We Keep Coding

How to query data with calculated fields and map to a ViewModel with a nested ViewModel Collection?

I have referenced numerous questions on this site related to calculated fields and ViewModels, but I can't seem to extrapolate from examples given. I hope that laying out a specific scenario would allow someone to pin point what I can't see. I am new to WebApp design in general. Please take that into consideration. Also, if I've left off any relevant information, please let me know and I will update the question.
Here is the scenario:
I have a complex query that is spanning multiple tables to return data used in calculations. Specifically, I store units for a recipe converted to a base unit and then convert the quantity to the units specified by the user.
I am using AutoMapper to map from entities to ViewModels and vice versa, but I am not sure how to handle the calculated values. Especially with the nested ViewModel Collection thrown into the mix.
Option 1
Do I return an autonomous set of data? Like the following... and then somehow use AutoMapper to do the mapping? Perhaps I would need to do the mapping manually, which I haven't found a solid example which includes nested ViewModels. At this point, I'm not even sure if the following code handles the nested collection correctly for the autonomous data.
var userId = User.Identity.GetUserId();
var recipes = from u in db.Users.Where(u => u.Id == userId)
from c in db.Categories
from r in db.Recipes
join ur in db.UserRecipes.Where(u => u.UserId == userId) on r.Id equals ur.RecipeId
join mus in db.MeasUnitSystems on ur.RecipeYieldUnitSysId equals mus.Id
join muc in db.MeasUnitConvs on mus.Id equals muc.UnitSysId
join mu in db.MeasUnits on mus.UnitId equals mu.Id
join msy in db.MeasUnitSymbols on mu.Id equals msy.UnitId
select new
{
Id = c.Id,
ParentId = c.ParentId,
Name = c.Name,
Descr = c.Descr,
Category1 = c.Category1,
Category2 = c.Category2,
Recipes = new
{
Id = r.Id,
Title = r.Title,
Descr = r.Descr,
Yield = String.Format("{0} {1}", ((r.Yield * muc.UnitBaseConvDiv / muc.UnitBaseConvMult) - muc.UnitBaseConvOffset), msy.Symbol)
}
};
Option 2
Another option that crossed my mind was to return the entities and use AutoMapper as I normally would. Then iterate through the collections and perform the calculations there. I feel like I could make this work, but it seems inefficient to me because it would result in many queries back to the database.
Option 3
???? I can't think of any other method to do this. But, please, if you have suggestions, I am more than willing to hear them.
Relevant Data
Here is the query returning the data I want in SQL Server (more or less).
declare #uid as nvarchar(128) = 'da5435ae-5198-4690-b502-ea3723a9b217'
SELECT c.[Name] as [Category]
,r.Title
,r.Descr
,(r.Yield*rmuc.UnitBaseConvDiv/rmuc.UnitBaseConvMult)-rmuc.UnitBaseConvOffset as [Yield]
,rmsy.Symbol
FROM Category as c
inner join RecipeCat as rc on c.Id = rc.CategoryId
inner join Recipe as r on rc.RecipeId = r.Id
inner join UserRecipe as ur on r.Id = ur.RecipeId and ur.UserId = #uid
inner join MeasUnitSystem as rmus on ur.RecipeYieldUnitSysId = rmus.Id
inner join MeasUnitConv as rmuc on rmus.Id = rmuc.UnitSysId
inner join MeasUnit as rmu on rmus.UnitId = rmu.Id
inner join MeasUnitSymbol as rmsy on rmu.Id = rmsy.UnitId
inner join UserUnitSymbol as ruus on rmsy.UnitId = ruus.UnitId and rmsy.SymIndex = ruus.UnitSymIndex and ruus.UserId = #uid
ViewModels
