ASP.NET Dynamic Data DisplayColumn Attribute Causing Sorting Issue - asp.net

Using ASP.NET Dynamic Data with a LINQ to SQL DataContext from the Northwind Database...
When I add a DisplayColumn Attribute to one of my LINQ to SQL entity classes and reference a property from my custom code in the partial class, I lose the ability to sort by that column in the generated GridViews. I continue to lose the ability to sort even if I reference a non-custom property as the sortColumn.
Why is this happening?
Example Code:
[DisplayColumn("LastNameFirstName", "LastName", false)]
public partial class Employee
{
public string LastNameFirstName
{
get { return LastName + ", " + FirstName; }
}
}
Aaron
EDIT: The sortColumn specifies the column that will be used to sort this entity when it is used as a foreign key (in a DropDownList), not when it is being sorted in the GridView.

That is correct because the property is not in the DB and linq to SQL will try to construct a T-SQL quert to the DB to get your entities. but will fail because these is no column with that name.

This may be by Design...
The "sortColumn" specifies the column that will be used to sort this entity when it is used as a foreign key (in a DropDownList), not when it is being sorted in the GridView.

You could try overriding the ToString() method that might work but it would only filter on the entity referenced by the FK relationship.

Try adding [ScaffoldColumn(true)] - it might trick dynamic data to enable sorting
[DisplayColumn("LastNameFirstName", "LastName", false)]
public partial class Employee
{
[ScaffoldColumn(true)]
public string LastNameFirstName
{
get { return LastName + ", " + FirstName; }
}
}

Related

Entity Framework 5: Using DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed option

I have an EF5 code first project that uses the [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)] attribute.
This option is overriding my settings.
Consider this SQL table:
CREATE TABLE Vehicle (
VehicleId int identity(1,1) not null,
Name varchar(100) not null default ('Not Set')
)
I am using the SQL default construct to set the [Name] is case it is not set.
In code behind, I have a class defined similar to:
public class Vehicle {
...
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
public string ShoulderYN { get; set; }
}
When I update the entity in code, the value set in the default overrides my new setting.
In code, I have (pseudo):
vehicle.Name = 'Update Name of Vehicle';
_dbContext.Update(vehicle);
_dbContext.SaveChanges();
The expected result is Vehicle.Name = 'Update Name of Vehicle'.
The actual result is Vehicle.Name = 'Not Set'.
Is there a way in EF5 to say:
if Vehicle.Name is null/empty, use the value defined in the database? Otherwise, if I set the value in code, I want to use this value.
Apparently, no there isn't. It's not that smart :)
As you may already read, Computed option just tells the EF not to update your column, because you will compute a value on the DB-side yourself. EF will then just return newly computed value from your database (which in your case is "Not Set").
Your basic three options are - as per EF Source code documentation:
None - The database does not generate values.
Identity - The database generates a value when a row is inserted.
Computed - The database generates a value when a row is inserted or updated.
https://github.com/aspnet/EntityFramework6/blob/527ae18fe23f7649712e9461de0c90ed67c3dca9/src/EntityFramework/DataAnnotations/Schema/DatabaseGeneratedOption.cs
Since you expect a little more custom logic to be done, I'm afraid you would have to do it yourself. I would suggest you stop relying on database default constraint and do everything in code first approach. This way you would have a code like that:
public class Vehicle
{
public Vehicle()
{
this.Name = "Not set";
}
// Without 'Generated' attribute
public string Name { get; set; }
}
This way, when your Entity is created, it automatically starts with expected default value. And can be later changed by simply modifying the Name property.
Hope it helps!
Actually there is a simple solution for this:
You need to leave default constraint with value in table creation script as it is now:
CREATE TABLE Vehicle (
VehicleId int identity(1,1) not null,
Name varchar(100) not null default ('Not Set')
)
Just remove DatabaseGenerated attribute from property in class definition:
public class Vehicle {
...
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
public string ShoulderYN { get; set; }
}
And that's it: now database will use default value only if you do not specify some value in code. Hope this helps.
I checked this for hours to get good answer but no:
EF cannot update models by automatic generated-ID.
You have 3 options:
Adding another VehicleId to Vehicle model.
Change automatic generated-ID to be manual generated by you.
Setting unique identifier to be something else then the generated-ID in your
model.
In your Vehicle Class it can be the Name property.
I suggest you option 3:
Setting up unique-id to be Vehicle.Name (and you can add more properties).
Then: if vehicle by unique-id doesn't exists, add new vehicle to db-context:
//if there is no such a Vehicle in system, add it:
if (vehicle.Name !=null && vehicle.Name != String.Empty && _dbContext.Where(v => v.Name == vehicle.Name).FirstOrDefault() == null)
_dbContext.Add(vehicle);
_dbContext.SaveChanges();

