As a novice am trying my hands on MVC3,razor, EF I have Three connected Tables that I want to produce a view from it. In a simpleton's brief the following are about the tables
PJUsers - ID, memUID(this unique Id from membership),FirstName,LastName
PJAwards - user nominates another user for an award, this links with awardtypesID as foreign key ( awardId,bool:awardok)
PJAwartypes - (awardtypeID, awardName)
The query in the controller is like this
var lists =
from tl in db.PJawards
join u in db.PJUsers on tl.nomineeId equals u.ID into tl_u
join i in db.PJUsers on tl.nominatorId equals i.MemUID into tl_i
where tl.awardOk
orderby tl.awardDated ascending
from u in tl_u.DefaultIfEmpty()
from i in tl_i.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new
{
Status = tl.awardOk,
nomineeFname = u.FirstName,
nomineeLname = u.LastName,
award = tl.PJawards.awardName,
Dated = tl.awardDated,
nominatorFname = i.FirstName,
nominatorLname = i.LastName,
nomineeCountry = u.Citizen,
nomineeResidence = u.Residence,
awardtypeId = tl.ID
};
somewhere i read that i have to construct a model class similar to the query in the controller
{
public class AwardUserInfo
{
public AwardUserInfo() { }
public bool Status { get; set; }
public string nomineeFname { get; set; }
public string nomineeLname { get; set; }
public string award { get; set; }
public string Dated { get; set; }
public string nominatorFname { get; set; }
public string nominatorLname { get; set; }
public string nomineeCountry { get; set; }
public string nomineeResidence { get; set; }
public int awardtypeId { get; set; }
}
}
Please I learn by examples so to be able to help me assume I don't know anything
somewhere i read that i have to construct a model class similar to the query in the controller
Try this.
I guess your ef-model is similar to
So You can create a ViewModel class
public class PJAwardsViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string NominatorFName { get; set; }
public string NomineeFname { get; set; }
public string AwardName { get; set; }
public bool IsAwarded { get; set; }
}
It will be also good if You add some service class
public class PJAwardsService
{
public static List<PJAwards> GetAll()
{
using (var context = new YourDBEntities())
{
return context.PJAwards
.Include(x => x.PJUsers)
.Include(x => x.PJUsers1)
.Include(x => x.PJAwartypes).ToList();
}
}
}
(Don't forget to write using System.Data.Entity;
)
Then You can add a ViewModelHelper class
public class PJAwardsViewModelHelper
{
public static PJAwardsViewModel PopulatePJAwardsViewModel(PJAwards pjaward)
{
return new PJAwardsViewModel
{
Id = pjaward.Id,
NominatorFName = pjaward.PJUsers.FirstName,
NomineeFname = pjaward.PJUsers1.FirstName,
AwardName = pjaward.PJAwartypes.AwardName,
IsAwarded = pjaward.IsAwarded
};
}
public static List<PJAwardsViewModel> PopulatePJAwardsViewModelList(List<PJAwards> pjawardsList)
{
return pjawardsList.Select(x => PopulatePJAwardsViewModel(x)).ToList();
}
}
At the end Your controller index method will look like this
public ActionResult Index()
{
var pjawards = PJAwardsViewModelHelper.PopulatePJAwardsViewModelList(PJAwardsService.GetAll().ToList());
return View(pjawards);
}
The only thing You should do is add a view (build the project before). Choose PJAwardsViewModel
as a Model class
and List
as a scaffold template
.
Enjoy it.
Here is a step by step guide by Steven Sanderson on how to use Asp.net MVC3, EF Code First with MVCScaffolding (powershell automation).
http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2011/01/13/scaffold-your-aspnet-mvc-3-project-with-the-mvcscaffolding-package/
It is a multipart blog post takes you through the exciting journey of MVC3.
All the best.