CRUD Operations Using the Generic Repository Pattern and Dependency Inversion Principle With IoC Container and DI in MVC

This article introduces the use of the Generic Repository Pattern and Dependency Inversion Principle With IoC Container and DI in MVC for CRUD Operations. The user interface design in this application uses Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript.

Introduction
Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP)
- Real-Life Example
- Practical Example without DIP
- Practical Example with DI
Inversion of Control (IoC) Pattern
Dependency Injection (DI)
- Tight Coupling
- Loose Coupling
Dependency Injection (DI) Container
CRUD operations Application Design
- Define Entities in Application
- Define Context Class
- Define Mapping of Entities
- Create a Generic Repository
- Create Service for User Operation
An MVC Application Using the IoC and DI
- Ninject Dependency Injection Container
- CRUD Operations Model and Controller
- Create / Edit User View
- User List View
- User Detail View
- Delete Use
Conclusion
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Introduction

A software developer writes a lot of code that is tightly coupled and when complexity grows the code will eventually deteriorate into spaghetti code, in other words, application design is a bad design. A bad design has one of the following causes.

Rigid: A design is rigid if it cannot be easily changed. A single change is heavily dependent on another module so this change causes a cascade of changes that couldn't be predicted, and the impact of the change could not be estimated.
Fragile: A simple change to one part of the application leads to failures in another part of it that appear completely unrelated. Fixing those problems leads to even more problems.
Immobile: When the desirable parts of the design are highly dependent upon other details that are not desired and that is why one part of the application could not be used in another application.

Causes in bad design application
Figure 1.1: Causes of bad design application

The Dependency Inversion Principle is a solution for all these causes, that's why in this article I explain it. This article basically focuses on DIP, IoC, DI, and DI containers so before diving into these, I just want to provide a small introduction in this section.

The Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP) is a software design principle that is the last principle of SOLID while the Inversion of Control (IoC) is a software design pattern. Here I used two terms, one is a principle and the other is a pattern. So what is the basic difference between these?

Software Design Principle: Software Design Principles represent a set of guidelines that help us to avoid having a bad design. These are less about specific languages or paradigms and more generally "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY); the DRY principle is true for all programming.
Software Design Pattern: Software Design Patterns are a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. These are common solutions for object-oriented programming problems. Like the Singleton Pattern and Factory Pattern.

Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP)

It is the fifth principle of SOLID where “D” stands for Dependency Inversion Principle. Its main goal is decoupling software modules, in other words, software design should be loosely coupled instead of tightly coupled. The principle states.

High-level modules should not depend upon low-level modules. Both should depend upon abstractions.
Abstractions should not depend upon details. Details should depend upon abstractions.

In short, the higher-level module defines an interface and the lower-level module implements that interface. To explain this sentence we use a real-life example.

Real-Life Example

Suppose you are sitting on your desk. Your desk has some gadgets, like your development machine (LCD Monitor or Laptop) and mobile phone. The LCD Monitor has a cable that connects from the electric port (power cable) and the same as the mobile phone which also has a charging cable that connects to an electric port. You could see that both devices connect from the electric port so the question occurs of who defined the port, your device or the cable? You will say that the devices define the port, in other words, we don't purchase devices depending on the port while the port is designed dependent on devices and the cable is just an interface that connects both devices and the port so you could say that a high-level module doesn't depend on the low-level module but both should be dependent on abstraction.

Practical Example without DIP

To understand DIP, we use an example that explains how an error log can manage an application. There are two types of log management, the first one is via text file and the other is by using the event viewer. We create a high-level Operation class for the error log entry. We create two interfaces, one is IEventViewerLogger and the other is the IFileLogger interface. The IEventViewerLogger interface is implemented by the EventViewerLogger class while the IFileLogger interface is implemented by the FileLogger class.

The preceding Figure 1.2 shows that a high-level Operation class depends on the interface. We create an instance of each interface in this class assign an appropriate object to each instance and use the operation accordingly. This means that a high-level module Operation class depends on the low-level module such as interfaces. Now suppose we want to add a new logger, such as a Database logger. Then we need to add a new interface and that's why the Operation class needs to care for all the interfaces and that's a violation of the Dependency Inversion Principle.

Figure 1.2: without Dependency Inversion Principle

Practical Example of DIP

DIP states that a high-level module should not depend on a low-level module, both should be dependent on abstraction. To implement this principle we create an ILogger interface that is defined by a high-level module, in other words by an operation class, and implemented by low-level modules, both EventViewerLogger and FileLogger classes. So when we add a new Logger, such as a database logger, then we don't need to update the Operation class.

