Entity Framework Code First Approach With MVC

This scenario targets a database that doesn’t exist and code first will create, or an empty database that code first will add new tables .

Note: Make sure that the Entity Framework already installed with Visual Studio, otherwise install using NuGet Packages.

Step 1. Creating an MVC Application

• Open Visual Studio
• File, New, then click Project
• Select ASP.NET MVC3/4 Web Application.
• Enter the name of application as "CodeFirstDemo".
• Click OK

Step 2. Creating the Model

Right click on the Models folder and create a model with the name of "User" as in the following image and create a property as in the below code,

Step 3. Create a DBContext

Create a class with the Name MVCDBContext as in the following screenshot and write the code as follows in MVCDBContext class.



[ Note : Make sure that you are using " System.Data.Entity " Namespace. ]

Step 4 : Create a Controller.

Right click on the Controller folder and create a controller with the name "MyController" as in the following image. Write the following code in Mycontroller.cs within Index Action.



Now ,

• Right click on Index and select Add View… as in the following screenshot.
• Click on Add button that appear in the dialog box.
  
  
  
  
• Go to Views folder and choose Index.cshtml in My folder.
  
  
  
  
• Type the following code in Index.cshtml file.
  
  1. @model List < CodeFirstDemo.Models.User > @
  2. {
  3. ViewBag.Title = "Index";
  4. Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
  5. }
  6. < h2 > Index
  7. < /h2>
  8. < p >
  9. @Html.ActionLink("Create New", "Create")
  10. < /p>
  11. < div > < table > < tr > < th >
  12. FirstName
  13. < /th> < th >
  14. LastName
  15. < /th> < th > EMail
  16. < /th> < th > Address
  17. < /th> < th > PhoneNo
  18. < /th> < th > Company
  19. < /th> < th > Designation
  20. < /th> < th > < /th> < /tr>
  21. @foreach(var item in Model)
  22. {
  23. < tr > < td >
  24. @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.FirstName)
  25. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.LastName)
  26. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.EMail)
  27. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Address)
  28. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.PhoneNo)
  29. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Company)
  30. < /td> < td > @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Designation)
  31. < /td> < td > @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new
  32. {
  33. id = item.UserId
  34. }) | @Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new
  35. {
  36. id = item.UserId
  37. }) | @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new
  38. {
  39. id = item.UserId
  40. }) < /td> < /tr>
  41. } < /table> < /div>
      
      
  Now, again go to MyController and create a new action with the name of Details as follows.
  
  1. public ActionResult Details(int ? id)
  2. {
  3. var dbContext = new MVCDBContext();
  4. var userDetails = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(userId => userId.UserId == id);
  5. var user = new CodeFirstDemo.Models.User();
  6. if (userDetails != null)
  7. {
  8. user.UserId = userDetails.UserId;
  9. user.FirstName = userDetails.FirstName;
  10. user.LastName = userDetails.LastName;
  11. user.Address = userDetails.Address;
  12. user.PhoneNo = userDetails.PhoneNo;
  13. user.EMail = userDetails.EMail;
  14. user.Company = userDetails.Company;
  15. user.Designation = userDetails.Designation;
  16. }
  17. return View(user);
  18. }
      
      
  Again, Right click on the Details ActionResult and add view as same as index. Write the code as follows in your Details view which you just created.
  
  1. @model CodeFirstDemo.Models.User
  2. @
  3. {
  4. ViewBag.Title = "Details";
  5. }
  6. < h2 >
  7. Details
  8. < /h2>
  9. < fieldset > < legend > User
  10. < /legend>
  11. < div class = "display-label" > FirstName
  12. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  13. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.FirstName)
  14. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > LastName
  15. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  16. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.LastName)
  17. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > EMail
  18. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  19. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.EMail)
  20. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > Address
  21. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  22. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Address)
  23. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > PhoneNo
  24. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  25. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.PhoneNo)
  26. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > Company
  27. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  28. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Company)
  29. < /div> < div class = "display-label" > Designation
  30. < /div> < div class = "display-field" >
  31. @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Designation)
  32. < /div> < /fieldset> < p >
  33. @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new
  34. {
  35. id = Model.UserId
  36. }) | @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index") < /p>
      
      
  Repeat the same process for creating an action in MyController for Create, Edit and Delete as follows and also add views.
  
