MVC 4 EF5 Database First set Default Values in Partial Class

Question

I'm new to MVC and trying to figure out how to set default values for partial classes. I have been searching for 2 days now, and can't get anything to work. Here is a supposed solution, but it doesn't work for me. I also tried the [DefaultValue(10)] data annotation.

Here is the auto generated partial class created from the edmx file

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generated>
//    This code was generated from a template.
//
//    Manual changes to this file may cause unexpected behavior in your application.
//    Manual changes to this file will be overwritten if the code is regenerated.
// </auto-generated>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

namespace OTIS.Models.Admin
{
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

    public partial class Company
    {
        public Company()
        {
            this.Facilities = new HashSet<Facility>();
        }

        public int CompanyID { get; set; }

        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Company Name")]
        public string CompanyName { get; set; }

        public string Address1 { get; set; }
        public string Address2 { get; set; }
        public string City { get; set; }
        public string State { get; set; }
        public string PostalCode { get; set; }
        public decimal ItemMargin { get; set; }
        public decimal ServicesMargin { get; set; }
        public decimal InvoiceTimeIncrement { get; set; }
        public decimal CashDiscountPct { get; set; }
        public decimal BaseServiceHourlyRate { get; set; }
        public decimal HourlyPremiumRush { get; set; }
        public decimal HourlyPremiumLate { get; set; }
        public decimal HourlyPremiumCustomerMaterial { get; set; }
        public int CreatedByID { get; set; }
        public System.DateTime CreatedOn { get; set; }
        public int ModifiedBy { get; set; }
        public System.DateTime ModifiedOn { get; set; }

        public virtual UserProfile UserProfile { get; set; }
        public virtual UserProfile UserProfile1 { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<Facility> Facilities { get; set; }
    }
}

Here is my partial class I created to add annotations.

namespace OTIS.Models.Admin
{
    [MetadataType(typeof(CompanyMD))]
    public partial class Company
    {

        //public Company()
        //{
        //    //private System.DateTime _currentDateTime = DateTime.Now;
        //    ////Set Default Values
        //    //CreatedByID = (int)Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey;
        //    //CreatedOn = _currentDateTime;
        //    //ModifiedBy = (int)Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey;
        //    //ModifiedOn = _currentDateTime;
        //}

        public string FullAddress
        {
            get
            {
                return this.City + ", " + this.State + " " + this.PostalCode;
            }
        }

        public class CompanyMD
        {
            private System.DateTime _currentDateTime = DateTime.Now;
            private int _currentUser = (int)Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey;


            [Display(Name = "Company ID")]
            public int CompanyID { get; set; }

            [Required]
            [Display(Name = "Company Name")]
            public string CompanyName { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Address")]
            public string Address1 { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Address 2")]
            public string Address2 { get; set; }

            public string City { get; set; }
            public string State { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Zip")]
            public string PostalCode { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Address")]
            public string FullAddress { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Material Margin")]
            public decimal ItemMargin { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Overtime Margin")]
            public decimal ServicesMargin { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Invoice Hour Increment")]
            public decimal InvoiceTimeIncrement { get; set; }

            private decimal _cashDiscountPct;

            [Display(Name = "Cash Discount %")]
            [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:P2}")]
            public decimal CashDiscountPct
            {
                get { return _cashDiscountPct; }
                set { _cashDiscountPct = value/100; }
            }

            [Display(Name = "Base Hourly Rate ($/Hr)")]
            [DataType(DataType.Currency), DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:C2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
            public decimal BaseServiceHourlyRate { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Rush Premium ($/Hr)")]
            [DataType(DataType.Currency), DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:C2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
            public decimal HourlyPremiumRush { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Late Premium ($/Hr)")]
            [DataType(DataType.Currency), DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:C2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
            [DefaultValue(75)]
            public decimal HourlyPremiumLate { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Cust Material Premium ($/Hr)")]
            [DataType(DataType.Currency), DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:C2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
            public decimal HourlyPremiumCustomerMaterial { get; set; }

            [Display(Name = "Created By")]
            public int CreatedByID { get; set; }
            //{
            //    get { return _currentUser; }
            //    set { _currentUser = value; }
            //}

            [Display(Name = "Created On")]
            [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
            //[DataType(DataType.Date), DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
            public System.DateTime CreatedOn 
            {
                get { return _currentDateTime; }
                set { _currentDateTime = value; }
            }

            [Display(Name = "Modified By")]
            public int ModifiedBy { get; set; }
            //{
            //    get { return _currentUser; }
            //    set { _currentUser = value; }
            //}

            [Display(Name = "Modified On")]
            public System.DateTime ModifiedOn
            {
                get { return _currentDateTime; }
                set { _currentDateTime = value; }
            }

        }

    }
}

And then in my controller, I instantiate a new instance of the class to initialize it, but the values I set don't get set.

//
        // GET: /Company/Create

        public ActionResult Create()
        {
            ViewBag.CreatedByID = new SelectList(db.UserProfiles, "UserId", "UserName");
            ViewBag.ModifiedBy = new SelectList(db.UserProfiles, "UserId", "UserName");
            Company newCompany = new Company();
            return View(newCompany);
        }

Semantic

Note: the error I get if I un-comment the public Company() line is: Type 'OTIS.Models.Admin.Company' already defines a member called 'Company' with the same parameter type – Semantic

Answer 1

I found I needed to handle this in my Repository Class in a GetNew() method that would populate the default values of a new instance of the class.

Semantic

Answer 2

Sorry this is so late, but I just solved a similar scenario myself.

I think the problem is how you refer to the partial class. It should be an empty reference to the partial class with no code. EF uses this "declaration" to link your partial class to your metadata class. So, your metadata class should look like this:

namespace OTIS.Models.Admin
{
    [MetadataType(typeof(CompanyMD))]
    public partial class Company
    {}  // <-- note the close bracket!

    public class CompanyMD
    {
        private System.DateTime _currentDateTime = DateTime.Now;
        private int _currentUser = (int)Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey;

        public string FullAddress
        {
            get
            {
                return this.City + ", " + this.State + " " + this.PostalCode;
            }
        }

        [Display(Name = "Company ID")]
        public int CompanyID { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Company Name")]
        public string CompanyName { get; set; }

        // ....etc.... removed for brevity

    } // close metadata class
} // close namespace

Hope this helps!

Whipsaw

Thank you for your repsonse jpg0002, but I don't want a solution that involves changes to the auto generated class by EF as it is sure to get overriden. I ended up having to handle it in my repository class. – Semantic

@Chad Richardson I agree, you shouldn't have to change the EF-generated class. The correct solution is to add the following to the metadata class: [MetadataType(typeof(CompanyMetadata))] public partial class Company { } – Whipsaw

I edited my answer to show a much better way to do this than changing auto-generated files. – Whipsaw