Operation class
Figure 1.3: Example of Dependency Inversion Principle

It's a basic introduction to the Dependency Inversion Principle. If you are looking for code for this example then you can visit: Constructor Dependency Injection Pattern Implementation in C#. As I mentioned in this article the software design principle is a guideline, in other words, DIP doesn't tell us how to solve the preceding problem. If we want to understand how to solve the preceding problem then we need to follow a software design pattern and move on to Inversion of Control.

Inversion of Control (IoC) Pattern

DIP is a software design principle that defines a guideline to solve a problem while IoC is a software design pattern that defines how to solve the problem. In other words, the IoC is the pattern by which we can practically implement DIP in software development. Let's see an example.

In the previous error logger example, we define interfaces and implement them in classes. DIP states that a High-level Module should not depend on a low-level module, which means we define the interface according to a high-level module Operation Class and implement it on a low-level module class. The IoC is inverting the control of something switching control. In other words, an outside module or class is responsible for creating an object of the class instead of directly creating the object of the low-level module class in the high-level module class so we can say that an IoC is an abstraction on which both high-level and low-level modules depend and it inverts the control flow.

In short, we can say that IoC is used to invert the control flow of the application an application module interacts with another module via the interface, and application class objects are created from one class.

Figure 1.4: DIP implementation

Dependency Injection (DI)

Dependency Injection (DI) is a type of IoC, it is a pattern where objects are not responsible for creating their own dependencies. Dependency injection is a way to remove hard-coded dependencies among objects, making it easier to replace an object's dependencies, either for testing (using mock objects in unit tests) or to change run-time behavior.

Before understanding Dependency Injection, you should be familiar with the two concepts of Object Oriented Programming, one is tight coupling and another is loose coupling, so let's see each one by one.

Tight Coupling: When a class is dependent on a concrete dependency, it is said to be tightly coupled to that class. A tightly coupled object is dependent on another object; that means changing one object in a tightly coupled application often requires changes to a number of other objects. It is not difficult when an application is small but in an enterprise-level application, it is too difficult to make the changes.
Loose Coupling: It means two objects are independent and an object can use another object without being dependent on it. It is a design goal that seeks to reduce the inter-dependencies among components of a system with the goal of reducing the risk that changes in one component will require changes in any other component.

Now in short, Dependency Injection is a pattern that makes objects loosely coupled instead of tightly coupled. Generally, we create a concrete class object in the class we require the object and bind it in the dependent class but DI is a pattern where we create a concrete class object outside this high-level module or dependent class.

There are three types of dependency injections.

Constructor Dependency Injection
Setter Dependency Injection
Interface Dependency Injection

In this article, we will use Constructor Dependency Injection. This is the most commonly used Dependency Injection Pattern in Object Oriented Programming. The Constructor Dependency Injection uses a parameter to inject dependencies so there is normally one parameterized constructor always. So in this constructor dependency, the object has no default constructor and you need to pass specified values at the time of creation to initiate the object. You can say that your design is loosely coupled with the use of constructor dependency injection.

Dependency Injection (DI) Container

The Dependency Injection Container is a framework to create dependencies and inject them automatically when required. It automatically creates objects based on requests and injects them when required. It helps us split our application into a collection of loosely coupled, highly-cohesive pieces and then glue them back together in a flexible manner. By DI container, our code will become easier to write, reuse, test, and modify. In this article, we will use a Niject DI Container.

CRUD operations Application Design

We create four projects in a solution to implement DIP with a generic repository pattern. These are:

Ioc.Core (class library)
Ioc.Data (class library)
Ioc.Service (class library)
Ioc.Web (web application)

Figure 1.5: Application Project Structure

Define Entities in Application

In this article, we are working with the Entity Framework Code First Approach so the project Ioc. Core contains entities that are necessary in the application's database. In this project, we create three entities, one is the BaseEntity class which has common properties that will be inherited by each entity and the other are User and UserProfile entities. Let's see each entity. The following is a code snippet for the BaseEntity class.

using System;

namespace Ioc.Core
{
    public abstract class BaseEntity
    {
        public Int64 ID { get; set; }
        public DateTime AddedDate { get; set; }
        public DateTime ModifiedDate { get; set; }
        public string IP { get; set; }
    }
}

The User and UserProfile entities have a one-to-one relationship. One User can have only one profile.

