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Web.Config Transforms

November 9, 2010 Leave a comment

I wanted to dig into Web.Config transformations a bit more. I read a couple of articles here and here and decided to try it in a “Hello World” MVC2 project. I created a new MVC2 project and found the two Web.xxx.config files:

I then created a new setting variable in the Web.Config file:

1   <appSettings>
2     <add key="myValue" value="default"/>
3   </appSettings>
4

I then added a transform to the Debug and Release Files.

Debug:

1   <appSettings>
2     <add key="myValue" value="Debug" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" xdt:Locator="Match(myValue)"/>
3   </appSettings>  
4

Release:

1   <appSettings>
2     <add key="myValue" value="Release" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" xdt:Locator="Match(myValue)"/>
3   </appSettings>
4

I then added some code to show the value on the main page:

1         public ActionResult Index()
2         {
3             ViewData["Message"] = String.Format("The Value in Web.Config is {0}", ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["myValue"].ToString());
4  
5             return View();
6         }
7

I then hit F5, expecting the Debug value replace the default value in the web.config

Darn, the transform is not being recognized.

Filed under MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

TDD using Interfaces

October 19, 2010 Leave a comment

One of the tenants of TDD is that the tests are written, well, first. The biggest problem I have with writing the tests first is one of developer productivity. Call me a slave to tooling, but I really use intellisense when I code, so much to the point that I don’t even realize that I am using it. With TDD, I can’t use Intellisense because the object has not been written yet. As a way out of this problem, I thought of using interfaces. I write the interface, write the test, then write the class under test. I thought I would put my theory to the test with a basic example. I created an interface like so:

 1 using System;
 2  using System.Collections.Generic;
 3  using System.Linq;
 4  using System.Text;
 5  using Com.Tff.Patent.Data;
 6 
 7  namespace Com.Tff.Patent.Domain
 8 {
 9     public interface IDoctrineFactory
10     {
11         static Doctrine GetDoctrine(int doctrineId);
12         static List<Doctrine> GetDoctrines();
13         static List<Doctrine> GetDoctrines(int issueId);
14     }
15 }
16

I then created a test like so:

 1         [TestMethod]
 2         public void GetDoctineReturnsCorrectValue()
 3         {
 4             IDoctrineFactory.GetDoctrine(1);
 5             string expected = "aaa";
 6             string actual = doctrine.DoctrineName;
 7             Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual);
 8 
 9         }
10

However, I got a compiler error:

1 Error 1 The modifier 'static' is not valid for this item
2 
3 Error 2 The modifier 'static' is not valid for this item
4 
5 Error 3 The modifier 'static' is not valid for this item
6 
7

That’s right – interfaces can’t be marked as static. So then I thought of newing up a class in my test:

1 IDoctrineFactory doctrineFactory = new IDoctrineFactory();
2             doctrineFactory.GetDoctrine(1);
3

The fact that I didn’t get intellisense was my first clue. The compiler error was my second:

1 Error    3    Cannot create an instance of the abstract class or interface

So then I created a concrete class using the refactoring tools in VS2010:

1     public class DoctrineFactory: IDoctrineFactory
2     {
3         public Data.Doctrine GetDoctrine(int doctrineId)
4         {
5             throw new NotImplementedException();
6         }
7

This is better – I will get red b/c I have not implemented my methods yet – and I get intellisense in my unit tests. So for me, TDD is:

Write interface
Implement interfaces via VS2010
Write tests to get red
Write code logic to get to green

That way I get the intent behind TDD with modern tooling support.

Filed under MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., Unit Testing || Mocking

Carpool Project: Part #14

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I had a new requirement pop up today. Seems that some users only want to see the carpools/practices that their kids are in – versus the entire set. Using my Alot based design, I wanted a function where the userName came in and the week’s carpools came out. I added the needed table (DriverSwimmer) to make the association between the user and swimmers and then though about my LINQ. I first coded up this solution:

