Question

How do data frameworks such as Linq 2 SQL, ADO.Net Data Entities and DataSets relate to the “Model” as defined by .Net MVC.

The reason I ask is I’m trying to learn the ins and outs of the .Net framework without relying on many of the tools that make it easy and hide the workings from you.

The “model” I’m building in my exploratory app is simply PostgreSQL commands to update the database. I’m purposefully not using a data “framework”.

I’m finding that much of the functionality that comes as part of the .Net MVC framework isn’t working for me. Stuff like UpdateModel() and anything related to ModelState doesn’t seem to acknowledge what’s going on.

Is much of that functionality tied to using Linq 2 SQL or ADO.Net Data Entities? If so, that’s fine, I just don’t quite understand the relationship yet.

Answer 1

Basically your “Model” object needs to have a parameterless constructor and public get/set properties for it to function easily with the DefaultModelBinder.

Tip: I believe that if you fail to define a parameterless constructor, an empty one is inferred for you (just so you don’t freak out: “ahh! i don’t hav a parameterless constructor”).

So this would generally work fine:

public class Customer
{
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Number { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
}