Figure 1.6: Relationship between User and UserProfile Entities

Now, we create a User entity under the Data folder of the IOC. Core project that inherits from the BaseEntity class. The following is a code snippet for the User entity.

using System;

namespace Ioc.Core.Data
{
    public class User : BaseEntity
    {
        public string UserName { get; set; }
        public string Email { get; set; }
        public string Password { get; set; }
        public virtual UserProfile UserProfile { get; set; }
    }
}

Now, we create a UserProfile entity under the Data folder of the IOC. Core project that inherits from the BaseEntity class. The following is a code snippet for the UserProfile entity.

using System;

namespace Ioc.Core.Data
{
    public class UserProfile : BaseEntity
    {
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public string Address { get; set; }
        public virtual User User { get; set; }
    }
}

Define Context Class

The Ioc. The data project contains DataContext, User, and UserProfile entities Mapping and Repository. The ADO.NET Entity Framework Code First data access approach requires us to create a data access context class that inherits from the DbContext class so we create an interface IDbContext that is inherited by the context class IocDbContext (IocDbContext.cs) class. In this class, we override the OnModelCreating() method. This method is called when the model for a context class (IocDbContext) has been initialized, but before the model has been locked down and used to initialize the context such that the model can be further configured before it is locked down. First, create an IDbContext interface and the following code snippet for it.

using System.Data.Entity;
using Ioc.Core;

namespace Ioc.Data
{
    public interface IDbContext
    {
        IDbSet<TEntity> Set<TEntity>() where TEntity : BaseEntity;
        int SaveChanges();
    }
}

Now, create the IocDbContext class and the following code snippet for it.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Ioc.Core;

namespace Ioc.Data
{
    public class IocDbContext : DbContext, IDbContext
    {
        public IocDbContext()
            : base("name=DbConnectionString")
        {
        }

        protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
        {
            var typesToRegister = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes()
                .Where(type => !String.IsNullOrEmpty(type.Namespace))
                .Where(type => type.BaseType != null && type.BaseType.IsGenericType && type.BaseType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(EntityTypeConfiguration<>));

            foreach (var type in typesToRegister)
            {
                dynamic configurationInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
                modelBuilder.Configurations.Add(configurationInstance);
            }

            base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
        }

        public new IDbSet<TEntity> Set<TEntity>() where TEntity : BaseEntity
        {
            return base.Set<TEntity>();
        }
    }
}

As you know, the EF Code First approach follows convention over configuration, so in the constructor, we just pass the connection string name, the same as an App. Config file and it connects to that server. In theOnModelCreating() method, we used reflection to map an entity to its configuration class in this specific project.

Define Mapping of Entities

Now, we define the configuration for the User and UserProfile entities that will be used when the database table is created by the entity. The configuration defines the class library project Ioc.Data under the Mapping folder. Now create the configuration classes for the entity. For the User entity, we create the UserMap class and for the UsrProfile entity, create the UserProfileMap class.

The following is a code snippet for the UserMap class.

using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
using Ioc.Core.Data;

namespace Ioc.Data.Mapping
{
    public class UserMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<User>
    {
        public UserMap()
        {
            // Key
            HasKey(t => t.ID);

            // Properties
            Property(t => t.UserName).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.Email).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.Password).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.AddedDate).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.ModifiedDate).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.IP);

            // Table
            ToTable("Users");
        }
    }
}

The following is a code snippet for the UserProfileMap class.

using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
using Ioc.Core.Data;

namespace Ioc.Data.Mapping
{
    public class UserProfileMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<UserProfile>
    {
        public UserProfileMap()
        {
            // Key
            HasKey(t => t.ID);

            // Properties
            Property(t => t.FirstName).IsRequired().HasMaxLength(100).HasColumnType("nvarchar");
            Property(t => t.LastName).HasMaxLength(100).HasColumnType("nvarchar");
            Property(t => t.Address).HasColumnType("nvarchar");
            Property(t => t.AddedDate).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.ModifiedDate).IsRequired();
            Property(t => t.IP);

            // Table
            ToTable("UserProfiles");

            // Relation
            HasRequired(t => t.User).WithRequiredDependent(u => u.UserProfile);
        }
    }
}

Create Generic Repository

The Repository pattern is intended to create an abstraction layer between the data access layer and the business logic layer of an application. It is a data access pattern that prompts a more loosely coupled approach to data access. We create the data access logic in a separate class, or set of classes called a repository, with the responsibility of persisting the application's business model.