  1. #region Edit...
  2. /// <summary>
  3. /// Get Action for Edit
  4. /// </summary>
  5. /// <param name="id"></param>
  6. /// <returns></returns>
  7. public ActionResult Edit(int ? id)
  8. {
  9. var dbContext = new MVCDBContext();
  10. var userDetails = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(userId => userId.UserId == id);
  11. var user = new CodeFirstDemo.Models.User();
  12. if (userDetails != null)
  13. {
  14. user.UserId = userDetails.UserId;
  15. user.FirstName = userDetails.FirstName;
  16. user.LastName = userDetails.LastName;
  17. user.Address = userDetails.Address;
  18. user.PhoneNo = userDetails.PhoneNo;
  19. user.EMail = userDetails.EMail;
  20. user.Company = userDetails.Company;
  21. user.Designation = userDetails.Designation;
  22. }
  23. return View(user);
  24. }
  25. /// <summary>
  26. /// Post Action for Edit
  27. /// </summary>
  28. /// <param name="id"></param>
  29. /// <param name="user"></param>
  30. /// <returns></returns>
  31. [HttpPost]
  32. public ActionResult Edit(int ? id, User userDetails)
  33. {
  34. TempData["TempData Name"] = "Akhil";
  35. try
  36. {
  37. var dbContext = new MVCDBContext();
  38. var user = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(userId => userId.UserId == id);
  39. if (user != null)
  40. {
  41. user.FirstName = userDetails.FirstName;
  42. user.LastName = userDetails.LastName;
  43. user.Address = userDetails.Address;
  44. user.PhoneNo = userDetails.PhoneNo;
  45. user.EMail = userDetails.EMail;
  46. user.Company = userDetails.Company;
  47. user.Designation = userDetails.Designation;
  48. dbContext.SaveChanges();
  49. }
  50. return RedirectToAction("Index");
  51. }
  52. catch
  53. {
  54. return View();
  55. }
  56. }#
  57. endregion# region Delete...
  58. /// <summary>
  59. /// Get Action for Delete
  60. /// </summary>
  61. /// <param name="id"></param>
  62. /// <returns></returns>
  63. public ActionResult Delete(int ? id)
  64. {
  65. var dbContext = new MVCDBContext();
  66. var user = new CodeFirstDemo.Models.User();
  67. var userDetails = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(userId => userId.UserId == id);
  68. if (userDetails != null)
  69. {
  70. user.FirstName = userDetails.FirstName;
  71. user.LastName = userDetails.LastName;
  72. user.Address = userDetails.Address;
  73. user.PhoneNo = userDetails.PhoneNo;
  74. user.EMail = userDetails.EMail;
  75. user.Company = userDetails.Company;
  76. user.Designation = userDetails.Designation;
  77. }
  78. return View(user);
  79. }
  80. /// <summary>
  81. /// Post Action for Delete
  82. /// </summary>
  83. /// <param name="id"></param>
  84. /// <param name="userDetails"> </param>
  85. /// <returns></returns>
  86. [HttpPost]
  87. public ActionResult Delete(int ? id, CodeFirstDemo.Models.User userDetails)
  88. {
  89. try
  90. {
  91. var dbContext = new MVCDBContext();
  92. var user = dbContext.Users.FirstOrDefault(userId => userId.UserId == id);
  93. if (user != null)
  94. {
  95. dbContext.Users.Add(user);
  96. dbContext.SaveChanges();
  97. }
  98. return RedirectToAction("Index");
  99. }
  100. catch
  101. {
  102. return View();
  103. }
  104. }#endregion

Create.cshtml

Delete.cshtml
Edit.cshtml
Please make sure your Web.config file looks like the following:



Now press F5 to run the application,

Summary

In this walk-through we looked at code first development using a new database. We defined a model using classes and then used that model to create a database and performed CRUD operation.