How to: Bind the Web Dashboard to Entity Framework

• Mar 30, 2018
• 2 minutes to read

This tutorial demonstrates how to create the Entity Framework data source and add it to the Web Dashboard data source list.

For example, your project already contains the NorthwindDataModel context that provides access to data:

C#

//...
    using System.Data.Entity;

    public partial class NorthwindDataModel : DbContext
    {
        public NorthwindDataModel()
            : base("name=NorthwindDataModel")
        {
        }

        public virtual DbSet<SalesPerson> SalesPersons { get; set; }

        protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
        {
            //...
        }
    }

VB.NET

'... 
    Imports System.Data.Entity

    Partial Public Class NorthwindDataModel
        Inherits DbContext
        Public Sub New()
            MyBase.New("name=NorthwindDataModel")
        End Sub

        Private privateSalesPersons As DbSet(Of SalesPerson)
        Public Overridable Property SalesPersons() As DbSet(Of SalesPerson)
            Get
                Return privateSalesPersons
            End Get
            Set(ByVal value As DbSet(Of SalesPerson))
                privateSalesPersons = value
            End Set
        End Property

        Protected Overrides Sub OnModelCreating(ByVal modelBuilder As DbModelBuilder)
            '... 
        End Sub
    End Class

To create a data source based on this context, do the following:

1. Create the DashboardEFDataSource object instance and pass the typeof(NorthwindDataModel) to the EFDataSource.ConnectionParameters property.

   C#

   using DevExpress.DashboardCommon;
   using DevExpress.DataAccess.EntityFramework;
   
   //...
   DashboardEFDataSource efDataSource = new DashboardEFDataSource("SalesPerson");
   efDataSource.ConnectionParameters = new EFConnectionParameters(typeof(NorthwindDataModel));
   

   VB.NET

   Imports DevExpress.DashboardCommon
   Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.EntityFramework
   
   '...
   Private efDataSource As New DashboardEFDataSource("SalesPerson")
   efDataSource.ConnectionParameters = New EFConnectionParameters(GetType(NorthwindDataModel))
   

2. Create the in-memory data source storage (DataSourceInMemoryStorage) and use the DataSourceInMemoryStorage.RegisterDataSource method to register the data source in the created storage.

   C#

   using DevExpress.DashboardWeb;
   
   //...
   DataSourceInMemoryStorage dataSourceStorage = new DataSourceInMemoryStorage();
   dataSourceStorage.RegisterDataSource(efDataSource.SaveToXml());
   ASPxDashboard1.SetDataSourceStorage(dataSourceStorage);
   

   VB.NET

   Imports DevExpress.DashboardWeb
   
   '...
   Private dataSourceStorage As New DataSourceInMemoryStorage()
   dataSourceStorage.RegisterDataSource(efDataSource.SaveToXml())
   ASPxDashboard1.SetDataSourceStorage(dataSourceStorage)
   

   See Register Default Data Sources to learn more about registering default data sources.

3. Run the application and create a new dashboard.

   

   The SalesPerson data source is now available in the data source list.