Entity Framework and DBContext data retrieval - entity-framework

Question

I have a Web API where my repository class that has data hard-coded. I want to modify it to grab the same data from SQL Server database. I created the DB Context class in the DAL folder and a connection string in my web.config file with the same name as context class - MyClassesContext
public class myRepository
{
public myClasses.Type[] GetAllTypes()
{
return new myClasses.Type[]
{
new myClasses.Type
{
typeId="1",
typeVal = "New"
},
new myClasses.Type
{
typeId="2",
typeVal = "Old"
}
};
}
public myClasses.Employee[] GetAllEmployees()
{
return new myClasses.Employee[]
{
new myClasses.Employee
{
empId="111111",
empFName = "Jane",
empLName="Doe"
},
new myClasses.Employee
{
empId="222222",
empFName = "John",
empLName="Doe"
}
};
}
public bool VerifyEmployeeId(string id)
{
myClasses.Employee[] emp = new myClasses.Employee[]
{
new myClasses.Employee
{
empId="111111",
empFName = "Jane",
empLName="Doe"
},
new myClasses.Employee
{
empId="222222",
empFName = "John",
empLName="Doe"
}
};
for (var i = 0; i <= emp.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (emp[i].empId == id)
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
and my model class:
public class myClasses
{
public class Employee
{
public string empId { get; set; }
public string empFName { get; set; }
public string empLName { get; set; }
}
public class Type
{
public string typeId { get; set; }
public string typeVal { get; set; }
}
}
and here is my DBContext:
using System.Data.Entity;
using myClassesAPI.Models;
namespace myClassesAPI.DAL
{
public class myClassesContext : DbContext
{
public DbSet<myClasses.Employee> Employees { get; set; }
public DbSet<myClasses.Type> Types { get; set; }
}
}
Now the missing link here is how do I connect DBContext class. I did a great amount of googling but was not able to find anything relevant. Was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction

Answer 1

Taking into consideration that everything is configured and working (Connection String, database access etc), in your repository, just make use of your DbContext class. Example to get a list of all Types:
public List<Type> GetAllTypes()
{
//Create an instance of your dbContext Class.
using (myClassesContext context = new myClassesContext ())
{
//Return all the Type's
return context.Type.ToList()
}
}
I think you need to read and study more about EntityFramework to get a good understanding on how things work, how you can query your database using LINQ. Here's a great starting point:
http://www.asp.net/mvc/overview/getting-started/getting-started-with-ef-using-mvc/creating-an-entity-framework-data-model-for-an-asp-net-mvc-application
EDIT
I use this example of a connection string:
<add name="myClassesContext "
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"
connectionString="Data Source=ServerName\InstanceName;Initial Catalog=DatabaseName;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" />
Then, you set the same connection string name in your DbContext file:
public myClassesContext ()
: base(Connection.GetConnectionString("myClassesContext"))
{
}

Answer 2

How about using a connection string to the actual DB after specifying the database connection string to which you want to connect to:
public class myClassesContext : DbContext
{
public myClassesContext ()
: base("connection_string")
{
}
}
<configuration>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="connection_string"
providerName="..."
connectionString="..."/>
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>