Completing Our Model Related Updates

Before we test our updates, let's make one more change to our Controller. 0:00 When processing a post request for 0:05 my add entry form, if we have a valid entry data model instance, 0:07 we need to save the entry and display the entry's list page back to the user. 0:11 Remember how the ModelState contained a collection of the request 0:16 form field values. 0:19 And for each of those values, 0:21 a collection of errors, given that the model state object is tracking all of 0:22 the form field value errors, it's able to tell us if our model is in a valid state. 0:26 We just need to add an if statement to check if the ModelStates 0:31 is valid property, is true. 0:35 If the model state is valid, we can save the entry data model instance 0:40 by calling the repositories at entry method. 0:44 And then we can display the entries list page 0:47 instead of redisplaying the AddEntry page. 0:50 We'll save doing that for the next video. 0:56 Let's move our breakpoint up to the beginning of the method and 0:59 press F5 to start our app. 1:02 The first thing that catches my eye is the date field value. 1:07 Now that we're using our entry data model and we've defaulted its date property 1:10 to today, we're getting both a date and a time. 1:15 This is happening because MVC calls the to string method on the date time value, 1:19 to get the textual representation of that value 1:24 when rendering the input elements value attribute. 1:27 The date time to string method returns a string containing both a date and a time. 1:30 We can customize the formatting of the value by using a different text box for 1:36 method overload. 1:40 The fifth overload accepts a format parameter, 1:42 which allows us to provide a string for the value format. 1:45 Behind the scenes, MVC is calling the string format method 1:49 with our provided format and the date field value. 1:53 Let's look at an example. 1:57 Var formattedDate = String.Format and 2:03 our format string and our value 2:10 model.Date and a semicolon. 2:15 If you haven't seen a format string before, it can look a little odd at first. 2:21 The format string is simply a string that contains one or more format items. 2:26 Format items are defined using a set of curly braces surrounding a number 2:32 that represents the index of the object whose string value will be inserted. 2:37 We're only working with one value here. 2:41 Our model date value. 2:46 So we'll use 0 for the index. 2:48 Then we can follow the index with a colon and a date time format. 2:51 I can never seem to remember the date time format strings that are available to use. 2:57 Let's open a new tab and search for 3:02 c#, standard, date, format, strings. 3:07 The first result is the page that we're looking for, the standard date and 3:14 time format strings page on MSDN. 3:18 If we scroll down a bit, 3:22 we can see that there are a variety of standard format strings available. 3:24 A lowercase d that will give us a short date pattern, and 3:28 an upper case D that will give us a long date pattern, and so on. 3:33 You can see an example of the output here on the right. 3:38 I want a short date pattern, so I'm going to go with the lower case D. 3:42 You can also create custom date and time format strings. 3:46 See the teachers notes for more information. 3:49 Let's add our format to the text box for method call. 3:53 Curly braces with 0 for the index followed by a colon and 3:58 a lowercase d, for our short date pattern. 4:03 Then let's remove our temporary example. 4:07 Press Ctrl + S to save the View and 4:09 refresh the page to see how this affects our date value. 4:14 Great! 4:18 That remove the time portion just like we wanted. 4:18 Lets change the activity value to 1 duration to 23 and 4:21 Notes to this is my note and save the form. 4:27 Here we are at our break point. 4:37 If we expand the entry parameter in the locals window, 4:39 we can see that all of our values have flowed correctly to our data model. 4:42 We can also hover over the ModelState.IsValid property 4:49 to see that is currently true which is what we'd expect. 4:52 Press F10 twice to move down to the repositories AddEntry method call. 4:57 I'll press F10 one more time to execute the method call. 5:02 Now we're at the end of our IF block. 5:06 In a bit we will work on displaying our entries list page but 5:09 for now we're just going to see your AddEntry page again. 5:12 Press F5 to continue. 5:16 This time let's remove the duration field value and save the form. 5:18 We're at our break point again. 5:27 The ModelState.IsValid property is false, which is what we want it to be, 5:29 given that we didn't supply a duration field value. 5:34 Press F5 to continue, and we're back on our form. 5:37 Ideally there'd be a validation message here, 5:41 letting us know that we need to supply a duration field value. 5:44 We'll implement that later in this course. 5:47 Go ahead and stop the app. 5:50 If you're using GitHub, let's commit our changes. 5:53 Enter a commit message of, 5:58 Updated the "AddEntry" controller and 6:01 view to use the Entry data model and click the commit all button. 6:06 Let's wrap up this section by updating our Add action method 6:15 to display the entries list page after successfully adding an entry. 6:18