public class CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int ParentId { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Category")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Description")]
public string Descr { get; set; }
public ICollection<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel> Category1 { get; set; }
public CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel Category2 { get; set; }
public ICollection<RecipeIndexViewModel> Recipes { get; set; }
}
public class RecipeIndexViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Recipe")]
public string Title { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Description")]
public string Descr { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "YieldUnit")]
public string Yield { get; set; }
}
UPDATE 2/10/2018
I found an answer here that does a very good job of explaining exactly what I'm looking at. Particularly under the A Better solution ? section. Mapping queries directly to my ViewModels looks like it would allow me to get my calculated values as well. Problem is, the example given is once again too simplistic.
He gives the following DTO's
public class UserDto
{
public int Id {get;set;}
public string Name {get;set;}
public UserTypeDto UserType { set; get; }
}
public class UserTypeDto
{
public int Id { set; get; }
public string Name { set; get; }
}
And does the following for mapping:
var users = dbContext.Users.Select(s => new UserDto
{
Id = s.Id,
Name = s.Name,
UserType = new UserTypeDto
{
Id = s.UserType.Id,
Name = s.UserType.Name
}
});
Now what if the UserDTO looked like this:
public class UserDto
{
public int Id {get;set;}
public string Name {get;set;}
public ICollection<UserTypeDto> UserTypes { set; get; }
}
How would the mapping be done if the UserTypes were a collection?
Update 2/13/2018
I feel I am making progress, but am currently headed in the wrong direction. I found this and came up with the following (which currently errors because of the method call in the linq query):
*Note: I removed Category2 from the ViewModel as I found it was not needed and only complicated this further.
query inside index controller method
IEnumerable<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel> recipesVM = db.Categories
.Where(x => x.ParentId == null)
.Select(x => new CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel()
{
Id = x.Id,
ParentId = x.ParentId,
Name = x.Name,
Descr = x.Descr,
Category1 = MapCategoryRecipeIndexViewModelChildren(x.Category1),
Recipes = x.Recipes.Select(y => new RecipeIndexViewModel()
{
Id = y.Id,
Title = y.Title,
Descr = y.Descr
})
});
Recursive Method
private static IEnumerable<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel> MapCategoryRecipeIndexViewModelChildren(ICollection<Category> categories)
{
return categories
.Select(c => new CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel
{
Id = c.Id,
ParentId = c.ParentId,
Name = c.Name,
Descr = c.Descr,
Category1 = MapCategoryRecipeIndexViewModelChildren(c.Category1),
Recipes = c.Recipes.Select(r => new RecipeIndexViewModel()
{
Id = r.Id,
Title = r.Title,
Descr = r.Descr
})
});
}
At this point, I don't even have the calculations I require, but that doesn't matter until I get this working (small steps). I quickly discovered you can't really call a method inside a Linq Query. Then a thought occurs to me, if I need to force the Linq Query to execute and then perform all the mapping on the in memory data, then I would essentially be doing the same thing as Option 2 (above), but I could perform the calculations within the ViewModel. This is the solution I will pursue and will keep everyone posted.

