fetching sql aliases from custom tables in umbraco - Extending Umbraco and using the API

Tom Engan 430 posts 1173 karma points

Sep 13, 2017 @ 08:42

Fetching SQL alias from custom tables in Umbraco database

The SQL statement works as it should in SQL Server Management Studio - displays all the values from alias and all fields.

But how do we extract the value of SQL alias NumberOfHikingDestinations into the model?

The field I want values from is retrieved with: COUNT(Id) AS NumberOfHikingDestinations below.

public static IList<HikingDestinationViewModel> GetHikingDestinationGroupedByMember(int NodeId)
{
    UmbracoDatabase db = Umbraco.Core.ApplicationContext.Current.DatabaseContext.Database;

    return db.Fetch<HikingDestinationViewModel>(
        "SELECT DISTINCT COUNT(Id) AS NumberOfHikingDestinations, nodeId, SelectedHikingDestination, HikingCode " +
        "FROM [HikingDestinations] WHERE DATEPART(yyyy, StartDate) >= DATEPART(yyyy, GETDATE()) AND SelectedHikingDestination = @0 " +
        "GROUP BY SelectedHikingDestination, nodeId, HikingCode ORDER BY NumberOfHikingDestinations DESC", NodeId);
}

These are parts of the model HikingDestinationViewModel I use:

public int nodeId {get; set; }
public int? SelectedHikingDestination {get; set; }
public DateTime StartDate {get; set; }
public string HikingCode {get; set; }

which refers to the values in a custom database table [HikingDestinations]:

enter image description here

and in the surface controller the sql results is looped and the values can be obtained in this foreach loop:

IEnumerable<HikingDestinationViewModel> allHikingDestinationsGroupedByMember = HikingDestinations.GetHikingDestinationGroupedByMember(Node.getCurrentNodeId());
foreach (HikingDestinationViewModel hikingDestination in allHikingDestinationsGroupedByMember)
{
    //Codes to fetch the values from the databasetable [HikingDestinations] goes here..
    //Values OK (not empty) from nodeId, SelectedHikingDestination, HikingCode            
    //Values EMPTY in hikingDestination.NumberOfHikingDestinations
}

If I put this in model HikingDestinationViewModel:

public int NumberOfHikingDestinations { get; set; }    << NOTE: I've tried int? and int

and I try to retrieve hikingDestination.NumberOfHikingDestinations in the loop of the surface controller, the content is empty.

So how are we doing this, fetching data from SQL alias NumberOfHikingDestinations?

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Tom Engan 430 posts 1173 karma points

Sep 14, 2017 @ 13:23

The solution: Add [Column("NumberOfHikingDestinations")] to HikingDestinationViewModel, and the SQL alias COUNT(Id) AS NumberOfHikingDestinations are now defined with values in the foreach loop:

[Column("nodeId")] 
public int nodeId { get; set; }

[Column("SelectedHikingDestination")]
public int? SelectedHikingDestination { get; set; } 

[Column("StartDate")]
public DateTime StartDate { get; set; }  

[Column("HikingCode")]
public string HikingCode { get; set; }

[Ignore] // Column not created in the custom Umbraco database table
[Column("NumberOfHikingDestinations")]
public int NumberOfHikingDestinations { get; set; }

Now the class in my repository can run the SQL string with all defined columns from HikingDestinationViewModel

public static IList<HikingDestinationViewModel> GetHikingDestinationGroupedByMember(int NodeId)
{
    UmbracoDatabase db = Umbraco.Core.ApplicationContext.Current.DatabaseContext.Database;

    return db.Fetch<HikingDestinationViewModel>(
        "SELECT DISTINCT COUNT(Id) AS NumberOfHikingDestinations, nodeId, SelectedHikingDestination, HikingCode " +
        "FROM [HikingDestinations] WHERE DATEPART(yyyy, StartDate) >= DATEPART(yyyy, GETDATE()) AND SelectedHikingDestination = @0 " +
        "GROUP BY SelectedHikingDestination, nodeId, HikingCode ORDER BY NumberOfHikingDestinations DESC", NodeId);
}

Then looping all the values from the repository in the surfacecontroller,:

IEnumerable<HikingDestinationViewModel> allHikingDestinationsGroupedByMember = HikingDestinations.GetHikingDestinationGroupedByMember(Node.getCurrentNodeId());
foreach (HikingDestinationViewModel hikingDestination in allHikingDestinationsGroupedByMember)
{
    //Codes to fetch the values from the custom db table [HikingDestinations], defined in HikingDestinationViewModel goes here..
}

Then the result was send to the partial view, and the calculations now works (showing numbers other than 0).

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Tom Engan 430 posts 1173 karma points

Sep 15, 2017 @ 09:15

enter image description here But of course, always something that is not going to work. I get the same errormessage with insert and update.

The error message come if I use [Ignore]

[Ignore] // Column not created in the custom Umbraco database table
[Column("NumberOfHikingDestinations")]
public int NumberOfHikingDestinations { get; set; }

in my viewmodel HikingDestinationViewModel instead of

[Column("NumberOfHikingDestinations")]
public int NumberOfHikingDestinations { get; set; }

That is, in order not to get an error message, I have to create an empty column named NumberOfHikingDestinations in custom database table [HikingDestinations] (or not use [Ignore] in my viewmodel).

This is not quite optimal, so someone who knows how to avoid having to create an empty column?

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Fetching SQL alias from custom tables in Umbraco database