Bind Components to Data with Entity Framework Core

• Jan 29, 2024
• 4 minutes to read

Entity Framework Core (EF Core) is a data access technology. EF Core uses a model to access data. The model consists of entity classes and a context object that stores information about a connection session with a database.

You can use EF Core in Blazor Server applications with DevExpress components: Grid, Pivot Grid, Scheduler, Combo Box and so on.

Note

Refer to Blazor Server and EF Core. Blazor WebAssembly prevents most direct connections and requests to databases. If you use a WASM Blazor application, you should have a separate application for database operations.

View Example: How to bind the Grid to data with Entity Framework Core

The steps below descirbe how to fetch data from a database to DevExpress components.

1. Use Microsoft or DevExpress templates to create a Blazor Server project.

2. Add EF NuGet packages to your project.

   • EntityFrameworkCore
   • EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
   • EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite

3. Create a model for your database. In Visual Studio, select Tools → NuGet Package Manger → Package Manger Console and run the Scaffold-DbContext command.

   The following command generates entity classes for each table in the Northwind database and a context class for all the enitities and places them in the Model folder:

   Scaffold-DbContext "DataSource=<full-path-to-the-Northwind-database>" Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite -OutputDir Models
   

   For more information about scaffolding, do any of the following:

   • Refer to the MSDN article.
   • Use the following command in the Package Manager console: get-help scaffold-dbcontext –detailed.

4. Register a DbContext factory in the Program.cs file. Use the AddDbContextFactory extension method.

   Program.cs

   using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
   // ...
   builder.Services.AddDbContextFactory<NorthwindContext>((sp, options) => {
       var env = sp.GetRequiredService<IWebHostEnvironment>();
       var dbPath = Path.Combine(env.ContentRootPath, "Northwind.db");
       options.UseSqlite("DataSource=" + dbPath);
   });
   

5. In the .razor file, do the following:

   • In the @using section, specify Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore and generated class namespaces.
   • In the @inject section, specify the DbContext factory.

   @using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
   @using BindToData.Models
   @inject IDbContextFactory<NorthwindContext> NorthwindContextFactory
   

6. In the @code block, do the following:

   • Declare an IEnumerable collection - Data.
   • Use the DbContext factory to create a new DBContext.
   • Call the OnInitialized lifecycle method to load data from the DbContext.
   • Implement the IDisposable interface and use the DbContext.Dispose method to track the context for the component lifetime.

   @implements IDisposable
   @* ... *@
   @code {
       IEnumerable<object> Data { get; set; }
       NorthwindContext Northwind { get; set; }
   
       protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync() {
           Northwind = NorthwindContextFactory.CreateDbContext();
           Data = await Northwind.Employees.ToListAsync();
       }
       @* ... *@
       public void Dispose() {
           Northwind?.Dispose();
       }
   }
   

7. Add a DevExpress component to the page and bind it to the Data collection. The following code adds Grid to the page:

   <DxGrid Data="Data"
           KeyFieldName="EmployeeId">
       <Columns>
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="FirstName" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="LastName" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="Title" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="HireDate" />
       </Columns>
   </DxGrid>
   

   

8. Implement the Create, Update and Delete operations for the grid. To do this, add a command column to the grid and handle corresponding events. Refer to Edit Data for instructions.

   @page "/"
   @using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
   @using BindToData.Models
   @inject IDbContextFactory<NorthwindContext> NorthwindContextFactory
   @implements IDisposable
   
   <DxGrid Data="Data"
           CustomizeEditModel="OnCustomizeEditModel"
           EditModelSaving="OnEditModelSaving"
           DataItemDeleting="OnDataItemDeleting"
           KeyFieldName="EmployeeId">
       <Columns>
           <DxGridCommandColumn />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="FirstName" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="LastName" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="Title" />
           <DxGridDataColumn FieldName="HireDate" />
       </Columns>
       <EditFormTemplate Context="editFormContext">
           <DxFormLayout>
               <DxFormLayoutItem Caption="First Name:">
                   @editFormContext.GetEditor("FirstName")
               </DxFormLayoutItem>
               <DxFormLayoutItem Caption="Last Name:">
                   @editFormContext.GetEditor("LastName")
               </DxFormLayoutItem>
               <DxFormLayoutItem Caption="Title:">
                   @editFormContext.GetEditor("Title")
               </DxFormLayoutItem>
               <DxFormLayoutItem Caption="Hire Date:">
                   @editFormContext.GetEditor("HireDate")
               </DxFormLayoutItem>
           </DxFormLayout>
       </EditFormTemplate>
   </DxGrid>
   
   @code {
       IEnumerable<object> Data { get; set; }
       NorthwindContext Northwind { get; set; }
   
       protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync() {
           Northwind = NorthwindContextFactory.CreateDbContext();
           Data = await Northwind.Employees.ToListAsync();
       }
   
       void OnCustomizeEditModel(GridCustomizeEditModelEventArgs e) {
           if(e.IsNew) {
               var editModel = (Employee)e.EditModel;
               editModel.EmployeeId = Data.Count() + 1;
           }
       }
   
       async Task OnEditModelSaving(GridEditModelSavingEventArgs e) {
           var editModel = (Employee)e.EditModel;
           // Re-query a data item from the database.
           var dataItem = e.IsNew ? editModel : Northwind.Employees.Find(editModel.EmployeeId);
           // Assign changes from the edit model to the data item.
           if (dataItem != null) {
               dataItem.FirstName = editModel.FirstName;
               dataItem.LastName = editModel.LastName;
               dataItem.Title = editModel.Title;
               dataItem.HireDate = editModel.HireDate;
               dataItem.EmployeeId = editModel.EmployeeId;
               // Post changes to the database.
               if (e.IsNew)
                   await Northwind.AddAsync(dataItem);
               await Northwind.SaveChangesAsync();
               // Reload the entire Grid.
               Data = await Northwind.Employees.ToListAsync();
           }
       }
   
       async Task OnDataItemDeleting(GridDataItemDeletingEventArgs e) {
           // Re-query a data item from the database.
           var dataItem = Northwind.Employees.Find((e.DataItem as Employee).EmployeeId);
           if (dataItem != null) {
               // Remove the data item from the database.
               Northwind.Remove(dataItem);
               await Northwind.SaveChangesAsync();
               // Reload the entire Grid.
               Data = await Northwind.Employees.ToListAsync();
           }
       }
   
       public void Dispose() {
           Northwind?.Dispose();
       }
   }