| title | author | description | ms.author | ms.date | uid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Add a model to an ASP.NET Core MVC app |
rick-anderson |
Add a model to a simple ASP.NET Core app. |
riande |
8/15/2019 |
tutorials/first-mvc-app/adding-model |
By Rick Anderson and Tom Dykstra
In this section, you add classes for managing movies in a database. These classes will be the "Model" part of the MVC app.
You use these classes with Entity Framework Core (EF Core) to work with a database. EF Core is an object-relational mapping (ORM) framework that simplifies the data access code that you have to write.
The model classes you create are known as POCO classes (from Plain Old CLR Objects) because they don't have any dependency on EF Core. They just define the properties of the data that will be stored in the database.
In this tutorial, you write the model classes first, and EF Core creates the database. An alternate approach not covered here is to generate model classes from an existing database. For information about that approach, see ASP.NET Core - Existing Database.
::: moniker range=">= aspnetcore-3.0"
Right-click the Models folder > Add > Class. Name the file Movie.cs.
Add a file named Movie.cs to the Models folder.
Update the Movie.cs file with the following code:
The Movie class contains an Id field, which is required by the database for the primary key.
The DataType attribute on ReleaseDate specifies the type of the data (Date). With this attribute:
- The user is not required to enter time information in the date field.
- Only the date is displayed, not time information.
DataAnnotations are covered in a later tutorial.
From the Tools menu, select NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console (PMC).
In the PMC, run the following command:
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServerThe preceding command adds the EF Core SQL Server provider. The provider package installs the EF Core package as a dependency. Additional packages are installed automatically in the scaffolding step later in the tutorial.
A database context class is needed to coordinate EF Core functionality (Create, Read, Update, Delete) for the Movie model. The database context is derived from Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.DbContext and specifies the entities to include in the data model.
Create a Data folder.
Add a Data/MvcMovieContext.cs file with the following code:
The preceding code creates a DbSet<Movie> property for the entity set. In Entity Framework terminology, an entity set typically corresponds to a database table. An entity corresponds to a row in the table.
ASP.NET Core is built with dependency injection (DI). Services (such as the EF Core DB context) must be registered with DI during application startup. Components that require these services (such as Razor Pages) are provided these services via constructor parameters. The constructor code that gets a DB context instance is shown later in the tutorial. In this section, you register the database context with the DI container.
Add the following using statements at the top of Startup.cs:
using MvcMovie.Data;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;Add the following highlighted code in Startup.ConfigureServices:
The name of the connection string is passed in to the context by calling a method on a DbContextOptions object. For local development, the ASP.NET Core configuration system reads the connection string from the appsettings.json file.
Add a connection string to the appsettings.json file:
Build the project as a check for compiler errors.
Use the scaffolding tool to produce Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) pages for the movie model.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the Controllers folder > Add > New Scaffolded Item.
In the Add Scaffold dialog, select MVC Controller with views, using Entity Framework > Add.
Complete the Add Controller dialog:
- Model class: Movie (MvcMovie.Models)
- Data context class: MvcMovieContext (MvcMovie.Data)
- Views: Keep the default of each option checked
- Controller name: Keep the default MoviesController
- Select Add
Visual Studio creates:
- A movies controller (Controllers/MoviesController.cs)
- Razor view files for Create, Delete, Details, Edit, and Index pages (Views/Movies/*.cshtml)
The automatic creation of these files is known as scaffolding.
-
Open a command window in the project directory (The directory that contains the Program.cs, Startup.cs, and .csproj files).
-
On Linux, export the scaffold tool path:
export PATH=$HOME/.dotnet/tools:$PATH -
Run the following command:
dotnet aspnet-codegenerator controller -name MoviesController -m Movie -dc MvcMovieContext --relativeFolderPath Controllers --useDefaultLayout --referenceScriptLibraries[!INCLUDE explains scaffold generated params]
-
Open a command window in the project directory (The directory that contains the Program.cs, Startup.cs, and .csproj files).
-
Run the following command:
dotnet aspnet-codegenerator controller -name MoviesController -m Movie -dc MvcMovieContext --relativeFolderPath Controllers --useDefaultLayout --referenceScriptLibraries[!INCLUDE explains scaffold generated params]
You can't use the scaffolded pages yet because the database doesn't exist. If you run the app and click on the Movie App link, you get a Cannot open database or no such table: Movie error message.