You have to iterate over UserType Collection and map the value to UserType dto's collection.
Use this code.
var users = dbContext.Users.Select(s => new UserDto
Id = s.Id,
Name = s.FullName,
UserType = s.UserType.Select(t => new UserTypeDto
{
Id = t.Id,
Name = t.Name
}).ToList()
Hope this will help.

I got it working! ...I think. ...Maybe. If anything, I'm querying the data, mapping it to my ViewModels and I have the calculations too. I do have additional questions, but they are a lot more specific. I will layout the solution I followed and where I think it requires work below.
I basically implemented my Option 2 from above, but instead of iterating through the collections, I just performed the calculations within the ViewModels.
Controller Method
public ActionResult Index()
{
var userId = User.Identity.GetUserId();
var recipes = db.Categories.Where(u => u.Users.Any(x => x.Id == userId))
.Include(c => c.Category1)
.Include(r => r.Recipes
.Select(u => u.UserRecipes
.Select(s => s.MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnitConv)))
.Include(r => r.Recipes
.Select(u => u.UserRecipes
.Select(s => s.MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnit.MeasUnitSymbols)));
IEnumerable<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel> recipesVM = Mapper.Map<IEnumerable<Category>, IEnumerable<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel>>(recipes.ToList());
return View(recipesVM);
}
View Models
public class CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int ParentId { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Category")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Description")]
public string Descr { get; set; }
public ICollection<CategoryRecipeIndexViewModel> Category1 { get; set; }
public ICollection<RecipeIndexViewModel> Recipes { get; set; }
}
public class RecipeIndexViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Recipe")]
public string Title { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Description")]
public string Descr { get; set; }
public double Yield { get; set; }
public ICollection<UserRecipeIndexViewModel> UserRecipes { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Yield")]
public string UserYieldUnit
{
get
{
return System.String.Format("{0} {1}", ((Yield *
UserRecipes.FirstOrDefault().MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnitConv.UnitBaseConvDiv /
UserRecipes.FirstOrDefault().MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnitConv.UnitBaseConvMult) -
UserRecipes.FirstOrDefault().MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnitConv.UnitBaseConvOffset).ToString("n1"),
UserRecipes.FirstOrDefault().MeasUnitSystem.MeasUnit.MeasUnitSymbols.FirstOrDefault().Symbol);
}
}
}
public class UserRecipeIndexViewModel
{
public MeasUnitSystemIndexViewModel MeasUnitSystem { get; set; }
}
public class MeasUnitSystemIndexViewModel
{
public MeasUnitIndexViewModel MeasUnit { get; set; }
public MeasUnitConvIndexViewModel MeasUnitConv { get; set; }
}
public class MeasUnitIndexViewModel
{
public ICollection<MeasUnitSymbolIndexViewModel> MeasUnitSymbols { get; set; }
}
public class MeasUnitConvIndexViewModel
{
public double UnitBaseConvMult { get; set; }
public double UnitBaseConvDiv { get; set; }
public double UnitBaseConvOffset { get; set; }
}
public class MeasUnitSymbolIndexViewModel
{
public string Symbol { get; set; }
}
This appears to be working, but I know it needs some work.
For instance, the relation shown between the Recipe and UserRecipe shows one to many. In reality, if the UserRecipe were filtered by the current user, the relationship would be one to one. Also, the same goes for the MeasUnit and the MeasUnitSymbol entities. Currently, I'm relying on the FirstOrDefault of those collections to actually perform the calculations.
Also, I have seen numerous posts that state that calculations should not be done in the View Models. Except for some who say it's okay if it is only a requirement of the View.
Last I will say that paying attention to variable names within the ViewModels would have saved me some headaches. And I thought I knew how to utilize Linq Queries, but had issues with the data returned. It was easier to rely on the eager loading provided by Entity Framework to bring back the hierarchical data structure needed, versus the flat table structures I'm used to working with.
I'm still new to a lot of this and wrapping my head around some of the quirks of MVC and Entity Framework leaves me brain dead after a few hours, but I will continue to optimize and adopt better programming methods as I go.

Trying to resolve "The Include path expression must refer to a navigation property defined on the type"

Currently, I'm working with an IQueryable() and cannot get part of the query to work. I'm getting a System.ArgumentException with a description that is in the title of this post.
I'll start with the TSQL query that I need but in IQueryable() code:
SELECT w.*,wr.*,c.*
FROM WorldRegion w
JOIN WorldRegionResource wr
ON w.Id = wr.Id
JOIN Culture c
ON wr.CultureId = c.Id
WHERE c.CultureName = 'en-US'
Now I'll break the code:
Here's the Entity structure:
public class WorldRegion
{
public virtual ICollection<WorldRegionResource> WorldRegionResources { get; set; }
}
public class WorldRegionResource
{
public Culture Culture { get; set; }
}
public class Culture
{
public string CultureName { get; set; }
}
Here's a working query (with other expressions removed for brevity), but I need to add a filter to this as this returns ALL available WorldRegionResources for the WorldRegion and I want to return ONE:
IQueryable<WorldRegion> query = repository.Queryable();
query.Include(w => w.WorldRegionResources.Select(wr => wr.Culture));
I need to add a filter:
Where Culture.CultureName == "en-US"
Initially I tried changing the query.Include (which threw the exception):
query.Include(w => w.WorldRegionResources.Where(wr => wr.Culture.CultureName == "en-US"));
I've been searching for a solution, but with no success.
I've even tried building an anonymous query:
query.Include(w => w.WorldRegionResources.Select(wr => wr.Culture));
query.Select(w => new
{
WorldRegion = w,
WorldRegionResource = w.WorldRegionResources.Select(wr => new
{
WorldRegionResource = wr,
Culture = wr.Culture.CultureName == "en-US"
})
});
But this produced the same result as the initial query. SQL Server Profiler doesn't even recognize the 'en-US' parameter.
Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance is appreciated,
Ronnie