Now, we create a generic repository interface and class. This generic repository has all CRUD operations methods. This repository contains a parameterized constructor with a parameter as Context so when we create an instance of the repository, we pass a context so that all the repositories for each entity have the same context. We are using the saveChanges() method of the context. The following is a code snippet for the Generic Repository interface.

using System.Linq;
using Ioc.Core;

namespace Ioc.Data
{
    public interface IRepository<T> where T : BaseEntity
    {
        T GetById(object id);
        void Insert(T entity);
        void Update(T entity);
        void Delete(T entity);
        IQueryable<T> Table { get; }
    }
}

The following is a code snippet for the Generic Repository class that implements the IRepository<T> interface.

using System;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Validation;
using System.Linq;
using Ioc.Core;

namespace Ioc.Data
{
    public class Repository<T> : IRepository<T> where T : BaseEntity
    {
        private readonly IDbContext _context;
        private IDbSet<T> _entities;

        public Repository(IDbContext context)
        {
            this._context = context;
        }

        public T GetById(object id)
        {
            return this.Entities.Find(id);
        }

        public void Insert(T entity)
        {
            try
            {
                if (entity == null)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentNullException("entity");
                }
                this.Entities.Add(entity);
                this._context.SaveChanges();
            }
            catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
            {
                var msg = string.Empty;
                foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
                {
                    foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
                    {
                        msg += string.Format("Property: {0} Error: {1}", validationError.PropertyName, validationError.ErrorMessage) + Environment.NewLine;
                    }
                }
                var fail = new Exception(msg, dbEx);
                throw fail;
            }
        }

        public void Update(T entity)
        {
            try
            {
                if (entity == null)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentNullException("entity");
                }
                this._context.SaveChanges();
            }
            catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
            {
                var msg = string.Empty;
                foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
                {
                    foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
                    {
                        msg += Environment.NewLine + string.Format("Property: {0} Error: {1}", validationError.PropertyName, validationError.ErrorMessage);
                    }
                }
                var fail = new Exception(msg, dbEx);
                throw fail;
            }
        }

        public void Delete(T entity)
        {
            try
            {
                if (entity == null)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentNullException("entity");
                }
                this.Entities.Remove(entity);
                this._context.SaveChanges();
            }
            catch (DbEntityValidationException dbEx)
            {
                var msg = string.Empty;
                foreach (var validationErrors in dbEx.EntityValidationErrors)
                {
                    foreach (var validationError in validationErrors.ValidationErrors)
                    {
                        msg += Environment.NewLine + string.Format("Property: {0} Error: {1}", validationError.PropertyName, validationError.ErrorMessage);
                    }
                }
                var fail = new Exception(msg, dbEx);
                throw fail;
            }
        }

        public virtual IQueryable<T> Table
        {
            get
            {
                return this.Entities;
            }
        }

        private IDbSet<T> Entities
        {
            get
            {
                if (_entities == null)
                {
                    _entities = _context.Set<T>();
                }
                return _entities;
            }
        }
    }
}

Create Service for User Operations

To implement DIP with DI we create a service for the user entity that the service communicates with the UI and data access logic. Since DIP states that a high-level module should not depend on a low-level module we define an IUsesService interface in the IOC.Service project depending on what we need on the UI to do the CRUD operations. The following code snippet is for IUserService.

using System.Linq;
using Ioc.Core.Data;

namespace Ioc.Service
{
    public interface IUserService
    {
        IQueryable<User> GetUsers();
        User GetUser(long id);
        void InsertUser(User user);
        void UpdateUser(User user);
        void DeleteUser(User user);
    }
}

Now, we create a concrete UserService class that implements the IUserService interface to do CRUD operations on both User and UserProfile entities using the generic repository. The following code snippet is for the UserService class in the same project.

using System.Linq;
using Ioc.Core.Data;
using Ioc.Data;

namespace Ioc.Service
{
    public class UserService : IUserService
    {
        private IRepository<User> userRepository;
        private IRepository<UserProfile> userProfileRepository;

        public UserService(IRepository<User> userRepository, IRepository<UserProfile> userProfileRepository)
        {
            this.userRepository = userRepository;
            this.userProfileRepository = userProfileRepository;
        }

        public IQueryable<User> GetUsers()
        {
            return userRepository.Table;
        }

        public User GetUser(long id)
        {
            return userRepository.GetById(id);
        }

        public void InsertUser(User user)
        {
            userRepository.Insert(user);
        }

        public void UpdateUser(User user)
        {
            userRepository.Update(user);
        }

        public void DeleteUser(User user)
        {
            userProfileRepository.Delete(user.UserProfile);
            userRepository.Delete(user);
        }
    }
}

An MVC Application Using the IoC and DI

In this section, we use a fourth project, IOC.Web, to design the user interface so that we can do CRUD operations on both User and UserProfile entities.