Use the EF Core Migrations feature to create the database. Migrations is a set of tools that let you create and update a database to match your data model.
From the Tools menu, select NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console (PMC).
In the PMC, enter the following commands:
Add-Migration InitialCreate
Update-Database-
Add-Migration InitialCreate: Generates an Migrations/{timestamp}_InitialCreate.cs migration file. TheInitialCreateargument is the migration name. Any name can be used, but by convention, a name is selected that describes the migration. Because this is the first migration, the generated class contains code to create the database schema. The database schema is based on the model specified in theMvcMovieContextclass. -
Update-Database: Updates the database to the latest migration, which the previous command created. This command runs theUpmethod in the Migrations/{time-stamp}_InitialCreate.cs file, which creates the database.The database update command generates the following warning:
No type was specified for the decimal column 'Price' on entity type 'Movie'. This will cause values to be silently truncated if they do not fit in the default precision and scale. Explicitly specify the SQL server column type that can accommodate all the values using 'HasColumnType()'.
You can ignore that warning, it will be fixed in a later tutorial.
[!INCLUDE more information on the PMC tools for EF Core]
Run the following .NET Core CLI commands:
dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate
dotnet ef database update
-
ef migrations add InitialCreate: Generates an Migrations/{timestamp}_InitialCreate.cs migration file. TheInitialCreateargument is the migration name. Any name can be used, but by convention, a name is selected that describes the migration. Because this is the first migration, the generated class contains code to create the database schema. The database schema is based on the model specified in theMvcMovieContextclass (in the Data/MvcMovieContext.cs file). -
ef database update: Updates the database to the latest migration, which the previous command created. This command runs theUpmethod in the Migrations/{time-stamp}_InitialCreate.cs file, which creates the database.
[!INCLUDE more information on the CLI tools for EF Core]
Examine the Migrations/{timestamp}_InitialCreate.cs migration file:
The Up method creates the Movie table and configures Id as the primary key. The Down method reverts the schema changes made by the Up migration.
-
Run the app and click the Movie App link.
If you get an exception similar to one of the following:
SqlException: Cannot open database "MvcMovieContext-1" requested by the login. The login failed.SqliteException: SQLite Error 1: 'no such table: Movie'.You probably missed the migrations step.
-
Test the Create page. Enter and submit data.
[!NOTE] You may not be able to enter decimal commas in the
Pricefield. To support jQuery validation for non-English locales that use a comma (",") for a decimal point and for non US-English date formats, the app must be globalized. For globalization instructions, see this GitHub issue. -
Test the Edit, Details, and Delete pages.
Open the Controllers/MoviesController.cs file and examine the constructor:
The constructor uses Dependency Injection to inject the database context (MvcMovieContext) into the controller. The database context is used in each of the CRUD methods in the controller.
Earlier in this tutorial, you saw how a controller can pass data or objects to a view using the ViewData dictionary. The ViewData dictionary is a dynamic object that provides a convenient late-bound way to pass information to a view.
MVC also provides the ability to pass strongly typed model objects to a view. This strongly typed approach enables compile time code checking. The scaffolding mechanism used this approach (that is, passing a strongly typed model) with the MoviesController class and views.
Examine the generated Details method in the Controllers/MoviesController.cs file:
The id parameter is generally passed as route data. For example https://localhost:5001/movies/details/1 sets:
- The controller to the
moviescontroller (the first URL segment). - The action to
details(the second URL segment). - The id to 1 (the last URL segment).
You can also pass in the id with a query string as follows:
https://localhost:5001/movies/details?id=1
The id parameter is defined as a nullable type (int?) in case an ID value isn't provided.
A lambda expression is passed in to FirstOrDefaultAsync to select movie entities that match the route data or query string value.
var movie = await _context.Movie
.FirstOrDefaultAsync(m => m.Id == id);If a movie is found, an instance of the Movie model is passed to the Details view:
return View(movie);Examine the contents of the Views/Movies/Details.cshtml file:
The @model statement at the top of the view file specifies the type of object that the view expects. When the movie controller was created, the following @model statement was included:
@model MvcMovie.Models.MovieThis @model directive allows access to the movie that the controller passed to the view. The Model object is strongly typed. For example, in the Details.cshtml view, the code passes each movie field to the DisplayNameFor and DisplayFor HTML Helpers with the strongly typed Model object. The Create and Edit methods and views also pass a Movie model object.