ServiceStack ORMLite - Select columns

I recently started working with ServiceStack and its ORMLite framework. I have searched on Google and browsed the source code but couldn't find anything relevent.
Is there any way to select specific columns when executing a query with ORMLite ?
Something like that : Db.First<Model>(q => q.Id == someId, "Column1, Column2")
Unless I missed this feature, I am surprised nobody asked about this before, since this is one the rule of thumbs to optimize your DB transactions.
If you want to specify columns other that the table you need to use SQL as seen in this earlier example
So in your case you could do something like:
Db.First<Model>("SELECT Column1, Column2 FROM AnyTableOrView");
You can also create a partial model that looks at your table by decorating it with the [Alias] attribute, like:
[Alias("AnyTableOrView")]
public class Model {
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Column1 { get; set; }
public string Column2 { get; set; }
}
Then you can do something like:
Db.First<Model>(q => q.Id == someId);
And it will only SELECT + populate fields from the partial model.
I did try this :
Created a Database VIEW (table name and columns are already set)
Created a class named "Event" and matching each fields for that table with a property
(i used [Alias] for table name and for all columns to have nice names)
Wrote access to DB to select 1 record based on it's ID
var dbFactory = new OrmLiteConnectionFactory(
"Data Source=MyDB;User Id=user;Password=pwd", // Connection String
OracleDialect.Provider);
using (var db = dbFactory.OpenDbConnection())
{
var event = db.GetByIdOrDefault<Event>( request.Id );
}
At that point the var 'event' is populated but only the Id field is filled !
all the others fields of the class are not filled (while there are really data in database).
It's the simplest i can do and it does not work. Any ideas ?
(PS : i am using OrmLite for Oracle)
Thanks
I have found the problem.
It was due to an incorrect type matching between field in my class (defined as a string) and the corresponding Oracle Field (that is a DATE).
I replaced the string with datetime and worked like a charm.
So it's working perfectly with a VIEW and that's GREATLY simplify the code.
I had a similar problem, however my solution was different.
I had a int property in my POCO. My query (from Oracle) was returning a null for this property. It caused a exception to be raised and prevented further processing of that row.
The result was a partial populated POCO.
The solution was to change to type to be nullable.
public int? mypropperty

Updating object with related entities from detached state

When I query from the entity framework I always query in a detached state so that the records retrieved can be stored in cache for subsequent requests.
Right now I have a form that the user can edit which contains a parent record, and then two lists of parent records.
When the data is POSTed to the server, I take my view models and map them into the entity framework objects using AutoMapper. The data looks fine; AutoMapper is mapping the data correctly.
When I attach the object so that I can update it, an exception is thrown: A referential integrity constraint violation occurred: The property values that define the referential constraints are not consistent between principal and dependent objects in the relationship.
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
//Exception happens here
orderContext.ShippingOrders.Attach(shippingOrder);
//Update the order itself; mark the order has being modified so the EF will update it.
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
//Perform the update.
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}
The EntityFramework (EF) seems to think that my keys aren't lining up, but I'm not sure what isn't correct. The foreign key property does have the correct value, so I'm not sure what it's checking. Does anyone have any ideas?
You might try something like this:
ShippingOrder existingShippingOrder = orderContext.ShippingOrders.Find(shippingOrder.ID);
orderContext.Entry(existingShippingOrder ).CurrentValues.SetValues(shippingOrder);
Instead of
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, System.Data.EntityState.Modified);
try this
orderContext.Entry(ShippingOrder).State = EntityState.Modified;
as explained here
Insert or update pattern A common pattern for some applications is to
either Add an entity as new (resulting in a database insert) or Attach
an entity as existing and mark it as modified (resulting in a database
update) depending on the value of the primary key. For example, when
using database generated integer primary keys it is common to treat an
entity with a zero key as new and an entity with a non-zero key as
existing. This pattern can be achieved by setting the entity state
based on a check of the primary key value. For example:
public void InsertOrUpdate(DbContext context, Unicorn unicorn)
{
context.Entry(unicorn).State = unicorn.Id == 0 ?
EntityState.Added :
EntityState.Modified;
context.SaveChanges();
}
you can try
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
orderContext.Entry(shippingOrder).State = shippingOrder.Id==0?
EntityState.Added :
EntityState.Modified;
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}
UPDATE:
for ObjectContext class you can try
public static void UpdateOrder(ShippingOrder shippingOrder) {
using (OrderEntity orderContext = new OrderEntity()) {
orderContext.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(shippingOrder, EntityState.Modified);
orderContext.SaveChanges();
}
}

Create a Composite Property in an Entity Framework Model?

I have two properties ("FIRST_NAME" and "LAST_NAME") I need to access as a single property (e.g. "FULL_NAME"). Is there a way for me to add a property to my entity model that contains the combine value of FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME?
Since the model classes which are created by EF4 are usually partial classes you have the option to extend the classes in a separate file with your additional properties and methods. There you could add a readonly property with only a Getter to return your combined full name:
public partial class Person
{
public string FullName
{
get
{
return string.Concat(FirstName, " ", LastName);
}
}
}
This is a property which is only in your model class but not mapped to the database and it doesn't exist as a column in the database. Because you create this part of the partial class in a separate file it is not touched and overwritten by the model designer if you should change the model.

Binding Tuple output to the Gridview

I am developing a web application where in i have a WCF service which interacts with the database using entity framework. I want to get rid of creating Classes for each & every LINQ query
e.g
public class Emp
{
public int CD{get;set;}
public string Name{get;set;}
}
public List<Emp> GetServTypeForPromotionDue()
{
return (from a in Context.TableName
select new Emp{ a.CD, a.NAME });
}
for other table & LINQ i have to create a separate class every time. Alternative to this is to use Anonymous method which is not preferable solution. To avoid both the methods I am using Tuple Class where I return List> or List> depending on the return type. This works fine but the problem is I am binding the result of LINQ query directly to a Gridview By default Tuple has properties item1,item2,..& so on. So my griview shows these names are column names so, Is there any way I can change the property name to CD, Name instead of Tuple's Item1, Item2 before binding to grid?
when binding the list, you could use linq:
this.grid.DataSource = tupleList.Select(i => new
{
FirstName = i.Item1,
LastName = i.Item2,
CD = i.Item3
});
You would have to change the column names on the GridView and not the tuple. A tuple is a lightweight type that doesn't support much customization (MSDN). If you know what you are binding to the GridView, change the column names by handling the RowDataBound event and checking the RowType of Header, then changing the column names there.

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