 1         public static List<Carpool> GetCarpools(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate, string userName)
 2         {
 3             List<Carpool> carpools = new List<Carpool>();
 4 
 5             using (CarpoolEntities carpoolEntity = new CarpoolEntities())
 6             {
 7                 var carpoolQuery = (from carpool in carpoolEntity.Carpool_Carpool
 8                                          .Include("Carpool_Driver")
 9                                          .Include("Carpool_Driver.Carpool_DriverSwimmer")
10                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolSwimmer")
11                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolSwimmer.Carpool_Swimmer")
12                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolPractice")
13                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Carpool_Practice")
14                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Carpool_Practice.Carpool_SwimGroupPractice")
15                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Carpool_Practice.Carpool_SwimGroupPractice.Carpool_SwimGroup")
16                                          .Include("Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Carpool_Practice.Carpool_SwimGroupPractice.Carpool_SwimGroup.Carpool_SwimTeam")
17                                     where carpool.CarPoolDate >= startDate
18                                      && carpool.CarPoolDate <= endDate
19                                      && carpool.Carpool_Driver.UserName == userName
20                                     orderby carpool.CarPoolDate
21                                     select carpool);
22                 foreach (Carpool_Carpool carpool_carpool in carpoolQuery)
23                 {
24                     carpools.Add(MapCarpool(carpool_carpool));
25                 }
26                 string s = EntityExtensionMethods.CustomExtensions.ToTraceString(carpoolEntity);
27 
28             }
29             return carpools;
30 
31 
32         }
33

The problem is that nothing is coming back. When I looked at the SQL being generated, it was null. I wonder if there are some phrases that are so complex that EF can’t figure it out. I thought of a great product/tool – you put in the sql you want and out comes the Linq. In any event, I decided to take a shortcut – I would get a large result set back and just parse it down for the user info.

1             var query = (from s in swimmers
2                          select s.SwimGroup).Distinct();
3             List<SwimGroup> swimGroups = query.ToList<SwimGroup>();
4

I combined to:

1             List<SwimGroup> swimGroups = ((from s in swimmers
2                           select s.SwimGroup).Distinct()).ToList<SwimGroup>();
3

And then I wrote this:

1             var x = (from c in carpools
2                      select c.Practices).ToList<Practice>();
3

and got the following error:

1 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<>' does not contain a definition for 'ToList' and the best extension method overload 'System.Linq.ParallelEnumerable.ToList<TSource>(System.Linq.ParallelQuery<TSource>)' has some invalid arguments

Apparently, ToList<>() does not have a ToList<>() method. I changed it to:

1             List<Practice> practices = (List<Practice>)(from c in carpools
2                                         select c.Practices);
3

And the compiler was happy

I then completed my 1^st attempt: note that I have 2 sets of swimgroups – those associated with the drivers (via their swimmers) and those associated with the practices (via their carpool):

 1         public static List<Carpool> GetCarpools(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate, string userName)
 2         {
 3             List<Swimmer> swimmers = DriverFactory.GetDriver(userName).Swimmers;
 4             List<SwimGroup> driverSwimGroups = ((from s in swimmers
 5                           select s.SwimGroup).Distinct()).ToList<SwimGroup>();
 6 
 7 
 8             List<Carpool> carpools = GetCarpools(startDate, endDate);
 9             List<Practice> practices = (List<Practice>)(from c in carpools
10                                         select c.Practices);
11             List<SwimGroup> practiceSwimGroups = (List<SwimGroup>)((from p in practices
12                                                    select p.SwimGroups).Distinct());
13 
14             return null;
15 
16         }
17

I then needed to compare the swimGroup list – if they are in both, then the carpool should be returned like this:

1 List<SwimGroup> commonSwimGroups = (List<SwimGroup>)practiceSwimGroups.Union(driverSwimGroups);

However, I didn’t use this. I kludged up a 5-deep for..each nest of spaghetti code:

 1         public static List<Carpool> GetCarpools(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate, string userName)
 2         {
 3             List<Swimmer> swimmers = DriverFactory.GetDriver(userName).Swimmers;
 4             List<SwimGroup> driverSwimGroups = ((from s in swimmers
 5                           select s.SwimGroup).Distinct()).ToList<SwimGroup>();
 6 
 7             List<Carpool> carpools = GetCarpools(startDate, endDate);
 8 
 9 
10             List<Carpool> returnValue = new List<Carpool>();
11             foreach(Carpool carpool in carpools)
12             {
13                 foreach (Practice practice in carpool.Practices)
14                 {
15                     foreach (SwimGroup practiceSwimGroup in practice.SwimGroups)
16                     {
17                         foreach (SwimGroup driverSwimGroup in driverSwimGroups)
18                         {
19                             if (practiceSwimGroup == driverSwimGroup)
20                             {
21                                 returnValue.Add(carpool);
22                             }
23                         }
24                     }
25                 }
26             }
27 
28             return returnValue;
29

