So I am basically looking for ideas here. I’ve never really had to do anything like this before, and I’m kinda stumped at the moment. This might be a long explanation here so bear with me, and hopefully some of you guru’s can give me something to go off of.
I have two MVC2 Apps. Both run in the same code base, but they are accessed by two different URL’s (controllers). So I access one by going to
http://localhost/Extranet/mvc/StandardDeviationCones.cfc/mobile
and the other by going to
http://localhost/Extranet/mvc/Indications.cfc/home
Now, the second link there is the app that has been in development for a while. You load up the home page, go through a wizard, reach a form, fill out a bunch of information, etc. and all the while the code is updating and filling out the Model in the background with a BUNCH of information that is populated by the different choices you are selecting on the front end. We have an entire eventing framework built so that as you as you select a choice from a dropdown, or fill in a textbox, the Model updates, adds objects, etc. in a very specific way.
Only after the model has been populated in this exact fashion are you able to call a certain Value() method that we have. I’ve tried to create an exact replica of the object passed in by hand, and besides the fact that it took me about 6 hours to do, it still didn’t value because some property somewhere wasn’t set the way it should be. There’s a massive amount of things that make this Model up so it’s very easy to miss something.
Now, the goal here is to be able to press a button on the new app, Mobile, and have it create a default Model state in the background and Value() it, so we can get one property back from the results and display it on the mobile phone platform. Basically an incredibly stripped down version of the real thing. The problem is, even though I can go through the wizard in the old app and create the default state of the object, there’s no way I can create that by hand because there’s hundreds of properties that go into it, and because it is all setup using the eventing framework on the front end, there’s really no way I can say “auto setup this default model”, and then value it, because all the calls are triggered by logging into the old app and using a lot of Session information to call them with.
Obviously I can go into the old app, go through the wizard, fill out the form, and click ‘Value’, and then step through the code on it’s way to get valued, look at the object getting passed in, and basically copy that and then create a new one entirely by hand going property by property, but that seems a little ridiculous.
Do you guys have any ideas for how I would be able to accomplish this?
Thanks a lot!
So basically you have a huge Model, which is created in several steps. And you want to get that model from a different mvc app without copying it hard-code.
what i would investigate in this case is how i could ’emulate/fake’ the steps in your main app, and then send this model.
in short i’d just merge all the steps done into 1 action, and then return this to your mobile app. you could do this with XML serializer, or JSON, or a web service. the mobile app would then make a request to the main app, which has an action solely to make this default model, which should be not that hard in the main app.
also, this way your app will be maintainable, when something changes in the model.