Question

I have a problem with model design in MVC pattern and I am stuck with the statically type of C#.

What I want to do is just to make a group of classes that do all database insert, update, delete operations. This group consists of a subgroup of classes that is mapped from each table in database and a subgroup of table-model classes that access the table classes.

I am using LINQ mapping to create the table class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

using System.Data.Linq.Mapping;
using Iris.Libraries;

namespace Iris.Models.Tables
{
    [Table]
    public class Users
    {
        [Column(IsPrimaryKey = true)]
        public string User_Id;

        [Column]
        public string Name;

        [Column]
        public string Password;

        [Column]
        public int Userlevel_Id;

        public Users()
        {
        }
    }
}

The table then accessed by the model class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

using System.Data.Linq;
using Iris.Models.Tables;
using Iris.Models.DataContexts;

namespace Iris.Models
{
    public class UserModel
    {
        private UserDataContext dataContext;
        private Table<Users> users;

        public UserModel()
        {
            this.dataContext = new UserDataContext(Config.CONNECTION_STRING);

            this.users = this.dataContext.GetTable<Users>();
        }

        public List<Users> Select()
        {
            var data = from user in this.users select user;

            return data.ToList<Users>();
        }

        public Users Select(object id)
        {
            var data = from user in this.users where user.User_Id.ToString() == id.ToString() select user;

            return data.ToList<Users>()[0];
        }

        public void Insert (Users user)
        {
            this.dataContext.Users.InsertOnSubmit(user);

            this.dataContext.SubmitChanges();
        }

        public void Update(Users user)
        {
            var queryableData = from row in this.dataContext.Users where row.User_Id == user.User_Id select row;

            var editedData = queryableData.Single<Users>();

            editedData.User_Id = user.User_Id;
            editedData.Name = user.Name;
            editedData.Password = user.Password;
            editedData.Userlevel_Id = user.Userlevel_Id;

            this.dataContext.SubmitChanges();
        }

        public void Delete(Users user)
        {
            var queryableData = from row in this.dataContext.Users where row.User_Id == user.User_Id select row;

            var deletedData = queryableData.Single<Users>();

            this.dataContext.Users.DeleteOnSubmit(deletedData);

            this.dataContext.SubmitChanges();
        }
    }
}

Above pair of codes works fine without any problem but I want to avoid writing the ‘almost same’ code for model class again and again since there are a lot of table in the database. To achieve that purpose, I try to make a generalized class of model and every table-model extended from it.

public class Users : Model {}

The problem comes from

private Table<Users> users;

Which is the class in Table<> always different for each table. I’ve been searching around for days and didn’t find any answer to solve this problem.

Is it really impossible to generalize the table-model like mine above? Or there are any other way to avoid writing same code repeatedly? Anyone, please help me.. 🙁

Answer 1

Use the following generic method:

System.Data.Linq.Table<T> GetTable
{
        get { return _db.GetTable<T>(); }
}

You can use Repository Pattern, first create a generic interface:

public interface IRepository<T> where T : class
{
    void Add(T entity);
    void Delete(T entity);
    void Update(T entity);
    IEnumerable<T> GetAll(Func<T,bool> exp);
    ....
}

Then your generic repository model should look like the following:

public class Repository<T> : IRepository<T>
    where T : class, IEntity
{
    DataContext _db;
    public Repository()
    {
        _db = new DataContext("Database Connectionstring");
        _db.DeferredLoadingEnabled = false;
    }
    System.Data.Linq.Table<T> GetTable
    {
        get { return _db.GetTable<T>(); }
    }
    public IEnumerable<T> GetAll(Func<T, bool> exp)
    {
        return GetTable.Where<T>(exp);
    }
    ...
    .
}