I have to believe there is a better way with some LINQ. I will investigate – until then, at least it is working…

Filed under MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

Carpool Project: Part #12

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I am working though the basic CRUD of EF/Factory and I ran into an issue. I coded

 1         public static void DeleteCarpool(Carpool carpool)
 2         {
 3             using (CarpoolEntities carpoolEntity = new CarpoolEntities())
 4             {
 5                 var carpoolToDelete = (from cp in carpoolEntity.Carpool_Carpool
 6                                        where cp.CarPoolId == carpool.Id
 7                                        select cp).First();
 8 
 9                 carpoolEntity.DeleteObject(carpoolToDelete);
10                 carpoolEntity.SaveChanges();
11             }
12         }
13

And I got the following error in my unit test:

I then realized I didn’t cascade the changes on the server. I thought EF handled that for me – I guess not. I changed it in SQL Server:

And things ran like a champ….

Filed under MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

Carpool Project: Part #10

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I went back to the update of the Carpool Controller and changed the view to include the Driver like so:

I then updated the driverId to see if the changes propagate. The new value is in the form collection:

But after running UpdateView(), the new value is dropped.

Apparently, only the top-level properities are affected by UpdateView? Ugh – between the date/time conflict the nested properties, UpdateView only is useful for the most basic scenarios. I’ll replace UpdateView with a method that I write.

I thought about using Reflection like so (this is not right):

 1         private void UpdateCarpoolFromFormCollection(Carpool.Domain.Carpool carpool, FormCollection collection)
 2         {
 3 
 4             PropertyInfo[] propertyInfos = carpool.GetType().GetProperties();
 5             foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
 6             {
 7                 for (int i = 0; i < collection.Count; i++)
 8                 {
 9                     if (propertyInfo.Name == collection[i].ToString())
10                     {
11                         propertyInfo.SetValue(carpool,collection[i],null);
12                     }
13                 }
14             }
15 
16         }
17

I realized I really don’t understand the FormCollection object and how to enumation (or write some LINQ) to pull the correct value out of it. I then realized that I am being stupid. Of course the MVC creators would allow for next properities. I wrote a quick hello world app and sure enough, the changes are coming down:

The difference is the “.”. In my carpool solution, the Carpool.Drver is somehow turning into CarpoolDriver:

Changing this

1             <div class="editor-label">
2                 <%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.Driver.Id) %>
3             </div>
4             <div class="editor-field">
5                 <%= Html.TextBox("carpoolDriverId", Model.Driver.Id)%>
6                 <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => Model.Driver.Id)%>
7             </div>
8

To This

1 
2             <div class="editor-label">
3                 <%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.Driver.Id) %>
4             </div>
5             <div class="editor-field">
6                 <%: Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Driver.Id)%>
7                 <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Driver.Id)%>
8             </div>
9

And boom goes the dynamite…

Filed under .NET 4.0: Parallelism, EF2, etc..., MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

Carpool Project: Part #9

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I started with the View a bit more and I ran into an issue that cuts to the heart of D3 and SOC. On my Carpool page, I want a grid of all practices that are associated with the car pool (usually 1, but could be more). In the view, I wrote this (headers omitted for brevity):

 1     <% foreach (Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.Practice practice in Model.Practices)
 2        { %>
 3         <tr>
 4             <td>
 5                 <%: practice.Id%>
 6             </td>
 7             <td>
 8                 <%: practice.Date%>
 9             </td>
10             <td>
11                 <%: practice.DryLandIndicator%>
12             </td>
13             <td>
14                 <%: practice.EndTime%>
15             </td>
16             <td>
17                 <%: practice.StartTime%>
18             </td>
19             <td>
20                 <% foreach (Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.SwimGroup swimGroup in practice.SwimGroups)
21                 { %>
22                     <%: swimGroup.Name%>
23                 <% } %>
24             </td>
25             <td>
26                 <%: Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new { practiceId = practice.Id })%>
27                 <%: Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { PracticeId = practice.Id })%>
28             </td>
29         </tr>
30 
31     <% } %>
32

