I have my own controller, where I am making private instance of ApplicationDbContext. Question is, do I need to write Dispose method in every custom controller, like for regular DbContext, or ApplicationDbContext has some base class to inherit Dispose method?
public class DashboardController : Controller
{
private ApplicationDbContext db = new ApplicationDbContext();
public ActionResult Home()
{
return View();
}
public ActionResult Carousels()
{
IList<Carousel> list = db.Carousels.ToList();
if (list.Count() == 0)
{
ViewBag.Carousels = "0";
return View();
}
ViewBag.Carousels = "1";
return View(list);
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
}
I'm using ApplicationDbContext, generated from asp.net Identity, where I've added custom classes, so I need the instance of ApplicationDbContext to call a lists of my objects. In case where I have my own DbContext, beside ApplicationDbContext, I usually make BaseController class, where I override Dispose method, so I don't need to write this in every controller.
The problem is that I do not know how the identity works behind the scene completely. Is there anywhere else done override of Dispose method inside of Identity, or I can use base controller that will contain override Dispose method same as when I am using any other DbContext inside controller?
Base question I guess will be...Does ApplicationDbContext of Identity have any differences from any DbContext, because inherits from IdentityDbContext not DbContext
How can I access some ViewBag properties across all my views? I want to have some information like current user name, etc accessible everywhere, but without having to to specifically define the properties in each ActionResult method on my project
The best and straight forward way to accomplish your requirement is to make a Custom Base Controller and inherit your Controller from this Base Controller.
public class MyBaseController : Controller
{
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
ViewBag.someThing = "someThing"; //Add whatever
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
Now instead of inheriting Controller class,inherit MyBaseController in your Controller as shown :-
public class MyOtherController : MyBaseController
{
public ActionResult MyOtherAction()
{
//Your Stuff
return View();
}
//Other ActionResults
}
You can achieve what you want in a number of ways, each one with their pros and cons.
1. With a Base Class
public class BaseController : Controller
{
protected override ViewResult View(IView view, object model)
{
this.ViewBag.MyProperty = "value";
return base.View(view, model);
}
}
PROS: Quite simple to implement, few lines of code, highly reusable, can be opted-out at will (see comments below).
CONS: Being forced to derive all your controllers from a base class might have some impact, especially if you have a lot of controllers already in place and/or you need to derive them from other base classes.
2. With a Module
public class ViewBagPropertyModule: Module
{
protected override void AttachToComponentRegistration(IComponentRegistry cr,
IComponentRegistration reg)
{
Type limitType = reg.Activator.LimitType;
if (typeof(Controller).IsAssignableFrom(limitType))
{
registration.Activated += (s, e) =>
{
dynamic viewBag = ((Controller)e.Instance).ViewBag;
viewBag.MyProperty= "value";
};
}
}
}
PROS: None I’m aware of.
CONS: None I’m aware of (except being a bit counterintuitive).
3. With a RegisterController Hook
builder.RegisterControllers(asm)
.OnActivated(e => {
dynamic viewBag = ((Controller)e.Instance).ViewBag;
viewBag.MyProperty = "value";
});
PROS: Fast, secure, reusable: ideal for any IoC design pattern.
CONS: Not always suited for small project and/or simple websites: if you’re not using IoC you’re often not using RegisterController at all.
4. With an ActionFilter attribute
public class MyPropertyActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext)
{
filterContext.Controller.ViewBag.MyProperty = "value";
}
}
and then in your Global.asax.cs file:
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
GlobalFilters.Filters.Add(new MyPropertyActionFilter(), 0);
}
PROS: Easily the less-obtrusive method amongst those mentioned.
CONS: None I’m aware of.
I also wrote this article on my blog explaining all the above methods.
One way: Create a custom attribute, then you can apply it globally in the FilterConfig. Then you don't have to do anything in your controllers.
public class MyCustomViewActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
dynamic ViewBag = filterContext.Controller.ViewBag;
ViewBag.Id = "123";
ViewBag.Name = "Bob";
}
}
In App_Start/FilterConfig.cs:
public static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
{
filters.Add(new MyCustomViewActionFilter());
}
Another way if all you need is the User information. You can add the following to the top of your view:
#using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity
Then access your User Name using the following syntax:
#User.Identity.GetUserName()
You can also override the IPrincipal implementation and provide your own properties and methods to add more information you need to render.
UPDATE: looking at MVC 6 in Asp.Net vNext this is actually baked into the framework. http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/aspnet-vnext/vc#inj
My current solution:
Create a base controller with all needed properties (very useful and advisable).
public abstract class BaseController : Controller {
public string MyProperty { get; set; }
}
Inherits all your controllers, from the base controller.
public class MyController : BaseController {
//you can read your property here
}
In your views, add this line just after the "#model" sentence:
#{ BaseController ctr = ViewContext.Controller as BaseController; }
Now, you can use the property in your view, without populate the ViewBag, without the need of check and cast the ViewBag values, etc.
In the view, you can use an simple inline expression:
#(ctr.MyProperty)
Or do some magic logic...
#{
if(ctr.MyProperty == "whatelse") {
//do ...
}
}
Easy, fast and comfortable.