Ninject Dependency Injection Container

The Ninject is a lightweight dependency injection framework for .NET applications. It helps us split our application into a collection of loosely coupled, highly cohesive pieces and then glue them back together in a flexible manner. By using Ninject to support our application's architecture, our code will become easier to write, reuse, test, and modify. You can learn more about it from: http://www.ninject.org/.

Ninject Depedency Injector
Figure 1.7: Our Hero Ninject Dependency Injector

First of all, we need to install Ninject.MVC4 Nuget package in our web application, in other words in the Ioc.Web project.

Figure 1.8: Ninject.MVC4 Nuget Package

This package also installed the dependent page and our application has the following packages after its installation.

Ninject
Ninject.MVC4
Ninject.Web.Common
Ninject.Web.Common.WebHost

After its installation, the NinjectWebCommon class is created under the App_Start folder of the web application. The following code snippet is for this class.

[assembly: WebActivatorEx.PreApplicationStartMethod(typeof(Ioc.Web.App_Start.NinjectWebCommon), "Start")]
[assembly: WebActivatorEx.ApplicationShutdownMethodAttribute(typeof(Ioc.Web.App_Start.NinjectWebCommon), "Stop")]

namespace Ioc.Web.App_Start
{
    using System;
    using System.Web;
    using Ioc.Core.Data;
    using Ioc.Data;
    using Ioc.Service;
    using Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure.DynamicModuleHelper;
    using Ninject;
    using Ninject.Web.Common;

    public static class NinjectWebCommon
    {
        private static readonly Bootstrapper bootstrapper = new Bootstrapper();

        /// <summary>
        /// Starts the application
        /// </summary>
        public static void Start()
        {
            DynamicModuleUtility.RegisterModule(typeof(OnePerRequestHttpModule));
            DynamicModuleUtility.RegisterModule(typeof(NinjectHttpModule));
            bootstrapper.Initialize(CreateKernel);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Stops the application.
        /// </summary>
        public static void Stop()
        {
            bootstrapper.ShutDown();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Creates the kernel that will manage your application.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>The created kernel.</returns>
        private static IKernel CreateKernel()
        {
            var kernel = new StandardKernel();
            try
            {
                kernel.Bind<Func<IKernel>>().ToMethod(ctx => () => new Bootstrapper().Kernel);
                kernel.Bind<IHttpModule>().To<HttpApplicationInitializationHttpModule>();

                RegisterServices(kernel);
                return kernel;
            }
            catch
            {
                kernel.Dispose();
                throw;
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Load your modules or register your services here!
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="kernel">The kernel.</param>
        private static void RegisterServices(IKernel kernel)
        {
            kernel.Bind<IDbContext>().To<IocDbContext>().InRequestScope();
            kernel.Bind(typeof(IRepository<>)).To(typeof(Repository<>)).InRequestScope();
            kernel.Bind<IUserService>().To<UserService>();
        }
    }
}

In the RegisterServices() method of the preceding code, we bind the interface to the concrete classes. By this, the concrete class object is assigned to bind the interface instance.

CRUD Operations Model and Controller

Our user interface form is common for both User and UserProfile entities so we create a model depending on the model. We define UserModel (UserModel.cs) under the Models folder and the following code snippet for it.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Ioc.Web.Models
{
    public class UserModel
    {
        public Int64 ID { get; set; }

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

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

        public string Address { get; set; }

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

        public string Email { get; set; }
        public string Password { get; set; }

        [Display(Name = "Added Date")]
        public DateTime AddedDate { get; set; }
    }
}

We create a controller to do these CRUD operations. Create a UserController under the Controllers folder of the application. This controller has all the ActionResult methods for each user interface of a CRUD operation. We first create an IUserInterface instance then the controller's constructor initiates the service using dependency injection. The following is a code snippet for the UserController.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using Ioc.Service;
using Ioc.Web.Models;
using Ioc.Core.Data;

namespace Ioc.Web.Controllers
{
    public class UserController : Controller
    {
        private IUserService userService;

        public UserController(IUserService userService)
        {
            this.userService = userService;
        }

        [HttpGet]
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            IEnumerable<UserModel> users = userService.GetUsers().Select(u => new UserModel
            {
                FirstName = u.UserProfile.FirstName,
                LastName = u.UserProfile.LastName,
                Email = u.Email,
                Address = u.UserProfile.Address,
                ID = u.ID
            });
            return View(users);
        }

