is MVC model Poco class, structure having data or business layer? - c#

I m new to MVC and will appreciate if you can clarify my question.
What is a model?
Is it just Poco class having fields/ properties, for example a Person class?
Or is a model a data structure having data in it, for example List<Person> or List<Users> ?
Or as per asp.net a working Model is a business layer or service layer, can have business rules, logic, validation and i can talk to other layers?
Thanks for your help and guiding me.

There are ViewModels and DataModels. Poco models are considered the DataModels.
Poco models can also be used as ViewModels but its better to use separate models for views. Because a ViewModel can consist of one or more Poco models.
Here you will find more details: http://rachelappel.com/use-viewmodels-to-manage-data-amp-organize-code-in-asp.net-mvc-applications

One important note "Model" in "ASP.Net MVC" is different than "Model" in classic MVC design pattern, so be careful when looking for definition/resources. "Model in classic MVC" covered in How should a model be structured in MVC?.
"Model" in ASP.Net MVC is object (usually class) that ideally provides all data needed to render particular view.
There is no restrictions on whether such object used for any other purpose. If you view shows one particular item from data access layer (like Person) you can easily share the same object in data access layer and use it as view model.
Note that as of MVC5 views can't call methods asynchronously, so it is good idea to make sure all data is present in the model class instance rather than letting view to call DB/other remote services.

Related

Can DTO in MVC asp.net load data by itself

Consider that I have DTO for view. At domain layer we have the entity . We can use automapper to fill the DTO from entity. But do we need to perform all these at application service class or can we have method at Model which can be called by Controller to perform this process. I need to know the class structure for MVC
Regarding adding the mapping methods to Models, I would disagree and suggest to keep the Entity classes as simple as possible (POCO). I personally prefer to do the mapping either at Application Service Layer or in ViewModels.

Can Models communicate with each other in MVVM

Can a Model communicate with other Models, for my case, can a Model have a list of an other Model, Example :
I have a Model called Graph, and a Model called Node.
Is it appropriate in the MVVM pattern to make the Graph class which is a Model, contain as a property, a list of the Model Node ?
Yes.
MVVM is simply a separation of concerns in terms of views and data. Views can have other views and models can encapsulate other models. The view model is the hybrid where data is stored and acquired using the models and consumed by the views.
Although the answer might be yes you do have to consider the 'proper' responsibilities in MVVM. As long as the Model maintains integrity of the model (references, domain/validation checks) it is perfectly fine to have the model classes 'communicate' with each other. However, in general, I prefer the ViewModel and the repositories to be responsible for retrieving data and translating it into ViewModel classes.
Many times I do not need any logic in the model, the model is the structure I receive from and send to the data store (file, db, web service, ...) The model is 'just' data to me and preferably generated (proxy generation, Entity Framework, ...)

Dal (with Entity Framework) and Model layers into MVC

First of all , I use EF into Dal layer (separeted project from MVC, same solution). The generated models from EF's EDMX file are the actual models from Model layer?? If so, how do I access these models to work in MVC's View layer? I think it's wrong accessing data layer directly from view to work with these models, and If I make a Model layer with "my models" and translate Dal's models into mine models... it'll be duplicated code.
Probably I'm getting something wrong, but most of egs. are with code first approach, and I can't figure out this.
You are right in your idea of not accessing access the Models in your DAL directly from your presentation layer.
To avoid duplicating code when translating your DAL objects into the Models used by your views, you could use something like AutoMapper, which is supposed to do the heavylifting for you in exactly that scenario.
I think it's wrong accessing data layer directly from view to work with these models...
That's right, the appropriate method is using View Model
When you have dozens of distinct values to pass to a view, the same flexibility that allows you to
quickly add a new entry, or rename an existing one, becomes your worst enemy .You are left on your
own to track item names and values; you get no help from Microsoft IntelliSense and compilers .
The only proven way to deal with complexity in software is through appropriate design. So defining an object model for each view helps you track what that view really needs. I suggest you define a
view-model class for each view you add to the application.
-- "Programming Microsoft ASP.NET MVC" by Dino Esposito
A ViewModel provides all information that your view requires to make itself. To transfer data from ViewModel and a business entity you can use AutoMapper.
Don't worry about duplication, those are two different concept and should be separated from each other; it makes your application easy to maintain.
I may be mistaking but to me, using generation from EDMX provides you with the DbContext which could be considered as the DAL and entities which could be considered as the Model.
So you might directly manipulate entity instances as your business object. Manipulation of the base through the DbContext should appear in the BLL layer. Additionally, you might implement DTOs where needed.
This, of course, assumes you want to use entity framework code generation. Other options like using POCOs might be more relevant considering your overall architecture.
I use a view model in my local project and the models in the other project. Then put references to the models im gonna use on the page in my view model. Then reference the view model on my page. Let me know if that sounds like something you want to do and I can edit in some code.