Examine the Index.cshtml view and the Index method in the Movies controller. Notice how the code creates a List object when it calls the View method. The code passes this Movies list from the Index action method to the view:
When the movies controller was created, scaffolding included the following @model statement at the top of the Index.cshtml file:
The @model directive allows you to access the list of movies that the controller passed to the view by using a Model object that's strongly typed. For example, in the Index.cshtml view, the code loops through the movies with a foreach statement over the strongly typed Model object:
Because the Model object is strongly typed (as an IEnumerable<Movie> object), each item in the loop is typed as Movie. Among other benefits, this means that you get compile time checking of the code.
- Tag Helpers
- Globalization and localization
[!div class="step-by-step"] Previous Adding a View Next Working with SQL
::: moniker-end
::: moniker range="< aspnetcore-3.0"
Right-click the Models folder > Add > Class. Name the class Movie.
[!INCLUDE model 1b]
- Add a class to the Models folder named Movie.cs.
[!INCLUDE model 1b] [!INCLUDE model 2]
In this section, the movie model is scaffolded. That is, the scaffolding tool produces pages for Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations for the movie model.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the Controllers folder > Add > New Scaffolded Item.
In the Add Scaffold dialog, select MVC Controller with views, using Entity Framework > Add.
Complete the Add Controller dialog:
- Model class: Movie (MvcMovie.Models)
- Data context class: Select the + icon and add the default MvcMovie.Models.MvcMovieContext
- Views: Keep the default of each option checked
- Controller name: Keep the default MoviesController
- Select Add
Visual Studio creates:
- An Entity Framework Core database context class (Data/MvcMovieContext.cs)
- A movies controller (Controllers/MoviesController.cs)
- Razor view files for Create, Delete, Details, Edit, and Index pages (Views/Movies/*.cshtml)
The automatic creation of the database context and CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) action methods and views is known as scaffolding.
-
Open a command window in the project directory (The directory that contains the Program.cs, Startup.cs, and .csproj files).
-
Install the scaffolding tool:
dotnet tool install --global dotnet-aspnet-codegenerator -
On Linux, export the scaffold tool path:
export PATH=$HOME/.dotnet/tools:$PATH -
Run the following command:
dotnet aspnet-codegenerator controller -name MoviesController -m Movie -dc MvcMovieContext --relativeFolderPath Controllers --useDefaultLayout --referenceScriptLibraries
[!INCLUDE explains scaffold generated params]
-
Open a command window in the project directory (The directory that contains the Program.cs, Startup.cs, and .csproj files).
-
Install the scaffolding tool:
dotnet tool install --global dotnet-aspnet-codegenerator -
Run the following command:
dotnet aspnet-codegenerator controller -name MoviesController -m Movie -dc MvcMovieContext --relativeFolderPath Controllers --useDefaultLayout --referenceScriptLibraries
[!INCLUDE explains scaffold generated params]
If you run the app and click on the Mvc Movie link, you get an error similar to the following:
An unhandled exception occurred while processing the request.
SqlException: Cannot open database "MvcMovieContext-<GUID removed>" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'Rick'.
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString
An unhandled exception occurred while processing the request.
SqliteException: SQLite Error 1: 'no such table: Movie'.
Microsoft.Data.Sqlite.SqliteException.ThrowExceptionForRC(int rc, sqlite3 db)
You need to create the database, and you use the EF Core Migrations feature to do that. Migrations lets you create a database that matches your data model and update the database schema when your data model changes.
In this section, the following tasks are completed:
- Add an initial migration.
- Update the database with the initial migration.
-
From the Tools menu, select NuGet Package Manager > Package Manager Console (PMC).
-
In the PMC, enter the following commands:
Add-Migration Initial Update-Database
The
Add-Migrationcommand generates code to create the initial database schema.The database schema is based on the model specified in the
MvcMovieContextclass. TheInitialargument is the migration name. Any name can be used, but by convention, a name that describes the migration is used. For more information, see xref:data/ef-mvc/migrations.The
Update-Databasecommand runs theUpmethod in the Migrations/{time-stamp}_InitialCreate.cs file, which creates the database.
[!INCLUDE initial migration]
The ef migrations add InitialCreate command generates code to create the initial database schema.
The database schema is based on the model specified in the MvcMovieContext class (in the Data/MvcMovieContext.cs file). The InitialCreate argument is the migration name. Any name can be used, but by convention, a name is selected that describes the migration.