And it comes out with the expected HTML:

Notice how the Swim Group is joined together using that secondary loop. This got me thinking, part of the reason I crated the ViewModel POCOs was to do this kind of flattening. If the UI can handle it easily, why not use EF-enabled POCOs and save the who Domain Layer step of mapping the EF Classes to the POCO ones? If all I had to worry about was the flattening of Swim Groups to practices, perhaps writing that join in the UI is better than the Domain Layer. Then I thought – NO. The domain layer should be responsible for serving objects, even if the UI can handle it. I would say that is analogous to “we can put the code in the code-behind in Web Forms.” Eventually, the code needs to be written – so I would rather have it in the Domain layer where I have exact control and can add in any custom logic. If any custom logic for the flattening happens, the UI will quickly become a morass of spaghetti. On a side note, I find writing C# is much much better than writing WebForms View Engine code – those gators drive me nuts.

Saying that, I realized I don’t need a carpool controller, I need a CarpoolSummary controller and view -> for the simple reason that Carpools don’t have PracticeSummaries – CarpoolSummaries do. Time to do some re-writing!

Filed under Domain Patterns, MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

Carpool Project: Part #8

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I am working on the Update features of the Carpool Factory. The biggest problem with using POCOs that are not automatically hooked up with EF classes is that you have to do the mapping back to the EF classes. Going from EF to POCO is straight forward – putting them back in is a different story.

I had 3 different challenges

#1) Assign properties to the main class. That was straight forward:

1         private static void MapCarpool_Carpool(Carpool_Carpool carpool_carpool, Carpool carpool)
2         {
3             carpool_carpool.CarPoolDate = carpool.Date;
4             carpool_carpool.SwimmerCapacity = carpool.SwimerCapacity;
5             carpool_carpool.TimeBack = carpool.ReturnTime;
6             carpool_carpool.TimeLeaving = carpool.LeaveTime;
7         }
8

#2) Assign properties to another one-to-one class in the graph. The was also straight forward, with the caveat that you need to use the same EF conext for the entire graph so you need to pass that into the function:

1        private static void MapCarpool_CarpoolDriver(Carpool_Carpool carpool_carpool, Carpool carpool, CarpoolEntities carpoolEntity)
2        {
3                var selectedDriver = (from driver in carpoolEntity.Carpool_Driver
4                                      where driver.DriverID == carpool.Driver.Id
5                                      select driver).First();
6                carpool_carpool.Carpool_Driver = selectedDriver;
7        }
8

#3) Assign properties to a collection of one-to-many classes in the graph. I tried a couple of different ways to do this with the least amount of code. The problem is that the collection could have had adds and deletes on the client that need to be synched up to the server:

Client		Server
		SwimmerA
SwimmerB		SwimmerB
SwimmerC		SwimmerC
SwimmerD

My first thought was to clear the EF Collection and then then add in the POCOs like so:

 1            carpoolToUpdate.Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Clear();
 2
 3            Carpool_CarpoolPractice carpool_carpoolPractice = null;
 4
 5            foreach (Practice practice in carpool.Practices)
 6            {
 7                carpool_carpoolPractice = new Carpool_CarpoolPractice();
 8                carpool_carpoolPractice.CarpoolId = carpool.Id;
 9                carpool_carpoolPractice.PracticeId = practice.Id;
10                carpoolToUpdate.Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Add(carpool_carpoolPractice);
11            }
12

The problem is that I could not clear the collection b/c of a referential constraint, even though I immediately re-added new objects before the Update method to the server.

1System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled by user code
2  Message=The operation failed: The relationship could not be changed because one or more of the foreign-key properties is non-nullable. When a change is made to a relationship, the related foreign-key property is set to a null value. If the foreign-key does not support null values, a new relationship must be defined, the foreign-key property must be assigned another non-null value, or the unrelated object must be deleted.
3  Source=System.Data.Entity
4

Some digging found this article which explained why.

