Server.
This is one of those areas where OR mapping can get kind of hairy. Providing this TagString property makes things a bit more convenient, but in the long run it obfuscates what is really happening when someone utilizes the TagString property. By hiding the fact that your performing data modification, someone can very easily come along and set the TagString without using your Page entity within the scope of a DataContext, which could lead to some difficult to find bugs.
A better solution would be to add a Tags property on the Page class with the L2S model designer, and require that the PageTags be edited directly on the Tags property, within the scope of a DataContext. Make the TagString property read only, so it can be genreated (and still provide some convenience), but eliminate the confusion and difficulty around setting that property. This kind of change clarifies intent, and makes it obvious what is happening and what is required by consumers of the Page object to make it happen.
Since Tags is a property of your Page object, as long as it is attached to a DataContext, any changes to that collection will properly trigger deletions or insertions in the database in response to Remove or Add calls.
Aaron,
Apparently you have to loop thru your PageTag records, calling DeleteOnSubmit for each one. Linq to SQL should create an aggregate query to delete all of the records at once when you call SubmitChanges, so overhead should be minimal.
replace
PageTags.Clear();
with
foreach (PageTag tag in PageTags)
myDataContext.DeleteOnSubmit(tag);
Aaron:
Add a DataContext member to your PageTag partial class.
partial class PageTag
{
DataClassesDataContext myDataContext = new DataClassesDataContext();
public string TagString {
..etc.
Larger code sample posted at Robert Harvey's request:
DataContext.cs file:
namespace MyProject.Library.Model
{
using Tome.Library.Parsing;
using System.Text;
partial class Page
{
//Part of Robert Harvey's proposed solution.
MyDataContext mDataContext = new TomeDataContext();
public string TagString {
get {
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PageTag tag in PageTags) {
output.Append(tag.Tag + " ");
}
if (output.Length > 0) {
output.Remove(output.Length - 1, 1);
}
return output.ToString();
}
set {
string[] tags = value.Split(' ');
//Original code, fails to mark for deletion.
//PageTags.Clear();
//Robert Harvey's suggestion, thorws exception "Cannot remove an entity that has not been attached."
foreach (PageTag tag in PageTags) {
mDataContext.PageTags.DeleteOnSubmit(tag);
}
foreach (string tag in tags) {
PageTag PageTag = new PageTag();
PageTag.Tag = tag;
PageTags.Add(PageTag);
}
}
}
private bool mIsNew;
public bool IsNew {
get {
return mIsNew;
}
}
partial void OnCreated() {
mIsNew = true;
}
partial void OnLoaded() {
mIsNew = false;
}
}
}
Repository Methods:
public void Save() {
mDataContext.SubmitChanges();
}
public Page GetPage(string pageName) {
Page page =
(from p in mDataContext.Pages
where p.FileName == pageName
select p).SingleOrDefault();
return page;
}
Usage:
[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
public ActionResult Edit(string pageName, FormCollection formValues) {
Page updatedPage = mRepository.GetPage(pageName);
//TagString is a Form value, and is set via UpdateModel.
UpdateModel(updatedPage, formValues.ToValueProvider());
updatedPage.FileName = pageName;
//At this point NO changes should have been written to the database.
mRepository.Save();
//All changes should NOW be saved to the database.
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Pages", new { PageName = pageName });
}

How would I get the column names from a Model LINQ?

I am looking to get a list of the column names returned from a Model. Anyone know how this would be done, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Example Code:
var project = db.Projects.Single(p => p.ProjectID.Equals(Id));
This code would return the Projects object, how would I get a list of all the column names in this Model.
Thanks
This would be nice to have as an extension method:
public static class LinqExtensions
{
public static ReadOnlyCollection<MetaDataMember> ColumnNames<TEntity> (this DataContext source)
{
return source.Mapping.MappingSource.GetModel (typeof (DataContext)).GetMetaType (typeof (TEntity)).DataMembers;
}
}
example:
var columnNames = myDataContext.ColumnNames<Orders> ();
Thanks guys, you got me started on the right track. I found my solution with the following code. I can then iterate through the DataMembers and pull out their individual properties such as name, type, etc.
var db = new GMPDataContext();
var columnNames = db.Mapping.MappingSource
.GetModel(typeof(GMPDataContext))
.GetMetaType(typeof(Project))
.DataMembers;
Your Projects wrapper will have a set of properties each with a [Column] attribute. So just use reflection to enumerate the properties with that attribute.
Using Todd Smiths(+1) solution you get all properties (included entity sets, etc).
To filter out all non-column properties this will do the trick:
var columnNames = db.ColumnNames<Orders>().Where(n => n.Member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Data.Linq.Mapping.ColumnAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault() != null).Select(n => n.Name);
I am sorry, I don't have working experience with LINQ.
This is purely based on looking at MSDN.
DataContext has a Mapping property, which returns an instance of MetaModel.
MetaModel has GetMetaType, which takes a Type. In your case it could be typeof(Project).
GetMetaType returns a MetaType which has the GetDataMember method, which takes a MemberInfo parameter. You will have to use reflection on your Projects object to get the MemberInfo object.
The MetaDataMember instance returned by GetDataMember should have all the things, you need.
I hope I am somewhat in right direction (purely looking at MSDN & traversing)
Your columns should be mapped as properties on your Project model. I'm not sure if you can get the underlying database structure when using LINQ to SQL. The entire point of LINQ to SQL is to abstract the database away.
Here an another way:
public string[] GetColumnNames()
{
var propnames = GetPropertyNames(_context.Users);
return propnames.ToArray();
}
static IEnumerable<string> GetPropertyNames<T>(IEnumerable<T> lst)
{
foreach (var pi in typeof(T).GetProperties())
{
yield return pi.Name;
}
}

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