ASP.NET Core is built with dependency injection (DI). Services (such as the EF Core DB context) are registered with DI during application startup. Components that require these services (such as Razor Pages) are provided these services via constructor parameters. The constructor code that gets a DB context instance is shown later in the tutorial.
The scaffolding tool automatically created a DB context and registered it with the DI container.
Examine the following Startup.ConfigureServices method. The highlighted line was added by the scaffolder:
The MvcMovieContext coordinates EF Core functionality (Create, Read, Update, Delete, etc.) for the Movie model. The data context (MvcMovieContext) is derived from Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.DbContext. The data context specifies which entities are included in the data model:
The preceding code creates a DbSet<Movie> property for the entity set. In Entity Framework terminology, an entity set typically corresponds to a database table. An entity corresponds to a row in the table.
The name of the connection string is passed in to the context by calling a method on a DbContextOptions object. For local development, the ASP.NET Core configuration system reads the connection string from the appsettings.json file.
You created a DB context and registered it with the DI container.
- Run the app and append
/Moviesto the URL in the browser (http://localhost:port/movies).
If you get a database exception similar to the following:
SqlException: Cannot open database "MvcMovieContext-GUID" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'User-name'.You missed the migrations step.
-
Test the Create link. Enter and submit data.
[!NOTE] You may not be able to enter decimal commas in the
Pricefield. To support jQuery validation for non-English locales that use a comma (",") for a decimal point and for non US-English date formats, the app must be globalized. For globalization instructions, see this GitHub issue. -
Test the Edit, Details, and Delete links.
Examine the Startup class:
The preceding highlighted code shows the movie database context being added to the Dependency Injection container:
services.AddDbContext<MvcMovieContext>(options =>specifies the database to use and the connection string.=>is a lambda operator
Open the Controllers/MoviesController.cs file and examine the constructor:
The constructor uses Dependency Injection to inject the database context (MvcMovieContext) into the controller. The database context is used in each of the CRUD methods in the controller.
Earlier in this tutorial, you saw how a controller can pass data or objects to a view using the ViewData dictionary. The ViewData dictionary is a dynamic object that provides a convenient late-bound way to pass information to a view.
MVC also provides the ability to pass strongly typed model objects to a view. This strongly typed approach enables better compile time checking of your code. The scaffolding mechanism used this approach (that is, passing a strongly typed model) with the MoviesController class and views when it created the methods and views.
Examine the generated Details method in the Controllers/MoviesController.cs file:
The id parameter is generally passed as route data. For example https://localhost:5001/movies/details/1 sets:
- The controller to the
moviescontroller (the first URL segment). - The action to
details(the second URL segment). - The id to 1 (the last URL segment).
You can also pass in the id with a query string as follows:
https://localhost:5001/movies/details?id=1
The id parameter is defined as a nullable type (int?) in case an ID value isn't provided.
A lambda expression is passed in to FirstOrDefaultAsync to select movie entities that match the route data or query string value.
var movie = await _context.Movie
.FirstOrDefaultAsync(m => m.Id == id);If a movie is found, an instance of the Movie model is passed to the Details view:
return View(movie);Examine the contents of the Views/Movies/Details.cshtml file:
By including a @model statement at the top of the view file, you can specify the type of object that the view expects. When you created the movie controller, the following @model statement was automatically included at the top of the Details.cshtml file:
@model MvcMovie.Models.MovieThis @model directive allows you to access the movie that the controller passed to the view by using a Model object that's strongly typed. For example, in the Details.cshtml view, the code passes each movie field to the DisplayNameFor and DisplayFor HTML Helpers with the strongly typed Model object. The Create and Edit methods and views also pass a Movie model object.
Examine the Index.cshtml view and the Index method in the Movies controller. Notice how the code creates a List object when it calls the View method. The code passes this Movies list from the Index action method to the view:
When you created the movies controller, scaffolding automatically included the following @model statement at the top of the Index.cshtml file:
The @model directive allows you to access the list of movies that the controller passed to the view by using a Model object that's strongly typed. For example, in the Index.cshtml view, the code loops through the movies with a foreach statement over the strongly typed Model object:
Because the Model object is strongly typed (as an IEnumerable<Movie> object), each item in the loop is typed as Movie. Among other benefits, this means that you get compile time checking of the code:
- Tag Helpers
- Globalization and localization
[!div class="step-by-step"] Previous Adding a View Next Working with SQL
::: moniker-end