I'm curious of all of the various ways people are building their ViewModels and why they choose that method.
I can think of several ways here:
-1. Injected repository - the controller loads the model and maps to the ViewModel. Here the ViewModel constructor could take various collections to interally set for ex. in a select list such as:
public CustomerController(ISomeRepository repository)
{
_repository = repository;
}
public ActionResult Create()
{
CustomerCreateViewModel model = new CustomerCreateViewModel(_repository.GetShipTypes,
_repository.GetStates);
..
..
}
-2. ViewModelBuilder - Either injected or instantiated in the controller with an instance of the injected repository. Called via something like
>var orderViewModel = orderViewModelBuilder.WithStates().Build(orderId);
or,
var orderViewModel = orderViewModelBuilder.WithStates().Build(orderId);
-3. Directly in controller (no code required - its messy)
-4. Some other service (injected or not) that returns domain model which the controller then maps or a ViewModel (anyone doing this to return a view model that isn't specifically named/noted as a ViewModel builder class?)
public JobCreateViewModel BuildJobCreateViewModel(int parentId)
{
JobCreateViewModel model = new JobCreateViewModel();
model.JobStatus = _unitOfWork.JobRepository.GetJobStatuses();
model.States=_unitOfWork.StateRepository.GetAll();
return model;
}
Now on the return trip - regarding validating your view models - are you inheriting from a base ViewModel class for standard validations, or copying your validations (ex. data annotation attributes) between all of your ViewModels, or simply relying on server side validation so it can all be validated againt your domain object?
Any others? Anything better? Why?
EDIT Based on a link below, I did find a nice article from Jimmy Bogard on the architecture of ViewModels. While it doesn't address the question above directly, it's a great reference for anyone coming here for ViewModel information. http://lostechies.com/jimmybogard/2009/06/30/how-we-do-mvc-view-models/