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Before we test our model related updates, let’s make one more change to our controller.
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To follow along, you’ll need to go back a step, as this video is a continuation of the previous video.
Additional Learning
The .NET Framework gives us a powerful set of tools for formatting DateTime values. See the following MSDN pages for more information.
Before we test our updates, let's make
one more change to our Controller.
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When processing a post request for
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my add entry form, if we have
a valid entry data model instance,
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we need to save the entry and display
the entry's list page back to the user.
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Remember how the ModelState contained
a collection of the request
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form field values.
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And for each of those values,
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a collection of errors, given that
the model state object is tracking all of
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the form field value errors, it's able to
tell us if our model is in a valid state.
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We just need to add an if statement
to check if the ModelStates
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is valid property, is true.
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If the model state is valid,
we can save the entry data model instance
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by calling the repositories
at entry method.
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And then we can display
the entries list page
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instead of redisplaying the AddEntry page.
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We'll save doing that for the next video.
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Let's move our breakpoint up to
the beginning of the method and
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press F5 to start our app.
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The first thing that catches my
eye is the date field value.
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Now that we're using our entry data model
and we've defaulted its date property
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to today,
we're getting both a date and a time.
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This is happening because MVC calls the to
string method on the date time value,
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to get the textual
representation of that value
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when rendering the input
elements value attribute.
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The date time to string method returns a
string containing both a date and a time.
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We can customize the formatting of the
value by using a different text box for
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method overload.
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The fifth overload accepts
a format parameter,
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which allows us to provide a string for
the value format.
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Behind the scenes,
MVC is calling the string format method
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with our provided format and
the date field value.
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Let's look at an example.
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Var formattedDate = String.Format and
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our format string and our value
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model.Date and a semicolon.
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If you haven't seen a format string
before, it can look a little odd at first.
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The format string is simply a string
that contains one or more format items.
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Format items are defined using a set
of curly braces surrounding a number
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that represents the index of the object
whose string value will be inserted.
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We're only working with one value here.
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Our model date value.
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So we'll use 0 for the index.
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Then we can follow the index with
a colon and a date time format.
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I can never seem to remember the date time
format strings that are available to use.
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Let's open a new tab and search for
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c#, standard, date, format, strings.
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The first result is the page that we're
looking for, the standard date and
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time format strings page on MSDN.
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If we scroll down a bit,
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we can see that there are a variety
of standard format strings available.
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A lowercase d that will give
us a short date pattern, and
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an upper case D that will give us
a long date pattern, and so on.
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You can see an example of
the output here on the right.
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I want a short date pattern, so
I'm going to go with the lower case D.
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You can also create custom date and
time format strings.
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See the teachers notes for
more information.
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Let's add our format to the text box for
method call.
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Curly braces with 0 for
the index followed by a colon and
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a lowercase d, for our short date pattern.
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Then let's remove our temporary example.
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Press Ctrl + S to save the View and
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refresh the page to see how
this affects our date value.
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Great!
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That remove the time portion
just like we wanted.
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Lets change the activity
value to 1 duration to 23 and
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Notes to this is my note and
save the form.
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Here we are at our break point.
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If we expand the entry
parameter in the locals window,
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we can see that all of our values have
flowed correctly to our data model.
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We can also hover over
the ModelState.IsValid property
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to see that is currently true
which is what we'd expect.
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Press F10 twice to move down to
the repositories AddEntry method call.
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I'll press F10 one more time
to execute the method call.
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Now we're at the end of our IF block.
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In a bit we will work on displaying
our entries list page but
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for now we're just going to
see your AddEntry page again.
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Press F5 to continue.
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This time let's remove the duration
field value and save the form.
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We're at our break point again.
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The ModelState.IsValid property is false,
which is what we want it to be,
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given that we didn't supply
a duration field value.
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Press F5 to continue, and
we're back on our form.
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Ideally there'd be
a validation message here,
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letting us know that we need to
supply a duration field value.
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We'll implement that later in this course.
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Go ahead and stop the app.
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If you're using GitHub,
let's commit our changes.
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Enter a commit message of,
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Updated the "AddEntry" controller and
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view to use the Entry data model and
click the commit all button.
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Let's wrap up this section by
updating our Add action method
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to display the entries list page
after successfully adding an entry.
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