        [HttpGet]
        public ActionResult CreateEditUser(int? id)
        {
            UserModel model = new UserModel();
            if (id.HasValue && id != 0)
            {
                User userEntity = userService.GetUser(id.Value);
                model.FirstName = userEntity.UserProfile.FirstName;
                model.LastName = userEntity.UserProfile.LastName;
                model.Address = userEntity.UserProfile.Address;
                model.Email = userEntity.Email;
                model.UserName = userEntity.UserName;
                model.Password = userEntity.Password;
            }
            return View(model);
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult CreateEditUser(UserModel model)
        {
            if (model.ID == 0)
            {
                User userEntity = new User
                {
                    UserName = model.UserName,
                    Email = model.Email,
                    Password = model.Password,
                    AddedDate = DateTime.UtcNow,
                    ModifiedDate = DateTime.UtcNow,
                    IP = Request.UserHostAddress,
                    UserProfile = new UserProfile
                    {
                        FirstName = model.FirstName,
                        LastName = model.LastName,
                        Address = model.Address,
                        AddedDate = DateTime.UtcNow,
                        ModifiedDate = DateTime.UtcNow,
                        IP = Request.UserHostAddress
                    }
                };
                userService.InsertUser(userEntity);
                if (userEntity.ID > 0)
                {
                    return RedirectToAction("Index");
                }
            }
            else
            {
                User userEntity = userService.GetUser(model.ID);
                userEntity.UserName = model.UserName;
                userEntity.Email = model.Email;
                userEntity.Password = model.Password;
                userEntity.ModifiedDate = DateTime.UtcNow;
                userEntity.IP = Request.UserHostAddress;
                userEntity.UserProfile.FirstName = model.FirstName;
                userEntity.UserProfile.LastName = model.LastName;
                userEntity.UserProfile.Address = model.Address;
                userEntity.UserProfile.ModifiedDate = DateTime.UtcNow;
                userEntity.UserProfile.IP = Request.UserHostAddress;
                userService.UpdateUser(userEntity);
                if (userEntity.ID > 0)
                {
                    return RedirectToAction("Index");
                }
            }
            return View(model);
        }

        public ActionResult DetailUser(int? id)
        {
            UserModel model = new UserModel();
            if (id.HasValue && id != 0)
            {
                User userEntity = userService.GetUser(id.Value);
                model.FirstName = userEntity.UserProfile.FirstName;
                model.LastName = userEntity.UserProfile.LastName;
                model.Address = userEntity.UserProfile.Address;
                model.Email = userEntity.Email;
                model.AddedDate = userEntity.AddedDate;
                model.UserName = userEntity.UserName;
            }
            return View(model);
        }

        public ActionResult DeleteUser(int id)
        {
            UserModel model = new UserModel();
            if (id != 0)
            {
                User userEntity = userService.GetUser(id);
                model.FirstName = userEntity.UserProfile.FirstName;
                model.LastName = userEntity.UserProfile.LastName;
                model.Address = userEntity.UserProfile.Address;
                model.Email = userEntity.Email;
                model.AddedDate = userEntity.AddedDate;
                model.UserName = userEntity.UserName;
            }
            return View(model);
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult DeleteUser(int id, FormCollection collection)
        {
            try
            {
                if (id != 0)
                {
                    User userEntity = userService.GetUser(id);
                    userService.DeleteUser(userEntity);
                    return RedirectToAction("Index");
                }
                return View();
            }
            catch
            {
                return View();
            }
        }
    }
}

Before starting the UI design we have a look at its constructor, we are using IUserService as the parameter of the constructor and here we are injecting the class object that binds from the IUserService interface in the Dependency Injection container.

Figure 1.9: Dependency Inject

We have now developed the UserController to handle the CRUD operations request for both the User and UserProfile entities. Thereafter we develop the user interface for the CRUD operations. We develop it for the views for adding and editing a user, a user listing, a user delete, and user details. Let's see each one by one.

Create / Edit User View

We create a common view for creating and editing a user such as CreateEditUser.cshtml under the User folder of the views. Now define a create/edit user view and the following is a code snippet for CreateEditUser.cshtml.

@model Ioc.Web.Models.UserModel
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create Edit User";
}

<div class="book-example panel panel-primary">
    <div class="panel-heading panel-head">Add / Edit User</div>
    <div class="panel-body">
        @using (Html.BeginForm())
        {
            <div class="form-horizontal">
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Email, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Email, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Password, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.PasswordFor(model => model.Password, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "form-control" })
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="form-group">
                    <div class="col-lg-9"></div>
                    <div class="col-lg-3">
                        @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index", null, new { @class = "btn btn-default" })
                        <button class="btn btn-success" id="btnSubmit" type="submit">
                            Submit
                        </button>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>
        }
    </div>
</div>

Now run the application and call the CreateEditUser() action method with a HttpGet request, then we get the UI as in Figure 1.10 to add a new user to the application.