So then I thought to enumerate though the collection and remove each one and then the POCOs in. A couple more lines of code but that did the trick for adding the practice. Here is the code:

 1            //Remove
 2            foreach (Carpool_CarpoolPractice carpool_carpoolPracticeToDelete in carpoolEntity.Carpool_CarpoolPractice)
 3            {
 4                carpoolEntity.DeleteObject(carpool_carpoolPracticeToDelete);
 5            }
 6
 7            //Add
 8            Carpool_CarpoolPractice carpool_carpoolPracticeToAdd = null;
 9            foreach (Practice practice in carpool.Practices)
10            {
11                carpool_carpoolPracticeToAdd = new Carpool_CarpoolPractice();
12                carpool_carpoolPracticeToAdd.CarpoolId = carpool.Id;
13                carpool_carpoolPracticeToAdd.PracticeId = practice.Id;
14                carpoolToUpdate.Carpool_CarpoolPractice.Add(carpool_carpoolPracticeToAdd);
15            }
16

And here is the test:

 1        [TestMethod()]
 2        public void AddCarpoolPracticeTest()
 3        {
 4            Carpool carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(1);
 5            int notExpcted = carpool.Practices.Count;
 6
 7            Practice practice = PracticeFactory.GetPractice(2);
 8            carpool.Practices.Add(practice);
 9            CarpoolFactory.UpdateCarpool(carpool);
10
11            carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(1);
12            int actual = carpool.Practices.Count;
13
14            Assert.AreNotEqual(notExpcted, actual);
15        }
16

The problem is the removal of the practice. I wrote this test:

 1        [TestMethod]
 2        public void DeleteCarpoolPracticeTest()
 3        {
 4            Carpool carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(1);
 5            int notExpcted = carpool.Practices.Count;
 6
 7            Practice practice = PracticeFactory.GetPractice(2);
 8            carpool.Practices.Remove(practice);
 9
10            CarpoolFactory.UpdateCarpool(carpool);
11
12            carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(1);
13            int actual = carpool.Practices.Count;
14
15            Assert.AreNotEqual(notExpcted, actual);
16        }
17

And got the following fail:

I need to add a comparable to the practice so that the remove recognize practices with the same PracticeId as the same.

 1    public class Practice : ValidationBase, IEquatable<Practice>
 2    {
 3        public int Id { get; set; }
 4        public DateTime Date { get; set; }
 5        public DateTime StartTime { get; set; }
 6        public DateTime EndTime { get; set; }
 7        public bool DryLandIndicator { get; set; }
 8        public List<SwimGroup> SwimGroups { get; set; }
 9
10        public bool Equals(Practice other)
11        {
12            if (other.Id == this.Id)
13                return true;
14            else
15                return false;
16
17        }
18    }
19

And then the remove worked like a champ. This led me to my next (and last of the morning) thought – should I implement IEquiatable on the base abstract class (Validation Base) since all of the derived classes have a PK. If so, how would I implement that? I’ll do some research. Until then, my Carpool class now looks like it is ready for Updates. Unfortunately, looks are deceiving…

I started making my UI a bit more user-friendly. I put on a jQuery date picker for the carpool start date. I verified that the new date was being passed into the controller via the FormCollection (it was), but then the UpdateModel is reverting the change:

And

Oddly, the Update work for date/time values. I guess it cannot handle having a date without a time. I added a new line of code to handle this case:

1            try
2            {
3                Carpool.Domain.Carpool carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(carpoolId);
4                UpdateModel(carpool);
5                carpool.Date = DateTime.Parse(collection[2].ToString());
6                CarpoolFactory.UpdateCarpool(carpool);
7                return RedirectToAction("Index");
8            }
9

Yuck, but it is the easiest way. Perhaps in the UI I can format the input?

Filed under Domain Patterns, MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc...

