ASP.NET Web Forms Model Binding

This topic explains How to work with data using Model Binding and Web Forms. Model binding makes data interaction more straight-forward than dealing with data source objects such as ObjectDataSource or SqlDataSource.

In this tutorial, we will use Entity Framework for data and GridView to display data on the web page. Here, we are creating an example that includes the following steps.

Create an ASP.NET Web Application

Select Template

Select Template as Web Forms and change authentication as individual user account.

Create a Master Page

Create a new web form with master page template. We will use this master page to display Model data.

Create a Data Model and Database

We will use Code First Migrations to create objects and the corresponding database tables. These tables will store information about the students and their courses.

Create a new model class in Model folder.

// StudentModels.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
namespace ModelBindingDemo.Models
{
public class SchoolContextDemo : DbContext
    {
public DbSet<Student> Students { get; set; }
public DbSet<Enrollment> Enrollments { get; set; }
public DbSet<Course> Courses { get; set; }
    }
public class Student
    {
        [Key, Display(Name = "Email ID")]
        [ScaffoldColumn(false)]
public int StudentID { get; set; }
        [Required, StringLength(40), Display(Name = "Last Name")]
public string LastName { get; set; }
        [Required, StringLength(20), Display(Name = "First Name")]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
        [Required, StringLength(50), Display(Name = "Email ID")]
public string Email { get; set; }
        [EnumDataType(typeof(AcademicYear)), Display(Name = "Academic Year")]
public AcademicYear Year { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Enrollment> Enrollments { get; set; }
    }
public class Enrollment
    {
        [Key]
public int EnrollmentID { get; set; }
public int CourseID { get; set; }
public int StudentID { get; set; }
public decimal? Grade { get; set; }
public virtualCourse Course { get; set; }
public virtualStudent Student { get; set; }
    }
public class Course
    {
        [Key]
public int CourseID { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public int Credits { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Enrollment> Enrollments { get; set; }
    }
public enum AcademicYear
    {
        Freshman,
        Sophomore,
        Junior,
        Senior
    }
}

The SchoolContextDemo class derives from DbContext, which manages the database connection and changes in the data.

We will use the tools for Code First Migrations to set up a database based on these classes. Open Package Manager Console from the menu bar by following view->other windows-> Package Manager Console.

It will prompt a screen at bottom of the Visual Studio IDE. We need to execute the following command in this console.

enable-migrations -Force -ContextTypeName ModelBindingDemo.Models.SchoolContextDemo

After executing the above command, it produces the following output.

After that a new file named Configuration.cs has been created. This file is automatically opened after it is created. This class contains a Seed method that enables us to pre-populate the database tables with test data.

Add Test data in Configuration file

Here, we will add some data to the configuration file that we can show to the user at web page. After adding data into the file, our Configuration.cs file looks like this:

// Configuration.cs

namespace ModelBindingDemo.Migrations
{
using System;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Migrations;
using System.Linq;
using ModelBindingDemo.Models;
internal sealed class Configuration : DbMigrationsConfiguration<ModelBindingDemo.Models.SchoolContextDemo>
    {
public Configuration()
        {
            AutomaticMigrationsEnabled = false;
        }
protected override void Seed(ModelBindingDemo.Models.SchoolContextDemo context)
        {
            context.Students.AddOrUpdate(
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "M. Irfan",
                     LastName = "Khan",
                     Email = "irfan@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Freshman
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Arvind",
                     LastName = "Kumar",
                     Email = "Arvind@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Freshman
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Arturo",
                     LastName = "Anand",
                     Email = "Anand@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Sophomore
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Moris",
                     LastName = "Mano",
                     Email = "moris@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Sophomore
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Roman",
                     LastName = "Sigh",
                     Email = "roman@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Junior
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Jimmi",
                     LastName = "Seth",
                     Email = "jimmi@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Junior
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Shayam",
                     LastName = "Rana",
                     Email = "Shayam@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Senior
                 },
new Student
                 {
                     FirstName = "Jecub",
                     LastName = "Cunto",
                     Email = "Nino@example.com",
                     Year = AcademicYear.Senior
                 }
                 );
         context.SaveChanges();
            context.Courses.AddOrUpdate(
new Course { Title = "Chemistry", Credits = 3 },
new Course { Title = "Microeconomics", Credits = 3 },
new Course { Title = "Macroeconomics", Credits = 3 },
new Course { Title = "Calculus", Credits = 4 },
new Course { Title = "Trigonometry", Credits = 4 },
new Course { Title = "Composition", Credits = 3 },
new Course { Title = "Literature", Credits = 4 }
                );
         context.SaveChanges();
            context.Enrollments.AddOrUpdate(
new Enrollment { StudentID = 1, CourseID = 1, Grade = 1 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 1, CourseID = 2, Grade = 3 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 1, CourseID = 3, Grade = 1 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 2, CourseID = 4, Grade = 2 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 2, CourseID = 5, Grade = 4 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 2, CourseID = 6, Grade = 4 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 3, CourseID = 1 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 4, CourseID = 1 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 4, CourseID = 2, Grade = 4 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 5, CourseID = 3, Grade = 3 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 6, CourseID = 4 },
new Enrollment { StudentID = 7, CourseID = 5, Grade = 2 }
                );
         context.SaveChanges();
        }
    }
}

After that, in the Package Manager Console, run the following commands.

And

Now, a database has been created and added to the project under App_Data folder.

Display Data

Now, let's display the data to the web page from the database we created. We will use GridView control to display the data in grid form. The Student.aspx file looks like this:

// Student.aspx

<%@PageTitle="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Site.Master" AutoEventWireup="true" 
CodeBehind="Students.aspx.cs" Inherits="ModelBindingDemo.Students" %>
<asp:ContentID="Content1"ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent"runat="server">
<asp:GridViewrunat="server"ID="studentsGrid"
ItemType="ModelBindingDemo.Models.Student"DataKeyNames="StudentID"
SelectMethod="studentsGrid_GetData"
AutoGenerateColumns="false">
<Columns>
<asp:DynamicFieldDataField="StudentID"/>
<asp:DynamicFieldDataField="FirstName"/>
<asp:DynamicFieldDataField="LastName"/>
<asp:DynamicFieldDataField="Email"/>
</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
</asp:Content>

Code Behind

// Student.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using ModelBindingDemo.Models;
using System.Data.Entity;
namespace ModelBindingDemo
{
public partial class Students : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
        }
public IQueryable<Student> studentsGrid_GetData()
        {
SchoolContextDemo db = newSchoolContextDemo();
var query = db.Students.Include(s => s.Enrollments.Select(e => e.Course));
return query;
        }
    }
}

Finally our project looks like the following.