Figure 1.10: Add new user UI

User List View

This is the first view when the application is accessed or the entry point of the application is executed. It shows the user listing as in Figure 1.11. We display user data in tabular format and on this view, we create links to add a new user, edit a user, delete a user, and the details of a user. This view is an index view and the following is a code snippet for the index. cshtml under the User folder of the View.

@model IEnumerable<Ioc.Web.Models.UserModel>

<div class="book-example panel panel-primary">
    <div class="panel-heading panel-head">Users Listing</div>
    <div class="panel-body">
        <a id="createEditBookModal" href="@Url.Action("CreateEditUser")" class="btn btn-success">
            <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-plus"></span> User
        </a>

        <table class="table" style="margin: 4px">
            <tr>
                <th>
                    @Html.DisplayName("Name")
                </th>
                <th>
                    @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Email)
                </th>
                <th>
                    @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Address)
                </th>
                <th>Action</th>
                <th></th>
            </tr>
            @foreach (var item in Model)
            {
                <tr>
                    <td>
                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.FirstName) @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.LastName)
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Email)
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Address)
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "CreateEditUser", new { id = item.ID }, new { @class = "btn btn-success" })
                        @Html.ActionLink("Details", "DetailUser", new { id = item.ID }, new { @class = "btn btn-primary" })
                        @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "DeleteUser", new { id = item.ID }, new { @class = "btn btn-danger" })
                    </td>
                </tr>
            }
        </table>
    </div>
</div>

When we run the application and call the index() action with an HttpGet request, then we get all the users listed in the UI as in Figure 1.11. This UI has options for CRUD operations.

Figure 1.11: User Listing UI

As in the figure above, the user queue has an option for Edit. When we click on the Edit button then the CreateEditUser() action method is called with an HttpGet request and the UI is shown in Figure 1.12.

Figure 1.12: Edit a User UI

Now, we change the input field data and click on the submit button, then the CreateEditUser() action method is called with a HttpPost request, and that user data is successfully updated in the database.

User Detail View

We create a view that shows the specific user details when the details button is clicked in the user listing data. We call the DetailUser() action method with a HttpGet request that shows a “Details” view such as in Figure 1.13 so we create a view DetailUser and the following is the code snippet for DetailUser.cshtml.

@model Ioc.Web.Models.UserModel

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "User Detail";
}

<div class="book-example panel panel-primary">
    <div class="panel-heading panel-head">User Detail</div>
    <div class="panel-body">
        <div class="form-horizontal">
            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Email, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Email, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.AddedDate, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.AddedDate, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            @using (Html.BeginForm())
            {
                <div class="form-group">
                    <div class="col-lg-2"></div>
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "CreateEditUser", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.Values["id"] }, new { @class = "btn btn-primary" })
                        @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index", null, new { @class = "btn btn-success" })
                    </div>
                </div>
            }
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Figure 1.13: User Detail UI

Delete User

Deleting a user is the last operation of this article. To delete a user, we follow the process of clicking on the Delete button that exists in the User listing data. The user detail view then prompts to ask “You are sure you want to delete this?” after clicking on the Delete button that exists in the Delete view such as in Figure 1.14. When we click the Delete button of the user list, it makes an HttpGet request that calls the DeleteUser() action method that shows a delete view, then click on the Delete button of the view, then an HttpPost request makes that call to the ConfirmDeleteUser() action methods that delete that user. The following is a code snippet for DeleteUser.cshtml.

@model Ioc.Web.Models.UserModel

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Delete User";
}

<div class="book-example panel panel-primary">
    <div class="panel-heading panel-head">Delete User</div>
    <div class="panel-body">
        <h3>Are you sure you want to delete this?</h3>
        <h1>@ViewBag.ErrorMessage</h1>
        <div class="form-horizontal">
            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.FirstName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.LastName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.UserName, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Email, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>

            <div class="form-group">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "col-lg-2 control-label" })
                <div class="col-lg-9">
                    @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Address, new { @class = "form-control" })
                </div>
            </div>
            
            @using (Html.BeginForm())
            {
                <div class="form-group">
                    <div class="col-lg-2"></div>
                    <div class="col-lg-9">
                        <input type="submit" value="Delete" class="btn btn-danger" />
                        @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index", null, new { @class = "btn btn-success" })
                    </div>
                </div>
            }
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Figure1.14: Delete a User UI

Conclusion

This article introduced the Inversion of Control using Dependency Injection. I used Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript for the user interface design in this application. What do you think about this article? Please provide your feedback.

Download

You can download the complete solution source code using the below URLs.

