how to map from a ViewModel to Model

Question

I have a model and ViewModel like this

public class Estate : BaseEntity
{       
    public virtual BaseInformation floorType { get; set; }     
}

public class BaseInformation:BaseEntity 
{ 
    public string Name { get; set; }     
    public virtual BaseInformationHeader Master { get; set; }
}

public class EstateViewModel : BaseEntityViewModel
{       
    public  long floorType { get; set; }     
}

And the code in controller:

[HttpPost]
public long save(EstateViewModel estateViewModel)
{
    Estate entity = new Estate();
    BaseInformation bi = new BaseInformation();
    bi.id = 1;
    entity.floorType = bi;
    EstateViewModel ev = new EstateViewModel(); 
    Mapper.CreateMap<EstateViewModel, Estate>();
    var model = AutoMapper.Mapper.Map<EstateViewModel,Estate>(estateViewModel);

    return estateRepository.save(entity);
}

When the action is executed AutoMapper throws the following exception:

An exception of type 'AutoMapper.AutoMapperMappingException' occurred in AutoMapper.dll but was not handled in user code

What is causing this to happen?

Answer 1

my problem solution found here : http://cpratt.co/using-automapper-creating-mappings/ and the code is like this:

AutoMapper.Mapper.CreateMap<PersonDTO, Person>()
.ForMember(dest => dest.Address,
           opts => opts.MapFrom(
               src => new Address
               {
                   Street = src.Street,
                   City = src.City,
                   State = src.State,
                   ZipCode = src.ZipCode
               }));

Answer 2

Check out the inner exception - it gives you a good description of the problem. I would also consider setting up all of the CreateMap calls in a static method somewhere else that is called on app start:

public class AutoMapperConfiguration
{
    public static void Configure()
    {
         Mapper.CreateMap<EstateViewModel, Estate>();          
    }
}

And then in Global.asax:

protected void Application_Start()
{
    AutoMapperConfiguration.Configure();
}

[Update] - to map properties to other properties with different names:

Mapper.CreateMap<ViewModel, Model>()
                  .ForMember(dest => dest.Id, o => o.MapFrom(src => src.DestinationProp));

The problem you have is that the source property is a long while the destination is a complex type - you can't map from the source to the destination as they are not the same type.

[Update 2]

If BaseInformation.Id is a long then you shoiuld be able to do this:

Mapper.CreateMap<ViewModel, Model>()
                  .ForMember(dest => dest.Id, o => o.MapFrom(src => src.floorType ));

You're model isn't very clear though.