CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net-mvc
Stephen
Stephen

Reputation: 803

One Model only update some fields in each view

I am wondering what is the correct way to approach this. I currently have one model - (shown below), which contains all the fields required for my record.

My issue is that when the record is created I only need to pass data for CustomerID, EmployeeID, Date and ArrivalTime.

The remainder of the fields in the model will be populated when the record is updated at a later stage.

As some of my fields are required this will obviously cause validation errors if I don't post data for those fields.

I am wondering what is the best practice to achieve this?

Should I split the model into two?, or can I do partial validation?

public class CustomerSupportRecord
{
    public int CustomerSupportRecordID { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public int CustomerID { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public string EmployeeID { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please enter a Date")]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [Display(Name = "Date")]
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please select an Arrival Time")]
    [DataType(DataType.Time)]
    [Display(Name = "Arrival")]
    public DateTime ArrivalTime { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please select a Departure Time")]
    [DataType(DataType.Time)]
    [Display(Name = "Departure")]
    public DateTime DepartureTime { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please select a Type")]
    [Display(Name = "Type")]
    public int CustomerSupportTypeID { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Setting")]
    public string ReflectionSetting { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Advisor")]
    public string ReflectionAdvisor { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Notes")]
    public string Notes { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Comments")]
    public string Comments { get; set; }

    // Navigation Properties
    public virtual Customer Customer { get; set; }
    public virtual CustomerSupportType CustomerSupportType { get; set; }
    public virtual Employee Employee { get; set; }
}

Upvotes: 2

Views: 479

Answers (1)

Jan
Jan

Reputation: 16032

The correct approach would be to use different viewmodel classes for the different views and only include the properties you need on that view.

So your viewmodel for the first view look just like this:

public class CustomerSupportRecordForCreation
{
    public int CustomerSupportRecordID { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public int CustomerID { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public string EmployeeID { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please enter a Date")]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [Display(Name = "Date")]
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please select an Arrival Time")]
    [DataType(DataType.Time)]
    [Display(Name = "Arrival")]
    public DateTime ArrivalTime { get; set; }
}

You will have to map between that viewmodel classes and your domain/dal classes. This is where tools like AutoMapper comes in handy.

Edit Automapper:

Using Automapper is really simple.

  1. You have to configure your mappings (i.e. in Application_Start). When the properties of the classes you want to map are named identically, its simple as this:

    Mapper.CreateMap<CustomerSupportRecord, 
                     CustomerSupportRecordForCreation>();

  2. Then you can use the mapped in your app. When you have a CustomerSupportRecord and want to return the CustomerSupportRecordForCreation for your view write:

    CustomerSupportRecord record = getRecordFromDb...
return View(Mapper.Map<CustomerSupportRecordForCreation>(record));

There is a good tutorial article on Codeproject: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/61629/AutoMapper or just google

Upvotes: 1

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