Layer ASP.NET MVC Project

I am trying to understand the concepts of a good designed project.
I am using ASP.NET MVC and i am trying to create a layered (pluggable) project.
The current project structure what i have now is this:
LayeredProject - the MVC Project containing Controllers
LayeredProject.EntityFramework - contains all the POCO classes used for database. (i am using Code First approach)
LayeredProject.Model - this should contain all the business objects used in the project.
Saying that the project is a eCommerce website, i would structure it like this:
In the LayeredProject.EntityFramework project i have classes which corresponds to the database tables. Category, Product, User. This project is used only for saving and loading data from database, and those objects should not be used for other purposes. This project has a reference to LayeredProject.Model project.
In LayeredProject.Model project i store all the objects i work with, which most of them are exactly copies of LayeredProject.EntityFramework POCO's objsects and some other Services Classes used.
In LayeredProject i keep all my ViewModels classes, Controllers, and different UI logic. This project has a reference to LayeredProject.Model project.
First of all, i am not sure that this is the right way of doing this.
And, it this is the right way of doing it, then i get a little confused because i will have a duplicate of my POCO classes in EntityFramework project and also on Model project.
Please help me understanding this
You can Design Your Project using layered structure as well using MVC. The Controller and view part should stay intact. You can divide the business logic part as many layers as you want. The model should come as a result of the number of layers you are expecting. For this keep your business logic in a separate project (not neccessary: it can be there in web project itself), refer the dlls from that project to the MVC web solution. Pass the models which are generated as a result of database querying to the web solution and with the help of controller render the view.(I have done my project using this style)
The MVC project should contain:
view models: models for the views, i.e. models that are very specific to render each view (these model are not the M in MVC). This models usually contain the data which must be shown or edited in the view, as well as aditional necessary information to render the view: for example, if the view must render Drop Down Lists, the view model should contain the corresponding SelectList or IEnumerable to populate the list. You can use mappers, like AutoMapper or ValueInjecter to move data from the business entities (entities coming from the Business Layer) to the view models, and viceversa. Or if appropriate, you can use directly the business entities as properties in the model view (the view model doesn't need to be flat: it can contain objects as properties)
views, strongly typed with the view models
controllers: this controllers use the Business Logic (that is the Model, the M in MVC) to control the application flow, to create and provide the model views for the views, and to react to the user actions
UI helper: I usually add this layer to fulfill the DRY principle. I.e. if I have to prepare a SelectList and it's going to be used in many views, I do it in this layer, and use it from all the necessary places. This can include calculations, orderings, or anything tighly related to the UI, so it doesn't fit in the Business Layer (Model). This uses the Business Layer, and provides data specific for the Views.
Those are the specific and critical parts of MVC, which includes the VC in MVC (views and controllers) The M in MVC (Model) is the business logic which can be done 'as usual'. I.e. you don't have to do anything special in your business layer to use it with MVC. You can use the technology of your choice (a traditional DAL + BLL, WCF, WS, or whatever you want).
This is something which works well for LOB applications. Of course, if you're making a toy application, you can forget this all and make something more monolythic. But I only recommedn this for very little applications with scarce maintenance needs.
These are examples of objects in several layers that allow to edit a "Pet":
Business Logic Layer:
PetService, a class which can be use to read, write, find, and modify pets (as explained above it doesn't matter how this is implemented)
Business Entity: it's the BLL entity for managing Pets. This could be a POCO object or a DDD entity:
Pet - int Id, int PetTypeId, string Name...
View Model: contains a Pet proerty, as well as a list of PetTypes, so that the view can render a drop down list for the PetTypeId:
PetViewModel - Pet ThePet, SelectList PetTypes
UI Helper: if the PetTypes is going to be used in more than one or two views, a PetUiHelper could provide this select list for all the views that require it:
PetUiHelper - GetPetTypesList()
Pet views: a strongly typed view for PetViewModel
Views\Pet\Edit.cshtml
PetController: uses the PetService to create the views, and their model views.
PetController - Edit(int id) --> returns an Edit view, woth its corresponding PetViewModel. There must be also an HttpPost Edit action which receives the user input in an specific model or the PetViewModel, or the Pet plus the Id or whatever. This depends on what you're editing.
Finally, if you know how to use DI, you can use Unity.Mvc or any of the other options to inject the Business Services in the controllers.
seems your using the Code First approach to build a data access, you can dig in this extensive article and gain more insight.
http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9781449320317/ch_AdvancedData.html
You probably have one too many layers in there, there should be no reason to separate the model with the business logic from the LayeredProject MVC layer itself unless you are planning to have a client app or some other separate project to access the model. In the MVC project you already have a model folder that can be used for that. However in the MVC project you should also add a "ViewModels" folder to keep models that are specifically used for the view concerns (e.g. DTO objects).
This project shows a nice simple way of keeping the things separate simply within folders in the MVC project: RacoonBlog Project. Although it uses RavenDB rather than EF the ideas are the same.
Most MVC apps I have worked were layered in this way
MVC Project: Had the controllers, views and models. The business logic resides in the model.
The Data Access layer (Persistence layer) : This project uses an ORM. (In your case entity frame work)
Classes that are mapped to the database tables reside in the Model and not the data access layer.

