Question

I just followed an MVC tutorial on creating an image Gallery, which connects the Controller to the data connection, like this:

ImageController.cs:

...
private CustomMembershipDB db = new CustomMembershipDB();

    public ViewResult Index()
    {
        return View(db.lm_pics.ToList());
    }
...

Instead of connecting directly to CustomMembershipDB, I’d like to use my own Model named GalleryModel.cs. I’m thinking this would allow me to create more functionality that just direct data access.

I am not sure how to write this model, or how to reference it in the controller so that it behaves the same way as a direct database connection does now.

Currently, my GalleryModel.cs file looks lke this (edited to correct error):

namespace LMProj_MVC.Models
{
    public class GalleryModel
    {
        public string Picname { get; set; }
        public string Decription{ get; set; }
        public int Userid { get; set; }
    }

    public class PicDBContext : CustomMembershipDB
    {
        public DbSet<GalleryModel> GalleryModel { get; set; }
    }
}

I’d like to be able to show the gallery using an iEnumberable list as I am doing now, in addition to creating other methods. Could someone tell me what I’m missing?

Answer 1

You need to create an instance of your model object for each of your database pictures. You could use LINQ to do this, for example:

var picSummaries = db.lm_pics.Select(pic => new GalleryModel{
    Picname = pic.Name,
    Description = pic.Description,
    Userid = pic.User.Id
});

Or you could use a for each loop:

var picSummaries = new List<GalleryModel>();

 foreach (var pic in db.lm_pics)
    {
        picSummaries.Add(new GalleryModel{
            Picname = pic.Name,
            Description = pic.Description,
            Userid = pic.User.Id
        });
    }

then return the view as before:

return View(picSummaries);