I believe that you have to tell the enities which entity they map to.
Try adding the foreign key attribute to the foreign key id.
public class WorldRegion
{
public virtual ICollection<WorldRegionResource> WorldRegionResources { get; set; }
}
public class WorldRegionResource
{
[ForeignKey(nameof(Culture))]
public int CultureId { get; set; }
public virtual Culture Culture { get; set; }
}
public class Culture
{
public string CultureName { get; set; }
}

C# LINQ join - use range variable in secondary join

I am trying to use some linq magic to query over two different data sets to compare an inner property on one data set to see if that value is greater than a property in the other data set. I've generalized the class layouts and removed some properties to hopefully make it clearer.
public class Contract
{
public string ContractId { get; set; }
public IList<Invoice> InvoiceList { get; set; }
public class Invoice
{
public int InvoiceNumber { get; set; }
public decimal CurrentDueAmount { get; set; }
}
}
public class PaymentRequest
{
public IList<ContractList> Contracts { get; set; }
public class ContractList
{
public string ContractId { get; set; }
public IList<InvoiceList> Invoices { get; set; }
}
public class InvoiceList
{
public decimal CurrentDueAmount { get; set; }
}
}
I know the following LINQ statement doesn't work but its the general idea on what I'm trying to achieve.
from validContract in validContracts
join contract in paymentRequest.Contracts
on validContract.ContractId equals contract.ContractId
from validInvoice in validContract.InvoiceList
join invoice in contract.Invoices
on validInvoice.InvoiceNumber equals invoice.InvoiceNumber
where invoice.CurrentDueAmount > validInvoice.CurrentDueAmount
select "Invoice Number: " + invoice.InvoiceNumber + ", Current Due >= " + validInvoice.CurrentDueAmount;
I get an error trying to use the range variable "contract" in the second join statement.
I'd like to be able to do the comparison on the objects currentDueAmounts. Any ideas / refactoring, method extractions, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

You need to separate the two sets before joining them like this
var query =
from valid in (
from contract in validContracts
from invoice in contract.InvoiceList
select new { contract, invoice }
)
join request in (
from contract in paymentRequest.Contracts
from invoice in contract.Invoices
select new { contract, invoice }
)
on new { valid.contract.ContractId, valid.invoice.InvoiceNumber }
equals new { request.contract.ContractId, request.invoice.InvoiceNumber }
where request.invoice.CurrentDueAmount > valid.invoice.CurrentDueAmount
select "Invoice Number: " + request.invoice.InvoiceNumber + ", Current Due >= " + valid.invoice.CurrentDueAmount;