Carpool Project: Part #7

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I am now moving into the site navigation of the carpool site. It was my 1^st real foray into routing and after a couple of minutes, I realized it is straightforward. I had 2 controllers:

1 for the main page that shows 2 grids (current carpools and uncovered practices)

1 for the carpool update, insert, and delete pages

Here is an example of the Update method (so far):

 1         public ActionResult Edit(int carpoolId)
 2         {
 3             Carpool.Domain.Carpool carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(carpoolId);
 4             return View(carpool);
 5         }
 6 
 7         [HttpPost]
 8         public ActionResult Edit(int carpoolId, FormCollection collection)
 9         {
10             try
11             {
12                 Carpool.Domain.Carpool carpool = CarpoolFactory.GetCarpool(carpoolId);
13                 UpdateModel(carpool);
14                 CarpoolFactory.UpdateCarpool(carpool);
15                 return RedirectToAction("Index");
16             }
17             catch
18             {
19                 return View();
20             }
21         }
22

I had to do some redirecting – there is no Index controller/page for the carpool as it is all handled out of Main.Index. I created the follwoign routes to allow me to redirect from one controller to the next:

 1             routes.MapRoute(
 2                 "EditCarpool",
 3                 "Home/Edit",
 4                 new { controller = "Carpool", action = "Edit" }
 5                 );
 6 
 7             routes.MapRoute(
 8                 "CreateCarpool",
 9                 "Home/Create",
10                 new { controller = "Carpool", action = "Create" }
11                 );
12 
13             routes.MapRoute(
14                 "DeleteCarpool",
15                 "Home/Delete",
16                 new { controller = "Carpool", action = "Delete" }
17                 );
18 
19             routes.MapRoute(
20                 "ReturnHome",
21                 "Carpool",
22                 new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
23                 );
24 
25             routes.MapRoute(
26                 "Default", // Route name
27                  "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
28                 new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
29             );
30

My only question is how to add in the parameter so it looks like Carpool/Update/2 and not Carpool/Update?carpoolId = 2

Filed under MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc..., MVC

Carpool Project: Part #6

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I finished the factories and the POCOs. I made some changes that simplified the model some – I set up 7 factories for the non-flattened POCOs and 1 factory for a flattened POCO:

I will see if the other flattened POCOs are needed. With enough factories to make me dangerous, I then thought about how to organize the UI. Since this exercise is to help me work though the Architectual features of VS2010, I created an activity diagram based on some of the Use Cases:

Note how I started documenting business rules. I went back to the Task list for each activity and added both the data elements and the business rules:

I then have enough to launch a tracer bullet that matches how I want the home page to be. The challenge is that the home page will actually show 2 independent grids that use different data elements:

· A list of all practices without a carpool

· A list of all carpools

I don’t know the best way to implement this in MVC. In prior projects, I had 1 controller for the page that handles the “primary” data elements and then some AJAX calls to dynamically populate the remaining grids. Another possible way is to have the page be a composite of 2 independent User Controls. A final way is to have the page controller’s model collection just include both data element sets and refer to each in the collection.

I had already tried Option #1 on a different project and found that it requires too much JavaScript code. I then explored Option #2. I set up my MVC’s project controllers to match the domain model like so:

I then tried to wire up some User Controls for each of the controllers that I could then combine on the Default page. I quickly learned that MVC2 User Controls Are not well supported in the MVC community (30 minutes of Bing/Google/MSDN searches did not give me a specific example of MVC2 User Controls tied together in 1 page). I also realized that I was taking a “bottom-up” approach.

I then revamped my project to take a “top-down” approach. Incidentally, this option seems to be the “happy path” for MVC2. I removed all of the POCO controllers:

And then added the POCOs that I want on the main page to the ViewModel Collection:

1         public ActionResult Index()
2         {
3             ViewData["Message"] = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
4             ViewData["CurrentCarpoolSummaries"] = CarpoolSummaryFactory.GetCurrentWeekCarpoolSummaries();
5             ViewData["UncoveredPraciceSummaries"] = PracticeSummaryFactory.GetCurrentWekUncoveredPracticeSummaries();
6 
7             return View();
8         }
9

And then wired up the UI:

 1     <table>
 2         <tr>
 3             <th>
 4                 Id
 5             </th>
 6             <th>
 7                 Day
 8             </th>
 9             <th>
10                 Date
11             </th>
12             <th>
13                 Description
14             </th>
15             <th>
16                 Pracitce(s)
17             </th>
18             <th>
19                 Driver
20             </th>
21             <th>
22                 Swimmer(s)
23             </th>
24             <th>
25                 Remaining Seats
26             </th>
27         </tr>
28 
29     <% foreach (Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.CarpoolSummary carpoolSummary in ViewData["CurrentCarpoolSummaries"])
30        { %>
31 
32         <tr>
33             <td>
34                 <%: carpoolSummary.Id%>
35             </td>
36             <td>
37                 <%: carpoolSummary.DayDescription%>
38             </td>
39             <td>
40                 <%: carpoolSummary.CarpoolDate%>
41             </td>
42             <td>
43                 <%: carpoolSummary.CarpoolDescription%>
44             </td>
45             <td>
46                 <%: carpoolSummary.PracticeDescription%>
47             </td>
48             <td>
49                 <%: carpoolSummary.DriverDescription%>
50             </td>
51             <td>
52                 <%: carpoolSummary.SwimmerDescription%>
53             </td>
54             <td>
55                 <%: carpoolSummary.RemainingSeats%>
56             </td>
57         </tr>
58 
59     <% } %>
60     </table>
61

I ran into this problem:

It looks like I need to cast it via the page Inherits method – but I have multiple datasets. I tried ignoring the error – hoping that the object resolves at run time. No such luck:

So I went back and casted the model into the proper type:

1     <% foreach (Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.CarpoolSummary carpoolSummary in (System.Collections.Generic.List<Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.CarpoolSummary>)ViewData["CurrentCarpoolSummaries"])

And

1     <% foreach (Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.PracticeSummary uncoveredPracticeSummaries in (System.Collections.Generic.List<Com.Tff.Carpool.Domain.PracticeSummary>)ViewData["UncoveredPraciceSummaries"])

And boom goes the dynamite…

Filed under Domain Patterns, MSFT Tooling: VS, TFS, SQL Server, etc...

Carpool Project: Part #4

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

I wrote this factory code:

 1         public SwimTeam GetSwimTeam(int swimTeamId)
 2         {
 3             var selectedSwimTeam = (from swimTeam in carpoolEntity.Carpool_SwimTeam
 4                      where swimTeam.SwimTeamId == swimTeamId
 5                      select swimTeam).First();
 6 
 7             return MapSwimTeam(selectedSwimTeam);
 8 
 9         }
10 
11         public List<SwimTeam> GetAllSwimTeams()
12         {
13             List<SwimTeam> swimTeams = new List<SwimTeam>();
14 
15             var swimTeamsQuery = (from swimTeam in carpoolEntity.Carpool_SwimTeam
16                                     select swimTeam);
17 
18             foreach(Carpool_SwimTeam carpool_Swimteam in swimTeamsQuery)
19             {
20                 swimTeams.Add(MapSwimTeam(carpool_Swimteam));
21             }
22 
23             return swimTeams;
24         }
25

How do I know that I wrote it right?

Unit Test? Integration Test? I don’t care what you call it – I want to make sure it is right BEFORE I use this as a pattern for the rest of the project.

So I created a couple of unit tests (and remembering to add the app.config to my unit test project)

 1         [TestMethod()]
 2         public void GetSwimTeamTest()
 3         {
 4             string expected = "RSA";
 5             string actual = SwimTeamFactory.GetSwimTeam(1).Name;
 6             Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual);
 7         }
 8 
 9         /// <summary>
10         ///A test for GetAllSwimTeams
11         ///</summary>
12          [TestMethod()]
13         public void GetAllSwimTeamsTest()
14         {
15             int expected = 3;
16             int actual = SwimTeamFactory.GetAllSwimTeams().Count;
17             Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual);
18         }
19

And got green:

I then wired up the UI

I added a controller to my MVC application

 1     public class SwimTeamController : Controller
 2     {
 3         SwimTeamFactory swimTeamFactory = null;
 4 
 5         public SwimTeamController()
 6         {
 7             swimTeamFactory = new SwimTeamFactory();
 8         }
 9 
10         public ActionResult Index()
11         {
12             return View(swimTeamFactory.GetAllSwimTeams());
13         }
14 
15     }
16