Using SaveObject() in Mvc controller

pecen posted on Thursday, January 08, 2015

Hi,

I am working on a Mvc4-project and I am wondering why I rather should use the method SaveObject() instead of myObject = myObject.Save() when inserting or updating the db?

The beginning of my code in my controller looks like the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

public class HomeController : Csla.Web.Mvc.Controller, IModelCreator

{

 

 

 

  public object CreateModel(Type modelType)

  {

 

 

 

    if (modelType.Equals(typeof(CustomerEdit)))

 

 

 

      return CustomerEdit.NewCustomer();

 

 

 

    else

 

 

 

      return Activator.CreateInstance(modelType);

  }

 

 

 

 

  public ViewResult Index()

  {

 

 

 

    return View();

  }

  [

 

HttpPost]

 

 

 

  public ViewResult Index(CustomerEdit model)

  {

 

 

 

    if (ModelState.IsValid)

    {

 

 

 

      SaveObject(model,

 

false);

    .

    .

    .

    .

and so on.

So again, my question in this example is why it is better to use 

      SaveObject(model, false);

instead of simply doing as usual

      model = model.Save();

 

Thanks,

Peter

JonnyBee replied on Friday, January 09, 2015

Hi, 

Have you tried to do look at the actual code i Save? 

ViewModelBase.cs:

public virtual bool Save(ModelStateDictionary modelState, bool forceUpdate)
{
  try
  {
    var savable = ModelObject as Csla.Core.ISavable;
    if (savable == null)
      throw new InvalidOperationException("Save");
 
    ModelObject = (T)savable.Save(forceUpdate);
    return true;
  }
  catch (Csla.DataPortalException ex)
  {
    if (ex.BusinessException != null)
      modelState.AddModelError("", ex.BusinessException.Message);
    else
      modelState.AddModelError("", ex.Message);
    return false;
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    modelState.AddModelError("", ex.Message);
    return false;
  }
}

MvcController.cs: 
protected virtual bool SaveObject<T>(T item, Action<T> updateModel, bool forceUpdate) where T : class, Csla.Core.ISavable
{
  try
  {
    ViewData.Model = item;
    if (updateModel != null)
      updateModel(item);
    ViewData.Model = item.Save(forceUpdate);
    return true;
  }
  catch (Csla.DataPortalException ex)
  {
    if (ex.BusinessException != null)
      ModelState.AddModelError("", ex.BusinessException.Message);
    else
      ModelState.AddModelError("", ex.Message);
    return false;
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    ModelState.AddModelError("", ex.Message);
    return false;
  }
}

Basically - this method add some error handling to add errors to modelState and present the error message a little nicer. If it doesn't fit your needs then don't use it.

pecen replied on Friday, January 09, 2015

Hi Jonny,

Thanks for your reply. I just wanted to clarify and understand what the difference is since I realized that both methods work.

/Peter