For Net Core 5 Mvc app:
Create a ActionFilter class first:
public class GlobalSettingFilter : IActionFilter
{
private IConfiguration configuration;
//For example will get data from the configuration object
public GlobalSettingFilter(IConfiguration configuration)
{
this.configuration = configuration;
}
public void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
//Populate the ViewData or ViewBag from your data source
(context.Controller as Controller).ViewData["helpUrl"] = configuration.GetValue<String>("helpUrl");
}
public void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext context){}
}
Then, on Startup add:
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
...
services.AddControllersWithViews(options =>
{
options.Filters.Add(new GlobalSettingFilter(Configuration));
});
}
Just for the sake of completeness, to get the configuration object use:
public class Startup
{
public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
{
Configuration = configuration;
}
public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }
...
}
You can create a base controller that is inherited by all of your controllers, and in this controller (the base one) add:
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
// Fill your global viewbag variables here
}
public abstract class MyControllerBase : Controller
{
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
// do some magic
}
}
All of my controllers inherit from MyControllerBase. The problem is that now I can't unit test certain methods because the filter sets some authorisation/logic flags which influence code path.
Is there any way to manually trigger OnActionExecuting? How does the pipeline trigger these events?
EDIT: to show a little more the idea behind this design in response to comments. I basically have something like this:
public abstract class MyControllerBase : Controller
{
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
UserProperties =
_userService
.GetUserProperties(filterContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name);
ViewBag.UserProperties = UserProperties;
}
public UserProperties { get; private set; }
public bool CheckSomethingAboutUser()
{
return UserProperties != null
&& UserProperties.IsAuthorisedToPerformThisAction;
}
// ... etc, other methods for querying UserProperties
}
So now anywhere in View or Controller I can get details of the current user, what is their email, what authorisation they have, which department they work for etc.
Example:
public class PurchasingController : MyControllerBase
{
public ActionResult RaisePurchaseOrder(Item item)
{
// can use UserProperties from base class to determine correct action...
if (UserProperties.CanRaiseOrders)
if (UserProperties.Department == item.AllocatedDepartment)
}
}
So this design works really nice, but as you can see testing the above action is difficult as I can't directly manipulate the UserProperties in the test set up.
I'm not sure you're suppose to override OnActionExecuting like that in MCV, normally I make an ActionFilterAttribute
public class SomeMagicAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
}
}
Then your class:
[SomeMagic]
public abstract class MyControllerBase : Controller
{
}
Then in your unit test you can just do
var magic = new SomeMagicAttribute();
var simulatedContext = new ActionExecutingContext();
magic.OnActionExecuting(simulatedContext);
I've got an abstract class shown below which gets inherited by all the other controllers. Is it possible to test this method at all? Btw, I'm trying to use MOQ but no luck. If you could help me will be much appreciated:
public abstract class ApplicationController : Controller
{
protected override void Initialize(System.Web.Routing.RequestContext requestContext)
{
base.Initialize(requestContext);
//do some stuff here
}
}
If you take a look at the source code of base Initialize method you will find out that what it does is that it sets up ControllerContext and url stuff. Now, download MvcContrib TestHelper and check out TestControllerBuilder . The builder sets up everything you need in order to have controller context and other stuff which you depend upon.
Ok, we are not over yet - you wanted to test your own override of Initialize right?
TestControllerBuilder doesnt call your Initialize because it does initialization in different way. I suggest you to factor out your custom Initialize() logic out into different method. Then create fake (stub) subclass with public method that calls this factored out protected Initialize. Are you with me?
something like:
public abstract class ApplicationController : Controller
{
protected override void Initialize(System.Web.Routing.RequestContext requestContext)
{
base.Initialize(requestContext);
MyInitialzie()
}
protected void MyInitialize()
{
ControllerContext.XXX // do whatewer you want here. Context is already setted up
}
}
class FakeController: ApplicationController
{
public void CallMyInitialize()
{
MyInitialize();
}
}
Later in test class:
[Test]
public void MyInitializeTest()
{
TestControllerBuilder builder = new TestControllerBuilder();
FakeController controller = new FakeController();
builder.InitializeController(controller);
controller.CallMyInitialize();
//TODO: verification of MyInitialize assumptions
}
Is that clear?
By any chance, is there any easy way to set a default MasterView for all the actions inside a specific controller?
For example If I have the HomeController I want all the actions inside it to inherit the Site.Master as default, but If I am inside AccountsController I want all the action to inherit the Admin.Master and so on..
I managed to do it with:
return View("viewName", "masterName", objectModel);
But by doing this I have to apply it every time I call the View method.
I was looking for something simpler like on rails where we can declare:
class HomeController < ApplicationController
layout 'site'
def index
end
def create
...
end
class AccountsController < ApplicationController
layout 'admin'
def index
end
def create
...
end
Is that possible?
Thanks in advance
You could override OnActionExecuting in that Controller class.
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
ViewData["MasterfileToUser"] = "site";
}
Or if you like you can turn this into an ActionFilterAttribute you can apply on the controller or action level
using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;
public class MasterFileFilterAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public string Master { get; set; }
public override void OnActionExecuted( ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
if (filterContext.Result is ViewResult)
((ViewResult)filterContext.Result).MasterName = Master;
}
}
which you then in turn use like so:
[MasterFileFilterAttribute(Master = "site")]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// Action methods
}