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/CRUD-Operations-Using-0aa46470

20 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Ivan Climov4y ago
Where can I download the project?You have attached a link.https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/CRUD-Operations-Using-0aa46470 I get to the page docs.microsoft.com "View code examples", not on the project.
Pardha Saradhi9y ago
Nice Artice sundeep,But i'm using UnitofWork and connection string is mentioned in web.config of web app then only working as expected. Now i have small doubt. i.e.,i have users, groups,etcc.. tables, iam using your framework ,when i invoke userservice method, i need to get all user related inforamation among multiple tables.If i wrote like as below in user service, i'm not geting the information about other tables. no errors, no warnings, But iam not able to get the data except username(users table). public object GetFulllUserInfo() { var data = userRepository.Table.Select(x => new List<object>(){ x.Username, x.Images.ImgName, x.Images.ImgSrcPath, x.Groups.GrpName, x.Groups.GroupTypes.GrpName, x.Groups.GroupTypes.GroupSubTypes.GrpSubTypeName }).ToList(); return data; }
mehdi kiani9y ago
This approach is used in NopCommerce Project!Now the question is : Are you coping NopCommerce Codes here as an article or NopCommerce team are using your codes??? You can see nopCommece source on GitHub at https://github.com/nopSolutions/nopCommerce
- Sandeep Singh Shekhawat9y ago
  Thanks mehdi kiani. I don't think so. This is the Onion architecture. so when you follow Onion architecture then you'll follow same. You can say that NopCommercce also follow the Onion architecture. Here I used Ninject as IoC while NopCommerce uses Autofac. In essence, It's explain the Onion architecture, it's no matter which CMS uses it.
kalu singh rao10y ago
Nice Articles
phea pagna10y ago
This article is the same as http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/3d39b4/crud-operations-using-the-generic-repository-pattern-and-dep/
- Sandeep Singh Shekhawat10y ago
  Lol :) Both have same URL :). Thanks for comment
Sandeep Singh Shekhawat11y ago
Amol Dorkar As we use Unit of work for create instance from one location so same as IoC also create instance in same manner internally that's why we didn't use two approach to accomplish one task.
- Amol D11y ago
  If I used two services say A and B to insert record on table1 and table2 respectively in same controller action method and if Service A inserted data successfully and Service B failed to insert. then no rollback is happened on table1. What i want i want to keep Service A and Service B in one transaction so if there any one of them is failed then rollback event should occurred.
- Sandeep Singh Shekhawat11y ago
  @Amol Dorkar If you are making transaction on entities than these are inserted via one method in single service. Transaction managed by EF on entity basis on service based. If you are making transaction on related entities from two services than something happening wrong in your architecture.
Amol D11y ago
why dont you used unit of work in above example??
Sandeep Singh Shekhawat11y ago
Thanks all :)
Gowtham Rajamanickam11y ago
Awesome Article, Clearly Explain Everything
Manish Kumar Choudhary12y ago
Nice one Sandeep Singh Shekhawat sir..
Bernard Herbert12y ago
Downloadable source code would be fantastic to work through to develop a better all round understanding of with working with these principles???
Nimit Joshi12y ago
Excellent one Sandeep.
Sam Hobbs12y ago
Thank you for trying to explain DIP and abstraction with a real-life example. Note that people often choose monitors based on whether they have a HDMI port. I think however your example explains why people might not make a selection based on ports but it is unclear to me why they would make a choice. I think it would help to have more about why they would make a choice. I am not sure what you are trying to say about why someone would choose a LCD Monitor or mobile phone. Perhaps you are trying to say that people make such choices based on their requirements. Does abstraction mean requirements? If so then I think it would be much more clear if you say so. Sometimes a HDMI port is a requirement and sometimes it is an insignificant detail.
Sam Hobbs12y ago
I was probably the first person to say "spaghetti code" in this web site. I used it to refer to programs using branch ("go to") statements that go somewhere without a corresponding return. When branches are used the program can jump around so much that it becomes very difficult to determine where it goes and comes from. Since branch statements are used so very rarely in current programs, "spaghetti code" does not exist in "modern" programs. I think that "spaghetti code" has now become a term that is so general that it is not useful. I did not intend to imply that all bad code is spaghetti code. Spaghetti code is code that jumps around so much that it is very difficult to follow, like noodles in a bowl of spaghetti.
Anupam Singh12y ago
Hi Sandeep a good explanation(specially DI) , I have a doubt , you defined base entity it sounds good but what if I my EF generate entities? do I manually extend those from base entities.
Dinesh Beniwal12y ago
Great work, detailed article, deserve 5/5.

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