Dapper: mapping hierarchy and single different property

I really love Dapper's simplicity and possibilities. I would like to use Dapper to solve common challenges I face on a day-to-day basis. These are described below.
Here is my simple model.
public class OrderItem {
public long Id { get; set; }
public Item Item { get; set; }
public Vendor Vendor { get; set; }
public Money PurchasePrice { get; set; }
public Money SellingPrice { get; set; }
}
public class Item
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public Category Category { get; set; }
}
public class Category
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public long? CategoryId { get; set; }
}
public class Vendor
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public Money Balance { get; set; }
public string SyncValue { get; set; }
}
public struct Money
{
public string Currency { get; set; }
public double Amount { get; set; }
}
Two challenges have been stumping me.
Question 1:
Should I always create a DTO with mapping logic between DTO-Entity in cases when I have a single property difference or simple enum/struct mapping?
For example: There is my Vendor entity, that has Balance property as a struct (otherwise it could be Enum). I haven't found anything better than that solution:
public async Task<Vendor> Load(long id) {
const string query = #"
select * from [dbo].[Vendor] where [Id] = #id
";
var row = (await this._db.QueryAsync<LoadVendorRow>(query, new {id})).FirstOrDefault();
if (row == null) {
return null;
}
return row.Map();
}
In this method I have 2 overhead code:
1. I have to create LoadVendorRow as DTO object;
2. I have to write my own mapping between LoadVendorRow and Vendor:
public static class VendorMapper {
public static Vendor Map(this LoadVendorRow row) {
return new Vendor {
Id = row.Id,
Title = row.Title,
Balance = new Money() {Amount = row.Balance, Currency = "RUR"},
SyncValue = row.SyncValue
};
}
}
Perhaps you might suggest that I have to store amount & currency together and retrieve it like _db.QueryAsync<Vendor, Money, Vendor>(...)- Perhaps, you are right. In that case, what should I do if I need to store/retrive Enum (OrderStatus property)?
var order = new Order
{
Id = row.Id,
ExternalOrderId = row.ExternalOrderId,
CustomerFullName = row.CustomerFullName,
CustomerAddress = row.CustomerAddress,
CustomerPhone = row.CustomerPhone,
Note = row.Note,
CreatedAtUtc = row.CreatedAtUtc,
DeliveryPrice = row.DeliveryPrice.ToMoney(),
OrderStatus = EnumExtensions.ParseEnum<OrderStatus>(row.OrderStatus)
};
Could I make this work without my own implementations and save time?
Question 2:
What should I do if I'd like to restore data to entities which are slightly more complex than simple single level DTO? OrderItem is beautiful example. This is the technique I am using to retrieve it right now:
public async Task<IList<OrderItem>> Load(long orderId) {
const string query = #"
select [oi].*,
[i].*,
[v].*,
[c].*
from [dbo].[OrderItem] [oi]
join [dbo].[Item] [i]
on [oi].[ItemId] = [i].[Id]
join [dbo].[Category] [c]
on [i].[CategoryId] = [c].[Id]
join [dbo].[Vendor] [v]
on [oi].[VendorId] = [v].[Id]
where [oi].[OrderId] = #orderId
";
var rows = (await this._db.QueryAsync<LoadOrderItemRow, LoadItemRow, LoadVendorRow, LoadCategoryRow, OrderItem>(query, this.Map, new { orderId }));
return rows.ToList();
}
As you can see, my question 1 problem forces me write custom mappers and DTO for every entity in the hierarchy. That's my mapper:
private OrderItem Map(LoadOrderItemRow row, LoadItemRow item, LoadVendorRow vendor, LoadCategoryRow category) {
return new OrderItem {
Id = row.Id,
Item = item.Map(category),
Vendor = vendor.Map(),
PurchasePrice = row.PurchasePrice.ToMoney(),
SellingPrice = row.SellingPrice.ToMoney()
};
}
There are lots of mappers that I'd like to eliminate to prevent unnecessary work.

Is there a clean way to retrive & map Order
entity with relative properties like Vendor, Item, Category etc)
You are not showing your Order entity but I'll take your OrderItem as an example and show you that you don't need a mapping tool for the specific problem (as quoted). You can retrieve the OrderItems along with the Item and Vendor info of each by doing the following:
var sql = #"
select oi.*, i.*, v.*
from OrderItem
inner join Item i on i.Id = oi.ItemId
left join Vendor v on v.Id = oi.VendorId
left join Category c on c.Id = i.CategoryId";
var items = connection.Query<OrderItem, Item, Vendor, Category, OrderItem>(sql,
(oi,i,v,c)=>
{
oi.Item=i;oi.Item.Category=c;oi.Vendor=v;
oi.Vendor.Balance = new Money { Amount = v.Amount, Currency = v.Currency};
return oi;
});
NOTE: The use of left join and adjust it accordingly based on your table structure.