.NET N-Tier Architecture: What do I do about the Model objects?

I am creating a solution from scratch, using ASP.NET Web forms C#.
I am concerned about the model objects as I don't want to create duplicate sets of model objects in each layer. What is the best practice for using Model objects in 3 layer architecture in Web Forms?
The structure I have in mind is as follows:
UI
BLL
DAL
Model
The Model will contain all the model classes that can be used in each section of the layers. I thought this would be useful as each layer needs access to the model objects. For example:
UI calls a method in BLL passing in a model object filled with data.
BLL calls a method in DAL passing through the object which is saved
in the database etc.
Thanks
Models can be a cross-cutting concern with your layers, which is a quick way to do it. Or you can create interfaces for your models such that you could simply flesh out the interface in something like the BLL - this at least stops it being cross-cutting.
It further depends on if your models are simple data containers (anemic domain model), or contain behaviour, such as the ability to validate themselves or track changes themselves (rich domain model).
You can find that your DAL actually consists of two parts: the boilerplate-never-specific to an app code to talk to the database, and the app-specific populate-the-model code. We have this situation. We share interfaces of our models around, the app-specific DAL code can use this interface in order to push and pull data from the model, but the "true" DAL code works with raw stuff.
In a relatively small application, you can share your Domain Entities all the way up to your Presentation layer but be aware of the coupling this introduces.
If in your Databinding you except an Entity of type Customer with a property Address with a StreetLine1 and StreetLine2 property then all your layers are tightly coupled together and a change in one layer will probably cause changes in other layers.
So your decision should be based on the scale of your project and the amount of coupling you can have.
If you go for a low coupled design then your BLL will use your DAL to retrieve entities and use those entities to execute behavior. The BLL will then use Data Transfer Objects to pass to your Presentation layer so there is no coupling between your presentation layer and your Domain Model.
look at my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/7474357/559144  this is the usual way I do things and works well, not only for MVC and Entity Framework... in fact in MVC the model could be an entity type which only has some of the fields contained by the real business entities defined in lower layers, it depends if you really absolutely need all fields in the UI level as well or only some to do some data rendering and input... 
As a related topic, please see this related answer which I posted recently on avoiding duplication of code and correct architecture in a cross-platform client/server system.
I have +1'd the other posters in this thread as this is not intended to be a full answer, just useful information related to the question.
Best regards,

Categories