I'm not sure I understand your question a 100%. And the fact that no one has attempted to answer it yet, leads me to believe that I'm not alone when I say it might be a little confusing.
You mention that you love Dapper's functionality, but I don't see you using it in your examples. Is it that you want to develop an alternative to Dapper? Or that you don't know how to use Dapper in your code?
In any case, here's a link to Dapper's code base for your review:
https://github.com/StackExchange/dapper-dot-net
Hoping that you'd be able to clarify your questions, I'm looking forward to your reply.

How do I do a multi-join on two SQL Views in an Entity Framework Model?

I have two views in my model.
I basically need to do an INNER JOIN on them based on three columns:
dataSource
ShowID
EpisodeID
The first thing I don't know how to do is add the SQL "AND" operator to the LINQ expression.
The second thing is, I don't know how to SELECT the JOINED table.
Can someone give me a hand?
var query = (from s in db.TVData_VW_ShowList
from z in db.TVData_VW_Schedule
where s.dataSource = z.dataSource
&& s.ShowID = z.ShowID
&& s.EpisodeId = z.EpisodeId select ...

You can use anonymous types to your advantage here, both to join across multiple columns, and to project into a new type containing data from both sides of the join. Here's a working example using Linq to objects:
namespace LinqExample
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
var Shows = new List<ShowData> { new ShowData { dataSource = "foo", EpisodeID = "foo", ShowID = "foo", SomeShowProperty = "showFoo" }};
var Schedules = new List<ScheduleData> { new ScheduleData { dataSource = "foo", EpisodeID = "foo", ShowID = "foo", SomeScheduleProperty = "scheduleFoo" } };
var results =
from show in Shows
join schedule in Schedules
on new { show.dataSource, show.ShowID, show.EpisodeID }
equals new { schedule.dataSource, schedule.ShowID, schedule.EpisodeID }
select new { show.SomeShowProperty, schedule.SomeScheduleProperty };
foreach (var result in results)
{
Console.WriteLine(result.SomeShowProperty + result.SomeScheduleProperty); //prints "showFoo scheduleFoo"
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class ShowData
{
public string dataSource { get; set; }
public string ShowID { get; set; }
public string EpisodeID { get; set; }
public string SomeShowProperty { get; set; }
}
public class ScheduleData
{
public string dataSource { get; set; }
public string ShowID { get; set; }
public string EpisodeID { get; set; }
public string SomeScheduleProperty { get; set; }
}
}

So to join you can use the join keyword then use on to specify the conditions. && (the logical and operator in C#) will be translated to the SQL AND keyword.
Also, in EF they have what are known as "implicit joins" meaning if I have TableA with a foreign key to TableB, call it fKey.
Doing where TableA.fKey == TableB.pKey will cause the provider to put a join there. To select you simply need to do;
select new { prop1 = TableA.Prop1, prop2 = TableB.Prop1 }
this will create a new anonymous which selects values from both tables.
Below is a more complete example of the join syntax. I think it uses all of the things you asked about;
var result = from a in TableA
join b in TableB on a.fKey equals b.pKey && b.Status equals 1
select new { a.Prop1, a.Prop2, b.Prop1 };

First you need to create an auxiliar class that contains the columns of both views, something like:
public class viewItem
{
public int ShowID { get; set; }
public int EpisodeID { get; set; }
public int dataSource { get; set; }
...
}
then your linq query would be:
var query = (from s in db.TVData_VW_ShowList
join z in db.TVData_VW_Schedule
on s.dataSource equals z.dataSource
where s.ShowID == z.ShowID
&& s.EpisodeID == z.EpisodeID
select new viewItem {
ShowID = s.ShowID,
EpisodeID = s.EpisodeID,
dataSource = s.dataSource,
...
}